The son of an Israeli hostage whose body remains in Gaza has told the BBC he is dealing with the realisation that "it's not over and it's going to be a longer battle".

Rotem Cooper, whose father Amiram is among 24 hostages whose bodies were not returned to Israel on Monday, said the families were trying "to find the strength somehow to pick ourselves up... and continue the fight".

He called on US President Donald Trump, Qatar, Egypt and other countries involved in peace deal negotiations "to show Hamas that this is not acceptable".

A ceasefire and hostage release agreement signed by Israel and Hamas stated that the remaining hostages in Gaza would be returned by noon on Monday, with nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees held by Israel released in exchange.

While the 20 hostages still alive were released, a copy of the agreement published by Israeli media appeared to acknowledge that Hamas and other Palestinian factions may not be able to locate all of the bodies of the deceased hostages by the deadline.

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Their families had pinned their hopes on their loved one returning on Monday, after two years in captivity.

"We hoped and expected that maybe 15 to 20 out of the 28 deceased hostages would be released, but that didn't happen. Only four were announced," Mr Cooper said.

He described the news as a "very big disappointment" for the families.

"It's clear to us that they could have and should have released more and [that] they're playing games."

Mr Cooper's parents were both kidnapped in the 7 October 2023 Hamas-led attacks on Israel, from their home in Kibbutz Nir Oz. His mother was released later that month while his father was killed in captivity.

• Who are the released hostages?
• What happens next in Gaza ceasefire plan after hostage release?

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it had been operating in the area at the time but did not confirm how he was killed, referring the BBC this week to a previous statement saying the circumstances were "under examination". Hamas has claimed he was killed by an Israeli military strike.

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum, which represents the relatives of many of the hostages, has called for "a very serious response" from the Israeli government and mediators, for what is described as Hamas's "violation of the agreement".

It said further stages of the peace plan should not progress until all the remaining bodies had been returned.

Mr Cooper headed to the Re'im military base in southern Israel on Monday to see the return of the 20 living hostages.

In voicenotes sent over the course of the day, he described feeling "tremendous anticipation" and a "big relief" as he saw them return. But he said the thought of the bodies coming back to Israel was "heartbreaking".

Speaking again the following day, after the news that the four bodies returned did not include Amiram's, he described the experience as a "big rollercoaster".

Mr Cooper said the return of his father's body would allow him to have "some closure" and to "sleep better at night".

"Everything has been on hold," he said.

Ruby Chen, whose son Itay's body remains in Gaza, said he had experienced a similar mix of emotions.

"We were overjoyed [on Monday] to see 20 hostages coming out and being reunited with their families, but we were very disappointed not to see more deceased hostages coming out," he said in a video message shared with the BBC by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.

"We request the Israeli government, the US and the mediators to continue the fight and put pressure on Hamas to adhere [to] and follow the agreement that was signed and bring back all the remaining 24 hostages in captivity," Mr Chen added.

The Israeli military said on Tuesday that, following forensic tests, it had identified the four hostages whose bodies had been returned and had informed their families that their loved ones had been reburied.

It said they included Guy Iloz - who was shot at the Nova music festival and is believed to have died from the wounds - and Bipin Joshi, who it said was believed to have been "murdered in captivity during the first months of the war".

US President Donald Trump's day-long trip to the Middle East came as the Gaza deal was clinched: an agreement coming into force amounting to one of the most critical moments yet after two years of catastrophic war.

Painting as he does in primary colours, Trump's portrayal was vivid - of the biggest turning point in three millennia. On the return flight in the early hours of Tuesday, he reflected that it had been a "historic day, to put it mildly". He had earlier suggested "everlasting peace" had been grasped under his tutelage, in a region long convulsed by violence.

As part of the White House press corps, we were travelling on Air Force One – which is how I found myself at the centre of this US diplomatic tornado.

As we headed for Tel Aviv, the presidential plane took a turn to do a fly-by of the beach. It dipped a wing so we could get a view of a giant sign atop the sand that said "thank you" to Trump, and featured the Israeli flag as well as an outline of the US president's head in profile.

The manoeuvre set the mood for a trip that was a victory lap, rather than an exercise in setting out the punishing detail for starting "phase two" of the negotiations and securing a longer-term future for Gaza.

The agreement made in Doha last week was under intensive pressure on the sides from Trump. It marked one of the most profound moments for millions of people in the last two years: major combat operations in Gaza ceased, the remaining living hostages held by Hamas released in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, and Palestinians in Gaza returning to the ruins of their homes in the north amid a partial withdrawal by Israeli troops.

But I found Trump's journey was in fact to a waypoint, not a destination - a fragile truce in a century-old conflict which shows no real signs of being solved.

• Follow live updates
• Israeli hostages reunite with families after two years
• Palestinians celebrate return of detainees freed by Israel
• 'Now the rebuilding begins,' says Trump

The most immediate question hanging over the trip was whether Trump's deal could hold - and whether more intensive, arguably harder, negotiations could now build on it.

During the flight, Trump came back to speak to us. Standing in the doorway as we crowded around, he clearly wanted to build up the sense of achievement, frequently referring to his own role in negotiating the deal.

"Every country is dancing in the streets," he said repeatedly. I pressed him on whether the ceasefire would stay intact. He was confident it would, saying there were "a lot of reasons why it's going to hold". But he glossed over the really big questions about what comes next, particularly how to secure and govern Gaza.

I asked him about the proposed multinational force, or International Stabilization Force (ISF), outlined in his 20-point plan but whose existence has yet to be agreed by the sides.

"It's going to be a big, strong force," said Trump, adding that it would "barely" have to be used because "people are going to behave, everybody knows their place".

On the tarmac in Tel Aviv, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu greeted Trump with a red carpet and a military band. We then zoomed off in the motorcade towards Jerusalem, along the Route 1 motorway which had been completely cleared for the presidential convoy.

The same day, thousands watched a giant screen in a public plaza in Tel Aviv that has become known as Hostages Square. They shed tears of joy and relief as the hostages were released by Hamas in Gaza. Trump's arrival was the other half of this split-screen moment – pictures were beamed out of the US president setting foot on Israeli territory.

In the chamber of the Knesset, or Israeli parliament, the mood was altogether more raucous than that in the streets. Emblazoned on the red baseball caps handed out by staff, and worn by some of the audience, were the words: "The president of peace". Spectators shouted from the gallery behind me: "Thank you Trump." Lawmakers hammered their desks. Trump hailed a "historic dawn of a new Middle East".

He also wanted to leave little doubt the war was over, and it seemed he expected it to stay that way: Israel, he said, with America's help, had won all that it could "by force of arms". His speech meandered into extensive attacks on his political opponents in the US. He praised a major donor to his election campaign seated in the gallery.

And he even appealed to Israel's president, Isaac Herzog, seating next to him, to pardon Netanyahu, who is on trial for corruption – charges that the Israeli PM denies. "Cigars and champagne, who the hell cares about that?" Trump exclaimed, referencing the allegation that Netanyahu accepted pricy gifts.

The White House press officers who chaperone the press pool - the "wranglers" - took us back into the press vans and the motorcade made its way back to Ben Gurion airport after fewer than seven hours in Israel.

We took the short flight to Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt; location of the mediated talks between Israel and Hamas that led to last week's breakthrough. On our descent, Egyptian F16s escorted us - the ultimate show for the president who loves displays of military might. Trump had wanted to celebrate every minute of the day.

But the dangers in this region are many, and the risk seemed clear that he was declaring the ultimate deal before really landing it.

That was reflected in the giant sign, written in capital letters, above the presidential podium in Sharm el-Sheikh: "PEACE IN THE MIDDLE EAST". There, I watched the extraordinary sight of world leaders filing into a room to stand behind Trump as he made his speech hailing peace. They lined up in front of their national flags and listened as he listed their countries one by one. Trump had been introduced to the stage by the host, Egyptian president Abdel Fatah el-Sisi, who said that the goal remained a two-state solution between Israelis and Palestinians.

Trump has changed his position markedly since the start of this year. He became increasingly irritated by the Israeli leadership and was drawn closer to his friends in the Gulf. That came amid a diplomatic move by the Europeans to isolate Israel over its escalating campaign in Gaza and to get the Saudi leadership onboard with their vision. Trump then shifted, drawn by his Gulf allies – whose wealth and "power" he frequently referred to during the drip.

Trump presided over the signing ceremony in Sharm saying it had taken "3,000 years" to get here. But there are still many more years to go - and it will take more than one man to get there.

French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu has told parliament he backs suspending controversial 2023 pension reforms, in the face of crucial votes of no-confidence later this week.

The changes, which raised the retirement age from 62 to 64, were seen as signature reforms in Emmanuel Macron's presidency.

"This autumn I will propose to parliament that we suspend the 2023 pension reform until the [2027] presidential election," Lecornu said to applause from left-wing parties.

Lecornu was reappointed prime minister last week only four days after he resigned, and needs the support of Socialist MPs in parliament if his government is to survive.

Opposition parties on the far right and far left have called confidence votes, known as "censure" votes in Lecornu, for Thursday morning and are demanding parliamentary elections.

The Socialists said they would be prepared to support the new government, but only if it promises a complete suspension of Macron's pension changes.

"If he does not explicitly say the words 'immediate and complete suspension of the pension reform', it will be censure," Socialist MP Laurent Baumel said earlier on French TV.

"He is holding his destiny in his own hands. He knows what he has do if he doesn't want to be the prime minister who resigns every week."

The reforms were finally pushed through parliament in March 2023, less than a year after Macron was voted in for a second presidential term.

There had been months of political debate, strikes and street protests, and in the end the bill had to go through without a vote in parliament using a constitutional mechanism known as 49:3.

Last week, Lecornu said it was something many French people remembered as a "wound on democracy" .

On Tuesday he made it plain to MPs that suspending the pension reform would cost €400m (£350m) in 2026 and a further €1.8bn (£1.57bn) in 2027. This will have to be "compensated by other savings," Lecornu said.

Lecornu is France's third prime minister in the past year but even if he does survive he needs to get a budget through parliament that brings down a budget deficit heading for 5.4% of economic output (GDP) this year.

France's public debt earlier this year stood at €3.4tn, or almost 114% of GDP, the third highest in the eurozone after Greece and Italy.

Read more: Macron reappoints Lecornu as French PM after days of turmoil

Lecornu has been one of Macron's most loyal allies, so his decision to row back on such a contested reform shows how keen the president is to avoid further turmoil.

Philippe Aghion, who was jointly awarded the 2025 Nobel economics prize on Monday, said earlier that he also backed a suspension of the pension reform, because it would still come at a smaller cost than the instability that would follow another government collapse.

Buenos Aires, September 2023. Hundreds of people crowded around to wave flags and film on their phones. The man with unruly hair and sideburns in the centre of them, clad in a black leather jacket, hoisted a roaring chainsaw above his head.

This was an election rally taking place in the San Martín area of the Argentine capital a month before the presidential election - and the metaphor was explicit.

The candidate Javier Milei believed the state was far too bloated, with annual debts that were bigger than Argentina's entire annual economic output.

Rather than 'trimming the fat', as some politicians delicately put it, he said he would take a chainsaw to ministries, subsidies and the ruling political class he derided as "la casta" - the caste.

Milei had form for stunts. In 2019, he dressed up in a "libertarian superhero" costume, purporting to be from Liberland - a land where no taxes are paid. In 2018, he smashed a piñata of the Central Bank on live television.

According to official data, inflation in 2023 topped 211% annually - Milei took office in December of that year. Roughly 40% of the population lived in poverty. Years of high public spending, and a reliance on printing more money and borrowing to cover deficits, had left the country in a cycle of debts and inflation.

Yet nearly two years on, the headline figures are vastly different: Argentina recorded its first fiscal surplus in 14 years -the state spending less than it's collecting - and inflation, which had hit triple figures annually, has tumbled to about 36%.

The UK Conservative party leader Kemi Badenoch called the measures Milei has taken a "template" for a future Conservative government. And in the US, President Donald Trump described Milei as "my favourite president".

They will meet in Washington on Tuesday.

Foreign investors regained confidence in Argentina too. Although that recently slipped, Washington's decision last week to swap $20bn (£15bn) in dollars for pesos, effectively propping up Argentina's currency with International Monetary Fund (IMF) backing, is a sign Milei's fiscal shock therapy has appeased international lenders. Trump and Milei's meeting will hail the deal.

Yet for all the international praise, this is just one side of the story. On the streets there have been heated protests over Milei's reforms, with police firing tear gas, rubber bullets and a water cannon during clashes.

"He said in his campaign that this adjustment would be paid for by 'la casta' – the wealthy, the politicians, the evil businessmen," says Mercedes D'Alessandro, a left-wing economist and senate candidate.

But, she argues, the result was less money for pensioners and hospitals. "The adjustment in the end was directed at the working classes, not the caste."

Milei's critics argue that the price of his changes have been recession, job losses, weaker public services and declining household budgets. And now some economists say the country could be about to enter a recession.

Milei has created a paradox.

On paper, his chainsaw has achieved some of the macroeconomic successes he set out to do. But Milei has lost political support and that has spooked the markets, which in turn has destabilised his economic project.

With midterm elections looming on 26 October, Argentina is about to deliver its verdict: will Milei be punished for doing what he set out to do — and could losing political support completely unravel his economic gains?

Argentines feeling the cost

Around 700 miles from the capital in the Misiones province, tea farmer Ygor Sobol looks anxious. "We're all going backwards economically," he says. "I had to close the payroll. Now I am completely without employees."

For three generations his family has grown yerba mate, a drink popular with Argentines, but since Milei deregulated his industry by scrapping minimum prices, he says that his crops have become worth less than the cost of producing them.

Now, Mr Sobol says he can't afford to do basic tasks like cleaning and fertilising his plantation. And with the business making a loss, he's deciding what his family will have to go without too.

Argentina's multibillion dollar textile industry is also affected. Luciano Galfione, chairman of a non-profit for the sector Fundacion Pro Tejer, describes "daily" closures and job losses.

Unlike Trump's approach of raising tariffs to promote "America First", Milei cut tariffs and other criteria for imports.

"I have environmental controls, labour controls - we don't pay people $80 (£60) a month, or have 16-hour work days that might be allowed in places like Bangladesh or Vietnam. This creates an unequal playing field," Mr Galfione argues.

He believes that boosting imports has battered domestic producers. "Our sector lost more than 10,000 direct jobs. If you add indirect jobs, there are many more."

Mr Galfione also blames rising costs of utilities, health and schools for reducing the disposable income of average people, and in turn making them less likely to buy clothes.

And yet amid it all, Milei is adamant that his measures will improve the lives of ordinary Argentines.

'Everything was a huge mess'

In the run-up to the election Milei had said there was no alternative to big cuts.

As well as the soaring inflation, vast government subsidies had kept energy and transport prices down. Public spending was high, even before the Covid-19 pandemic. Price controls set fixed prices for certain goods. Argentina, still, owes £31bn in debt to the IMF.

"The demand for public spending was brutal," argues Ramiro Castiñeira, an economist at the consultancy Econométrica who supports Milei.

"Society seemed willing to live with so much inflation. Or didn't recognise that inflation was a product of so much public spending."

Inflation ate away the peso currency's purchasing power. Many ordinary Argentines handed over disproportionate sums of pesos to illegal street traders to buy dollars, fearing their money would lose value overnight.

"Everything was a huge mess," explains Martin Rapetti, an economics professor at the University of Buenos Aires and executive director of think tank Equilibria.

"People felt money slipping like water through their fingers."

For many economists, drastic change (even if painful) was essential to restore credibility. And Milei promised radical change.

He went viral for ripping government ministries such as Culture and Women off a whiteboard while shouting 'afuera!' - 'out!'

Among other austerity measures, he halved government ministries, cut tens of thousands of public jobs, slashed budgets including for education, health, pensions and infrastructure, and removed subsidies – spiking utility and transport prices.

His initial devaluing of the peso by 50% caused inflation to spike but then it fell as people spent less and demand fell.

'Echoes of Thatcherism'

When I met him in April 2024 at his office, there were sculptures of him with a chainsaw on display and coasters showing Margaret Thatcher's face. Thatcher is loathed by many people in Argentina owing to the Falklands War, but Milei told me he admired her and that she was "brilliant."

Last month one British newspaper described Milei's own approach as having "echoes of Thatcherism".

Miguel Boggiano, an economist on Milei's economic advisory board, is full of praise for Milei getting inflation down and reducing the deficit. "When you bear in mind the starting point, that's a huge accomplishment," he says.

He believes this will help alleviate poverty in the long-run and enable lower taxes, but also help people to plan their own spending more easily with inflation currently fluctuating less.

But Alan Cibils, an independent economist and former professor, warns reduced inflation is only a success if it is sustained over time which he believes will not be the case.

The outsider advantage

Javier Milei is not a career politician. Before becoming president he had two years experience as a deputy in Argentina's Congress.

"Being so detached kind of shields him," Prof Rapetti observes, citing a lack of "signs of empathy in public life".

On 7 September Milei's party lost unexpectedly badly in the Buenos Aires provincial elections. His convoy was pelted with rocks on the campaign trail. The markets panicked: foreign investors sold off pesos and bonds of Argentine government debt.

Financial markets had generally supported his economic programme. But the midterm elections were upcoming and the £15bn of debt repayments are due next year.

Trump's £15bn currency swap lifeline has provided some stability: Argentine bonds and the peso rose in value in response to the announcement. But D'Alessandro argues that though US intervention might solve a wider problem, nothing will change in "people's real lives".

"We're going to continue with no investment in hospitals, education, social programmes. This money from the United States is not going to improve Argentina's infrastructure."

Flawed leader or model for other countries?

Some of Milei's supporters - like Mr Boggiano - believe there is something else at play in the round criticism of the president: In this view much of it comes down to the opposition trying to "break" what Milei has done, in order to get back into power.

"Once everyone starts to believe stability is here to stay, investment will come back," says Mr Boggiano. "I think Milei will become a model for other countries."

Others are unsure. "There is some stability which helps things not to explode," said Mr Cibils. "But I think that stability is also a mirage."

Milei had also kept inflation under control by spending the country's reserves on propping-up the peso so it didn't crash. Meanwhile, Argentina owes $20bn of debt next year.

One former central bank economist, who wished to speak anonymously, warns Milei's strategy of keeping inflation down could unravel if Argentina can't pay its debts.

"If at the end of the day we have a financial crisis that partially undoes all the effort, then it's a failure. If it ends with social unrest, any good done will be reversed," says the economist.

The left-wing governor of Buenos Aires, Axel Kicillof, has been touted as a future presidential candidate, long ahead of the elections in 2027. He has spoken in favour of the welfare state. Some investors are calculating whether this could mean a return to the days of big spending.

As to the question of whether Milei has succeeded, the answer largely depends how you define success - and who it is for.

Many workers see shuttered factories, rocketing bills, and a vanishing safety net.

Meanwhile, some investors see a success story of fiscal discipline, tamed inflation, an ally in Washington and simply a "normalisation".

But even as leaders abroad watch Milei's experiment with fascination, politics may explain why few are unlikely to copy it.

If normal people lose faith in what he is doing, markets will also lose confidence that his programme is sustainable – and that could wipe out even the 'macro' successes.

"He has no political expertise, and I think you need it," Prof Rapetti argues.

Still, he believes it is too early to judge: "We are in the middle of his term… The story hasn't finished."

Top picture credit: WPA Pool/Getty Images, Bloomberg via Getty Images

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US President Donald Trump says Israel and Hamas have agreed to the first phase of a Gaza peace deal.

It comes two years and two days after Israel launched a military campaign in Gaza in response to the 7 October 2023 attack, in which Hamas-led gunmen killed about 1,200 people and took 251 others hostage.

At least 67,183 have been killed by Israeli military operations in Gaza since then, including 20,179 children, the Hamas-run health ministry says.

Here is what we know about the agreement, and what remains unclear:

What has been announced?

After intense negotiations in Egypt, Israel and Hamas have agreed to a first phase of a US peace plan, the US president said.

Announcing the deal on social media, Trump said: "This means that ALL of the Hostages will be released very soon, and Israel will withdraw their Troops to an agreed upon line."

"All parties" would be treated fairly, said Trump, who called these the "first steps toward... everlasting peace".

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called it "a great day for Israel" and said his government would meet on Thursday to approve the agreement and "bring all our dear hostages home".

In confirming the announcement, Hamas said it would "end the war in Gaza, ensure the complete withdrawal of the occupation forces, allow the entry of humanitarian aid, and implement a prisoner exchange".

Israel and Hamas do not speak directly to each other - the negotiations were brokered by Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, and mediators from Egypt, Qatar, and Turkey.

What happens next?

Israel's government is due to vote on the deal on Thursday.

If they formally approve it, Israel must withdraw its troops from Gaza to the agreed line, a senior White House official told BBC's US partner, CBS News. The withdrawal would likely happen within 24 hours, the official said.

After this happens, a 72-hour clock will begin where Hamas must release the living hostages.

The release of the hostages would likely begin on Monday, the senior White House official said.

What do we not know?

What's been announced so far is just the initial phase of Trump's 20-point peace plan, which Israel has accepted and Hamas has partly agreed to.

However the announcements did not cover some thorny issues both sides have not reached a resolution on.

Notably, no details surround the disarmament of Hamas - a key point in Trump's plan. Hamas has previously refused to lay down its weapons, saying it would only do so when a Palestinian state had been established.

The future governance of Gaza is also a sticking point. Trump's 20-point plan states Hamas will have no future role in the Strip and proposes it be temporarily governed by a "technocratic, apolitical Palestinian committee", before being handed over to the Palestinian Authority.

Netanyahu appeared to push back on the Palestinian Authority's involvement last week, even as he accepted Trump's plan.

Ultranationalist hardliners within Netanyahu's ruling coalition, many of whom want to reconstruct Jewish settlements in Gaza, are also likely to object to this point.

Hamas, in response, said it still expected to have some role in governing Gaza.

In addition, as of Wednesday night, Hamas had not yet received the final list of Palestinian prisoners that Israel plans to release in exchange for the hostages in Gaza, a Palestinian source told the BBC.

The 20-point plan states that 250 life sentence prisoners plus 1,700 Gazans who were detained after 7 October 2023 will be released.

What's been the reaction?

Relatives of Israeli hostages have welcomed the deal.

Eli Sharabi, whose wife and children were killed, and whose brother Yossi's body is being held by Hamas, posted: "Great joy, can't wait to see everyone home."

The mother of hostage Nimrod Cohen posted: "My child, you are coming home."

Meanwhile in Gaza, celebrations broke out after the announcement. "Thank God for the ceasefire, the end of bloodshed and killing," Abdul Majeed abd Rabbo, a man in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, was quoted as saying by Reuters.

"I am not the only one happy, all of the Gaza Strip is happy, all the Arab people, all of the world is happy with the ceasefire and the end of bloodshed."

World leaders have urged parties to abide by the deal.

"The suffering must end," United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said, adding that the UN would support the "full implementation" of the deal, as well as increase its delivery of aid and its reconstruction efforts in Gaza.

UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer welcomed the news, saying: "This is a moment of profound relief that will be felt all around the world, but particularly for the hostages, their families, and for the civilian population of Gaza, who have all endured unimaginable suffering over the last two years."

Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called the agreement a "much needed step towards peace" and urged parties to "respect the terms of the plan".

Lawmakers in the US have struck a cautiously optimistic tone.

"This is a first step, and all parties need to ensure this leads to an enduring end to this war," Democrat Senator Chris Coons said in an X post.

Republican James Risch, chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, called it a welcome deal and said he "looks forward to learning [its] details".

With reporting by Rushdi Abualouf and Lucy Manning

India is losing sunlight.

A new study by six Indian scientists finds that over the past three decades, sunshine hours - the time direct sunlight reaches the Earth's surface - have steadily declined across most of India, driven by clouds, aerosols and local weather.

Data from 20 weather stations from 1988 to 2018 shows a persistent decline in sunshine hours nationwide, with only the northeast region seeing a mild seasonal reprieve, according to the paper published in Scientific Reports, a peer-reviewed journal published by Nature Portfolio.

Scientists from Banaras Hindu University, the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology and the India Meteorological Department report that the steepest annual declines occurred in the northern inland region - notably Amritsar and Kolkata - as well as along the Himalayan belt and the west coast, particularly Mumbai.

All of nine India's geograpically diverse regions showed an overall annual decline in sunshine hours, though the rate of decrease varied across India. Monthly analysis revealed significant increases from October to May, followed by sharp drops from June to July in six of the nine regions.

This seasonal pattern of sunshine intersects with a deeper, long-standing problem: India's severe air pollution crisis - it's now among the world's top 10 polluted countries - which scientists trace back to the 1990s. Rapid urbanisation, industrial growth and land-use changes drove up fossil fuel use, vehicle emissions and biomass burning, sending aerosols into the atmosphere and dimming the Sun's rays.

In winter, high air pollution from smog, temperature inversions and crop burning across the Indo-Gangetic plains produces light-scattering aerosols, which reduce sunshine hours.

These aerosols - tiny solid or liquid particles from dust, vehicle exhaust, crop burning, and other sources - persist in the air long enough to affect sunlight, climate and health.

During June-July, monsoon clouds blanket much of India, sharply reducing sunlight even though aerosol levels are lower than in winter.

Scientists note that higher sunshine hours from October to May don't indicate cleaner air; rather, they reflect more cloud-free days. Hazy winter sunlight may scatter or diffuse, lowering intensity without entirely blocking sunshine, which instruments still record as sunshine hours.

"Our study found that shrinking sunshine hours are linked to clouds that linger longer without releasing rain, blocking more sunlight. These longer-lasting clouds form indirectly due to aerosols that alter weather and climate," says Manoj Kumar Srivastava, a professor of geophysics at the Banaras Hindu University, and one of the authors of the study.

Aerosols have reduced the amount of sunlight reaching the ground in India by about 13%, while clouds accounted for an additional 31-44% drop in surface solar radiation between 1993 and 2022, according to Sachchida Nand Tripathi, an atmospheric scientist at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur.

These patterns raise concerns for agriculture, daily life and India's solar energy ambitions, while highlighting where solar panels could be most effective.

Solar now makes up 47% of India's renewable energy capacity. The government says it's on track for 500GW of renewables by 2030, with more than 100GW of solar installed as of early 2025. But declining sunlight could cast a shadow on the country's solar ambitions.

According to Prof Tripathi, air pollution compounds the problem. It reduces solar panel output by 12-41% depending on the type of photovoltaic system - the technology that converts sunlight into electricity - and costs an estimated $245-835m in lost power generation.

Studies also show that cleaner air could boost India's annual solar energy production by 6-28 terawatt hours of electricity - enough to power millions of homes for a year.

But the impact of pollution doesn't stop at solar energy. It also takes a heavy toll on agriculture, causing an estimated 36–50% loss in crop yields - mainly rice and wheat - in the country's most polluted regions, according to Prof Tripathi.

India isn't alone in losing sunshine; across the world, rising air pollution and shifting weather patterns have dimmed the skies.

A study published in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics observed that Europe likely experienced reduced sunlight reaching the ground because of air pollution between1970–2009. In Germany, sunshine hours decreased by approximately 11% from 1951 to 1980, attributed to industrial gas emissions and associated cloud formation.

Research also showed that stricter clean-air laws in the 1990s led to a rebound in sunshine hours across Europe.

China also experienced a significant decline in sunshine hours from the 1960s to the 2000s, primarily due to increased aerosol emissions from rapid industrialisation. Sunshine duration varied across Chinese cities, with some areas experiencing more significant declines due to factors such as air pollution.

The good news: scientists say the Earth's surface has gradually been receiving more sunlight since the 1980s - a trend known as global brightening, following decades of dimming.

New analysis of satellite data from 1984 to 2018 appears to confirm this, showing the effect is strongest over land and in the Northern Hemisphere, driven mainly by falling aerosols in the 1980s and 1990s and shifts in cloud patterns.

The bad news: heavily polluted countries like India are missing out. If the Sun keeps hiding behind smog, India risks running on fumes instead of full power.