'Regrets, I have a few' and 'cut weight to cut waits'

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BBC Sir Keir Starmer peers out from the bottom half of The Observer in a photo that takes up the whole page, accompanied by the headline "regrets, I have a few". The prime minister "opens up" in an interview with the paper.

"Blame me for welfare chaos" The Times headlines, as Starmer accepts responsibility for his U-turn on welfare cuts. The Prince of Wales has "cut ties" with donor Minerva Modejar Steiner after The Times reports she "attempted to sell access to him for £20,000". Kensington Palace has declined to comment on the report. Scarlett Johannsson has given an interview to the paper and so has Reform UK leader Nigel Farage who says his party are "the last chance to restore confidence in the democratic system".

The UK is "crying out" for "politicians with real principles" writes the Daily Express quoting Nigel Farage. The Reform leader told the paper that the public "doesn't know what our PM stands for".

"Cut weight to cut waits" writes the Daily Mirror as Labour is set to unveil a plan to "cut obesity and save the NHS billions". A photo of the new "Mrs Bezos" also makes the front page with the caption "I'm the luckiest woman on the planet".

Supermarkets have been "told to cut shoppers' calories" as part of health secretary Wes Streeting's new plan. There's a "fresh rebellion" brewing for Starmer over his "inheritance tax raid on farmers", writes The Daily Telegraph. Also on its front, the "middle-class abandon Britain for the Med".

There's "fury" over "killer cop's £17k NHS op" writes The Sun. Ex-police officer Wayne Couzens, who murdered Sarah Everard, was "secretly whisked" to hospital for back surgery, according to the tabloid.

The Daily Mail headlines on the BBC's livestream of punk duo Bob Vylan after it led chants of "free, free Palestine" and "death, death to the IDF [Israel Defense Forces]" during their set, calling for the band's arrest. "Tel Aviv blasts BBC" for failing to cut the "vile outburst", the paper writes. The BBC has responded to the chants being broadcast, calling them "deeply offensive". It said: "During this live stream on iPlayer, which reflected what was happening on stage, a warning was issued on screen about the very strong and discriminatory language." There are "no plans to make the performance available on demand", it added.

A werewolf has been spotted in Bridlington says the Daily Star, calling it "huge news, if true".

The mystery of the paedophile who hired out Disneyland

1 hour ago Share Save Noel Titheradge Investigations correspondent Share Save

Metropolitan Police Jacky Jhaj is on the Sex Offenders Register and subject to restrictions on his activities

When it emerged that last weekend a convicted paedophile had organised a fake wedding to a nine-year-old at Disneyland Paris, many people were perplexed. Who would do such a thing? How was it even possible? The BBC understands it was the latest bizarre stunt by Jacky Jhaj – a British man I have been investigating for two years. He first came to my attention after a tip off from a teenage girl came out of the blue in 2023. She was horrified that she had come face to face with a paedophile who she had been hired to fawn over. She was too terrified of him to go on the record - but I tracked down a number of aspiring actors who had also been directed to scream at Jhaj while he was parading down a red carpet, and reach out to try and touch him.

In all, 200 children and young women had been recruited by reputable casting agencies to play Jhaj's fans at a fake film premiere in London's Leicester Square that year. Some were as young as six. Towards the end of the event someone recognised Jhaj - who had previously been found guilty of sexual activity with two 15-year-olds in 2016 and sent to prison. The fake red carpet was one of a litany of stunts he has organised since his release which often involve casting girls as his fans.

Jacky Jhaj at the Leicester Square event in 2023

All have been organised at great expense, while he was on the Sex Offenders Register and subject to restrictions on his activities. For the mock-wedding at Disneyland Paris a nine-year-old Ukrainian girl was flown in to play his bride. The theme park can be privately rented outside of its opening hours and actors had been booked at great cost to be there – one received £10,000. The BBC understands that Jacky Jhaj, 39, who is from west London, has now been charged by French authorities in connection with organising the event. Over the past two years I've set out to try and understand how he has been able to carry out these stunts and why there are not more stringent rules preventing them. Many have taken place at high profile British landmarks – including the British Museum, the Royal Exchange in London and the University of Oxford. They also typically involve young people being hired to act as his fans in elaborate productions.

Parent handout Jhaj was filmed by a parent who recognised him from the BBC investigation talking with young people outside dance auditions in 2024

Videos of some of them were uploaded to a YouTube channel which was watched more than six million times and had 12 million subscribers. Many remained on YouTube for years until last September, when the BBC alerted Google, which owns the platform. A video on a separate channel showed him next to one of the victims he was convicted of sexual activity with – with her face anonymised. It had remained on YouTube for four years with more than a million views. Google told the BBC at the time that it takes users' safety seriously but offered no explanation as to how an account featuring a man with almost no profile or success had 12 million subscribers, or why the videos had not been previously removed. Clips on social media sites appear to cast Jhaj as a successful writer and singer and are often styled as music videos.

Social media It is not clear if the weapons Jacky Jhaj holds up in music videos are real or fake

Many are highly concerning - some feature him posing with young children and weapons. It is not clear if the guns are real or fake. Others revel in his infamy. In one, he is greeted by fans apparently celebrating his release from Wormwood Scrubs prison. I wanted to know how he had organised the stunts – and if he had received help.

What else do we know?

Over the past two years, I have spoken to videographers, production assistants and technicians who were hired for some of the events before they discovered Jhaj's real identity. One man repeatedly appears in videos they shared with me. We have been sent images and footage of him at three of the stunts by people who described him as assisting the choreographer hired for dance auditions, and apparently filming.

Supplied When confronted by cast members the man said Jhaj was a friend

At a different event last year, he was confronted by duped cast members who recognised Jhaj from our reports and showed him the online article. The cast members filmed him acknowledging that Jhaj is a convicted sex offender but he says he is his "friend" and is now "free". At this event Jhaj was filmed posing naked in front of a mocked-up BBC News lorry in London which had been set on fire. Jhaj had initially appeared there disguised by prosthetics – before he removed them and was identified as the man from our story. Preliminary findings from the French prosecutor also said that make-up artists had allegedly changed the organiser's facial features dramatically at the Disneyland event.

Supplied Jhaj uses props, casts and hires venues for his elaborate stunts

How Jhaj funds his stunts - which involve extraordinary costs on venue hire, casts and props - is a mystery. One production hired a tank, while in another a mock police car was set on fire. The booking of Disneyland Paris alone would have cost more than €130,000 (£110,000), according to the French broadcaster BFMTV. I was also told that hiring the red carpet space that is the home of movie premieres in Leicester Square would have required tens of thousands of pounds. Jhaj was listed as a director of a business that was wound up in 2016 – but there is no other obvious source of money. I also wanted to know how he had been able to carry out these events while subject to a sexual harm prevention order. We have seen a copy of it. It lists ten restrictions on his activities – but does not appear to explicitly prohibit the stunts he had organised. The order restricts Jhaj from contacting his previous victims, entering public places for the use of children and deliberately contacting any girl under the age of 16. However, there is no blanket ban on hosting events with children under 16 if they are supervised – as was the case with the Leicester Square stunt, where some adults attended as chaperones.

One police officer to 50 offenders

Twitter Following the BBC's investigation, Jhaj was filmed naked in front of a fake BBC News lorry which was set on fire

Thousands party at Budapest Pride in clear message to Orban

39 minutes ago Share Save Nick Thorpe BBC Budapest Correspondent Reporting from Budapest Share Save

Reuters

Budapest advertises itself as a party town. On Saturday, the party spilled out onto the streets, and occupied, in the scorching heat of summer, the Elizabeth Bridge and the river banks and downtown areas on both shores of the Danube. Between 100,000 and 200,000 mostly young people danced and sang their way from Pest to Buda. A distance that usually takes only 20 minutes on foot stretched to three hours. Prime Minister Viktor Orban's ban, many Budapest Pride participants told me, spurred them to attend an event they usually stay away from. Last year, just 35,000 took part. Many banners mocked the Hungarian prime minister. It was like a peaceful revenge by some of those he has declared war on during his past 15 years in power. "In my history class, I learnt enough, to recognise a dictatorship. You don't need to illustrate it - Vik!" read one hand-made banner. "I'm so bored of Fascism," read another. T-shirts with Orban's image, in bright eyeshadow and lipstick, were everywhere.

Reuters A mocking, glammed-up image of PM Viktor Orban adorned T-shirts

While the LGBT community with its vivid paraphernalia made up the core of the march, this year's Pride turned into a celebration of human rights and solidarity. "We don't exactly look as though we were banned!" a beaming Budapest mayor, Gergely Karacsony, told the crowd, in a speech in front of the Budapest Technical University. Today's march could go down as the crowning moment of his political career. A city hall starved of funds and in constant struggle with the central government dared to host an event the government tried to ban, and won - for now at least. "In fact, we look like we're peacefully and freely performing a big, fat show to a puffed-up and hateful power. The message is clear: they have no power over us!" Karacsony continued.

Nick Thorpe, BBC All sorts of people - across the generations - turned up for the Pride march

Among the attendees was Finnish MEP Li Andersson, who felt Orban was using arguments on family values as a pretext to ban the march. "It's important to emphasise that the reason why we are here is not only Pride - this is about the fundamental rights of all of us," she said. The ban was based on a new law, passed by the big majority held by Orban's Fidesz party in parliament, subordinating the freedom of assembly to a 2021 Child Protection law that equated homosexuality with paedophilia, and therefore banned the portrayal or promotion of homosexuality in places where children might see it. The police justified a ban on Saturday's march on the grounds children might witness it. In response, the mayor cited a 2001 law stating events organised by councils do not fall under the right of assembly. In the end, the police officers present at the march kept a discreet presence, looking on mournfully at a party from which they were excluded. In another part of the city, Orban attended the graduation ceremony of 162 new police and customs officers, and new officials of the National Directorate-General for Policing Aliens. "Order does not come into being by itself, it must be created, because without it civilised life will be lost," Orban told the students and their families. Earlier, he and other prominent Fidesz officials posted pictures of themselves with their children and grandchildren, in an attempt to reclaim the "pride" word. "Post a picture, to show them what we're proud of," Alexandra Szentkiralyi, the head of the Fidesz faction in the Budapest Council, posted on Facebook, alongside a picture of herself in a rather plain "Hungary" T-shirt. The police presence was restrained in Budapest on Saturday, but temporary cameras installed ahead of the march and mounted on police vehicles recorded the whole event.

Reuters A vast crowd poured across the famous Elisabeth Bridge

School sun safety lessons trialled to tackle skin cancer

26 minutes ago Share Save Sophie van Brugen BBC News reporter Reporting from London Share Save

BBC Pupils at Platt Primary school in Maidstone learn about sun protection

Children as young as five are being taught how to check UV levels and apply sunscreen, as part of a new pilot aimed at reducing future skin cancer cases. The initiative, currently being trialled in primary schools across Kent, is planned to be introduced into Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) lessons nationwide from 2026. Melanoma, the most serious form of skin cancer, is linked to UV exposure - and experts say sunburn in childhood significantly increases the risk later in life. In 2021, around 18,300 people were diagnosed with melanoma in the UK, according to Cancer Research. That figure is projected to rise to 21,300 by 2026, the charity says.

Michelle Baker, from the charity Melanoma Fund, which is behind the education project, said changing children's habits early is key. "People think melanoma is an older person's disease," she says, "but it's often seeded in childhood." She says the project aims to "grow skin cancer out of the next generation". Giving children a sense of control and responsibility for their sun protection is central to this. "We're saying this is your superpower," she adds. At Platt Primary school in Maidstone, pupils are learning to read UV indexes, apply sunscreen properly, and understand when they need protection. Headteacher Emma Smith said the pupils have been "really receptive". "If we educate them early, they're more likely to keep that knowledge as they get older - especially when social media starts to influence their choices."

No 'safe tan'

The childhood sun safety drive comes as Cancer Research UK says the rise in melanoma cases among adults is a particular cause for concern. A recent study from the charity found that cancer deaths cost the UK economy £10.3bn a year, more than any other health condition – underlining the importance of preventative measures. Consultant dermatologist Dr Katie Lacy says that educating children about how to look after their skin is key to reducing melanoma rates. Research shows that nine out of 10 cases are caused by UV exposure from the sun and sunbeds. Getting sunburnt regularly increases the chances of skin cancer. Dr Lacy stresses there is no such thing as a "safe tan", explaining that tanning is a response to skin damage.

“I wish I’d known”: Melanoma survivor’s warning after diagnosis at 29

"Most melanomas don't come from existing moles - so if you notice something new, get it checked," she adds. She also highlights the growing role of AI in screening suspicious moles within the NHS - which could help streamline referrals to specialist services. The ABCDE checklist can help identify if a mole is abnormal: A - asymmetrical (does the mole have an uneven shape?) B - border (are the edges blurry or jagged?) C - colour (is it an uneven colour with different shades and tones?) D - diameter (is the mole bigger than your other ones?) E - evolving (is it changing, such as starting to itch, bleed or become crusty?) Source: Cancer Research UK For Kara Leece, diagnosed with melanoma at 29, the message is personal. "If I'd had that education at primary school, I think I could've prevented it," she told BBC News. "Now I have a scar that reminds me of what I've been through. When children ask about it, I tell them my story - because I don't want this to happen to anyone else."

Tips for keeping kids sun safe

The temperatures we are experiencing as part of the current heatwave are expected to peak on Monday in the cities of London and Cambridge.

You may have noticed that temperatures are often much higher in urban areas than in the surrounding countryside.

That is because of something called the urban heat island effect.

It helps to explain why built-up areas can be several degrees warmer than nearby rural places, during the day and overnight.

It leaves people living in cities more vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.