There is a lot of noise currently about UK government borrowing costs.

The focus has been on what is known as the 30-year gilt yield, which is the effective interest rate of what it would cost the UK government to borrow money over three decades.

This rate reached a 27-year high on Tuesday, which some argue is a verdict on economic mismanagement and fiscal credibility. The bond vigilantes are striking, and this is the ultimate harbinger of doom.

Is there a link to the mini reshuffle of Downing Street personnel from Number 11 to Number 10 on Monday?

For others analysing market moves, it is a pan-European trend, and if anything, a sign of UK growth outperformance, meaning there is less room to cut interest rates.

It is worth quickly unpacking what this measure represents.

This is about trading on financial markets of a very long-term form of UK government debt - essentially loans taken out for 30 years.

Demand for these assets goes up and down, setting the price, which in turn affects what is known as the yield, a measure of the effective interest rate facing the government.

It is that 30-year gilt yield that has hit a new 27-year high after creeping up over the summer.

The UK is not alone in this. Other European countries have also seen such records set in recent days.

The time period for these loans is quite important in determining the overall impact on the economy.

The 30-year gilt is important in sectors requiring long-term returns: pensions and insurance. Ultra long government loans are especially important for defined benefit pensions systems, which need fixed and predictable payouts over long periods.

One of the reasons why this has affected a series of European countries has been structural changes in pensions markets that is reducing the demand for such long-term debt.

But some general doubts about the political and economic sustainability of tax and spending plans in Europe is also part of the context here.

Warning sign

There are two critical differences to what happened, for example, at the infamous mini-Budget of three years ago.

Firstly the rise in yields at that point was more rapid. Secondly, back in 2022 UK government debt across a series of time frames (known as maturities) was affected.

Two-year and five-year government loans have a direct influence on fixed-rate mortgages of the same time frame. The mortgage market reacted in real time to the UK-specific sudden crisis. So far, this year, the cost of mortgages has continued to fall.

Only 30-year mortgages might be impacted by the record set today, but they remain exceptionally rare in the UK.

The 10-year gilt is the benchmark for government bonds, and that was up a bit on Tuesday as well, but remains below the highs set earlier this year. There was no lack of appetite from markets however for the debt, banks put in £140bn of bids for £14bn in debt this morning.

There is, however, one factor in common with 2022. These important markets also have half an eye on the Bank of England. In particular, this month the Bank will set out its plans for the sell-off its own stock of government debt, amassed over years.

The reality is that with both the Treasury and the Bank auctioning off truckloads of these debts, there is a lot to digest, and markets will remain skittish, against the backdrop of multiple diplomatic, trade and political uncertainties.

The moves in the 30-year gilt are a warning sign of bond sharks scenting some blood in the water.

Some of it might be heading toward Paris in the coming days where ministers are publicly warning of an IMF crisis amid unremitting political uncertainty.

The smaller moves in the 10-year gilt can impact more directly the chancellor's room for manoeuvre at her upcoming Budget. The lack of movement at shorter time frames means there is limited direct impact on UK household finances, for now.

This would be, however, pretty much the worst time for the government to show division, lack of certainty and credibility. Markets have long memories when governments fail to pass their announced Budget measures, especially when it arises surprisingly within administrations with thumping majorities.

Some traders identify the move of the chancellor's deputy, Darren Jones, and other Treasury officials to Number 10 on "Transfer Deadline Day" yesterday as a sign that Reeves's control is weakening. Others may see a more coherent operation between the two Lords of the Treasury.

All of this raises the stakes for the chancellor's challenge of delivering both credible tax and spend plans, as well as jump-starting growth at her upcoming Budget.

Zack Polanski has stormed to victory in the Green Party leadership election on a platform promising bold communication and "eco-populism".

The new leader said he would now "take the fight to Labour", telling Sir Keir Starmer's party: "We are here to replace you."

While he's made a name for himself as a feisty media performer among the party faithful, he's little known outside the London Assembly, where he is an elected member.

Beating two of the party's four MPs to the leadership, the 42-year-old has already faced down the charge that he doesn't have the establishment heft of those elected to Parliament in a first-past-the-post system.

Polanski has had an unconventional path to politics, previously working as an actor, hypnotherapist and mental health counsellor.

Born in 1982, he grew up in Salford, heading to university in Aberystwyth, north Wales, before ending up in Hackney, east London.

His political awakening started by joining the Liberal Democrats, a party he now criticises as being insufficiently left-wing, and standing unsuccessfully for Camden Council and the London Assembly.

He joined the Greens in 2017, working as a local party chairman before getting elected to City Hall in 2021 and becoming the party's deputy leader in 2022.

He is gay and also Jewish, changing his name from David Paulden when he reached 18 in order to embrace the identity erased by his family's anglicised name.

As deputy leader, Polanski has played a role in the party's growing electoral success.

In last year's general election, the Greens quadrupled their number of MPs to four, with his leadership rivals Adrian Ramsay and Ellie Chowns among those joining Parliament.

Caroline Lucas had been the party's sole MP for 14 years, before standing down at last year's election, and she had thrown her weight behind the Ramsay-Chowns joint ticket.

While Ramsay and Chowns have been seen as continuity candidates, Polanski wants to push the Greens to the left, promising a mass-membership "eco-populist" movement.

Key to that approach is Polanski's approval of Nigel Farage's "storytelling" skills, which he told BBC Newsnight could be harnessed to send a different message to a wider audience, including Reform UK supporters.

He said the Greens had to "connect with that anger and turn it to hope, turn it to possible solutions".

In his "eco-populism" leadership pitch he has linked inequality to the climate crisis and called for radical action "not briefcase politics".

He has promised to lower bills with green energy and nationalised water companies, while also taking the "fight" to Labour, particularly on inequality.

The battle on inequality includes his longstanding support for a Universal Basic Income, a small, non-means-tested payment for everyone that covers basic needs.

As a former property guardian and long-time renter, Polanski has also campaigned for decent, warm homes for everyone.

He has called for the government to take action on what he describes as the genocide in Gaza, as well as being arrested for his activism with environmental protest group Extinction Rebellion.

His election potentially opens the door to cooperation with the new left-wing party being set up by former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and ex-Labour MP Zarah Sultana.

Asked during a press conference following his victory whether he would form an alliance with the new party, Polanski said it was "too soon to talk about joining electoral coalitions".

But he added that he was interested in working with "anyone who wants to challenge a failing Labour government and take on fascism and the far right".

He said he was "watching the situation very closely" but his immediate focus was on growing the Green Party.

Being bold and radical does not come without risk, as Chowns and Ramsay, who were both elected to Parliament in previously Tory areas, had been keen to point out during the campaign.

Jettisoning the careful calibration both those MPs managed to balance to win half the party's Westminster seats from the Conservatives could leave them, and the 3,705 Green members who voted for them, out in the cold.

Polanski sought to address these concerns in his victory speech, saying: "To those of you who didn't vote for me, this is a democracy. We don't have to agree on everything. We just have to have common cause."

But the four Green MPs will now have to elect one of their number to lead their group in the Commons, setting up another potential source of tension.

Because of the way the Green Party is structured, with a leadership election every two years, members will get a chance to give their verdict on Polanski's new direction well before the next general election, due in 2029.

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Jaguar Land Rover says a cyber-attack has "severely disrupted" vehicle production as well as its retail operation.

The firm, which is owned by India's Tata Motors, says it took immediate action to lessen the effect of the hack and is working quickly to restart operations.

There was no evidence any customer data had been stolen, it said.

The attack began on Sunday and comes at a significant time for UK car sales, as the latest batch of new registration plates became available on Monday 1 September.

It's traditionally a popular time for consumers to take delivery of a new vehicle.

The BBC understands that the attack was detected while in progress, and the company shut down its IT systems in an effort to minimise the damage being done.

Workers at the company's Halewood plant in Merseyside were told by email early on Monday morning not to come into work, with others sent home.

It is not yet known who is responsible for the attack, but it comes in the wake of crippling attacks on prominent UK retail businesses including the Co-op and Marks and Spencer.

In both cases the hackers sought to extort money.

In a statement the firm wrote: "JLR has been impacted by a cyber incident. We took immediate action to mitigate its impact by proactively shutting down our systems.

"We are now working at pace to restart our global applications in a controlled manner.

"At this stage there is no evidence any customer data has been stolen but our retail and production activities have been severely disrupted"

The halt in production is a fresh blow to the firm which recently revealed a slump in profits attributed to increasing in costs caused by US tariffs.

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Tens of thousands of foreign students are being contacted directly by the government and told they will be removed from the UK if they overstay their visas.

The Home Office launched the new government campaign in response to what it has called an "alarming" spike in the number of international students arriving legally on student visas then claiming asylum when they expire.

As part of the campaign, the Home Office has for the first time proactively contacted international students directly by text and email.

Under the plans, about 130,000 students and their families in total will be sent a message telling them: "If you have no legal right to remain in the UK, you must leave.

"If you don't, we will remove you."

Ten thousand international students whose visas are due to expire have already been contacted directly by text and email - warning them they could be deported.

Tens of thousands more will receive the message in the coming months, the BBC understands, to coincide with autumn when applications often increase.

The full message will read: "If you submit an asylum claim that lacks merit, it will be swiftly and robustly refused.

"Any request for asylum support will be assessed against destitution criteria. If you do not meet the criteria, you will not receive support.

"If you have no legal right to remain in the UK, you must leave.

"If you don't, we will remove you."

While the political focus this summer has been on people arriving on small boats, a similar number arrive legally with visas, then apply for asylum often when those visas run out.

Many of these claims are legitimate, but ministers are worried that too many international students are seeking asylum simply to stay in the country because their leave to remain has run out.

In the year to June 2025, 43,600 people seeking asylum arrived on a small boat - 39% of all asylum claims, according to Home Office data.

Another 41,100 asylum claims came from people who entered legally with a visa, the department said, with the largest group among visa holders being students.

Last year, 16,000 asylum claims came from those who arrived on student visas, nearly six times as many as in 2020, it said.

Since then, Home Office data shows there has been a drop of 10%, but ministers in the department want the figures to fall further.

The number of people on skilled worker visas being granted asylum has also fallen, according to the department.

Earlier this year, the Home Office announced a cut in the amount of time overseas graduates can stay in the UK after their studies – from two years to 18 months.

Sainsbury's is planning to introduce facial recognition technology across its supermarkets in a bid to identify shoplifters.

The UK's second largest supermarket has begun an eight-week trial in two stores as part of a crackdown on the crime, which has increased sharply in recent years.

It is working with facial recognition business Facewatch and will start using the technology this week at one shop in London and another in Bath ahead of a potential nationwide roll out.

However, privacy campaigners described the plans as "deeply disproportionate and chilling", urging the supermarket chain to abandon its plans.

Facewatch is used in numerous retailers in the UK - including Budgens, Sports Direct and Costcutter - to identify shoplifters.

But the use of facial recognition in shops has been heavily criticised with campaigners and MPs calling for a ban.

Sainsbury's, which has more than 1,400 shops across the country, said the plans were "not about monitoring" staff or customers, but to create "safe, secure and welcoming environments".

Bosses said the technology would be used to help identify and potentially ban people who are "violent, aggressive or steal in the store", but records would be instantly deleted if the software does not recognise the face of reported individuals.

"The retail sector is at a crossroads, facing rising abuse, anti-social behaviour and violence. We must put safety first," said Sainsbury's chief executive Simon Roberts.

Madeleine Stone, senior advocacy officer at privacy group BigBrotherWatch, said: "Sainsbury's decision to trial Orwellian facial recognition technology in its shops is deeply disproportionate and chilling.

"Sainsbury's should abandon this trial and the government must urgently step in to prevent the unchecked spread of this invasive technology."

Sainsbury's said incidents of theft, abuse and threatening behaviour "continue to rise" despite working with the police and government, adding that it is "affecting Sainsbury's teams across the UK daily".

Mr Roberts, boss of the supermarket chain,added: "We have listened to the deep concerns our colleagues and customers have and they're right to expect us to act.

"We understand that facial recognition technology can raise valid questions about data and privacy."

Crime and Policing Minister Dame Diana Johnson said the Home Office was working with businesses to tackle retail crime "head-on" and was looking into "passing new laws to protect retail workers from abuse".

Joanne Thomas, general secretary of the USDAW union, welcomed Sainsbury's approach.

She said: "We look forward to seeing the results of the trial of facial recognition software and will continue to work closely with Sainsbury's to support a responsible, evidence-led approach to tackling retail crime."

Rivals and Inbetweeners star Emily Atack has revealed she was sexually assaulted while at work.

The actress told the Radio Times: "I've been sexually assaulted at work throughout my career, whether it's on the actual set, or at a wrap party."

Atack, who has previously fronted a documentary about her experiences of being sexually harassed online, didn't give further details of the assaults.

She also welcomed the increased use of intimacy co-ordinators, which "shows that people are listening and that there has to be a shift in behaviour on sets", and added that she hasn't "felt safe all the time" in the past.

The use of professionals to oversee sex scenes has been divisive at times, but they "are there for support if you feel uncomfortable, whether you're a man or a woman", she said.

The actress said she now wants to make a documentary about intimacy co-ordinators, following her previous 2023 programme, Emily Atack: Asking For It?, about online sexual harassment.

In that programme, Atack revealed she was sent hundreds of explicit pictures and messages every day, and asked what motivates the men behind them and what could be done to stop them.

The 35-year-old added that she wanted to raise her young son Barney "to know how to treat women and know his own worth, so he doesn't feel he has to follow awful men online that are preying on vulnerable boys".

Atack continued that recent Netflix hit Adolescence "exposed the truth of what is going on in so many homes".

"We're a very open book in this family," she said. "I want Barney to know he can talk to me about anything – that's the mother I want to be."

The actress was 17 when she was cast as Charlotte Hinchcliffe in popular Channel 4 coming-of-age comedy The Inbetweeners.

She told the BBC in 2023 that she began receiving unwanted attention from some men from a very young age.

Atack added that confronting her online abuse was one of the hardest things she had ever done - she underwent therapy throughout the process because it had involved revisiting past trauma.

She will next be seen in Channel 5's new thriller The Rumour later this month.

Few sitcoms inspire the level of devotion that The Office does.

The American mockumentary, based on the UK original created by Ricky Gervais, ran from 2005 to 2013 and became a cultural phenomenon, endlessly rewatched and memed by fans who still find themselves quoting America's answer to David Brent - Michael Scott - on a regular basis.

Its mix of deadpan humour, relatable characters and documentary style intimacy made it one of the most beloved comedies and now, more than a decade after the Scranton branch shut its doors, its creators are returning to the format with a new workplace comedy.

The Paper, from the team behind the US adaptation of The Office, follows the same documentary crew that once filmed office supplies company Dunder Mifflin as they turn their cameras on a struggling Midwestern newspaper, the Toledo Truth-Teller.

With Domhnall Gleeson as its hapless editor Ned Sampson and Oscar Nuñez reprising his role as accountant Oscar Martinez, the series aims to capture the spirit of The Office while telling its own story.

The Office's original creators Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant also served as executive producers on the show.

Gleeson, whose character tries, against the odds, to breathe life back into local journalism, describes Ned as both earnest and disastrous.

With no budget to hire trained reporters, Ned leans on the paper's dwindling staff, cajoling disgruntled employees into volunteering as journalists despite them having no idea what they're doing.

"Ned's leadership is totally different to the bosses we knew before," Gleeson explains. "He's running a newspaper, so the ramifications go out into the real world and there's a feeling of what they're doing really matters.

But his skill level doesn't quite match his enthusiasm, "and that's why it's a comedy rather than a drama".

That balance between stakes and silliness is key to what show creators Greg Daniels and Michael Koman are attempting to do with The Paper.

Gleeson, best known for his role as Bill Weasley in Harry Potter, admits that stepping into a leading role in such a beloved show was daunting.

"Before I read it I was thinking, 'Oh my God, those are big shoes to fill', but then I realised this is a whole new story and I'm not playing a version of David Brent or Michael Scott, it's actually totally new.

"Once I understood that, I realised I needed to find my own shoes and not try to wear anyone else's."

Still, the DNA of The Office runs through The Paper, with the same invisible film crew behind the lens, and fans will spot at least one familiar face in front of it: Oscar Nuñez.

The 66-year-old American actor reprises his role as the dry-witted accountant of Dunder Mifflin's Scranton branch and he is now crunching numbers at the Truth-Teller and "finding his footing in a new city".

While in real life more than a decade has passed since he was on our screens, in Greg Daniels' world "it's only been four years so it's really where we left him".

This made it easier for Nuñez to reprise the character and he hopes the familiarity of his character will act as a bridge for fans who may be wary of the new setting.

"The stories and tone of the show are similar - it's still about figuring out what your workmates mean to you and putting them in ridiculous situations," he says.

He adds that there will be a few Easter eggs for fans but he admits he can't say much more about that just yet.

Similar to Gleeson, Nuñez was aware of the pressure of reviving a character audiences feel such affection for, but he only "thought about it for a minute".

"Greg Daniels was concerned about that too but then I realised there's nothing you can do about it," he tells the BBC.

The Paper is a slow burner in a similar way to The Office and Nuñez hopes that will work as "people are used to that formula."

He says the show "definitely does move faster than The Office" as by the end of the first season some characters are already getting closer to each other, but he warns that people will need to "be patient with it".

Among those new characters is Esmeralda, played by Italian actress Sabrina Impacciatore, best known for her Emmy-nominated role in season two of The White Lotus.

She tells me she is bringing a very different energy to this character as she's "lively, loud and very sneaky. She will manipulate anyone to get what she wants".

She jokes that this could be her last Hollywood character so "wanted her to be very bold".

Impacciatore admits that the weight of expectation has been nerve-racking.

"We feel pressure, of course, because The Office is so beloved. You can watch it now and it's still so funny, still timeless."

But she's reassured by the fact that Daniels, who was also The Office (US) showrunner, was behind the project, which meant "the spirit is the same but the dynamics and relationships are all different".

As the release date for the show approaches, Impacciatore says nerves are building.

"I am terrified. There are moments of panic where I wonder if, in a few weeks, my career will end.

"But I know I gave everything, commitment, attention and respect for the show. I really lived the situation, it wasn't just acting."

Fans hoping for more of Scranton may not get exactly what they expect, but all three actors advise fans to watch it with no expectations.

"If you expect something, you'll be disappointed. Just sit down with an open heart, relax, and allow yourself to be surprised," Impacciatore says.

That plea may be wise, as while The Paper will inevitably be compared to its predecessor, the creators and cast seem determined to carve out something distinct. They are clear that this show isn't a reboot or remake but a new story with a familiar DNA.

"It may surprise people that The Paper is not the same as The Office, but I hope they like it and realise we tried to make something that will stand on its own two feet," Gleeson says.

The Paper can be seen on Peacock in the US and on Sky and Now in the UK from 5 September.

Two sisters seeking to become Indian citizens are currently stateless after failing to procure a document that could prove that they have renounced their citizenship of Pakistan.

The sisters, who have been living in India's Kerala state since 2008, surrendered their passports to the Pakistan High Commission in India in 2017, they recently told a court.

But as they were under 21 years, the minimum age for renouncing citizenship in Pakistan, the high commission did not issue their renunciation certificates at the time, they said.

They approached the High Commission again after turning 21, but it still refused to grant the certificate without giving any explanation, says the petitioners' mother, Rasheeda Bano (her daughters didn't want to speak to the media). She and her son are now Indian citizens but her daughters, she says, have been in limbo for years.

The situation, she says, has severely impacted her daughters' lives, as they are unable to even apply for passports.

The BBC has reached out to the Pakistani High Commission in India but hasn't received a response.

Neighbours India and Pakistan share a tense relationship which has often spilled over into hostility, like in May this year, when the countries engaged in a four-day military conflict. But migration is not uncommon, especially among members of families who ended up on different sides of the border when India was partitioned and Pakistan was created in 1947.

Over the past few decades, the process has become harder as there is much higher scrutiny of documents. As of December 2021, citizenship applications of more than 7,000 Pakistani nationals were pending with the government, according to data shared in parliament.

Ms Bano says that when the Pakistani High Commission did not provide the renunciation certificate, she requested them to return her daughters' passports, but this wasn't done.

The sisters have in their possession a certificate given by the high commission in 2018 which states that they have submitted their passports and Pakistan has no objection if they are granted Indian citizenship. But Indian authorities have refused to accept this in place of a renunciation certificate, forcing the sisters to move court.

Last year, a single-judge bench of the Kerala High Court ruled in their favour, saying that it was clear that the petitioners wouldn't be able to produce the document.

"It would be directing them to do the impossible," the court observed, ordering the Indian government to grant them citizenship.

But the federal home ministry appealed against this and on 23 August this year, a two-judge bench of the same court overturned the earlier order.

"For a person to be considered a citizen of India, they must be recognised as such by the Indian state alone, without any competing claims from another country's government," it said.

"The formal renunciation process is the mechanism that ensures this legal clarity," the court added.

The sisters have the option to appeal against the order in a higher court.

According to Pakistan's rules, people under the age of 21 cannot renounce their citizenship independently, but their names can be included in the renunciation application filed by their father.

The sisters' father, Mohammed Maroof, was born in Kerala but was adopted by his grandmother after he was orphaned at the age of nine. When she migrated to Pakistan in 1977, she took him along.

Their mum Ms Bano said her parents were also Indians but they got stuck in Pakistan while visiting relatives in 1971, after borders were shut when the two countries went to war.

Unable to return even after months, they found it easier to apply for Pakistani citizenship. She was born a few years later.

Ms Bano and Mr Maroof, who have four children, moved to India in 2008 on long-term visas to be closer to their "roots". But Mr Maroof was unable to adjust to life in India and soon returned to Pakistan.

Ms Bano and her son, who was above 21 years of age, were eventually granted Indian citizenship.

She said the family often faced stigma when they produced their Pakistani identity documents, but at least they had something to fall back on - for the sisters even that is not an option anymore.

Simple tasks like getting a mobile phone connection, or enrolling their children in school was difficult for them, she said. Authorities eventually allowed the sisters to get an Aadhaar Card, which acts as an identity document in India. But that's still not considered proof of citizenship, denying them basic rights.

Ms Bano says her daughters' lives have also been affected by the lack of passports. The husband of one of them had to leave his job in the Gulf and come to India as she couldn't travel to him. Meanwhile, her other daughter has a son who needs medical treatment abroad but she is unable to leave India.

"The sisters didn't get the certificate in 2017 because they were then minors. Now that they are adults, they can't go back to Pakistan because they have surrendered their passports. So how will they get the certificate?" says their lawyer M Sasindran.

"They are stuck now."

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A total of 1,017 people suffered a fatal overdose in Scotland last year.

That figure was a 13% fall on the previous year, and the lowest recorded total since 2017.

While the reduction is significant, experts have warned there may be a rise in drug deaths in 2025.

We take a deeper look at the figures and the efforts to tackle the problem in recent years.

Which drugs are the biggest killers?

Opioids and opiates - such as heroin and methadone - were the biggest contributors to fatal overdoses in 2024.

They were linked to 80% of deaths, according to the figures from the National Records of Scotland.

For the fifth year in a row, methadone (412) was involved in more fatalities than heroin (317).

Deaths involving benzodiazepines - including prescribed diazepam and counterfeit tablets such as 'street Valium' - rose rapidly over the last decade and were a major factor in the drug deaths crisis.

In 2024, they were involved in 56% (574) of deaths.

Meanwhile, there were 479 fatal overdoses involving cocaine - equalling the record total from 2023.

The NRS figures also show that 76 deaths were connected to the powerful, synthetic drug nitazenes. These are drugs often used as adulterants in other substances and can be more than 100 times more potent than heroin.

After adjusting for age, there were 19.1 drug misuse deaths per 100,000 people in 2024 - more than three-and-a-half times higher than in 2000.

Deprivation remained a key factor. Those in the poorest areas of Scotland were 12 times more likely to suffer a fatal overdose than those in the richest.

Glasgow City recorded the highest death rate in the country at 41.1 - more than double the rate of Scotland as a whole.

While 2024 data for other UK countries is unavailable, the NRS report said deaths in Scotland were two to three times the rate of those other nations.

Scotland still has the highest drug death rate in Europe, according to available data.

The NRS said drug-related deaths were still "much more common" than they were two decades ago, and that the figures for men were double those for women.

The 'national mission' to reduce drugs deaths

In 2021, the Scottish government announced a five-year "national mission" to reduce drug deaths.

The previous year saw the highest number of drug-related deaths, with 1,339 fatalities.

In 2021, the then First Minister Nicola Sturgeon responded by announcing £250m in extra funding for addiction treatment services.

The mission's aims were to bring down the number of deaths; increase access to residential rehabilitation; reduce waiting times for addiction treatment; and establish treatment standards across Scotland.

A report by Audit Scotland last year said funding for addiction treatment had doubled in the last decade but that progress has been "mixed".

The national target - for 90% of referrals to start community-based addiction treatment within three weeks – has largely been met since 2020.

The number of referrals has remained relatively steady over the last year, and just over 3,800 were made in the first three months of the year.

In the last five years, there has been a rise in the number of funded rehab placements – a portion of which were funded through the national mission.

There are currently no concrete figures on the number of people overall who have started rehab for drug dependence.

However, Public Health Scotland data shows that more than 900 placements were approved for funding in the 12 months to March 2025.

Overall, more than 3,200 placements have been approved for funding since 2021/22.

'It was tough to detox'

Former care worker Karen is nearing the end of her six-month stay at a rehab centre in Glasgow.

Battling addiction to heroin, alcohol and cocaine after a succession of family tragedies, this was the second time the 49-year-old was ready for rehab.

She said she weighed just four stone when she showed up for treatment

"I never had any energy. I was walking about thinking I was alright, but I was nothing," she told BBC Scotland News.

While she's anxious about her departure, she says her treatment has helped.

"It was quite tough to detox," she added.

"I kept saying: 'I can't do this, I can't do this.'

"But I did it. Because if I didn't, I don't know what would've happened to me."

Karen's placement was paid for by additional funding made available by the Scottish government.

While the number of publicly-funded rehab placements has increased, the government is still shy of its target of 650 beds being available across Scotland.

David Brockett is head of operations for Phoenix Futures in Scotland, a charity which provides rehab services.

He said there was uncertainty as the national mission nears its end, and that the funding needed to continue next year.

"Getting into residential rehab is still a real challenge because of the demand," he said.

"A lot of services closed prior to this funding. What we are needing is more services, we need more residential rehab."

The number of drug-related hospital stays grew by 15% in 2023/24 with more than 11,000 recorded – a rate of 212 per 100,000 people.

The rate of patients and new patients in hospital also increased last year.

The link between drug misuse and deprivation remains stark, with just under half of patients with a drug-related hospital stay living in the most deprived parts of the country.

Methadone remains a key tool in tackling addiction – but is also one of the main drugs involved in fatal overdoses. It was a factor in 412 of the 1,017 deaths last year.

Opioid substitution therapy, which includes treatment like methadone and buphrenorphine, was prescribed to an estimated 29,000 people in the 12 months to December 2024.

One of the key steps since the start of the drug deaths crisis has been the roll-out of Naloxone.

Access to this drug, which can temporarily reverse the effects of an opioid overdose, has also largely been on the rise.

The latest figures show 23,260 take-home kits have been issued so far in 2025. More than 130,000 kits have been issued since the national mission was announced in 2021.

'We face new threats'

Drugs Minister Maree Todd said progress in reducing deaths was "welcome" but added that "there is still work to be done".

She said: "We will continue to do everything we can to save and improve lives.

"This is particularly true as we face new threats from highly dangerous synthetic opioids like nitazenes, which further raise the risk of overdose and death."

Scottish Labour health spokesperson Jackie Baillie MSP said every life lost to drugs was a tragedy.

"Scotland's drug emergency is claiming far too many lives and more must be done to not only save lives but ensure that people can get the recovery support that they need," she said.

The Scottish Conservatives said it was "shameful" that those living in the poorest areas were worst affected.

"SNP ministers have repeatedly taken their eye off the ball, and still have no coherent and credible strategy for tackling this national crisis," said Annie Wells, the party's drugs spokeswoman at Holyrood.

Long-term government borrowing costs in the UK reached their highest level since 1998 on Tuesday, as concerns over the country's economic outlook combined with a global move higher in bond yields.

The move adds to the pressure on Chancellor Rachel Reeves ahead of the upcoming Budget, where expectations are rising that she will increase taxes to bolster government finances.

The interest rate on 30-year government bonds, known as the yield, jumped to 5.698%, its highest level for 27 years.

On the currency markets, the pound also fell more than 1% against the dollar on Tuesday morning.

Government bonds have been under pressure globally for a number of months, in part due to volatile US trade policy.

The yield on 30-year UK government bonds - known as gilts - has been rising for some months, and this adds to the cost of UK government debt due to higher interest payments.

However, when it comes to satisfying government forecaster the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) that the chancellor is meeting her self-imposed fiscal rules, the OBR looks at 10-year borrowing costs, rather than 30 years.

Tens of thousands of foreign students are being contacted directly by the government and told they will be removed from the UK if they overstay their visas.

The Home Office launched the new government campaign in response to what it has called an "alarming" spike in the number of international students arriving legally on student visas then claiming asylum when they expire.

As part of the campaign, the Home Office has for the first time proactively contacted international students directly by text and email.

Under the plans, about 130,000 students and their families in total will be sent a message telling them: "If you have no legal right to remain in the UK, you must leave.

"If you don't, we will remove you."

Ten thousand international students whose visas are due to expire have already been contacted directly by text and email - warning them they could be deported.

Tens of thousands more will receive the message in the coming months, the BBC understands, to coincide with autumn when applications often increase.

The full message will read: "If you submit an asylum claim that lacks merit, it will be swiftly and robustly refused.

"Any request for asylum support will be assessed against destitution criteria. If you do not meet the criteria, you will not receive support.

"If you have no legal right to remain in the UK, you must leave.

"If you don't, we will remove you."

While the political focus this summer has been on people arriving on small boats, a similar number arrive legally with visas, then apply for asylum often when those visas run out.

Many of these claims are legitimate, but ministers are worried that too many international students are seeking asylum simply to stay in the country because their leave to remain has run out.

In the year to June 2025, 43,600 people seeking asylum arrived on a small boat - 39% of all asylum claims, according to Home Office data.

Another 41,100 asylum claims came from people who entered legally with a visa, the department said, with the largest group among visa holders being students.

Last year, 16,000 asylum claims came from those who arrived on student visas, nearly six times as many as in 2020, it said.

Since then, Home Office data shows there has been a drop of 10%, but ministers in the department want the figures to fall further.

The number of people on skilled worker visas being granted asylum has also fallen, according to the department.

Earlier this year, the Home Office announced a cut in the amount of time overseas graduates can stay in the UK after their studies – from two years to 18 months.

Chloe Malle will become the top editor at American Vogue after Dame Anna Wintour stepped aside as editor-in-chief, the publication has announced.

The 39-year-old, daughter of actress Candice Bergen, worked her way up the fashion magazine ranks over the past 14 years to become editor of Vogue.com and host the magazine's podcast The Run Through.

Malle's appointment marks a new era for the magazine, considered one of the most influential and glamorous fashion publications.

Wintour, the British-born fashion magnate, announced she was leaving the role in June after holding the position for 37 years. The magazine said she would retain senior positions at its publisher.

During her tenure at Vogue, Malle has reportedly been responsible for securing the magazine's photoshoot with Naomi Biden for her 2022 White House wedding, as well as an interview with Lauren Sanchez ahead of her wedding to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos.

Before she began at Vogue, Malle covered real estate for the New York Observer. Her next gig as a freelance writer led her to Vogue where she began a full time position as the social editor in 2011.

"I was hesitant when I was interviewing, because fashion is not one of my main interests in life, and I wanted to be a writer more than an editor, but I was so seduced by the Vogue machine that I couldn't resist," Malle told the publication Into the Gloss in 2013.

Like her predecessor, Dame Anna, Malle has not shied away from politics while at Vogue.

Both on her social media and on her podcast she has supported Democratic causes and candidates.

During a 2024 episode of her podcast, which aired after Donald Trump was re-elected as US president, Malle expressed her disappointment with the election result.

It is unclear exactly when the transition from Dame Anna to Malle as chief of the magazine will be, but the 75-year-old is not completely leaving the picture.

Dame Anna will remain publisher Condé Nast's chief content officer, a role she was appointed to in 2020, which means she will still oversee Vogue's content, along with the company's other titles such as GQ, Wired and Tatler.

Father Ted co-creator Graham Linehan has been arrested at Heathrow Airport on suspicion of inciting violence in relation to his posts on X.

He was arrested after arriving on a flight from the US, and said in an online Substack article that officials then became concerned for his health after taking his blood pressure, and took him to hospital.

The Metropolitan Police said that a man in his 50s was arrested on 1 September at Heathrow Airport and taken to hospital, adding his condition "is neither life-threatening nor life-changing" , and he was bailed "pending further investigation".

Linehan said in an online article on Substack that his bail condition stipulates he is "not to go on Twitter" and that his arrest related to three posts on X from April, on his views about challenging "a trans-identified male" in "a female-only space".

Linehan said when he stepped off the aircraft, "five armed officers were waiting" to tell him he was under arrest.

The Met said: "The arrest was made by officers from the MPS Aviation Unit. It is routine for officers policing airports to carry firearms. These were not drawn or used at any point during the arrest."

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London Assembly member Zack Polanski has been elected leader of the Green Party of England and Wales by a landslide.

Polanski beat joint candidates, the Green MPs Adrian Ramsay and Ellie Chowns, by 20,411 votes to 3,705.

The result was greeted by whoops and cheers, with Polanski promising in his victory speech to "work every single day to grow this party" and paying tribute to his defeated rivals.

Polanski, a former actor who was the party's deputy leader, campaigned on an "eco-populism" platform and has promised to make the party "bolder" in its approach.

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Figures to be published on Tuesday are expected to show that Scotland remains the drugs death capital of Europe for the seventh year in a row.

In 2023, there were 1,172 drug misuse deaths in Scotland, bringing the total in a decade to 10,481, according to official figures.

Although experts expect that number to have dropped slightly for 2024, they are warning that any fall will almost certainly be a blip.

Kirsten Horsburgh, chief executive of the Scottish Drugs Forum says the arrival of deadly synthetic opioids known as nitazenes in the country is "a crisis on top of a crisis."

Suspected deaths early this year "are already higher than they were last year" she said.

How did we get here?

This is a crisis with deep roots in the social and economic changes which swept through Scotland in the latter half of the 20th Century as the country's economy shifted away from manufacturing.

When the shipyards, steel mills and collieries fell silent, they left a generation of men, whose pride and identity had been bound up with the things they made, struggling to adapt.

Society changed rapidly too. The old city slums were cleared, but many people were moved to damp, isolated tower blocks with limited amenities.

It was a recipe for joblessness, family breakdown and addiction.

In 1972, in a famous speech at the University of Glasgow, the trade unionist Jimmy Reid said Britain's "major social problem" could be summed up in one word - alienation.

Men, he said, viewed themselves as "victims of blind economic forces beyond their control" leading to a "feeling of despair and hopelessness that pervades people who feel with justification that they have no real say in shaping or determining their own destinies."

One way alienation found expression, said Reid, was in "those who seek to escape permanently from the reality of society through intoxicants and narcotics."

Half a century after his speech, Scotland is still grappling with alienation and still struggling with the scourge of alcohol and drugs.

High unemployment in the 1980s was followed by cuts to public spending after the financial crash of 2007/8 and the skyrocketing cost of living this decade.

By 2023, people in the most deprived parts of Scotland were more than 15 times more likely to die from drug misuse than those in the richest areas.

For many years this was a particularly male problem.

In the early 2000s, men were up to five times more likely to die of an overdose than women although that gap has since narrowed considerably.

As demand for drugs rose, so did supply. From 1980, heroin from Afghanistan and Iran began to arrive in Scotland in large quantities, with deadly results.

The sharing of dirty needles by injecting drug users and the arrival of HIV led to a public health crisis which was graphically depicted in Irvine Welsh's 1993 novel, Trainspotting, and its film adaptation.

'Drugs are becoming normalised'

Drug overdoses are not the only evidence that Scotland is experiencing a crisis related to alienation. Other so-called deaths of despair are also high.

Scotland has a higher rate of suicide than other parts of the UK and some of the highest levels of alcohol-related deaths in Europe.

These too are often linked to poverty. In 2023, deaths directly caused by alcohol were 4.5 times higher in the most deprived areas of Scotland than in the least deprived.

Taken together, says Annemarie Ward, of the charity Faces and Voices of Recovery UK, Scotland has a "penchant for oblivion".

Illegal drugs, she argues, have become part of the national culture.

"It's become normalised," she said. "I don't think we have to accept that normality."

Of course, deprivation and despair are not unique to Scotland and do not on their own amount to a sufficient explanation for its crisis.

Various other theories have been put forward including the existence of a macho, hard-partying culture; a reluctance, especially among men, to seek mental health support; and even the country's long, dark winters.

Another suggestion is that years of substance abuse are now catching up with the ageing Trainspotting generation - although this is disputed.

Between 2000 and 2023, according to the National Records of Scotland, the average age of a drug misuse death increased from 32 to 45.

Another potential explanation is the ripple effect of trauma.

When more than 1,000 people are dying every year in a small country, the implications for their families and friends are enormous and potentially catastrophic.

Drugs have scarred whole communities with abuse of substances continuing from generation to generation.

Nearly "every person who seeks treatment has been traumatised in some way," says Dr Susanna Galea-Singer, chair of the Faculty of Addictions at the Royal College of Psychiatrists in Scotland.

Last year, Public Health Scotland published a review of all drug deaths in 2020 which revealed that 602 children lost a parent or parental figure to overdose in that year alone.

"You get social fragmentation when you have aspects of poverty, aspects of trauma," said Dr Galea-Singer.

"You burn bridges with families, it's just extremely difficult. It does fragment society."

Trauma might explain a high or even rising level of drug deaths but even it does not adequately account for a dramatic jump in the numbers a decade ago.

There appear to be two main reasons for the surge in deaths at that point.

First, in 2015, the Scottish government cut funding for alcohol and drug partnerships, which co-ordinated local addiction services around the country.

"We saw the start of a really sharp increase in drug-related deaths," said Kirsten Horsburgh of the Scottish Drugs Forum.

"There's no doubt that cuts to funding in this area reduces the amounts of services that people can access, reduces the staff that are able to support people and results in deaths."

Ministers later boosted resources as part of a five-year "national mission" to tackle the drugs emergency, only for funding to fall again in real terms in the past two years.

The 2015 cuts were "a disaster," said Ms Horsburgh. "Even with increased resource as part of the national mission, we can see it's still not enough.

"We can't just have small pilots of projects to address a public health emergency.

"We would not do that for any other public health emergency. We did not do that for Covid. We should not be doing that for the drug deaths crisis."

The second big change came around the same time as drug services were being cut.

It was the arrival on Scottish streets of dangerous benzodiazepenes known as street valium.

These blue pills were a fake and powerful version of the anti-anxiety medication, Valium, and they were deadly.

Nicola Sturgeon, who was First Minister at the time, would later admit that her SNP government had taken its "eye off the ball" as deaths rose.

How to tackle the issue now remains contentious.

Many public health experts support a harm reduction approach involving the provision of substitute drugs such as methadone, clean needles, and a drug consumption room which has been set up in Glasgow.

"Harm reduction has to be the core of any effective evidence-based drugs policy approach," said Ms Horsburgh of the Scottish Drugs Forum.

She is among those calling for decriminalisation of all drugs while others argue for a transfer of related powers from Westminster to Holyrood.

Harm reduction

Annemarie Ward of Faces and Voices of Recovery UK agreed that harm reduction should be part of the mix but said the balance needed to tilt towards rehabilitation.

"When government ministers talk about treatment in Scotland, what they're talking about is harm reduction," she said.

"When the general public hears the word treatment, they're thinking detox, rehab, people getting on with their lives."

Ms Ward also wants a shift away from NHS provision of drugs services in favour of organisations, such as her charity, which focus on rehabilitation and recovery.

"Our treatment system is delivered through the public sector, which means it's incredibly bureaucratic. So you can't just walk into a service and get seen that day, for instance, the way you can in England."

Ms Horsburgh and Ms Ward may have different priorities for tackling the crisis but both agree that it is almost certainly about to get worse.

"Nitazenes are a whole new ball game," warns Ms Ward.

"These are the synthetic opioids that are 100 times stronger than your average hit of heroin, and they're also ending up in the coke supply."

She predicts an exponential rise in deaths "unless we start to help people get clean and sober again."

If that is the case, it appears Scotland has not yet got to grips with this emergency.

The causes of the drug deaths crisis are multiple and complex.

But the fear is that they are producing a cumulative and compounding effect from which it is proving almost impossible to escape.

The price of gold has hit a record high as demand for the precious metal remains strong amid global economic uncertainty.

The spot gold price hit $3,508.50 per ounce early on Tuesday, continuing its upwards trend which has seen it rise by nearly a third this year.

The precious metal is viewed as a safer asset for investors during times of economic uncertainty, and its price rose earlier this year after US President Donald Trump announced wide ranging tariffs which have upset global trade.

Analysts say the price has also been lifted by expectations that the US central bank will cut its key interest rate, making gold an even more attractive prospect for investors.

Adrian Ash, director of research at BullionVault, told the BBC's Today programme that the rise in gold prices over the past few months is really down to Trump and "what he's done to geopolitics [and] what he's done to global trade".

"It was really the US election last year that really put a fire under it," he said.

Analysts also cite worries over the independence of the US central bank, the Federal Reserve, as another factor driving the gold price.

Trump has launched repeated attacks on the Federal Reserve's chair, Jerome Powell, and recently attempted to fire one of its governors, Lisa Cook.

Derren Nathan from Hargreaves Lansdown said it was Trump's "attempts to undermine the independence of the Federal Reserve Bank" that was "driving renewed interest in safe haven assets including gold".

On Monday, the head of the European Central Bank Christine Lagarde warned that if Trump were to undermine the independence of the Fed, it would represent a "very serious danger" to the global economy.

She said if the Fed was forced to respond to Trump's politics, it would have a "very worrying" impact on economic stability in the US, and therefore in the rest of the world as well.

Mr Ash added that when the price of gold surges because of investor interest, it was usually tempered by a slowdown in buying from China and India - two of the biggest markets for gold jewellery.

But this time, he said gold was continuing to find demand in China and India as, rather than exiting the market during times of high prices, jewellery buyers turn towards buying investment gold products such as bars or coins.

The stage is set in the heart of Beijing for a grand display of power and military might that has been choreographed by President Xi Jinping.

Eight huge Chinese flags flutter and flank the portrait of Mao Zedong, the founder of Communist China, which sits on top of the Gate of Heavenly Peace overlooking Tiananmen Square, one of the largest public squares in the world.

Below are rows of seats reserved for 26 foreign heads of state, including Russia's Vladimir Putin and North Korea's Kim Jong Un, whose attendance is a diplomatic win for Xi.

Across the road, near the Great Hall of the People, two huge floral arrangements commemorating the end of World War II rise up alongside seating for around 50,000 invitees.

On the last day of preparations - Monday - Chang'an Avenue, the multi-lane road that cuts through the square was once again open to the public. Drivers and cyclists held their phones aloft trying their best to capture the scene.

Ostensibly the parade marks 80 years of Japan's surrender in the war, and China's victory against an occupying force. But it's so much more than that for President Xi.

This is a big week for him, with quite a few firsts. He enticed Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to visit China over the weekend for the first time in seven years, rebooting a key economic and strategic relationship.

More than 20 world leaders attended the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit, which just concluded - its largest ever gathering.

And a North Korean leader will attend a Chinese military parade for the first time since 1959.

The Chinese leader is having his moment in the spotlight.

The SCO summit in Tianjin has allowed him to project power and offer a vision of a new world order which he hopes will challenge the United States. Now attention turns to the parade in Beijing, which will showcase his country's growing ability to rival the US in any conflict.

The leaders of Iran, Malaysia, Myanmar, Mongolia, Indonesia, Zimbabwe and central Asian countries will witness the precise troop formations and get a glimpse of what authorities say will be new hypersonic weapons and unmanned underwater drones. The only western leaders on the guest list are from Serbia and Slovakia.

Kim Jong Un is a surprise addition - his attendance was only announced at the end of last week - and his armoured train and usual motorcade flanked by bodyguards will add to the spectacle.

Xi is expected to have both Kim and Putin by his side which will inevitably lead to western headlines or analysts describing them as the "axis of upheaval".

While the parade is a show of China's strength and Xi's influence as a world leader, there is also a clear domestic message: pride and patriotism.

China describes World War II as the "people's war of resistance against Japanese aggression", although much of the resistance was not from the Communist Party, but from the nationalists who later lost the civil war to Mao and his forces, and have been largely scrubbed from national memory.

In the run-up to the anniversary, several films have been released depicting this struggle, some of which have been box office hits. State media has been publishing reports to "foster a right view of WWII history".

The campaign has caused some friction with Japan. Last week, Beijing lodged a protest with Tokyo over reports that Japan had asked European and Asian governments not to attend the parade.

All of this appears to be part of a rallying cry to the nation, as China struggles with a sluggish economy, youth unemployment and plummeting house prices. Demand is weak and the most recent data suggests Trump's tariffs are hitting factory output. And the "anti-corruption" drive continues, with reports of high-ranking officials being investigated.

There is discontent, even disillusionment, especially among young people and it has seeped through, even on the tightly-controlled Chinese internet.

The fear that this could spill into the real world is partly what has been driving the extra-cautious preparations, which have become a demonstration of the Party's control of a capital city home to more than 21 million people. The city has grown quieter as the parade draws closer.

Airport security scanners have been installed in some office entrances. All drones are banned and international journalists have been visited at home, some on multiple occasions, to ensure they get the message.

Guards have been stationed 24 hours a day at the entrances to overpasses and bridges to prevent any protests, some of them in army uniforms.

Three years ago, when the Party chose Xi as its leader for a historic third term, a protester unfurled a banner over a major highway bridge criticising Xi and calling for his ouster. He was taken away instantly and we still don't know what happened to him.

But that is a moment the Party does not want to relive.

Communist Party officials have spent months planning and preparing for their first military parade in six years. More than 200,000 flags have been put up across the capital.

More floral arrangements depicting China's fight against Japan sit proudly on prominent roadsides and roundabouts. There's even a new city "lightscape" to brighten buildings in the business district.

Officials from the Parade Command Office have said "the overarching principle... is to avoid disturbing the public as much as possible".

But for those living in Beijing, the parade has upturned life.

Tanks could be heard rolling down the streets during weekly overnight rehearsals and the sounds of marching echoed far beyond the parade route.

People living near Chang'an Avenue, which leads to Tiananmen square, were told to stay off their balconies to ensure the rehearsals could be held in secrecy.

Schools, businesses and hotels along the parade route will be closed for the next two days. There are multiple road diversions and subway line closures, which have effectively paralysed transport into and out of the city centre.

Even getting hold of a shared city bike, often the best way to get around Beijing, can now be troublesome. Usually there are hundreds of them lined up outside subway stations, and along pavements. But recently city workers have been scooping them up to move them further away from the parade route. Trying to hire the odd one left behind is not an option: the bike will not move.

There have been reports in the past that China has used its air force to ensure there are blue skies for the parade. The aircraft can manipulate weather to trigger rain through cloud-seeding one or two days in advance, to make sure it's clear afterwards.

It's hard to know if this tactic has been used this year, but forecasters are predicting clear skies. Officials in Beijing are taking no chances on President Xi's big day.

US actor Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson has said he had a "burning desire" to make a different kind of film, after years of being "pigeon-holed" as a blockbuster star.

The 53-year-old could be in line for the first Oscar nomination of his career for his role in The Smashing Machine, which has just launched at the Venice Film Festival.

Johnson said playing UFC fighter Mark Kerr in the film had "certainly changed my life", adding that the transformation was something he was "really hungry to do".

He told journalists: "I've been scared to go deep and intense and raw until now, until I had this opportunity to do this."

Johnson is best known for his roles in big-budget movies such as Jumanji, San Andreas, Moana, Black Adam and the Fast & Furious franchise.

The Smashing Machine, directed by Benny Safdie, sees Johnson reunite with his Jungle Cruise co-star Emily Blunt, who stars as Kerr's girlfriend Dawn Staples.

Asked about his motivation for taking on the role, Johnson explained: "I have wanted this for a long time.

"When you're in Hollywood, as we all know, it had become about box office and you chase the box office. And the box office in our business is very loud, it can be very [overwhelming].

"And it can push you into a corner and category - 'This is your lane, this is what you do, and this is what people want you to be and this is what Hollywood wants you to be'.

"And I understood that, and I made those movies and I liked them and they were fun, and some were really good and did well, and some not so good!" he laughed.

"But I think what I did realise is I just had this burning desire and this voice that was just saying, 'what if there's more, what if I can?'

"Sometimes it's hard to know what you're capable of when you've been pigeon-holed into something. It's harder to know 'wait, can I do that? I feel like I can'. And sometimes it takes people who you love and respect to say 'you can'."

Johnson, also known as The Rock from his own earlier career in wrestling, added he didn't think playing the role was "about anything to prove to Hollywood as much as it is for me, internally".

Johnson's performance 'a revelation'

Johnson was praised by critics in early reviews of the film. Variety's Owen Gleiberman described his performance as "a revelation", adding that he "seems like a new actor".

In a four-star review, the Telegraph's Robbie Collin said: "His performance is warm, sincere and admirably ego-less, while some phenomenally delicate facial prosthetics alter his appearance just enough that you see his character, rather than The Rock, looming up on the screen."

IndieWire's Ryan Lattanzio concluded: "While The Smashing Machine doesn't play like easy awards catnip, Johnson earns a sizeable position among this year's prize-seekers."

Normally in a Dwayne Johnson film, you're never more than about four minutes away from the next explosion or car chase.

The Smashing Machine is a different kettle of fish, focusing on the world of the Ultimate Fighting Championship and how prominent a figure Kerr was in the early years of the sport in the 1990s.

As explained early in the film, UFC involves all kinds of fighting in the same ring. One fighter might be a boxer, while his opponent could come from a wrestling or karate background. More or less anything goes in the battle to be the last one standing.

"Around that time, there was something so experimental about what was going on," explains director Safdie, one half of the Safdie brothers, whose screen credits include Uncut Gems.

"You had all of these different martial arts forms competing against one another, and it was just such a unique sport.

"And it was also such a close-knit community where everybody knew one another and loved one another, and to have that contradiction of this fighting world but this love between them was something that was really beautiful to me, and I wanted to explore that."

The film has plenty of fight scenes, but its primary focus is outside of the ring, focusing on Kerr's gentle nature, his battle with substance abuse, and his complex relationship with Dawn, played by Blunt.

The actress describes Johnson as a "dear friend", adding: "One of the most extraordinary things was seeing him completely disappear, it was spooky."

Discussing her own character, Blunt says: "I was delighted there was a woman in the midst of it, because there was a lot going on behind closed doors of what it means to live with a fighter and the all-consuming world that comes with that.

"I got to know Dawn well and she was very generous with her story with me, the full weather system of it, the regrets, the eruptions, the hazardous nature of the relationship at times, and the deep, profound love and devotion they had to each other amid an impossible environment.

"So I think it was an incredibly exciting relationship to put on screen. I'd been part of a lot of [on-screen] relationships that essentially are a movie-fied relationship, and this just felt like the full spectrum of what a relationship really looks like."

Set between 1997 and 2000, The Smashing Machine gets its title from the nickname given to Kerr after one of his early tournament victories. An HBO documentary about Kerr with the same title was released in 2002.

Johnson first met Kerr in the 1990s when he was a wrestler himself. He semi-retired from the sport in 2004 to focus on his Hollywood career, going on to become one of the industry's most bankable stars.

"I remember talking to [Kerr] back then and being so enamoured and respecting of his career, and it's so wild how years later life can come full circle in this incredible way," Johnson notes.

The actor said he's become "very close" to Kerr, who he describes as "a walking contradiction for a man who at one time was the greatest fighter on the planet, but also the most kind, gentle, tender, empathetic [person]".

Awards pundits will be watching closely to see how Johnson's film is received, but the star joins a best actor race that is stacked with A-listers this year.

Daniel Day-Lewis, Leonardo DiCaprio, Matthew McConaughey, George Clooney, Jesse Plemons, Timothee Chalamet and Jeremy Allen White are among the big names who could be competing with Johnson.

Only a small number of those names will make it all the way to the Oscars, although several of them could be recognised at the more celebrity-skewing Golden Globes, which has more slots available. The race will start to crystallise as more of the films premiere in the coming weeks.

Reflecting on his success since leaving wrestling, Johnson said: "I have been very fortunate to have the career I've had over the years and make the films that I've made. But there was this voice inside of me that said 'what if I could do more?'"

He continues: "The truth is, I looked around a few years ago and started to think, 'am I living my dream or am I living other people's dreams?'

"And you come to that recognition and you can either fall in line, go 'it's status quo, things are good', or you can go, 'no, I wanna live my dreams now and do what I want to do, and tap into the things I want to tap into and have a place to put all this stuff that I've experienced in the past that I've shied away from'."

There is a "decent chance" the aurora borealis will be visible across much of the UK on in the coming days, the Met Office has said.

Heighted solar activity could lead to the Northern Lights being visible further south than usual, with sightings possible with the naked eye.

Although the Met Office cautioned that solar forecasts can change rapidly, and factors such as cloud cover and light pollution will impact visibility.

But those lucky enough to have clear and dark skies could be rewarded "with a rare and memorable display".

BBC Weather said the lights, formally known as the aurora borealis, would be visible across much of England and Wales away from western coasts.

As is usually the case, Northern Ireland and north east Scotland would have the best chance for clear spells of viewing, it said.

It also advised the public to head away from city lights for the best chance of seeing the Northern Lights and that if the lights were not visible - another way to potentially see them was to use a smartphone on night mode.

The Met Office forecasts that while there will be lots of cloud cover throughout the evening, the Midlands will be most likely to have clear skies, making it potentially one of the best place in the UK for a sighting.

Monday night could offer the best chance for a sighting, but the lights should still be visible throughout Tuesday night.

By Wednesday night no significant solar activity is currently expected, meaning less chance of seeing the Northern Lights.

"There's a decent chance of seeing the aurora tonight [Monday] - it may be visible as far south as the Midlands (perhaps even further south)", the Met Office said on social media site X.

The Northern Lights are caused by solar winds carrying charged particles interacting with the earth's magnetic field.

The heightened chance of a UK sighting has been caused by a fast-moving coronal mass ejection, which is a "release of plasma and magnetic field from the Sun's corona", late on Saturday night.

Met Office space weather manager, Krista Hammond, said: "As we monitor the arrival of this coronal mass ejection, there is a real possibility of aurora sightings further south than usual on Monday night.

"While the best views are likely further north, anyone with clear, dark skies should keep an eye out.

"Forecasts can change rapidly, so we encourage the public to stay updated with the latest information."

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'HMRC will probably enforce, I have nothing to give'

'If it wasn't for the group, I don't know where I'd be'

Rescuers on helicopters are searching the ruins of remote villages in eastern Afghanistan for survivors of a powerful earthquake that has killed 800 people and injured 1,800 others.

Many are feared trapped under the rubble of their homes after the magnitude 6.0 earthquake struck on Sunday near the country's border with Pakistan.

Authorities searched by air for the second day on Tuesday as roads blocked with debris and the mountainous terrain in the affected areas made land travel difficult.

The Taliban government has appealed for international help. The UN has released emergency funds, while the UK has pledged £1m ($1.3m) in aid.

Sunday's earthquake was one of the strongest to hit Afghanistan in recent years. The country is very prone to earthquakes because it is located on top of a number of fault lines where the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates meet.

In 2023, more than 1,400 people died after a series of 6.3-magnitude earthquakes hit western Afghanistan, near the city of Herat.

Survivors of Sunday's earthquake were brought to a hospital in Jalalabad, which has been overwhelemed with hundreds of patients daily even before the disaster.

Mir Zaman told the BBC that he pulled his dead children out of the rubble by himself.

"It was dark. There was no light. Someone lent me a lamp, and then I used a shovel and pick axe to dig them out. There was no one to help because everyone was affected. So many people died in my village. Some are still buried. Whole families have died," he said.

Two-and-a-half-year-old Maiwand suffered head injuries and blood loss.

"You can see his situation. It's so tragic. The earthquake was deadly. I want the doctors to treat him, to cure him," said the child's uncle, Khawat Gul.

The most recent earthquake hit Afghanistan when it is reeling under severe drought and what the UN calls an unprecedented crisis of hunger.

The country has also experienced massive aid cuts especially from the US this year which is further reducing the aid that many of these people could have got. This disaster couldn't have come at a worse time.

Britain's Foreign Secretary David Lammy said aid from the UK will be "channelled through experienced partners", the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) and the International Red Cross.

India delivered 1,000 tents to Kabul, its foreign minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar wrote on X after speaking to his Taliban counterpart Amir Khan Muttaqi.

The Indian mission is also helping to move 15 tonnes of food from Kabul to Kunar province, which has been badly hit by the earthquake, he said, adding that India would send more relief items.

China and Switzerland have also pledged support.

Survivors will need housing, shelter and blankets, said Amy Martin, who leads the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Afghanistan.

This article contains some spoilers about series two of Love is Blind UK

When it comes to love, most of us would like to think personality and values are our main priorities. But if looks were taken out of the equation entirely, would we still fall in love with the same people?

That's the question at the heart of Love Is Blind, Netflix's hit reality dating experiment.

The show sees singles date each other in "pods", speaking through a wall without seeing what the other person looks like. Only after getting engaged can couples meet face to face, then navigate the pressures of a honeymoon, moving in together, and meeting families - all in a whirlwind run-up to a legally binding wedding.

In the UK's second season of the show, 30 hopefuls entered the pods - five couples got engaged and three said yes at the altar. And yet, a year later, only one couple remains together.

The one couple still standing is Megan and Kieran, and when I sit down with them they couldn't look happier. Megan says life since the pods has "been a hoot" and the couple are "having the best time ever".

"It's been seamless fitting into each other's lives and now we live together," Kieran says. "We've had a really good, fun and silly time. I'm grateful to have had the year after the experiment out of the public eye."

Unlike some of the show's other couples, they insist they haven't had to overcome any major hurdles. "People will eye-roll at us," Kieran says, "but it's been really easy."

There was some drama between the pair during the show as Kieran was accused of disrespect for giving Megan a gift while he was still dating another contestant, Sophie.

The pair insist the situation was exaggerated in the edit, with Kieran saying the love triangle was "slightly manufactured".

"You see a very small portion of a very long experience," he adds. "Everyone is dating everyone up until you propose, and that's the point of the experiment."

The BBC has approached Netflix for comment.

'I might troll back sometimes'

The other men on the show who got engaged agree with Kieran and say viewers only see a fraction of the real story.

Javen, who had a rocky time with his partner Katisha, tells me "what you don't see is just as powerful as what you do see".

Watching his love story back, he was left thinking "I wouldn't pick myself either" but he says that's because the edit didn't show "the intimate and vulnerable moments that we had".

"They can only show so much and they are creating an entertainment show so I just take it on the chin," he continues.

He laughs and admits: "I might troll back in the comments sometimes but I don't really look at the negativity."

Katisha insists she and Javen had chemistry but that the show "highlighted the worst parts" of their relationship.

One thing she says she struggled with was being asked by producers to repeat conversations she'd had with Javen offscreen for the cameras.

"It was difficult to discuss it again and make it look like a real conversation," she says.

Megan and Kieran say they also found this a challenge and that most of their deeper conversations happened when the cameras weren't around.

"We'd get told off a bit for being too silly," Megan tells me. "The producers would ask us to get a bit deeper and we'd just be laughing."

Watching their love story back on screen was "the weirdest thing ever", she says, adding that it felt like being "in a Black Mirror episode".

'Not the same person off camera'

As well as feeling wrongfooted by the editing process, a few of the female cast members tell me the men they met on the show seemed like very different people "when the cameras were on".

Bardha, who was engaged to Jed but said no at the altar on their wedding day, says her partner "was not the man [from] the pods".

"For him, it was all about 'when this comes out and I make some money', it was never about love or planning a future like we discussed. That all went out the window when the experiment ended."

Jed strongly denies ever talking about the money or fame that could come from being on the show. "I don't even understand the opportunities that come after because this is not my world, I'm a family man," he insists.

The other men I interview also come to his defence. Kal, who married Sarover, makes the point that people go on the show "for a lot of reasons".

"We're all aware it's a reality show, no one is here my accident," he says and his castmate Billy agrees. "You'd be foolish to ignore everything that comes with this."

Despite most of the couples no longer being together, I ask the cast whether they've learnt anything about themselves or what they want in a partner from the experience.

Billy, a personal trainer who works in the Army, says people often stereotype him and he hopes the show will make women see him differently in future.

"I will also now give everyone a fair chance but hopefully, people won't judge me just being a PT [personal trainer]."

For Kal, the show was a chance to step beyond boundaries of familiarity. On the show, he explains he has only previously dated white women because Wigan is less diverse than many other parts of the UK.

He ended up marrying Sarover, who is British Indian, and says it was "nice to learn more about her culture and religion".

After the show, their relationship disintegrated. Sarover says she was "blindsided" by the breakup, which happened "so abruptly".

"The Kal I dated in the pods was not the Kal after we got married," she explains.

Kal agrees to some extent and says he was "a better communicator in the pods, as you can open up a bit more in that environment", but stands by the fact that he "gave it 100%".

While only one couple is still together now, most of the cast agree the experiment offered them a rare opportunity to test themselves, explore love in a unique environment and, in some cases, grow through failure.

"Delivery, delivery, delivery."

The words of the Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, about his priorities in his curtain-raising interview for the new political term with Matt Chorley on BBC Radio 5 live, which you can listen to here.

It was a tacit admission that despite campaigning on a platform of "change" before the general election, there is plenty of evidence that plenty of folk think there has been nowhere near enough of it.

Or, plenty may have concluded that what has changed has changed in the wrong direction.

Sir Keir argues it was always going to take time to get things changing, but he is frustrated he hasn't managed to deliver more of it up to now.

Part of his solution is another shake-up of his Downing Street team.

You can read more about that from Henry Zeffman here.

The other is to set out what he and the government are doing and to make the case that it is better than what he and his ministers are increasingly framing as the likely alternative - Reform UK.

Privately, figures in government acknowledge that Reform had a visible and noisy summer.

The party set out to try to dominate the political conversation when others often take a break and by and large they achieved that.

The prominence of the issue of asylum, particularly the rows about the Bell Hotel in Epping in Essex, gave a salience to a theme Reform regard as their own.

"And we didn't come this far just to get this far," a senior Reform figure tells me, as party leader Nigel Farage heads to Washington to rail against the government about the Lucy Connolly case, and then heads to Birmingham on Friday for his party conference.

The party is doing all it can to maintain its momentum.

So we shouldn't be surprised that barely hours into this new political season and both the prime minister and the Home Secretary Yvette Cooper were each attempting to make a virtue of their approach - and try to contrast it with Reform's.

The pitch from them both amounted to arguing that they are assembling what they see as a careful set of thoughtful, workable, iterative steps forward on asylum policy.

The new detail this time was the government's decision to suspend family reunion applications from refugees.

They contrasted that with what they claim is not only opportunistic rhetoric from Farage, but an attempt to sow grievance without providing solutions.

Reform counter that it is only they who are offering solutions that might actually work - such as withdrawal from the European Convention on Human Rights, which both Labour in government now and the Conservatives before them baulked at.

This tussle gets to the heart of our politics right now - and in the coming months, even years.

Are people running out of patience with a government with a strategy that, until now at least, has demanded just that - patience?

And if plenty are, and the opinion polls suggest many are, would they embrace an insurgent, barely tested alternative, Reform UK?

These are the questions politics looks set to keep returning to.

And, in time, we will get an answer.

Tens of thousands of foreign students are being contacted directly by the government and told they will be removed from the UK if they overstay their visas.

The Home Office launched the new government campaign in response to what it has called an "alarming" spike in the number of international students arriving legally on student visas then claiming asylum when they expire.

As part of the campaign, the Home Office has for the first time proactively contacted international students directly by text and email.

Under the plans, about 130,000 students and their families in total will be sent a message telling them: "If you have no legal right to remain in the UK, you must leave.

"If you don't, we will remove you."

Ten thousand international students whose visas are due to expire have already been contacted directly by text and email - warning them they could be deported.

Tens of thousands more will receive the message in the coming months, the BBC understands, to coincide with autumn when applications often increase.

The full message will read: "If you submit an asylum claim that lacks merit, it will be swiftly and robustly refused.

"Any request for asylum support will be assessed against destitution criteria. If you do not meet the criteria, you will not receive support.

"If you have no legal right to remain in the UK, you must leave.

"If you don't, we will remove you."

While the political focus this summer has been on people arriving on small boats, a similar number arrive legally with visas, then apply for asylum often when those visas run out.

Many of these claims are legitimate, but ministers are worried that too many international students are seeking asylum simply to stay in the country because their leave to remain has run out.

In the year to June 2025, 43,600 people seeking asylum arrived on a small boat - 39% of all asylum claims, according to Home Office data.

Another 41,100 asylum claims came from people who entered legally with a visa, the department said, with the largest group among visa holders being students.

Last year, 16,000 asylum claims came from those who arrived on student visas, nearly six times as many as in 2020, it said.

Since then, Home Office data shows there has been a drop of 10%, but ministers in the department want the figures to fall further.

The number of people on skilled worker visas being granted asylum has also fallen, according to the department.

Earlier this year, the Home Office announced a cut in the amount of time overseas graduates can stay in the UK after their studies – from two years to 18 months.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin have kicked off bilateral talks in Beijing, on the eve of a massive military parade in the Chinese capital.

Putin hailed relations between both countries saying they were on an "unprecedented level", adding that their "close communication reflects the strategic nature of Russian-Chinese ties."

"Dear friend, both I and the entire Russian delegation are pleased to meet once again with our Chinese friends and colleagues," Putin told Xi, according to a video published on the Kremlin's official Telegram messaging app.

"Our close communication reflects the strategic nature of Russia-China relations, which are at an unprecedentedly high level."

"We were always together then, and we remain together now," Putin added.

Xi told Putin that "China-Russia relations have withstood the test of international changes" - adding that Beijing was willing to work with Moscow to "promote the construction of a more just and reasonable global governance system".

Xi is set to host China's largest-ever military parade on Wednesday, which will mark the 80th anniversary of the surrender of the Japanese in China at the end of World War Two.

It comes at a time when Xi seeks to project Beijing's power on the international stage - not just as the world's second-largest economy, but also as a diplomatic heavyweight.

He has emphasised China's role as a stable trading partner while US president Donald Trump's tariffs have upended economic relationships.

Xi is now hosting Putin in Beijing while a deal with the Russian leader to end the war in Ukraine continues to elude Trump.

Xi and Putin criticised Western governments during the summit on Monday, with Xi slamming "bullying behaviour" from certain countries - a veiled reference to the US - while Putin defended Russia's Ukraine offensive and blamed the West for triggering the conflict.

The two leaders met in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Tuesday, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV reported.

US actor Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson has said he had a "burning desire" to make a different kind of film, after years of being "pigeon-holed" as a blockbuster star.

The 53-year-old could be in line for the first Oscar nomination of his career for his role in The Smashing Machine, which has just launched at the Venice Film Festival.

Johnson said playing UFC fighter Mark Kerr in the film had "certainly changed my life", adding that the transformation was something he was "really hungry to do".

He told journalists: "I've been scared to go deep and intense and raw until now, until I had this opportunity to do this."

Johnson is best known for his roles in big-budget movies such as Jumanji, San Andreas, Moana, Black Adam and the Fast & Furious franchise.

The Smashing Machine, directed by Benny Safdie, sees Johnson reunite with his Jungle Cruise co-star Emily Blunt, who stars as Kerr's girlfriend Dawn Staples.

Asked about his motivation for taking on the role, Johnson explained: "I have wanted this for a long time.

"When you're in Hollywood, as we all know, it had become about box office and you chase the box office. And the box office in our business is very loud, it can be very [overwhelming].

"And it can push you into a corner and category - 'This is your lane, this is what you do, and this is what people want you to be and this is what Hollywood wants you to be'.

"And I understood that, and I made those movies and I liked them and they were fun, and some were really good and did well, and some not so good!" he laughed.

"But I think what I did realise is I just had this burning desire and this voice that was just saying, 'what if there's more, what if I can?'

"Sometimes it's hard to know what you're capable of when you've been pigeon-holed into something. It's harder to know 'wait, can I do that? I feel like I can'. And sometimes it takes people who you love and respect to say 'you can'."

Johnson, also known as The Rock from his own earlier career in wrestling, added he didn't think playing the role was "about anything to prove to Hollywood as much as it is for me, internally".

Johnson's performance 'a revelation'

Johnson was praised by critics in early reviews of the film. Variety's Owen Gleiberman described his performance as "a revelation", adding that he "seems like a new actor".

In a four-star review, the Telegraph's Robbie Collin said: "His performance is warm, sincere and admirably ego-less, while some phenomenally delicate facial prosthetics alter his appearance just enough that you see his character, rather than The Rock, looming up on the screen."

IndieWire's Ryan Lattanzio concluded: "While The Smashing Machine doesn't play like easy awards catnip, Johnson earns a sizeable position among this year's prize-seekers."

Normally in a Dwayne Johnson film, you're never more than about four minutes away from the next explosion or car chase.

The Smashing Machine is a different kettle of fish, focusing on the world of the Ultimate Fighting Championship and how prominent a figure Kerr was in the early years of the sport in the 1990s.

As explained early in the film, UFC involves all kinds of fighting in the same ring. One fighter might be a boxer, while his opponent could come from a wrestling or karate background. More or less anything goes in the battle to be the last one standing.

"Around that time, there was something so experimental about what was going on," explains director Safdie, one half of the Safdie brothers, whose screen credits include Uncut Gems.

"You had all of these different martial arts forms competing against one another, and it was just such a unique sport.

"And it was also such a close-knit community where everybody knew one another and loved one another, and to have that contradiction of this fighting world but this love between them was something that was really beautiful to me, and I wanted to explore that."

The film has plenty of fight scenes, but its primary focus is outside of the ring, focusing on Kerr's gentle nature, his battle with substance abuse, and his complex relationship with Dawn, played by Blunt.

The actress describes Johnson as a "dear friend", adding: "One of the most extraordinary things was seeing him completely disappear, it was spooky."

Discussing her own character, Blunt says: "I was delighted there was a woman in the midst of it, because there was a lot going on behind closed doors of what it means to live with a fighter and the all-consuming world that comes with that.

"I got to know Dawn well and she was very generous with her story with me, the full weather system of it, the regrets, the eruptions, the hazardous nature of the relationship at times, and the deep, profound love and devotion they had to each other amid an impossible environment.

"So I think it was an incredibly exciting relationship to put on screen. I'd been part of a lot of [on-screen] relationships that essentially are a movie-fied relationship, and this just felt like the full spectrum of what a relationship really looks like."

Set between 1997 and 2000, The Smashing Machine gets its title from the nickname given to Kerr after one of his early tournament victories. An HBO documentary about Kerr with the same title was released in 2002.

Johnson first met Kerr in the 1990s when he was a wrestler himself. He semi-retired from the sport in 2004 to focus on his Hollywood career, going on to become one of the industry's most bankable stars.

"I remember talking to [Kerr] back then and being so enamoured and respecting of his career, and it's so wild how years later life can come full circle in this incredible way," Johnson notes.

The actor said he's become "very close" to Kerr, who he describes as "a walking contradiction for a man who at one time was the greatest fighter on the planet, but also the most kind, gentle, tender, empathetic [person]".

Awards pundits will be watching closely to see how Johnson's film is received, but the star joins a best actor race that is stacked with A-listers this year.

Daniel Day-Lewis, Leonardo DiCaprio, Matthew McConaughey, George Clooney, Jesse Plemons, Timothee Chalamet and Jeremy Allen White are among the big names who could be competing with Johnson.

Only a small number of those names will make it all the way to the Oscars, although several of them could be recognised at the more celebrity-skewing Golden Globes, which has more slots available. The race will start to crystallise as more of the films premiere in the coming weeks.

Reflecting on his success since leaving wrestling, Johnson said: "I have been very fortunate to have the career I've had over the years and make the films that I've made. But there was this voice inside of me that said 'what if I could do more?'"

He continues: "The truth is, I looked around a few years ago and started to think, 'am I living my dream or am I living other people's dreams?'

"And you come to that recognition and you can either fall in line, go 'it's status quo, things are good', or you can go, 'no, I wanna live my dreams now and do what I want to do, and tap into the things I want to tap into and have a place to put all this stuff that I've experienced in the past that I've shied away from'."

'It was like wildfire - word of mouth'

'These guys have ruined our lives'

Where did the investments go?

Have the police done anything?

'HMRC will probably enforce, I have nothing to give'

'If it wasn't for the group, I don't know where I'd be'

There is a "decent chance" the aurora borealis will be visible across much of the UK on in the coming days, the Met Office has said.

Heighted solar activity could lead to the Northern Lights being visible further south than usual, with sightings possible with the naked eye.

Although the Met Office cautioned that solar forecasts can change rapidly, and factors such as cloud cover and light pollution will impact visibility.

But those lucky enough to have clear and dark skies could be rewarded "with a rare and memorable display".

BBC Weather said the lights, formally known as the aurora borealis, would be visible across much of England and Wales away from western coasts.

As is usually the case, Northern Ireland and north east Scotland would have the best chance for clear spells of viewing, it said.

It also advised the public to head away from city lights for the best chance of seeing the Northern Lights and that if the lights were not visible - another way to potentially see them was to use a smartphone on night mode.

The Met Office forecasts that while there will be lots of cloud cover throughout the evening, the Midlands will be most likely to have clear skies, making it potentially one of the best place in the UK for a sighting.

Monday night could offer the best chance for a sighting, but the lights should still be visible throughout Tuesday night.

By Wednesday night no significant solar activity is currently expected, meaning less chance of seeing the Northern Lights.

"There's a decent chance of seeing the aurora tonight [Monday] - it may be visible as far south as the Midlands (perhaps even further south)", the Met Office said on social media site X.

The Northern Lights are caused by solar winds carrying charged particles interacting with the earth's magnetic field.

The heightened chance of a UK sighting has been caused by a fast-moving coronal mass ejection, which is a "release of plasma and magnetic field from the Sun's corona", late on Saturday night.

Met Office space weather manager, Krista Hammond, said: "As we monitor the arrival of this coronal mass ejection, there is a real possibility of aurora sightings further south than usual on Monday night.

"While the best views are likely further north, anyone with clear, dark skies should keep an eye out.

"Forecasts can change rapidly, so we encourage the public to stay updated with the latest information."