Touts employ overseas workers to bulk-buy gig tickets

46 minutes ago Share Save Steffan Powell, Sian Vivian & Ben Summer BBC Wales Investigates Share Save

Getty Images Tickets for Oasis's reunion tour were being listed on resale websites for more than £6,000 - about 40 times the face value - when they went on sale in August

Ticket touts are employing teams of workers to bulk-buy tickets for the UK's biggest concerts like Oasis and Taylor Swift so they can be resold for profit, a BBC investigation has found. We uncovered some touts are making "millions" hiring people overseas, known as "ticket pullers", with one telling an undercover journalist his team bought hundreds of tickets for Swift's Eras tour last year. Our reporter, posing as a would-be tout, secretly recorded the boss of a ticket pulling company in Pakistan who said they could set up a team for us and potentially buy hundreds of tickets. The UK government plans new legislation to crack down on touts but critics argue it does not go far enough.

More than 900,000 tickets were sold for Oasis's long-awaited reunion tour, which starts in Cardiff next Friday. But thousands of frustrated fans failed to get tickets for the sell-out gigs after spending hours in online queues.

Shortly after pre-sale, where a limited number of fans could buy Oasis tickets when they went on sale in August, tickets for their UK gigs were being listed on resale websites like StubHub and Viagogo for more than £6,000 - about 40 times the face value of a standing ticket. We found genuine fans missed out or, in desperation, ended up paying way over the odds as touts have an army of people working for them to buy tickets for the most in-demand events as soon as they go on sale.

Ali, the boss of the ticket pulling company, boasted to our undercover reporter that he'd been successful at securing tickets for popular gigs. "I think we had 300 Coldplay tickets and then we had Oasis in the same week - we did great," he told us. Ali claimed he knew of a UK tout who made more than £500,000 last year doing this and reckons others are "making millions".

Our research found pullers buy tickets using illegal automated software and multiple identities which could amount to fraud. Another ticket pulling boss, based in India, told BBC Wales Investigates' undercover reporter: "If I'm sitting in your country and running my operations in your country, then it is completely illegal. "We do not participate in illegal things because actually we are outside of the UK." A man who worked in the ticketing industry for almost 40 years showed us how he infiltrated a secret online group that claims to have secured thousands of tickets using underhand methods.

Getty Images Taylor Swift played to almost 1.2 million people in the UK in 2024 on her two-year, 152-show Eras tour

Reg Walker said members of the group could generate 100,000 "queue passes" - effectively allowing them to bypass the software that creates an online queue for gigs. He told the BBC's The Great Ticket Rip Off programme this was the equivalent of "100,000 people all of a sudden turning up and pushing in front of you in the queue". He added: "If you are a ticketing company and an authorised resale company, and someone decides to list hundreds of tickets for a high-demand event... my question would be, where did you get the tickets? There's no due diligence." Fans are usually limited to a handful of tickets when buying from primary platforms such as Ticketmaster.

PA Media More than 900,000 tickets were sold for Oasis's long-awaited reunion tour in 2025, their first gigs since they split in 2009

Touts often list their tickets on resale websites and one former Viagogo employee alleged he had seen some profiles with thousands of tickets for sale. "They [touts] buy in bulk most of the time in the hope of reselling and making a profit," he said, speaking on condition of anonymity. "I don't know how they get their hands on them but I know that at some point they would have bought tickets in bulk in serious numbers. "You're not allowing a lot of people to get access because you're hoarding the tickets."

A former Viagogo employee, who spoke on condition of anonymity, claims he had seen a vendor with a profile selling thousands of tickets, something Viagogo denies

Viagogo said it refutes this man's claims, insisting 73% of sellers on its site sold fewer than five tickets each - and other sellers included sports clubs and promoters. It is not just music concerts targeted by touts as the BBC found evidence of thousands of Premier League football tickets being advertised illegally. Since 1994 it has been a criminal offence to resell tickets for football matches in the UK unless authorised, with the maximum penalty being a £1,000 fine.

But we found 8,000 tickets being advertised illegally online for more than face value for Arsenal's Premier League game with Chelsea at the Emirates Stadium on 16 March. One of those sellers was a semi-professional footballer based in the UK. Bogdan Stolboushkin has openly advertised tickets for football games totalling more than £60,000 on social media in the past year alone. He sold our reporter a single ticket at double the face value.

Getty Images The BBC's investigation found thousands of tickets being advertised illegally online for more than face value for the Arsenal v Chelsea Premier League match in March

Mr Stolboushkin did not respond to multiple attempts to contact him about these allegations. Another potentially illegal practice in the UK is "speculative selling", where touts list tickets for resale without owning them. There is no guarantee these touts will actually secure a ticket and "speculative selling" was one of the reasons two touts were jailed for fraud in 2020. Our investigation found at least 104 seats being "speculatively" listed on Viagogo for Catfish and the Bottlemen's August concert at Cardiff's Principality Stadium. The exact seats appeared to be for sale at the same time on both Ticketmaster, the original point of sale, and Viagogo.

Getty Images Our investigation found touts selling tickets for the 2025 Six Nations title-decider between Ireland and France in Dublin in March for way above face value

After we presented our evidence to Viagogo, it said: "Listings suspected to be in contravention of our policy have been removed from the site." The UK government is looking at measures to try and tackle the issue, but evidence of the challenges faced can be seen in the Republic of Ireland. In 2021, laws were introduced there to stop the resale of tickets above face value, but the BBC found this being flouted. This included tickets to see the band Kneecap selling for four times their face value of €59 (£50), while tickets for the Six Nations Ireland v France rugby clash in Dublin were selling for £3,000. One of Ireland's biggest promoters, Peter Aiken, said he had never heard of the company selling the tickets and questioned if the tickets existed at all. Many ticket companies selling in Ireland are based overseas, which the BBC has been told helps them avoid punishment under Irish law. Capping resale prices of tickets and regulating resale platforms was one of Sir Keir Starmer's manifesto pledges ahead of last year's general election. Now he is prime minister, the UK government has held a consultation with proposals including a price cap that ranges from the original price to 30% above face value, introducing larger fines and a new licensing regime.

The BBC investigation has found touts have an army of people working for them to secure tickets for the most in-demand concerts

CIA director says Iran's nuclear sites 'severely damaged'

50 minutes ago Share Save Brandon Drenon BBC News, Washington DC Share Save

Watch: Trump says the US will talk with Iran "next week"

The head of the CIA has said US strikes "severely damaged" Iran's nuclear facilities and set them back years, diverging from a leaked intelligence report that angered President Donald Trump by downplaying the raid's impact. John Ratcliffe, the US spy agency's director, said key sites had been destroyed, though he stopped short of declaring that Iran's nuclear programme had been eliminated outright. It comes a day after a leaked preliminary assessment from a Pentagon intelligence agency suggested core components of Iran's nuclear programme remained intact after the US bombings. President Trump again maintained the raid had "obliterated" Iran's nuclear facilities.

The Republican president took to social media on Wednesday to post that the "fake news" media had "lied and totally misrepresented the facts, none of which they had". He said Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth and other military officials would hold an "interesting and irrefutable" news conference on Thursday at the Pentagon "in order to fight for the Dignity of our Great American Pilots".

Watch: BBC's Lyse Doucet reports from Iran during ceasefire with Israel

It came as Israel and Iran seemed to honour a fragile ceasefire that Trump helped negotiate this week on the 12th day of the war. Speaking at The Hague where he attended a Nato summit on Wednesday, Trump said of the strikes: "It was very severe. It was obliteration." He also said he would probably seek a commitment from Iran to end its nuclear ambitions at talks next week. Iran has not acknowledged any such negotiations. But US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff told US network NBC there has been direct and indirect communication between the countries. Ratcliffe's statement said the CIA's information included "new intelligence from an historically reliable and accurate source/method that several key Iranian nuclear facilities were destroyed and would have to be rebuilt over the course of years".

Watch: Lawmakers split on US strikes on Iranian nuclear sites

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has also come out in support of Trump's assessment on the damage to Iranian nuclear facilities. "If the Iranians chose to rebuild, they would have to rebuild all three facilities (Natanz, Fordo, Esfahan) entirely, which would likely take years to do," she wrote on X. The US operation involved 125 military aircraft, targeting the three main Iranian nuclear facilities on Saturday. New satellite images show six craters clustered around two entry points at Fordo, with similar craters spotted at Isfahan. But it is unclear if the nuclear facilities located deep underground were wiped out. A report from the Pentagon's Defense Intelligence Agency was leaked to US media on Tuesday, estimating that the US bombing had set back Iran's nuclear programme "only a few months". The US defence secretary said that assessment was made with "low confidence".

Officials familiar with the evaluation cautioned it was an early assessment that could change as more information emerges. The US has 18 intelligence agencies, which sometimes produce conflicting reports based on their mission and area of expertise. UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi said on Wednesday that there is a chance Tehran moved much of its highly enriched uranium elsewhere as it came under attack. But Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei told Al Jazeera on Wednesday: "Our nuclear installations have been badly damaged, that's for sure." He did not elaborate.

Nato boss commends 'daddy' Trump's handling of Israel-Iran conflict

Womb lining test offers miscarriage hope to women

33 minutes ago Share Save Philippa Roxby Health Reporter Share Save

Charlie Beattie Charlie Beattie holds her nine-week-old baby in her arms after many years of miscarriages

UK scientists say they have developed a test which can help identify women with an abnormal womb lining that increases their risk of miscarriage. They say their work could pave the way for new treatments for those going through repeated pregnancy loss. In some women with a history of miscarriage, the womb lining doesn't react the way it should - transforming into a supportive place for the embryo to implant, the Warwick University team discovered. Charities say the findings could help provide an explanation, in some cases, for the trauma and devastation of recurrent miscarriage.

Around one in six of all pregnancies are lost, most before twelve weeks, and each miscarriage increases the risk of another one happening. To date, most research in this area has focused on the quality of the embryo, with much less known about the role of the womb lining. Dr Jo Muter, study author and researcher at Warwick Medical School, said: "Many women are told they've just had 'bad luck', but our findings show that the womb itself may be setting the stage for pregnancy loss, even before conception takes place." The job of the womb lining is to receive the embryo and help it develop during pregnancy, thanks to a reaction which converts cells into a different, supportive state. But when that reaction is messed up and doesn't fully happen, the risk of bleeding and early pregnancy rises. Once a woman has had one faulty reaction, she is more likely to have another, the researchers say. They've developed a new test which can measure signs of a healthy or defective reaction in the womb lining, which is being piloted to help more than 1,000 patients at Tommy's National Centre for Miscarriage Research at University Hospital Coventry & Warwickshire (UHCW).

'A tiny miracle'

Charlie Beattie, 37, had countless early miscarriages over the course of four years, to the point where "a positive pregnancy test wasn't exciting any more", she says. She and her husband Sam, from Leamington Spa, felt devastated and resigned to considering other options for having a family. Then they found out about at a trial taking place at the miscarriage research centre. Charlie had a sample of her womb taken, and the new test showed it was not "hospitable for babies", she says. After taking the drug sitagliptin for three months, she had a pregnancy which finally stuck - and nine-week-old June is the joyful result. "She's a tiny miracle. It doesn't feel real," says Charlie. She admits being anxious all the way through her pregnancy until June was safely in her arms. Even the pregnancy scans were a new experience. "We'd never seen anything on a scan before that moved," she says. "When they said 'I can see it, it's in the right place', we both burst into tears."

Controversial project to create artificial human DNA begins

25 minutes ago Share Save Pallab Ghosh • @BBCPallab Science Correspondent Gwyndaf Hughes Science Videographer Share Save

How the researchers hope to create human DNA

Work has begun on a controversial project to create the building blocks of human life from scratch, in what is believed to be a world first. The research has been taboo until now because of concerns it could lead to designer babies or unforeseen changes for future generations. But now the World's largest medical charity, the Wellcome Trust, has given an initial £10m to start the project and says it has the potential to do more good than harm by accelerating treatments for many incurable diseases. Dr Julian Sale, of the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, who is part of the project, told BBC News the research was the next giant leap in biology. "The sky is the limit. We are looking at therapies that will improve people's lives as they age, that will lead to healthier aging with less disease as they get older. "We are looking to use this approach to generate disease-resistant cells we can use to repopulate damaged organs, for example in the liver and the heart, even the immune system," he said. But critics fear the research opens the way for unscrupulous researchers seeking to create enhanced or modified humans. Dr Pat Thomas, director of the campaign group Beyond GM, said: "We like to think that all scientists are there to do good, but the science can be repurposed to do harm and for warfare". Details of the project were given to BBC News on the 25th anniversary of the completion of the Human Genome Project, which mapped the molecules in human DNA and was also largely funded by Wellcome.

Getty Images Artwork: The aim is to build sections of human DNA from scratch

Every cell in our body contains a molecule called DNA which carries the genetic information it needs. DNA is built from just four much smaller blocks referred to as A, G, C and T, which are repeated over and over again in various combinations. Amazingly it contains all the genetic information that physically makes us who we are. The Human Genome Project enabled scientists to read all human genes like a bar code. The new work that is getting under way, called the Synthetic Human Genome Project, potentially takes this a giant leap forward – it will allow researchers not just to read a molecule of DNA, but to create parts of it – maybe one day all of it - molecule by molecule from scratch.

BBC News Scientists will begin developing tools to create ever larger sections of human DNA

The scientists' first aim is to develop ways of building ever larger blocks of human DNA, up to the point when they have synthetically constructed a human chromosome. These contain the genes that govern our development, repair and maintenance. These can then be studied and experimented on to learn more about how genes and DNA regulate our bodies. Many diseases occur when these genes go wrong so the studies could lead to better treatments, according to Prof Matthew Hurles, director of the Wellcome Sanger Insititute which sequenced the largest proportion of the Human Genome. "Building DNA from scratch allows us to test out how DNA really works and test out new theories, because currently we can only really do that by tweaking DNA in DNA that already exists in living systems".

BBC News These machines used to read human DNA may soon be used to write sections of it

The virtually abandoned Florida airport being turned into 'Alligator Alcatraz'

2 hours ago Share Save Cecilia Barría and Walter Fojo BBC Mundo Reporting from Everglades, Florida Share Save

@AGJamesUthmeier The so-called "Alligator Alcatraz" is being built on the site of the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport

A convoy of trucks carrying tents, construction materials and portable toilets flows into a virtually abandoned airport in Florida's picturesque Everglades, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. But they're not helping build the region's next big tourist attraction. Instead they're laying the foundations for a new migrant detention facility, dubbed "Alligator Alcatraz". The facility, in the middle of a Miami swamp, was proposed by state lawmakers to support US President Donald Trump's deportation agenda. "You don't need to invest that much in the perimeter. If people get out, there's not much waiting for them other than alligators and pythons," explains the state's attorney general, James Uthmeier, a Republican, in a video set to rock music and posted on social media. The new detention centre is being built on the site of the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport, about 43 miles (70km) from central Miami, in the middle of the Everglades, an ecologically important subtropical wetland. The airfield where the detention centre will be based is mainly a pilot training runway surrounded by vast swamps. In the stifling summer heat rife with mosquitoes, we managed to advance only a few metres into the compound when, as expected, a guard in a lorry blocked our way. We hear sounds coming from a small canal next to the compound. We wonder whether it's fish, snakes, or the hundreds of alligators that roam the wetland.

Florida answers Trump's call

Although the airstrip belongs to Miami-Dade County, the decision to turn it into a detention centre was made following a 2023 executive order by Republican Governor Ron DeSantis, invoking emergency powers to stem the flow of undocumented migrants. The new centre, which according to authorities will have the capacity to accommodate around 1,000 detainees and will begin operations in July or August, is quickly becoming a controversial symbol of the Trump administration's immigration policy. As Trump orders immigration authorities to carry out "the single largest mass deportation programme in history", human rights organisations say detention centres are becoming overcrowded. According to data obtained by CBS News, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has a record 59,000 detainees nationwide, 140% above its capacity.

Environmental and human rights concerns

Betty Osceola, a member of the Miccosukee Native American community, lives near the site and recently took part in a protest against the facility. She suspects that rather than being a temporary site as authorities have stated, it will operate for months or even years. "I have serious concerns about the environmental damage," Ms Osceola tells us while we were talking next to a canal where an alligator was swimming. She is also concerned about the living conditions that detainees may face in the new facility. Those concerns are echoed by environmental organisations, such as Friends of the Everglades, and by human rights organisations in the U.S. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Florida told the BBC the proposed facility "is not just cruel and absurd. It underscores how our immigration system is increasingly being used to punish people rather than process them." Even ICE detention centres in populated areas, the ACLU said, "have well-documented histories of medical neglect, denial of legal access, and systemic mistreatment". BBC Mundo contacted the Florida attorney general's office, but did not receive a response. In the social media video, Uthmeier says the project is an "efficient" and "low-cost opportunity to build a temporary detention facility". With the "Alligator Alcatraz", he says, there will be "nowhere to go, nowhere to hide".

Eve Samples Betty Osceola is concerned about the environmental and human damage the new centre in the Everglades could cause

Facility is 'cost-effective', secretary says

Expanding, adapting, or building new detention centres has been one of the Trump administration's main challenges in accelerating deportations. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in a statement sent to the BBC that Florida will receive federal funds to establish the new detention centre. "We are working at turbo speed on cost-effective and innovative ways to deliver on the American people's mandate for mass deportations of criminal illegal aliens," she added. "We will expand facilities and bed space in just days, thanks to our partnership with Florida." Noem says that the facility will be funded by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema), which is responsible for disaster co-ordination.

Getty Images/Miami Herald A truck carrying generators was seen driving into the site on Tuesday

'A kind of magic': Emily Eavis on Glastonbury's Thursday feeling

21 minutes ago Share Save Ros Atkins Analysis Editor, BBC News Share Save

PA Media Michael and Emily Eavis opened the gates to Glastonbury on Wednesday morning

Last year, in an unlikely development, I was booked to DJ at Glastonbury Festival. When I arrived on Thursday afternoon, one thing struck me straight away. There was a very particular atmosphere. I'd best describe is as a sense of release – of a wait being over. I'd never seen or felt anything like it. That Thursday feeling stayed with me. I kept thinking about it in the months afterwards Though the main stages open on Friday and run all weekend, Glastonbury is a five-day festival. To its organiser, Emily Eavis, the first two days are special. The festival was started by her parents, Michael and Jean, and her memories are intertwined with family life. "Traditionally, it would be me and my dad who go down to open the gates on Wednesday," she says. "It's like letting people into Christmas in a way, you know? It's sort of like musical Christmas, because they're in the best state of mind." Over the next two days, the site fills up. And, at some point, almost everyone is in. "Normally Thursday afternoon is when we reach capacity," Emily tells me. "I get a message when we know that the site is full. "I love the Thursday. I love energy of the Thursday." She then describes the same phenomenon I noticed last year. "There's a palpable feeling of excitement, anticipation. People want to see everything and touch everything and be there together. It's a feeling of community, and big gangs of friends all reuniting.' "A palpable feeling of excitement," is the perfect way of putting it.

Getty Images BBC presenter Ros Atkins has a side hustle as a drum and bass DJ

The opening of the festival is something Emily has been witnessing her whole life - although it predates her by 10 years. In 1970, her farmer parents organised the Pilton Pop, Folk and Blues Festival, with glam rocker Marc Bolan, '60s pop star Wayne Fontana and singer-songwriter Al Stewart playing in his back garden. "I think this is the quickest way of clearing my overdraft," said Michael, when asked why he was staging a concert in the field where his dairy cows typically grazed. Rod Stewart on Glastonbury: 'I wish they wouldn't call it the tea-time slot'

Glastonbury Festival: Five newcomers you don't want to miss

Glastonbury: Full line-up and stage times With a few fits and starts, that event went on to become the UK's most recognisable music festival. And while it has changed over the years, some things have stayed the same. 'When I was little, it was very different to how it is now because it was so much smaller, it was a very few people," says Emily. "But they still had the same look in their eyes which they have now, which is cheer, determination and commitment and joy and excitement and kind of magic. "The look of, like, they're going to make this five days the best five days of their life and it's an amazing thing to witness."

WATCH: 'It's absolutely ideal. It's a kind of a euphoria down here, away from the awful realities of life'.

'Our food doesn't even last the month' - Americans brace for Trump's welfare cuts

1 hour ago Share Save Ana Faguy BBC News Reporting from Martinsburg, West Virginia Share Save

Watch: West Virginians react to food subsidy cuts in "big, beautiful bill"

Elizabeth Butler goes from one supermarket to the next in her hometown of Martinsburg, West Virginia, to ensure she gets the best price on each item on her grocery list. Along with 42 million Americans, she pays for those groceries with federal food subsides. That cash doesn't cover the whole bill for her family of three. "Our food doesn't even last the month," she says. "I'm going to all these different places just to make sure that we have enough food to last us the whole month." But that money may soon run out, as Congress gears up to vote on what US President Donald Trump has coined his "big beautiful bill". The food subsidy programme that Ms Butler uses - called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly known as SNAP - is one of many items on the chopping block, as Congress tries to reconcile the president's seemingly conflicting demands to both lower taxes and balance the budget. The Senate is due to vote on their version of the bill by the end of the week. If it passes, it will then be voted on by the House, at which point it will be sent to Trump to sign. He has pressured both chambers of Congress, which the Republican Party controls, to pass the bill by 4 July. Four sticking points in Trump's 'big beautiful' tax bill

The politics behind cutting SNAP

SNAP offers low-income households, including older Americans, families with children and people who are disabled, money each month to buy groceries. In West Virginia, one of the states with the highest rates of poverty, 16% of the population depends on the benefit. The state is also a reliable Republican stronghold and voted overwhelmingly for Trump in November, when he ran on the promise of reducing the cost of living for Americans, including the price of groceries. "When I win, I will immediately bring prices down, starting on Day One," he said at an August press conference surrounded by packaged foods, milk, meats and eggs.

Getty Images

Months after the president made that pledge, the prices of commonly purchased groceries like orange juice, eggs and bacon are higher than they were the same time last year. It's a fact that has not gone unnoticed by Ms Butler: "The president hasn't changed the food prices yet and he promised the people that he would do that." Trump has argued, without providing an explanation how, that spending cuts in the 1,000-page budget bill will help bring food prices down: "The cut is going to give everyone much more food, because prices are coming way down, groceries are down," Trump said when asked specifically about cuts to SNAP. Republicans have long been divided on how to fund social welfare programmes like SNAP and Medicaid. While many think the government should prioritise balancing the budget, others, especially in impoverished regions, support programmes that directly help their constituents. As the bill stands, Senate Republicans are proposing $211bn (£154bn) in cuts with states being partly responsible for making up the difference. In theory, passing the bill should be an easy political lift, since Republicans control both chambers of Congress and the White House. But since the bill includes cuts to programmes like SNAP and Medicaid, which are popular with everyday Americans, selling the bill to all factions within the Republican Party has not been an easy feat. Reports of private frustration and dissent about potential cuts to Medicaid and SNAP have leaked in recent weeks, showing the internal wrestling happening within the party. West Virginia Senator Jim Justice told Politico in June that he has warned fellow Republicans that cutting SNAP could cost the party their majority in Congress when voters head to the polls again in 2026. "If we don't watch out, people are going to get hurt, people are going to be upset. It's going to be the No.1 thing on the nightly news all over the place," Justice said. "And then, we could very well awaken to a situation in this country where the majority quickly becomes the minority." A recent poll by the Associated Press/NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that 45% of Americans think food assistance programmes like SNAP are underfunded, while only 30% think the funding levels are adequate. About a quarter of respondents found programmes were overfunded. This is not the first time the party has wrestled with cuts to SNAP, said Tracy Roof, a University of Richmond professor who is currently writing a book on the political history of SNAP. Under the Biden administration, Congress allowed expanded benefits implemented during Covid to be phased out, despite both Republicans and Democrats warning Americans could go hungry. "One thing about [SNAP] is that it has bi-partisan support, more than any other anti-poverty programme," Prof Roof told the BBC. But this time feels different, she said. "One thing that kind of distinguishes this period from the previous efforts to cut social welfare programmes has been the willingness of congressional Republicans to vote for things many of them apparently off the record have many concerns about," she said. "Before, there were always moderate Republicans, particularly in the Senate, but in both Houses that held out for concessions." She attributes that submission to two things: Fear of getting on the wrong side of Trump and a lack of fear of public backlash for representatives who hold congressional seats they can easily get re-elected to. The BBC contacted Congressman Riley Moore, who represents Martinsburg, West Virginia, about the impacts of the cuts to his constituents, but he did not respond. Moore voted for the initial House bill, which included the cuts to SNAP. Missouri Senator Josh Hawley, who had been one of the more vocal critics of the cuts, has since softened: Hawley told the news outlet NOTUS he has "always supported" most of the Medicaid cuts and he would "be fine" with most of what's in the bill.

Jordan

'The only thing that kept me and my family alive'

No phone signal on your train? There may be a fix - by 2028

2 hours ago Share Save Karen Hoggan Business reporter, BBC News Share Save

Getty Images

Mobile phone blackspots will be eliminated on several major railway lines and train tunnels by 2028, the body which runs Britain's railway infrastructure has pledged. Network Rail, which is owned by the government, has signed a deal with two private telecoms firms in a move it claims will see 4G and 5G connectivity boosted on trains and in stations. The Department for Transport (DfT) said work was set to begin next year and claimed it would "transform" journeys for passengers who have experienced calls cutting out and weak internet connections. The project is expected to take three years because works can only occur when trains are not running on tracks.

In the first instance, the deal called Project Reach will involve the installation of 1,000km of ultra-fast fibre optic cable along parts of the East Coast Main Line from London King's Cross to Newcastle, and the West Coast Main Line, which stretches from the capital to Manchester. Telecoms firm Neos Networks will also install cables along the Great Western Main Line running from London to Cardiff, and the Chiltern Main Line. The plan is to expand that to more than 5,000km "in the near future", the Dft said, but an exact year when this would occur has not been revealed. Another telecoms company Freshwave has been handed the job eliminating blackspots in 57 tunnels covering a total of nearly 50km, including the 4km-long Chipping Sodbury tunnel near Bristol. It will work with mobile network operators (MNOs) BT, O2 and VodafoneThree on upgrading mobile connectivity in tunnels of 250m and longer on the East Coast, West Coast, and Great Western lines. Freshwave will also collaborate with the MNOs on new 4G and 5G infrastructure at 12 of the biggest Network Rail stations including Birmingham New Street, Bristol Temple Meads and Edinburgh Waverley.

'Game-changer for passengers'

World's oldest boomerang doesn't actually come back

2 hours ago Share Save Helen Briggs • @hbriggs BBC environment correspondent Share Save

Maciej Biernacki The boomerang was found near stones, animal and human bones

The world's oldest boomerang is older than previously thought, casting new light on the ingenuity of humans living at the time. The tool, which was found in a cave in Poland in 1985, is now thought to be 40,000 years old. Archaeologists say it was fashioned from a mammoth's tusk with an astonishing level of skill. Researchers worked out from its shape that it would have flown when thrown, but would not have come back to the thrower. It was probably used in hunting, though it might have had cultural or artistic value, perhaps being used in some kind of ritual.

Talamo et al., 2025, PLOS One, CC-BY 4.0 The ivory boomerang is curved and about the size of a baseball bat

The mammoth ivory boomerang was unearthed in Oblazowa Cave in southern Poland. It was originally thought to be about 30,000 years old. But new, more reliable radiocarbon dating of human and animal bones found at the site puts the age at between 39,000 and 42,000 years old. "It's the oldest boomerang in the world, and the only one in the world made of this shape and this long to be found in Poland," said Dr Sahra Talamo of the University of Bologna, Italy. It gives a "remarkable insight" into human behaviour, she said, particularly how Homo sapiens living as long as 42,000 years ago could shape "such a perfect object" with the knowledge it could be used to hunt animals. The boomerang is exceptionally well preserved, with score marks suggesting it had been polished and carved for use by a right-handed individual.

Talamo et al., 2025, PLOS One, CC-BY 4.0 The entrance to Oblazowa Cave on the southern border of Poland