The new pterosaur has been named Eotephradactylus mcintireae, meaning 'ash-winged dawn goddess'
Scientists have discovered a new species of pterosaur – a flying reptile that soared above the dinosaurs more than 200 million years ago.
The jawbone of the ancient reptile was unearthed in Arizona back in 2011, but modern scanning techniques have now revealed details showing that it belongs to a species new to science.
The research team, led by scientists at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History in Washington DC, has named the creature Eotephradactylus mcintireae, meaning "ash-winged dawn goddess".
It is a reference to the volcanic ash that helped preserve its bones in an ancient riverbed.
Suzanne McIntire
The jawbone of the seagull-sized pterosaur was preserved in 209 million year-old rock
At about 209 million years old, this is now believed to be the earliest pterosaur to be found in North America.
"The bones of Triassic pterosaurs are small, thin, and often hollow, so they get destroyed before they get fossilised," explained Dr Kligman.
The site of this discovery is a fossil bed in a desert landscape of ancient rock in the Petrified Forest National Park.
More than 200 million years ago, this place was a riverbed, and layers of sediment gradually trapped and preserved bones, scales and other evidence of life at the time.
The river ran through the central region of what was the supercontinent of Pangaea, which was formed from all of Earth's landmasses.
The pterosaur jaw is just one part of a collection of fossils found at the same site, including bones, teeth, fish scales and even fossilised poo (also known as coprolites).
Dr Kligman said: "Our ability to recognise pterosaur bones in [these ancient] river deposits suggests there may be other similar deposits from Triassic rocks around the world that may also preserve pterosaur bones."
Ben Kligman
The ancient bone bed is in the Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona
Studying the pterosaur's teeth also provided clues about what the seagull-sized winged reptile would have eaten.
"They have an unusually high degree of wear at their tips," explained Dr Kligman. suggesting that this pterosaur was feeding on something with hard body parts."
The most likely prey, he told BBC News, were primitive fish that would have been covered in an armour of boney scales.
Scientists say the site of the discovery has preserved a "snapshot" of an ecosystem where groups of animals that are now extinct, including giant amphibians and ancient armoured crocodile relatives, lived alongside animals that we could recognise today, including frogs and turtles.
This fossil bed, Dr Kligman said, has preserved evidence of an evolutionary "transition" 200 million years ago.
"We see groups that thrived later living alongside older animals that [didn't] make it past the Triassic.
"Fossil beds like these enable us to establish that all of these animals actually lived together."
Watch: Footage of Manchester Airport brawl shown to jury
CCTV footage of the alleged assault of three police officers at Manchester Airport has been played to jurors.
Mohammed Fahir Amaaz, 20, and his brother, Muhammad Amaad, 26, are said to have struck out after police were called to respond to an incident at the Starbucks cafe in Terminal 2 arrivals on July 23 last year.
Mr Amaaz is said to have headbutted a customer before four police officers approached the defendants at the pay station in the terminal's car park.
A jury at Liverpool Crown Court watched airport camera footage from opposite angles which captured what prosecutors say was a "high level of violence" used by the defendants towards the officers.
PA Media
Footage of the brothers taken from body-worn police cameras was played to the jury
Mr Amaaz is alleged to have assaulted PC Marsden and PC Ward, causing them actual bodily harm, and to have assaulted PC Cook, and the earlier assault of a member of the public, Abdulkareem Ismaeil, at Starbucks.
Mr Amaad, 26, is alleged to have assaulted PC Marsden, causing actual bodily harm.
Both men, from Rochdale, Greater Manchester, deny the allegations.
PA Media
Mohammed Fahir Amaaz is alleged to have assaulted two officers and a coffee shop customer
PC Zachary Marsden and PC Ellie Cook were both armed, while PC Lydia Ward was unarmed as they approached the defendants in the car park.
The prosecution says Mr Amaaz resisted as police tried to move him away from the payment machine to arrest him, and then his brother intervened.
Junior counsel Adam Birkby said Mr Amaaz threw 10 punches, including a punch to the face of PC Ward that knocked her to the floor, and that Mr Amaad aimed six punches at firearms officer PC Marsden.
Mr Amaaz is also said to have kicked PC Marsden and twice struck firearms officer PC Cook with his elbow.
He is said to have punched PC Marsden from behind and then had hold of him before PC Cook discharged her Taser device.
Mr Amaaz had his arm around PC Marsden's neck as both fell to the floor, Mr Birkby said, before the officer got to his feet.
Mr Birkby said "Mr Amaaz, while prone, lifts his head towards the officers. PC Marsden kicks Mr Amaaz around the head area.
"PC Marsden stamps his foot towards the crown of Mr Amaaz's head area but doesn't appear to connect with Mr Amaaz."
PA Media
Muhammed Amaad is accused of causing actual bodily harm to one officer
Giving evidence, PC Marsden told the court he approached the paystation with the intention of taking "immediate control" and escorting the suspect from the crowd and to arrest him outside where he would have radio signal.
He said: "I wanted to prevent his escape or any opportunity to escape, but also to give me control of someone who had allegedly been violent towards a member of the public."
He said he placed his hands on Mr Amaaz's left arm, but said he was "met with immediate resistance" and that he felt the suspect "clench his fists".
PC Marsden said: "I recall leaning in and saying to him words along the lines of, 'come on mate, we are not doing that here'."
He said he did not feel it was necessary to tell the suspect he was a police officer because he was wearing full uniform with a cap.
PC Marsden said he realised a change in plan was needed so decided to attempt to handcuff Mr Amaaz, the man wearing the light blue tracksuit.
He said he struggled to get Mr Amaaz's hands behind his back, so tried to get control of his head by pushing his body forwards.
'All directions'
PC Marsden told the court: "The information I had was that he used his head as a weapon. I was in close proximity and I didn't want to be headbutted."
The officer said he then felt an "immense weight of pressure" to his right side and felt his Glock 17 semi-automatic pistol move across his leg and around his body.
PC Marsden said: "My initial fear is that someone is trying to get my gun. If someone gained my firearm it would pose an immediate lethal threat to anyone in the vicinity.
"The risk of my firearm being taken from me did not stop until we gained control.
"There was more than one person involved here - the aggressor I was trying to arrest and possibly an accomplice who was a much bigger physical build than me and much taller."
He told prosecutor Paul Greaney KC he started to receive "blows from all directions" from the second man.
Mr Greaney asked: "What level of force was being used?"
PC Marsden replied: "I can confidently say they were the hardest I have ever felt in my life."
He said his glasses were knocked off his face and without them he could only see at arm's length.
He said he was unaware where his two colleagues were during the alleged assaults.
PC Marsden said: "I felt they were not in a position to help or they were preoccupied."
Mr Greaney said: "Had any other person, a member of the public, intervened in any way to help you?"
The officer replied: "No members of the public in that room tried to help.
"In the aftermath when I managed to get back on my feet and shout for help, I scanned the room and saw people watching and recording on phones."
King Charles warned against "those who would seek to divide us"
King Charles has called on people to stand united "against those who would seek to divide us", in a message marking the 20th anniversary of the 7/7 attacks in London.
He condemned the "senseless acts of evil" that saw bombs detonated on the capital's public transport system, killing 52 people and injuring more than 700.
The King called for a "spirit of unity" and said the attacks had shown the importance of "building a society where people of all faiths and backgrounds can live together with mutual respect and understanding".
Commemorative events will be held in the capital on Monday, remembering the victims of the 7 July 2005 bombings, carried out by Islamist extremists.
Getty Images
A London bus ripped apart by an explosion in the 7/7 bombings 20 years ago
That will include a National Service of Commemoration at St Paul's Cathedral, where the King will be represented by the Duke of Edinburgh.
The suicide attacks in central London had seen bombs detonated on three underground trains and a double-decker bus, causing terrible casualties in the capital's rush hour.
The King's message said his "special prayers remain with all those whose lives were forever changed on that terrible summer's day", including those who carried the "physical and psychological scars".
He praised those who helped with the rescue and the "extraordinary courage and compassion that emerged from the darkness of that day".
King Charles has been a dedicated supporter of building bridges between different faiths and encouraging tolerance and respect between religions.
"While the horrors will never be forgotten, we may take comfort from the way such events rally communities together in solidarity, solace and determination.
"It is this spirit of unity that has helped London, and our nation, to heal," he said.
The US is set to take the Syrian Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) off its list of foreign terrorist organisations on Tuesday, according to a state department memo.
The group led a rebel offensive in December that toppled the Assad regime, which had ruled Syria for 54 years. Its leader Ahmed al-Sharaa is now the country's interim president.
HTS, also known as al-Nusra Front, was previously al-Qaeda's affiliate in Syria until al-Sharaa severed ties in 2016.
In recent months, Western countries have sought to reset relations with Syria - which has faced heavy sanctions aimed at the old regime.
In late June, Trump signed an executive order to formally end US sanctions against the country, with the White House saying the move was intended to support its "path to stability and peace".
It added it would monitor the new Syrian government's actions including "taking concrete steps toward normalising ties with Israel" as well as "addressing foreign terrorists" and "banning Palestinian terrorist groups".
Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani said the move would "lift the obstacle" to economic recovery and open the country to the international community.
On Friday, Syria said it was willing to cooperate with the US to reimplement a 1974 disengagement agreement with Israel.
Over the weekend, UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy visited Syria - the first government minister to do so in 14 years.
He met with al-Sharaa and announced an additional £94.5m support package - aimed at supporting longer-term recovery and countries helping Syrian refugees.
The UK earlier lifted sanctions on Syria's defence and interior ministries.
Ninety percent of Syria's population were left under the poverty line when the Assad regime was ousted after 13 years of devastating civil war.
Al-Sharaa has promised a new Syria, but there are concerns within the country about how the new government is operating - with some suspicious of his radical past.
Only one female government minister has been appointed to date - and al-Sharaa has made almost every other appointment directly.
There have also been multiple violent attacks against minority groups in recent months.
In March, hundreds of civilians from the minority Alawite sect were killed during clashes between the new security forces and Assad-loyalists. In April there were deadly clashes between Islamist armed factions, security forces and fighters from the Druze religious minority. And in June at least 25 people were killed in a suicide attack on a church in Damascus.
Angryginge says he spent 15 hours in custody before being released without charge
YouTuber Angryginge was arrested on suspicion of causing thousands of pounds worth of damage to a classic F1 car at Silverstone.
The 23-year-old, real name Morgan Burtwistle, was livestreaming from the British Grand Prix site with fellow YouTubers Chazza and SamHam on Friday when police approached them.
Earlier, the trio had filmed themselves laughing as Chazza, real name Charlie Clark, attempted to squeeze into the cockpit of an F1 car on display at the event.
Northamptonshire Police confirmed three men, aged 23, 25 and 27, were arrested on suspicion of causing criminal damage to a vehicle before being released without further action.
Angryginge, from Salford, is one of the UK's most popular streamers with 1.3m followers on Twitch.
He's also known for managing a Baller League team, playing in Soccer Aid and playing for Red Bull's esports team.
In a vlog posted on Monday he said he was taken to a police station with Chazza and Samham, real name Samuel Imie, for questioning.
He said the three were held in a cell overnight for 15 hours.
"I'm genuinely traumatised," he told followers, and denied causing any damage to the vehicle.
Even though he was released without charge, he said, he wasn't allowed to return to Silverstone for the rest of the event.
BBC Newsbeat has contacted organisers for comment.
Northamptonshire Police said the three men were released "following a thorough investigation into the circumstances of the incident".
They estimated the damage to the car - thought to have been caused by someone accessing the display stand and climbing into the vehicle - would cost several thousand pounds to repair.
Northamptonshire Police
Police released an image on Sunday of a man they wanted to speak to over the damage
Separately, the force appealed for information about the theft of a steering wheel from a car on display at the British Grand Prix on Friday.
Officers released an image on Sunday of a man they wanted to speak to in connection with the missing wheel, and said it disappeared at about 14:30 BST.
The force says about half a million people attended British Grand Prix over four days, during which time 34 crimes were reported.
They said 20 people had been arrested across the weekend on suspicion of offences including theft, criminal damage, assault and drugs possession.
Listen to Newsbeat live at 12:45 and 17:45 weekdays - or listen back here.
King Charles warned against "those who would seek to divide us"
King Charles has called on people to stand united "against those who would seek to divide us", in a message marking the 20th anniversary of the 7/7 attacks in London.
He condemned the "senseless acts of evil" that saw bombs detonated on the capital's public transport system, killing 52 people and injuring more than 700.
The King called for a "spirit of unity" and said the attacks had shown the importance of "building a society where people of all faiths and backgrounds can live together with mutual respect and understanding".
Commemorative events will be held in the capital on Monday, remembering the victims of the 7 July 2005 bombings, carried out by Islamist extremists.
Getty Images
A London bus ripped apart by an explosion in the 7/7 bombings 20 years ago
That will include a National Service of Commemoration at St Paul's Cathedral, where the King will be represented by the Duke of Edinburgh.
The suicide attacks in central London had seen bombs detonated on three underground trains and a double-decker bus, causing terrible casualties in the capital's rush hour.
The King's message said his "special prayers remain with all those whose lives were forever changed on that terrible summer's day", including those who carried the "physical and psychological scars".
He praised those who helped with the rescue and the "extraordinary courage and compassion that emerged from the darkness of that day".
King Charles has been a dedicated supporter of building bridges between different faiths and encouraging tolerance and respect between religions.
"While the horrors will never be forgotten, we may take comfort from the way such events rally communities together in solidarity, solace and determination.
"It is this spirit of unity that has helped London, and our nation, to heal," he said.
Russia's Investigative Committee says former Russian transport minister Roman Starovoit has been found dead, apparently with a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
He was dismissed earlier on Monday by President Vladimir Putin.
No reason for Starovoit's dismissal was given and deputy transport minister Andrei Nikitin was announced as his replacement shortly after.
The Investigative Committee said it was working to establish the circumstances of the incident.
Starovoit was appointed minister of transport in May 2024.
Before becoming transport minister Starovoit had served as governor of the Kursk region for almost nine years, until May 2024.
The region was partly seized by Ukrainian troops in August 2024 in a surprise offensive. Moscow only managed to drive out the Ukrainian forces, although in late June Kyiv said it was still holding a small area of territory inside Russia.
Starovoit's successor, Aleksey Smirnov, was only in post for a short while. He was arrested in April and was later accused of embezzling funds that had been allocated for the building of fortifications on the border with Ukraine.
According to Russian outlet Kommersant, Starovoit was about to be brought in as a defendant in the same case.
It is unclear when, exactly, Starovoit died.
The head of the State Duma Defense Committee, Andrei Kartapolov, told Russian outlet RTVI that his death occurred "quite a while ago".
Earlier on Monday, before Starovoit's death was announced, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was pressed by reporters on whether the dismissal meant Putin had lost trust in Starovoit over the events in Kursk.
"A loss of trust is mentioned if there is a loss of trust. Such wording was not used [in the Kremlin decree]," Peskov replied.
Wimbledon announces change after line call controversy
Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,
Umpire Nico Helwerth opted to replay a point when a 'human error' led to the line-calling technology being deactivated
Published
Wimbledon 2025
Dates: 30 June-13 July Venue: All England Club
Coverage: Live across BBC TV, radio and online with extensive coverage on BBC iPlayer, Red Button, Connected TVs and mobile app. Full coverage guide.
Wimbledon has made changes to its electronic line calling system to remove the possibility of "human error" after it was accidentally deactivated in a controversial episode on Sunday.
An "operator error" meant the ball-tracking technology was turned off for one game in the fourth-round match between Britain's Sonay Kartal and Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova on Centre Court.
"Following our review, we have now removed the ability for Hawk-Eye operators to manually deactivate the ball tracking," the All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC) said in a statement to BBC Sport.
"While the source of the issue was human error, this error cannot now be repeated due to the system changes we have made."
Kartal sent a backhand long when game point down at 4-4, but this was not detected by the line-call system, which instead made two automated calls of "stop".
Umpire Nico Helwerth opted to replay the point - which Kartal won - but was criticised by Pavlyuchenkova and some pundits for not using his authority to overrule and call the ball out.
TV replays had shown the ball was well long and Pavlyuchenkova suggested there should be a video review system, similar to that in football, which would have enabled the umpire to make the call.
The AELTC said Helwerth had "followed the established process", but later added that the issue of video reviews would be "among the matters considered" at the end of the Championships.
Club chief executive Sally Bolton said earlier on Monday that Helwerth was "having a rest day".
"We have rotation of our umpires regularly. A little bit like the players, the umpires also need rest days throughout the tournament," Bolton told BBC Sport.
"He's having a rest day today. He's fine.
"It's really important to say that the umpire followed the protocols in place. He did what he needed to do on court and acted entirely correctly."
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Tennis losing its charm because of technology - Pavlyuchenkova
Electronic line calling is used at many top-level tournaments, and the US Open and Australian Open also have a video review system.
When there were line judges at Wimbledon, players could challenge the calls by using an electronic review. The new technology is an "enhanced" version of the Hawk-Eye system that was used for player challenges.
There are no challenges under the current system and video replays are not used.
At the moment, replays of points can be shown on the big screens - but they are essentially replays of what the technology has determined and only show that something was a "close call".
But with millions able to see the replays of points on their televisions at home, fans will always wonder why the umpire is not able to use that footage if they are unsure over a call.
Pavlyuchenkova suggested tennis should use video checks like football does "so that we can review the point".
"On such a big event I think it is necessary, since this isn't the first time this has happened," she told BBC Sport on Sunday.
The AELTC said: "We do not have a video review system as part of our suite of officiating tools.
"As we do every year, we will fully review all aspects of The Championships' operation following the event and this will be among the matters considered."
There is a line-calling hub inside Wimbledon's grounds, where 50 operators use 144 screens to monitor the ball-tracking footage from 12 cameras on each court.
'When it's activated, it works extremely well'
Wimbledon's first week of electronic line calling system has been a big topic of discussion.
Some players questioned its accuracy, others said the calls were too quiet - and some simply missed the 147-year-old tradition of smartly dressed officials around the court.
Former British number one and BBC pundit Tim Henman pointed to the accuracy of the technology as a reason why video reviews were not necessary.
"The technology, when it's activated, works extremely well," he said.
"There's another sort of narrative that the line calling has been inaccurate, and that's just absolute rubbish.
"When you're on the court, you're hoping that it goes out, because if it goes out, you win the point.
"But actually, 100 times out of 100 when you go back and look at it, the human - the player - gets it wrong. The technology doesn't."
The AELTC said it continued to have "full confidence in the accuracy of the ball-tracking technology".
In response to player concerns about not hearing the calls sometimes, the club added that it was "adjusting the volume all the time, given the ambient noise on court and around the grounds".
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Kartal wins controversial game after electronic line-calling system fails
Dr Fortune Gomo completed her PhD at the University of Dundee in 2022
Friends and colleagues of a scientist killed on a street in Dundee at the weekend have spoken of their shock and heartbreak.
Dr Fortune Gomo, 39, was treated by paramedics but died in the city's Lochee area on Saturday afternoon after an incident which police are treating as murder
Dr Gomo, who was originally from Zimbabwe, had graduated with a PhD from Dundee University, and recently started working for Scottish Water.
A friend who went to school with her in Zimbabwe said she was both heartbroken and angry, while Dr Gomo's employer described her as an "exceptional scientist".
A 20-year-old man has been arrested in connection with the incident which happened on the city's South Street at about 16:25.
Many bunches of flowers were being left near the scene with messages expression sadness and shock at Dr Gomo's death
Angela Machonesa wrote on Facebook that she had been at school and university with Dr Gomo in Zimbabwe, and that news of her death had left her devastated.
She said: "Her brilliance in the classroom was only matched by her emotional intelligence. She was the kind of person you'd go to when you needed clarity, not just of mind, but of heart.
"We are heartbroken. We are angry. We are disoriented. But we are also united in one voice: Fortune Gomo mattered. Her life mattered. Her legacy must never be forgotten."
Collections have been started in Dundee to raise money for Dr Gomo's family and many floral tributes have been left at the scene.
A message attached to one of the said: "We're utterly shocked that this has happened in our community. May the angels watch over you."
Respected scientist
Dr Gomo had spent several years in water-related research after completing her doctorate in geography and environmental science at University of Dundee.
She started working full-time for Scottish Water six months ago as a senior resource planner.
Prof Simon Parsons, director of environment planning at Scottish Water, offered the company's deepest sympathies to her family and friends.
He said: "Fortune was an exceptional scientist and a senior service planner in our Water Resources Planning section based in Dundee where, having joined us in February, she had already become a highly valued and respected member of our team."
Police have said Dr Gomo's family are being supported by specialist officers.
Det Supt Peter Sharp, leading the investigation, said inquries were continuing but there was no wider risk to the public.
This picture of Renee Smajstrla was clicked at Camp Mystic on Thursday, her uncle wrote on Facebook
An eight-year-old girl and the director of an all-girls' summer camp are among the victims of flash floods in Texas that have claimed at least 43 lives, including 15 children.
Officials say most of the victims have been identified, though the identities of six adults and a child remain unknown. Authorities have not yet released any names publicly.
Here's what we know so far about the victims.
Renee Smajstrla
Eight-year-old Renee Smajstrla was at Camp Mystic when flooding swept through the summer camp for girls, her uncle said in a Facebook post.
"Renee has been found and while not the outcome we prayed for, the social media outreach likely assisted the first responders in helping to identify her so quickly," wrote Shawn Salta, of Maryland.
"We are thankful she was with her friends and having the time of her life, as evidenced by this picture from yesterday," he wrote. "She will forever be living her best life at Camp Mystic."
Camp Mystic, where 27 children are missing, is a nearly century-old Christian summer camp for girls on the banks of the Guadalupe River near Hunt, Texas.
Operated by generations of the same family since the 1930s, the camp's website bills itself as a place for girls to grow "spiritually" in a "wholesome" Christian atmosphere "to develop outstanding personal qualities and self-esteem".
Jane Ragsdale
Heart O' the Hills
Jane Ragsdale was described as the "heart and soul" of Heart O' the Hills camp
Heart O' the Hills is another all-girls' camp that sits along the Guadalupe River, and it was right in the path of Friday's flood.
Jane Ragsdale, described as the "heart and soul" of Heart O'Hills, "did not make it", a post shared on the camp's official website said on Saturday.
Ragsdale, who started off as a camper then a counsellor, became the director and co-owner of the camp in 1976.
"We are mourning the loss of a woman who influenced countless lives and was the definition of strong and powerful," the camp website post said.
Heart O' the Hills wasn't in session and "most of those who were on camp at the time have been accounted for and are on high ground", the statement said.
"Access to the site is difficult, and authorities are primarily focused on locating the missing and preventing further loss of life and property".
Sarah Marsh
Camp Mystic
Sarah Marsh, a student at Cherokee Bend Elementary School in Texas, would have entered third grade in August.
She, too, was attending Camp Mystic when the floods struck, and reported as missing along with about two dozen other campers.
Her grandmother, Debbie Ford Marsh, took to Facebook on Friday asking for prayers. Just hours later she shared online that her granddaughter was among the girls killed.
"We will always feel blessed to have had this beautiful spunky ray of light in our lives. She will live on in our hearts forever!" Ms Ford Marsh wrote on Facebook.
In a post on Facebook, Alabama Senator Katie Britt said she's "heartbroken over the loss of Sarah Marsh, and we are keeping her family in our thoughts and prayers during this unimaginable time".
Lila Bonner
Nine-year-old Lila Bonner, a Dallas native was found dead after flooding near Camp Mystic, according to NBC News.
"In the midst of our unimaginable grief, we ask for privacy and are unable to confirm any details at this time," her family said in a statement to the news outlet.
"We ache with all who loved her and are praying endlessly."
Keith Siegel urged the US president to pressure both Israel and Hamas to agree a deal
An American Israeli man who was held captive by Hamas has told the BBC that US President Donald Trump has the power to secure the release of the remaining hostages and end the war in Gaza.
Keith Siegel, 66, was kidnapped from Kibbutz Kfar Aza during the Hamas-led attacks on Israel on 7 October 2023. He was released this February after 484 days in captivity under a ceasefire deal that Trump helped broker just before he took office.
He was taken along with his wife, Aviva, who was held for 51 days before being freed during an earlier ceasefire.
Mr Siegel was speaking ahead of a meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Trump at the White House on Monday evening.
In an interview in Tel Aviv, he thanked Trump for securing his own release and said the president could now do the same for the remaining 50 hostages, up to 20 of whom are believed to still be alive.
"I believe he has a lot of strength, power and ability to put pressure on those that need to be pressured, on both sides in order to get the agreement, get the deal signed, and get all of hostages back and bring it into the war," he said.
Trump has said he hopes a new ceasefire and hostage release deal will be agreed this week, but it appears there are still significant gaps between Israel and Hamas.
The two sides resumed indirect talks in Qatar on Sunday evening but they ended after three hours without a breakthrough, according to a Palestinian official.
Before he flew to Washington DC, Netanyahu said he believed his meeting with Trump could "definitely help advance that result we are all hoping for".
It is believed the plan includes the staggered release of 10 living hostages and the bodies of 18 dead hostages in exchange for Palestinians held in Israeli jails.
Hamas said on Friday that it had delivered a "positive response". But a Palestinian official said it had requested several changes, including a US guarantee that hostilities would not resume if negotiations on an end to the war failed - an idea Netanyahu has previously rejected.
Reuters
Keith Siegel and his wife Aviva met Donald Trump in Washington earlier this year
Mr Siegel described in vivid detail how Hamas members beat and taunted him, and said he was still haunted by the torture of a female captive he witnessed.
He said Hamas operatives had moved him through the streets of Gaza, sometimes in daylight, to 33 different locations during the course of his captivity.
When asked whether he would support a deal which released the hostages but saw Hamas remain in power in Gaza, he replied: "It's of the highest priority and urgency to get all of the 50 hostages back as soon as possible."
But he continued: "We cannot let Hamas continue to threaten people and to kill and murder people, and I think Hamas is responsible for death on both sides."
Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry says more than 57,000 people have been killed there since Israel launched military operations in response to the 7 October attacks, during which about 1,200 people were killed in Israel and 251 others taken hostage.
I asked Mr Siegel, as he continues to campaign for the release of the remaining hostages, whether his thoughts also focus on the suffering of the Gazan population.
"I believe that peace and security for all people and freedom... are basic human rights that every person deserves," he said.
"I think it's the responsibility of all leadership to ensure that that happens. Any innocent person that is hurt or killed or murdered is something that I hope or I dream will not happen."
King Charles warned against "those who would seek to divide us"
King Charles has called on people to stand united "against those who would seek to divide us", in a message marking the 20th anniversary of the 7/7 attacks in London.
He condemned the "senseless acts of evil" that saw bombs detonated on the capital's public transport system, killing 52 people and injuring more than 700.
The King called for a "spirit of unity" and said the attacks had shown the importance of "building a society where people of all faiths and backgrounds can live together with mutual respect and understanding".
Commemorative events will be held in the capital on Monday, remembering the victims of the 7 July 2005 bombings, carried out by Islamist extremists.
Getty Images
A London bus ripped apart by an explosion in the 7/7 bombings 20 years ago
That will include a National Service of Commemoration at St Paul's Cathedral, where the King will be represented by the Duke of Edinburgh.
The suicide attacks in central London had seen bombs detonated on three underground trains and a double-decker bus, causing terrible casualties in the capital's rush hour.
The King's message said his "special prayers remain with all those whose lives were forever changed on that terrible summer's day", including those who carried the "physical and psychological scars".
He praised those who helped with the rescue and the "extraordinary courage and compassion that emerged from the darkness of that day".
King Charles has been a dedicated supporter of building bridges between different faiths and encouraging tolerance and respect between religions.
"While the horrors will never be forgotten, we may take comfort from the way such events rally communities together in solidarity, solace and determination.
"It is this spirit of unity that has helped London, and our nation, to heal," he said.
Author Raynor Winn has been accused of fabricating or giving misleading information about some elements of her best-selling book The Salt Path.
The 2018 book, and recent film adaptation, told the story of a couple who decide to walk the 630-mile South West Coast Path after their home is repossessed.
An investigation by the Observer suggested some of Winn's claims about her husband's illness and the events that led to the couple losing their home have been misrepresented.
Winn has described the Observer article as "highly misleading" and said the couple are taking legal advice, adding that the book was "the true story of our journey".
Here's what we know so far:
What is The Salt Path about?
Getty Images
Gillian Anderson played Winn in the film adaptation of The Salt Path, released in May
The Salt Path has sold more than two million copies since its publication in March 2018, and a film adaptation starring Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs was released earlier this year.
In the book, Winn said she and her husband Moth lost a substantial sum of money after making a bad investment in a friend's business, which left them liable for his debts when the company failed. She said it ultimately led to the couple losing their home.
Around the same time, Winn wrote, Moth was diagnosed with corticobasal degeneration (CBD), which usually has a life expectancy of around six to eight years.
Winn said after she and Moth became homeless and Moth was diagnosed, the couple decided to set off on the South West Coast Path.
The book documents the pair eventually walking the full 630-mile route, living off a small amount of money in weekly tax credits each week, and wild camping every night.
It describes the physical exhaustion but also rewarding nature of the walk, as well as their interactions with members of the public along the way.
The book ends with the couple getting a fresh start with the offer of new accommodation. As a result of the walk, Winn says her husband's health improved, and he has now lived for 12 years since the diagnosis.
Winn has written two further books since The Salt Path - both of which also focus on themes of walking, nature, homelessness and wild camping - and has a fourth due to be published later this year.
What does the Observer's investigation allege?
Getty Images
Moth Winn (left), pictured with actor Jason Isaacs, who portrayed him in the film
The investigation claims the couple lost their home in North Wales after Winn defrauded her employer of £64,000, and not in a bad business deal as she originally suggested.
The couple reportedly borrowed £100,000 with 18% interest, secured against their house, from a distant relative, in order to repay the money she had been accused of stealing.
The Observer said the couple also had a £230,000 mortgage on the same property, meaning that their combined debts exceeded the value of the house.
The couple's home was then reportedly repossessed after the relative sued them to recover the money.
The Observer added the couple owned a house in France that had land on which they had previously stayed. However, it also said the property had been in an uninhabitable state for some time, and that villagers said the couple never stayed in the house but would stay in caravans on the land.
The newspaper also said it had spoken to medical experts who said it was unlikely Moth had CBD, given his long survival after diagnosis.
It also reports that Raynor and Moth Winn are not the couple's real names.
How has Raynor Winn responded?
In a statement released later on Sunday, Winn said: "Today's Observer article is highly misleading.
"We are taking legal advice and won't be making any further comment at this time."
The statement continued: "The Salt Path lays bare the physical and spiritual journey Moth and I shared, an experience that transformed us completely and altered the course of our lives.
"This is the true story of our journey."
The BBC has also contacted Penguin, who published the book, for comment, as well as literary agents Graham Maw Christie.
The production companies behind the movie adaptation, Number 9 and BBC Film, and the film's stars Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs, have also been contacted for comment.
She thanked her 14 million followers for the "prayers, the love, the well wishes, the joy and all the positive energy".
Jessie J has posted openly about her experiences of undergoing a mastectomy and received comments in support of her doing so.
On Monday she released a video, taken the night before her surgery, of her young son saying: "Mummy's gonna be OK."
"And... I am OK" she wrote, saying she'd received results showing no cancer spread.
The post was flooded with positive comments, including from celebrities like TV presenter Rochelle Humes. Singer Paloma Faith also offered her congratulations on the news.
Women who have been impacted by breast cancer also replied to the post. According to Cancer Research UK more than 56,000 women a year are diagnosed with the disease.
The popstar revealed she has "lots of healing to go" and is now awaiting an operation to "make these cousins look more like sisters", referring to reconstructive surgery on her breast.
She signed off the post in good humour saying she is in the meantime changing her name to "The LopJess monster".
This picture of Renee Smajstrla was clicked at Camp Mystic on Thursday, her uncle wrote on Facebook
An eight-year-old girl and the director of an all-girls' summer camp are among the victims of flash floods in Texas that have claimed at least 43 lives, including 15 children.
Officials say most of the victims have been identified, though the identities of six adults and a child remain unknown. Authorities have not yet released any names publicly.
Here's what we know so far about the victims.
Renee Smajstrla
Eight-year-old Renee Smajstrla was at Camp Mystic when flooding swept through the summer camp for girls, her uncle said in a Facebook post.
"Renee has been found and while not the outcome we prayed for, the social media outreach likely assisted the first responders in helping to identify her so quickly," wrote Shawn Salta, of Maryland.
"We are thankful she was with her friends and having the time of her life, as evidenced by this picture from yesterday," he wrote. "She will forever be living her best life at Camp Mystic."
Camp Mystic, where 27 children are missing, is a nearly century-old Christian summer camp for girls on the banks of the Guadalupe River near Hunt, Texas.
Operated by generations of the same family since the 1930s, the camp's website bills itself as a place for girls to grow "spiritually" in a "wholesome" Christian atmosphere "to develop outstanding personal qualities and self-esteem".
Jane Ragsdale
Heart O' the Hills
Jane Ragsdale was described as the "heart and soul" of Heart O' the Hills camp
Heart O' the Hills is another all-girls' camp that sits along the Guadalupe River, and it was right in the path of Friday's flood.
Jane Ragsdale, described as the "heart and soul" of Heart O'Hills, "did not make it", a post shared on the camp's official website said on Saturday.
Ragsdale, who started off as a camper then a counsellor, became the director and co-owner of the camp in 1976.
"We are mourning the loss of a woman who influenced countless lives and was the definition of strong and powerful," the camp website post said.
Heart O' the Hills wasn't in session and "most of those who were on camp at the time have been accounted for and are on high ground", the statement said.
"Access to the site is difficult, and authorities are primarily focused on locating the missing and preventing further loss of life and property".
Sarah Marsh
Camp Mystic
Sarah Marsh, a student at Cherokee Bend Elementary School in Texas, would have entered third grade in August.
She, too, was attending Camp Mystic when the floods struck, and reported as missing along with about two dozen other campers.
Her grandmother, Debbie Ford Marsh, took to Facebook on Friday asking for prayers. Just hours later she shared online that her granddaughter was among the girls killed.
"We will always feel blessed to have had this beautiful spunky ray of light in our lives. She will live on in our hearts forever!" Ms Ford Marsh wrote on Facebook.
In a post on Facebook, Alabama Senator Katie Britt said she's "heartbroken over the loss of Sarah Marsh, and we are keeping her family in our thoughts and prayers during this unimaginable time".
Lila Bonner
Nine-year-old Lila Bonner, a Dallas native was found dead after flooding near Camp Mystic, according to NBC News.
"In the midst of our unimaginable grief, we ask for privacy and are unable to confirm any details at this time," her family said in a statement to the news outlet.
"We ache with all who loved her and are praying endlessly."
She thanked her 14 million followers for the "prayers, the love, the well wishes, the joy and all the positive energy".
Jessie J has posted openly about her experiences of undergoing a mastectomy and received comments in support of her doing so.
On Monday she released a video, taken the night before her surgery, of her young son saying: "Mummy's gonna be OK."
"And... I am OK" she wrote, saying she'd received results showing no cancer spread.
The post was flooded with positive comments, including from celebrities like TV presenter Rochelle Humes. Singer Paloma Faith also offered her congratulations on the news.
Women who have been impacted by breast cancer also replied to the post. According to Cancer Research UK more than 56,000 women a year are diagnosed with the disease.
The popstar revealed she has "lots of healing to go" and is now awaiting an operation to "make these cousins look more like sisters", referring to reconstructive surgery on her breast.
She signed off the post in good humour saying she is in the meantime changing her name to "The LopJess monster".
Marcus Fakana handed himself in to the authorities in December to begin a one-year jail sentence
A British teenager jailed in Dubai for having sex with a 17-year-old girl has been released and is back in the UK.
Marcus Fakana, 19, from Tottenham, north London, was sentenced in December to a year's imprisonment after a consensual relationship with the girl, who is also British, while on holiday in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The age of consent in the UAE is 18.
He has received a royal pardon from Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, campaign group Detained in Dubai has said.
A Foreign and Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) spokesperson said: "He was released on an Eid pardon last week.
"We understand he wanted to get back to the UK without media attention and to see his family.
"We supported him and were in contact with them."
Detained in Dubai's chief executive, Radha Stirling, said Mr Fakana "is currently recovering".
She added: "His case has attracted significant public attention due to concerns about the criminalisation of tourists and disproportionate sentencing.
"We believe this case highlights the urgent need for expedited legal processes for foreign nationals and safeguards against unnecessary custodial sentences."
Mr Fakana was with his parents in the UAE from the end of August last year when a "holiday romance blossomed", with another Londoner, who has since turned 18, the campaign group previously said.
The girl's mother reported Fakana to the UAE authorities after seeing messages between the two when she had returned to the UK.
Mr Fakana recently wrote to Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai, from Al Awir Prison asking to be released.
An Eid pardon in Muslim countries can be given to inmates by the monarch or president as a gesture of compassion and a way to offer individuals a second chance during religious holidays.
"Parents need to be aware that teens can be charged in the UAE for behaviour that would not be considered criminal at home, whether that's a relationship, social media activity, or even drinking alcohol," Ms Stirling said.
The government of Dubai previously said: "Under UAE law, the girl is legally classified as a minor and, in accordance with procedures recognised internationally, her mother - being the legal guardian - filed the complaint."
It added: "Dubai's legal system is committed to protecting the rights of all individuals and ensuring impartial judicial proceedings."
George Psaradakis has returned to London to be part of the Commemoration services
George Psaradakis, partway through his bus route in central London on a summer's morning, was happily thinking about the city's successful bid to host the 2012 Olympics.
He could hear his passengers chatting about it too, contributing to a general air of optimism on the number 30 service.
In a matter of minutes, 13 of those passengers would be dead.
Mr Psaradakis turned into Tavistock Square, and the bus was ripped apart by a bomb.
Now 70, the Greek-born Londoner, who was uninjured in the blast, remembers a "macabre day, a gruesome day".
"Many innocent people lost their lives in such a barbaric way."
Dylan Martinez/Reuters/Pool/PA
A device exploded on the 30 bus that had been diverted via Tavistock Square.
A series of bombs were detonated on London's public transport system during the morning rush hour on 7 July 2005, killing 52 people and injuring more than 770.
Three of the blasts happened on the London Underground in the vicinity of Aldgate, Edgware Road and Russell Square stations.
The fourth device exploded at 09:47 BST on the number 30 bus that had been diverted via Tavistock Square.
Thirteen people were killed and more than 100 injured in that bombing.
George Psaradakis was driving the 30 bus in Tavistock square
Mr Psaradakis survived the blast physically unharmed but witnessing such horror has taken a toll.
He has recently left London and retired to Cyprus but he has returned to the city on the 20th anniversary of the bombings, to pay his respects to those who died.
He says it is important London remembers.
"Every July it comes to my mind, all those sad memories.
"But coming to England and participating the in the memorial makes me happy to participate.
"I think we have to commemorate them."
Fiona Hanson/PA
Thirteen people were killed and more than 100 injured in Tavistock Square
Mr Psaradakis's message to Londoners is one of reconciliation and remembering the acts of heroism and kindness.
"We mustn't use hatred to do things like these bombings. We mustn't do that.
"What have the terrorists achieved? When the terrorist went on my bus, he condemned himself.
"He beheaded himself and by doing that inhuman crime he killed all those innocent fellow human beings.
"Instead of hating one another, we should love one another. It was inhuman.
"But at the same time there was lots of humanity."
'Their souls are alive'
Mr Psaradakis has taken comfort from his Christian Orthodox faith, and prays every day for those who died.
"Londoners, we have to remember them, to come to Hyde Park and Tavistock Square.
"We must remember all those innocent people who lost their lives," he said.
"Their souls - they are alive. For me, I believe they are in the arms of God in paradise."
Watch: Australia’s mushroom murder case... in under two minutes
For two years, the mystery of exactly what happened at Erin Patterson's dining table has gripped the world.
Five people sat down to eat lunch at her home in rural Australia on 29 July 2023. Within a week, three would be dead, a fourth would be fighting for his life, and the fifth would be under investigation for intentionally poisoning her guests with wild mushrooms.
After a much-watched trial in the tiny town of Morwell, Erin has now been found guilty of murdering three relatives and attempting to kill another.
Her eyes on the jury throughout, she remained silent and composed as they delivered verdicts which could see her spend the rest of her life in prison.
The self-described mushroom lover and amateur forager had told the court it was all a tragic accident.
But over nine weeks, the jury heard evidence suggesting she had hunted down death cap mushrooms sighted in nearby towns and lured her victims to the fatal meal under the false pretence that she had cancer - before trying to conceal her crimes by lying to police and disposing of evidence.
The orange plate
Gail and Don Patterson had turned up on Erin's doorstep just after midday on that fateful Saturday, an orange cake in hand. With them were the Wilkinsons: Heather, Gail's sister, and her husband Ian, who weeks after the meal would emerge from a coma to find he was the only guest to have survived.
Noticeably absent was Erin's estranged husband Simon Patterson. He'd pulled out the day before, saying he felt "uncomfortable" attending amid tension between the former couple.
EPA
Erin Patterson's house in Leongatha became a crime scene in July 2023
Erin had spent the morning slaving over a recipe from one of the nation's favourite cooks, tweaking it to make individual serves of beef Wellington: expensive cuts of steak slathered with a mushroom paste, then encased in pastry.
For the jury, Ian recounted watching the parcels go onto four grey plates – and an orange one for Erin – with mashed potatoes, green beans and gravy heaped on the side.
A sixth serve, allegedly prepared for Simon in case he changed his mind and came over, went into the fridge. Erin was originally accused of attempting to murder him too – on several occasions – but those charges were dropped on the eve of the trial and the allegations were not put to the jury.
The group said grace and then dug in, exchanging "banter" about how much they were eating.
"There was talk about husbands helping their wives out," Ian said.
Stuffed, they nibbled on dessert before Erin stunned her guests with a declaration that she had cancer, the trial heard.
Even the defence concedes that was not true. But on that day, the two elderly couples gave Erin advice on how to tell her kids, before ending the meal the way it had begun – with a prayer.
Ian told the court he didn't know the host well, but "things were friendly".
"She just seemed like a normal person to me," he said.
By that night, all of the guests were very ill, and the next day the four went to hospital with severe symptoms. Donald - who had eaten his portion of lunch and about half his wife's - told a doctor he had vomited 30 times in the space of a few hours.
Erin Patterson separated from her husband Simon in 2015
Suspicion soon began to trickle in.
The trial heard several of those asked to the lunch had been surprised by the invitation. Simon said it was rare for his estranged wife to host such an event, and Ian said he and his late wife had never even been to Erin's house before.
In hindsight, one of the guests apparently wondered aloud why Erin had served herself on a different type of plate to the rest of the family.
"I've puzzled about it since lunch," Heather said, according to a witness. "Is Erin short of crockery?"
Later, at hospital in Leongatha, Erin's ailing guests asked if their host was sick too. They'd all eaten the same meal, hadn't they?
Detectives would pose similar questions days later, in a police station interview room with Erin.
"We're trying to understand what has made them so ill," the detectives were heard saying, in a tape played to the court. "Conversely, we're trying to understand why you're not that ill."
An orange cake
Detailing the lunch publicly for the first time, from the witness stand, Erin Patterson offered an explanation.
She told the court that after waving off her relatives she had cleaned up the kitchen, before rewarding herself with a slice of the orange cake Gail had brought.
"[I ate] another piece of cake, and then another piece," she said. Before she knew it, the rest of the cake was gone and she felt overfull.
"So I went to the toilet and brought it back up again," Erin told the trial. "After I'd done that, I felt better."
She outlined for the jury a secret struggle with bulimia, saying she had been regularly binge-eating and purging since her teens - something her defence team suggested accounted for her lack of symptoms.
Paul Tyquin
Erin Patterson told the court she loved her in-laws and never meant to hurt her relatives
Erin had taken herself to hospital two days after the lunch, reporting feeling ill. But she initially rebuffed the urgent pleas of staff who wanted her and her children – who she claimed had eaten leftovers – to be immediately admitted for treatment.
One "surprised" doctor, who had seen the other sick lunch guests, was so concerned for their welfare that he called police to ask for help.
But when medics finally got Erin in for checks, neither she nor her children demonstrated similar symptoms to the others who'd eaten at the house, and tests showed no traces of death cap mushroom poisoning.
After a precautionary 24 hours, Erin was sent on her way.
Red flags
Her victims, though, continued to suffer in hospital. And as their relentless diarrhoea and vomiting was escalating to organ failure, Erin was covering her tracks, prosecutors alleged.
The day after she was discharged from hospital, CCTV captured Erin travelling to a local dump and disposing of a food dehydrator later found to contain traces of poisonous mushrooms.
She was also using three phones around the time of the lunch, two of which disappeared shortly afterwards. The one she did hand over to police had been repeatedly wiped – including while detectives were searching her house.
For investigators, the red flags began mounting quickly.
Questions about the source of the mushrooms elicited odd answers. Patterson claimed some of them had been bought dried from an Asian grocery in Melbourne, but she couldn't remember which suburb. When asked about the brand, or for transaction records, she said they were in plain packaging and she must've paid cash.
The fatal lunch was hosted at Erin Patterson's home in Leongatha in July 2023
Meanwhile detectives found out death cap mushrooms had been spotted in two nearby towns in the weeks before the meal, with concerned locals posting pictures and locations to online plant database iNaturalist. Erin's internet history showed she'd used the website to view death cap mushroom sightings at least once before. Her mobile phone location data appeared to show her travelling to both areas – and purchasing the infamous food dehydrator on her way home from one of those trips.
But Erin told police she'd never owned such an appliance, despite an instruction manual in her kitchen drawer and posts in a true crime Facebook group where she boasted about using it.
"I've been hiding powdered mushrooms in everything. Mixed into chocolate brownies yesterday, the kids had no idea," she wrote in one.
When digital forensics experts managed to recover some of the material on her devices, they found photos showing what looked like death cap mushrooms being weighed on a set of kitchen scales.
During the trial, Erin said she realised in the days after the lunch that the beef Wellington may have accidentally included dried mushrooms that she had foraged and mistakenly put in a container with store-bought ones. But she was too "scared" to tell a soul.
"It was this stupid knee-jerk reaction to dig deeper and keep lying," Erin told the court.
No clear motive
What baffled police, though, was the question of motive.
Simon told the trial he and Erin had initially remained chatty and amicable after their split in 2015. That changed in 2022, he said, when the couple started having disagreements over finances, child support, schools and properties.
He said there was no inkling of ill will towards his family, though.
EPA
Simon Patterson gave several days of evidence in court
"She especially got on with dad. They shared a love of knowledge and learning."
With his voice faltering, Simon added: "I think she loved his gentle nature."
But Erin herself told the court she was feeling increasingly isolated from the Patterson family – and there was evidence presented which indicated she had grown frustrated with them.
"You had two faces," the prosecutor Nanette Rogers said, after making Erin read aloud expletive-laden Facebook messages in which she had called Simon a "deadbeat" and his parents "a lost cause".
The prosecution opted not to present a specific motive, however, saying the jury may still be wondering what drove Erin to kill long after the trial wrapped.
EPA
Prosecutor Nanette Rogers and defence counsel Colin Mandy are two of the state's top barristers
The lack of a clear motive was key to Erin's defence: why would she want to kill her family, people she said she loved like her own parents?
"My parents are both gone. My grandparents are all gone. They're the only family that I've got… I love them a lot," she told police in her interrogation.
Everything else could be explained away, Erin's barrister argued.
The messages critical of her in-laws were just harmless venting, they said; the cancer claim a cover for weight-loss surgery she was planning to have but was too embarrassed to disclose.
Cell phone tracking data isn't very precise, so there's no real evidence she actually visited the towns where death cap mushrooms were sighted, they argued.
They also suggested that Erin was sick after the meal, just not as sick as the others because she'd thrown it all up. She strongly disliked hospitals, which was why she had discharged herself against medical advice.
And her lies and attempts to dispose of evidence were the actions of a woman worried she'd be blamed for the accidental deaths of her guests.
"She's not on trial for lying," Colin Mandy said. "This is not a court of moral judgment."
He accused the prosecution of trying to force a jigsaw puzzle of evidence together, "stretching interpretations, ignoring alternative explanations because they don't align perfectly with the narrative".
But the prosecution argued Erin had told so many lies it was hard to keep track of them.
"Perhaps the starkest," Dr Rogers said, were her attempts to explain the cancer fib. To prove that she actually had plans to undergo gastric-band surgery, Erin claimed to have booked an appointment at a Melbourne clinic – one that did not offer the treatment.
"She has told lies upon lies because she knew the truth would implicate her," Dr Rogers said. "When she knew her lies had been uncovered, she came up with a carefully constructed narrative to fit with the evidence – almost."
Dr Rogers said the jury should have "no difficulty" in rejecting the argument "this was all a horrible foraging accident".
Ultimately, after a week of deliberations, the jury did just that.
She will return to court for a sentencing hearing at a later date.
Stephen Doohan was suspended by the Scottish Ambulance Service after the incident was reported
A paramedic who secretly gave a pregnant woman an abortion drug, killing their unborn child, has been jailed for 10 years and six months.
Stephen Doohan, who was a clinical team leader with the Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS), administered the drug after he found out the woman was pregnant with his baby.
The woman, who has not been named, suffered a miscarriage after Doohan crushed pills into a syringe and injected her as she lay in bed at his Edinburgh home in 2023.
The 33-year-old pleaded guilty to assault, sexual assault and causing the woman to have an abortion at the High Court in Glasgow last month.
Sentencing, judge Lord Colbeck said Doohan had left his victim facing a lifetime of pain and loss.
He imposed a non-harassment order for an indeterminate period of time on the 33-year-old.
Doohan was suspended by the ambulance service after it learned of what he had done and he is no longer employed by them.
Doohan - who was married at the time – met the woman in Spain while he was on holiday in 2021.
He did not tell her that he was married and they remained in contact.
She found out she was pregnant with his child in March 2023 and by this time he had temporarily separated from his wife.
The court heard that the woman was at his home in the Grange area of Edinburgh a couple of days after he learned of the pregnancy.
She was in bed when he did something she could not see, but she said she was not "suspicious of his actions" at that time.
The court heard how he used the syringe on her and the woman began to suffer stomach cramps the next day.
Victim fell into a deep sleep
Later at his flat, he gave her diazepam for the pain.
The court heard how she ended up in a "deep sleep" and awoke to find Doohan "initiating sexual contact".
This time she was suspicious of what he was doing but she was also feeling the effects of the diazepam.
When Doohan left the room, the woman took the chance to look under the mattress and found star-shaped tablets and a syringe with tablets crushed inside.
After searching online, she found matching images for drugs that could induce a termination.
Doohan initially denied what he had done before sobbing and claiming he was "scared".
He said he had got the pills from a doctor but insisted they would not work as it was the wrong dose.
The court heard how Doohan and the woman went to hospital but he pleaded that he would be arrested if she "told the truth".
The next day, the woman collapsed in the shower and had to return to hospital.
This time she insisted Doohan did not come in the examination room.
It soon emerged that she had suffered a miscarriage.
'Appalling case'
The court heard Doohan bought the woman gifts to keep her quiet.
But she eventually reported him to the ambulance service, the information was passed to police and Doohan was arrested.
Prosecutor Scott McKenzie said the woman has been "significantly affected" by her ordeal.
Mark Stewart KC, defending, said Doohan was "deeply sorry" for what he had done.
The lawyer added he had issues at the time which affected his "judgement and decision making" although that did not excuse what happened.
When he was convicted, the ambulance service said: "This is an appalling case, and our thoughts are with the victim.
"We recognise the courage it must have taken for her to come forward and speak out.
"As soon as we learned of the serious allegations and charges against Doohan, we immediately took action to protect the public and liaised with Police Scotland."
US President Donald Trump says countries that side with the polices of the Brics alliance that go against US interests will be hit with an extra 10% tariff.
"Any country aligning themselves with the Anti-American policies of BRICS, will be charged an ADDITIONAL 10% tariff. There will be no exceptions to this policy," Trump posted on his Truth Social platform on Sunday.
His comments came after Brics members criticised his tariff policies as well as proposing reforms to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and how major currencies are valued.
Trump has long criticised Brics - an alliance designed to boost member nations' standing on the international stage to challenge the US and Western Europe.
Last year, the list of Brics members expanded beyond Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa to include Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The bloc is said to represent more than half of the world's population.
Brics leaders, who started a meeting in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil this weekend, have called for reforms to global institutions and positioned the alliance as a platform for diplomacy amid escalating trade conflicts and geopolitical tensions.
George Psaradakis has returned to London to be part of the Commemoration services
George Psaradakis, partway through his bus route in central London on a summer's morning, was happily thinking about the city's successful bid to host the 2012 Olympics.
He could hear his passengers chatting about it too, contributing to a general air of optimism on the number 30 service.
In a matter of minutes, 13 of those passengers would be dead.
Mr Psaradakis turned into Tavistock Square, and the bus was ripped apart by a bomb.
Now 70, the Greek-born Londoner, who was uninjured in the blast, remembers a "macabre day, a gruesome day".
"Many innocent people lost their lives in such a barbaric way."
Dylan Martinez/Reuters/Pool/PA
A device exploded on the 30 bus that had been diverted via Tavistock Square.
A series of bombs were detonated on London's public transport system during the morning rush hour on 7 July 2005, killing 52 people and injuring more than 770.
Three of the blasts happened on the London Underground in the vicinity of Aldgate, Edgware Road and Russell Square stations.
The fourth device exploded at 09:47 BST on the number 30 bus that had been diverted via Tavistock Square.
Thirteen people were killed and more than 100 injured in that bombing.
George Psaradakis was driving the 30 bus in Tavistock square
Mr Psaradakis survived the blast physically unharmed but witnessing such horror has taken a toll.
He has recently left London and retired to Cyprus but he has returned to the city on the 20th anniversary of the bombings, to pay his respects to those who died.
He says it is important London remembers.
"Every July it comes to my mind, all those sad memories.
"But coming to England and participating the in the memorial makes me happy to participate.
"I think we have to commemorate them."
Fiona Hanson/PA
Thirteen people were killed and more than 100 injured in Tavistock Square
Mr Psaradakis's message to Londoners is one of reconciliation and remembering the acts of heroism and kindness.
"We mustn't use hatred to do things like these bombings. We mustn't do that.
"What have the terrorists achieved? When the terrorist went on my bus, he condemned himself.
"He beheaded himself and by doing that inhuman crime he killed all those innocent fellow human beings.
"Instead of hating one another, we should love one another. It was inhuman.
"But at the same time there was lots of humanity."
'Their souls are alive'
Mr Psaradakis has taken comfort from his Christian Orthodox faith, and prays every day for those who died.
"Londoners, we have to remember them, to come to Hyde Park and Tavistock Square.
"We must remember all those innocent people who lost their lives," he said.
"Their souls - they are alive. For me, I believe they are in the arms of God in paradise."
Marcus Fakana handed himself in to the authorities in December to begin a one-year jail sentence
A British teenager jailed in Dubai for having sex with a 17-year-old girl has been released and is back in the UK.
Marcus Fakana, 19, from Tottenham, north London, was sentenced in December to a year's imprisonment after a consensual relationship with the girl, who is also British, while on holiday in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The age of consent in the UAE is 18.
He has received a royal pardon from Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, campaign group Detained in Dubai has said.
A Foreign and Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) spokesperson said: "He was released on an Eid pardon last week.
"We understand he wanted to get back to the UK without media attention and to see his family.
"We supported him and were in contact with them."
Detained in Dubai's chief executive, Radha Stirling, said Mr Fakana "is currently recovering".
She added: "His case has attracted significant public attention due to concerns about the criminalisation of tourists and disproportionate sentencing.
"We believe this case highlights the urgent need for expedited legal processes for foreign nationals and safeguards against unnecessary custodial sentences."
Mr Fakana was with his parents in the UAE from the end of August last year when a "holiday romance blossomed", with another Londoner, who has since turned 18, the campaign group previously said.
The girl's mother reported Fakana to the UAE authorities after seeing messages between the two when she had returned to the UK.
Mr Fakana recently wrote to Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai, from Al Awir Prison asking to be released.
An Eid pardon in Muslim countries can be given to inmates by the monarch or president as a gesture of compassion and a way to offer individuals a second chance during religious holidays.
"Parents need to be aware that teens can be charged in the UAE for behaviour that would not be considered criminal at home, whether that's a relationship, social media activity, or even drinking alcohol," Ms Stirling said.
The government of Dubai previously said: "Under UAE law, the girl is legally classified as a minor and, in accordance with procedures recognised internationally, her mother - being the legal guardian - filed the complaint."
It added: "Dubai's legal system is committed to protecting the rights of all individuals and ensuring impartial judicial proceedings."
US President Donald Trump says countries that side with the polices of the Brics alliance that go against US interests will be hit with an extra 10% tariff.
"Any country aligning themselves with the Anti-American policies of BRICS, will be charged an ADDITIONAL 10% tariff. There will be no exceptions to this policy," Trump posted on his Truth Social platform on Sunday.
His comments came after Brics members criticised his tariff policies as well as proposing reforms to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and how major currencies are valued.
Trump has long criticised Brics - an alliance designed to boost member nations' standing on the international stage to challenge the US and Western Europe.
Last year, the list of Brics members expanded beyond Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa to include Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The bloc is said to represent more than half of the world's population.
Brics leaders, who started a meeting in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil this weekend, have called for reforms to global institutions and positioned the alliance as a platform for diplomacy amid escalating trade conflicts and geopolitical tensions.
Camp Mystic, a Christian girls' camp perched on the banks of the Guadalupe River in Texas, was a place of laughter, prayer, and adventure just days ago.
Among the girls at the camp was eight-year-old Renee Smajstrla, smiling ear-to-ear in a picture taken on one of those days - "having the time of her life" with her friends.
But the next day, the camp she, and so many other young girls loved, turned into the site of one of the deadliest flood disasters in recent Texas history.
Smajstrla was among those killed.
"She will forever be living her best life at Camp Mystic," her uncle Shawn Salta wrote on Facebook.
Photos show the eerie aftermath: the bunk beds are still there - mud-caked and toppled over, the detritus of a summer camp cut tragically short.
Destroyed personal belongings are scattered across soaked interiors where children once gathered for Bible study and campfire songs.
Camp Mystic
Renee Smajstrla
At least 59 people - among them camp's longtime director, Richard "Dick" Eastland, and several young campers - have been confirmed dead.
Eleven of its campers and one camp counsellor remain missing. Many of the girls who remain missing were sleeping in low-lying cabins less than 500ft (150m) from the riverbank, US media report.
Getty Images
Camp Mystic has been operated by the same family for generations, offering girls a chance to grow "spiritually" in a "wholesome" Christian atmosphere, according to its website.
Families from all across Texas and the US send their daughters each summer to swim, canoe, ride horses, and form lifelong friendships.
But the beauty of the Guadalupe River, which draws so many to the area, also proved deadly.
The floodwaters arrived with little warning, ripping through the picturesque riverfront area that is home to nearly 20 youth camps.
Though Camp Mystic suffered the greatest losses, officials say the scale of the disaster is far-reaching.
Nearby, the all-girls camp Heart O' the Hills also faced flooding.
Its co-owner and director, Jane Ragsdale, was among the dead. Fortunately, the camp was out of session at the time.
A statement from the camp said, "Most of those who were on camp at the time have been accounted for and are on high ground… We are mourning the loss of a woman who influenced countless lives and was the definition of strong and powerful."
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Questions are now mounting over why so many camps were situated so close to the river, and why more was not done to evacuate the children in time.
Congressman Chip Roy, who represents the area, acknowledged the devastation while urging caution against premature blame.
"The response is going to be, 'We've gotta move all these camps - why would you have camps down here by the water?'" Roy said.
"Well, you have camps by the water because it's by the water. You have camps near the river because it's a beautiful and wonderful place to be."
As recovery efforts continue, families wait anxiously for news of the missing. Search and rescue teams - some navigating by boat, others combing through debris - are working around the clock.
Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha said on Sunday the search for survivors continued.
"Until we can get them reunited families, we are not going to stop," City Manager Dalton Rice said.
Governor Greg Abbott has declared a state of emergency, and officials warn the final toll may rise in the days to come.
Watch: Kerrville official dodges question on lack of flood warnings
Nearly 80 people have been killed after devastating flash floods swept through parts of central Texas. Rescue efforts are ongoing and the total number of casualties remains unconfirmed, though officials warn the death toll will rise.
Questions have been raised about whether adequate flood warnings were provided and why people weren't evacuated ahead of the deluge.
Most of the fatalities, including 28 children, were in Kerr County, where a girls' camp was inundated.
Judge Rob Kelly, the top elected official in Kerr County, told CBS the severity of the flooding had been unexpected.
"We had no reason to believe that this was gonna be any, anything like what's happened here. None whatsoever," Kelly said.
Reuters
What flood warnings were issued and when?
The flash floods began on Thursday night and continued into Friday morning, with meteorologists saying several months' worth of rain fell in just a few hours.
Within the space of 45 minutes, the Guadalupe River rose by 26ft (8m), causing it to burst its banks.
On Wednesday, the Texas Division of Emergency Management (TDEM) activated state emergency response resources because of "increased threats of flooding in parts of West and Central Texas"
On Thursday afternoon, the National Weather Service (NWS) issued a flood watch that highlighted Kerr County, central Texas, as a place at high risk of flash flooding overnight
At 01:14 local time (06:14 GMT) on Friday a flash flood warning was issued for Kerr Country
At 04:03 local time (09:30 GMT) an emergency flash flood warning was issued for Kerr County, followed by another for the Guadalupe River at 05:34
Was there a failure to warn people?
At a news conference on Sunday, Governor Greg Abbott said people in Texas are used to flash flood warnings.
"But there's no expectation of a water wall of almost 30ft high," he added.
Nim Kidd, chief of the Texas Division of Emergency Management, told reporters: "You have areas where there is no cell phone coverage, plus some coverage.
"It doesn't matter how many alert systems you sign up for, you're not going to get that."
The public can get desensitised to too many weather warnings, said Kerrville City Manager Dalton Rice, according to the Associated Press.
He said he didn't notice any problems and that it was only raining lightly at 03:30 Friday when he went jogging along the Guadalupe River trail.
But by 05:20, the water had risen so fast "we almost weren't able to get out of the park," he said.
Judge Kelly said there is no county-administered warning system in the area because such systems are expensive.
He said that about six years ago, before he took office, the county had looked into a flood warning system along the river, similar to a tornado warning siren. Because of the cost, however, it was never implemented.
The NWS said it was "heartbroken by the tragic loss of life in Kerr County" and defended itself.
"On July 3, the NWS office in Austin/San Antonio, TX conducted forecast briefings for emergency management in the morning and issued a Flood Watch in the early afternoon.
Flash Flood Warnings were issued on the night of July 3 and in the early morning of July 4, giving preliminary lead times of more than three hours before warning criteria were met."
After some officials in Texas appeared to blame the NWS for underestimating the rainfall, former Weather Service officials told the New York Times newspaper that the forecasts were as good as they could have been given the huge amounts of rainfall and storm's abrupt escalation.
Did staff shortages at the National Weather Service affect flood warnings?
Before the tragedy, there had been concerns over the Trump administration's budget cuts to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) - the government agency that operates the National Weather Service.
The Fiscal Year 2026 budget includes cuts and closures of some weather research laboratories, while the Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) has slashed hundreds of employees at NOAA and the NWS.
Meteorologists in the US and elsewhere have expressed concerns over "reduced number of weather balloons" that observe wind, relative humidity and pressure above the ground.
They claim that budget cuts have resulted in 20% fewer weather balloons being released for such observations, impacting the accuracy of weather forecasting.
The New York Times reported that critical positions of the NWS were vacant on Friday morning, with some experts questioning whether staffing shortages had impeded the agency's efforts to coordinate with local emergency managers.
However, Tom Fahy, legislative director of the NWS Employees Organization, told NBC News: "The WFOs [weather forecasting offices] had adequate staffing and resources as they issued timely forecasts and warnings leading up to the storm".
And the Associated Press quoted Jason Runyen, a meteorologist in the National Weather Service office, as saying their office that delivers forecasts for that part of central Texas had extra staff on duty at the time of the storms - five, instead of the usual two.
How has the US government responded to questions about flood preparedness?
Asked whether the tragedy was due to "fundamental failure" by the government to provide early warnings, US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the "weather is difficult to predict", but that President Donald Trump was seeking to modernise the current system.
In response to questions during a Sunday press conference about the impact of cuts to the NWS, she said that she would "carry your concerns back to the federal government".
Over the years the NWS had done well, Noem said, but "we know that everybody wants more warning time, and that's why we're working to upgrade the technologies that have been neglected for far too long".
Noem said that it was difficult for forecasters to predict how much rain would fall but that the Trump administration would make it a priority to upgrade the technology used to deliver warnings.
She added that when Trump took office he "wanted to fix and is currently upgrading the technology" and that "reforms are ongoing".
Trump is planning a possible visit to the area on Friday.
This picture of Renee Smajstrla was clicked at Camp Mystic on Thursday, her uncle wrote on Facebook
An eight-year-old girl and the director of an all-girls' summer camp are among the victims of flash floods in Texas that have claimed at least 43 lives, including 15 children.
Officials say most of the victims have been identified, though the identities of six adults and a child remain unknown. Authorities have not yet released any names publicly.
Here's what we know so far about the victims.
Renee Smajstrla
Eight-year-old Renee Smajstrla was at Camp Mystic when flooding swept through the summer camp for girls, her uncle said in a Facebook post.
"Renee has been found and while not the outcome we prayed for, the social media outreach likely assisted the first responders in helping to identify her so quickly," wrote Shawn Salta, of Maryland.
"We are thankful she was with her friends and having the time of her life, as evidenced by this picture from yesterday," he wrote. "She will forever be living her best life at Camp Mystic."
Camp Mystic, where 27 children are missing, is a nearly century-old Christian summer camp for girls on the banks of the Guadalupe River near Hunt, Texas.
Operated by generations of the same family since the 1930s, the camp's website bills itself as a place for girls to grow "spiritually" in a "wholesome" Christian atmosphere "to develop outstanding personal qualities and self-esteem".
Jane Ragsdale
Heart O' the Hills
Jane Ragsdale was described as the "heart and soul" of Heart O' the Hills camp
Heart O' the Hills is another all-girls' camp that sits along the Guadalupe River, and it was right in the path of Friday's flood.
Jane Ragsdale, described as the "heart and soul" of Heart O'Hills, "did not make it", a post shared on the camp's official website said on Saturday.
Ragsdale, who started off as a camper then a counsellor, became the director and co-owner of the camp in 1976.
"We are mourning the loss of a woman who influenced countless lives and was the definition of strong and powerful," the camp website post said.
Heart O' the Hills wasn't in session and "most of those who were on camp at the time have been accounted for and are on high ground", the statement said.
"Access to the site is difficult, and authorities are primarily focused on locating the missing and preventing further loss of life and property".
Sarah Marsh
Camp Mystic
Sarah Marsh, a student at Cherokee Bend Elementary School in Texas, would have entered third grade in August.
She, too, was attending Camp Mystic when the floods struck, and reported as missing along with about two dozen other campers.
Her grandmother, Debbie Ford Marsh, took to Facebook on Friday asking for prayers. Just hours later she shared online that her granddaughter was among the girls killed.
"We will always feel blessed to have had this beautiful spunky ray of light in our lives. She will live on in our hearts forever!" Ms Ford Marsh wrote on Facebook.
In a post on Facebook, Alabama Senator Katie Britt said she's "heartbroken over the loss of Sarah Marsh, and we are keeping her family in our thoughts and prayers during this unimaginable time".
Lila Bonner
Nine-year-old Lila Bonner, a Dallas native was found dead after flooding near Camp Mystic, according to NBC News.
"In the midst of our unimaginable grief, we ask for privacy and are unable to confirm any details at this time," her family said in a statement to the news outlet.
"We ache with all who loved her and are praying endlessly."
"He's more obedient than a dog... If only more of these dumb ones come along," boasts a woman in a new video game that has fuelled a debate on sexism in China.
The players in the live-action Revenge on Gold Diggers are male protagonists lured into relationships by manipulative women who are after their money - how the man responds shapes the rest of the story.
It topped the gaming platform Steam's sales list within hours of its release in June but controversy quickly followed. Some slammed it for reinforcing insulting gender stereotypes, while supporters say the game cautions people about love scams.
So heated was the criticism that the game's creators quietly renamed it Emotional Anti-Fraud Simulator the next day.
But that wasn't enough to undo the damage. The game's lead director, Hong Kong filmmaker Mark Hu, has now been banned on several Chinese social media platforms.
The game's creators insist they never intended to "target women" - rather they wanted to facilitate "open dialogue about emotional boundaries and the grey zones in modern dating".
Xu Yikun, an artist who tried the game and found it deeply offensive, rejects that rationale. She accuses them of "a classic business model that thrives on generating content that sparks debate and divisions".
Critics like her say the very term "gold digger" reeks of misogyny.
"It's a label that's used, all too often, on women," Ms Xu says. "Sexist jokes and derogatory terms like these have found their way into our everyday language."
"If you have a rich boyfriend, you are called a gold digger. If you try to make yourself look pretty, you are called a gold digger... Sometimes the label is used on you merely for accepting a drink from someone," she adds.
Qianfang Studio
"Want to know if a man loves you? See how much he spends," says one of the women in the video game
Some players, however, find the criticism overblown.
"The game isn't trying to say that all women are gold diggers... I don't find it targeting either gender," says 31-year-old Zhuang Mengsheng, who used a pseudonym to speak to the BBC. "Both women and men can be gold diggers."
And yet, in the game all the "gold diggers" are women. From a fresh-faced online influencer to a go-getting entrepreneur they are all shown scheming to get the men to lavish money and gifts on them.
"Want to know if a man loves you? See how much he spends," one of them says.
The game has divided even local media. A newspaper from the central Hubei province said the game was "labelling an entire gender as fraudsters".
But Beijing Youth Daily praised it for its "creativity", citing the financial impact of love scams: around 2bn yuan ($279m; £204m) in 2023, according to data from the National Anti-Fraud Centre.
"We need to put a stop to emotional fraud without delay," it said in an editorial.
Controversy aside, sales of the game have continued to soar. It is now among China's top ten titles for the PC platform, surpassing even Black Myth: Wukong which is reportedly the most successful Chinese game of all time.
"I don't get why people are upset about this. If you aren't a gold digger yourself, why should you feel attacked by this game?" says a 28-year-old man.
"I actually thought the game's creators are very bold. These issues [like emotional fraud] aren't widely discussed enough in China."
Getty Images
Critics say the game's very premise is sexist because the "gold diggers" are all women
Some people online have suggested the game is inspired by the real-life story of a Chinese man, known as Fat Cat on the internet, who jumped to his death last year after a breakup.
His death sparked an intense discussion online, where the term "gold digger" was liberally used, with some accusing his ex-girlfriend of exploiting him, leading him to take his life. Police have dismissed these allegations.
Women who spoke to the BBC worry that the video game perpetuates problematic gender norms in China, where society believes women belong at home, while seeing men as the primary breadwinners.
So for women, marrying well has traditionally been perceived as more important than professional success.
Official rhetoric from the male-dominated Chinese Communist Party endorses this - President Xi Jinping has repeatedly called on women to embrace their roles as "good wives and mothers".
Watch: Australia’s mushroom murder case... in under two minutes
For two years, the mystery of exactly what happened at Erin Patterson's dining table has gripped the world.
Five people sat down to eat lunch at her home in rural Australia on 29 July 2023. Within a week, three would be dead, a fourth would be fighting for his life, and the fifth would be under investigation for intentionally poisoning her guests with wild mushrooms.
After a much-watched trial in the tiny town of Morwell, Erin has now been found guilty of murdering three relatives and attempting to kill another.
Her eyes on the jury throughout, she remained silent and composed as they delivered verdicts which could see her spend the rest of her life in prison.
The self-described mushroom lover and amateur forager had told the court it was all a tragic accident.
But over nine weeks, the jury heard evidence suggesting she had hunted down death cap mushrooms sighted in nearby towns and lured her victims to the fatal meal under the false pretence that she had cancer - before trying to conceal her crimes by lying to police and disposing of evidence.
The orange plate
Gail and Don Patterson had turned up on Erin's doorstep just after midday on that fateful Saturday, an orange cake in hand. With them were the Wilkinsons: Heather, Gail's sister, and her husband Ian, who weeks after the meal would emerge from a coma to find he was the only guest to have survived.
Noticeably absent was Erin's estranged husband Simon Patterson. He'd pulled out the day before, saying he felt "uncomfortable" attending amid tension between the former couple.
EPA
Erin Patterson's house in Leongatha became a crime scene in July 2023
Erin had spent the morning slaving over a recipe from one of the nation's favourite cooks, tweaking it to make individual serves of beef Wellington: expensive cuts of steak slathered with a mushroom paste, then encased in pastry.
For the jury, Ian recounted watching the parcels go onto four grey plates – and an orange one for Erin – with mashed potatoes, green beans and gravy heaped on the side.
A sixth serve, allegedly prepared for Simon in case he changed his mind and came over, went into the fridge. Erin was originally accused of attempting to murder him too – on several occasions – but those charges were dropped on the eve of the trial and the allegations were not put to the jury.
The group said grace and then dug in, exchanging "banter" about how much they were eating.
"There was talk about husbands helping their wives out," Ian said.
Stuffed, they nibbled on dessert before Erin stunned her guests with a declaration that she had cancer, the trial heard.
Even the defence concedes that was not true. But on that day, the two elderly couples gave Erin advice on how to tell her kids, before ending the meal the way it had begun – with a prayer.
Ian told the court he didn't know the host well, but "things were friendly".
"She just seemed like a normal person to me," he said.
By that night, all of the guests were very ill, and the next day the four went to hospital with severe symptoms. Donald - who had eaten his portion of lunch and about half his wife's - told a doctor he had vomited 30 times in the space of a few hours.
Erin Patterson separated from her husband Simon in 2015
Suspicion soon began to trickle in.
The trial heard several of those asked to the lunch had been surprised by the invitation. Simon said it was rare for his estranged wife to host such an event, and Ian said he and his late wife had never even been to Erin's house before.
In hindsight, one of the guests apparently wondered aloud why Erin had served herself on a different type of plate to the rest of the family.
"I've puzzled about it since lunch," Heather said, according to a witness. "Is Erin short of crockery?"
Later, at hospital in Leongatha, Erin's ailing guests asked if their host was sick too. They'd all eaten the same meal, hadn't they?
Detectives would pose similar questions days later, in a police station interview room with Erin.
"We're trying to understand what has made them so ill," the detectives were heard saying, in a tape played to the court. "Conversely, we're trying to understand why you're not that ill."
An orange cake
Detailing the lunch publicly for the first time, from the witness stand, Erin Patterson offered an explanation.
She told the court that after waving off her relatives she had cleaned up the kitchen, before rewarding herself with a slice of the orange cake Gail had brought.
"[I ate] another piece of cake, and then another piece," she said. Before she knew it, the rest of the cake was gone and she felt overfull.
"So I went to the toilet and brought it back up again," Erin told the trial. "After I'd done that, I felt better."
She outlined for the jury a secret struggle with bulimia, saying she had been regularly binge-eating and purging since her teens - something her defence team suggested accounted for her lack of symptoms.
Paul Tyquin
Erin Patterson told the court she loved her in-laws and never meant to hurt her relatives
Erin had taken herself to hospital two days after the lunch, reporting feeling ill. But she initially rebuffed the urgent pleas of staff who wanted her and her children – who she claimed had eaten leftovers – to be immediately admitted for treatment.
One "surprised" doctor, who had seen the other sick lunch guests, was so concerned for their welfare that he called police to ask for help.
But when medics finally got Erin in for checks, neither she nor her children demonstrated similar symptoms to the others who'd eaten at the house, and tests showed no traces of death cap mushroom poisoning.
After a precautionary 24 hours, Erin was sent on her way.
Red flags
Her victims, though, continued to suffer in hospital. And as their relentless diarrhoea and vomiting was escalating to organ failure, Erin was covering her tracks, prosecutors alleged.
The day after she was discharged from hospital, CCTV captured Erin travelling to a local dump and disposing of a food dehydrator later found to contain traces of poisonous mushrooms.
She was also using three phones around the time of the lunch, two of which disappeared shortly afterwards. The one she did hand over to police had been repeatedly wiped – including while detectives were searching her house.
For investigators, the red flags began mounting quickly.
Questions about the source of the mushrooms elicited odd answers. Patterson claimed some of them had been bought dried from an Asian grocery in Melbourne, but she couldn't remember which suburb. When asked about the brand, or for transaction records, she said they were in plain packaging and she must've paid cash.
The fatal lunch was hosted at Erin Patterson's home in Leongatha in July 2023
Meanwhile detectives found out death cap mushrooms had been spotted in two nearby towns in the weeks before the meal, with concerned locals posting pictures and locations to online plant database iNaturalist. Erin's internet history showed she'd used the website to view death cap mushroom sightings at least once before. Her mobile phone location data appeared to show her travelling to both areas – and purchasing the infamous food dehydrator on her way home from one of those trips.
But Erin told police she'd never owned such an appliance, despite an instruction manual in her kitchen drawer and posts in a true crime Facebook group where she boasted about using it.
"I've been hiding powdered mushrooms in everything. Mixed into chocolate brownies yesterday, the kids had no idea," she wrote in one.
When digital forensics experts managed to recover some of the material on her devices, they found photos showing what looked like death cap mushrooms being weighed on a set of kitchen scales.
During the trial, Erin said she realised in the days after the lunch that the beef Wellington may have accidentally included dried mushrooms that she had foraged and mistakenly put in a container with store-bought ones. But she was too "scared" to tell a soul.
"It was this stupid knee-jerk reaction to dig deeper and keep lying," Erin told the court.
No clear motive
What baffled police, though, was the question of motive.
Simon told the trial he and Erin had initially remained chatty and amicable after their split in 2015. That changed in 2022, he said, when the couple started having disagreements over finances, child support, schools and properties.
He said there was no inkling of ill will towards his family, though.
EPA
Simon Patterson gave several days of evidence in court
"She especially got on with dad. They shared a love of knowledge and learning."
With his voice faltering, Simon added: "I think she loved his gentle nature."
But Erin herself told the court she was feeling increasingly isolated from the Patterson family – and there was evidence presented which indicated she had grown frustrated with them.
"You had two faces," the prosecutor Nanette Rogers said, after making Erin read aloud expletive-laden Facebook messages in which she had called Simon a "deadbeat" and his parents "a lost cause".
The prosecution opted not to present a specific motive, however, saying the jury may still be wondering what drove Erin to kill long after the trial wrapped.
EPA
Prosecutor Nanette Rogers and defence counsel Colin Mandy are two of the state's top barristers
The lack of a clear motive was key to Erin's defence: why would she want to kill her family, people she said she loved like her own parents?
"My parents are both gone. My grandparents are all gone. They're the only family that I've got… I love them a lot," she told police in her interrogation.
Everything else could be explained away, Erin's barrister argued.
The messages critical of her in-laws were just harmless venting, they said; the cancer claim a cover for weight-loss surgery she was planning to have but was too embarrassed to disclose.
Cell phone tracking data isn't very precise, so there's no real evidence she actually visited the towns where death cap mushrooms were sighted, they argued.
They also suggested that Erin was sick after the meal, just not as sick as the others because she'd thrown it all up. She strongly disliked hospitals, which was why she had discharged herself against medical advice.
And her lies and attempts to dispose of evidence were the actions of a woman worried she'd be blamed for the accidental deaths of her guests.
"She's not on trial for lying," Colin Mandy said. "This is not a court of moral judgment."
He accused the prosecution of trying to force a jigsaw puzzle of evidence together, "stretching interpretations, ignoring alternative explanations because they don't align perfectly with the narrative".
But the prosecution argued Erin had told so many lies it was hard to keep track of them.
"Perhaps the starkest," Dr Rogers said, were her attempts to explain the cancer fib. To prove that she actually had plans to undergo gastric-band surgery, Erin claimed to have booked an appointment at a Melbourne clinic – one that did not offer the treatment.
"She has told lies upon lies because she knew the truth would implicate her," Dr Rogers said. "When she knew her lies had been uncovered, she came up with a carefully constructed narrative to fit with the evidence – almost."
Dr Rogers said the jury should have "no difficulty" in rejecting the argument "this was all a horrible foraging accident".
Ultimately, after a week of deliberations, the jury did just that.
She will return to court for a sentencing hearing at a later date.