AI deepfake porn humiliated me, says Mordaunt

31 minutes ago Share Save James Chater BBC News Share Save

Watch: "It was deeply humiliating and violent", says Penny Mordaunt on her face being used in AI porn.

Former Conservative cabinet minister Penny Mordaunt has spoken about how shaken she was to learn she was the victim of "deliberately humiliating and violent" deepfake porn when serving as an MP. Speaking to BBC Newsnight, the former leader of the House of Commons said that her face had been used in AI-generated deepfake porn, adding it happened to "a number of parliamentarians". Deepfakes are images or videos that have been digitally altered using artificial intelligence (AI) to replace the face of one person with another. Mordaunt was being interviewed on the programme about advanced age checks that websites with pornographic material must implement before Friday.

But speaking on the issue of deepfake porn, she said: "The people behind this... don't realise the consequences in the real world when they do something like that... It plays across into people taking actual real world actions against ourselves." Mordaunt became aware that her face had been used in deepfake porn after a Channel 4 documentary by Cathy Newman last year revealed that Mordaunt, Tory colleague Dame Priti Patel, Labour's Angela Rayner and several other senior female politicians were victims of the practice. At the time, Newman revealed she was also a victim. "It was violating... it was kind of me and not me," she said, explaining the video displayed her face but not her hair. Earlier this year, the government unveiled plans to make the creation or distribution of sexually explicit deepfakes a criminal offence, following a surge in their proliferation over recent years.

"The worry for me is actually more with children," Mordaunt told Newsnight's Victoria Derbyshire. "We wouldn't want people to see these things on the walk to school. If they did, they'd be in therapy. But we have seemed to be perfectly happy for them to see it online." Mordaunt also said she was "with the Australians" on their decision to ban social media platforms for under-16s. She added that the government needed "to have some courage" in tackling the issue with people like Elon Musk, the owner of X, formerly Twitter. "[Musk] is taking the human race to Mars. I'm sure he can figure out age verification," she said.

PA Media Penny Mordaunt played a central role in the coronation ceremony of the King

Protests in Ukraine as Zelensky signs bill targeting anti-corruption bodies

13 minutes ago Share Save Vitaliy Shevchenko Russia editor, BBC Monitoring Share Save

Getty Images Protesters gather in Kyiv after a bill was passed targeting the country's anti-corruption bodies

President Volodymyr Zelensky has signed a bill that critics say weakens the independence of Ukraine's anti-corruption bodies, sparking protests in several cities and drawing international criticism. Critics say the new law undermines the authority of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (Nabu) and Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (Sapo) - placing them under the control of the prosecutor general. In an address on Wednesday, Zelensky said both agencies would still "work" but needed to be cleared of "Russian influence". After the bill passed, hundreds of people gathered in Kyiv for the biggest anti-government protest since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Demonstrations were also seen in the cities of Lviv, Dnipro and Odesa. "We chose Europe, not autocracy," said a poster held by one demonstrator. "My father did not die for this," said another. Ukraine's chief prosecutor, Zelensky loyalist Ruslan Kravchenko, will now be able to reassign corruption probes to potentially more pliant investigators, and even to close them. In his overnight address, Zelensky criticised the efficiency of Ukraine's anti-corruption infrastructure, saying cases had been "lying dormant". "There is no rational explanation for why criminal proceedings worth billions have been 'hanging' for years," he said. He added that the prosecutor general would ensure "the inevitability of punishment" for those who broke the law.

Reuters

British couple held by Taliban 'may die in prison,' son warns

20 minutes ago Share Save Maia Davies BBC News Share Save

PA Media Peter and Barbie Reynolds were arrested in Afghanistan in February

The son of a British couple detained by the Taliban five months ago has told the BBC that he fears they may die in prison. Peter Reynolds, 80, and Barbie, 76, were arrested on 1 February while returning to their home in central Bamiyan province, Afghanistan. Their son Jonathan Reynolds said their health was rapidly deteriorating, with his father suffering serious convulsions and his mother "numb" from anaemia and malnutrition. The UN has also warned that they could perish "in such degrading conditions" if they do not receive medical care at once, calling their detention "inhumane".

A Taliban official told the BBC in February that the group planned to release the couple "as soon as possible". Mr Reynolds said it had been a "harrowing and surreal" five months waiting for the release of his parents, who lived in Afghanistan for 18 years and ran education projects. He said they had been held in harsh conditions - including a maximum security prison - despite being "deemed innocent" by a judge and facing no charges. "My dad was chained to murderers and criminals," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme, adding that they had at one point been held in a basement for six weeks without sunlight, and not allowed out. The couple revealed "just how bad their health is" when they last had contact with their children on 15 June, Mr Reynolds said. "My dad's health is deteriorating fast in particular," he said of the 80-year-old, who has a history of minor heart attacks. "Now he's maybe got something like early Parkinson's - tremors and shakes down the right side of his body, his arms and face," he told BBC Breakfast. He added that his father spent "half an hour convulsing on the prison floor" before his wife called for a prison guard to move him onto a "mattress pad on the floor" serving as a bed. Mrs Reynolds "has blue hands and feet to do with anaemia, malnutrition, just not getting the right healthcare," he added. Mr Reynolds said he did not know his parents' exact location - and that he was unsure "that the demand has been made for their immediate release". "Every week it seems like we're told 'just wait two or three more days now… just hang tight'. "Week after week we're told that - and they're still in prison." However, he said he was grateful to the Foreign Office (FCDO) for the level of communication with the family. The couple have both had birthdays in prison, and last week marked their 55th wedding anniversary. Mr Reynolds said: "I'm thankful they were together, but they're certainly not free."

Trump says US has struck trade deal with Japan

3 hours ago Share Save Peter Hoskins Business reporter, BBC News Share Save

Watch: 'I just signed the largest trade deal in history' says Trump on Japanese tariffs

President Donald Trump says the US has agreed to a "massive" trade deal with Japan, one of the country's largest trading partners. Japan has agreed to invest $550bn (£407bn) in the US while its goods sold to America would be taxed at 15% when they reach the country - below the 25% tariff Trump had threatened. Trump said on social media that Japan would open its economy to US goods, including cars, trucks, rice and certain agricultural products. Japan's Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba welcomed the announcement, saying it was "the lowest figure to date among countries with trade surpluses with the US".

"I just signed the largest trade deal in history, I think maybe the largest deal in history with Japan," Trump touted at a White House event on Tuesday evening. "They had their top people here, and we worked on it long and hard. And it's a great deal for everybody. I always say it has to be great for everybody. It's a great deal," he added. Ishiba said on Wednesday the agreement would mean US tariffs on vehicles and parts would be cut to 15% from 25%. However, the tax is above the 10% Trump levied on Japan and other countries when he suspended higher so-called reciprocal tariffs between April and July. Ishiba said: "We were the first in the world to reduce tariffs on cars and auto parts without any quantity restrictions." UK cars sent to the US are taxed at a lower 10% rate when they reach American shores but this is limited to 100,000 vehicle quota. Ishiba added: "The agreement does not include any reduction of tariffs on the Japanese side." The BBC has contacted the White House and Japan's embassy in Washington for more details of the trade agreement. Bringing its main tariff rate down to 15% is Japan's "best compromise at this stage", Shigeto Nagai from research firm Oxford Economics told BBC News. The planned investment in the US by Japan included in the announcement "will be a huge boost to restore the US, fitting in with Trump's story of reviving US manufacturing with more jobs," he added.

Getty Images Ishiba and Trump met at the White House earlier this year

The 'underwater bushfire' cooking Australia's reefs

10 hours ago Share Save Katy Watson Australia correspondent Reporting from Western Australia Share Save

Watch: Can you un-bleach coral? BBC visits remote Australian reef to find out

Australia boasts plenty of superlatives when it comes to its natural landmarks. The Great Barrier Reef, the world's biggest coral reef system on the north-east coast, is rightly recognised as a Unesco World Heritage Site. Buzzing with biodiversity, it's a diver's dream. But there's a lesser-known record breaker on the other side of the country, on Australia's north-western coast: Ningaloo Reef. A 14-hour drive north of Perth, Ningaloo is unique. The world's largest fringing reef and another of Australia's Unesco World Heritage Sites, it is home to a lush oceanic forest that spreads out along the coast for hundreds of kilometres. From the region's remote desert beaches, you can wade into vibrant turquoise waters and almost immediately start snorkelling in a seascape as famous for its vibrant corals as the wildlife that surrounds them - manta rays, reef sharks and whale sharks. But this year, Ningaloo has found itself in trouble. Hit by a marine heatwave, higher water temperatures have stressed the corals and they've been turning white, in an effect known as 'bleaching'. While some may recover, it's not a given – and the damage has astounded scientists. Not only that, but the heatwave is responsible for another, more worrying superlative. This is the first time that the reefs on both Australia's western and eastern coasts have been bleached. "It's like a raging underwater bushfire that has persisted for months now, wreaking harm right along the coast," says Paul Gamblin, who heads up the Australian Marine Conservation Society. "It's an absolutely devastating event and people are reeling from it. It is enormous. It's unprecedented. It's absolutely not normal."

Getty Images

What's going on?

The marine heatwave that's damaging Ningaloo started in the Caribbean in 2023 . It then made its way across the Indo-Pacific, damaging coral reefs in its path. In 2024, while the Great Barrier Reef saw bleaching, Ningaloo was spared. But by the end of last year and the beginning of 2025 – peak summer – temperatures had begun to soar in Western Australia. It's all part of the fourth global bleaching event, which experts say has affected more than 80% of the world's coral reefs. Dr Kate Quigley, principal research scientist at Minderoo Foundation, likens the effect to a stomach bug. "Instead of having bacteria in the human gut, corals have this little algal symbiont that lives inside their cells that allow them to do biological processes," she explains, adding that this algae is what gives the corals their colour. When water becomes too warm, that relationship breaks down and bleaching begins. "So, kind of like, if we got a stomach bug and the human body doesn't function the same way, [it's the] same thing with the coral," she explains. "The warm water causes the biological processes inside that coral to go haywire. And just like humans get sick, corals get sick too." Of particular worry to Dr Quigley is the prolonged warming scientists have seen. They expected temperatures to drop by April as peak summer passed. This year, that didn't happen.

Getty Images Ningaloo is the world's largest fringing reef, home to an oceanic forest that spreads hundreds of kilometres along the coast

"In previous warming events, water temperatures might have increased for a bit of time and then gone back down again so the corals can essentially recover - they can bounce back," explains Dr Quigley. "But what we're really afraid of seeing, especially in the coming months, is really high levels of death." While government scientists have been monitoring the reef, there's still a lot they don't know. "The natural world is an incredibly variable place, and sometimes we're... shocked by what we see, [because] it doesn't seem to follow the rules," says Dr Tom Holmes, the Marine Science Programme Leader at the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions in Western Australia. Dr Holmes and his team are doing follow-up surveys between three and six months after the bleaching to assess how many corals have died. "There are certainly records of corals [being] in a bleached state for that period of time and still surviving," he says. "So we just need to play the waiting game now." Ningaloo attracts around 200,000 tourists to its waters each year. For swimmers and divers, though, the damage is clear. "It was like snorkelling on a corpse," says British-South African tourist Jenna-Rae Clark, who has been up and down the coastline of Ningaloo in recent weeks. "It was so grey and lifeless. You can sometimes hear fish munching on the coral - there was nothing." For residents, there's an additional fear: that tourists will turn their back on Ningaloo. "People have been really devastated off the back of summer, and a lot of people are talking about how they were crying in the water, coming out of the ocean just really upset," says Sara Morgillo, who moved here from Perth to dive and work in conservation. "There's still amazing parts of the reef here that are worth seeing and we're still running dive tours every day," she adds. "I think it's also really important to witness what's happening and [see] the effects of the marine heat wave that we've had."

Why is this happening?

Scientists are all in agreement about what's causing this heatwave: rising carbon emissions are heating up the planet and its oceans. According to Nasa, the ocean is where 90% of global warming is happening – and the last decade was its warmest since the 1800s. Last year was its warmest on record. These more worrying superlatives are threatening Australia's famous landmarks. But there's another, more home-grown problem too. Just up the coast from Ningaloo is one of the world's largest fossil fuel projects, the North West Shelf gas plant. In May, the Australian government announced it would allow Woodside, the company which runs the project, to keep it operating until 2070. The same company is also trying to get approval to develop Australia's biggest untapped gas reserves in the Browse Basin, further up the coast.

Getty Images Huge fossil fuel projects are continuing with government approval in Australia - despite record levels of global warming

While these projects alone don't create the heat that's damaging Ningaloo, it's a symbol of the competing interests in Western Australia – where the gas industry fuels the economy far more than tourism. "The Great Barrier Reef and Ningaloo are sources of deep wonder, the equivalent of Antarctica or the Serengeti or the Amazon," says the Australian Marine Conservation Society's Paul Gamblin. "The juxtaposition is incomprehensible: at a time when places like Ningaloo are clearly suffering the consequences of climate change, for government even to contemplate opening up new fossil fuel projects... It shouldn't happen, and governments need to draw a line in the sand and make a clear commitment not to make the situation even worse."

Finding a fix

While the larger debate continues over the use of fossil fuels, scientists are working to better understand the reef in an effort to help it. The University of Queensland's Dr Chris Roelfsema and his team are mapping Ningaloo by taking photos of the corals and linking them with drone images. That way they can better track their health. "People ask me, what can we do? Well, the first thing you can do is choose politicians that are considering reducing fossil fuels and are [supportive of] renewable energies," says Dr Roelfsema. "Your vote has a voice for politicians, so you can choose that. But you can also drive less, [use] public transport, not have your air conditioning on all the time - these are all things that can help reduce our footprint." There's also science being done in the lab. Dr Quigley and her team at Minderoo have been selectively breeding combinations of corals to find out which types are the most tolerant to higher temperatures. "We have these fertilized eggs from many, many different genetic backgrounds and we raise them over a series of days until we have coral babies, coral teenagers," she explains. "Just like butterflies, corals also undergo different metamorphoses and stages." By testing those corals, researchers can assess which ones are more tolerant to higher temperatures. Then the idea is to place them back in the water.

Getty Images Scientists have compared the Great Barrier Reef and Ningaloo to the Amazon and the Serengeti

Arsenal fans will get to see their new midfielder Martin Zubimendi in action for the first time on Wednesday - 12 months after the Gunners first set in motion a deal to bring him to the club.

The 26-year-old, one of the most highly-rated number sixes in Europe, played his first minutes for Arsenal in a behind closed door friendly against Watford last Saturday.

But his first appearance in front of supporters since making a £60m move from Real Sociedad earlier this month is expected to come against AC Milan in Singapore.

Zubimendi is a name that many football fans will be familiar with, having played a key role in Spain beating England in the Euro 2024 final. Last summer he also turned down a move to Liverpool.

What was not known at that time, however, is that Arsenal were already making moves to secure Zubimendi this summer after completing a deal for Mikel Merino.

"I think it was a really well-orchestrated plan by the club, and everybody that was involved in it, to understand how we could get what we wanted in two different years, and both at the same time," said manager Mikel Arteta.

"And both players were very keen to come, which is very necessary. I think we had a club in Real Sociedad that understood the situation, and they've been excellent.

"We did what we wanted and the players did what we wanted. I think Real Sociedad at the end were happy with the outcome, so I think it's a very positive outcome for all parties."

Arteta was asked if Zubimendi was going to play more as a six or a number eight and, without hesitation, the Arsenal manager made clear why he has brought Zubimendi to the club.

"Six. Really excited," he said. "And again as I said before when you have him every single day, just around the building, just in training sessions, how he captures the information, how he processes things on the pitch, it's very impressive.

"I'm very, very happy to have him."

Asked if she felt satisfaction in proving people wrong, she said: "No, because I'm not here for anyone else except for me."

"I have nothing to prove. Zip. Zero.

"I'm here for me because I want to be here. And proving anyone wrong or thinking about anyone has never gotten me a win and has never gotten me a loss."

Williams, who won 14 Grand Slams in the doubles alongside sister Serena, last won a singles match in August 2023.

Although Williams never said she had retired, she was listed by the WTA as 'inactive' after 16 months out.

On Monday she made her return in the doubles alongside compatriot Hailey Baptiste as they beat Eugenie Bouchard and Clervie Ngounoue 6-3 6-1 in the last 16.

Williams, a former world number one, had won four Grand Slam titles by the time Stearns was born in 2001.

"She played some ball tonight," Stearns said.

"She was moving really well, which I wasn't expecting too much, honestly. Her serves were just on fire."

Williams will face Polish fifth seed Magdalena Frech in the second round.