Blood scandal victims 'harmed further' by compensation delays

Campaigners have held frequent demonstrations in memory of loved ones who died due to infected blood used in medical procedures

Thousands of victims of the infected blood scandal are being "harmed further" by long waits for compensation, the chair of the public inquiry into the disaster has said.

In a hard-hitting report, Sir Brian Langstaff said there were "obvious injustices" in the way the scheme had been devised.

It is thought 30,000 people were infected with HIV and hepatitis B or C in the 1970s and 80s after being given contaminated blood products on the NHS.

The government has set aside £11.8bn to pay compensation and has said it is cutting red tape to speed up payments to victims.

Christian Horner has been sacked as team principal by Red Bull after 20 years.

The 51-year-old has been in charge of the Formula 1 team since its inception in 2005, leading them to eight drivers' championship and six constructors' championship titles.

The dismissal follows months of declining form for the team and internal disputes at the highest level. It also comes 17 months after Horner was accused of sexual harassment and coercive, controlling behaviour by a female employee.

Horner was twice cleared of the claims, firstly after an internal investigation conducted by an independent lawyer, then by another independent lawyer who dismissed the complainant's appeal.

"Red Bull has released Christian Horner from his operational duties with effect from today," the team's parent company, Red Bull GmBH, said in a statement on Wednesday.

While Horner has been removed from his role, it has not been made clear if he has formally departed the company, or if a settlement or severance is yet in place.

The Englishman will be replaced as team principal and chief executive of Red Bull Racing by Laurent Mekies, who has been promoted from second team Racing Bulls.

The 48-year-old Frenchman had been in the role since the start of the 2024 season and was previously racing director for Ferrari.

Englishman Alan Permane, 58, has been promoted to team principal of Racing Bulls from his position as racing director.

Resident doctors in England to strike for five days in July

Health Secretary Wes Streeting called the move "unnecessary and unreasonable" and added: "The NHS is hanging by a thread - why on earth are they threatening to pull it?"

The British Medical Association (BMA) said it had met with the health secretary to try and "avoid strike action" on Tuesday, but that the government had "stated that it will not negotiate on pay".

Previously known as junior doctors, the medics will stage a walkout from 07:00 on 25 July until 07:00 on 30 July - giving ministers two weeks to agree to negotiate their pay instead.

Resident doctors in England have said they will strike for five days from 25 July after voting in favour of fresh action over pay.

He said the strike was "without historic precedent" given the medics had received a 28.9% pay increase over the last three years, and were not in the interest of patients or staff.

"I met with them yesterday and offered to meet with their entire resident doctor committee this morning - that has not been taken up," he added, calling on the BMA to "get around the table and agree a way forward".

He had earlier told the Times newspaper the walkouts would be "a disaster for their members and a disaster for patients" - and the public would "not forgive" them.

Resident doctors have been awarded a 5.4% pay rise for this financial year - which will go into pay packets from August - following a 22% increase over the previous two years.

But the BMA says wages are still around 20% lower in real terms than in 2008.

Its resident doctors committee co-chairs, Dr Melissa Ryan and Dr Ross Nieuwoudt, said they had "made every attempt to avoid strike action by opening negotiations for pay restoration" in talks with the government on Tuesday.

But they said the government had wanted to "focus on non-pay elements without suggesting what these might be".

They said they had "no choice" but to strike without a "credible offer to keep us on the path to restore our pay".

"No doctor wants to strike, and these strikes don't have to go ahead.

"If Mr Streeting can seriously come to the table in the next two weeks we can ensure that no disruption is caused. The government knows what is needed to avert strikes. The choice is theirs."

The government said on Tuesday that it would not reopen pay negotiations and that it could not "be more generous than we already have".

A Downing Street spokesperson added that the medics had "received the highest pay award across the public sector for two years in a row".

Resident doctors' basic salaries in England range from £37,000 to £70,000 a year for a 40-hour week, depending on experience, with extra payments for working nightshifts and weekends.

That does not include the latest 5.4% average pay award for this year which will start to be paid into wage packets from August.

Resident doctors took part in 11 separate strikes during 2023 and 2024.

Ukraine suffers heaviest attack after Trump criticises Putin

On Tuesday, the US leader expressed growing frustration at Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The overnight strike came after President Donald Trump said the US would send more weapons to Kyiv - a reversal of last week's suspension which US media said Trump had not known about.

Zelensky condemned the "telling attack", adding: "It comes precisely at a time when so many efforts have been made to achieve peace, to establish a ceasefire, and yet only Russia continues to rebuff them all."

President Volodymyr Zelensky says Ukraine has been hit by the biggest ever aerial attack from Russia - 728 drones and 13 cruise or ballistic missiles hit cities around the country in multiple waves.

"We get a lot of bullshit thrown at us by Putin, if you want to know the truth," Trump told reporters. "He's very nice to us all the time, but it turns out to be meaningless."

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow was "pretty calm about this. Trump's way of talking is generally quite harsh, the phrases he uses."

The two leaders have been in regular contact but this has so far failed to translate into tangible steps towards a ceasefire in Ukraine - something Trump once said he would be able to achieve in a day.

Last week, following a phone call with the Russian president, Trump said he was "very unhappy".

"He wants to go all the way, just keep killing people, it's no good," Trump said of Putin.

The criticism came even as the Trump administration announced a suspension of military aid to Ukraine, reportedly authorised by US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth and Elbridge Colby, the under-secretary of defence for policy.

Asked by reporters on Tuesday who had taken the decision, Trump - sitting right next to Hegseth - replied: "I don't know. Why don't you tell me?"

The reversal of the decision may now mean that 10 Patriot missiles may be sent to Ukraine, according to US outlet Axios.

Kyiv relies on the interceptors to try to counter Russia's missile and drone attacks, which continue to grow in intensity and frequency.

Although the east of the country and Kyiv come under fire on a regular basis, no corner of Ukraine has been spared by Russian strikes.

The city of Lutsk - which lies 90km (56 miles) from the Polish border and is a transit hub for military and humanitarian aid - suffered the brunt of Tuesday's overnight attack.

Explosions were also reported in the western cities of Lviv and Rivne.

Two rounds of ceasefire talks between Russia and Ukraine took place earlier this year but no other meetings have so far been scheduled - and neither Moscow nor Kyiv appear optimistic that diplomacy will solve the conflict, which was sparked by Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Meanwhile, Russia's summer offensive in eastern Ukraine grinds on.

"We are moving forward," said Peskov on Wednesday. "Each new day the Ukrainians have to accept the new realities."

Gaza truce talks reportedly stall despite second Netanyahu-Trump meeting

56 minutes ago Share Save Sebastian Usher & David Gritten BBC News Reporting from Jerusalem Share Save

Reuters Benjamin Netanyahu said his second meeting with Donald Trump focused on the remaining hostages in Gaza

Negotiations between Israel and Hamas in Qatar on a new Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal have stalled after three days of indirect talks, a Palestinian official has told the BBC. The official said key sticking points included how aid would be distributed during the ceasefire and Israeli troop withdrawals. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is visiting the US and hopes of a deal had been raised as he had an unscheduled second meeting with President Donald Trump on Tuesday. US special envoy Steve Witkoff also said they were now "down to one" unresolved issue at the Doha talks and that he was hopeful of an agreement on a 60-day ceasefire by the end of this week.

The choreography of meetings between Trump and Netanyahu has given the impression that the momentum towards a ceasefire deal in Gaza is growing. In a statement released on Wednesday morning, the Israeli prime minister said their latest meeting was "focused on efforts to release our hostages". "We are not relenting, even for a moment, and this is made possible due to the military pressure by our heroic soldiers." He added: "We are determined to achieve all of our objectives: The release of all of our hostages - the living and the deceased, and the elimination of Hamas's military and governing capabilities, thereby ensuring that Gaza will never again constitute a threat to Israel." Israel says 50 hostages are still in captivity, up to 20 of whom are believed to still be alive. Witkoff said Israel and Hamas were closing the gap on issues that had previously prevented them from reaching a deal. "We're in proximity talks now, and we had four issues, and now we're down to one," he told reporters on Tuesday. "So, we are hopeful that by the end of this week, we will have an agreement that will bring us into a 60-day ceasefire."

Watch: The BBC asks about the Trump administration's vision for Gaza

However, it is unclear if much progress has so far been made during the four rounds of talks that have taken place in Doha since Sunday. A Palestinian official with knowledge of the negotiations told the BBC on Wednesday that they remained stalled. According to the official, the impasse is due to the Israeli delegation's refusal to allow the unrestricted entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza through UN agencies and other international organisations. Israel was insisting on maintaining what the official described as "the current humiliating mechanism" for aid distribution - a reference to the US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which uses private security contractors to bypass the UN. The source also noted that Israel continued to reject calls for the withdrawal of its forces from areas of Gaza it has occupied since 18 March - when Israel resumed its offensive, collapsing the last ceasefire - further complicating progress in the negotiations. Qatar - which is acting as a mediator, along with the US and Egypt - also warned that more time was needed for a breakthrough. "I don't think that I can give any timeline at the moment, but I can say right now that we will need time for this," Qatar's foreign ministry spokesman, Majed al-Ansari, said on Tuesday. With the talks intended to provide a path to ending the 21-month war, it is little surprise that they are experiencing difficulties. But the Trump administration appears to remain upbeat for now, with Witkoff still due to head to Doha at some point in the coming days.