Ukraine drones strike bombers during major attack in Russia

Watch: Footage shows attack drones homing in on their targets as they sit on the tarmac.

SBU sources earlier told BBC News it took a year-and-a-half to organise the strikes, which involved drones hidden in wooden mobile cabins, with remotely operated roofs on trucks, brought near the airbases and then fired "at the right time".

President Volodymyr Zelensky said 117 drones were used in the so-called "Spider's Web" operation by the SBU security service, striking "34% of [Russia's] strategic cruise missile carriers".

Ukraine says it completed its biggest long-range attack of the war with Russia on Sunday, after using smuggled drones to launch a series of major strikes on 40 Russian warplanes at four military bases.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian authorities reported a massive overnight drone and missile attack on its territory.

All this comes as Russian and Ukrainian negotiators are heading to Istanbul, Turkey, for a second round of peace talks on Monday.

Expectations are low, as the two warring sides remain far apart on how to end the war.

Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Moscow currently controls about 20% of Ukrainian territory, including the southern Crimea peninsula annexed in 2014.

In several posts on social media late on Sunday, Zelensky said he congratulated SBU head Vasyl Maliuk with the "absolutely brilliant result" of the operation.

He said that each of the 117 drones launched had its own pilot.

"The most interesting thing - and we can already say this publicly - is that the 'office' of our operation on Russian territory was located right next to the FSB of Russia in one of their regions," the Ukrainian president said.

The FSB is Russia's powerful state security service.

Zelensky also said that all the people involved in the operation had been safely "led away" from Russia before the strikes.

The SBU estimated the damage to Russia's strategic aviation was worth about $7bn (£5bn), promising to unveil more details soon.

The Ukrainian claims have not been independently verified.

Sources in the SBU earlier on Sunday told the BBC in a statement that four Russian airbases - two of which are thousands of miles from Ukraine - were hit:

Belaya in Irkutsk oblast (region), Siberia

Olenya in Murmansk oblast, Russia's extreme north-west

Dyagilevo in central Ryazan oblast

Ivanovo in central Ivanovo oblast

The SBU sources said that among the hit Russian aircraft were strategic nuclear capable bombers called Tu-95 and Tu-22M3, as well as A-50 early warning warplanes.

They described the whole operation as "extremely complex logistically".

"The SBU first smuggled FPV drones into Russia, followed later by mobile wooden cabins. Once on Russian territory, the drones were hidden under the roofs of these cabins, which had been placed on cargo vehicles," the sources said.

"At the right moment, the roofs were remotely opened, and the drones took off to strike the Russian bombers."

Irkutsk Governor Igor Kobzev confirmed drones that attacked the Belaya military base in Sredniy, Siberia, were launched from a truck.

Kobzev posted on Telegram to say that the launch site had been secured and there was no threat to life.

Russian media outlets have also reported that other attacks were similarly started with drones emerging from the lorries.

One user is heard saying that the drones were flying out of a Kamaz truck near a petrol station.

Russian media were reporting the attack in Murmansk but said air defences were working. The attack in Irkutsk was also being reported.

Ukraine's audacious drone attack sends critical message to Russia - and the West

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky shakes hands with the Head of the Security Service (SSU) Vasyl Malyuk, who had reported on the operation against Russian airbases

In an operation said to have taken 18 months to prepare, scores of small drones were smuggled into Russia, stored in special compartments aboard freight trucks, driven to at least four separate locations, thousands of miles apart, and launched remotely towards nearby airbases.

Judging by details leaked to the media by Ukraine's military intelligence, the SBU, the latest operation is the most elaborate achievement so far.

Ukrainians are already comparing it with other notable military successes since Russia's full-scale invasion, including the sinking of the flagship of Russia's Black Sea fleet, the Moskva, and the bombing of the Kerch Bridge, both in 2022, as well as a missile attack on Sevastopol harbour the following year.

We cannot possibly verify Ukrainian claims that the attacks resulted in $7bn (£5.2bn) of damage, but it's clear that "Operation Spider's Web" was, at the very least, a spectacular propaganda coup.

It's hard to exaggerate the sheer audacity - or ingenuity - that went into Ukraine's countrywide assault on Russia's air force.

Watch: Footage shows attack drones homing in on their targets as they sit on the tarmac.

"No intelligence operation in the world has done anything like this before," defence analyst Serhii Kuzan told Ukrainian TV.

"These strategic bombers are capable of launching long-range strikes against us," he said. "There are only 120 of them and we struck 40. That's an incredible figure."

It is hard to assess the damage, but Ukrainian military blogger Oleksandr Kovalenko says that even if the bombers, and command and control aircraft were not destroyed, the impact is enormous.

"The extent of the damage is such that the Russian military-industrial complex, in its current state, is unlikely to be able to restore them in the near future," he wrote on his Telegram channel.

The strategic missile-carrying bombers in question, the Tu-95, Tu-22, and Tu-160 are, he said, no longer in production. Repairing them will be difficult, replacing them impossible.

The loss of the supersonic Tu-160, he said, would be especially keenly felt.

"Today, the Russian Aerospace Forces lost not just two of their rarest aircraft, but truly two unicorns in the herd," he wrote.

Beyond the physical damage, which may or may not be as great as analysts here are assessing, Operation Spider's Web sends another critical message, not just to Russia but also to Ukraine's western allies.

My colleague Svyatoslav Khomenko, writing for the BBC Ukrainian Service website, recalls a recent encounter with a government official in Kyiv.

The official was frustrated.

"The biggest problem," the official told Svyatoslav, "is that the Americans have convinced themselves we've already lost the war. And from that assumption everything else follows."

Ukrainian defence journalist Illia Ponomarenko, posting on X, puts it another way, with a pointed reference to President Volodymyr Zelensky's infamous Oval office encounter with Donald Trump.

"This is what happens when a proud nation under attack doesn't listen to all those: 'Ukraine has only six months left'. 'You have no cards'. 'Just surrender for peace, Russia cannot lose'."

Even more pithy was a tweet from the quarterly Business Ukraine journal, which proudly proclaimed "It turns out Ukraine does have some cards after all. Today Zelensky played the King of Drones."

This, then, is the message Ukrainian delegates carry as they arrive in Istanbul for a fresh round of ceasefire negotiations with representatives from the Kremlin: Ukraine is still in the fight.

The Americans "begin acting as if their role is to negotiate for us the softest possible terms of surrender," the government official told Svyatoslav Khomenko.

"And then they're offended when we don't thank them. But of course we don't – because we don't believe we've been defeated."

Despite Russia's slow, inexorable advance through the battlefields of the Donbas, Ukraine is telling Russia, and the Trump administration, not to dismiss Kyiv's prospects so easily.

UK to build up to 12 new attack submarines

49 minutes ago Share Save Jonathan Beale • @bealejonathan Defence correspondent Paul Seddon Political reporter Share Save

PA Media An illustration of what an SSN-AUKUS submarine will look like

The UK will build up to 12 new attack submarines, the prime minister will announce as the government unveils its major defence review on Monday. The review is expected to recommend the armed forces move to "warfighting readiness" to deter growing threats faced by the UK. Sir Keir Starmer will say up to 12 conventionally-armed nuclear-powered submarines will replace the UK's current fleet from the late 2030s onwards. The prime minister is also expected to confirm the UK will spend £15bn on its nuclear warhead programme.

Sir Keir will say that, alongside the UK's nuclear-armed submarines, the new vessels would keep "Britain and Nato safe for decades". The Strategic Defence Review, commissioned by Labour, will shape the UK's armed forces for years to come. Led by ex-Labour defence secretary Lord Robertson it will make 62 recommendations, which the government is expected to accept in full.

Other announcements in the review will include: Commitment to £1.5bn to build six new factories to enable an "always on" munitions production capacity

Building up to 7,000 long-range weapons including missiles or drones in the UK, to be used by British forces

Pledge to set up a "cyber and electromagnetic command" to boost the military's defensive and offensive capabilities in cyberspace

Extra £1.5bn to 2029 to fund repairs to military housing

£1bn on technology to speed up delivery of targeting information to soldiers Defence Secretary John Healey has signalled he is not aiming to increase the overall size of the Army before the next general election. On Sunday, he said his "first job" was to reverse a decline in numbers with a target to return to a strength of 73,000 full-time soldiers "in the next Parliament".

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Building the new submarines will support 30,000 jobs into the 2030s as well as 30,000 apprenticeships and 14,000 graduate roles across the next 10 years, the Ministry of Defence said. Healey said: "Our outstanding submariners patrol 24/7 to keep us and our allies safe, but we know that threats are increasing and we must act decisively to face down Russian aggression." The Astute class is the Royal Navy's current fleet of attack submarines, which have nuclear-powered engines and are armed with conventional torpedoes and missiles. As well as protecting maritime task groups and gathering intelligence, they protect the Vanguard class of submarines that carry the UK's trident nuclear missiles. In the Astute series, HMS Agamemnon, was launched last October and another is under construction which will take the number of submarines in this class to seven. The next generation of attack submarines that will replace them, SSN-AUKUS, have been developed with the Australian Navy under a deal agreed in 2023 by the Conservative government. Meanwhile work on modernising the warheads carried by Trident Missiles is already under way. The £15bn investment into the warhead programme will back the government's commitments to maintain the continuous-at-sea nuclear deterrent. In his announcement on Monday, Sir Keir is to repeat a Labour manifesto commitment to deliver the Dreadnought class of nuclear-armed submarines, which are due to replace the ageing Vanguard fleet from the early 2030s onwards. The MoD's Defence Nuclear Enterprise accounts for 20% of its budget and includes the cost of building four Dreadnought class submarines.

Rival spending targets

Red Cross says at least 21 killed and dozens shot in Gaza aid incident

4 hours ago Share Save Sebastian Usher Middle East regional editor Reporting from Jerusalem Rushdi Abualouf Gaza correspondent Reporting from Cairo Share Save

Getty Images Bodies were brought to Nasser hospital after the incident

A "mass casualty influx" of people, many with gunshot or shrapnel wounds, was received at a Red Cross field hospital in southern Gaza, the organisation said, following disputed reports about an incident near an aid distribution centre in Rafah. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said 21 people were "declared dead upon arrival" while women and children were among 179 cases. The organisation's statement came after the Hamas-run civil defence agency in Gaza said at least 31 people were killed and many more wounded in the incident, which it blamed on "Israeli gunfire" targeting civilians. But the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said findings from an initial inquiry showed its forces had not fired at people while they were near or within the aid centre.

The IDF also released drone footage it said showed armed and masked men throwing stones and shooting at civilians while they were collecting aid in the nearby city of Khan Younis. The BBC could not immediately verify the footage. Israel does not allow international news organisations, including the BBC, into Gaza, making verifying what is happening in the territory difficult. The group that runs the aid distribution centre, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), also denied the claims of injuries and casualties at its site and said they had been spread by Hamas. As of Sunday evening, the situation on the ground remained unclear. In its statement, the ICRC said the "Red Cross Field Hospital in Rafah received a mass casualty influx of 179 cases, including women and children" early in the morning on Sunday. It said "the majority suffered gunshot or shrapnel wounds", and "twenty-one patients were declared dead upon arrival". It is unclear if the number of people killed reported by the ICRC is separate to the Hamas health ministry's reports. "All patients said they had been trying to reach an aid distribution site," the ICRC said. The ICRC said it was the "highest number of weapon-wounded in a single incident since the establishment of the field hospital over a year ago", and that it "far surpassed" the capacity of the 60-bed facility. The IDF said in a statement: "In recent hours, false reports have been spread, including serious allegations against the IDF regarding fire toward Gazan residents in the area of the humanitarian aid distribution site in the Gaza Strip. "Findings from an initial inquiry indicate that the IDF did not fire at civilians while they were near or within the humanitarian aid distribution site and that reports to this effect are false," it added. Another incident was said to have happened near a separate aid centre in the Netzarim Corridor in central Gaza, with the Palestinian Red Crescent reporting 14 injured. The BBC was contacted by doctors at the Nasser hospital who said they had received about 200 people with injuries caused by bullets or shrapnel. Local journalists and activists shared footage of bodies and wounded people being transported on donkey carts to the Red Cross field hospital in the al-Mawasi area. The BBC has examined footage of bodies being carried on carts and in the back of lorries to Nasser Hospital. Gaza's health ministry said more than 200 cases had arrived at hospitals, including 31 dead. Seventy-nine of the injured were brought to Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, according to the emergency department, medical staff from British charity Medical Aid for Palestinians reported. ⁠Those killed and injured "were primarily struck by live gunfire, with many victims sustaining direct shots to the head or chest", the charity's staff said.

Getty Images Injured Palestinians were being brought to the Nasser Hospital after the incident

Victoria Rose, a British surgeon who has been working at Nasser Hospital, recorded a video mid-morning in which she motions to the beds with patients behind her and says "all the bays are full and they're all gunshot wounds". The GHF, which distributes aid at these sites, denied any incident occurred near its distribution centres. An IDF soldier in Rafah contacted the BBC to say that Israeli soldiers did fire near the crowd, but not at them, and that no-one was hit.

Mohammed Ghareeb, a journalist in Rafah, told the BBC that Palestinians had gathered near the aid centre run by the GHF when Israeli tanks approached and opened fire on the crowd. Mr Ghareeb said the crowd of Palestinians were near Al-Alam roundabout around 04:30 local time (02:30 BST), close to the aid centre run by GHF, shortly before Israeli tanks appeared and opened fire. "The dead and wounded lay on the ground for a long time," he said. "Rescue crews could not access the area, which is under Israeli control. This forced residents to use donkey carts to transport victims to the field hospital." Mahmud Bassal, a spokesman for Gaza's main emergency service the Civil Defence, told AFP news agency that more than 100 people were wounded "due to gunfire from Israeli vehicles towards thousands of citizens".

Polish presidential election too close to call, exit polls suggest

48 minutes ago Share Save Adam Easton Warsaw correspondent, BBC News Share Save

Getty Images Presidential candidate Rafal Trzaskowski has claimed an early win but his winning margin is well within the margin of error, one exit poll suggests

A second exit poll in Poland's presidential election has indicated that conservative historian Karol Nawrocki is ahead with 50.7% of the vote over Warsaw's liberal mayor, Rafal Trzaskowski with 49.3%. The second exit poll sensationally overturned the result of an exit poll published immediately after voting ended that put Trzaskowski ahead with a narrow lead of 50.3% to Nawrocki's 49.7%. The official result is due to be published on Monday morning, the head of the state electoral commission said. Trzaskowski had already claimed victory after the first exit poll indicated he was the winner.

"We won," he said. "We won, although the phrase 'razor's edge' will forever enter the Polish language and politics," he added. His wife, Malgorzata, jokingly told the crowd, "I'm close to having a heart attack". Trzaskowski promised to reach out to voters who supported his opponent. I will be a president for all Polish women and men," he said. Nawrocki, meanwhile, told his supporters after the result of the first exit poll that it was too close to call. "Let's not lose hope for this night. We will win during the night, the difference is minimal. I believe that we will wake up tomorrow with President Karol Nawrocki," he said. Poland's president is a largely ceremonial role with limited influence on foreign policy and defence, but they can veto legislation and Donald Tusk's pro-EU coalition government lacks a big enough parliamentary majority to overturn it. The current conservative incumbent president, Andrzej Duda, has used his powers to prevent Prime Minister Tusk delivering key campaign promises including removing political influence from the judiciary and liberalising the country's strict abortion law. If Trzaskowski's victory is confirmed that obstacle would be removed and would allow Tusk to cement Poland's place in the European mainstream. However, Tusk also faces opposition from within his own coalition from the conservative Peoples' Party on issues including abortion and legalising civil partnerships.

A victory for national conservative Karol Nawrocki, who is supported by opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party, would mean continued conflict between the government and president. It would also re-energise PiS, which lost power 18 months ago, giving the party the belief that it can go on to win parliamentary elections in 2027. Both candidates support continued assistance for neighbouring Ukraine, although Nawrocki has said he opposes its entry into Nato and the EU for now while Russia continues its war of aggression. Both men differ over their approach to the EU. Trzaskowski, a former Europe minister, supports Tusk's vision of a Poland at the heart of the European mainstream, influencing decisions through strong relations with Germany and France. A deputy leader of Tusk's Civic Platform, he has served as Warsaw mayor since 2018. He's the son of a famous Polish jazz pianist, speaks several languages and is viewed by some voters as a member of the country's liberal elite who is out of touch with ordinary Poles. According to the CBOS polling company, Trzaskowski's typical voter is aged 30-40 years old, is relatively well off with left-liberal views and is open to LGBTQ+ and migrants' rights. They tend to live in large cities and have positive views of the EU. Some voters said he tried to "artificially" present himself as a candidate who values patriotism. During the campaign, he has taken a much tougher line against illegal migration, something Tusk started to do before winning power in 2023 and he has volunteered to do basic military training. Nawrocki, 42, supports a strong sovereign Poland and does not want the country to cede any more powers to Brussels. He opposes the EU's climate and migration policies. He's a conservative Catholic that prioritises traditional family values.

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Paris St-Germain's players celebrated their Champions League victory in the city on Sunday afternoon, hours after trouble broke out across France.

The Ligue 1 club beat Inter Milan 5-0 in Saturday's final in Munich to claim their first Champions League title.

Luis Enrique's side held an hour-long open-top bus parade through the city, running from the Champs Elysees to the Arc de Triomphe.

There was a heavy police presence for the celebrations, following the widespread disorder in France that occurred on Saturday night after the match, when two people died.

A 17-year-old boy died after being stabbed in the chest in the south-west town of Dax, while a 23-year-old man who was riding a scooter in central Paris was also killed after being hit by a vehicle.

Paris police prefect Laurent Nunez said 192 people were injured in the overnight clashes, with 491 arrests in Paris alone.

Flares and fireworks were set off, bus shelters smashed and cars torched, with much of the disorder occurring in the capital.

Twenty-two police officers and seven firefighters were injured, while 264 vehicles were set on fire.

A car ploughed into PSG fans in Grenoble in south-east France, leaving four people injured.

All those hurt were from the same family, police said. Two were seriously injured.

PSG released a statement condemning "in the strongest possible terms the violence that occurred during the celebrations".

"These isolated acts are contrary to the club's values and in no way represent the vast majority of our supporters, whose exemplary behaviour throughout the season deserves to be commended," the club said.

Despite the disorder, a decision was made to go ahead with the victory parade on Sunday.

A cap of 100,000 attendees was put on the event.

PSG's players made their way to the Elysee Palace after the parade to be greeted by France president Emmanuel Macron.

They will close their celebrations with an event for season-ticket holders at the club's Parc des Princes stadium later on Sunday night.

Katie Piper: 'Ageing can be compared to a bereavement'

3 hours ago Share Save Emma Saunders Culture reporter at the Hay Festival Share Save

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Presenter and campaigner Katie Piper has told an audience at the Hay Festival in Wales that "ageing can be compared to a bereavement." The former model has had hundreds of surgeries to repair damage to her face and eyesight following an attack on the orders of her ex-boyfriend, which took place when she was 24 in 2008. Piper's latest book, which is published on Friday, is titled Still Beautiful: On Age, Beauty and Owning Your Space. The 41-year-old said: "Women age out of the male gaze. I was ripped from the male gaze at 24. I didn't just become invisible. I became a target for people saying derogatory things."

She expanded on her description of ageing being like a bereavement: "Sometimes we know we're losing somebody or something, and it's slow, it's gradual, and when it's ageing, we look down at our hands, we see they look different. "We catch ourselves in the shop window, and everything's changed."

Piper, who is also a presenter on the BBC programme Songs of Praise and ITV's Loose Women. said she had recently been asked if writers minded if they mentioned her age. "It was shocking, but not surprising. This was because I had been reminded at such a young age the currency and the power a woman holds when she is considered either beautiful or young, and now here I was going through the second phase of youth slipping away and feeling, once again, society's judgement and the label that they were going to put on to me." She said: "I wanted to write this book... to really tell people where I have found myself, not just when I was no longer considered beautiful, but when I was told that I was losing my power because I was no longer a young woman. "Among my peers, I'm not the most beautiful, I'm not the youngest, but I'm one of the most powerful."

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In the book, Piper poses the question: "What if ageing is the magic key to letting go of other people's expectations and truly starting to live how we want to live?" She told the audience: "It makes you in control of your own destiny. And that scares some people, because if we are no longer insecure, if we're confident, if we're not chasing something unpaid, what can they sell to us? What overpriced cream and diet and contraption will we spend our money on? "We really glamorise youth. We talk about our 20s, [as] the time of your life, the best years. Okay, I had a very different 20s than most, because I was in the hospital, but your average 20-year-old, it's actually the time for mistakes... where you're least financially secure, you're least experienced. You don't really have as much confidence to put boundaries in."

'True evil'

She said she felt positive about getting older. "I'm going to be 42 in October. I'm still incredibly young to many, and old and past it to some. You realise, 'I know who I am.' I have a strong sense of self and identity. This is the heyday. This is the time of my life. So I can only imagine what's on [for the] 50s and 60s and the decades beyond. I feel excited by that second chapter."

Piper, who mentors victims of acid attacks through the Katie Piper Foundation, recounted two stories when she had faced discrimination because of the way she looked. In one incident, some men in a van whistled at her when they saw her from behind but then threw a sandwich at her when they saw her face (she was wearing a plastic mask at the time following some treatment). Another time, a first date walked out on her in a London restaurant leaving her to pick up a tab that was more than £700. Despite such experiences, Piper said: "You need to realise, on the whole, people are really good. Seventeen years ago, when I did that first cutting edge documentary (Channel 4's Katie: My Beautiful Face), what it did is it opened me up to the good side of society. Up until that point, I had seen true evil in mankind, but only in two people (her attackers)." She said if she had to give one message to her younger self, it would be: "If you've ever felt less than... you've hated yourself or felt ashamed, it was never you. It was society, consumerism and capitalism. It was beneficial to someone, somewhere, to hold you down. "Whether that was in a relationship, a corporate company or a brand, it was never you. You were always fine just as you are, and you always will be."

England captain Harry Brook's assessment that Joe Root "is only getting better with age" is likely to send shivers down the spines of bowlers all around the world.

Root surpassed World Cup-winning captain Eoin Morgan to become England's leading run-scorer in one-day internationals during his epic 166 not out against West Indies in Cardiff, a title he also holds in Tests.

He came to the crease in the first over, and withstood all of West Indies' pressure when England were on the ropes at 133-5 in pursuit of 309 to win.

A 98-ball century was raised having barely broken a sweat, reaching it in style with a six and a four, before the Yorkshireman glided into the next gear in his stand of 143 with Will Jacks which saw the helpless bowlers at his mercy.

"He's unbelievable and he's only getting better with age as well," said Brook, who made 47 and added a counter-attacking 85 for the third wicket with Root, who stayed in his skipper's slipstream in a perfectly paced knock.

"He's someone I look up to, he's such an amazing player, such an amazing bloke. He works the hardest out of anyone I've seen.

"Nothing's ever right and he's always trying to get better - he's the perfect role model for any young cricketer out there."

Former Race Across the World contestant dies in crash

5 hours ago Share Save Rumeana Jahangir BBC News Share Save

family handout Sam Gardiner had been working as a landscape gardener on the west coast of Scotland before his death

Former Race Across the World contestant Sam Gardiner has died after a crash. The 24-year-old had been driving on the A34 near Manchester on Monday night when his car left the road and rolled before landing on its side, Greater Manchester Police said. He was the only person in the vehicle and was taken to hospital where he died of his injuries on Thursday, his family said in a recent statement. The landscape gardener appeared with his mother Jo as they travelled across South America in the second series of the BBC show, which aired in 2020.

Sam Gardiner travelled with his mother Jo for the 2020 series

They were unable to compete in the final leg after running out of money, but Sam described it as a "life-changing" experience. While filming for the BBC series, Sam said: "Mum and I are very close - we often think or say the same things. "She has travelled a lot in her life, so I think it would be fun to do it with her."

'Pure sunshine in human form'

In a statement issued by a family member, Sam's parents Jo and Andrew said they were "devastated". "Sam left us far too soon, and while words will never fully capture the light, joy and energy he brought into our lives, we hold on to the memories that made him so special," they added. Sam's parents said he was "adored by his family" and described him as "loyal, funny and fiercely protective". They added the Race Across the World experience "opened Sam's eyes to the wonder of adventure".

Sam and his mum Jo won fans over with their "special relationship"

Sam's uncle Jonny Gray told the BBC: "What you saw was what you got. Sam loved gardening, animals and doing physical activity." Mr Gray said his sister Jo and Sam had a "special relationship" and were an "enormous hit on the show", adding: "The public really loved them." Emon Choudhury, who won the second series with his nephew Jamiul, posted on social media that Sam was "pure sunshine in human form" whose "kindness was a beacon for anyone lucky enough to cross his path". He added that Sam and his mother "showed us what it truly means to live fully, love fiercely, and embrace every moment with an open heart".

'Transformative trip'

In a statement, a Race Across the World spokeswoman said: "Everyone who worked with him and indeed everyone who watched Sam could see just how precious and transformative the trip was for both him and his mum, Jo. "Sam embraced the seven-week trip with an energy, love and a determination that saw the pair enjoy adventures across Mexico to Argentina making audiences fall in love with them and their special bond as a result. "Since filming, both Sam and Jo have been an integral part of the Race Across the World cast family and on behalf of us all from the BBC, production and the rest of the cast, we would like to extend our deepest condolences to his parents, Andrew and Jo; his brothers, William and Charlie; his step mum Justine; his family and friends." Sam had been recently working on the west coast of Scotland and travelled down to Stockport in Greater Manchester to attend a family birthday celebration earlier this week, according to his uncle. The family have asked for privacy to grieve for his death.

Prison officers should be armed, say Conservatives

7 hours ago Share Save Paul Seddon Political reporter Share Save

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Prison officers dealing with violent inmates should be armed, the shadow justice secretary has said. Specialist guards should have Taser stun guns and baton rounds - a less lethal alternative to traditional bullets - to give them "confidence" in handling threats, Robert Jenrick told the BBC. The Conservatives said secure armouries should be introduced at maximum security jails and used as a last resort. Prison officers in adult male prisons currently only carry an extendable baton and Pava, a synthetic pepper spray.

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) said some prison officers will use Tasers this summer on a trial basis, but argued that giving them lethal weapons would put them at greater risk. The Prison Officers' Association (POA), a union, called for stronger protection for staff after a string of attacks. It said stun guns should be made available to officers working in the UK's most dangerous jails. Speaking to the BBC's Laura Kuenssberg, Jenrick said that without intervention it was "only a matter of time" before a prison officer was "held hostage and potentially killed". He added that under his proposals, officers would not be "walking the wings" with lethal weapons, but would "have access to them if they need them". The Conservative's call for officers to be armed follows a review conducted for the party by former prison governor Ian Acheson. Among other policies, the party also wants to see high-collar stab vests immediately rolled out to frontline officers.

'Dire record'

John Wick spin-off Ballerina and Switch 2 launches - what's coming up this week

5 hours ago Share Save Noor Nanji • @NoorNanji Culture reporter Share Save

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This week, it's time for the latest instalment in the John Wick franchise, as Ballerina hits the big screen. But that's not all the next seven days have in store. The Nintendo Switch 2 also launches, and TikTok star Addison Rae is releasing her debut studio album. Read on for what's coming up this week...

The fifth John Wick film is here

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It’s been a few years since we last saw John Wick, but fans will be gearing up for Ballerina, the latest film in the franchise, which comes out on Friday. Set during the events of John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum, the film follows Eve Macarro (Ana de Armas), a ballerina-turned-assassin who uncovers secrets from her family's past. It’s directed by Len Wiseman, who described it in press notes as "kind of the opposite of John Wick's story. Wick is trying to get out of his life as an assassin; Eve is wanting in - she wants to be a killer”. Keanu Reeves, who plays the title character in the John Wick franchise, is also starring in Ballerina - but the extent of his involvement is still unknown. According to The Hollywood Reporter, he recently said he spent only “eight days” on set of the new film. “But it was fun to play the role again and I'm excited for people to see the film. It's in the spirit of John Wick and has new characters and opens up some stuff, so hopefully people like it,” he added.

Nintendo Switch 2 launches

By Tom Gerken, technology reporter

Thursday may seem like any other day of the week to some - but it's a date gamers have had marked on their diaries for months. Hundreds of thousands, perhaps even a million, people will unbox their very own Nintendo Switch 2, the sequel to the third-best selling console in history. I was one of the lucky few to get my hands on it last month, and it makes quite a first impression. It's like a Switch - but with a bigger and brighter screen, and of course much more power under the hood. It also has a cool hook - you can use the controller like a computer mouse by twisting it on its side, making PC games such as Civilization VII a more enjoyable experience than struggling with joysticks. It's not all good news for gamers though as that power comes with a cost - not only is the hardware more expensive than Nintendo fans may be used to, some games are too. A physical copy of Mario Kart World costs a whopping £74.99. But with pre-orders selling out worldwide, at least for now it's looking like Nintendo might well be onto another winner.

Addison Rae's new album

By Annabel Rackham, culture reporter

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Addison Rae is a TikTok creator with nearly 90 million followers, a Netflix movie star and also a singer on the brink of releasing her debut studio album. Called Addison, it’s out on Friday and the 24-year-old says it has been inspired by the music of Charli XCX and Madonna. Overseen by Swedish super producer Max Martin's publishing company, Rae has co-written every song, with the album produced between Los Angeles, New York and Sweden. Five songs from the album have already been released – with last year's summer hit Diet Pepsi by far the biggest success story. It reached the top 10 in the UK singles chart and served as Rae's breakthrough hit. Fans can expect "hypnotic, trance-like pop songs, pulsating and lush" on the album with lyrics that make you feel "young, fun and free" according to Rolling Stone writer Brittany Spanos.

Other highlights this week

'I'm over knife attack,' says Salman Rushdie

3 hours ago Share Save Emma Saunders Culture reporter at the Hay Festival Share Save

Getty Images Salman Rushdie was warmly welcomed at the event on Sunday

Sir Salman Rushdie says he has moved on from the knife attack which has seen his attacker jailed for attempted murder. Hadi Matar, 27, was sentenced to 25 years last month after repeatedly stabbing Sir Salman on a New York lecture stage in 2022. Sir Salman, who has a new book out later this year, told the Hay Festival that an "important moment" came for him when he and his wife Eliza "went back to the scene of the crime to show myself I could stand up where I fell down". "It will be nice to talk about fiction again because ever since the attack, really the only thing anybody's wanted to talk about is the attack, but I'm over it."

Sir Salman recently told Radio 4's Today programme that he was "pleased" the man who tried to kill him had received the maximum possible prison sentence. The Midnight's Children and Satanic Verses writer was left with life-changing injuries after the incident - he is now blind in one eye, has damage to his liver and a paralysed hand caused by nerve damage to his arm. Last year, Sir Salman published a book titled Knife reflecting on the event, which he has described as "my way of fighting back". The attack came 35 years after Sir Salman's controversial novel The Satanic Verses, which had long made him the target of death threats for its portrayal of the Prophet Muhammad. In November, the author will publish a short story collection, The Eleventh Hour, his first work of fiction to be written since the stabbing.

Tight security

Security was tight for Sir Salman's event, with sniffer dogs present and bag checks leading to a 15-minute delay. He waved at the audience as he entered the stage and humbly gestured to them to stop applauding before joking that: "I can't see everyone - but I can hear them." He said he was feeling "excellent" although there "were bits of me that I'm annoyed about, like not having a right eye. But on the whole, I've been very fortunate and I'm in better shape than maybe I would have expected."

In a wide-ranging discussion, Sir Salman also touched on US politics, declaring that "America was not in great shape". In an apparent reference to President Donald Trump, Sir Salman spoke about "the moment of hope, that image of Barack and Michelle Obama walking down the mall in DC with the crowds around them... people dancing in the streets in New York. And to go from that to the orange moment that we live in, it's, let's just say, disappointing." But he said he was still positive about the future. "I think I suffer from the optimism disease... I can't help thinking somehow it will be alright."

Free speech

Speaking about free speech, he said "it means tolerating people who say things you don't like". He recalled a time when a film "in which I was the villain", made around the time of the uproar over Satanic Verses, was not classified by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) "because it was in a hundred ways defamatory" but he asked them to allow its release. "So they gave it a certificate... and nobody went. You know why? Lousy movie. And it taught me a lesson. Let it out and trust the audience. And that's still my view. "I think we do live in a moment when people are too eager to prohibit speech they disapprove of. That's a very slippery slope". He warned young people "to think about it."

When asked about the effect of AI on authors, Sir Salman said: "I don't have Chat GPT... I try very hard to pretend it doesn't exist. Someone asked it to write a couple of hundred words like me... it was terrible. And it has no sense of humour." Despite being considered one of the greatest living writers, Sir Salman joked that authors "don't even have that much money... except the two of us (him and host Erica Wagner) and those who write about child wizards... the Taylor Swift of literature," referring to JK Rowling. "Good on her."

Russia may attack Nato in next four years, German defence chief warns

Russia posing ''very serious threat'' to West, says German defence chief

Gen Breuer was speaking on the sidelines of the Shangri-la Dialogue, a defence summit in Singapore organised by the think tank International Institute of Strategic Studies.

He also insisted that Nato, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, remains unified over the war in Ukraine, despite differences of opinion expressed recently by both Hungary and Slovakia.

General Carsten Breuer told the BBC that Russia was producing hundreds of tanks a year, many of which could be used for an attack on Nato Baltic state members by 2029 or even earlier.

Members of the Western alliance Nato need to prepare for a possible attack from Russia within the next four years, according to Germany's chief of defence.

His comments come weeks ahead of a summit of Nato nations at The Hague where they are expected to discuss defence budgets, among other topics.

Gen Breuer said that Nato was facing "a very serious threat" from Russia, one that he has never seen before in his 40 years in service.

At the moment, he said, Russia was building up its forces to an "enormous extent", producing approximately 1,500 main battle tanks every year.

"Not every single tank is going to [the war in] Ukraine, but it's also going in stocks and into new military structures always facing the West," he said.

Russia also produced four million rounds of 152mm artillery munition in 2024, and not all of it was going to Ukraine either, added Gen Breuer.

The figures come from German and allied nations' analysts.

"There's an intent and there's a build up of the stocks" for a possible future attack on Nato's Baltic state members, he said.

"This is what the analysts are assessing - in 2029. So we have to be ready by 2029... If you ask me now, is this a guarantee that's not earlier than 2029? I would say no, it's not. So we must be able to fight tonight," he said.

Many have long feared an attack on a Nato state as it could trigger a larger war between Russia and the US, which is a key member of Nato. Under Article 5 of the Nato agreement, any attack on a member state would mean other members must come to its defence.

Gen Breuer singled out the so-called Suwalki Gap, an area that borders Lithuania, Poland, Russia and Belarus, as one of the most vulnerable.

"The Baltic States are really exposed to the Russians, right? And once you are there, you really feel this... in the talks we are having over there," he said.

The Estonians, he said, had given the analogy of being close to a wildfire where they "feel the heat, see the flames and smell the smoke", while in Germany "you probably see a little bit of smoke over the horizon and not more".

Gen Breuer said this showed the differing perspectives among European states of the threat of a possible Russian attack.

Russia's view of the Ukraine war was different from the West's, he said, where Moscow sees the war as more of a "continuum" in a larger conflict with Nato and is therefore "trying to find ways into our defence lines and it's testing it".

He cited recent attacks on undersea cables in the Baltic Sea, cyber attacks on European public transport, and unidentified drones spotted over German power stations and other infrastructure.

Nato members should therefore build up their militaries again, Gen Breuer argued. "What we have to do now is really to lean in and to tell everybody, hey, ramp up... get more into it because we need it. We need it to be able to defend ourselves and therefore also to build up deterrence."

Asked by the BBC about Nato cohesion, given Hungary and Slovakia's closer relations with Moscow, Gen Breuer insisted the alliance was still healthy.

He pointed to Finland and Sweden's decisions to join Nato shortly after the Ukraine war began. "I've never seen such a unity like it is now" among nations and military leaders, he said.

"All of them understand the threat that is at the moment approaching Nato, all understand that we have to develop a direction of deterrence, into the direction of collective defence. This is clear to everyone. The urgency is seen."

Gen Breuer's remarks are yet another sign of a significant change in attitudes in Germany towards defence and Russia.

Like many Western nations, including the UK, it has scaled down its investments in its military over many years.

But there has been a growing recognition of the need to reverse this, with even the Green Party coming onboard a recent vote to lift restrictions on Germany's defence spending.

But as Western military and political leaders say they are ready for the fight, questions remain on whether this is a case of ambition outpacing reality.

It will take years for Europe's military industrial base to crank up to speed to match anywhere near the scale of weaponry that Russia is churning out.

The US has also been drawing down, not building up, its defence commitments to Europe to focus on the Indo-Pacific.

Essex Boys killer Michael Steele released from jail

3 hours ago Share Save George King BBC News, Essex Share Save

Supplied The Parole Board said Michael Steele, who is now 82, had made progress in prison

A triple murderer infamous for killing the so-called Essex Boys has been released from jail. Michael Steele, now 82, was jailed for life alongside Jack Whomes at the Old Bailey in 1998 for the gangland murders of Tony Tucker, 38, Pat Tate, 37, and Craig Rolfe, 26. The three drug dealers were ambushed and shot dead with a pump action shotgun while in a Range Rover parked in Rettendon, Essex, three years earlier. Steele, who has always denied the murders, has now been released from prison following a decision by the Parole Board, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) confirmed.

"Our thoughts remain with the family and friends of Craig Rolfe, Tony Tucker and Pat Tate," a spokesperson for the MoJ told the BBC. "This decision was made by the independent Parole Board after a thorough risk assessment. "Michael Steele will be on licence for the rest of his life, with strict conditions and intensive probation supervision."

PA Media Steele was convicted in 1998 of murder as well as conspiring to import drugs into the UK.

Steele's release comes about four years after that of Whomes, previously of Brockford, near Stowmarket, Suffolk, who was released in 2021. The Parole Board first said that Steele would be released on licence in February after a panel ruled imprisonment "no longer necessary for the protection of the public". This was temporarily blocked when Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood asked for his release to be reconsidered, saying the decision was "legally irrational". But after a "thorough" risk assessment the Parole Board, which had previously been worried about the chances of him reoffending, decided to go ahead with his release. "He faces an immediate return to prison if he breaks the rules," the MoJ warned.

PA archive Craig Rolfe, 26, Tony Tucker, 38, and Pat Tate, 37, were all shot in the head with a pump action shotgun

The Essex Boys killings, as they became known, were carried out on a snowy December morning on isolated farmland near Chelmsford. Farmer Peter Theobald and his friend Ken Jiggins found the Range Rover parked on a little-known track and suspected the occupants were poachers. But upon further inspection it became clear the trio had been subjected to a brutal killing - the severity of their injuries leaving them only identifiable by their fingerprints.

Jack Whomes (left) and Steele were jailed in 1998 but both have now been released

During Steele's trial in 1998, the court heard how the three victims had been ambushed in a row about drugs. Then aged 55, and from Great Bentley, near Colchester, he was found guilty of murder as well as conspiring to import drugs into the UK. His minimum prison term was set at 23 years, which expired in 2019.

Sky Documentaries The three victims were found dead inside a Range Rover parked on farmland near Chelmsford

The case has since been endlessly examined and reconstructed in TV dramas, films, documentaries and books, each exploring its links to other high-profile homicides and the 1990s rave scene. A Sky Documentaries series in 2023 interviewed detectives involved with the 1995 case who were critical of the original police investigation. Former Met Police detective David McKelvey claimed "credible lines of investigation were not followed" and that the assassination was related to an armed robbery, not drug dealing. Essex Police previously said the case was "exhaustively examined" and there was no fresh evidence to dispute the original verdicts.

'Mum killed dad but I fought to free her'

4 hours ago Share Save Nathalie Edell BBC News, South East Share Save

Family handout Sally Challen (right) suffered decades of abuse at the hands of her husband, Richard (left)

"I had a pristine frontage of a middle-class home - no one thought it could happen behind those doors, but it did." David Challen successfully campaigned to free his mother, Sally Challen, from prison in 2019, almost nine years after she had killed his father, Richard, with a hammer. She had suffered decades of coercive control by her husband, which David said had become "normalised" within the family home in the wealthy suburban village of Claygate in Surrey. David, now a domestic abuse campaigner, has written a book, called The Unthinkable, about the family's experiences, and said more needs to be done to protect victims.

Speaking to Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg on BBC One, he said: "She'd done the worst act anyone possibly could do. [She] took away my father. "I couldn't understand it, but I knew something had been rolling... something was happening and I just didn't have the words."

David Challen spoke to Laura Kuenssberg ahead of the release of his book

A law passed in 2015, which recognises psychological manipulation as a form of domestic abuse, helped secure Mrs Challen's release from prison after she had been jailed for life for murder in 2011. She was freed after her conviction was quashed in February 2019 and prosecutors later accepted her manslaughter plea. Coercive control describes a pattern of behaviour by an abuser to harm, punish or frighten their victim and became a criminal offence in England and Wales in December 2015.

Family handout From the outside, the family appeared happy - but his mother's abuse had become "normalised", David said

David said the description of coercive control had set him and his mother "free". "It gave us a language to describe what was going on in that home, to describe the insidious nature that is mostly non-physical violence," he said. Not having a name for the abuse had "robbed us of our right to have an ability to protect ourselves," he added. He now uses his experience of "intergenerational trauma" to help others, with a book telling the family's story being released on Thursday.

Family handout David said he always knew there was something wrong at home

"I buried my childhood with my father, so I had to dig up the past to find the child I had left behind," he said. "It was the child that I always hid because I didn't know how he experienced that world. "But I knew I was born into this world with a gut feeling that [there was] something inherently bad about my father, and I never knew why. "I normalised the coercion and control in my home, this life of servitude that my mother lived under... sexual violence was routine."

If you are affected by any of the issues raised in this article, help and support is available via the BBC Action Line.

He said he wrote the book to "give voice to what it's like to grow up in a home where domestic abuse wasn't the word - it was coercive control and it didn't appear on my TV screens". But, a decade on, "we're not tackling it enough", he added. "I continue to speak out because I don't want these events to happen again."

Man dies and child injured in shopping centre shooting incident

2 hours ago Share Save Daniel Logan BBC News NI Share Save

PA Media Emergency services are outside Fairgreen Shopping Centre in Carlow

An Irish man has died and a child has been injured in a shooting incident at a shopping centre in County Carlow on Sunday. Emergency services are currently at the scene at the Fairgreen Shopping Centre, with an army bomb disposal team also in attendance. Gardaí (Irish police) were alerted to the incident shortly after 18:15 local time. The girl was treated by paramedics at the scene. Gardaí said it is not yet known how her injuries were sustained.

The shopping centre has been evacuated and the area has been sealed off by police. The cordon will remain in place overnight. Gardaí have said there are no further safety concerns and urged people not to share any footage of the incident on social media.

'Gun violence is very rare in Ireland'

Verstappen and Russell crossed swords during an extraordinary final five laps after a late safety car.

Until then, Verstappen had been on course for a strong third place, after challenging the McLarens on a three-stop strategy, compared to their two.

When the safety car was deployed, all the leaders - and most of the rest of the field - pitted for fresh soft tyres. But because of their three-stop strategy, Red Bull's choices were limited.

They had to choose between leaving Verstappen out on his soft tyres, on which he had done eight racing laps; or pitting, for either another set of softs that had done one qualifying lap and the in- and out-laps, some practice starts, and the laps to the grid, or a new set of the hard-compound tyres.

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner admitted that in hindsight, the best choice would have been to leave him out.

This would have put Verstappen in the lead. He would almost certainly have lost out to the McLaren drivers and perhaps Ferrari's Charles Leclerc but that would have left him fourth, one place better than he finished on the road before his penalty.

Instead, Red Bull brought him for the fresh hard tyres, which most teams avoided throughout the weekend.

Verstappen questioned the decision upon returning to the track, and then nearly lost control in a massive moment on the exit of the final corner on the restart as he fought to keep pace with the cars on grippier tyres around him.

He was immediately passed by Leclerc on the straight, the two cars lightly touching as their trajectories converged, and then by Russell into the first corner, where they banged wheels.

Verstappen accused Russell of barging him off the track, and was also upset about the Leclerc incident. But after stewards launched an investigation into him leaving the track and gaining an advantage, Red Bull decided to ask him to let Russell by, to avoid a penalty.

Horner admitted Verstappen was "obviously upset and annoyed" and "frustrated" but said they would discuss the matter internally.

Verstappen said that he felt the "biggest issue" was with F1's racing guidelines.

"What is allowed, what isn't, is not very natural," Verstappen said. "And that is quite frustrating. And of course, sometimes it works for you, sometimes it works against you, and today that worked against me."

According to the guidelines, Russell was entitled to the corner, because he was more or less completely alongside Verstappen - the rules say that a driver overtaking on the inside has to have his car's front axle at least level with the wing mirror of the one on the outside to be given space.

Stewards took no further action over the incident with Leclerc on the straight because "both cars were moving slightly towards each other in the middle of the track and a minor collision occurred as a result.

"Both drivers were of the view that this was an avoidable collision and could potentially have resulted in a major crash but neither driver was wholly or predominantly to blame."

Leclerc said: "Max wanted to bring me towards the inside where there's all the [torn-up used tyre] rubber, so I didn't want to go too much there. So, I was trying to push him to the left. There was a little bit of contact but, fortunately for us, no consequences."

Simon Yates loves the Giro d'Italia but he could have been forgiven for hating it.

Even in a sport synonymous with suffering, this Grand Tour has inflicted unusual punishment on Yates over the years.

The British rider looked set to win at his first attempt in 2018, only to dramatically crack two days from Rome.

Illness, injury and indifferent form plagued his attempts over the next four years.

He returned for this edition, after two years away, a contender, but not widely considered one of the pre-race favourites.

Perhaps the absence made his heart grow fonder. The Englishman's determination to conquer this beautiful yet brutal race steelier.

After quietly keeping himself in contention, Yates' audacious attack on stage 20 saw him seize the maglia rosa - the leader's jersey - for the first time since that 2018 collapse.

On Sunday in Rome, he rolled across the line in pink, sealing his second Grand Tour title since the 2018 Vuelta a Espana.

Yates' tumultuous love affair with the Giro has its happy ending.

In 23-year-old Draper, British tennis fans believe they may just have found their next serial Grand Slam contender.

British former world number four Tim Henman told BBC Sport recently that Draper's best attributes - his left-handed serve and crunching forehand - could "work on any surface".

Prior to this year, though, Draper had never won a match at the clay-court major with most of his success coming on hard courts or grass.

However, he has made huge strides on the surface this season and reached his first clay final in Madrid in April.

Managing to avoid the injuries that have plagued him in the past has enabled Draper to reach a significantly higher level of fitness, which has been key to his improvement on the slower surface.

Now just the world number 62 stands between him and another Grand Slam quarter-final.

And while Draper has enjoyed the best year of his career, Bublik fell from a high of 17th in the rankings in 2024 to as low as 82nd in March.

That prompted a radical change of approach that led to the Kazakh taking a trip to Las Vegas that month to blow off some steam.

"My fall was not linked with lack of attitude and lack of practising," he said.

"It was the exact opposite. I just burned out because I was waiting for the results to come.

"I was like, if I practise more, if I hit better forehands, it will come. It didn't, and then I got to the point of 'OK, why am I sacrificing so much? For what?'"

Asked if the trip to Nevada was a training trip, Bublik added: "No, Vegas, Vegas, like a hangover thing Vegas.

"It was a good three days. I had just let it all out. I said, I'm useless now, I can't win a match, so let it be, let's see how it goes."

It worked as Bublik won his next event, the Challenger tournament in Phoenix, Arizona, having arrived from Vegas three hours before his first match. He also triumphed on clay in Turin last month.

The 27-year-old is slowly climbing the rankings again - but Draper will be keen to ensure a first Grand Slam quarter-final appearance has to wait.

A humbling Europa League final defeat. A historically dreadful Premier League campaign. A still-new head coach who isn't afraid to point out publicly how low Manchester United have fallen.

It would be fair to say one of the world's biggest clubs is broken and on its knees.

This summer's transfer window is one of the most important in United history.

If they are to avoid another failed reboot, they can't afford any mistakes. They must give Ruben Amorim the best resources possible to succeed in the 3-4-3/3-5-2 system he is adamant about playing.

So where do you start?

Well, you could do worse than sign Matheus Cunha, Wolverhampton Wanderers' best player of the season just gone.

United need to address the goalscoring issues that date back to Erik ten Hag's tenure.

Over the past season, United outscored only four Premier League teams - the bottom three and Everton. The season before that, they were the joint-lowest scorers in the top half of the table.

While goalscoring is one thing Cunha will bring to Old Trafford - with 40 goal involvements in the past two seasons - he also directly addresses other problems United have.

World number one Scottie Scheffler continued his stunning form with a four-shot victory at the Memorial Tournament in Columbus, Ohio.

The American shot a two-under-par 70 to beat compatriot Ben Griffin, whose challenge faded on the back nine.

After bogeys on the 12th and 13th, Griffin eagled the 15th and birdied the 16th to move to within a stroke of Scheffler.

But he double-bogeyed the 17th to ease the pressure on his rival, who went on seal his third win from his previous four tournaments.

The victory follows his triumph in the PGA Championship in May, Scheffler's third major win.

He dropped just one shot in his final round when he bogeyed the 10th hole, but made birdies on the seventh, 11th and 15th.

Scheffler's victory makes him just the second player to win the Memorial in consecutive years, following Tiger Woods' victories in 1999, 2000 and 2001.

Glamorgan made a winning start in this summer's competition as figures of 4-28 by leg-spinner Mason Crane set up a five-wicket victory over Middlesex at Merchant Taylors' School.

The home side went into decline following an opening stand of 45 between Stevie Eskinazi and Kane Williamson, the latter run out for 25 by Hayden Kerr's direct hit at the bowler's end.

That proved to be the best score in a disappointing Middlesex total of 124-9, but their bowlers made Glamorgan work for the win, reducing them to 64-5 before an unbroken stand of 64 between Asa Tribe (40 not out) and Daniel Douthwaite (31) saw them home on 128-5 after 15.3 overs.

"It is a bit of a mystery when you come to an outground in terms of knowing what you are going to get, but there was a little bit there so I was pretty happy with that," Crane said.

Will Smeed played arguably the innings of the day for last year's runners-up Somerset, hitting a six and 11 fours in his 81 not out off 54 balls as they cruised to an eight-wicket win over Essex at Chelmsford.

After coming together when a brilliant one-handed boundary catch by Thomas Rew removed Paul Walter, Dean Elgar (50) and Matt Critchley (54) shared a fourth-wicket stand of 83 for the home side, but from 119-3, they lost seven wickets for 29 runs to be all out for 148.

An opening partnership of 96 in nine overs between Smeed and Tom Lammonby (36) put Somerset on course for victory and they reached 149-2 from the penultimate ball of the 16th over.

Holders Gloucestershire suffered their second defeat as their batting let them down against Sussex Sharks at Hove.

David Payne, the top wicket-taker in the 2024 Blast, and Matt Taylor claimed three victims each as Sussex were bowled out for 173 despite Tom Alsop (58 off 35 balls) and James Coles (43 off 27) putting on 105 together.

But Ollie Robinson bowled Cameron Bancroft for seven with a beautiful leg-cutter early in Gloucestershire's reply and the visitors lost their way as Tymal Mills took 3-13 and were dismissed in the 14th over.