Diane Abbott says she stands by comments she made about racism that led to a year-long suspension from the Labour Party.

In a wide-ranging interview with James Naughtie for BBC Radio 4's Reflections, the veteran Labour MP was asked about a letter she sent to the Observer in April 2023 in which she suggested people of colour experienced racism in a different way to Jewish people, Irish people and Travellers.

Although she withdrew her comments at the time and apologised, saying "errors" arose in a draft that was sent, she was suspended from the party and only re-admitted just before last year's general election.

Asked by the BBC's James Naughtie if she looked back on the incident with regret, she said: "No, not at all."

She added: "Clearly, there must be a difference between racism which is about colour and other types of racism because you can see a Traveller or a Jewish person walking down the street, you don't know.

"You don't know unless you stop to speak to them or you're in a meeting with them.

"But if you see a black person walking down the street, you see straight away that they're black. They are different types of racism."

Asked if she believed she had done anything wrong or had said something in her Observer letter that she did not believe in, she said: "I just think that it's silly to try and claim that racism which is about skin colour is the same as other types of racism.

"I just... I don't know why people would say that."

Naughtie asked the Hackney North and Stoke Newington MP if she would condemn antisemitic behaviour in the same way she would racist behaviour against someone because of the colour of the skin.

She replied: "Well of course, and I do get a bit weary of people trying to pin the antisemitic label on me because I've spent a lifetime fighting racism of all kinds and in particular fighting antisemitism, partly because of the nature of my constituency."

The exchanges came as Abbott discussed her life and career in politics, including her own experiences of racism, as Britain's first black woman MP and her years of campaigning with other radical left wingers including Jeremy Corbyn.

She entered Parliament in 1987 and is now the Mother of the House, the honorary title given to the longest-serving female MP.

In her 2023 letter to the Observer, Abbott wrote that Irish, Jewish and Traveller people "undoubtedly experience prejudice" that is "similar to racism".

She added: "It is true that many types of white people with points of difference, such as redheads, can experience this prejudice. But they are not all their lives subject to racism."

Abbott was quick to withdraw the remarks, which were heavily criticised by Jewish and Traveller groups, and apologised "for any anguish caused".

But she was suspended by the Labour Party pending the outcome of an investigation, with leader Sir Keir Starmer saying her letter "was antisemitic" and should be condemned.

Abbott was readmitted to the Labour Party in May 2024, just in time for her stand as a Labour candidate in the general election, even though an internal inquiry into her conduct had concluded four months earlier.

The former shadow home secretary was given a "formal warning" for engaging in conduct that was in the opinion of Labour's National Executive Committee "prejudicial and grossly detrimental to the Labour Party". She also completed an online antismetism awareness course.

Asked by Naughtie if she had been "hung out to dry" by the Labour leadership, who had continued to say she was subject to a disciplinary process after it had finished, she said: "In the end, Keir Starmer had to restore the whip to me.

"I got tremendous support locally. We had a big rally on the steps of Hackney Town Hall. And in the end Keir Starmer and the people around him had to back off because of the support I had from the community."

She said she was sure that the Labour leadership had been "trying to get me out" and there were "hints" that she would be offered a seat in the House of Lords if she stepped down as an MP.

"I was never going to that. And I'm a Labour MP today, and I'm grateful," she said.

Reflections is on BBC Radio 4 on Thursday 17 July at 09:30 BST.

Listen here on BBC Sounds.

One of four rebel MPs suspended by Labour for defying party orders has said it will not silence her - but she will continue to support the government as an independent.

Rachel Maskell told the BBC she had been expelled from the party in Parliament for her role in a rebellion against disability benefit cuts, which forced Sir Keir Starmer into a U-turn on a key piece of legislation.

Maskell said the welfare bill fell apart ahead of a crucial Commons vote because the government did not listen to its backbenchers when the reforms were being drawn up.

Minister Jess Phillips said the suspended MPs should not be surprised after their "persistent" rebellions and "slagging off" of the government.

On Wednesday Labour withdrew the whip from four MPs - meaning they will now sit as independents in the House of Commons - and stripped three more of their role as trade envoys - unpaid jobs handed out to backbench MPs.

Maskell told BBC Radio 4's Today programme on Thursday that the chief whip had made it "very clear" to her that her "work on the disabled people reforms were the reason" for her suspension.

The MP for York Central said she had not been a "ringleader" of a rebellion but that she had sought to "advocate" for her constituents, including disabled people who "are very invisible in our society".

Now sitting as an independent, she said she would do "all that I can to support the Labour government".

"But that doesn't mean that I'm silenced," she told BBC Breakfast, adding that she did not believe the prime minister had "got it right".

"If my constituents are telling me something, I want to be able to advocate," she said.

The welfare bill broke down because backbenchers weren't listened to in the early stages, she said, and this must change "because ultimately backbenchers bring vast experience with them".

But Labour minister Phillips said that, from what she could see, "this is nothing to do with someone voting against a particular bill".

Ministers were forced to water down their plans after 47 Labour MPs rebelled against the government's proposed cuts to welfare, but only four were suspended Philips pointed out.

The suspensions were instead for people "constantly going on the airwaves, slagging off your own government," she said.

She also dismissed the idea that MPs could not raise concerns with the government.

"There is absolutely no reason why people cannot speak up about the things that they care about, but we do have to work as a team," Philips told BBC Breakfast.

It further undermined the prime minister's authority after a series of policy reversals, including restoring the winter fuel allowance to millions of pensioners.

A senior Labour MP said the suspensions had left some backbenchers in a "state of shock".

Toby Perkins told BBC Radio 4's The World Tonight late on Wednesday: "There's a number of colleagues who voted against that (welfare) legislation who are wondering if they're phone is going to ring."

While he said some MPs would now think "very, very carefully" before voting against the government, he said there would be others "who feel this is an overreaction."

The other MPs suspended Wednesday - Neil Duncan-Jordan, Brian Leishman and Chris Hinchliff - were all elected to the House of Commons for the first time in 2024.

Duncan-Jordan, the MP for Poole, had organised a letter warning the government's welfare changes were "impossible to support" without a "change of direction".

After his suspension, he said he remained committed to Labour's values and that it was "business as usual" for his constituents.

Leishman, the MP for Alloa and Grangemouth, said in a statement that he wished to remain a Labour MP and added:"I firmly believe that it is not my duty as an MP to make people poorer, especially those that have suffered because of austerity and its dire consequences."

North East Hertfordshire MP Hinchliff likewise said he hoped to return to the Labour benches and would continue to "fight every day for the needs of my constituents".

Three other Labour MPs - Rosena Allin Khan, Bell Ribeiro-Addy and Mohammed Yasin - were stripped of their roles as trade envoys.

Tens of thousands of campers have arrived at Tomorrowland in Belgium, a day after a fire destroyed the festival's main stage.

Festival organisers have insisted that the event in the town of Boom, south of Antwerp, will continue without the stage, adding that they are "focused on finding solutions".

Nobody was injured in Wednesday evening's blaze and experts are working to determine a cause.

The electronic dance music festival is due to start on Friday, with 400,000 people expected to attend over two weekends.

Hundreds of artists, including David Guetta, Lost Frequencies, Swedish House Mafia and Charlotte De Witte are expected to perform.

The local fire service has declared the site safe and a decision will now be made about whether to demolish the structure before the festival begins on Friday.

The campsite, known as DreamVille, has opened and so far organisers say this weekend's event will continue.

In its latest post on Instagram on Thursday, Tomorrowland said: "It is impossible to put into words what we're feeling."

It added that the Orbyz main stage "wasn't just a stage... it was was living breathing world."

Organisers said they had worked through the night to come up with solutions. A meeting was held with safety experts and members of local government on Thursday morning to discuss a contingency plan.

The mayor of Rumst, just north of Boom, told local media that another meeting discussing more ideas for an alternative to the main stage would be discussed in the afternoon.

"Cancelling the festival completely is the last thing we want to do," Jurgen Callaerts said.

There are 14 other stages at the festival, all much smaller than the main stage.

The fire started around 18:00 local time (16:00 GMT) on Wednesday. Videos posted on social media showed thick grey smoke engulfing the stage.

Some residents were evacuated as firefighters worked to stop the flames from reaching neighbouring homes and woodland.

One employee who had been working on the site described "an apocalyptic scene" as the fire broke out.

"We suddenly heard bangs and saw fire near the stage, a huge amount of fire," the unnamed individual told Het Nieuwsblad newspaper.

"We were just putting the finishing touches on it. One more day and it would be finished. Four weeks of work... gone in half an hour."

Tomorrowland began in 2005 and has become the biggest electronic dance festival in the world, attracting music fans from every continent.

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West Pittston, just outside of the industrial centre of Scranton, Pennsylvania, has a classic smalltown-American look.

There are clapboard houses, a main drag with businesses bearing charming vintage patina and lampposts bearing flags of the town's military veterans.

And MAGA faithful.

On Wednesday, in 85F (30C) weather, they lined the streets outside Don's Machine Shop where JD Vance spoke, touting President Donald Trump's recent legislative victory, what he calls his Big Beautiful Bill.

But a lawn sign nearby as the US vice-president spoke pointed to an additional priority on their minds - a rare backlash against the Trump presidency from his own supporters.

"WHERE IS THE LIST???" the sign read - a reference to the release of the so-called Jeffrey Epstein files, a purported tranche of government documents on the disgraced financier and sex offender.

There is a rumoured "client list" of Epstein's famous friends that has fixated conspiracy theorists.

But the Justice Department recently threw cold water on the theory, releasing a memo saying it found no evidence that a client list exists.

Among those attending the Vance event, some put their faith in Trump.

"When he's ready, he'll let them out," Ed DeLucca, 72, told the BBC, saying he hoped Trump would bring the documents to light.

For Mr DeLucca, the rumoured files would ultimately be delivered much like any other Trump promise, such as closing the border or mass deportations of undocumented immigrants.

Epstein was charged by federal prosecutors for sex trafficking of minors and other crimes in 2019. He died by suicide in jail later that year, sparking continued rumors and conspiracies about his death and - most recently - about possible "clients" named in government files.

Yet, according to the president and his top law enforcement officials, the documents may not be forthcoming - and some may not exist at all.

That concession has thrown Trump's Make America Great Again movement into chaos, with even staunch supporters calling for the removal of Attorney General Pam Bondi, FBI director Kash Patel and his deputy, Dan Bongino.

The resulting online storm also has threatened to overshadow the budget bill, a major legislative win Trump just clawed from Congress.

• Trump's Epstein strategy could pit him against loyal supporters
• Prosecutor in Diddy and Epstein cases fired by justice department

"We put you in office, you ran on this platform," Steven Taylor, a local truck driver and Trump supporter who was in West Pittson on Wednesday, told CBS News, BBC's US partner. "We didn't ask for it. And now we want it. We demand it."

"There needs to be accountability. There needs to be justice," he said.

But others like Mr DeLucca were more sanguine. "There's a reason for it. They'll come out," he said.

"They got to make peace," he said of the MAGA factions warring over Epstein.

"They can't exist without Pam, or Dan Bongino," he said of the administration. "It's like the Avengers assembled, the Justice League of America."

But voters in the eastern Pennsylvania town, who have slowly and steadily united behind Republicans during the Trump era, may split over whether to accept the president's strategy on Epstein.

Trump has tried to quell the storm, posting on Truth Social that the alleged hidden Epstein files were actually a "hoax" concocted by Democrats.

"Their new SCAM is what we will forever call the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax, and my PAST supporters have bought into this [expletive] hook, line, and sinker," he wrote on Wednesday.

• Trump says US attorney general should release any 'credible' information on Epstein

Chrissy Matticks echoed Trump's assessment, pinning the blame for the Epstein debacle on Democrats.

"I don't care. Democrats should have released it when Biden was president," she told BBC on Wednesday. "Democrats are just using it as a political football."

She was far more focused on Trump's performance in passing the budget bill and deporting undocumented immigrants in a sweeping crackdown.

"I'd say, to our MAGA base: Have faith in President Trump."

The Duke of Sussex has followed in the footsteps of his mother, Princess Diana, as he visited a charity clearing landmines in Angola.

"Children should never have to live in fear of playing outside or walking to school," said Prince Harry, about the continuing threat of mines to the civilian population.

Prince Harry was in Angola supporting the work of the Halo Trust, the charity that had been backed by Princess Diana on her high-profile visit to the Central African country in 1997.

The image of the princess walking through a minefield, in a visor and body armour, had brought worldwide attention to the danger caused by mines left behind after wars had ended.

Prince Harry visited a village near to a minefield and met children who are given lessons in how to avoid detonating the explosives.

The Halo Trust has cleared 120,000 landmines in Angola, left over from years of civil war.

An estimated 60,000 people have been killed or injured by mines in the country since 2008 and about a thousand minefields are still to be cleared.

"The remnants of war still threaten lives every day," said Prince Harry, patron of the Halo Trust.

He also spent time with the British charity during a visit to Angola in 2019 when he walked through a partially-cleared minefield and set off a controlled explosion.

Earlier this week, Prince Harry met Angola's President Joao Lourenco, where the prince welcomed the government's renewed support for the charity's work.

James Cowan, the Halo Trust's chief executive, said: "We will continue our work in solidarity with the Angolan people until every last mine is cleared."

In January 1997, Princess Diana had been photographed in Angola in what became a symbolic image of the efforts to stop the harm to civilians from landmines.

She had walked on a path cleared through a minefield and had given her support to calls for an international ban on the use of landmines.

That had sparked a row, with the princess being criticised by some politicians for her views.

But the minefield where she had walked in 1997 was cleared and the site is now a thriving community, with local children attending the Princess Diana School.

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More than half of Britain's busiest airports have raised "kiss-and-fly" fees for cars dropping off passengers close to terminals, according to research from the RAC.

The motoring group found 11 out of 20 UK airports had put up prices since last July, with Gatwick, Bristol, Leeds Bradford and Southampton joining Stansted in charging the top rate of £7 to park for a matter of minutes.

In contrast, at nine of the 10 busiest airports in the European Union there are no drop-off fees.

Airports UK, which represents the industry, said all hubs offer free drop-off options further from the terminals, such as "park and ride" facilities where people can leave their car and take a bus to the airport.

London Heathrow, Edinburgh, Birmingham and Liverpool all raised their prices by £1 to £6 for between 10 and 20 minutes.

The RAC also found that Cardiff airport had introduced a fee for the first time, asking £3 for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, London Luton and Manchester airports are the most expensive on a cost-per-minute basis, the research showed, with drivers paying £5 to stop for five minutes.

Rod Dennis, senior policy officer at the RAC, said: "Drivers are a captive audience and that's why we think airports are so keen on these sorts of fees. But honestly, £7 for a stop that could be no more than 10 minutes does seem a little steep.

"And the fact that these costs keep going up year after year I think is going to be a huge source of frustration for anyone dropping off a friend or loved one this summer."

In the RAC's survey of European airports, hubs including Frankfurt and Paris Charles de Gaulle charged nothing. Only Schipol in the Netherlands asked for €2.50 (£2.17) to kiss-and-fly.

Karen Dee, chief executive of Airports UK, said: "Where fees are charged, this helps airports manage and reduce congestion, noise, carbon emissions and air pollution for local communities, something that they are mandated to do by the Government and local authorities.

"These charges are a part of the airport business model and help enable the provision of the widest variety of flights from the airport."

London City airport was the only one on the list which charges no fee.

A spokesperson for Gatwick, said: "The drop off charge helps to limit the number of cars and reduces congestion at the entrance to our terminals and funds a number of sustainable transport initiatives."

It added that holders of a Blue Badge, which is a parking permit for people with disabilities or health conditions affecting mobility, remain exempt from the charge.

Belfast and Southampton also said Blue Badge holders remain exempt from the fees.

On lifting its kiss-and-fly prices, a spokesperson for Southampton, said: "All of the funds generated through our parking facility are reinvested into the airport and play an important role in securing new routes for the region."

The BBC has contacted other airports for comment.

Diane Abbott says she stands by comments she made about racism that led to a year-long suspension from the Labour Party.

In a wide-ranging interview with James Naughtie for BBC Radio 4's Reflections, the veteran Labour MP was asked about a letter she sent to the Observer in April 2023 in which she suggested people of colour experienced racism in a different way to Jewish people, Irish people and Travellers.

Although she withdrew her comments at the time and apologised, saying "errors" arose in a draft that was sent, she was suspended from the party and only re-admitted just before last year's general election.

Asked by the BBC's James Naughtie if she looked back on the incident with regret, she said: "No, not at all."

She added: "Clearly, there must be a difference between racism which is about colour and other types of racism because you can see a Traveller or a Jewish person walking down the street, you don't know.

"You don't know unless you stop to speak to them or you're in a meeting with them.

"But if you see a black person walking down the street, you see straight away that they're black. They are different types of racism."

Asked if she believed she had done anything wrong or had said something in her Observer letter that she did not believe in, she said: "I just think that it's silly to try and claim that racism which is about skin colour is the same as other types of racism.

"I just... I don't know why people would say that."

Naughtie asked the Hackney North and Stoke Newington MP if she would condemn antisemitic behaviour in the same way she would racist behaviour against someone because of the colour of the skin.

She replied: "Well of course, and I do get a bit weary of people trying to pin the antisemitic label on me because I've spent a lifetime fighting racism of all kinds and in particular fighting antisemitism, partly because of the nature of my constituency."

The exchanges came as Abbott discussed her life and career in politics, including her own experiences of racism, as Britain's first black woman MP and her years of campaigning with other radical left wingers including Jeremy Corbyn.

She entered Parliament in 1987 and is now the Mother of the House, the honorary title given to the longest-serving female MP.

In her 2023 letter to the Observer, Abbott wrote that Irish, Jewish and Traveller people "undoubtedly experience prejudice" that is "similar to racism".

She added: "It is true that many types of white people with points of difference, such as redheads, can experience this prejudice. But they are not all their lives subject to racism."

Abbott was quick to withdraw the remarks, which were heavily criticised by Jewish and Traveller groups, and apologised "for any anguish caused".

But she was suspended by the Labour Party pending the outcome of an investigation, with leader Sir Keir Starmer saying her letter "was antisemitic" and should be condemned.

Abbott was readmitted to the Labour Party in May 2024, just in time for her stand as a Labour candidate in the general election, even though an internal inquiry into her conduct had concluded four months earlier.

The former shadow home secretary was given a "formal warning" for engaging in conduct that was in the opinion of Labour's National Executive Committee "prejudicial and grossly detrimental to the Labour Party". She also completed an online antismetism awareness course.

Asked by Naughtie if she had been "hung out to dry" by the Labour leadership, who had continued to say she was subject to a disciplinary process after it had finished, she said: "In the end, Keir Starmer had to restore the whip to me.

"I got tremendous support locally. We had a big rally on the steps of Hackney Town Hall. And in the end Keir Starmer and the people around him had to back off because of the support I had from the community."

She said she was sure that the Labour leadership had been "trying to get me out" and there were "hints" that she would be offered a seat in the House of Lords if she stepped down as an MP.

"I was never going to that. And I'm a Labour MP today, and I'm grateful," she said.

Reflections is on BBC Radio 4 on Thursday 17 July at 09:30 BST.

Listen here on BBC Sounds.

One of four rebel MPs suspended by Labour for defying party orders has said it will not silence her - but she will continue to support the government as an independent.

Rachel Maskell told the BBC she had been expelled from the party in Parliament for her role in a rebellion against disability benefit cuts, which forced Sir Keir Starmer into a U-turn on a key piece of legislation.

Maskell said the welfare bill fell apart ahead of a crucial Commons vote because the government did not listen to its backbenchers when the reforms were being drawn up.

Minister Jess Phillips said the suspended MPs should not be surprised after their "persistent" rebellions and "slagging off" of the government.

On Wednesday Labour withdrew the whip from four MPs - meaning they will now sit as independents in the House of Commons - and stripped three more of their role as trade envoys - unpaid jobs handed out to backbench MPs.

Maskell told BBC Radio 4's Today programme on Thursday that the chief whip had made it "very clear" to her that her "work on the disabled people reforms were the reason" for her suspension.

The MP for York Central said she had not been a "ringleader" of a rebellion but that she had sought to "advocate" for her constituents, including disabled people who "are very invisible in our society".

Now sitting as an independent, she said she would do "all that I can to support the Labour government".

"But that doesn't mean that I'm silenced," she told BBC Breakfast, adding that she did not believe the prime minister had "got it right".

"If my constituents are telling me something, I want to be able to advocate," she said.

The welfare bill broke down because backbenchers weren't listened to in the early stages, she said, and this must change "because ultimately backbenchers bring vast experience with them".

But Labour minister Phillips said that, from what she could see, "this is nothing to do with someone voting against a particular bill".

Ministers were forced to water down their plans after 47 Labour MPs rebelled against the government's proposed cuts to welfare, but only four were suspended Philips pointed out.

The suspensions were instead for people "constantly going on the airwaves, slagging off your own government," she said.

She also dismissed the idea that MPs could not raise concerns with the government.

"There is absolutely no reason why people cannot speak up about the things that they care about, but we do have to work as a team," Philips told BBC Breakfast.

It further undermined the prime minister's authority after a series of policy reversals, including restoring the winter fuel allowance to millions of pensioners.

A senior Labour MP said the suspensions had left some backbenchers in a "state of shock".

Toby Perkins told BBC Radio 4's The World Tonight late on Wednesday: "There's a number of colleagues who voted against that (welfare) legislation who are wondering if they're phone is going to ring."

While he said some MPs would now think "very, very carefully" before voting against the government, he said there would be others "who feel this is an overreaction."

The other MPs suspended Wednesday - Neil Duncan-Jordan, Brian Leishman and Chris Hinchliff - were all elected to the House of Commons for the first time in 2024.

Duncan-Jordan, the MP for Poole, had organised a letter warning the government's welfare changes were "impossible to support" without a "change of direction".

After his suspension, he said he remained committed to Labour's values and that it was "business as usual" for his constituents.

Leishman, the MP for Alloa and Grangemouth, said in a statement that he wished to remain a Labour MP and added:"I firmly believe that it is not my duty as an MP to make people poorer, especially those that have suffered because of austerity and its dire consequences."

North East Hertfordshire MP Hinchliff likewise said he hoped to return to the Labour benches and would continue to "fight every day for the needs of my constituents".

Three other Labour MPs - Rosena Allin Khan, Bell Ribeiro-Addy and Mohammed Yasin - were stripped of their roles as trade envoys.

A fire that tore through a shopping centre in the Iraqi city of Kut has left dozens dead and injured, state media has reported.

The blaze at the mall, which had reportedly opened five days ago, broke out on Wednesday night and has since been brought under control.

"The number of victims has reached about 50 people," Wasit province governor Mohammed al-Miyahi told Iraqi news agency INA.

Most of the victims in the fire were women and children, he said, adding that legal action would be brought against the shopping centre's owner.

Videos on INA's news channel show flames ripping through several floors of a multi-storey building as firefighters try to douse them.

Other clips circulating on social media appear to show a small number of people on the roof during the fire, as well as the burned out insides of the centre.

This story is being updated.

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As Donald Trump continues to be dogged by questions about his administration's handling of possible files related to deceased sex offenderJeffrey Epstein, he is relying on a tried and true strategy.

The problem for the president, however, is that his plan of attack may inadvertently pit him against some of his most loyal supporters.

In a lengthy Truth Social post on Wednesday morning, Trump began in a familiar way – by blaming the Epstein controversy on "radical left Democrats". This episode, he said, is just the latest in a long line of "hoaxes" fabricated by his political opponents to bring him down.

"These Scams and Hoaxes are all the Democrats are good at," he wrote. "They are no good at governing, no good at policy, and no good at picking winning candidates."

In the past, Trump has used this kind of us-against-them rhetoric to rally his supporters to his side – casting himself as the embattled champion of the outsiders and disaffected who faces off against the privileged and the wealthy.

The potential flaw in the president's strategy this time became apparent halfway through his post, however, as he turned to blame his own party and his own supporters for falling for what he said was a leftist scheme.

"My PAST supporters have bought into this 'bullshit,' hook, line, and sinker," he wrote. "They haven't learned their lesson, and probably never will."

During remarks later in the Oval Office, Trump continued to blame his own side, saying that "some stupid Republicans, some foolish Republicans, have fallen into the net".

The president is drawing battle lines on the Epstein issue that divides his own side. It also risks cutting through the foundations on which his political strength is built.

Trump's success has been powered by two central messages to his supporters – that he's an outsider who fights against a corrupt establishment and that he tells it like it is. At a time when many voters say they are tired of polished politicians with shifting views, Trump's base sees him as authentic – unvarnished and controversial, yes, but honest.

Trump, never one to shy away from wild conspiracy theories or those who embrace them, now finds himself arguing that there is no "credible" evidence implicating the rich and powerful in the Epstein case and that those believing otherwise are suckers or fools.

His shifting comments – that the Epstein files should be released, that there are no files, that any possible files are hoaxes – also make him seem less like a straight-shooter and more like a man with something to hide.

He's left with the problem of trying to prove a negative. And for the moment, some of his supporters aren't buying it.

In an interview with Politico, conservative firebrand Laura Loomer warned that if Trump did not change course, the Epstein story could "consume" his presidency. Her advice to appoint an independent investigator to handle the case is one Trump would be loath to follow, given how he has railed against past special counsels.

But the success of his strategy to blame political opponents may only work if Democrats take the bait.

Dan Pfeiffier, who worked as a senior adviser to President Barack Obama, recently wrote they can avoid this trap by amplifying divisions in Trump's "Make America Great Again" ranks.

"If the issue becomes too associated with a Democratic effort to hurt Trump, it will polarise the issue along party lines and push the dissatisfied Maga voters back into Trump's camp," he wrote in his most recent newsletter.

For the moment, calls for the government to share more information about Epstein is a rare source of consensus among the American public. A YouGov poll indicated that 79% of Americans want the government to release "all documents it has". That included 75% of Republican respondents and 85% of Democrats.

An internal Democratic poll obtained by Politico found 58% of respondents believed Trump "maybe was or definitely was" involved in a cover-up.

If the polls are decidedly tilted against Trump, Republican officeholders – the men and women who owe their professional livelihoods to staying in the president's good graces – mostly continue to stick by his side.

Congressional Republicans are backing the president's legislative agenda despite their narrow majorities in key votes this week. And while some have called for more transparency, conservatives in the House of Representatives have repeatedly squelched Democratic attempts to mandate the release of all remaining Epstein files.

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, who oversaw those efforts, walked back earlier comments calling for more Epstein files to be disclosed, saying that he was misquoted and that he only wanted the public to see "credible" information – the same language Trump has used.

For the moment, the Epstein story is a frustrating distraction for a president used to bending the news cycle, and national attention, to his will. With Republicans in control of Washington, the controversy will only consume his presidency if Trump's own allies allow it to.

If the grumbling and disaffection in Trump's faithful persist, however, it could exact a high toll on the Republican party in next year's midterm congressional elections, when voter enthusiasm typically determines which party prevails.

And if Democrats wrest control of one or both chambers of Congress - and gain their accompanying investigatory powers - the Epstein files, and Trump's connection to them, could go from a political sideshow to centre-ring spectacle.

This July, just like last July, the prime minister has decided to kick some of his MPs out of the Parliamentary Labour Party.

A year ago, just weeks after winning the general election, seven Labour MPs had the whip removed, to use the Westminster jargon, having voted against the two-child benefit cap.

Here we are 12 months later, just as MPs may have thought things were quietening down before Parliament's summer break starting next week, and here we go again.

Four MPs have had the party whip removed, meaning they will sit as independents in the House of Commons.

Three other Labour MPs have been stripped of their trade envoy roles.

The logic last summer was it would act as a marker and a big disincentive for other Labour MPs to contemplate rebellion.

Perhaps it worked, at least for a bit, but then came those colossal benefits rebellions earlier this summer.

The four MPs who have been given the heave-ho were called in one at a time to see the Chief Whip Sir Alan Campbell just after Prime Minister's Question Time.

The three now former trade envoys were rung by a senior figure in Downing Street to be told their (unpaid) services were no longer required.

One of those to lose the whip told me they were "emotional" and "devastated" – barely a year into their time as a Labour MP, they are no more, sitting instead now as an independent.

But I detect a defiance from them too - and from other Labour MPs as well.

"Ridiculous," "petty," "vindictive," "weak" are just four of the words I have scribbled into my notebook while listening down the phone to some Labour MPs.

Downing Street wants to show authority and squash any potential future rebellions, such as on changes to special educational needs provision in England, before they begin.

Senior figures attribute the timing of these suspensions to giving themselves time to reach a considered decision.

The suspensions, they insist, weren't for an individual act of rebellion but for repeatedly organising against the government.

Too right say some Labour MPs, this is still a new-ish government and those elected on a Labour ticket ought to be more loyal.

Others witness the spectacle with a wry smile.

"They're public executions!" one said. "It is quite something seeing them removed one by one from the various WhatsApp groups."

One suspended rebel said the 20-minute conversation with the chief whip was "frank but cordial".

One of the sacked trade envoys told me "I understand why they did it" but described it as "petty and a bit pointless".

They had each received a call from the prime minister's political director Claire Reynolds, who, as it happens, is married to the Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds.

They were told voting against the government on welfare was incompatible with continuing as a government trade envoy.

It is not lost on those who have been sacked as envoys that they are all minority ethnic and the government has Liberal Democrats as trade envoys too - who are not expected to vote with the government, but nonetheless they are expected to.

"It is greatest sacking of a role with no salary I have ever known," one told me.

"Morale is already down in the dumps among the base, among members and councillors. How is this going to help?" another Labour figure said.

"I can't imagine Harold Wilson or Tony Blair doing this. It shows weakness and pettiness," said a frustrated Labour MP still in possession of the whip.

The prime minister has been stepping up the amount of time he spends with his MPs, having been bruised by accusations that he is too detached from them.

He spent a couple of hours in parliament after Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday afternoon, and had lunch with a group of his colleagues.

His MPs had expected this more softly softly approach, and greater outreach, to be the noticeable difference after the bumpy last few weeks.

It turns out it is part of the approach, but only part.

Sir Keir Starmer has to hope this splash of discipline helps soothe and calm his party, rather than relitigating these recent rows.

Let's see how that turns out.

Syria's interim president has said it is his "priority" to protect the country's Druze citizens, after Israel vowed to destroy government forces it accused of attacking members of the religious minority in Suweida province.

In his first televised statement since Israel's air strikes on Damascus on Wednesday, Ahmed al-Sharaa also warned that Syrians were not afraid of war.

Syrian state media reported that the military was withdrawing from Suweida under a ceasefire agreement with Druze leaders. But it is not clear whether that will hold.

More than 350 people are reported to have been killed since sectarian clashes between Druze militias and Bedouin tribes erupted in the province on Sunday.

The government responded by deploying its forces to the predominantly Druze city of Suweida for the first time Sharaa's Sunni Islamist group led the rebel offensive that overthrew President Bashar al-Assad in December, ending 13 years of civil war.

However, the fighting escalated and government forces were accused by residents and activists of killing Druze civilians and carrying out extrajudicial executions.

The Druze religion is an offshoot of Shia Islam with its own unique identity and beliefs. In addition to Syria, there are sizeable communities of Druze in Lebanon, Jordan, Israel and the occupied Golan Heights.

Syrian Druze and other minorities have remained suspicious of Sharaa since he took power because of his jihadist past. His Islamist group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), is a former al-Qaeda affiliate that is still designated as a terrorist organisation by the UN.

Their fears have been heightened by several outbreaks of deadly sectarian violence, including one in May between Druze militias, security forces and allied Islamist fighters that also prompted to Israel intervene militarily.

In his speech early on Thursday, Sharaa stressed that the Druze were "a fundamental part of the fabric of this nation", and that he rejected any attempt for them to be dragged into the hands of what he called "an external party".

The president said government forces deployed to Suweida had "succeeded in restoring stability and expelling outlawed factions despite the Israeli interventions", which he said caused a "significant complication of the situation" and "a large-scale escalation".

"We are not among those who fear the war. We have spent our lives facing challenges and defending our people, but we have put the interests of the Syrians before chaos and destruction," he said.

Responsibility for security in Suweida would now be handed to religious elders and some local factions "based on the supreme national interest", he added.

Sharaa ended the speech by promising that the government was "keen on holding accountable those who transgressed and abused our Druze people".

On Wednesday, Israel's Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, told the country's own Druze citizens on that Israeli forces were "acting to save our Druze brothers and to eliminate the gangs of the regime".

The Israeli military said its aircraft struck the Syrian military's headquarters in Damascus and a military site near the presidential palace, as well as armoured vehicles on their way to Suweida, and firing posts and weapons storage facilities in southern Syria.

"We are acting decisively to prevent the entrenchment of hostile elements beyond the border, to protect the citizens of the State of Israel, and to prevent the harming of Druze civilians," the military's chief of staff, Lt Gen Eyal Zamir, said during a visit to the Golan Heights.

"We will not allow southern Syria to become a terror stronghold," he warned.

The general also said there was "no room for disorder near the border fence", after hundreds of Druze crossed the heavily fortified frontier with Syria on Wednesday.

The US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, said it was speaking to all of the parties involved and had "agreed on specific steps that will bring this troubling and horrifying situation to an end".

"This will require all parties to deliver on the commitments they have made and this is what we fully expect them to do," he added, without giving any details.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a UK-based monitoring group, says more than 350 people have been killed since Sunday.

They include 79 Druze fighters and 55 civilians, 27 of whom were summarily killed by interior ministry and defence ministry forces, according to the group.

At least 189 members of the government forces and 18 Bedouin tribal fighters have also been killed in the clashes, it says.

It was not immediately possible to verify the SOHR's casualty figures, but Syrian security sources also said Wednesday that the death toll was close to 300.

The UK jobs market has weakened further as the number of job vacancies continues to fall and wage growth slows, according to official statistics.

The annual rate of pay growth in the three months between March and May was 5%, the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show, down from the previous figure of 5.2%.

Meanwhile, the number of vacancies has fallen again to 727,000, marking three continuous years of falling job openings.

The ONS said survey data suggested that some firms may not be recruiting new workers or replacing ones who have left.

Diane Abbott says she stands by comments she made about racism that led to a year-long suspension from the Labour Party.

In a wide-ranging interview with James Naughtie for BBC Radio 4's Reflections, the veteran Labour MP was asked about a letter she sent to the Observer in April 2023 in which she suggested people of colour experienced racism in a different way to Jewish people, Irish people and Travellers.

Although she withdrew her comments at the time and apologised, saying "errors" arose in a draft that was sent, she was suspended from the party and only re-admitted just before last year's general election.

Asked by the BBC's James Naughtie if she looked back on the incident with regret, she said: "No, not at all."

She added: "Clearly, there must be a difference between racism which is about colour and other types of racism because you can see a Traveller or a Jewish person walking down the street, you don't know.

"You don't know unless you stop to speak to them or you're in a meeting with them.

"But if you see a black person walking down the street, you see straight away that they're black. They are different types of racism."

Asked if she believed she had done anything wrong or had said something in her Observer letter that she did not believe in, she said: "I just think that it's silly to try and claim that racism which is about skin colour is the same as other types of racism.

"I just... I don't know why people would say that."

Naughtie asked the Hackney North and Stoke Newington MP if she would condemn antisemitic behaviour in the same way she would racist behaviour against someone because of the colour of the skin.

She replied: "Well of course, and I do get a bit weary of people trying to pin the antisemitic label on me because I've spent a lifetime fighting racism of all kinds and in particular fighting antisemitism, partly because of the nature of my constituency."

The exchanges came as Abbott discussed her life and career in politics, including her own experiences of racism, as Britain's first black woman MP and her years of campaigning with other radical left wingers including Jeremy Corbyn.

She entered Parliament in 1987 and is now the Mother of the House, the honorary title given to the longest-serving female MP.

In her 2023 letter to the Observer, Abbott wrote that Irish, Jewish and Traveller people "undoubtedly experience prejudice" that is "similar to racism".

She added: "It is true that many types of white people with points of difference, such as redheads, can experience this prejudice. But they are not all their lives subject to racism."

Abbott was quick to withdraw the remarks, which were heavily criticised by Jewish and Traveller groups, and apologised "for any anguish caused".

But she was suspended by the Labour Party pending the outcome of an investigation, with leader Sir Keir Starmer saying her letter "was antisemitic" and should be condemned.

Abbott was readmitted to the Labour Party in May 2024, just in time for her stand as a Labour candidate in the general election, even though an internal inquiry into her conduct had concluded four months earlier.

The former shadow home secretary was given a "formal warning" for engaging in conduct that was in the opinion of Labour's National Executive Committee "prejudicial and grossly detrimental to the Labour Party". She also completed an online antismetism awareness course.

Asked by Naughtie if she had been "hung out to dry" by the Labour leadership, who had continued to say she was subject to a disciplinary process after it had finished, she said: "In the end, Keir Starmer had to restore the whip to me.

"I got tremendous support locally. We had a big rally on the steps of Hackney Town Hall. And in the end Keir Starmer and the people around him had to back off because of the support I had from the community."

She said she was sure that the Labour leadership had been "trying to get me out" and there were "hints" that she would be offered a seat in the House of Lords if she stepped down as an MP.

"I was never going to that. And I'm a Labour MP today, and I'm grateful," she said.

Reflections is on BBC Radio 4 on Thursday 17 July at 09:30 BST.

Listen here on BBC Sounds.

A fresh wave of deadly sectarian violence has rocked Syria, putting into focus the country's fragile security landscape as the new government attempts to impose its authority over the fractured territory.

On Sunday 13 July, the reported abduction of a merchant from the Druze minority sparked days of deadly clashes between Druze militias and Sunni Bedouin fighters in southern Syria.

Later on Tuesday 15 July, Israel intervened militarily, saying its forces were seeking to protect the Druze and to eliminate pro-government forces accused of attacking them in Suweida. At least 300 people are reported to have been killed in Suweida since Sunday, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The violence is the first in the Druze-majority province of Suweida since fighting in April and May between Druze fighters and Syria's new security forces killed dozens of people. Prior to this, clashes in Syria's coastal provinces in March were said to have killed hundreds of members of the Alawite minority, to which former ruler Bashar al-Assad belongs.

The deadly unrest, along with the violent Israeli strikes, have re-ignited fears of a security breakdown in Syria, as the country grapples with the fallout from over a decade of civil war, and the recent Islamist-led rebel takeover of Damascus in December 2024. Syria's current leader, former jihadist Ahmed al-Sharaa, has vowed to protect Syria's minorities.

Who are the Druze?

The Druze are an Arabic-speaking ethno-religious minority in Syria, Lebanon, Israel and the occupied Golan Heights. The Druze faith is an offshoot of Shia Islam with its own unique identity and beliefs.

Half of its roughly one million followers live in Syria, where they make up about 3% of the population. The Druze community in Israel is largely considered to be loyal to the Israeli state, owing to its members' participation in military service. There are some 152,000 Druze people living in Israel and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, according to the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics.

They have historically occupied a precarious position in Syria's political order. During Syria's almost 14-year civil war, the Druze operated their own militias in southern Syria.

Since the fall of Assad in December, the Druze have resisted state attempts to impose authority over southern Syria. While the Druze factions in Syria are divided in their approach to the new authorities, ranging from caution to outright rejection, many object to official Syrian security presence in Suweida and have resisted integration into the Syrian army - relying instead on local militias.

Despite the Syrian government condemning the recent attacks on Druze people and vowing to restore order in southern Syria, its forces have also been accused of attacking the minority - with the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) war monitor documenting "summary executions" of Druze people by government forces. Such reports have fuelled mistrust among some members of the Druze community towards the authorities in Damascus.

After Assad's sudden fall, Israel has been reaching out to the Druze community near its northern border in a bid to forge alliances with Syria's minorities. It has increasingly positioned itself as a regional protector of minorities, including the Kurds, Druze and Alawites in Syria, while attacking military sites in Syria and government forces.

During the sectarian clashes in May, Israel carried out strikes near the presidential palace in Damascus, saying it was a warning against attacks on the Druze. However, some Druze figures in Syria and Lebanon have accused Israel of stoking sectarian divisions to advance its own expansionist aspirations in the region.

Why is Israel attacking Syria now?

The most recent strikes have primarily acted as a warning and a deterrent against the Syrian army deploying to southern Syria, with Israel seeking to create a demilitarised zone in the area. In particular, Israel fears the presence of Islamist fighters near its northern border, along the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

While the Israeli air strikes on 15 July were limited to targeting security forces and vehicles in Suweida, the Israeli military expanded the scope of its attacks on 16 July, striking the Ministry of Defence and the Syrian army headquarters in Damascus. Syria has condemned the attacks.

The strikes represented the most serious Israeli escalation in Syria since December 2024, when it obliterated hundreds of military sites across the country and seized a UN-patrolled buffer zone in the Syrian Golan Heights. Israel has struck Syria multiple times, with the intention of preventing the new authorities from building its military capacities - viewed as a potential threat to Israeli security.

"The warnings in Damascus have ended - now painful blows will come," Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz wrote on social media on 16 July, shortly after Israeli strikes on Damascus began.

The targeting of the Syrian military headquarters was broadcast live by the leading Syria TV channel, from its studios located across from the building - with the presenter captured on air fleeing the studio.

How has the rest of the world reacted?

The US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said the US was "very concerned" about the violence and announced on 16 July: "We have agreed on specific steps that will bring this troubling and horrifying situation to an end tonight."

Several Arab states, including Lebanon, Iraq, Qatar, Jordan, Egypt, and Kuwait, have condemned the Israeli strikes targeting Syrian government and security forces. Saudi Arabia's foreign ministry denounced what it described as "Israel's blatant attacks" on Syria, while Iran described the attacks as "all too predictable".

Turkey, a key stakeholder in post-Assad Syria, described the strikes as "an act of sabotage against Syria's efforts to secure peace, stability and security".

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also condemned Israel's "escalatory" strikes in Suweida and Damascus.

What could happen next?

The violence has underlined the fragility of Syria's post-war security and political landscape, with the most recent spate of violence fuelling fears of renewed sectarian attacks across Syria.

As Sharaa attempts to establish control over Syria and to unite its various groups, it remains to be seen whether his Islamist-dominated government will be able to reconcile Syria's deep-rooted sectarian divisions, stoked by years of civil war. The sectarian clashes, along with the Israeli strikes, threaten to derail attempts at state-building and post-war recovery.

Israel, for its part, is likely to continue to perceive the new authorities, and its affiliated Islamist fighters in the south, as a significant security threat - pushing it to pursue alliances with groups that may feel alienated by the new authorities.

More than half of Britain's busiest airports have raised "kiss-and-fly" fees for cars dropping off passengers close to terminals, according to research from the RAC.

The motoring group found 11 out of 20 UK airports had put up prices since last July, with Gatwick, Bristol, Leeds Bradford and Southampton joining Stansted in charging the top rate of £7 to park for a matter of minutes.

In contrast, at nine of the 10 busiest airports in the European Union there are no drop-off fees.

Airports UK, which represents the industry, said all hubs offer free drop-off options further from the terminals, such as "park and ride" facilities where people can leave their car and take a bus to the airport.

London Heathrow, Edinburgh, Birmingham and Liverpool all raised their prices by £1 to £6 for between 10 and 20 minutes.

The RAC also found that Cardiff airport had introduced a fee for the first time, asking £3 for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, London Luton and Manchester airports are the most expensive on a cost-per-minute basis, the research showed, with drivers paying £5 to stop for five minutes.

Rod Dennis, senior policy officer at the RAC, said: "Drivers are a captive audience and that's why we think airports are so keen on these sorts of fees. But honestly, £7 for a stop that could be no more than 10 minutes does seem a little steep.

"And the fact that these costs keep going up year after year I think is going to be a huge source of frustration for anyone dropping off a friend or loved one this summer."

In the RAC's survey of European airports, hubs including Frankfurt and Paris Charles de Gaulle charged nothing. Only Schipol in the Netherlands asked for €2.50 (£2.17) to kiss-and-fly.

Karen Dee, chief executive of Airports UK, said: "Where fees are charged, this helps airports manage and reduce congestion, noise, carbon emissions and air pollution for local communities, something that they are mandated to do by the Government and local authorities.

"These charges are a part of the airport business model and help enable the provision of the widest variety of flights from the airport."

London City airport was the only one on the list which charges no fee.

A spokesperson for Gatwick, said: "The drop off charge helps to limit the number of cars and reduces congestion at the entrance to our terminals and funds a number of sustainable transport initiatives."

It added that holders of a Blue Badge, which is a parking permit for people with disabilities or health conditions affecting mobility, remain exempt from the charge.

Belfast and Southampton also said Blue Badge holders remain exempt from the fees.

On lifting its kiss-and-fly prices, a spokesperson for Southampton, said: "All of the funds generated through our parking facility are reinvested into the airport and play an important role in securing new routes for the region."

The BBC has contacted other airports for comment.

A new photograph of Queen Camilla has been released to mark her 78th birthday on Thursday.

In the photo by Chris Jackson, the Queen is pictured smiling as she leans on a metal gate in a field at her private Wiltshire home, Raymill.

She is wearing gold drop earrings and a turquoise dress made from fabric featuring a rainforest of monkeys, toucans and lemurs.

The Queen was on duty on her birthday last year when she attended the State Opening of Parliament with King Charles III, but she is expected to spend this year's birthday privately.

The photo, taken earlier this month, also features her wedding band, her five carat emerald cut diamond engagement ring, and a gold ring composed of circular plaques on her little finger.

In April, the Queen also celebrated her 20th wedding anniversary to King Charles, who is still being treated for cancer.

Since then, the pair have had a busy few months of high profile engagements, including hosting a state visit by the French President Emmanuel Macron last week, attending Trooping the Colour in June, and visiting Canada for the opening of the country's parliament in May.

This week, the Queen also visited a children's hospice in Devon and HMS Astute, a nuclear-powered submarine, in Plymouth.

There, the Commander of HMS Astute, Christopher Bate, gifted the Queen a roll of clingfilm in a special holder for her birthday.

The wrapping was used to fix a defect in the main engines of the submarine, Bate explained.

"There's nothing more useful, brilliant, how wonderful," the Queen said of the present, which also featured a plaque with the words: "Clingflim keeping nuclear submarines at sea".

The Queen was also appointed a Vice Admiral of the United Kingdom, in recognition of her support of the Royal Navy, it was announced on the same day.

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The Duke of Sussex has followed in the footsteps of his mother, Princess Diana, as he visited a charity clearing landmines in Angola.

"Children should never have to live in fear of playing outside or walking to school," said Prince Harry, about the continuing threat of mines to the civilian population.

Prince Harry was in Angola supporting the work of the Halo Trust, the charity that had been backed by Princess Diana on her high-profile visit to the Central African country in 1997.

The image of the princess walking through a minefield, in a visor and body armour, had brought worldwide attention to the danger caused by mines left behind after wars had ended.

Prince Harry visited a village near to a minefield and met children who are given lessons in how to avoid detonating the explosives.

The Halo Trust has cleared 120,000 landmines in Angola, left over from years of civil war.

An estimated 60,000 people have been killed or injured by mines in the country since 2008 and about a thousand minefields are still to be cleared.

"The remnants of war still threaten lives every day," said Prince Harry, patron of the Halo Trust.

He also spent time with the British charity during a visit to Angola in 2019 when he walked through a partially-cleared minefield and set off a controlled explosion.

Earlier this week, Prince Harry met Angola's President Joao Lourenco, where the prince welcomed the government's renewed support for the charity's work.

James Cowan, the Halo Trust's chief executive, said: "We will continue our work in solidarity with the Angolan people until every last mine is cleared."

In January 1997, Princess Diana had been photographed in Angola in what became a symbolic image of the efforts to stop the harm to civilians from landmines.

She had walked on a path cleared through a minefield and had given her support to calls for an international ban on the use of landmines.

That had sparked a row, with the princess being criticised by some politicians for her views.

But the minefield where she had walked in 1997 was cleared and the site is now a thriving community, with local children attending the Princess Diana School.

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Thousands of people who own flats are seeking millions of pounds in compensation as part of planned legal action against the companies that own their apartment blocks.

Legal letters, seen by BBC News, allege freeholders - those who own the blocks of flats - took secret commission fees for arranging buildings insurance policies.

The letters claim the commission was then added to the service charges paid by the owners of the flats – or leaseholders – without their knowledge.

Lawyers suggest each flat owner could get up to £2,000 in compensation. The companies all deny they broke any rules.

The fees were paid to the freeholders by insurance companies for buying their products.

Leaseholders allege they were then added to the cost of the buildings insurance by the freeholder or their agents, and the total amount was charged to them in the form of service charges. They say this was done without their knowledge.

For instance, if the insurance on a block of flats cost £80,000, the insurer might pay £20,000 in commission to the freeholder for buying its product.

But they claim the entire £100,000 would then be charged to the leaseholders, without them knowing the total included the commission fee.

Legal firm Velitor Law has written to four large freeholders – E&J Estates, Consensus Business Group, Long Harbour and Ground Rents Income Funds – on behalf of 2,500 flat owners.

They allege the companies received commissions for arranging insurance policies that were "unlawful because it amounts to a secret commission received without our clients prior informed consent".

They are seeking not just the return of the commission, but also interest and any Insurance Premium Tax their clients have paid.

As insurance costs on blocks of flats have spiralled since the Grenfell Tower fire, and commissions are usually a percentage of the insurance costs, the lawyers allege that property owners have benefitted as a result of the disaster.

More companies are likely to be targeted, says Liam Spender, from Velitor Law, as 20,000 leaseholders have already signed up to the class action lawsuit.

"We started with those [four] for a variety of reasons – the number of claimants and to get the best spread across the country. But we think there might actually be 20 different landlord groups we could potentially go after."

A report from the regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), which was published in April 2023, found that commission rates on insurance could be as high as 62%.

The FCA found the average commission paid to an insurance broker increased from £1,785 per policy in 2019, to £2,595 in 2022.

"Most of the brokers in our sample," it wrote, "did not give us adequate evidence to show that they deliver fair value consistently for multi-occupancy buildings products."

Since January 2024, insurers and brokers are required to disclose how much insurance commission they are paying to freeholders.

David Walsh, who owns a flat in south-west London, is one of those who has joined the lawsuit.

The annual buildings insurance costs for his apartment block, which contains 144 flats, have tripled in recent years, he says, to more than £150,000 mainly because the building is assessed as having dangerous cladding. The service charge this year is almost £5,000.

Despite asking the freeholder, E&J Estates, how much commission it is receiving, Mr Walsh, 50, says he's still waiting for a response.

"They just ignored us for months, then they declined to comment, then they said 'no, that's not how we see it,'" he told the BBC.

"So I've never got to the bottom of the commissions. I've now signed up to the class action lawsuit but I was unaware until very recently that that's how the game was played."

The BBC approached the freeholders who are subject to the planned legal action. A spokesperson for Ground Rents Income Funds told the BBC that "we do not consider there to be any valid basis for a claim against GRIF."

Penult Capital Partners, which arranges insurance for E&J Estates, said "the various claims made by Velitor are fundamentally misconceived".

Consensus Business Group said any legal action "will be vigorously defended."

Homeground, which provides insurance products for Long Harbour, said its services are "subject to the Financial Conduct Authority's regulatory regime" and that "it receives commission in line with that strict regulatory framework".

Summer holiday clubs to cover Britain's six-week school break now cost parents an average of £1,076 per child, new figures suggest.

The price varies by region with some areas seeing hikes of up to 13% on last year, according to research by children's charity Coram.

High demand and a lack of cheaper council-run activities are driving up prices, it found.

"It's the amount you'd spend going on holiday, but you're working and you don't get to see your child," says mother Chiara Del Vescovo.

Most families depend on some form of childcare for part of the school holidays as an increasing number of households have two parents in full-time work and it is less common to live close to relatives.

That's true for Manchester mum Chiara as she and her partner try to juggle work alongside looking after their seven-year-old daughter.

"We are trying to co-ordinate with her friends so they can spend a few days in a holiday club together, but it's difficult and expensive, especially if you go for the full day," she says.

Last year, the average cost for a child in full-time holiday clubs for six weeks was £1,045, Coram found.

This year, Wales has seen a 6% increase and has the most expensive holiday clubs at £209.60 per week.

Yorkshire and the Humber recorded the biggest jump in price, up 13% this year to £194.41 per week.

Gilly Balfour is in charge of free holiday activities at Z-arts Children's Centre, in Manchester and says she understands why costs have had to increase for many providers.

"Art materials have gone up, food for lunches is up, we want to make sure that we're paying people well and have to get the correct ratios in terms of adults to children," she says "so you've got to factor in the whole cost."

In every area, childminders play a crucial role in plugging gaps in care, especially outside of normal school hours, but this data shows that they are, on average, £55 a week more than holiday clubs.

Stretch to pay upfront

For parents on Universal Credit, help is available through the childcare element of the benefit - but not in time to pay for clubs upfront.

The benefit is paid in arrears, so many families find it a stretch to pay for holiday clubs in advance before their childcare payment arrives four weeks later.

Rasheeda Anwar works part-time as a nurse in Reading and says paying for summer childcare for her two children simply isn't an option.

She is taking annual leave to cover as much as she can, and feels fortunate to have got her 14-year-old daughter into a free camp run by the organisation Sport in Mind.

"They're getting out in the fresh air. It's good for them so they're not glued to their phones. That's always my worry. I want her to experience different things, and they provide fruit and a healthy lunch," she says.

Lack of places

In England, that free care is paid for by the Holiday Activities and Food programme. It funds local authorities to provide holiday clubs for children on free school meals.

However, places on council-run schemes are often oversubscribed, and these figures suggest that on average private holiday clubs cost 21% more than those run by councils.

There are fewer holiday club places for children over seven, and availability drops significantly for children over 11.

Those with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) of any age have even fewer options available. Just 9% of local authorities in England said they had enough provision for 75% of children with SEND in their area.

'Year-round reality'

The Local Government Association says: "While councils recognise the importance of ensuring there is sufficient provision available for children with SEND, it can be difficult to ensure the right provision is available, particularly given the challenging situation that many providers face at the moment."

Lydia Hodges is head of Coram Family and Childcare, and says that for many families, there are no other options.

"It's absolutely vital for parents to take work, to stay in work, and for children to be engaged in something positive during the school holidays," she says.

"So we think it's vital that we address the true reality of the situation of working childcare and that reality is a year-round one."

Ways to save money on childcare

• Flexible working All employees have a right to ask for it and if granted changing your hours could save you money on childcare
• Unpaid leave It's not ideal to lose pay but many of us would pay more in childcare through the holidays than we would earn at work
• Pooling childcare Agreeing a rota with other parents might be a handful but could save you all money and be fun for the children.
• Universal credit childcare funding Working families with this benefit can claim up to £1,031.88 a month for one child or £1,768.94 for two or more
• Holiday activities and food programme Local authorities offer free summer clubs for children in England who receive benefits-related free school meals
• Tax-free childcare accounts These can be used to pay for many registered Ofsted holiday clubs, and the government adds £2 for every £8 you put in.
• Read more: What childcare help is available?

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Israel's military struck the Syrian defence ministry in Damascus and government forces in southern Syria on Wednesday, as deadly sectarian fighting in the mostly Druze province of Suweida continued for a fourth day.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said its forces were "working to save our Druze brothers and to eliminate the regime's gangs". The Syrian foreign ministry accused Israel of "treacherous aggression".

More than 300 people are reported to have been killed in Suweida since Sunday, when clashes between Druze militias and Bedouin tribes erupted.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he was "very worried" about the violence in the south but believed it would end within hours.

"We have agreed on specific steps that will bring this troubling and horrifying situation to an end tonight," he wrote on X on Wednesday evening.

Syria's foreign ministry said the country "welcomes the efforts made by the US and Arabian sides" to "resolve the current crisis" peacefully.

Israel has not yet commented on the ceasefire bid.

Earlier the Syrian interior ministry announced that it had reached a ceasefire agreement with Druze leaders "as part of efforts to restore security and stability". It said military operations would end immediately, police would set up checkpoints in Suweida city, and that the province would be "fully integrated" into the Syrian state.

One Druze leader, Sheikh Yousef Jarbou, confirmed the agreement. But another who supports Israel's intervention, Sheikh Hikmat al-Hajri, called for Druze fighters to continue fighting until the "total liberation of our province from gangs".

The Israeli military began striking Syrian security forces and their weapons on Monday, after they were deployed to the city of Suweida for the first time since Sunni Islamist-led rebels overthrew President Bashar al-Assad in December.

Minority groups including the Druze - whose religion is an offshoot of Shia Islam with its own unique identity and beliefs - are suspicious of interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa and his government, despite his pledges to protect them.

Their fears have been heightened by several outbreaks of sectarian violence over the past eight months, including one in May in which dozens of people were reportedly killed in clashes between Druze, security forces, and allied Islamist fighters in Damascus and Suweida.

In the wake of that fighting, the government reached an agreement with Druze militias to hire local security forces in Suweida province from their ranks.

Netanyahu has said he is committed to preventing harm to the Druze in Syria because of their deep ties to those living in Israel and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz wrote on X on Wednesday afternoon that "the warnings in Damascus" had ended and that the Israeli military would "continue to operate vigorously in Suweida to destroy the forces that attacked the Druze until they withdraw completely".

He later posted that "the painful blows have begun", above a video clip showing a TV presenter diving under a desk live on camera as an Israeli air strike hit the nearby entrance to the Syrian defence ministry in Umayyad Square, in central Damascus.

Fadi Al Halabi, a London-based Syrian filmmaker who is visiting Damascus, said he was nearby when he heard the Israeli fighter jets approach.

"People's faces were so afraid. Everyone started running [in] the street. No-one knew where to go. Suddenly the air strike[s] began, targeting some of the most crowded areas, including the ministry of defence," he told the BBC.

The Israeli military said it also struck a "military target in the area" of the presidential palace in the capital, as well as armoured vehicles loaded with heavy machine guns and weapons on their way to Suweida, and firing posts and weapons storage facilities in southern Syria.

Syria's foreign ministry said the strikes targeted government institutions and civilian facilities in Damascus and Suweida and killed "several innocent civilians".

"This flagrant assault, which forms part of a deliberate policy pursued by the Israeli entity to inflame tensions, spread chaos, and undermine security and stability in Syria, constitutes a blatant violation of the United Nations Charter and international humanitarian law," it added.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a UK-based monitoring group, meanwhile reported that the humanitarian situation in Suweida city had rapidly deteriorated.

It cited sources as saying there were clashes in several area of the city and that tanks had attacked the national hospital, causing panic among the scores of casualties from the fighting being treated there. They also said there were acute shortages of water and medical supplies.

Later, the Syrian health ministry said government forces had entered the hospital and found "dozens of bodies" after "outlaw groups withdrew", according to the official Sana news agency.

A man named Hosam told the BBC he was in the centre of Suweida city and had witnessed civilians coming under fire from artillery and snipers.

"I lost my neighbour today on the street. One of the snipers shot him. We tried to [get an] ambulance [to take] him to hospital, but we couldn't," he said.

The SOHR says more than 300 people have been killed since Sunday in Suweida province.

They include 69 Druze fighters and 40 civilians, 27 of whom were summarily killed by interior ministry and defence ministry forces, according to the group.

At least 165 members of the government forces and 18 Bedouin tribal fighters have also been killed in the clashes, while 10 members of government forces have been killed in Israeli strikes, it says.

The BBC is not able to verify the SOHR's casualty figures.

The fighting between Bedouin tribes and Druze militias in Suweida is said to have been sparked by the abduction of a Druze merchant on the highway to Damascus last Friday.

On Sunday, armed Druze fighters reportedly encircled and later seized a neighbourhood of Suweida city that is inhabited by Bedouin. The clashes soon spread into other parts of Suweida province, with tribesmen reportedly launching attacks on nearby Druze towns and villages.

Syria's interior ministry later announced that its forces and those of the defence ministry would intervene and impose order, saying the "dangerous escalation comes in light of the absence of relevant official institutions".

Earlier this year, Israel's prime minister demanded the complete demilitarisation of Suweida and two other southern provinces. He said Israel saw President Sharaa's Sunni Islamist group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), as a threat. HTS is a former al-Qaeda affiliate that is still designated as a terrorist organisation by the UN and UK, but no longer by the US.

The Israeli military has already carried out hundreds of strikes across Syria to destroy the country's military assets since the fall of the Assad regime.

And it has sent troops into the UN-monitored demilitarised buffer zone between the occupied Golan Heights and Syria, as well as several adjoining areas and the summit of Mount Hermon.

President Donald Trump says Coca-Cola has agreed to use real cane sugar in its drinks sold in the US.

Coca-Cola uses corn syrup in its American products, but Trump's Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr has voiced concern about the ingredient's health impacts.

"I have been speaking to Coca-Cola about using REAL Cane Sugar in Coke in the United States, and they have agreed to do so," Trump wrote in a Truth Social post. "I'd like to thank all of those in authority at Coca-Cola."

"This will be a very good move by them - You'll see. It's just better." The BBC has contacted Coca-Cola for comment.

Germany is set to tighten its laws to crack down on gangs smuggling migrants to the UK by the end of the year, Downing Street has said.

The announcement comes alongside a new agreement between the UK and Germany covering areas including migration, business and defence, which will be signed during Friedrich Merz's first official visit to the UK as German chancellor on Thursday.

The changes will make it illegal in Germany to facilitate illegal migration to the UK.

Facilitating people-smuggling is not technically illegal in Germany currently, if it is to a country outside the European Union - which, following Brexit, includes the UK.

Downing Street said the move will make it easier for German authorities to investigate and take action against warehouses and storage facilities used by smugglers to conceal small boats intended for illegal Channel crossings to the UK.

Berlin agreed to tighten its legislation in December under the previous government but the new chancellor is now expected to commit to changing the law by the end of the year.

A BBC investigation last year exposed the significant German connection to small boat crossings, with the country becoming a central location for the storage of boats and engines.

Sir Keir said: "Chancellor Merz's commitment to make necessary changes to German law to disrupt the supply lines of the dangerous vessels which carry illegal migrants across the Channel is hugely welcome."

The German agreement comes a week after the UK announced a new pilot returns scheme with France, during President Emmanuel Macron's state visit.

Under the "one in, one out" deal, some small boat arrivals would be returned to France in exchange for the UK accepting an equivalent number of asylum seekers with connections to the UK.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer is under pressure to tackle the number of people crossing the Channel in small boats.

More than 21,000 people have made the dangerous journey so far this year - a 56% increase on the same period in 2024.

The Conservatives' shadow home secretary Chris Philp claimed the figures showed " the crisis in the Channel continues to spiral".

"This is just more of the same tired, headline-chasing from Keir Starmer," he said.

"He's scrambling to stay relevant with yet another gimmick, but this latest press release is not a plan but a distraction...

"This government has clearly lost control of our borders and left the country exposed when they cancelled our returns deterrent."

Defence and security is also on the agenda for the visit, with the leaders set to discuss support for Ukraine.

The pair will unveil a new agreement to boost UK defence exports such as Boxer armoured vehicles and Typhoon jets, through joint export campaigns for co-produced equipment.

Downing Street said the agreement was likely to lead to billions of pounds of additional defence exports in the coming years, boosting the economy and jobs.

A cooperation treaty will also establish a new UK-Germany Business Forum to facilitate investment in the two countries.

A series of commercial investments in the UK are being announced to coincide with the visit, worth more than £200m and creating more than 600 new jobs.

Among the companies involved are defence tech firm STARK, which will create 100 jobs through a new facility in Swindon - marking the the company's first expansion outside of Germany.

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Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has suspended three Labour MPs over breaching party discipline.

The BBC understands Neil Duncan-Jordan, Brian Leishman and Chris Hinchliff have had the party whip removed, meaning the MPs will sit as independents in the House of Commons.

Senior Labour sources have not ruled out further MPs, including from earlier parliamentary intakes, being suspended later today.

Duncan-Jordan, Leishman and Hinchliff were all elected as Labour MPs for the first time last year. The BBC has asked the three suspended MPs for comment.

The move comes after 47 Labour MPs rebelled against the government's proposed cuts to welfare and forced ministers to water down their plans.

All three of the suspended MPs voted against the government's welfare reform bill earlier this month.

The rebellion undermined Sir Keir's authority, which was weakened after a series of policy reversals, such as restoring the winter fuel allowance to millions of pensioners.

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

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

Eight babies have been born in the UK using genetic material from three people to prevent devastating and often fatal conditions, doctors say.

The method, pioneered by UK scientists, combines the egg and sperm from a mum and dad with a second egg from a donor woman.

The technique has been legal here for a decade but we now have the first proof it is leading to children born free of incurable mitochondrial disease.

These conditions are normally passed from mother to child, starving the body of energy.

This can cause severe disability and some babies die within days of being born. Couples know they are at risk if previous children, family members or the mother has been affected.

Children born through the three-person technique inherit most of their DNA, their genetic blueprint, from their parents, but also get a tiny amount, about 0.1%, from the second woman. This is a change that is passed down the generations.

None of the families who have been through the process are speaking publicly to protect their privacy, but have issued anonymous statements through the Newcastle Fertility Centre where the procedures took place.

'Overwhelmed with gratitude'

"After years of uncertainty this treatment gave us hope - and then it gave us our baby," said the mother of a baby girl.

"We look at them now, full of life and possibility, and we're overwhelmed with gratitude."

The mother of a baby boy added: "Thanks to this incredible advancement and the support we received, our little family is complete.

"The emotional burden of mitochondrial disease has been lifted, and in its place is hope, joy, and deep gratitude."

Mitochondria are tiny structures inside nearly every one of our cells. They are the reason we breathe as they use oxygen to convert food into the form of energy our bodies use as fuel.

Defective mitochondria can leave the body with insufficient energy to keep the heart beating as well as causing brain damage, seizures, blindness, muscle weakness and organ failure.

About one in 5,000 babies are born with mitochondrial disease. The team in Newcastle anticipate there is demand for 20 to 30 babies born through the three-person method each year.

Some parents have faced the agony of having multiple children die from these diseases.

Mitochondria are passed down only from mother to child. So this pioneering fertility technique uses both parents and a woman who donates her healthy mitochondria.

The science was developed more than a decade ago at Newcastle University and the Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and a specialist service opened within the NHS in 2017.

The eggs from both the mother and the donor are fertilised in the lab with the dad's sperm.

The embryos develop until the DNA from the sperm and egg form a pair of structures called the pro-nuclei. These contain the blueprints for building the human body, such as hair colour and height.

The pro-nuclei are removed from both embryos and the parents' DNA is put inside the embryo packed with healthy mitochondria.

The resulting child is genetically related to their parents, but should be free from mitochondrial disease.

A pair of reports, in the New England Journal of Medicine, showed 22 families have gone through the process at the Newcastle Fertility Centre.

It led to four boys and four girls, including one pair of twins, and one ongoing pregnancy.

"To see the relief and joy in the faces of the parents of these babies after such a long wait and fear of consequences, it's brilliant to be able to see these babies alive, thriving and developing normally," Prof Bobby McFarland, the director of the NHS Highly Specialised Service for Rare Mitochondrial Disorders told the BBC.

All of the babies were born free of mitochondrial disease and met their expected developmental milestones.

There was a case of epilepsy, which cleared up by itself and one child has an abnormal heart rhythm which is being successfully treated.

These are not though to be connected to defective mitochondria. It is not known whether this is part of the known risks of IVF, something specific to the three-person method or something that has been detected only because the health of all babies born through this technique is monitored intensely.

Another key question hanging over the approach has been whether defective mitochondria would be transferred into the healthy embryo and what the consequences could be.

The results show that in five cases the diseased mitochondria were undetectable. In the other three, between 5% and 20% of mitochondria were defective in blood and urine samples.

This is below the 80% level thought to cause disease. It will take further work to understand why this occurred and if it can be prevented.

Prof Mary Herbert, from Newcastle University and Monash University, said: "The findings give grounds for optimism. However, research to better understand the limitations of mitochondrial donation technologies, will be essential to further improve treatment outcomes."

The breakthrough gives hope to the Kitto family.

Kat's youngest daughter Poppy, 14, has the disease. Her eldest Lily, 16, may pass it onto her children.

Poppy is in a wheelchair, is non-verbal and is fed through a tube.

"It's impacted a huge part of her life," says Kat, "we have a lovely time as she is, but there are the moments where you realize how devastating mitochondrial disease is".

Despite decades of work there is still no cure for mitochondrial disease, but the chance to preventing it being passed on gives hope to Lily.

"It's the future generations like myself, or my children, or my cousins, who can have that outlook of a normal life," she says.

'Only the UK could do this'

The UK not only developed the science of three-person babies, but it also became the first country in the world to introduce laws to allow their creation after a vote in Parliament in 2015.

There was controversy as mitochondria have DNA of their own, which controls how they function.

It means the children have inherited DNA from their parents and around 0.1% from the donor woman.

Any girls born through this technique would pass this onto their own children, so it is a permanent alteration of human genetic inheritance.

This was a step too far for some when the technology was debated, raising fears it would open the doors to genetically-modified "designer" babies.

Prof Sir Doug Turnball, from Newcastle University, told me: "I think this is the only place in the world this could have happened, there's been first class science to get us to where we are, there been legislation to allow it to move into clinical treatment, the NHS to help support it and now we've got eight children that seem to free of mitochondrial disease, what a wonderful result."

Liz Curtis, the founder of the Lily Foundation charity said: "After years of waiting, we now know that eight babies have been born using this technique, all showing no signs of mito.

"For many affected families, it's the first real hope of breaking the cycle of this inherited condition."

Israel's military struck the Syrian defence ministry in Damascus and government forces in southern Syria on Wednesday, as deadly sectarian fighting in the mostly Druze province of Suweida continued for a fourth day.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said its forces were "working to save our Druze brothers and to eliminate the regime's gangs". The Syrian foreign ministry accused Israel of "treacherous aggression".

More than 300 people are reported to have been killed in Suweida since Sunday, when clashes between Druze militias and Bedouin tribes erupted.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he was "very worried" about the violence in the south but believed it would end within hours.

"We have agreed on specific steps that will bring this troubling and horrifying situation to an end tonight," he wrote on X on Wednesday evening.

Syria's foreign ministry said the country "welcomes the efforts made by the US and Arabian sides" to "resolve the current crisis" peacefully.

Israel has not yet commented on the ceasefire bid.

Earlier the Syrian interior ministry announced that it had reached a ceasefire agreement with Druze leaders "as part of efforts to restore security and stability". It said military operations would end immediately, police would set up checkpoints in Suweida city, and that the province would be "fully integrated" into the Syrian state.

One Druze leader, Sheikh Yousef Jarbou, confirmed the agreement. But another who supports Israel's intervention, Sheikh Hikmat al-Hajri, called for Druze fighters to continue fighting until the "total liberation of our province from gangs".

The Israeli military began striking Syrian security forces and their weapons on Monday, after they were deployed to the city of Suweida for the first time since Sunni Islamist-led rebels overthrew President Bashar al-Assad in December.

Minority groups including the Druze - whose religion is an offshoot of Shia Islam with its own unique identity and beliefs - are suspicious of interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa and his government, despite his pledges to protect them.

Their fears have been heightened by several outbreaks of sectarian violence over the past eight months, including one in May in which dozens of people were reportedly killed in clashes between Druze, security forces, and allied Islamist fighters in Damascus and Suweida.

In the wake of that fighting, the government reached an agreement with Druze militias to hire local security forces in Suweida province from their ranks.

Netanyahu has said he is committed to preventing harm to the Druze in Syria because of their deep ties to those living in Israel and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz wrote on X on Wednesday afternoon that "the warnings in Damascus" had ended and that the Israeli military would "continue to operate vigorously in Suweida to destroy the forces that attacked the Druze until they withdraw completely".

He later posted that "the painful blows have begun", above a video clip showing a TV presenter diving under a desk live on camera as an Israeli air strike hit the nearby entrance to the Syrian defence ministry in Umayyad Square, in central Damascus.

Fadi Al Halabi, a London-based Syrian filmmaker who is visiting Damascus, said he was nearby when he heard the Israeli fighter jets approach.

"People's faces were so afraid. Everyone started running [in] the street. No-one knew where to go. Suddenly the air strike[s] began, targeting some of the most crowded areas, including the ministry of defence," he told the BBC.

The Israeli military said it also struck a "military target in the area" of the presidential palace in the capital, as well as armoured vehicles loaded with heavy machine guns and weapons on their way to Suweida, and firing posts and weapons storage facilities in southern Syria.

Syria's foreign ministry said the strikes targeted government institutions and civilian facilities in Damascus and Suweida and killed "several innocent civilians".

"This flagrant assault, which forms part of a deliberate policy pursued by the Israeli entity to inflame tensions, spread chaos, and undermine security and stability in Syria, constitutes a blatant violation of the United Nations Charter and international humanitarian law," it added.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a UK-based monitoring group, meanwhile reported that the humanitarian situation in Suweida city had rapidly deteriorated.

It cited sources as saying there were clashes in several area of the city and that tanks had attacked the national hospital, causing panic among the scores of casualties from the fighting being treated there. They also said there were acute shortages of water and medical supplies.

Later, the Syrian health ministry said government forces had entered the hospital and found "dozens of bodies" after "outlaw groups withdrew", according to the official Sana news agency.

A man named Hosam told the BBC he was in the centre of Suweida city and had witnessed civilians coming under fire from artillery and snipers.

"I lost my neighbour today on the street. One of the snipers shot him. We tried to [get an] ambulance [to take] him to hospital, but we couldn't," he said.

The SOHR says more than 300 people have been killed since Sunday in Suweida province.

They include 69 Druze fighters and 40 civilians, 27 of whom were summarily killed by interior ministry and defence ministry forces, according to the group.

At least 165 members of the government forces and 18 Bedouin tribal fighters have also been killed in the clashes, while 10 members of government forces have been killed in Israeli strikes, it says.

The BBC is not able to verify the SOHR's casualty figures.

The fighting between Bedouin tribes and Druze militias in Suweida is said to have been sparked by the abduction of a Druze merchant on the highway to Damascus last Friday.

On Sunday, armed Druze fighters reportedly encircled and later seized a neighbourhood of Suweida city that is inhabited by Bedouin. The clashes soon spread into other parts of Suweida province, with tribesmen reportedly launching attacks on nearby Druze towns and villages.

Syria's interior ministry later announced that its forces and those of the defence ministry would intervene and impose order, saying the "dangerous escalation comes in light of the absence of relevant official institutions".

Earlier this year, Israel's prime minister demanded the complete demilitarisation of Suweida and two other southern provinces. He said Israel saw President Sharaa's Sunni Islamist group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), as a threat. HTS is a former al-Qaeda affiliate that is still designated as a terrorist organisation by the UN and UK, but no longer by the US.

The Israeli military has already carried out hundreds of strikes across Syria to destroy the country's military assets since the fall of the Assad regime.

And it has sent troops into the UN-monitored demilitarised buffer zone between the occupied Golan Heights and Syria, as well as several adjoining areas and the summit of Mount Hermon.

The Ministry of Defence offered to expedite the review of a rejected resettlement application of an Afghan national after he posted sensitive details from a data breach on Facebook, the BBC understands.

The man published nine names from a dataset containing details of thousands of Afghans who applied to be relocated to the UK after the Taliban seized power, and indicated he could release the rest.

He obtained the details after they were sent out from UK Special Forces headquarters in an accidental data breach in February 2022.

British authorities tracked the man down and strongly requested he take the data down, offering an expedited review of his rejected resettlement application in return.

The BBC understands the man is now in the UK, having had his rejected application overturned. He is not believed to be facing any criminal charges in relation to his conduct.

Government sources close to the process told the BBC the individual had essentially blackmailed his way into the country using the leaked dataset.

When asked about the actions of the individual and his subsequent relocation to the UK, the MoD declined to comment on the case.

A spokesperson said "anyone who comes to the UK under any Afghan relocation schemes" must go through "robust security checks in order to gain entry".

The BBC has also approached the Met Police for comment.

Johnny Mercer, the former veterans minister, who was covered by the super-injunction because of his knowledge of the events, told the BBC the breach was representative of the "chaos" around the relocation process, and the individual brought to the UK had used the data to get in.

"He put the names on Facebook and essentially bribed the MoD to get in the country. The Ministry of Defence offered to expedite his case and next thing you know he's in the UK," Mercer said.

"There were multiple data leaks from the MoD regarding these applications. I think that gives you some sense of the chaos and lack of care in how things were being run at that time."

The breach occurred in February 2022 after someone working in UK Special Forces (UKSF) headquarters accidentally emailed the personal data of every applicant to the UK's Afghan resettlement scheme to date – nearly 19,000 people – to someone outside government.

The data was sent to an Afghan person living in the UK, who passed the information onto others, including people in Afghanistan. One individual in Afghanistan, after having his application rejected, posted some of the data on Facebook.

Alerting a defence minister to the presence of the data on Facebook in August 2023, an MoD case worker helping people seeking relocation called the possibility the Taliban might get hold of it "bone-chilling".

The data came from the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (Arap) resettlement scheme, set up in 2021 as the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan.

It was highly sensitive because Afghan nationals who worked with the British government during the conflict with the Taliban were at risk of serious harm and even execution with the group back in power.

The breach led to the previous government setting up a secret £850m emergency resettlement scheme to bring some of those in the database to the UK.

Both the breach and subsequent scheme were kept secret by an unprecedented super-injunction, until it was lifted by High Court judge Mr Justice Chamberlain on Tuesday.

The emergency scheme – known as the Afghanistan Response Route and set up in April 2024 – has resulted in about 4,500 Afghans being brought to the UK so far, with a further 2,400 expected.

The government announced this week the scheme was being closed down, but said relocation offers already made to those who remain in Afghanistan would be honoured.

Special forces veto had role in breach

The UKSF official who inadvertently leaked the data was assisting with the verification of a small number of applications from Afghan special forces when the accidental breach occurred.

The official was in possession of the full dataset because UKSF – the umbrella group containing the SAS and SBS – was given a secret veto over Arap applications from former members of Afghan special forces.

The BBC revealed last year that UKSF had used that veto to block hundreds of Afghan commandos who had fought alongside the SAS and SBS from relocating to the UK.

Documents obtained by Panorama showed special forces had rejected applications despite some containing compelling evidence of service alongside the SAS on dangerous night raid operations.

The personal information of many of those Afghan special forces were included in the massive data breach revealed this week.

But sources told the BBC they were sidelined in the emergency evacuation process and their cases were essentially paused, while case workers were instructed to prioritise people who had worked on British military bases for urgent evacuation.

Downing Street refused to say on Tuesday whether the UKSF official who accidentally leaked the data had faced disciplinary action. The BBC has confirmed he is no longer in the post he occupied at the time of the breach.

The MoD refused to comment on how many applicants affected by the breach had been harmed by the Taliban in the years since it happened. It said some of those whose data was compromised by the breach were not informed until after the lifting of the super-injunction.

Defence Secretary John Healey told the BBC on Wednesday he was "unable to say for sure" that no Afghans were killed as a result of the data breach, and the Taliban would "almost certainly" have held the same type of information.

Speaking in the Commons on Tuesday, he offered a "sincere apology" to those whose details had been included in the breach, which he described as a "serious departmental error" and a "clear breach of strict data protection protocols".

Healey told MPs an independent review had found it was "highly unlikely" an individual would have been targeted solely because of the breach.

In a 2024 High Court judgement made public on Tuesday, Mr Justice Chamberlain said it was "quite possible" that some of those who saw parts of the leaked document in a Facebook group "were Taliban infiltrators or spoke about it to Taliban-aligned individuals".

Erin Alcock, a lawyer for the firm Leigh Day, which has assisted hundreds of Arap applicants including dozens of former Afghan commandos, said the breach represented a "catastrophic failure" of the government to "protect the personal information, and therefore the safety, of what is an extremely vulnerable group of individuals".

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