Reading view

There are new articles available, click to refresh the page.

How backchannels and US mediators pulled India and Pakistan back from the brink

Reuters People gather in celebration after the ceasefire announcement between India and Pakistan, in Islamabad, Pakistan, May 10, 2025.Reuters
Crowds gathered in Islamabad after the ceasefire announcement

In a dramatic turn of events, US President Donald Trump took to social media on Saturday to announce that India and Pakistan - after four tense days of cross-border clashes - had agreed to a "full and immediate ceasefire".

Behind the scenes, US mediators, alongside diplomatic backchannels and regional players, proved critical in pulling the nuclear-armed rivals back from the brink, experts say.

However, hours after a ceasefire deal, India and Pakistan were trading accusations of fresh violations - underscoring its fragility.

India accused Pakistan of "repeated violations" while Pakistan insisted it remained committed to the ceasefire, with its forces showing "responsibility and restraint."

Before Trump's ceasefire announcement, India and Pakistan were spiralling towards what many feared could become a full-blown conflict.

After a deadly militant attack killed 26 tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir last month, India launched airstrikes inside Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir - triggering days of aerial clashes, artillery duels and, by Saturday morning, accusations from both sides of missile strikes on each other's airbases.

The rhetoric escalated sharply, with each country claiming to have inflicted heavy damage while foiling the other's attacks.

Getty Images President Donald Trump listens as U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks during a Cabinet meeting at the White House
Getty Images
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio (left) and President Donald Trump

Tanvi Madan, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington DC, says US Secretary of State Marco Rubio's call to Pakistani Army Chief Asim Munir on 9 May "might have been the crucial point".

"There's still much we don't know about the roles of various international actors, but it's clear over the past three days that at least three countries were working to de-escalate - the US, of course, but also the UK and Saudi Arabia," she says.

Pakistan's Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar told Pakistani media that "three dozen countries" were involved in the diplomacy - including Turkey, Saudi Arabia and the US.

"One question is whether, if this call had come earlier - right after the initial Indian strikes, when Pakistan was already claiming some Indian losses and an off-ramp was available - it might have prevented further escalation," Ms Madan says.

This isn't the first time US mediation has helped defuse an India–Pakistan crisis.

In his memoir, former US secretary of state Mike Pompeo claimed he was woken up to speak with an unnamed "Indian counterpart", who feared Pakistan was preparing nuclear weapons during the 2019 standoff.

Reuters Kashmiri men greet each other after the ceasefire announcement between India and Pakistan, in Srinagar, May 10, 2025.Reuters
Kashmiri men greeted each other after the ceasefire announcement in Srinagar

Former Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan Ajay Bisaria later wrote that Pompeo overstated both the risk of nuclear escalation and the US role in calming the conflict.

But diplomats say there is little doubt the US played an important role in defusing the crisis this time.

"The US was the most prominent external player. Last time, Pompeo claimed they averted nuclear war. While they'll likely exaggerate, they may have played the primary diplomatic role, perhaps amplifying Delhi's positions in Islamabad," Mr Bisaria told the BBC on Saturday.

Yet at the outset, the US appeared strikingly standoffish.

As tensions flared, US Vice President JD Vance said on Thursday that the US was not going to get involved in a war that's "fundamentally none of our business".

"We can't control these countries though. Fundamentally, India has its gripes with Pakistan... America can't tell the Indians to lay down their arms. We can't tell the Pakistanis to lay down their arms. And so we're going to continue to pursue this thing through diplomatic channels, " he said in a television interview.

Meanwhile, President Trump said earlier this week: "I know both [leaders of India and Pakistan] very well, and I want to see them work it out... I want to see them stop, and hopefully they can stop now".

Getty Images Pakistani people celebrate after the ceasefire. Men are seen with their hands in the air and waving flagsGetty Images
Pakistani people celebrated after the ceasefire between Pakistan and India, in Hyderabad, Sindh province

Ejaz Haider, a Lahore-based defence analyst, told the BBC this appeared to be the only difference from previous occasions.

"The American role was a continuation of past patterns, but with one key difference - this time, they initially stayed hands-off, watching the crisis unfold instead of jumping in right away. Only when they saw how it was playing out did they step in to manage it," Mr Haider told the BBC.

Experts in Pakistan say as the escalation cycle deepened, Pakistan sent "dual signals", retaliating militarily while announcing a National Command Authority (NCA) meeting - a clear reminder of the nuclear overhang.

The NCA controls and takes operational decisions regarding Pakistan's nuclear weapons.

This was around the time US Secretary of State Marco Rubio stepped in.

"The US was indispensable. This outcome would not have occurred without Secretary Rubio's efforts," Ashley J Tellis, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told the BBC.

What also helped was Washington's deepening ties with Delhi.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's personal rapport with Trump, plus the US's broader strategic and economic stakes, gave the US administration diplomatic leverage to push both nuclear-armed rivals towards de-escalation.

Indian diplomats see three key peace tracks that happened this time, much like after Pulwama–Balakot in 2019:

  • US and UK pressure
  • Saudi mediation, with the Saudi junior foreign minister visiting both capitals
  • The direct India-Pakistan channel between the two national security advisors (NSAs)

Despite shifting global priorities and a hands-off posture at first, the US ultimately stepped in as the indispensable mediator between South Asia's nuclear rivals.

Whether overstated by its own officials or underacknowledged by Delhi and Islamabad, experts believe the US's role as crisis manager remains as vital - and as complicated - as ever.

Doubts do, however, linger over the ceasefire's durability after Saturday's events, with some Indian media reporting it was essentially brokered by senior military officials of the two countries - not the US.

"This ceasefire is bound to be a fragile one. It came about very quickly, amid sky-high tensions. India appears to have interpreted it differently than did the US and Pakistan," Michael Kugelman, a foreign policy analyst, told the BBC.

"Also, since it was put together so hastily, the accord may lack the proper guarantees and assurances one would need at such a tense moment."

Danny Dyer continued rehab after letter from daughter

BBC Danny Dyer sits smiling in front of a Desert Island Discs backdrop.BBC
Danny Dyer said he was ready to leave rehab but stayed after receiving a letter from home

Danny Dyer has said receiving a letter from his daughter Dani while at a rehab facility in 2016 was what convinced him to continue his treatment.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs, the actor said he'd "had enough" of the treatment he'd received and was "going to go".

"Then they read a letter out from home, from my daughter Dani, and it made me sit back down in that seat," he told presenter Lauren Laverne.

Whilst he did not share what his then 20-year-old daughter had written, he said he "grew up and understood this is my life and fame and all that stuff is toxic".

Dyer said the letter from Dani made him reflect on the pain he'd caused his family and commit to continuing his treatment at the facility in South Africa.

Dani Dyer shot to fame on Love Island, winning the 2018 series. She and her father have since appeared together on Celebrity Gogglebox, an Italian travel series, and on their podcast Sorted With The Dyers.

'A lot of bad decisions'

Danny Dyer in an EastEnders scene in 2022
Danny Dyer played Mick Carter in BBC soap EastEnders from 2013 to 2022

Danny Dyer, who shot to fame in the 1999 film Human Traffic, has gone on to become one of the most recognisable stars of British TV and film.

In his interview, the 47-year-old spoke about how fame has affected his personal life, leading him to make "a lot of bad decisions".

He said at one stage of his career, he was "doing a lot of drugs".

"I'd go to nightclubs and DJ sometimes but in general just wave off of balconies and I'd get paid quite a lot of money to do it," he added.

Dyer says looking back is "awful" and that his days of "hedonism" and "mad behaviour" are over.

He said one of his turning points came in 2013, when he was offered the role of Queen Vic landlord Mick Carter in EastEnders, which he says he took because he "had no money".

"I had bailiffs [coming round], no-one would hire me and the more I'm doing these club appearances, the more drugs I'm taking, and drink, so I'm in this weird spiral."

Four years later, he made the decision to go to rehab in Cape Town during an awards show after-party at his house.

"I remember I had this moment where I was sitting in my ensuite trying to work out how to put a pair of jeans on - I was that off my head.

"I looked up, I looked at my wife and I could just see how tired she looked and I could hear kids running around downstairs, and I thought 'I need to sort my life out'," he added.

Dyer says it made him realise how addiction "affects so many people around you, not just yourself".

Dyer, who is nominated for best male comedy performance at Sunday's Bafta TV Awards for his role in Mr. Bigstuff, has also experienced success with Disney hit Rivals this year.

He said a lot of the work he took in the early stages of his career was due to the lack of money he had and the added pressure of becoming a first-time parent with his now-wife Joanne at the age of 19.

"I'd made a few films but I just wasn't getting paid any money and I was desperate to get on the property ladder," he said.

"I was still living on a council estate with my daughter and Jo."

Dyer says he then got offered a documentary series in 2006 called The Real Football Factories and "couldn't believe the money that was offered to me".

"I can't watch them back now [the documentaries], I cringe at them, but I needed to earn money, I needed to get a house and I needed to the right thing," he added.

Trump praises 'friendly, constructive' US-China trade talks

Watch: US and China are ready to talk tariffs - who will blink first?

Donald Trump says there has been a "total reset" in US-China trade relations following the first day of talks between American and Chinese officials in Switzerland.

In a social media post, the US president described the talks as being "very good" and said change had been "negotiated in a friendly, but constructive, manner".

An escalating trade war between Washington and Beijing has seen the US president hit Chinese imports to the US with tariffs of 145%. China retaliated with levies of 125% on some US goods.

Following months of back-and-forth, the two countries are meeting in Geneva this weekend for the first time since Trump hit China with tariffs at the start of the year.

Little information beyond the US president's Truth Social post has so far emerged from the talks. They are due to continue on Sunday and are taking place between China's vice-premier He Lifeng and US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.

"We want to see, for the good of both China and the U.S., an opening up of China to American business. GREAT PROGRESS MADE!!!" Trump added.

On Friday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Washington would not lower tariffs unilaterally, and China would need to make its own concessions.

Both sides issued various other warnings ahead of the meeting, with Beijing saying the US must ease tariffs while Bessent stressed that the focus was on "de-escalation" and this was not a "big trade deal".

Chinese state media reported that Beijing had decided to engage with the US after fully considering global expectations, the country's interests and appeals from American businesses.

Last month, the BBC found that Chinese exporters were struggling with the US's tariffs - one company, Sorbo Technology, reported that half of its products were normally sold to the US and were now sat in boxes in a warehouse in China.

Meanwhile, the US economy was found to have shrank in the first three months of the year - contracting at an annual rate of 0.3% - as firms raced to get goods into the country.

Getty Images President Trump holding up a reciprocal tariffs board.  Getty Images

The trade war between China and the US intensified last month after President Trump announced a universal baseline tariff on all imports to the United States, on what he called "Liberation Day".

Around 60 trading partners, which the White House described as the "worst offenders", were subjected to higher rates than others. The list included China and the European Union.

Trump said this was payback for years worth of unfair trade policies for the US.

He also separately announced a 25% import tax on all steel and aluminium coming into the US, and a further 25% tariff on all cars and car parts.

It was announced last week that the US and UK had agreed a deal, in which the 25% will be cut to 10% for a maximum of 100,000 UK cars - matching the number of cars the UK exported last year.

Cars are the UK's biggest export to the US, worth about £9bn last year.

Pope Leo prays at tomb of Francis ahead of first Sunday address

Reuters Pope Leo, in white, praying before the simple white marble tomb of Pope FrancisReuters

Pope Leo XIV will give his first Sunday blessing and address to a crowd in St Peter's Square in the Vatican today.

He will recite the Regina Caeli prayer, in honour of the Virgin Mary, in his first public address since his election was announced with white smoke on Thursday.

After delivering Sunday mass, Pope Leo will bless those gathered on the square outside - and deliver his reflections.

On Saturday, he visited a shrine outside Rome and then prayed before the tomb of his late predecessor Francis inside the basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore.

Pope Leo will be formally inaugurated at a mass in St Peter's Square next week on 18 May.

Reuters Pope Leo, wearing glasses and religious dress, waving against a red backgroundReuters
Pope Leo was elected this week following a two-day conclave

The Pope was chosen as the new leader of the Catholic Church on Thursday, following a two-day conclave in Vatican City.

It has been a busy week for the pontiff, who held his first Mass as Pope in the Sistine chapel on Friday before speaking to cardinals on Saturday.

During this meeting, he described himself as an unworthy choice for Pope, and vowed to continue the "precious legacy" of his predecessor.

He highlighted the importance of missionary work and discussion – as well as care for those he called the "least and the rejected".

He explained he had chosen the name Leo after a 19th-century Pope known for his teaching on social justice.

The new Pope also suggested the development of artificial intelligence and other advances meant the church was necessary today for the defence of human dignity and justice.

He is due to hold an audience with the media on Monday ahead of his inauguration next Sunday.

As part of that mass he will deliver a homily in the presence of numerous heads of state and dignitaries.

The 69-year-old is the 267th occupant of the throne of St Peter, and the first American to become a pontiff. He will lead members of the Catholic Church's global community of 1.4bn people.

Born Robert Francis Prevost in Chicago, he worked for many years as a missionary in Peru before being made an archbishop there. He also has Peruvian nationality.

Although Leo was born in the US, the Vatican described him as the second pope from the Americas. Pope Francis, from Argentina, was the first.

Pope Leo is widely seen as a moderate who can offer "continuity" and "unity" following the death of his predecessor last month.

The new pontiff is believed to have shared Francis' views on migrants, the poor and the environment.

In his first speech he told the crowds he wanted "to walk together with you as a united Church searching all together for peace and justice".

Public funding for royals triples since 2012 because of Palace works

PA Media Royal family on the Buckingham Palace balconyPA Media

Public funding for the Royal Household has tripled in real terms since 2012, official figures show, with the rise driven largely by repairs and building work at Buckingham Palace.

The Sovereign Grant, which provides taxpayer support for the monarchy, was introduced in 2012 at £31m per year. That has now risen to £132m, data from the House of Commons Library shows, and once inflation has been taken into account, that represents about a threefold increase.

The grant rose 53% in April, from £86.3m to £132.1m. Royal aides say this was because of a Buckingham Palace building project and the grant will come down again, adding that the monarchy represents good value.

Lord Turnbull, a crossbench peer and a former Cabinet Secretary, called the way the grant was calculated "complete and utter nonsense" but said that the budget isn't high compared with other presidential heads of state.

The Sovereign Grant provides funding for the official duties of the monarchy. In the most recent figures, for 2023-24, the biggest items were property maintenance and staff payroll, with smaller amounts for travel and hospitality and housekeeping.

The analysis by the House of Commons Library shows how much the Sovereign Grant has risen over time - using a measure that takes into account inflation, with comparisons using 2023-24 values as a benchmark.

Using that measure, the Sovereign Grant in 2012-13 was worth £41.5m – which rose to almost £100m in 2018-19, to cover renovations in Buckingham Palace, and then rose in 2025-26 to being worth £129.3m, again for work on Buckingham Palace.

A Bank of England inflation calculation also shows the grant's value having trebled since 2012, although Buckingham Palace uses a separate figure which is slightly below a threefold real-terms increase.

Buckingham Palace says the current figures are higher because of a 10-year, £369m project to modernise facilities in the Palace, including cabling, plumbing, wiring and lifts. It's a project that the National Audit Office says has been well-run and delivers "good value for money".

The Palace says it's misleading to compare this year's figures with earlier levels of grants. They say the big increase is due to the element of the grant that pays for Buckingham Palace building works, rather than the "core" grant for other running costs.

"The Sovereign Grant remained virtually flat for five years from 2020, during a period of high inflation. The majority of the increase in this year's Sovereign Grant is to fund the Buckingham Palace Reservicing Programme, which is ensuring that the Palace, a national asset, is accessible and protected from fire and flood," said a Palace spokesperson.

"A temporary increase in the grant across two years was approved to provide the remainder of the funding agreed in 2016 for this reservicing work. It has always been anticipated that the level of the Sovereign Grant will drop once the project is completed," said the spokesperson.

This could mean taxpayer funding reducing after 2027.

PA Media Buckingham Palace renovations PA Media
The "national asset" of Buckingham Palace is responsible for much of the grant increase

The sharp increase over the past decade has been during difficult years for public finances, including periods of austerity and tight controls over budgets.

For example, a report from the Institute for Fiscal Studies showed that public spending on education in England went down by 11% in real terms between 2010-11 and 2023-24, although the IFS says that it is difficult to compare such big multi-billion budgets with changes in relatively smaller amounts such as the Sovereign Grant.

Before the Sovereign Grant was introduced, state funding for the monarchy came through a mix of grants, government department spending and a "civil list" payment.

Figures from the House of Commons Library, going back to 1995, show the pre-Sovereign Grant totals as lower than than they are today - for instance, using 2023-24 values, it was worth £67m in 2000 and £56m in 2005.

The Sovereign Grant was introduced as a more "modern, transparent" way of bringing together royal funding, presented to MPs in 2011 as being likely to reduce the royal income.

The grant is based on a percentage of the profits of the independent property and landowning business, the Crown Estate. The grant is not from the Crown Estate, it comes from the Treasury, but the Crown Estate is used as a benchmark.

Sovereign Grant was initially set at 15% of Crown Estate profits, which rose to 25% to cover the cost of renovating Buckingham Palace.

It's now being reduced to 12%. But because of increased profits for the Crown Estate from selling leases for offshore wind farms, the actual cash amount has risen sharply, because it's a percentage based on a much bigger total.

The increase in the Sovereign Grant's value is blamed by former Lib Dem Home Office minister Norman Baker, a prominent critic of royal finances, on what he calls the "completely absurd" way it's calculated and "weak-kneed" governments that don't want to challenge it.

"The Royal Family has been very efficient in persuading the public purse to keep coughing up more money," he says.

"Buckingham Palace has been used again and again to justify the increases.

"We're told public finances are tight, we can't afford a winter fuel allowance, but we can pay for an increase for the Royal Family. It's completely wrong."

PA Media Royal carriagePA Media
Public funding for the royals is at its highest level in 30 years

Lord Turnbull, a former Cabinet Secretary and Permanent Secretary at the Treasury in the 1990s and 2000s, is also critical of the way the grant is calculated. He says successive governments have used the Crown Estate calculation as a convenient way of avoiding debate and stopping a "lot of bolshy backbenchers moaning about the cost of the monarchy".

He says it would be much better to have a straightforward grant to pay for the monarchy, which could be debated on its own merits.

But he also says it's a "red herring" to focus on the headline increase in the Sovereign Grant, when that figure has been driven by work to preserve Buckingham Palace, rather than underlying running costs. He says that if you have a monarchy it has to be properly funded. "You either have one or you don't," says Lord Turnbull.

Pauline Maclaran, a royal commentator from Royal Holloway, University of London, says the monarchy "generates a great deal of money and goodwill."

This is often seen in terms of boosting tourism and promoting business links, but Prof Maclaran says increasingly it needs to recognise the impact of royal "soft power".

US President Trump is a self-professed fan of King Charles and if those warm feelings helped with UK and US trade and tariff negotiations the benefits would hugely outweigh any annual costs of the monarchy, says Prof Maclaran.

PA Media President Trump with an invitation for a state visit from King CharlesPA Media
Royal "soft power" could help in negotiations with the United States

But the royals can't be immune to questions about finances, she says: "The public wants to know if they're of value."

Royal expert Richard Palmer says this year's increase has "raised eyebrows".

"Of course the head of state and those who support him need to be funded properly, but so do other parts of the state - the health service, schools, the military, for example," says Mr Palmer.

Royal sources say there is transparency and funding is subject to the approval of Parliament. The Royal Trustees overseeing the grant are the prime minister, chancellor and the keeper of the privy purse, who looks after the monarch's finances.

You can dig into the accounts and see from 2023-24 that the royals spent over £1m on helicopter flights, there was an electricity bill of £2.2m and that travel for the Duke of Kent over three days to attend regimental events in Scotland cost more than £23,000.

There are also details of what the monarchy provides in a year – including hosting 400 events, inviting 105,000 guests to receptions, garden parties and official lunches. There were also 2,300 public engagements, supporting charities and good causes.

There are national and international events, including state visits which help to promote UK trade. There's a constitutional role, such as the state opening of Parliament and regular meetings with the prime minister.

Republic, a group campaigning for an elected head of state, have argued that other costs need to be included, such as security, which is not covered by the Sovereign Grant.

They also want the Duchies of Lancaster and Cornwall to count as public funding, rather than private incomes for the King and Prince of Wales. A report from the group claims that the total cost of the monarchy is about £510m per year.

Opinion polls suggest the monarchy remains popular, with a YouGov survey in February 2025 suggesting 55% viewed the monarchy positively compared with 36% who saw it negatively.

But there is less certainty about funding. Another YouGov survey in December 2024 suggested strong public opposition to government money being spent on Buckingham Palace – by 56% to 29%.

And there are divisions by age groups – with 74% of the over-65s thinking the royals are good value for money, compared with 44% of 25 to 49 year olds.

Thin, purple banner promoting the Royal Watch newsletter with text saying, “Insider stories and expert analysis in your inbox every week”. There is also a graphic of a fleur-de-lis in white.

Sign up here to get the latest royal stories and analysis every week with our Royal Watch newsletter. Those outside the UK can sign up here.

Second teenager dies after swimming incident in County Donegal

BBC Three people in high viz walking along a shoreline.BBC
The teenager was rescued after a search operation but subsequently died in hospital

A second teenager has died after getting into difficulty in the water near Buncrana in County Donegal.

The boy was rescued after a search operation and taken to Letterkenny University Hospital, where he died in the early hours of Sunday, gardaí (Irish police) have confirmed.

On Saturday evening the body of an 18-year-old male was recovered from the water.

A third teenage boy was also rescued from the water and taken to hospital.

Police said the local coroner has been notified and a post-mortem examination will be arranged in due course.

Gardaí investigations are ongoing.

Three people standing on Buncrana beach in County Donegal are looking out to sea on a sunny day and in the sky a coast guard helicopter can be seen searching the water for swimmers who have been reported missing
An Irish Coast Guard helicopter was involved in the search off Buncrana beach on Saturday

The Irish Coast Guard told BBC News NI that an alert was raised shortly before 16:00 local time by a member of the public after reports there were a number of people in difficulty in the water.

The multi-agency operation was led by Malin Head Coast Guard with assistance from police and the ambulance service.

An Irish Coast Guard helicopter was also involved in the search along with the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI).

In a statement, the Irish Coast Guard thanked all the search and rescue units and members of the public who had assisted in the search.

Lions great McGeechan diagnosed with prostate cancer

Lions great McGeechan diagnosed with prostate cancer

Ian McGeechan during Doncaster Knights' match against Sale Sharks in November 2024Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,

Born in Yorkshire to a Scottish father, Sir Ian McGeechan played all his club rugby for Headingley

Former Scotland and British and Irish Lions head coach Sir Ian McGeechan says he has been diagnosed with prostate cancer.

The former centre and fly-half won 32 Scotland caps, captaining them nine times, and toured with the Lions in 1974, winning the series in South Africa, and in 1977.

He coached Scotland to the Five Nations Grand Slam in 1990 and led the Lions to series victories as coach in 1989 and 1997.

The 78-year-old is currently consultant director of rugby at Championship club Doncaster Knights.

McGeechan told the Telegraph, external he had just completed a six-week course of radiotherapy.

"I don't want to make a big thing of it, but it is important to get the message out about urging people to go and get tested," he said.

"I said that to our players here, to make sure they get themselves tested.

"I have an opportunity here at Doncaster and I have a good family, and I just don't think any differently. I am trying to do all the right things for my health and fitness."

McGeechan triumphed on his first tour as Lions head coach, overseeing the side's 2-1 series victory in Australia in 1989.

He was at the helm for the 2-1 series defeat in New Zealand four years later, before masterminding an against-the-odds series win over world champions South Africa in 1997.

That tour was later immortalised in the 'Living with Lions' film which included footage of stirring pre-match speeches to his players.

Appointed Scotland coach in 1988, McGeechan led his side to their most Grand Slam two years later, courtesy of an iconic 13-7 victory over England.

As a coach at club level, he won the European Cup with Wasps in 2007 and the English Premiership in 2008.

He also returned for a fourth Lions tour as head coach in 2009, a 2-1 defeat in South Africa, and worked as an assistant on the 2005 tour to New Zealand.

Putin calls for 'direct talks' with Ukraine as European leaders demand ceasefire

Reuters Vladimir Putin, with three Russian flags behind him, holding a piece of paper and speaking into two microphones. Reuters

Russian President Vladimir Putin has called for "direct talks" with Ukraine, saying they should "start without delay, as early as 15 May".

"We seek serious talks... to remove the root causes of the conflict and start moving towards a lasting, strong peace", he said on Saturday, in a rare televised late-night address from the Kremlin.

It comes hours after European leaders - including UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron - visited Ukraine and urged Russia to agree to an unconditional 30-day ceasefire.

In response, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov had said Moscow would "have to think this through" - but warned that "trying to pressure us is quite useless".

One of Alcatraz's last living inmates on Trump's plan to reopen prison

Daniel A. Edwards Charlie Hopkins sits on his porchDaniel A. Edwards
Hopkins has moved back to his home state of Florida since he was released in 1963

When Charlie Hopkins thinks back to the three years he spent in one of America's most famous prisons, he remembers the "deathly quiet" the most.

In 1955, Hopkins was sent to Alcatraz - a prison on an isolated island off the coast of San Francisco - after causing trouble at other prisons to serve a 17-year sentence for kidnapping and robbery.

Falling asleep at night in his cell on the remote island, he said, the only sound was the whistle of ships passing.

"That's a lonely sound," Hopkins said. "It reminds you of Hank Williams singing that song, 'I'm so lonesome I could cry.'"

Now 93 and living in Florida, Hopkins said the San Francisco National Archives informed him that he is likely the last surviving former Alcatraz inmate. The BBC could not independently verify this.

In an interview with the BBC this week, Hopkins described life at Alcatraz, where he made friends with gangsters and once helped plan an unsuccessful escape. Although it closed decades ago, President Donald Trump claimed recently that he wants to re-open it as a federal prison.

When Hopkins was transferred to the high-security prison in 1955 from an Atlanta facility, he remembers it being clean, but barren. And there were few distractions - no radio at the time, and few books, he said.

"There was nothing to do," he said. "You could walk back and forth in your cell or do push-ups."

Hopkins kept busy part of the time with his job cleaning Alcatraz, sweeping the floors and buffing them "until they shined", he said.

He was sent to prison in 1952 in Jacksonville, Florida, for his role in a series of robberies and kidnappings. He was part of a group that took hostages to get through roadblocks and steal cars, he said.

National Archives Charlie Hopkins' Alcatraz prison photo National Archives
Charlie Hopkins spent three years in Alcatraz prison after causing trouble in other facilities

At Alcatraz, Hopkins had some infamous neighbours. The facility housed many violent criminals over its 30 years - Al Capone; Robert Stroud, a murderer known as the "Birdman of Alcatraz"; and crime boss James "Whitey" Bulger - making it the subject of a host of films and television shows.

A 22-acre island, 1.25 miles (2 kilometres) off San Francisco and surrounded by freezing waters with strong currents, Alcatraz was originally a naval defence force. It was rebuilt in the early 20th century as a military prison. The Justice Department took it over in the 1930s, transforming the facility into a federal prison to address rampant organised crime at the time.

Even in the high-security prison, Hopkins said he still managed to get into trouble and spent many days in the facility's "D Block" - solitary confinement where inmates who misbehaved were held and rarely let out of their cells.

His longest stint there - six months - came after he tried to help several other prisoners, including notorious bank robber Forrest Tucker, escape Alcatraz, Hopkins said. He helped steal hacksaw blades from the prison's electric shop to cut the prison bars in the basement kitchen.

The plan didn't work - prison guards discovered the blades in other inmates' cells, Hopkins said. "A few days after they locked them up, they locked me up," he said.

But that did not stop one of the inmates.

In 1956, when Tucker was taken to a hospital for a kidney operation, he stabbed his ankle with a pencil so prison guards would have to remove his leg irons, Tucker told the New Yorker. Then, as he was taken to get an X-ray, he overpowered hospital orderlies and ran away, he said.

He was captured in a hospital gown in a cornfield hours later.

As more prisoners attempted to escape Alcatraz over the years, officials ramped up security, Hopkins said.

"When I left there in 1958, the security was so tight you couldn't breathe," he said.

All told, there were 14 separate attempts over the years involving 36 inmates, according to the National Park Service. One of the most famous involved Frank Morris, and brothers Clarence and John Anglin, who escaped in June 1962 by placing papier-mâché heads in their beds and breaking out through ventilation ducts. They were never found, but the Federal Bureau of Investigation concluded they drowned in the cold waters surrounding the island.

A year later, the prison shut down after the government determined it would be more cost-effective to build new prisons than to keep the remote island facility in operation.

Now it's a publicly run museum visited by millions each year that generates about $60m year in revenue for park partners.

The building is decrepit, with peeling paint, rusted pipes, and crumbling toilets in each cramped cell. Construction on the main prison facility began in 1907, and more than a century of exposure to the elements has rendered the place all but uninhabitable.

Trump said this week, however, that he wants his government to re-open and expand the island prison for the country's "most ruthless and violent offenders".

A group of tourists in sweats and sneakers strolls the long spare corridor in Alcatraz, with empty jail cells on either side. The only light shines in from skylights overhead
A tour group visits Alcatraz

Alcatraz "represents something very strong, very powerful" - law and order, Trump said.

But experts and historians said Trump's proposal to re-establish the prison is far-fetched, as it would cost billions to repair and bring up to date with other federal facilities.

Hopkins agrees. "It would be so expensive," he said.

"Back then, the sewage system went into the ocean," he added. "They'd have to come up with another way of handling that."

Hopkins left Alcatraz five years before it closed its doors for good. He had been transferred to a prison in Springfield, Missouri and given psychiatric medication that improved his behaviour and helped him heal psychological issues, he said.

But the avid Trump supporter said he does not believe the president's proposal is serious.

"He don't really want to open that place," Hopkins said, adding that Trump was trying to "get a point across to the public" about punishing criminals and those who enter the US illegally.

Hopkins was released in 1963, working first at a truck stop before taking on other jobs. He went back to his home state of Florida, where now he has a daughter and grandson.

After several decades reflecting on his crimes and life in Alcatraz, he wrote a 1,000-page memoir, with nearly half of the book detailing his troubled behaviour, he said.

"You wouldn't believe the trouble I caused them when I was there," he said. "I can see now, looking back, that I had problems."

Putin says Russia and Ukraine should meet to negotiate 'lasting peace'

Reuters Vladimir Putin, with three Russian flags behind him, holding a piece of paper and speaking into two microphones. Reuters

Russian President Vladimir Putin has called for "direct talks" with Ukraine, saying they should "start without delay, as early as 15 May".

"We seek serious talks... to remove the root causes of the conflict and start moving towards a lasting, strong peace", he said on Saturday, in a rare televised late-night address from the Kremlin.

It comes hours after European leaders - including UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron - visited Ukraine and urged Russia to agree to an unconditional 30-day ceasefire.

In response, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov had said Moscow would "have to think this through" - but warned that "trying to pressure us is quite useless".

Dyer continued rehab after letter from daughter

BBC Danny Dyer sits smiling in front of a Desert Island Discs backdrop.BBC
Danny Dyer said he was ready to leave rehab but stayed after receiving a letter from home

Danny Dyer has said receiving a letter from his daughter Dani while at a rehab facility in 2016 was what convinced him to continue his treatment.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs, the actor said he'd "had enough" of the treatment he'd received and was "going to go".

"Then they read a letter out from home, from my daughter Dani, and it made me sit back down in that seat," he told presenter Lauren Laverne.

Whilst he did not share what his then 20-year-old daughter had written, he said he "grew up and understood this is my life and fame and all that stuff is toxic".

Dyer said the letter from Dani made him reflect on the pain he'd caused his family and commit to continuing his treatment at the facility in South Africa.

Dani Dyer shot to fame on Love Island, winning the 2018 series. She and her father have since appeared together on Celebrity Gogglebox, an Italian travel series, and on their podcast Sorted With The Dyers.

'A lot of bad decisions'

Danny Dyer in an EastEnders scene in 2022
Danny Dyer played Mick Carter in BBC soap EastEnders from 2013 to 2022

Danny Dyer, who shot to fame in the 1999 film Human Traffic, has gone on to become one of the most recognisable stars of British TV and film.

In his interview, the 47-year-old spoke about how fame has affected his personal life, leading him to make "a lot of bad decisions".

He said at one stage of his career, he was "doing a lot of drugs".

"I'd go to nightclubs and DJ sometimes but in general just wave off of balconies and I'd get paid quite a lot of money to do it," he added.

Dyer says looking back is "awful" and that his days of "hedonism" and "mad behaviour" are over.

He said one of his turning points came in 2013, when he was offered the role of Queen Vic landlord Mick Carter in EastEnders, which he says he took because he "had no money".

"I had bailiffs [coming round], no-one would hire me and the more I'm doing these club appearances, the more drugs I'm taking, and drink, so I'm in this weird spiral."

Four years later, he made the decision to go to rehab in Cape Town during an awards show after-party at his house.

"I remember I had this moment where I was sitting in my ensuite trying to work out how to put a pair of jeans on - I was that off my head.

"I looked up, I looked at my wife and I could just see how tired she looked and I could hear kids running around downstairs, and I thought 'I need to sort my life out'," he added.

Dyer says it made him realise how addiction "affects so many people around you, not just yourself".

Dyer, who is nominated for best male comedy performance at Sunday's Bafta TV Awards for his role in Mr. Bigstuff, has also experienced success with Disney hit Rivals this year.

He said a lot of the work he took in the early stages of his career was due to the lack of money he had and the added pressure of becoming a first-time parent with his now-wife Joanne at the age of 19.

"I'd made a few films but I just wasn't getting paid any money and I was desperate to get on the property ladder," he said.

"I was still living on a council estate with my daughter and Jo."

Dyer says he then got offered a documentary series in 2006 called The Real Football Factories and "couldn't believe the money that was offered to me".

"I can't watch them back now [the documentaries], I cringe at them, but I needed to earn money, I needed to get a house and I needed to the right thing," he added.

He may be Alcatraz's last living inmate. Here's what he thinks of Trump's plan to reopen prison

Daniel A. Edwards Charlie Hopkins sits on his porchDaniel A. Edwards
Hopkins has moved back to his home state of Florida since he was released in 1963

When Charlie Hopkins thinks back to the three years he spent in one of America's most famous prisons, he remembers the "deathly quiet" the most.

In 1955, Hopkins was sent to Alcatraz - a prison on an isolated island off the coast of San Francisco - after causing trouble at other prisons to serve a 17-year sentence for kidnapping and robbery.

Falling asleep at night in his cell on the remote island, he said, the only sound was the whistle of ships passing.

"That's a lonely sound," Hopkins said. "It reminds you of Hank Williams singing that song, 'I'm so lonesome I could cry.'"

Now 93 and living in Florida, Hopkins said the San Francisco National Archives informed him that he is likely the last surviving former Alcatraz inmate. The BBC could not independently verify this.

In an interview with the BBC this week, Hopkins described life at Alcatraz, where he made friends with gangsters and once helped plan an unsuccessful escape. Although it closed decades ago, President Donald Trump claimed recently that he wants to re-open it as a federal prison.

When Hopkins was transferred to the high-security prison in 1955 from an Atlanta facility, he remembers it being clean, but barren. And there were few distractions - no radio at the time, and few books, he said.

"There was nothing to do," he said. "You could walk back and forth in your cell or do push-ups."

Hopkins kept busy part of the time with his job cleaning Alcatraz, sweeping the floors and buffing them "until they shined", he said.

He was sent to prison in 1952 in Jacksonville, Florida, for his role in a series of robberies and kidnappings. He was part of a group that took hostages to get through roadblocks and steal cars, he said.

National Archives Charlie Hopkins' Alcatraz prison photo National Archives
Charlie Hopkins spent three years in Alcatraz prison after causing trouble in other facilities

At Alcatraz, Hopkins had some infamous neighbours. The facility housed many violent criminals over its 30 years - Al Capone; Robert Stroud, a murderer known as the "Birdman of Alcatraz"; and crime boss James "Whitey" Bulger - making it the subject of a host of films and television shows.

A 22-acre island, 1.25 miles (2 kilometres) off San Francisco and surrounded by freezing waters with strong currents, Alcatraz was originally a naval defence force. It was rebuilt in the early 20th century as a military prison. The Justice Department took it over in the 1930s, transforming the facility into a federal prison to address rampant organised crime at the time.

Even in the high-security prison, Hopkins said he still managed to get into trouble and spent many days in the facility's "D Block" - solitary confinement where inmates who misbehaved were held and rarely let out of their cells.

His longest stint there - six months - came after he tried to help several other prisoners, including notorious bank robber Forrest Tucker, escape Alcatraz, Hopkins said. He helped steal hacksaw blades from the prison's electric shop to cut the prison bars in the basement kitchen.

The plan didn't work - prison guards discovered the blades in other inmates' cells, Hopkins said. "A few days after they locked them up, they locked me up," he said.

But that did not stop one of the inmates.

In 1956, when Tucker was taken to a hospital for a kidney operation, he stabbed his ankle with a pencil so prison guards would have to remove his leg irons, Tucker told the New Yorker. Then, as he was taken to get an X-ray, he overpowered hospital orderlies and ran away, he said.

He was captured in a hospital gown in a cornfield hours later.

As more prisoners attempted to escape Alcatraz over the years, officials ramped up security, Hopkins said.

"When I left there in 1958, the security was so tight you couldn't breathe," he said.

All told, there were 14 separate attempts over the years involving 36 inmates, according to the National Park Service. One of the most famous involved Frank Morris, and brothers Clarence and John Anglin, who escaped in June 1962 by placing papier-mâché heads in their beds and breaking out through ventilation ducts. They were never found, but the Federal Bureau of Investigation concluded they drowned in the cold waters surrounding the island.

A year later, the prison shut down after the government determined it would be more cost-effective to build new prisons than to keep the remote island facility in operation.

Now it's a publicly run museum visited by millions each year that generates about $60m year in revenue for park partners.

The building is decrepit, with peeling paint, rusted pipes, and crumbling toilets in each cramped cell. Construction on the main prison facility began in 1907, and more than a century of exposure to the elements has rendered the place all but uninhabitable.

Trump said this week, however, that he wants his government to re-open and expand the island prison for the country's "most ruthless and violent offenders".

A group of tourists in sweats and sneakers strolls the long spare corridor in Alcatraz, with empty jail cells on either side. The only light shines in from skylights overhead
A tour group visits Alcatraz

Alcatraz "represents something very strong, very powerful" - law and order, Trump said.

But experts and historians said Trump's proposal to re-establish the prison is far-fetched, as it would cost billions to repair and bring up to date with other federal facilities.

Hopkins agrees. "It would be so expensive," he said.

"Back then, the sewage system went into the ocean," he added. "They'd have to come up with another way of handling that."

Hopkins left Alcatraz five years before it closed its doors for good. He had been transferred to a prison in Springfield, Missouri and given psychiatric medication that improved his behaviour and helped him heal psychological issues, he said.

But the avid Trump supporter said he does not believe the president's proposal is serious.

"He don't really want to open that place," Hopkins said, adding that Trump was trying to "get a point across to the public" about punishing criminals and those who enter the US illegally.

Hopkins was released in 1963, working first at a truck stop before taking on other jobs. He went back to his home state of Florida, where now he has a daughter and grandson.

After several decades reflecting on his crimes and life in Alcatraz, he wrote a 1,000-page memoir, with nearly half of the book detailing his troubled behaviour, he said.

"You wouldn't believe the trouble I caused them when I was there," he said. "I can see now, looking back, that I had problems."

How to win Eurovision, according to the experts

Getty loreen and nemo embrace as nemo holds the eurovision song contest trophy aloft. loreen has long black curly hair and long silver nails, nemo is wearing a pink and red ruffled coatGetty
Who will follow in the footsteps of Loreen and Nemo as the winner of the Eurovision Song Contest?

The Eurovision Song Contest was watched by around 163 million people last year – meaning there are potentially 163 million different opinions on what makes a perfect entrant.

Do you go for a soulful ballad, guaranteed to leave Europe misty-eyed and full of love and peace?

Or do you opt for a cheesy extravaganza, complete with saucy takes on regional costumes and eye-popping staging that will have the entire continent (and Australia) raving in their living rooms?

The perfect song

Forensic musicologist at Boston's Berklee College of Music Joe Bennett has analysed hundreds of Eurovision finalists, identifying two dominant musical styles.

One is the "Euro-banger" - high-energy, 120+ BPM songs with kick drums and synth-heavy production, like Sweden's winning entries Euphoria (Loreen, 2012) and Heroes (Måns Zelmerlöw, 2015).

The other is the slow-burning ballad - typically around 70 BPM, such as Portugal's Amar Pelos Dois (Salvador Sobral, 2017) and the Netherlands' Arcade (Duncan Laurence, 2019).

There is a cliché that Eurovision songs are only about love and peace – reinforced by a song performed during the 2016 contest's interval about writing a perfect Eurovision song, called Love Love Peace Peace.

Getty Images bearded drag queen conchita wurst performing at the 2014 eurovision song contest. she is wearing a gold brocade dress, has long dark hair and is holding a microphone while looking upwardGetty Images
Conchita Wurst's Rise Like a Phoenix shows that self-empowering songs can be very successful in Eurovision

According to Bennett, there is some validity to this, with every Eurovision song falling under six broad lyrical themes: "love, unity, self-assertion, partying, history and songs about making music".

He adds that "songs of self-assertion or lyrical self-empowerment do very well" - as seen with Austria's 2014 winner Rise Like a Phoenix (Conchita Wurst).

Keep staging simple and effective

Acts might be tempted to go over the top on staging, but this may not be the way to secure victory, according to our experts.

Songwriter Thomas Stengaard co-wrote Denmark's 2013 winner Only Teardrops (as well as this year's UK entry What the Hell Just Happened by Remember Monday). He puts his success down, in part, to its simple staging, which he says made it easy to remember.

"If you asked a kid to draw that staging, they could. It was a girl with no shoes on, two guys playing the drums and a flute guy. Very simple, but it worked."

Getty Images emmelie de forest  in a white dress sings with a man playing a bass drum on either side of herGetty Images
Only Teardrops and its 'simple staging' was the 2013 winner

Vocal coach Carrie Grant, who led the UK's jury in 2014 and came sixth in the contest as part of Sweet Dreams in 1983, agrees.

"There is nothing worse than having an artist whose stage has lots of money but their performance doesn't warrant it," she says. "It makes that performance seem worse."

The 2014 winner (and Carrie's personal favourite) was Conchita Wurst – the first act to win the contest without backing singers or dancers on stage since 1970.

What made Conchita stand out was that she was a bearded drag queen. Carrie believes Eurovision fans love things that are quirky and that "embrace the LGBT community".

the band sweet dreams wave on the eurovision 1983 stage. two women in grey and yellow tracksuits and headbands wave on either side of a man in a blue and grey tracksuit
Carrie Grant (right) represented the UK in the 1983 song contest – on a stage that just featured three stools

But she adds that Conchita wasn't a gimmick but instead "a brilliant singer who could deliver what we call in vocal coaching 'money moments'".

The key is key

Minor-key songs increasingly dominate Eurovision.

Bennett debunks the idea that "major equals happy, minor equals sad", adding that "minor keys are more a shorthand for emotional depth".

In 2023, 85% of finalists performed in minor keys, according to the Press Association. In the last 20 years, only two major-key songs have won - 2011's Running Scared (for Azerbaijan) and 2017's Amar Pelos Dois.

Professor Elizabeth Hellmuth Margulis, a researcher in music cognition at Princeton, highlights source sensitivity – our instinct to associate a song's sound with its intended context. A few bars of a techno song, for example, and we have a mental image of a dark nightclub, and of the sort of DJ who might perform there.

the trio remember monday in front of a tree. the woman of the left is blonde, the woman in the middle brunette and the woman on the right is a redhead. they are wearing white corsets, and the woman in the middle is also wearing pink ruffles
Remember Monday are attempting to buck Eurovision trends with a major-key song

This means certain minor keys now immediately signal "Eurovision-ness" to audiences.

Remember Monday's What the Hell Just Happened was written at a songwriting camp, with multiple songwriters working together at a countryside retreat to write the perfect song for this year's UK act.

The song was intentionally written in a major key to stand out in a sea of minor-key songs - similar to the UK's 2022 second-place entry, Spaceman by Sam Ryder (B Major).

Have a surprise up your sleeve

Repetition is important to make a song stick in the mind, says Margulis. But songs should avoid being too repetitive. Margulis says that what particularly makes a song catchy is "not only when they are heard repeatedly, but also when they throw in some kind of surprise twist".

Bucks Fizz's 1981 winner for the UK, Making Your Mind Up, is a classic example. First, the song changes key, quickly followed by a memorable costume change in which the female singers' skirts were ripped off to reveal shorter skirts – a joint visual and musical twist.

bucks fizz performing at the 1981 eurovision song contest. the band stands in a row, with the two women on the outside. the woman on the length is wearing a red thigh-high dress, and the woman on the right a yellow one. the men are wearing white trousers, with the one of the left in a blue jumper and the one on the right in green. the women's discarded long skirts lie on the ground behind them
Bucks Fizz's skirt-shedding routine helped win them the competition in 1981

Earlier Eurovision winners were often mocked for their nonsense lyrics, like Sweden's 1984 winner Diggi-Loo Diggi-Ley, but Bennett argues this highlights Eurovision's strong focus on melody.

"Eurovision really needs big melodic hooks. You want people across Europe to be singing that melody. The need for a very accessible, catchy chorus is essential."

Key changes have long been a way to introduce novelty into Eurovision songs. The 2000s saw multiple winners follow this formula, including Olsen Brothers' Fly on the Wings of Love for Norway (2000), and Serbia's Molitva in 2007.

But as Bennett points out, though they are still present in around a fifth of finalists, no song with a final chorus key change has won since Molitva almost 20 years ago.

Stengaard's song for this year's UK act Remember Monday is certainly full of surprises. BBC music correspondent Mark Savage said the song featured "a dizzying array of key changes and tempo shifts".

The song is the songwriter's answer to the question he asks himself whenever he writes for Eurovision: "How do you stand out in a contest where everyone wants to stand out?"

'I'm a professional cuddler - let me tell you why a hug feels so good'

Danny Fullbrook/BBC A smiling woman wearing glasses and a blue t-shirt with the words "Would you like a hug?" stands in the street in front of a man, who is also smiling, holding a sign that reads "FREE 20-SECOND HUGS". Danny Fullbrook/BBC
Samii Wood wants to encourage touch as she believes the health benefits are substantial

Every fortnight, Samii Wood snuggles up with a group of strangers for a "cuddle puddle".

These gatherings see attendees melt into a large nest of cushions and blankets, offering each other platonic touch and comfort.

Samii, who is 41 and based in Bedford, is a professional cuddler, who also offers one-to-one cuddle therapy.

She believes human touch is not just comforting but also has measurable health benefits.

"Your serotonin levels, which is your feel-good hormone, are boosted and so is your oxytocin level, which is your love and bonding hormone," she says.

Samii Wood A group of people are tightly locked in a cuddle. Their faces are not visible but their arms and hands are tightly wrapped around each other.Samii Wood
Samii invites people to explore the healing power of touch at "cuddle puddles" in Bedfordshire

Touch can also lower your levels of stress hormone cortisol and "can regulate the nervous system", she adds.

Samii's clients are sometimes suffering with nervous system issues, post-traumatic stress disorder or loneliness.

"People think that my service will be just full of creepy guys," she says.

"It's not like that. I have a variety of ages and males and females that come to these events."

Pep Valerio, 36, from Bedford, has been attending Samii's cuddle puddles for a couple of months.

"It's healing without words. You don't need to know people's problems; you just know your touch is providing aid to them," he said.

Samii describes how in group sessions, attendees are told to imagine certain scenarios to give specific emotional context.

"Sometimes I say, 'Imagine the person you're hugging is the person you'd most like to hug just one more time'," she adds.

"That always chokes me up, and and we've had men and women both literally just sobbing on each other."

One-to-one sessions are catered more towards an individual's needs.

They can range from simply sitting close together and talking with an arm around them, to lying down and spooning.

It can also involve other nurturing touch, such as back stroking or cradling.

Samii Wood A group of people are covered in blankets and united in cuddles as they lie on a nest of cushions. No faces are clearly visible but there are men and women of various ages.Samii Wood
The professional cuddler believes intimate touch can help release happy hormones

Some might raise an eyebrow at the thought that people are paying for this, but Sammi stresses it is a "fully clothed, platonic, nurturing service".

To safeguard all involved, she screens clients before taking them on and gets them to sign consent forms that explicitly state boundaries.

"It's very client-led, so they tell me what they want and what they're comfortable with. It's an ongoing dialogue," Samii says.

She acknowledges that intimate touch can lead to arousal, but in those cases she enforces a break or change of position to refocus clients on the nurturing aspect of the session.

There is no regulatory body in the UK for this type of therapy, but professionals like Samii can gain accreditation from Cuddle Professionals International (CPI).

This body insists its members are taught to observe "ethical touch protocols" that rely on informed consent.

While many practices may uphold professional standards, it is potentially an easy environment to misuse and exploit.

Samii says people can report any wrongdoing to the police, local authority or CPI.

The body was founded by wellness expert Claire Mendelsohn, who according to her website, "recognised the need for regulation within the profession".

CPI is now a registered college with the Complementary Medical Association, and approved by the International Institute for Complementary Therapists to deliver training.

Samii Wood A group of people are smiling and embracing as they lie on a bed of pillows. In the foreground are a man and woman with big smiles with their arms wrapped around each other. A man in the background has his arm around a woman and his eyes closed peacefully.Samii Wood
The events are attended by a variety of ages and genders

Samii discovered cuddle therapy after watching a documentary showing how popular it was overseas.

However, in the UK, she finds that people are more reluctant to touch and be touched.

She blames the Covid pandemic and lockdowns for simultaneously making people "crave it more" but also be "more fearful of having it".

She explains: "It's huge in America and in Europe, not so much over here, but we really need it and people wouldn't come to professional cuddlers like myself if we did not need that.

"We think we're all connected because we're online, but that's why we're so much more disconnected.

"We're all seeking that connection and there's no shame in saying, 'I just want to be held by someone and I want to be hugged. I want to be seen and drop my walls and and have that'."

The science of cuddles

Getty Images A man with dark hair is hugging somebody else with grey hair whose face we cannot see. The man we can see is smiling.Getty Images
One expert suggests people need to feel familiar with those they are cuddling

Touch can benefit physical and mental health, according to a paper by Danish neuroscientist Dr Julian Packheiser and his colleagues from the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience at Ruhr University Bochum, Germany.

They found there was no difference in health benefits in adults between touch from a familiar person or a health care professional.

However, Sophie Scott, professor of cognitive neuroscience at University College London, argues that while touch has demonstrable benefits, the relationship between people involved is important.

Referring to another study, she says: "They put people in a scanner and physically hurt them; you could see the brain responding to the pain.

"However, when a partner held their hand, they had a reduced response to the pain. So there are chemical changes making you feel better, but that isn't a random person; that is your partner.

"What worries me slightly about somebody doing that professionally is you need to develop that relationship. You wouldn't just let anybody hold your hand.

"People like going to get their haircut or a manicure. Those are quite neutral parts of the body. Hugging might get a bit closer to their danger zones.

"What I'm saying is people would need to feel safe. If they didn't feel safe, it would be highly adversive to do that".

Numerous other studies have highlighted the benefit of touch and its potential to benefit mental and physical health.

Kimberley Piper/BBC A man with short brown hair and a brown beard is smiling next to Samii who has a blue shirt and glasses with her arm around himKimberley Piper/BBC
Pep Valerio encourages "anybody with an open mind" to try cuddle therapy

Mr Valerio had been exploring alternative methods of healing, such as tapping and tai-chi, when he came across cuddle therapy.

"It relieves stress, promotes relaxation and togetherness," he says.

He says Samii has created a safe environment by playing a soothing soundtrack and getting people to take part in warm-up hug-based exercises at the start.

"Once you've done a few exercises, to break down those walls, it feels like the most natural thing lie on the floor and cuddle a lot of strangers," he says.

"There are people are crying before we have settled into the cuddle puddle, just based on the hug-based exercises we've done and some of the emotions that are brought up."

He has also taken part in one-to-one exercises with Samii, which he says allow for "a deeper bond".

"Spooning feels vulnerable, especially being the guy spooned by a woman. It allows you to experience holding and being held," he says.

"Afterwards I feel held, I feel supported, I feel as if I've shed some of my load and my wall has been lowered."

Follow Beds, Herts and Bucks news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.

Along the Canada border, small-town America feels sting of Trump's trade war

BBC Two images of women. Woman on the right stands with hands behind her back in store. Woman on the left stands with hands in front of her. She stands in front of a bridge. BBC

At the end of a waitressing shift, Kristina Lampert used to separate her tips in two piles: Canadian cash and American.

But it's been weeks since she has done that.

Freighters, the restaurant where she works, is one of the first places people can grab a bite after crossing the US-Canada border between Sarnia, Ontario, and Port Huron, Michigan.

The Blue Water Bridge, which connects the US and Canada, is in full view from the restaurant's windows.

"A lot of people used to come over and say 'we're here for the view'," she says of Canadian diners. "I haven't heard that at all recently."

Border towns noticed almost instantly when US President Donald Trump began imposing tariffs on countries around the world and saying he wanted to make Canada the 51st US state - because the number of Canadians crossing the border plummeted.

Woman stands at restaurant table
Kristina Lampert

Border crossings between the US and Canada are down some 17% since Trump started bringing in tariffs, according to CBP data.

Canadians car trips to the US are down almost 32% compared to March 2024, according to Statistics Canada.

Like many of the towns that dot along the 5,525 mile (8,891 km) border, the economies of Port Huron and Sarnia are linked and in some ways dependent on one another. Port Huron is a manufacturing town of less than 30,000 people with a quaint downtown and lots of retail, offering visitors an enticing opportunity for a day-trip.

On a day where there is little traffic, a Sarnia resident can cross the border and be in Michigan in a matter of minutes.

Many of these towns faced their first test more than five years ago when the Covid-19 pandemic shut crossings down for 19 months and left local economies reeling.

Now, they are seeing a second economic hit due to Trump's trade war, with many Canadians choosing to "Buy Canadian" - purchase Canadian-made goods - and reducing travel to the US in response to the fraying relationship between the two neighbouring countries.

One place this is being felt is at Sarnia's Duty Free, the last place you can purchase goods before leaving Canada and entering the US. The shelves of perfume and liquor are fuller and the parking lot is emptier since tariffs tensions began.

Barbara Barett, the executive director of Frontier Duty Free Association, says some of the 32 land-border duty frees in Canada have seen as much as an 80% decrease in sales since Trump's return to the White House. Most stores have seeing a 50-60% drop in business.

"We're 100% reliant on the travel across the border," she says of duty frees. "Our stores are often pillars of these communities; communities depend on them."

Billboard with two hands making a heart, one hand has the Canadian flag and the other has the American flag. The sign reads "Two nations, One Love".
Billboard in Port Huron, Michigan

And while the crossing at Port Huron-Sarnia is faring better than most, on a Friday in May the parking lot of the Sarnia Duty Free is almost empty.

Tania Lee, who runs the store with her family, says that has become the new norm.

On Easter weekend - usually one of their busiest of the year, as Canadians take advantage of the break to stop in at a favourite restaurant and go to a church service in Port Huron - cars were few and far between and sales were not what they should have been, she says.

"We are suffering because of collateral damage at the border," Ms Lee says of her second-generation family business.

Ms Lee notes that people who live in border towns often cross the boundary multiple times a week. She, for example, has a mailbox at a shipping facility in Port Huron that she visits regularly, as do her neighbours.

Woman in light blue blazer stands in front of bridge
Port Huron Mayor Anita Ashford in front of Blue Water Bridge which connects Port Huron, Michigan, and Sarnia, Ontario

People across the Blue Water Bridge are feeling the effects too, Mayor Anita Ashford says.

She has heard from both residents of her town and Canadians frustrated about the increased tension between the nations.

Nationally, a 10% drop in Canadian tourism would cost the US up to 14,000 jobs and $2.1bn (£1.56b) in business, according to the US Travel Association.

Michigan is one of the places likely to see the brunt of that impact. In 2023, Canadians visitors spent a collective $238m in the state, according to tourism officials.

That money is essential for border towns like Port Huron, its mayor says.

"I hope people in Washington will start to understand what they're doing to the people," she says. "We are not responsible for this, the [federal] government put us in this position and now we have to deal with it respectfully."

"We need each other," she says.

Putin calls for 'direct talks' with Ukraine

Reuters Vladimir Putin, with three Russian flags behind him, holding a piece of paper and speaking into two microphones. Reuters

Russian President Vladimir Putin has called for "direct talks" with Ukraine, saying they should "start without delay, as early as 15 May".

"We seek serious talks... to remove the root causes of the conflict and start moving towards a lasting, strong peace", he said on Saturday, in a rare televised late-night address from the Kremlin.

It comes hours after European leaders - including UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron - visited Ukraine and urged Russia to agree to an unconditional 30-day ceasefire.

In response, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov had said Moscow would "have to think this through" - but warned that "trying to pressure us is quite useless".

Baby Reindeer and Mr Bates to compete at TV Baftas

Getty Images Richard Gadd and Jessica Gunning pose backstage during the 2024 BAFTA Television Awards with P&O Cruises at The Royal Festival Hall on May 12, 2024 in London, EnglandGetty Images
Richard Gadd and Jessica Gunning are both nominated for their performances in Baby Reindeer

Baby Reindeer and Mr Bates vs the Post Office will go head to head at the Bafta TV Awards, which take place later at London's Royal Festival Hall.

The event is one of the most prestigious in the TV calendar, and will see shows broadcast in 2024 compete for awards voted for by the British Academy.

First screened by ITV n January 2024, Mr Bates vs the Post Office was one of the most impactful shows of the year and led to widespread public outcry about the wrongful convictions of hundreds of sub-postmasters.

Baby Reindeer, meanwhile, was a breakout viral hit for Netflix about an aspiring comedian and his stalker, but it also prompted a defamation claim from the woman said to have inspired it.

The TV Baftas mark the final stop on the awards circuit for both shows, after wins at other events such as the Emmys, Golden Globes, SAG and National Television Awards.

Which shows have the most Bafta nominations?

ITV Toby Jones and Julie Hesmondhalgh in Mr Bates vs the Post OfficeITV
Toby Jones and Julie Hesmondhalgh starred in ITV's Mr Bates vs the Post Office
  • 4 nominations - Baby Reindeer, Mr Bates vs The Post Office
  • 3 - Rivals, Slow Horses, Mr Loverman, Say Nothing, The Traitors
  • 2 - Sherwood, Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light, Gavin & Stacey: The Finale

Scroll down for the nominations list in full

The above tallies include nominations for the memorable moment prize, the only award voted by the public.

The numbers do not include the shows' earlier nominations and wins at the Bafta Craft Awards, which took place last month and saw Baby Reindeer's Richard Gadd take home best comedy writing, with Slow Horses and Inside No. 9 among the other winners.

Disney+ David Tennant in RivalsDisney+
David Tennant is nominated for his role in Rivals, Disney's adaptation of the Jilly Cooper novel

The Post Office scandal is widely considered the biggest miscarriage of justice in modern British history, and saw hundreds of sub-postmasters wrongly prosecuted and convicted of crimes they didn't commit, based on inaccurate data from the Horizon software system.

The story was reported in the media over several years, but ITV dramatisation Mr Bates vs the Post Office brought it a new league of public attention and prompted the government to announce new legislation to exonerate and compensate victims.

Meanwhile, Baby Reindeer told the story of a struggling stand-up comedian, the woman who stalks him, and the powerful man in the TV industry who mentors and then sexually assaults him. Richard Gadd's partly autobiographical drama became one of the most dissected series of the year.

Other nominees include Rivals, a Disney+ adaptation of a Jilly Cooper novel about two powerful men battling for control of a local TV network, and Slow Horses, about a dysfunctional unit within MI5 made up of disgraced agents.

Say Nothing, which followed the lives of those growing up during the troubles in Belfast, is also nominated, alongside Mr Loverman, a screen adaptation of Bernadine Evaristo's novel about an elderly man whose marriage falls apart after his long-term affair with his male friend is revealed.

Sherwood focused on a Nottinghamshire community still reeling from the 1980s miners' strike, while Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light continued Hilary Mantel's trilogy about Thomas Cromwell's continued rise to power and eventual fall from grace.

Other nominees include reality series The Traitors, a game of deception played in a Scottish castle, and Gavin & Stacey: The Finale, which saw the long-running series about two families from from Billericay in Essex and Barry in Wales reach an emotional conclusion.

Who is hosting the Bafta TV Awards?

Getty Images Alan Cumming speaks onstage during the 37th Annual American Cinematheque Awards at The Beverly Hilton on February 15, 2024 in Beverly Hills, CaliforniaGetty Images
Scottish TV presenter and actor Alan Cumming has hosted three seasons of The Traitors USA

Actor and TV presenter Alan Cumming will take over hosting duties this year, and we hope he brings just as much drama as he did to the latest cracking series of The Traitors US.

The Scottish star's film credits include Eyes Wide Shut, GoldenEye and Emma, as well as two absolute masterpieces of 1990s cinema - Spice World: The Movie and Romy and Michele's High School Reunion.

Bafta's executive director of awards and content, Emma Baehr, said Cumming would "definitely bring a playful sense of mischief and fun to the ceremony".

Elsewhere in the ceremony, Jessie J will deliver her first TV performance in six years, singing the appropriately titled The Award Goes To, while Tom Grennan will perform his new single Full Attention.

Awards will be presented by stars including Dame Mary Berry, Billy Porter, Suranne Jones, Ashley Walters, Katie Piper, Sir David Suchet, Big Zuu, Ellie Simmonds, Owen Cooper, Rose Ayling Ellis, Stacey Dooley and Baroness Benjamin.

How to watch the Bafta TV Awards

Lennie James and Ariyon Bakare seen in Mr Loverman
Mr Loverman has three nominations, including acting nods for Lennie James (left) and Ariyon Bakare

The ceremony will be broadcast on BBC One at 19:00 BST.

But it actually takes place a couple of hours earlier, so that some sections of the ceremony can be edited down before the show airs.

BBC News will be running spoiler-free coverage, with winners revealed on our live page in line with when they are announced on BBC One.

The Bafta TV nominations in full

Drama series

  • Blue Lights - BBC One
  • Sherwood - BBC One
  • Supacell - Netflix
  • Wolf Hall: The Mirror And The Light - BBC One

Limited drama

  • Baby Reindeer - Netflix
  • Lost Boys And Fairies - BBC One
  • Mr Bates Vs The Post Office - ITV1
  • One Day - Netflix

Scripted comedy

  • Alma's Not Normal (BBC Two)
  • Brassic (Sky Max)
  • G'Wed (ITV1)
  • Ludwig (BBC One)

Leading actress

  • Anna Maxwell Martin - Until I Kill You (ITV1)
  • Billie Piper - Scoop (Netflix)
  • Lola Petticrew - Say Nothing (Disney+)
  • Marisa Abela - Industry (BBC One)
  • Monica Dolan - Mr Bates vs The Post Office (ITV1)
  • Sharon D Clarke - Mr Loverman (BBC One)

Leading actor

  • David Tennant - Rivals (Disney+)
  • Gary Oldman - Slow Horses (Apple TV+)
  • Lennie James - Mr Loverman (BBC One)
  • Martin Freeman - The Responder (BBC One)
  • Richard Gadd - Baby Reindeer (Netflix)
  • Toby Jones - Mr Bates vs The Post Office (ITV1)

Supporting actress

  • Jessica Gunning - Baby Reindeer (Netflix)
  • Katherine Parkinson - Rivals (Disney+)
  • Maxine Peake - Say Nothing - (Disney+)
  • Monica Dolan - Sherwood (BBC One)
  • Nava Mau - Baby Reindeer (Netflix)
  • Sue Johnston - Truelove (Channel 4)

Supporting actor

  • Ariyon Bakare, Mr Loverman (BBC One)
  • Christopher Chung, Slow Horses (Apple TV+)
  • Damian Lewis, Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light (BBC One
  • Jonathan Pryce, Slow Horses (Apple TV+)
  • McKinley Belcher III, Eric (Netflix)
  • Sonny Walker, The Gathering (Channel 4)

Female performance in a comedy

  • Anjana Vasan - We Are Lady Parts (Channel 4)
  • Kate O'Flynn - Everyone Else Burns (Channel 4)
  • Lolly Adefope - The Franchise (Sky Comedy)
  • Nicola Coughlan - Big Mood (Channel 4)
  • Ruth Jones - Gavin & Stacey: The Finale (BBC One)
  • Sophie Willan - Alma's Not Normal (BBC Two)

Male performance in a comedy

  • Bilal Hasna - Extraordinary (Disney+)
  • Danny Dyer - Mr Bigstuff (Sky Comedy)
  • Dylan Thomas-Smith - G'Wed (ITV2)
  • Nabhaan Rizwan - Kaos – Sister (Netflix)
  • Oliver Savell- Changing Ends (ITV1)
  • Phil Dunning - Smoggie Queens (BBC Three)

Soap

  • Casualty (BBC One)
  • Coronation Street (ITV1)
  • EastEnders (BBC One)

Entertainment programme

  • The 1% Club (ITV1)
  • Michael McIntyre's Big Show (BBC One)
  • Taskmaster (Channel 4)
  • Would I Lie To You? (BBC One)

Entertainment performance

  • Anthony McPartlin, Declan Donnelly - Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway - (ITV1)
  • Claudia Winkleman - The Traitors (BBC One)
  • Graham Norton - The Graham Norton Show (BBC One)
  • Joe Lycett Late Night Lycett - (Channel 4)
  • Romesh Ranganathan, Rob Beckett Rob & Romesh Vs (Sky Max)
  • Stacey Solomon Sort Your Life Out - (BBC One)

Factual entertainment

  • In Vogue: The 90s (Disney+)
  • Race Across The World (BBC One)
  • Rob And Rylan's Grand Tour (BBC Two)
  • Sort Your Life Out (BBC One)

Reality

  • Dragons' Den (BBC One)
  • The Jury: Murder Trial (Channel 4)
  • Love Is Blind (Netflix)
  • The Traitors (BBC One)

Daytime

  • Clive Myrie's Caribbean Adventure (BBC Two)
  • Loose Women (ITV1)
  • Morning Live (BBC One)
  • Richard Osman's House Of Games (BBC Two)

International

  • After The Party (Channel 4)
  • Colin From Accounts (BBC Two)
  • Say Nothing (Disney+)
  • Shōgun (Disney+)
  • True Detective: Night Country (Sky Atlantic)
  • You Are Not Alone: Fighting The Wolfpack (Netflix)

Live event coverage

  • D-Day 80: Tribute To The Fallen (BBC One)
  • Glastonbury 2024 (BBC Two)
  • Last Night Of The Proms (BBC Two)

Current affairs

  • Life and Death in Gaza - Storyville (BBC Two)
  • Maternity: Broken Trust - Exposure (ITV1)
  • State of Rage (Channel 4)
  • Ukraine's War: The Other Side (ITV1)

Single documentary

  • Hell Jumper (BBC Two)
  • Tell Them You Love Me (Sky Documentaries)
  • Ukraine: Enemy In The Woods (BBC Two)
  • Undercover: Exposing The Far Right (Channel 4)

Factual series

  • American Nightmare (Netflix)
  • Freddie Flintoff's Field Of Dreams On Tour (BBC One)
  • The Push: Murder On The Cliff (Channel 4)
  • To Catch A Copper (Channel 4)

Specialist factual

  • Atomic People (BBC Two)
  • Billy & Molly: An Otter Love (National Geographic)
  • Children of the Cult (ITV1)
  • Miners' Strike 1984: The Battle For Britain (Channel 4)

News coverage

  • BBC Breakfast: Post Office Special (BBC News/BBC One)
  • Channel 4 News: Inside Sednaya – The Fall Of Assad (Channel 4 News/Channel 4)
  • Channel 4 News: Undercover Inside Reform's Campaign (Channel 4 News/Channel 4)

Sports coverage

  • Euro 2024 (BBC Sport/BBC One)
  • Paris 2024 Olympics (BBC Sport/BBC One)
  • Wimbledon 2024 (BBC Sport/Wimbledon Broadcast Services/BBC One)

Memorable moment

  • Bridgerton - "THE" carriage scene where Colin admits his true feelings for Penelope (Netflix)
  • Gavin & Stacey: The Finale - Smithy's Wedding: Mick Stands Up (BBC One)
  • Mr Bates Vs The Post Office - Jo Hamilton phones the Horizon helpline (ITV1)
  • Rivals - Rupert Campbell-Black and Sarah Stratton are caught in a game of naked tennis (Disney+)
  • Strictly Come Dancing - Chris McCausland and Dianne Buswell Waltz to You'll Never Walk Alone (BBC One)
  • The Traitors - "Paul isn't my son… but Ross is!" (BBC One)

Short form

  • Brown Brit (Channel 4)
  • Peaked (Channel 4)
  • Quiet Life (BBC Three)

Read more about the Bafta nominees:

Polluted airport water 'destroyed my unborn lambs'

BBC Farmer David Thornley holds a framed picture of one of his prize-winning ramsBBC
Farmer David Thornley claims his breeding ewes lost pedigree lambs after drinking polluted water

A pedigree livestock farmer plans to take legal action against East Midlands Airport, claiming a leaking pipe polluted the brook that runs through his rented grazing land.

David Thornley claims 25 of his 100 ewes lost their valuable pedigree lambs after drinking from Diseworth Brook in Leicestershire in 2022.

In April, East Midlands International Airport Ltd pleaded guilty to charges of exceeding the limits of its environmental permits when it released water containing chemicals from holding ponds in January and February 2022.

The airport denies any link between the discharge and bacterial pollution in the brook.

Airport departure lounge
The airport says the issues raised by Mr Thornley "do not form any part of the evidence in the case that the Environment Agency has brought to court"

Environmental studies show de-icing chemicals, washed from airport runways, can affect water quality because they encourage the growth of "sewage fungus", or "undesirable river biofilms".

With more than 20 years' experience as a prize-winning breeder, Mr Thornley says typically he would expect to lose just 2-3% of pregnancies after embryo transfer.

So in January 2022, when veterinary scans showed 25% of his impregnated ewes were no longer carrying lambs, he began to investigate.

Approaching Diseworth Brook, he says he was hit by a smell that "took your breath away".

He took photos of the brook covered in a brown substance, which he now believes was sewage fungus.

When he and his son walked upstream, they found "black sludge" emerging from an outlet pipe below the airport's holding ponds.

"There was nothing coming from above [that part of] the stream," he says.

"It was clear as clear, and it smelt lovely until it got to that pipe."

'Small leak identified'

Mr Thornley immediately reported his pollution concerns to the Environment Agency (EA), which attended the following day.

When he contacted the airport in January 2022, its reply, seen by the BBC, confirmed: "There was an incident... where a small leak was identified into Diseworth Brook."

The airport said in its email to Mr Thornley it was working with the EA, which was "now happy the issue had been resolved and there were no further impacts to the local watercourse".

In February 2022, Mr Thornley asked a specialist company to take water samples.

The laboratory results showed the water was polluted with bacteria and unfit for livestock to drink.

However, the results did not prove a link between the bacteria and airport de-icing chemicals.

David Thornley A photo shows brown foam on the edges of the brook.David Thornley
Mr Thornley took photos of Diseworth Brook in January 2022

"It's devastating," says Mr Thornley. "[Losing the lambs] has a big impact on the family. You can't replace those bloodlines or that breeding overnight. It's tens of years of breeding and investment to breed the right quality stock."

Mr Thornley is asking for compensation of £50,000.

The EA asked Mr Thornley to give evidence in its case against the airport.

But that evidence was never heard.

The agency told the farmer he was no longer required after the airport's lawyers unexpectedly entered guilty pleas to three of six charges at a pre-trial review.

The EA says those charges relate to the discharge of contaminated wastewater into the River Trent between 14 January 2022 and 4 February 2022, but declined to comment or give more detail until sentencing on 25 July.

David Thornley A brass plug covers an outlet pipeDavid Thornley
The outlet pipe below the airport's balancing ponds has now had a plug installed

Mr Thornley said airport staff had seemed sympathetic in initial meetings.

For two years, the airport paid his rent for extra grazing land to keep his stock away from the brook between November and April.

Those are the months when the airport has EA permits to discharge water containing de-icing chemicals from balancing ponds holding run-off from its runways.

But Mr Thornley says the airport is now refusing to continue the rental arrangement and claims he has not had a reply to letters from his insurance company lawyers.

He says he no longer trusts the airport to keep him informed about water quality and will continue to keep his livestock away from the brook from November to April.

'Victorian legacy'

The EA's case against the airport was supported by members of the Derby Railway Angling Club, who blame de-icing chemicals for causing large plumes of sewage fungus in the River Trent and threatening rare fish.

Before he retired, member Gary Cyster was a senior fisheries inspector for the EA.

He says he is disappointed that the agency did not pursue three further charges against the airport, including one linking airport chemical discharges to plumes of sewage fungus in the River Trent.

"Sewage fungus is like a legacy from the Victorian times," he says.

"We shouldn't be seeing any sewage fungus. If effluent is going into the River Trent, there should be a finite limit for BOD [biological oxygen demand]."

Fishing club member Gary Cyster, in a blue t-shirt, sits on the bank of the River Trent.
Former Environment Agency inspector Gary Cyster says watercourses are being routinely polluted by airport chemicals

Mr Cyster says the Trent is home to some of the rarest fish in the country, including the spined loach and the bullhead, and these could be threatened by sewage fungus and low oxygen levels caused by de-icing chemicals.

He says he has research indicating that East Midlands Airport is the only airport in the country which does not have a finite BOD limit for discharging into a major river. Instead its "load-based" EA permit says that discharges should not have "adverse effects" on plants or animals in the water and that there should be "no significant adverse visual effect".

"We feel like the River Trent has been sold down the river," he says.

He is also concerned about the airport's continuing expansion and plans for the East Midlands Freeport.

"This is going to affect all the watercourses around the area. So it's about time that we had a modern treatment works there and they stop this pollution."

What the airport says

East Midlands Airport said: "We take our environmental responsibilities very seriously and work closely with the Environment Agency on the operation of our water drainage system.

"We are aware of Mr Thornley's concerns, take them seriously and have always responded to his correspondence.

"However, the issues he raises do not form any part of the evidence in the case that the Environment Agency has brought to court.

"The pollutants identified in the sample testing he undertook are not found in the de-icer products used by the airport but were instead contaminants associated with sewage, which the airport does not discharge to the brook.

"We are unable to comment further until the case reaches its full conclusion."

How do de-icing chemicals affect streams and rivers?

For safety reasons, UK airports routinely use de-icing chemicals during winter months to protect aircraft and runways.

They pose a pollution danger, so airports are required to have treatment systems in place. Discharges should be monitored by the environmental regulator.

Bangor University researcher Dr Ben Exton investigated the impact of de-icing chemicals such as propylene glycol for his PhD.

He likens the effect of these chemicals on water-born bacteria to offering hungry humans a roomful of fattening fast food.

"It's a bit like an unlimited flood of burgers... [the bacteria] grow extremely quickly, and as they grow, they deplete dissolved oxygen and stress other species," he says.

"They blanket the river bed, and that kills off other things in the river."

Numerous studies have shown de-icing chemicals cause habitat loss and poor water quality for invertebrates and fish.

"It's been going on for years," says Dr Exton.

"It's really difficult to treat the de-icer contaminated water because, unlike things like sewage, it comes in fluxes.

"Biological systems that break down these compounds don't ramp up and down well."

A document on East Midlands Airport's website flags de-icing chemicals as a "challenge". The document outlines its permit limits and how it treats the run-off in winter and summer ponds to protect local waterways.

Its guilty pleas last month relate to breaching those permits.

Follow BBC Leicester on Facebook, on X, or on Instagram. Send your story ideas to eastmidsnews@bbc.co.uk or via WhatsApp on 0808 100 2210.

Putin suggests Russia and Ukraine have 'direct' talks next week

Reuters Vladimir Putin, with three Russian flags behind him, holding a piece of paper and speaking into two microphones. Reuters

Russian President Vladimir Putin has called for "direct talks" with Ukraine, saying they should "start without delay, as early as 15 May".

"We seek serious talks... to remove the root causes of the conflict and start moving towards a lasting, strong peace", he said on Saturday, in a rare televised late-night address from the Kremlin.

It comes hours after European leaders - including UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron - visited Ukraine and urged Russia to agree to an unconditional 30-day ceasefire.

In response, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov had said Moscow would "have to think this through" - but warned that "trying to pressure us is quite useless".

Plaque unveiled as reminder of decades of forced adoptions

BBC A grey slate with white text which reads: 'This is the site of The Rosemundy Mother and Baby Home. 1919-1964. This plaque is to commemorate the women who gave birth here and the babies born here, and to recognise their difficult personal experiences.'BBC
The plaque is on an external wall of Rosemundy House, now a hotel, but formerly a home for unmarried mothers

Victims of forced adoption have gathered in Cornwall for a public event condemning the treatment of unmarried mothers in post-war Britain.

They unveiled a plaque at Rosemundy House in St Agnes - formerly a home for unmarried mothers - while calling for a formal "adoption apology" from the government.

Dr Phil Frampton, who was born at the Rosemundy Mother and Baby Home in 1953, said: "We want an apology, not only for the mothers but also for their children who suffered."

Lyn Rodden, from Camborne, who was one of those forced to give up her baby, said: "It means everything that we've been recognised at last."

'Struggle for an apology'

It is estimated up to 250,000 women in Britain were forced to give up their babies in the decades after World War Two.

Campaigners also want "restorative actions" from the government, such as providing counselling and search support for mothers and those forcibly adopted.

Dr Frampton, a member of the Rosemundy Commemoration Committee, said he spent years in foster care after he was separated from his mother as a baby.

He said: "It's really pleasing to be here today, it's the start of a new chapter in the struggle for an apology for all those unmarried mothers who suffered in the post-war period."

Phil Frampton is smiling as he looks towards the camera
Phil Frampton was born at Rosemundy Mother and Baby Home in 1953

Mr Frampton said the day was "part of a day of healing, part of a day of recognising the grief of those mothers..."

He added: "This is not something that's just in the past, for a lot of women they lived with this, you hear women today 80, 88 years old, who are still having to live with what happened, and the children live with it, and families live with it."

Mr Frampton said it was "important" to be able to give the mothers, children, and families affected by forced adoptions "a sense of relief and release".

Another plaque is due to be unveiled by the campaigners in Kendal, Cumbria, on 23 May.

'Cried all the way home'

In September 1956, 19-year-old Lyn Rodden from Camborne, Cornwall, gave birth to her son at the Rosemundy home.

She said she was forced to get on a train and take her son to Bath to be adopted.

Ms Rodden said: "For everybody else the parents came here and took them away from here, but I had to get on a train and take my son up to Bath, and leave him in an office.

"A woman just came out and said 'name' and 'I'll take the baby' and she took him into the back office, came out and said 'hurry up' she said, 'catch your train' she said, 'and back to St Agnes, you'll be there for another six weeks'.

"That was it. I cried all the way home..."

Lyn Rodden stood in front of a stone wall with other people around her
Lyn Rodden gave birth at the Rosemundy Mother and Baby Home in 1956

Ms Rodden said she was eventually reunited with her son 50 years later when he found her.

"[It was] like the final piece of a jigsaw being fitted," she said.

She added: "To think that although slavery was abolished in the 1800s, a Dickensian way of life was gone, but not at Rosemundy.

"It was still in the past, and that was it really, and it means everything that we've been recognised at last..."

A Government spokesperson said: "This abhorrent practice should never have taken place, and our deepest sympathies are with all those affected.

"We take this issue extremely seriously and continue to engage with those impacted to provide support."

Follow BBC Cornwall on X, Facebook and Instagram. Send your story ideas to spotlight@bbc.co.uk.

The Papers: 'Criminal migrants to be kicked out' and Trump Inc's cover shot

The Observer front page on Sunday 11 May 2025
The Observer, fresh from a recent takeover, continues its new style of full-page front page photographs with a striking picture of US President Donald Trump's dynasty, showing his children and their spouses. A magazine-style headline, trailing to a full piece inside the paper, reads "The firm: Trump Inc and the new age of corruption".
Daily Mail front page on Sunday 11 May 2025
Many of Sunday's papers lead on the government's new immigrations plans. "Commit any crime and you're out, migrants to be warned", the Daily Mail says under what it calls a "planned government crackdown". The Home Office will be "told of all foreign nationals convicted of any offence", with officials given "wider powers" to remove them from the UK, the paper says.
Sunday Express front page on Sunday 11 May 2025
The Sunday Express also leads on immigration, but on migrants' lawyers "abusing the system". The paper says foreign criminals will not be able to abuse what it calls "controversial human rights laws" under new government plans. According to the Express, the plans will be the "biggest overhaul of immigration laws since Brexit".
The Sun front page on Sunday 11 May 2025
"I was off my nut on EastEnders", reads the Sun's headline on what it labels a Danny Dyer exclusive. The former soap star says he was on prescription drugs, such as valium and diazepam during his time on the show, and according to the paper, "blasted co-stars, scripts and BBC bosses" for what he calls "not much duty of care". The accompanying story does reveal these claims did not come during a face-to-face interview with the Sun, but rather an on-stage rant made by Dyer at a recent charity event.
Sunday People front page on Sunday 11 May 2025
In more TV news, the Sunday People goes remarkably early with its speculation of who will be appearing in the 23rd series of Strictly Come Dancing from this September. The paper's sources suggest that reality star and 2017's I'm a Celebrity queen of the jungle Georgia "Toff" Toffolo will be getting on her dance shoes. The People also tips the son of a real-life queen - Queen Camilla's eldest child, Tom Parker Bowles - to be another contestant.
Sunday Telegraph front page on Sunday 11 May 2025
The Sunday Telegraph claims retired policeman Julian Foulkes was arrested and cautioned in 2023 for a "thought crime" after challenging a supporter of pro-Palestinian marches on X. Police body-worn camera footage showed officers looking through his books including titles by Douglas Murray at his home in Kent, it adds. "Free speech is clearly under attack", the former special constable says. A police spokesperson tells the Telegraph the caution was "not appropriate in the circumstances and should not have been issued".
Sunday Times front page on Sunday 11 May 2025
The Sunday Times runs with a lead story on businessman Graham King - known as the "Asylum King" - who it says has become a billionaire after "profits soared" for his migrant-housing firm. The Times says he has recorded a 35% jump in his fortune, which has landed him a spot on the paper's Rich List. It also talks about the government's new plans on immigration.
Sunday Mirror front page on Sunday 11 May 2025
The Sunday Mirror splashes with a story on the Duchess of Sussex's dad, who they say has a "new life... a world away from hers". According to the paper, Thomas Markle rents a "£500-a-month apartment in the Philippines" with his son.
Daily Star front page on Sunday 11 May 2025
And finally, the Daily Star decides to have some fun with what it calls "frisky farmers" and a poll suggesting that nearly 70% of them think they are - in the paper's words - "best in bed". Accompanying it is a cheekily Photoshopped picture of TV celebrity farmer Jeremy Clarkson in a straw hat, lying atop a bale of hay.
News Daily banner

Sign up for our morning newsletter and get BBC News in your inbox.

News Daily banner

India and Pakistan accuse each other of 'violations' after ceasefire deal

EPA People gather around damaged vehicles and houses after shelling, at Jammu town in Indian-administered Kashmir on 10 May 2025EPA

India and Pakistan have accused each other of "violations" hours after the two nations said they had agreed to a ceasefire following days of cross-border military strikes.

After sounds of explosions were heard in Indian-administered Kashmir, India's Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said there had been "repeated violations of the understanding we arrived at".

A short while later, Pakistan's foreign ministry said it remained "committed to faithful implementation of a ceasefire...notwithstanding the violations being committed by India in some areas".

The fighting between India and Pakistan over the last four days has been the worst military confrontation between the two rivals in decades.

The use of drones, missiles and artillery started when India struck targets in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir in response to a deadly militant attack in Pahalgam last month. Pakistan had denied any involvement.

After four days of cross-border strikes, India and Pakistan said they had agreed on a full and immediate ceasfire.

US President Donald Trump announced the news on his Truth Social Platform on Saturday morning. He said it had been brokered by the US.

Pakistan's Foreign Minister later confirmed the agreement had been reached by the two countries, adding that "three dozen countries" were involved in the diplomacy.

But hours after the announcement, residents - and BBC reporters - in the main Indian-administered Kashmiri cities of Srinagar and Jammu reported hearing the sounds of explosions and seeing flashes in the sky.

Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said: "For the last few hours, there have been repeated violations of the understanding we arrived at earlier this evening.

"This is a breach of the understanding arrived at earlier today."

Misri said India's armed forces was "giving an appropriate response" and he concluded his briefing by "calling upon Pakistan to address these violations".

In response, a spokesman for Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said: "Pakistan remains committed to faithful implementation of ceasefire between Pakistan and India, announced earlier today.

"Notwithstanding the violations being committed by India in some areas, our forces are handling the situation with responsibility and restraint.

"We believe that any issues in smooth implementation of the ceasefire should be addressed through communication at appropriate levels.

"The troops on ground should also exercise restraint."

India confirms ceasefire with Pakistan

Kashmir is claimed in full by India and Pakistan, but administered only in part by each since they were partitioned following independence from Britain in 1947.

It has been a flashpoint between the two nuclear-armed nations and they have have fought two wars over it.

Confirming the ceasefire, India's external affairs minister S Jaishankar said the two nations had "worked out an understanding on stoppage of firing and military action".

"India has consistently maintained a firm and uncompromising stance against terrorism in all its forms and manifestations. It will continue to do so," he added.

Later, in an address to the nation, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said the ceasefire had been reached "for the benefit of everybody".

Speaking after the ceasefire announcement, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said India and Pakistan had agreed to start talks on a broad set of issues at a neutral site.

He said he and US Vice-President JD Vance had spent 48 hours with senior Indian and Pakistani officials, including their respective Prime Ministers Narendra Modi and Shehbaz Sharif.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said he welcomed "all efforts to de-escalate the conflict".

UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said Britain has been "engaged" in talks for "some days", with Foreign Secretary David Lammy speaking to both sides.

"I'm pleased to see today that there's a ceasefire," Sir Keir said. "The task now is to make sure that that is enduring and is lasting."

The recent fighting came after two weeks of tension following the killing of 26 tourists in the resort town of Pahalgam.

Survivors of the 22 April attack in Indian-administered Kashmir, which killed 25 Indians and one Nepali national, said the militants were singling out Hindu men.

The Indian defence ministry said its strikes this week were part of a "commitment" to hold "accountable" those responsible for the attack. Pakistan described them as "unprovoked".

Pakistan said Indian air strikes and cross-border fire since Wednesday had killed 36 people in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir, while India's army reported at least 21 civilians deaths from Pakistani shelling.

Fighting intensified overnight on Friday, with both countries accusing each other of targeting airbases and other military sites.

India's military said Pakistan had launched mass drone attacks and shelling along its western border, endangering civilians - a claim Pakistan denied.

Pakistan said it had taken retaliatory action for Indian missile strikes on airbases at Rawalpindi - 10km (6.2m) from Pakistan's capital Islamabad - Chakwal and Shorkot.

Saints avoid becoming Premier League's worst ever side and troll Derby with comic apology

'Sorry if we got your hopes up' - Saints avoid unwanted record

Aaron RamsdaleImage source, Getty Images
Image caption,

Goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale has been relegated from the Premier League with Bournemouth, Sheffield United and Southampton

Southampton fans have had precious few moments to be happy about this season as they slumped to a pitiful relegation a full fortnight before Easter.

But their class of 2025 have at least avoided becoming an addition to a pub quiz question after moving past Derby County's record Premier League low total of 11 points from 2007-08.

Southampton may have been up against it at the end of the 0-0 draw at home to Manchester City but held on to move to 12 points for the season.

Just generationally poor, instead of all-timers.

Goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale, no stranger to a relegation, was quiet for most of the game as Pep Guardiola's side failed to move out of first gear to worry him.

But as the clock ticked towards added time he was called into action, tipping away a header from Ruben Dias and then beaten by Omar Marmoush's dipping strike which bounced off the crossbar.

Saints marked the draw with a message to Derby on social media, saying "Sorry if we got your hopes up".

And Ramsdale added: "Not one person outside our dressing room thought we could do anything today and rightly so. People thought we would get zero points for the rest of the season, it was down to us.

"Everyone knows it's been a difficult season for us. The sun was shining, Man City threw everything at us. That one was for the fans.

"We're not happy at all with how the season has gone but we are definitely happy with the fact we have managed to avoid that record.

"We are under no illusion it's still not a great points tally, but it's that one off our back."

Not that Man City defender Ruben Dias was impressed...

"It's frustrating," Dias said. "In a moment like this every point matters. And it is frustrating to play against a team like this.

"They don't even try anything, they just sit and they don't even want to win the game. They just want to be there. It is no good for the show and no good for themselves. It is no good for anyone but it is what it is."

Southampton on XImage source, Southampton FC
Image caption,

Saints playfully sent a message to Derby County on social media after the game

'What a bunch of losers'

You can rely on the Premier League to bring you back to earth with a bump.

And speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live's 606 phone-in after the game, Premier League winner Chris Sutton was not impressed with the Saints' celebrations.

He said: "I don't mind the fans celebrating because they haven't had much to celebrate, but the players on the full-time whistle? That is embarrassing, celebrating being the second-worst Premier League team of all time with 12 measly points. How low is your bar?

"Is it something to celebrate being the second-worst team? Watching players punch the air and celebrate, that is embarrassing. It is absolute amateur hour.

"It has been a disastrous season. If I am a Southampton fan I am excited, but if I am seeing my players celebrating I would be thinking 'heaven help us for next season'. What a bunch of losers."

Co-presenter on the 606 show, Robbie Savage, who captained Derby in that record low 2007-08 season, also called the players' reactions "pathetic".

Interim manager Simon Rusk - Saints' third boss of a sorry campaign - lost his last game as a full-time manager 2-1 at home to Barnet.

It's a long way from the National League to shutting out Erling Haaland and Co, and Rusk believes the point against Guardiola could stand the Saints in good stead back in the Championship.

They won at Wembley in the play-off final last season and will be among the favourites to return in another year - despite their frugal top-flight points tally.

Rusk said: "I understood the importance of that record, but we were focusing on performances, improvement and environment.

"We were fighting for an immense amount of pride.

"We wanted to make it clear that we were aspiring to finish the season as strong as possible. We delivered that.

"With seven games to go I was confident we could take care of this points issue and that's what happened.

"On day one of this job I spoke about moments in football. We are not getting carried away, we know it's been a difficult year but hopefully the supporters go home really happy."

Next up is another chance to put their names in the history books, with Saints the final ever visitors to Goodison Park on 18 May.

Plaque unveiled as reminder of decades of forced apoptions

BBC A grey slate with white text which reads: 'This is the site of The Rosemundy Mother and Baby Home. 1919-1964. This plaque is to commemorate the women who gave birth here and the babies born here, and to recognise their difficult personal experiences.'BBC
The plaque is on an external wall of Rosemundy House, now a hotel, but formerly a home for unmarried mothers

Victims of forced adoption have gathered in Cornwall for a public event condemning the treatment of unmarried mothers in post-war Britain.

They unveiled a plaque at Rosemundy House in St Agnes - formerly a home for unmarried mothers - while calling for a formal "adoption apology" from the government.

Dr Phil Frampton, who was born at the Rosemundy Mother and Baby Home in 1953, said: "We want an apology, not only for the mothers but also for their children who suffered."

Lyn Rodden, from Camborne, who was one of those forced to give up her baby, said: "It means everything that we've been recognised at last."

'Struggle for an apology'

It is estimated up to 250,000 women in Britain were forced to give up their babies in the decades after World War Two.

Campaigners also want "restorative actions" from the government, such as providing counselling and search support for mothers and those forcibly adopted.

Dr Frampton, a member of the Rosemundy Commemoration Committee, said he spent years in foster care after he was separated from his mother as a baby.

He said: "It's really pleasing to be here today, it's the start of a new chapter in the struggle for an apology for all those unmarried mothers who suffered in the post-war period."

Phil Frampton is smiling as he looks towards the camera
Phil Frampton was born at Rosemundy Mother and Baby Home in 1953

Mr Frampton said the day was "part of a day of healing, part of a day of recognising the grief of those mothers..."

He added: "This is not something that's just in the past, for a lot of women they lived with this, you hear women today 80, 88 years old, who are still having to live with what happened, and the children live with it, and families live with it."

Mr Frampton said it was "important" to be able to give the mothers, children, and families affected by forced adoptions "a sense of relief and release".

Another plaque is due to be unveiled by the campaigners in Kendal, Cumbria, on 23 May.

'Cried all the way home'

In September 1956, 19-year-old Lyn Rodden from Camborne, Cornwall, gave birth to her son at the Rosemundy home.

She said she was forced to get on a train and take her son to Bath to be adopted.

Ms Rodden said: "For everybody else the parents came here and took them away from here, but I had to get on a train and take my son up to Bath, and leave him in an office.

"A woman just came out and said 'name' and 'I'll take the baby' and she took him into the back office, came out and said 'hurry up' she said, 'catch your train' she said, 'and back to St Agnes, you'll be there for another six weeks'.

"That was it. I cried all the way home..."

Lyn Rodden stood in front of a stone wall with other people around her
Lyn Rodden gave birth at the Rosemundy Mother and Baby Home in 1956

Ms Rodden said she was eventually reunited with her son 50 years later when he found her.

"[It was] like the final piece of a jigsaw being fitted," she said.

She added: "To think that although slavery was abolished in the 1800s, a Dickensian way of life was gone, but not at Rosemundy.

"It was still in the past, and that was it really, and it means everything that we've been recognised at last..."

A Government spokesperson said: "This abhorrent practice should never have taken place, and our deepest sympathies are with all those affected.

"We take this issue extremely seriously and continue to engage with those impacted to provide support."

Follow BBC Cornwall on X, Facebook and Instagram. Send your story ideas to spotlight@bbc.co.uk.

Kyiv ceasefire talks a 'significant moment', says Starmer

BBC UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer speaks to reporters in KyivBBC

Sir Keir Starmer has said that the outcome of talks between Ukraine's allies in Kyiv marks a "significant moment" in the push to secure a ceasefire in its conflict with Russia - but admitted it was not "the end of the process".

Speaking to the BBC in Kyiv following a virtual meeting of the "coalition of the willing", the prime minister said "we haven't seen unity like this pretty well throughout the conflict".

Around 30 global leaders reasserted their call for Russia to agree to a 30-day unconditional ceasefire from Monday, threatening "massive" sanctions if it does not comply.

Noting other conflicts including India-Pakistan hostilities, Sir Keir said "we are living in a more uncertain world" that "requires leadership stepping up".

The UK prime minister joined French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk for the meeting, which was hosted by Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Zelensky.

Other members of the "coalition of the willing" participated remotely, including Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Canadian PM Mark Carney, President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, and Mark Rutte, the secretary-general of Nato.

In a phone call with Donald Trump following the meeting, the US president reportedly reaffirmed his support for the ceasefire, after Vladimir Putin rejected his initial proposal in March.

Sir Keir said Trump was "absolutely clear that this is a demand that must be met".

The leaders assembled in Kyiv warned that "new and massive" sanctions will be imposed on Russia's energy and banking sectors if Putin does not agree to the unconditional 30-day ceasefire "in the air, at sea and on land".

Sir Keir told the BBC that "material progress" had been made during the meeting.

"We've been able to collectively get to a much better position and a more unified position today that holds out a better prospect of a ceasefire," he said.

"You've got unity in the demand, but also unity in what the response will be if the demand is not met. We haven't seen that sort of unity during this conflict."

"I'm not going to pretend this is the end of the process but this is a significant moment we now need to push on and make sure this happens," he added.

Further coordinating sanctions on Russian oil, fossil fuels and other assets would make a "material difference", the prime minister said.

The Kremlin reacted to the proposal by accusing European leaders of making "contradictory" and "generally confrontational" remarks about Russia.

Press secretary Dmitry Peskov said that Ukraine's allies must stop sending weapons to Ukraine before any ceasefire can happen - something European leaders have rejected - before later saying Russia would consider the proposal.

"We have to think about this. This is a new development," state-run Russian news agency Tass reported Peskov as saying.

The Kyiv meeting was a symbolic show of support for Ukraine a day after more than 20 world leaders joined Putin in Moscow for Russia's World War Two Victory Day parade.

The massive military parade was held in Moscow's Red Square to commemorate the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945 with leaders including China's Xi Jinping, Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, and Prime Minister Robert Fico of Slovakia, an EU member, in attendance.

"It was a hugely important, symbolic day here in Kyiv because there was a propaganda exercise in Moscow yesterday," Sir Keir told the BBC.

"80 years on from VE Day it was really important that we were here today... to demonstrate that the values that underpinned what was being fought for 80 years ago are the same values now".

Asked whether he feels "scared about the state of the world" as others in Britain do - given conflicts in the Middle East and India-Pakistan tensions - Sir Keir said "we are living in a more uncertain world and we're in a different era of defence and security".

But he said it did not keep him up at night "because it's really important that I focus on what I can do - bringing people together, making significant steps today, making sure we're preparing with Ukraine for what might happen next".

The so-called "coalition of the willing" was established by the UK and France to reinforce any eventual peace deal with security guarantees, including the presence of peacekeeping troops in Ukraine.

European leaders pressure Russia over 30-day Ukraine ceasefire

Getty Images (L-R) Prime Minister of Poland Donald Tusk, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Keir Starmer, First Lady of Ukraine Olena Zelenska, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi, President of France Emmanuel Macron and Chancellor of Germany Friedrich Merz pose Getty Images
The leaders of Poland, the UK, France and Germany joined Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky (centre) in Kyiv

European leaders have called US President Donald Trump to discuss proposals for a 30-day ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine from Monday while on a visit to Kyiv.

The call came after leaders of the so-called "coalition of the willing" held a meeting to discuss advancing peace talks.

The leaders of France, Germany, the UK and Poland were hosted in person by Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky, while others joined remotely.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the coalition backed a "full and unconditional" ceasefire - originally mooted by Trump - and that the EU was ready to "impose further biting sanctions" if it was broken.

The presence of UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron, Polish PM Donald Tusk and new German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in the Ukrainian capital was a symbolic response to the more than 20 leaders who joined Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Friday.

In a joint statement ahead of the visit, they said they "will stand in Kyiv in solidarity with Ukraine against Russia's barbaric and illegal full-scale invasion".

The leaders added: "Alongside the US, we call on Russia to agree a full and unconditional 30-day ceasefire to create the space for talks on a just and lasting peace."

A 30-hour ceasefire, unilaterally called by Putin to mark Russia's Victory Day, is due to end on Saturday. It has seen a decrease in fighting but both sides have accused the other of breaches.

The "coalition of the willing" was formed to reinforce any eventual peace agreement with security guarantees, including the possibility of placing troops in Ukraine.

Trump earlier reiterated the call for an unconditional 30-day ceasefire after a phone call with Zelensky.

"If the ceasefire is not respected, the US and its partners will impose further sanctions," he wrote on social media.

As the meeting was going on, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia was already "used to sanctions" and knew how to minimise their impact, adding: "There is no point in trying to scare us with these sanctions."

Meanwhile, Dmitry Medvedev, the former Russian president and now deputy head of Russia's Security Council, told the European allies to "shove these peace plans".

Other leaders who joined the meeting remotely included Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Canadian PM Mark Carney, von der Leyen, and Mark Rutte, the secretary-general of Nato.

Reports of Russian attacks across Ukraine continue, despite Russia's claims of a temporary ceasefire.

In northern Sumy region, an 85-year-old woman was killed, three others were injured, 19 residential homes and 10 other buildings were destroyed or damaged, Ukrainian police said.

In Kostyantynivka, eastern Donetsk region, one person was injured and two apartment blocks caught fire after Russian attacks, Ukrainian state emergency service DSNS said.

And in the southern city of Kherson, a 58-year-old local resident sought medical help after being attacked by a Russian drone carrying explosives, the regional administration said.

'WeightWatchers set me up to fail' - Why diet industry is losing to jabs like Ozempic

BBC A selfie of Symone, who has brown hair and brown eyes and is smiling at the camera.BBC
Symone, who used to be a WeightWatchers member, now uses weight loss jab Mounjaro

Symone has been using weight loss injections for nearly a year. She says they have done what the diet industry could never do for her - free her from a life controlled by food.

From a very young age, the 34-year-old could not switch off the constant noise in her head. When would her next meal come? What would it be? Would there be enough for her?

"The food noise was just so loud, it could be unbearable," she says. "I have tried every single diet going - I've done Atkins, eating clean, SlimFast, Slimming World, meal-replacement shakes - you name it - I've done it and none have them worked for me."

Several years ago, weighing 16st (102kg), she was one of the many millions who signed up to WeightWatchers, downloading the app and meticulously following its points plan, scanning in everything she ate and staying within her daily points budget.

WeightWatchers attributes points to food and drink, stating that it uses a "groundbreaking algorithm" to assess their nutritional makeup and then uses a point system to inform its members which food is better to eat.

But after a few weeks, Symone says she started to feel like she was being set up to fail.

"How could I lose weight long term if I had to follow this mad points system? Food is not measured in points - it's measured in calories, fat, macro nutrients.

"I felt trapped, and the more research I did, the more I educated myself, the more I thought this is not for me."

The only thing that has ever worked in her quest to lose weight, she says, is weight loss injection Mounjaro, which she started using nearly a year ago.

"I was at my heaviest, just over 21 stone, and the doctor told me I was pre-diabetic. I knew something had to change - I've got two children who depend on me too."

A woman with brown hair and glasses in a black and white dress smiles as she poses next to a cream pillar outside a building, with greenery in the background.
Symone felt disappointed with using point-based systems for food and drink

She was advised to start on the weight loss medication but with a two-year wait, she decided to buy it privately online and within just a few days, she was crying with relief.

"I couldn't believe that I had control over food. For the first time, I wasn't panicking about when I would next eat."

Weight loss jabs work by mimicking a hormone called glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), which suppresses people's appetites and makes them feel full.

Symone has now lost 4st 7lb (26kg) and is losing weight gradually, documenting her experiences on social media.

"I don't want a quick fix," she says, "I'm using weight loss injections to give me the control I never had."

Lost a million members

For many, weight loss jabs can produce rapid results, but some experts are concerned about the meteoric rise in their popularity and how people will be affected by them long term - both physically and mentally.

At its peak, WeightWatchers was seen as being synonymous with safe and controlled weight loss. With 4.5million subscribers globally, its workshops were held in most towns, on most high streets, popping up in local church halls - they were everywhere.

Now, after dominating the diet industry for more than half a century, it has lost more than a million members and filed for bankruptcy, struggling to compete in a market transformed by social media influencers and weight loss injections.

The company has stressed that it is not going out of business and that filing for bankruptcy will help it resolve its debt of $1.25bn (£860m).

In a statement, the brand says its weight loss programme (which also includes its own brand of weight loss jabs) and weight loss workshops will continue.

The company says it has been the brand with the most scientific backing in the diet industry for over 60 years, and that there have been more than 180 published studies showing the effectiveness of its approach.

WeightWatchers says it uses an "holistic model of care" to support "the whole person" with "access to obesity-trained clinicians and registered dietitians".

It is also one of several companies GPs can use for weight loss referrals, with the NHS paying for patients to attend weekly meetings in the community.

"It's no longer about calorie control and diets," Deanne Jade, clinical director of the National Centre for Eating Disorders, told the BBC.

"There's a new movement out there and it's all about wellbeing.

"People like to move in tribes – it used to be the WeightWatchers tribe, counting points and calories, now millions follow different ways to lose weight or be healthy through social media influencers, through weight loss drugs, and they're forming new tribes."

She is not convinced that medication will be the answer that so many are looking for.

"None of these pharmaceutical interventions protect people from regaining the weight when they stop injecting."

She believes they are not a quick fix, and that the best way to effectively lose weight and keep it off is to understand the psychological reasons behind overeating.

Reuters An image of white medical boxes branded as Mounjaro.Reuters
Some people are turning to weight loss injections like Mounjaro

More holistic approach

Dr Joanne Silver, lead psychologist at the London-based eating disorder clinic, Orri, agrees. She says the weight loss injections "completely silence what the body is asking for", which is counterintuitive to understanding what the body needs.

"People can binge eat because of psychological reasons – they can use food to manage their emotions, to soothe themselves.

"Eating disorders are not just about food."

Food and nutrition have become just one part of a more holistic approach so many are now adopting when it comes to their overall wellbeing.

Jennifer Pybis, a fitness coach based in Liverpool, works with clients both online and in person. She says achieving a healthy lifestyle is not just about hitting a target weight.

"I encourage the women I work with to consider lots of ways to measure their progress rather than just jumping on the scales.

"Thinking about how they feel, comparing photographs of themselves to see how their bodies have changed shape, how their sleep is, their resting heart rate, their improvements in the gym - all of that is so important."

The diet industry might be transforming but there are many who still prefer the more traditional model of sitting together and sharing their experiences, supporting others in their community to lose weight.

In a small church hall in Winsford, Cheshire, a group of women are waiting patiently to get on the scales.

Muttering and good-natured laughter can be heard as they share their latest weights with each other.

"I've put on a pound! I did have a little bit - well maybe a lot - of wine at the weekend."

"Why didn't you have gin?" another one asks, "it's only 55 calories a shot!"

They're here for their weekly check-in at the BeeWeighed slimming group. Some of the women have lost several pounds, others have a put on a pound or two, but overall, since joining the class, they have all lost weight.

They are learning about how to eat in moderation, how to exercise safely and how to feel good about themselves.

At first glance, it could be a WeightWatchers class – women meeting up to share their stories of weight loss and support each other – but there are crucial differences, says BeeWeighed owner and founder Lynda Leadbetter.

She was a group leader for WeightWatchers for 18 years but left to set up her own group in 2018.

Lynda Leadbetter in a church hall, brown hair and wearing a navy blue T-shirt. standing in front of a stand about her weight loss group.
Lynda Leadbetter believes WeightWatchers 'lost its way'

"I think WeightWatchers did provide something different and something hopeful for so many women but I think it has lost its way," she says.

"I teach nutrition, I educate, I don't sell anything extra. I feel WeightWatchers became about selling extra products, it was always about pushing those extra sales, and not about supporting people to lose weight properly."

She's sceptical about the effectiveness of weight loss medications, and some members who have turned to the likes of Ozempic and WeGovy have left her groups, but many have stayed – continuing to attend the meetings for support while using weight loss injections.

A woman stands on a weighing scale and smiles and waves at the camera. A second woman, Lynda Leadbetter, laughs too as she writes a note down on a piece of paper
Members of BeeWeighed attend a weekly in-person check-in

Kathryn Brady, 38, has been a member of BeeWeighed since 2023, and in that time, she's lost over three stone. But with her wedding in a matter of weeks, the burlesque dancer has started to take Mounjaro to lose weight more rapidly.

It's not quite worked out as she had hoped.

"I've been on Mounjaro for over a month now, and while I lost 6lb in the first week or so, I've put half of that back on.

"Having absolutely no appetite for two weeks was really weird and I'm paying a lot of money to not lose that much weight."

She's going to keep on using it, but she's not completely sold yet.

"Even if I continue with the skinny jab, I'll still attend BeeWeighed, having others there supporting me keeps me going."

Police continue to question Iranian men over alleged terror plot

BBC A still from a video which showed counter-terrorism officers making an arrestBBC
Counter-terrorism officers making an arrest

Police have been given more time to question four Iranian men over an alleged terror plot in the UK.

The men were arrested on 3 May on suspicion of preparation of a terrorist act, the Metropolitan Police said.

The suspects, detained under the Terrorism Act, can be held until 17 May after the force obtained warrants to further extend their detention.

A fifth Iranian man, who was detained under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act, has been released on bail with conditions.

The five men - two aged 29, a 40-year-old, a 24-year-old and another aged 46 - on 3 May - were arrested in Swindon, west London, Stockport, Rochdale and Manchester.

The Met said officers were continuing search a number of addresses in the Greater Manchester, London and Swindon areas.

Cdr Dominic Murphy, head of the Met's counter terrorism command, said it was a "significant and highly complex investigation".

He urged the public not to "speculate or share information" that has not been confirmed by police.

The Met has previously said it believes "a specific premises" was the target of the suspected plot.

The BBC understands the alleged target was the Israeli embassy in London, as first reported by the Times. Police have not yet confirmed the embassy was the suspected target, citing operational reasons.

Three other Iranian men - aged 39, 44 and 55 - were arrested on the same day in London in relation to a separate counter-terrorism investigation.

They were arrested under section 27 of the National Security Act, which covers offences deemed a threat to national security.

On Friday, police said a fourth man, 31, had been arrested in north-west London as part of the same investigation.

Cdr Murphy has said police are not linking the two investigations.

Speaking in the Commons on Tuesday, Home Office minister Dan Jarvis described the two separate investigations as "some of the largest counter-state threats and counter-terrorism actions that we have seen in recent times".

Labour to unveil big immigration plans next week - but will they win back votes?

BBC Two treated images of a large border force ship and on the bottom, border force workersBBC

"A failed free market experiment" – that's how the home secretary will describe the approach that's seen vast numbers of people from around the world come to the UK to pour pints in pubs, to cut hair, to care for the most vulnerable, to pick fruit, or to fix our plumbing.

Yvette Cooper's getting ready to unveil the government's overhaul of the rules that determine who can come to the UK with permission, and for how long.

Her White Paper, which will be called "Restoring Control Over the Immigration System" and be 69 pages long, is a big moment for Labour to try to sort a messy system, under which the numbers of people moving here rose way over most people's imagination.

With Reform hard on Labour's heels, capitalising on public concern about immigration, the success or failure of Cooper is vital to the government.

So what has Labour come up with?

It will emerge in full on Monday, but we know a lot about what's on the table.

It's expected that work visas will be strictly time-limited for jobs that don't need graduate-level skills.

Foreign students who have studied for degrees here could lose the right to stay in the UK after they finish at university.

Overseas workers will be expected to have a better understanding of English, but reported suggestions of A-level equivalent are wide of the mark.

And companies who repeatedly can't show efforts to recruit UK-based staff, rather than hunt abroad, might lose their right to sponsor foreign workers to come here at all.

EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock British Secretary of State for the Home Department Yvette Cooper delivers a speech during the Border Security Summit in LondonEPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock

There are also likely to be proposals designed to change how judges apply what's known as Article 8 of the Human Rights Act. It is designed to protect everyone's right to a family life.

But how it's used sometimes by immigration lawyers to stop deportations has long been a concern of politicians – in 2011, I even remember Theresa May claiming an asylum seeker had been allowed to stay in the UK because of their cat.

More than a decade later, recent cases like this one raised at Prime Minister's Questions have led the government to review how the courts have been interpreting everyone's right to a family life. We'll hear more of the details from the home secretary in the studio tomorrow, and likely from the prime minister on Monday.

Some Conservatives and Reform argue the only way of making a material difference is to leave the European Convention on Human Rights altogether, rather than see ministers stick their nose into the courts. Whether the government's proposals here make a difference, we'll have to see.

But the big principle in Cooper's thinking is that the immigration system should be fundamentally linked to the labour market – helping British workers get the skills to fill vacancies, rather than overseas workers being brought in again and again, to plug the gaps.

EPA-EFE/Shutterstock British Prime Minister Keir Starmer attends a Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) leaders' summit EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

The Whitehall wiring will be redirected to try to make that happen with a new approach under a 'quad' – where employers, the Department for Work and Pensions, the job centres, skills bodies, and the Migration Advisory Committee, that sets the specific rules, all work together.

The idea, to wean the economy off relying on staff from overseas, by pushing employers to work much harder to find staff from here at home.

That's the theory. Here are the politics: for years, conventional thinking in both main parties was the immigration was broadly good because it helped the economy. Politicians and members of the public who raised concern about the pace and scale of workers coming were sometimes dismissed.

One Cabinet minister says last time Labour was in power, when "people raised concerns, it was too easy to say it's a race question – there's a good understanding now that good, decent people worry about immigration – it's about fairness".

When it emerged that 900,000 people came to the UK in 2023 the prime minister held an emergency press conference accusing the Tories of a failed "open border experiment"'.

A senior government source says now the previous government wasn't "bringing in 100,000 scientists to live in central London, it was bringing in people to fix problems of the economy everywhere, often in poor communities".

Ministers accept there might always be a need for overseas staff with specific expertise to come to the UK. But Sir Keir Starmer's allies say he's been making the case for years, since a speech to the CBI in 2022, warning employers they wouldn't be able to rely on cheap foreign labour on his watch.

Since then, partly down to the Conservatives' tightening up of visa rules before they left office, the numbers of people coming to the UK legally has dropped a lot and is expected to fall further this year. But the political prominence of the issue overall has gone the other way.

By some polling measures in spring this year immigration and small boats passed the NHS as the biggest worry for voters in 2025.

If the numbers of workers coming is falling, why is the public more concerned?

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer (C-L) hosts a round table at the Border Security Summit at Lancaster House

Sources inside government acknowledge that for many of the public, the issues of legal and illegal migration are bundled together.

While legal migration has been falling, the numbers of those coming in ways considered illegal and trying to claim asylum has gone the other way, hitting the highest level since 1979.

And there are two highly visible signs of that – small boat crossings, and asylum seekers being housed in hotels around the country.

One member of the government told me, "it's the boats, and everything is amplified on social media, we know it's having an effect as it's fed back to us on the doorstep – as a party we just seem to be floundering".

The use of hotels isn't just costly – projected recently to be £15bn, triple the amount the Conservatives reckoned when they signed the contracts back in 2019 – they can also create unease and resentment in communities.

A Labour MP with an asylum hotel in their constituency tells me a big part of the problem is that constituents link spending on hotels with the government squeezing cash elsewhere.

"It is impossible to make the case we need to do some form of austerity while we are spending so much money on putting people up here – whether it's winter fuel and PIP (welfare payments) – you haven't got money for this, but you have money for that."

PA Media A UK Border signPA Media

There's even a belief in Downing Street that had there not been an asylum hotel in Runcorn, Labour would likely have held on to its seat in the by election last week.

The other blindingly obvious reason immigration has become so fraught politically is that for decades, successive governments have told the public one thing but done another. Under Tony Blair, people from countries joining the EU were allowed immediately to come and work in the UK.

The government had publicly estimated the numbers likely to move would be around 13,000, but hundreds of thousands of people from Eastern Europe made the UK their home in the following years. Papers released at the end of last year reveal that some of Blair's team worried precisely about that happening.

David Cameron then promised repeatedly that he'd get the number of extra people settling in the UK under 100,000. That vow was repeatedly broken. His government's lack of ability to control migration from Europe was at the core of the Brexit argument.

With deep irony, Boris Johnson won that argument in the referendum, then set up an immigration system that allowed even more people to move to the UK, peaking at 900,000 in 2023. Rishi Sunak then promised to "Stop the Boats" - but they still came.

A No 10 insider says the "public has been gaslit for years – taxpayers have been told it's happening, but nothing has been changing".

It's Cooper and Sir Keir who are now under huge pressure to get the numbers down and keep their vow to "smash the gangs".

The plans for managing legal migration better on Monday will be followed by a meeting in Albania later in the week, where the focus will be on cracking the illegal trade that smuggles people across Europe.

Ministers hope their plans will make a difference, although screeds of extra immigration law have not exactly improved the situation in recent years.

Making a complex system that doesn't work even more complicated will not necessarily be a success. But in government there's no doubt how vital it is– not just to fix a system that's been failing, but to demonstrate to voters that something is being done.

The plans we'll talk about in the next couple of days have been long in the making. But Reform's massive success at the ballot box shows why Labour has to get this right.

As one member of the government reckons, the public "got rid of the Tories by voting for us, there was no love for Labour, and they are prepared to do the same to us".

Laura K newsletter banner

Sign up for the Off Air with Laura K newsletter to get Laura Kuenssberg's expert insight and insider stories every week, emailed directly to you.

Grey presentational line

BBC InDepth is the home on the website and app for the best analysis, with fresh perspectives that challenge assumptions and deep reporting on the biggest issues of the day. And we showcase thought-provoking content from across BBC Sounds and iPlayer too. You can send us your feedback on the InDepth section by clicking on the button below.

❌