Violent Channel smuggling gang's French and UK network exposed by undercover BBC investigation

7 hours ago Share Save Andrew Harding Paris correspondent Share Save

BBC The BBC team filmed senior gang member, Abdullah, in northern France - and another man at a busy UK station

A BBC investigation has exposed the French and UK operations of a powerful and violent smuggling gang taking people across the English Channel in small boats. A reporter, posing as a migrant wanting to cross, helped us gain unprecedented access to the smugglers' notorious forest hideout in northern France - an area plagued by armed battles between rival gangs. Secret filming at a major UK railway station also captured associates of the gang collecting cash payments to secure migrant places on illegal Channel crossings. Two men met us on separate occasions on the busy concourse at Birmingham's New Street Station to collect envelopes containing hundreds of pounds.

Multiple sources have described how gang leaders, who keep one step ahead of the authorities by changing mobile phone numbers and the gang's name, subjected their henchmen and migrants to violent beatings. We have managed to identify three men - Jabal, Aram and al-Millah - all Iraqi-Kurds, who are believed to lead the outfit, which is one of the main groups in northern France transporting people to the UK by small boat. We have also come across other senior figures, including a man called Abdullah, whom we witnessed shepherding groups of migrants towards boats. Another gang member, Besha, who had escorted migrants in France, took a small boat to the UK himself, we learned, ending up in a migrant hostel in West Yorkshire having claimed asylum. The findings are the culmination of months of undercover fieldwork and the creation of multiple fake identities to engage with the smugglers. We have been able to build a detailed picture of the gang's tentacle-like structure and the ways it has successfully evaded the police. Our investigation began in April 2024, after we witnessed French police trying to stop the gang from launching an inflatable boat into the Channel. In the chaos, five people were trampled to death onboard, including a 7-year-old girl named Sarah.

Secret filming: The moment cash is handed over at Birmingham New Street station, for a place on a migrant boat

"There's no danger," said smuggler Abdullah last week, as he spoke to our undercover colleague and gestured towards a cluster of tents hidden deep within a forest outside the French port of Dunkirk. "You are welcome to stay here. We'll get a boat ready nearby and set to sea. We need to move early to avoid the police - it's a cat and mouse game," Abdullah continued, with the reassuring smile of an airline official at a check-in counter. "God willing, the weather will be on our side." The trip across the Channel would be with "a mixture of Somalis, Sudanese, Kurds and so on", he explained, boasting about two successful launches the previous week, with 55 people on each. "Should I bring a lifejacket?" asked our colleague, an Arabic-speaking BBC reporter, posing as a Syrian migrant and wearing a hidden camera. "That's really up to you," the smuggler replied.

The gang's forest hideout is deep in the trees, outside the French port of Dunkirk

Criss-crossed by narrow sandy paths, the forest is beside a main road, a huge canal and a train line, some 4km (2.5 miles) from the French coast. For years, rival gangs and their customers have hidden from the French police here - the gangs' spotters carefully guarding every possible entrance. Deadly gun battles and stabbings are not uncommon here, particularly during the summer, as gangs settle scores and compete over the lucrative and highly competitive small-boat people-smuggling industry. The day after our encounter, we heard of another fatal shooting. Abdullah was, we knew, an increasingly powerful and trusted figure in a gang that has emerged as one of the key players in northern France. It is one of perhaps four gangs now managing crossings and specific launch areas themselves - rather than simply supplying passengers like many of the smaller gangs. Abdullah was, we suspected, a close relative of a more senior figure. Well-dressed, friendly, and constantly on the phone with clients, he seemed entirely at ease in the forest. "No worries," he smiled, as our undercover colleague declined the offer of an overnight stay in the camp and left. A few days later we would be following the gang and its paying clients towards the coast, as they tried to hide from the police, through the night, in a different wooded area. Abdullah would even try to convince our reporting team that he was just another desperate person trying to reach the UK, rather than a smuggler making hundreds of thousands of pounds by risking people's lives in the Channel.

Bing

When we first began to investigate the gang, it was known to those using its services as The Mountain (or Jabal, in Arabic). That was the word customers would use when making payments - and the word we had heard from those who had been on Sarah's ill-fated boat. We soon learned that Jabal was also the name of one of the gang's leaders, all from the same area of Iraqi Kurdistan, near the city of Sulaymaniyah. Jabal controlled logistics from Belgium and France. Another man, Aram, had spent time in Europe but now appeared to be back in Iraq, possibly more involved in drumming up new customers. The third leader, even more shadowy than the others, was known as al-Millah (The Chief in English). He appeared to take a lead on the gang's financial operations. In June 2024, we tracked down Jabal to a migrant reception centre in Luxembourg and confronted him on the street. He denied any involvement and, although we promptly informed the French police, quickly disappeared. "He fled after your intervention in Luxembourg, and he changed his phone and probably fled abroad," said Xavier Delrieu, who heads the French police's anti-smuggling unit. "His whereabouts are now unknown. The investigation is continuing." Delrieu later told us there had been "one arrest [of an Iraqi] linked to Sarah's death", but declined to give any further information, citing operational secrecy. We do not believe Jabal has been arrested. "As long as it is profitable, they're going to continue," said Delrieu. Pascal Marconville, lead prosecutor at the regional Court of Appeal for northern France, agreed: "It's like chess. And they have [the advantage] on the board. So, they're always one step ahead of us."

Migrants were led through a forest by smuggler Abdullah, ahead of attempting a Channel crossing

It is a gloomy assessment, backed up by some of our own findings during this investigation, and it shows how difficult it may be for UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer to deliver on his promise to "smash the gangs". The UK-French "one-in, one-out" pilot scheme, now in force, will "deliver real results", says Mr Starmer. The deal will see some of those arriving in small boats detained and returned to France.

'Small hands'

After Jabal's disappearance in Luxembourg, we returned to northern France to continue our investigation. We spoke to more than a dozen people who had used the gang to reach - or to try to reach - the UK by small boat. With their help, and by analysing other footage we had filmed the night of Sarah's death, we identified several junior gang members - known as "small hands" or simply "guides" in Kurdish, including some who had helped launch Sarah's boat. We tracked the small hands on their social media accounts as they moved around Europe, often seeming to flaunt their wealth. One middle-ranking smuggler known as Besha, we learned, had left on a small boat with his Iranian girlfriend to claim asylum in the UK. We had first begun following him, undercover, as he escorted groups of migrants from Calais to Boulogne train station, ahead of attempts to cross the Channel. Months later, we tracked him and his girlfriend to a migrant hostel in Wakefield, West Yorkshire. We staked it out for three days but lost track of them when they left suddenly. After Sarah's death, and the extensive publicity it attracted, the gang changed its name from The Mountain, to Ghali Ghali. It is an unusual Arabic and Kurdish phrase that may perhaps be best translated as "Exclusive".

For a time, we heard lots of talk of Ghali Ghali, both online and at the train and bus stations in Calais and beyond. The gang was known to be cheap and relatively reliable. Some people who had failed to cross the Channel with the group said they had been reimbursed promptly. For plenty of migrants, the gangs are seen primarily not as dangerous criminals but as entrepreneurs offering a valuable service. Then the gang changed its name twice more - firstly to al-Millah, the nickname of the shadowy third gang leader, and then to Kaka, which means Brother but is also, we believe, another of his nicknames. More recently at least two other names have been used. Unlike many other gangs - who advertise prominently online, particularly on TikTok, using videos of crossings and other scenes, and seek to appeal to particular ethnic groups - our gang has kept a low profile. It works with a wide range of nationalities, particularly from Iraq and Africa, and seems to rely for business on reputation and word of mouth. But that reputation has continued to be affected by news of more deaths in the Channel. We discovered at least seven more people - after the initial five on Sarah's boat - had died in two separate incidents while attempting to cross with the gang. On land, disturbing evidence of the gang's violence has also emerged.

Earlier this year, two sources told us the shadowy figure, al-Millah, was running the gang's operations in the forest near Dunkirk. Independently, our sources both described a scene, one winter's day, when he ordered his small hands to stand in a line, before tying one of them to a tree and beating him severely. It seems the boss suspected the man of stealing money. Al-Millah is "the leader" a young Somali woman told us, separately, by text. "No [migrants] meet him. They are all family… they are also theifs [sic]." We had met the woman, who gave her name as Luna, at a food distribution point run by local charities outside Dunkirk. She had paid the gang for a crossing, she said, but had waited for two months in the forest camp and been disturbed by the abuse she had encountered. In her texts, she described how she feared one of al-Millah's henchmen, whom she called "Abdulah". "He put a gun in [sic] my head one night. He is a very dangerous guy he slap me so many times," she wrote - before sharing a brief video she had secretly filmed of him. Based on that video, and on other details, we believe this is the same Abdullah our undercover reporter would go on to meet in the forests around Dunkirk. A few days later, on what she said was her 13th attempt, Luna crossed to the UK with a different gang. She has since broken off contact with us.

Mobile phone number

It was at this point that we stepped up our investigation - trying to engage more directly with the gang and penetrate its operations. While its leaders had repeatedly changed phone numbers, we managed to confirm that one mobile number belonging to al-Millah remained in use. We later learned the phone had been handed over to Abdullah, who had apparently taken over the running of operations in Dunkirk. Two weeks ago, we made a strategic visit to Brussels - a common transit point for migrants heading to the coast of northern France. Having already used multiple fake identities to contact Abdullah on his mobile, we now rang him again. We knew it was important to be careful when making such a call. The gang would often ask customers to send a pin to confirm their location, and then to make a video call to back that up and to ensure they were genuine. Standing on a street near Brussels' Gare Du Midi, our Arab-speaking colleague, posing as a migrant called "Abu Ahmed", came straight to the point. "Hello. Brother, I'm travelling alone. I want to leave quickly, please. Do you have a departure tomorrow, the day after, or this week?" "Tomorrow, God willing," Abdullah replied. "I prefer to pay in the UK if possible. My money is in a safe place there." This was not an unusual or suspicious request for us to make. Although some people carry cash with them, many others arrange to pay the smugglers through bank transfers or via intermediaries in a range of countries including Turkey, Germany, Belgium and the UK. The money sometimes goes directly to the gang, or it can be held "in trust" to be handed over only after a successful crossing.

Birmingham New Street concourse

We wanted to expose the gang's links in the UK, having already tracked one member to Wakefield. "OK. The price is €1,400," said Abdullah - over £1,200. He seemed in a rush. A few hours later in a text, he sent us a UK mobile phone number and indicated his own name "Abdullah" should be used as a payment reference, along with the single word "Birmingham". Leaving our colleague Abu Ahmed to make his own way to the French coast, we rushed to Birmingham to arrange payment. Handing money over to criminals is not something we do lightly - but in this instance we decided there was a public interest in doing so as it was the only way we could further expose the gang and its wider network. A few hours later, having arranged for a separate BBC colleague, who also speaks Arabic, to pose as one of Abu Ahmed's relatives in the UK and to hand over an envelope containing the cash, we staked out a meeting place in the centre of Birmingham's New Street. Abdullah had given us a UK phone number for his contact, and we arranged to meet the man beside a giant metal sculpture of a bull. Our colleague stood, silently, as the crowds flowed around him. We sat on benches nearby, scanning each face, waiting to see if someone would show up, or if the gang had become suspicious of our plan. Ten minutes later, and on time, someone showed up. "Greetings, brother." "It's all here," said our colleague, holding up the money to show to a bearded man with a glass eye. The man said his name was Bahman, and that he had been sent by his uncle.

Our undercover reporter met the gang's associate by Ozzy, the mechanical bull in Birmingham New Street station

Bahman appeared relaxed and unsuspecting as the two men briefly chatted in the middle of the busy concourse, as we secretly filmed their encounter. "Cash is a problem. I swear, it's a problem," said Bahman, implying that he was not simply a "runner" sent to collect the cash, but someone with at least a passing knowledge of the broader operation. He did not explain why cash was a "problem" but took the money - an agreed payment of £900, about three-quarters of the total smugglers' bill - and left. Small boat passengers can deposit money for their crossing in holding accounts in the UK and elsewhere using "hawala" brokers. It is a global honour system, widely used in the Middle East, in particular, that enables the transfer of money via mutually trusted third parties. But there is a fee payable to businesses offering such a service. The fact that Bahman did not ask for any extra money strongly suggested he was not simply an agent or middleman, but directly linked to our gang in France.

Final downpayment

We then travelled back to Dunkirk, where our colleague Abu Ahmed was finally in a credible position to make direct contact with Abdullah in the forest. Abdullah told us he had received confirmation from Birmingham that most of the money for a crossing had been handed over. We had deliberately left a sum unpaid to give our colleague a good reason to meet Abdullah in his camp, rather than joining the group later as it headed south along the coast to attempt a crossing. With two undercover security guards watching his back from a distance, Abu Ahmed walked towards the forest, following the directions that Abdullah handed out, one texted detail at a time, until he was told to leave the road and clamber down a steep bank. There, he handed over another €400 (£348) to Abdullah, as agreed, before making his excuses, explaining he was staying with other friends in Calais who were also seeking to cross to England.

Secret filming: BBC gets access to forest hideout and follows migrants heading for the coast

Two days later, our undercover reporter received confirmation from Abdullah that an attempted crossing would be made early the next morning. "We are waiting for you near the main station in Boulogne," Abdullah said in one of several brief voice messages. The weather forecast in the Channel was ideal. Hardly a breath of wind. As we had often observed before, French police were already positioned outside the bus and train stations in Dunkirk, Calais and Boulogne - the main gathering points for migrants moving to the beaches. But they made no attempt to stop anyone boarding. Instead, their aim appeared to be to gather information about numbers of people and locations, to help work out where they might later have the best chance of intercepting and destroying the inflatable boats the gangs would, inevitably, head towards. Slashing the inflatable boats with knives before they reach the sea has become the police's main method to prevent launches. As a result, the gangs have begun to change tactics.

Roughly half of all the small boats crossing the Channel are now so-called "taxi-boats" - a police source told us - launched with few or no passengers and in secret. The craft then cruise along the coastline to pick up people waiting in the shallows. "Forty-three tickets," said one of the small hands, addressing a bus driver, as he and a crowd of mostly African men and women clustered at the door, alongside our undercover colleague. It was a familiar scene, with different smuggling gangs all arranging for their customers to gather and to travel along the French coastline on public transport towards different launch spots. Our colleague, Abu Ahmed, initially travelled with the migrants, but - for his own safety - we had agreed he would slip away from the group before nightfall, and before they got close to the beaches.

'Fifteen women. Forty people in all'

From a distance, we watched Abdullah walk across a street in Boulogne, having accompanied some of his passengers there from Dunkirk and Calais. He wore black and carried a large backpack. More people arrived, and sat or lay near him, behind some bushes at a bus stop. They waited for several hours, until early evening, before getting on a local bus heading south towards Ecault beach, an area we knew was a favourite launch spot for the gang. By seven that evening, with our cameras in plain sight, we were openly following Abdullah and perhaps 40 other people, as they walked down a sandy path through the woods and towards the long straight expanse of Ecault beach. Many in the group hid their faces from us but made no move to discourage us from filming, as they moved, suddenly, away from the path and then sat down in a wooded area. Only one person in the group agreed to talk to us. It was Abdullah himself. In quiet, halting English, he claims he was an Iranian migrant called Ahmed, and that this was his second, or possibly third, attempt to cross. Perhaps Abdullah thought that by telling journalists this story, he was building a useful public alias that he might use later - like others in the gang have done - if he ever sought to claim asylum in the UK.

French police ask the migrants whether there are any babies in their party

Abruptly, the sound of police radios in the distance brought all conversation to an end. The group of migrants - including many Somalis, some Sudanese, and possibly some Iranian families - sat in total silence for perhaps an hour. Eventually two French gendarmes spotted them through the undergrowth and walked, slowly, forwards. The younger officer held a canister of pepper spray in his right hand, and it seemed as if all eyes in the group were fixed on it. "Women?" asked the older office in English. "Babies?" he continued and walked around the group counting heads. We had heard the police tend to intervene more often when there are babies involved. The officers also checked our team's press cards as we sat nearby. "Fifteen women. Forty people in all," the officer concluded, and then, affably enough, he offered a parting, "good luck". A few hours later, as darkness fell, one sombre-looking family left. Their child, a boy of perhaps 10 years old, was coughing heavily. A single policeman remained, leaning on a nearby tree and occasionally shining a torch towards the rest of the group, until about 23:00, when he left. The tension quickly melted away. Grins flashed in the darkness. For all the weariness and the risk, the younger men in the group seemed buoyed by a collective sense of adventure. By 02:00, the last muttered conversations faded away. It was now a cold, silent night, broken only by snores, the occasional yelp of someone dreaming, and the hoot of a single owl.

At about 06:30 the following morning, word spread through the group. The police had found whatever boat the gang had prepared for them overnight - we had seen Abdullah disappear into the darkness for at least an hour at one point - and destroyed it. Quietly, people stood up, gathered their lifejackets and blankets and, following Abdullah and his team, began to walk back up the path towards the closest bus stop to head back to their camps and wait for another chance to cross. Meanwhile, we had another journey to make, and a confrontation.

Andrew Harding confronts the man who has come to Birmingham New Street station to get the Channel crossing cash

Back to Birmingham

We had considered seeing if we could get a reimbursement from Abdullah by claiming that our colleague, Abu Ahmed, had changed his mind about the crossing. Instead, we decided it was more important to try to challenge the gang's UK-based associates. And so, later that same day, our undercover reporter called Abdullah one more time. Abu Ahmed said his two friends in Calais also wanted to cross, and that he had left Abdullah's group on the bus because he preferred to travel with his friends. Could they pay in Birmingham too? Just like the last time? The next day, we were back at New Street Station again. It was a near identical repeat of our earlier visit there, except this time, when a different unnamed man - also young, and bearded - arrived beside the bull sculpture to collect yet more cash for the smuggling gang, we broke cover and walked straight up to him, our cameras rolling. "We're from BBC News. We know you're linked to a people smuggling gang…" The man looked around, momentarily confused, his eyes darting. Then he turned and broke into a frantic sprint, heading to the station exit and across the street beyond before vanishing into the city. A few days later, we called Abdullah and by phone and asked him about his smuggling activities. At first, he denied any wrongdoing. Then offered us money. Then he said he needed to call his boss. Then he hung up.

Secret filming at a major UK railway station has captured associates of a violent smuggling gang collecting cash payments to secure migrant places on small boats.

Two men met a BBC undercover reporter on separate occasions on the busy concourse at Birmingham's New Street Station to collect envelopes containing hundreds of pounds.

The confrontation was part of a BBC News investigation - fronted by Paris correspondent Andrew Harding - into the French operations and UK links of the powerful gang taking people across the English Channel.

Another reporter, posing as a migrant wanting to cross, also helped us gain unprecedented access to the smugglers' notorious forest hideout in northern France - an area plagued by armed battles between rival gangs.

Titan implosion that killed all five on board was 'preventable', says report

5 hours ago Share Save Ali Abbas Ahmadi BBC News Share Save

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The US Coast Guard has determined the implosion of OceanGate's Titan submersible that killed all five people on board was "preventable", citing the company's "critically flawed" safety practices. A damning 335-page report from Coast Guard investigators states that OceanGate, the company that owned and operated the Titan, failed to follow maintenance and inspection protocols for the deep-sea vessel. "There is a need for stronger oversight and clear options for operators who are exploring new concepts outside of the existing regulatory framework," Jason Neubauer, the chair of the Coast Guard Marine Board, said in a statement. The Titan submersible disappeared in the Atlantic Ocean while descending to the wreckage of the Titanic on 18 June 2023. OceanGate has extended its condolences to the families of the victims and stated that it "directed its resources fully toward cooperating with the Coast Guard's inquiry". Here are five key takeaways from the two-year investigation.

OceanGate had 'critically flawed' safety practices and a 'toxic' workplace culture

The report condemns OceanGate's safety practices as fundamentally inadequate. It says the primary causal factor for the implosion was the firm's failure to follow "established engineering protocols" for safety and testing. There were "glaring disparities between their written safety protocols and their actual practices", the report states. "This marine casualty and the loss of five lives was preventable," said Jason Neubauer, the chairman of the Coast Guard Marine Board of Investigation that was charged with investigating the Titan disaster. The company continued to use the Titan sub despite a series of previous incidents that compromised the craft without properly assessing its suitability, the investigation found.

Loss of sub's structural integrity caused implosion

The sub imploded 90 minutes into the dive after its carbon-fibre hull suffered a catastrophic loss of structural integrity, the investigation found. The report says the crew died instantly, subjected to nearly 5,000 pounds per square inch of water pressure. Carbon fibre has not been used for a deep diving sub before. It is known to be unreliable under pressure, and its layers are known to come apart in a process called delamination. The submersible did complete 13 dives to the Titanic in the two years preceding the tragedy. But the coastguard criticised the company's continued use of the submersible without checking its hull, after a number of safety issues were picked up its monitoring. Rob McCallum, from EYOS expeditions, a specialist in deep water operations, who advised Oceangate between 2009 and 2016, told the BBC that carbon fibre is an unpredictable material. "When you listen to the sounds of that hull under stress, and the cracking and the popping, that's the sign of damage in the hull, that means the hull is getting weaker," Mr McCallum said. "So you can't expect to take a vehicle to the same depth every time knowing that it's weaker than the dive before, and expect it not to fail at some stage, It is a mathematical certainty that it will fail," he said. "The tragedy is, you don't know when it's going to fail."

Stockton Rush's wife Wendy asks "what's that bang?" in footage that appears in new BBC documentary

OceanGate used 'intimidation tactics' to avoid scrutiny

The report accuses OceanGate of intentionally avoiding regulatory scrutiny through intimidation and strategic manipulation. In the years leading up to the incident, the company "leveraged intimidation tactics, allowances for scientific operations, and the company's favorable reputation to evade regulatory scrutiny", the report said. "By strategically creating and exploiting regulatory confusion and oversight challenges, OceanGate was ultimately able to operate Titan completely outside of the established deep-sea protocols," it added.

OceanGate founder and Titan pilot Stockton Rush's 'negligence' contributed to deaths

The report also blames Stockton Rush, OceanGate's founder and the pilot of the Titan sub during its fatal voyage, for contributing to the disaster. Rush "exhibited negligence that contributed to the deaths of four individuals" (apart from his own), investigators said. Had he survived, investigators said they would have recommended referring him to the US Department of Justice for potential "criminal offences". Coast Guard Marine Board of Investigation Chair Jason Neubauer told the BBC that the structure of the organisation was "deeply flawed". "One of the biggest standouts that I think that any company could take away is, if your CEO, was also filling the role of safety officer, and lead engineer at the end, it's just too many," he said. "It's a consolidation of power that leads to no checks and balances."

Recommendations to prevent future incidents

To prevent similar disasters in future, the Marine Board issued 14 safety recommendations to the US Coast Guard and the wider submersible industry. Key among them: US Coast Guard (USCG) pursue "proper regulatory oversight" of submersibles

Revoking ORV (Oceanographic Research Vessel) designations for submersibles, requiring them to meet certification standards under new passenger vessel requirements

Dedicated USCG resources "providing field support for vessels of novel design"

Clintons subpoenaed to testify in congressional Epstein investigation

Bill and Hillary Clinton appear onstage together at an event.

That decision sparked outrage among Trump supporters and some Democrats, who refused to accept the justice department's statement that there was no "incriminating client list" in the Epstein files.

The committee is seeking information about Epstein's history, after President Donald Trump's administration decided against releasing more federal files on the dead financier.

Republican James Comer, chairman of the House Oversight Committee, issued the subpoenas to the Clintons and eight other individuals.

Former US President Bill Clinton and his wife Hillary are among high-profile figures to be sent legal summonses from a congressional committee investigating the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Amid a rift between Trump and some of his supporters on Epstein, the committee, made up of both Democrats and Republicans, recently voted to issue the subpoenas.

The panel has also subpoenaed the justice department itself for records related to Epstein.

Lawyers for Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein's associate who is currently serving a 20-year sentence for sex trafficking, had indicated she was willing to testify before the powerful investigatory committee, with strict legal protections. Her scheduled 11 August deposition, though, has been postponed indefinitely.

The Epstein legal saga has spanned two decades, with Florida police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation first scrutinising the well-connected tycoon for allegations of sexual abuse in the early 2000s.

Comer wrote in letters to each person that the committee must "conduct oversight of the federal government's enforcement of sex trafficking laws generally and specifically its handling of the investigation and prosecution of Mr Epstein" and Maxwell.

He also indicated that depositions will start this month and run through the autumn, with Bill Clinton scheduled for 14 October.

Former Attorneys General Merrick Garland, Loretta Lynch, Eric Holder and Alberto Gonzales were summoned, along with Jeff Sessions and William Barr, who both led the justice department during Trump's first term. Former FBI Sirectors James Comey and Robert Mueller were also sent subpoenas.

The Clinton administration predates the Epstein investigation, but the couple's critics have long questioned their relationship with Epstein.

A spokesperson has acknowledged that Bill Clinton took four trips with staff on Epstein's private plane in 2002 and 2003, and met with Epstein in New York in 2002. Clinton also visited Epstein's New York apartment around that time.

The letters to each Clinton cites these incidents, as well as other alleged encounters and connections, as reasons for summoning them.

Citing flight logs, US media have previously reported Clinton flew on Epstein's jet up to 26 times, occasionally without his Secret Service detail.

In 2019, a spokesman said the former president "knows nothing about the terrible crimes Jeffrey Epstein pleaded guilty to in Florida some years ago, or those with which he has been recently charged in New York."

The Clinton Foundation and Bill Clinton's press office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Department of Justice had no comment.

The committee is seeking all of the department's documents and communications on Epstein and Maxwell "relating or referring to human trafficking, exploitation of minors, sexual abuse, or related activity", as well as files from the US criminal cases against Maxwell and Epstein, documents from a 2007 agreement to not prosecute Epstein and federal investigations into the former financier.

It is not immediately clear if individuals named by Comer will appear before the committee and, if they do, whether they will testify publicly.

Over the last 200 years, only four other former presidents have received subpoenas from congressional committees, and only two provided testimony.

Notably, the committee investigating the 6 January 2021 Capitol riot voted during a televised hearing to subpoena Trump, who then sued to stop it. The subpoena was dropped when the committee disbanded.

Federal prosecutors charged Epstein with sex trafficking of minors and other crimes in 2019, during the first Trump administration.

He died by suicide in jail that August, and almost immediately afterwards many began questioning the circumstances of his death.

This summer, Attorney General Pam Bondi announced her department, after conducting a review, had found no evidence of the long-rumoured client list.

She also said evidence supported that Epstein died by suicide. The government would release no more files, she said.

The announcements sparked outrage among some supporters of Trump, who promised in his campaign to release Epstein records.

The fight among House Republicans over the case grew so contentious that Speaker Mike Johnson sent lawmakers home early in July to block a vote over the Epstein files' release.

As demands grew for the Trump administration to release more Epstein records, the justice department recently met Maxwell, and it is currently seeking to release grand jury transcripts from her case. On Tuesday, Maxwell's lawyer said she opposed the release of the transcripts.

"Jeffrey Epstein is dead. Ghislaine Maxwell is not," Maxwell's lawyers wrote in a filing.

"Whatever interest the public may have in Epstein, that interest cannot justify a broad intrusion into grand jury secrecy in a case where the defendant is alive, her legal options are viable, and her due process rights remain."

The BBC has asked the White House for comment on the subpoenas.

Family in tribute to Oasis fan who died at Wembley

3 hours ago Share Save Emma Saunders & Ian Youngs Culture reporters Share Save

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Family members of an Oasis fan who died when he fell from a height at the band's concert at Wembley Stadium on Saturday have paid tribute to him as "a loving family man". Lee Claydon, 45, from Bournemouth, was "a lovely bloke" and a "hard working family man", his father Clive said. The 75-year old said his family were devastated and that his son had "everything going for him". On Sunday, police said a man in his 40s "was found with injuries consistent with a fall" and was pronounced dead at the scene at the stadium in London

Mr Claydon, a landscape gardener, reportedly fell from an upper tier of the stadium. His father said the father-of-three "may have had a couple of beers but had not taken any drugs". "People have said horrible things but it was just an accident." He said he was concerned about safety measures at the stadium but that none of his family had seen the incident. "All I know is there was beer everywhere, it's slippery, he slipped apparently, we do not know the rest of it. There's questions about the barriers." Lee's brother Aaron wrote on Facebook: "Still in shock and cannot believe I am writing this, but sadly over the weekend I lost my best mate the man I looked up to and the man I was lucky enough to call my brother Lee Claydon." More than £10,000 has been donated to a GoFundMe page he set up for his brother's partner and sons. On Facebook, another family member, Shannon Gabrielle, wrote: "My cousin Lee tragically passed away this weekend after no doubt having the time of his life at the Oasis concert this weekend. "Most will have seen snippets in the news I'm sure & as you can imagine it has devastated the whole family and for his closest knit family unit it's the toughest time they are going through ever right now." She added: "You just don't fathom you will go out for a night of amazing fun & not come home at the end of it."

Getty Images Oasis extended their "sincere condolences to the family"

Great Barrier Reef suffers worst coral decline on record

3 hours ago Share Save Tom McArthur BBC News Share Save

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Parts of the Great Barrier Reef have suffered the largest annual decline in coral cover since records began nearly 40 years ago, according to a new report. Northern and southern branches of the sprawling Australian reef both suffered their most widespread coral bleaching, the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) found. Reefs have been battered in recent months by tropical cyclones and outbreaks of crown-of-thorns starfish that feast on coral, but heat stress driven by climate change is the predominant reason, AIMS said. AIMS warns the habitat may reach a tipping point where coral cannot recover fast enough between catastrophic events and faces a "volatile" future.

AIMS surveyed the health of 124 coral reefs between August 2024 and May 2025. It has been performing surveys since 1986. Often dubbed the world's largest living structure, the Great Barrier Reef is a 2,300km (1,429-mile) expanse of tropical corals that houses a stunning array of biodiversity. Repeated bleaching events are turning vast swaths of once-vibrant coral white. Coral is vital to the planet. Nicknamed the sea's architect, it builds vast structures that house an estimated 25% of all marine species. Bleaching happens when coral gets stressed and turns white because the water it lives in is too hot.

Getty Images Coral can recover from heat stress but it needs time - ideally several years

Stressed coral will probably die if it experiences temperatures 1C (1.8F) above its thermal limit for two months. If waters are 2C higher, it can survive around one month. Unusually warm tropical waters triggered widespread coral bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef in 2024 and in the first few months of 2025, the sixth such event since 2016. As well as climate change, natural weather patterns like El Niño can also play a role in mass bleaching events. The reef has "experienced unprecedented levels of heat stress, which caused the most spatially extensive and severe bleaching recorded to date," the report found. Any recovery could take years and was dependent on future coral reproduction and minimal environmental disturbance, according to the report. In the latest AIMS survey results, the most affected coral species were the Acropora, which are susceptible to heat stress and a favoured food of the crown-of-thorns starfish. "These corals are the fastest to grow and are the first to go," AIMS research lead Dr Mike Emslie told ABC News. "The Great Barrier Reef is such a beautiful, iconic place, it's really, really worth fighting for. And if we can give it a chance, it's shown an inherent ability to recover," he said.

There has been some success with the Australian government's crown-of-thorns starfish culling programme, which has killed over 50,000 starfish by injecting them with vinegar or ox bile. "Due to crown-of-thorns starfish control activities, there were no potential, established, or severe outbreaks of crown-of-thorns starfish recorded on Central GBR reefs in 2025," the AIMS report noted. The creatures are native to the Great Barrier Reef and are capable of eating vast amounts of coral. But since the 1960s their numbers have increased significantly, with nutrients from land-based agriculture run-off regarded as the most likely cause.

Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars lead VMA nominations

Neither artist released an album in the past year, but both artists have undertaken blockbuster tours in that period.

Beyoncé and Taylor Swift, who are tied for most VMA wins with 30 each, have received one nomination this year - both in the artist of the year category.

Sabrina Carpenter and Ariana Grande are also among the most nominated artists for the 2025 US award show.

Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars and Kendrick Lamar lead the nominations for this year's MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs).

Swift already holds the crown for most Moonman trophies for a single artist, as Beyoncé's tally includes collaborations with others.

Swift was also the biggest winner on the night last year, winning seven prizes, including the top two awards: artist and video of the year.

Overall this year, Lady Gaga has received 12 nominations, Bruno Mars has 11, rapper Kendrick Lamar is next with 10, and Espresso singer Sabrina Carpenter has eight.

Lady Gaga's nominations include artist of the year and best album for Mayhem. The 39-year-old is currently on tour in the US.

Die With A Smile, a collaboration between Lady Gaga and Mars, also 39, is nominated for song of the year, with the musicians also up for best collaboration, best pop, and video of the year.

This year's VMAs includes two new categories: best country and best pop artist.

The show will take place on 7 September at New York's UBS Arena.

No plans have yet been released for MTV Europe Music Awards this year, with the show reportedly on pause.

Police respond to council leader's 'rape cover-up' claim

5 hours ago Share Save Chloe Hughes BBC News, West Midlands Share Save

Police and Crime Commissioner Warwickshire Chief Constable Alex Franklin-Smith said the force's priority was to support the victim

Warwickshire Police has responded to a claim it held back information over the alleged rape of a 12-year-old girl in Nuneaton, saying officers "did not and will not cover up such criminality". County council leader George Finch had claimed two men charged in connection with the reported crime were asylum seekers and accused the force and Home Office of covering it up. In a letter addressed to Finch, Chief Constable Alex Franklin-Smith said the force's priority was to support the victim and identify those responsible. Finch, who represents Reform UK, said residents had "not been told the full story" and the only risk to public order came from "the cover-up itself".

"The immigration status of Ahmad Mulakhil and Mohammad Kabir is now public knowledge, having been placed into the public domain by yourself," Mr Franklin-Smith wrote, in a letter published on the force's website. The Chief Constable said he had asked the Home Office to confirm the men's immigration status.

Warwickshire County Council leader George Finch had accused police of withholding information regarding the alleged rape

The reported rape of a 12-year-old girl in Nuneaton on Tuesday 22 July was a truly horrific crime," Mr Franklin-Smith added. "My responsibility is what Warwickshire Police say and do and we will continue to work with our partners across the county on behalf of the Warwickshire public. "I am confident that Warwickshire Police has treated this investigation seriously from the outset, working tirelessly to identify, locate, arrest and charge those suspected of being responsible for this awful crime as quickly as possible." He confirmed he had first spoken to Finch, who at 19 is the youngest council leader in the UK, about the matter on 31 July as it was "good practice" to work closely with partner agencies. "You informed me you had already received a confidential briefing from your Chief Executive and that you knew the person charged was an asylum seeker," he wrote. "I confirmed this was accurate and we wouldn't be releasing immigration status at point of charge as we follow national guidance." Finch had published a letter on his social media accounts on Sunday, claiming the chief executive of the council, Monica Fogarty, had told him Mohammad Kabir was an asylum seeker living in a house of multiple occupancy. Ahmad Mulakhil faces two rape charges, while Mohammad Kabir is accused of kidnap, strangulation and aiding and abetting the rape of a girl aged under 13. The men, both from the Warwickshire town, will next appear at Warwick Crown Court on 26 August.

Guidelines on disclosing personal information about suspects of crime are being reviewed but Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has said it was up to individual police forces and the Crown Prosecution Service to decide what is released. Reform UK leader Nigel Farage previously called the police's decision not to publish the details a "cover-up". Speaking alongside Finch at a press conference in Westminster on Monday, Farage linked a perceived lack of information from police to what happened after the Southport attacks July. "It is not... in any way at all a contempt of court for the British public to know the identity of those who allegedly have committed serious crimes," he said.

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Couple detained in Iran allowed first call home

6 hours ago Share Save Share Save

Family handout Lindsay and Craig Foreman, from East Sussex, were arrested in January

A British couple detained in Iran have been allowed their first phone calls home after several months of no direct contact. Lindsay and Craig Foreman, from East Sussex, were on a once-in-a-lifetime trip around the world when they were detained by Iranian authorities in January and charged with espionage. The family deny the allegations. Their son, Joe Bennett, said he "finally" got to hear his mother's voice for eight minutes after not having confirmation if she was alive for more than 200 days.

"We laughed, we cried, and for a few brief moments, it felt like the weight of the past seven months lifted," he said. Mr Bennett, from Folkestone in Kent, said his parents were "holding strong". "They're resilient, they're positive, and somehow, they're still smiling," he added. He told the BBC that the call had been a "real boost" for everyone, but said it was still a "very traumatic time".

'Hole of despair'

The family were previously told by the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) that they would be able to speak to their parents, though this did not materialise, Mr Bennett said. It was revealed on Monday that Mr and Ms Foreman had been separated and were being held in what Mr Bennett called "Iran's worst prisons". Craig Foreman's son, Kieran Foreman, said the calls were a "massive relief". "It brings us back up from the hole of despair we have been in – climbing back up from the depths of darkness," he said.

Joe Bennett called on the British government to secure their release

The family said the couple told them that they had access to the most basic of resources. But Mr Bennett told BBC Radio Kent that British officials saw his father was "dishevelled and had lost a lot of weight", while his mother was not walking well due to prison conditions. While Mr Bennett said it was "amazing" to hear their voices, he continued that eyes should be "firmly on the real issues". He called on the British government to recognise them as hostages and indicate what it was going to do to secure their release.

Family handout Lindsay and Craig Foreman have been likened to "bargaining chips" by an Brendan O'Hara MP

An FCDO spokesperson said it was continuing to raise their case directly with Iran's government. "We are providing them with consular assistance and remain in close contact with their family members," a spokesperson added. Brendan O'Hara, vice chair of the all-parliamentary group for arbitrary detention and hostage affairs, previously told the BBC that the couple were "innocent victims of a geopolitical power struggle". The Scottish National Party MP likened them to "bargaining chips" between Iran's government and Western states, like the US, UK and Israel.

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How a Texas showdown could reshape Congress - and Trump's presidency

3 hours ago Share Save Anthony Zurcher North America correspondent Share Save

Watch: Texas Speaker plans civil arrest warrants against absent Democrats

Dozens of Texas Democrats have secretly left the state in a dramatic effort to stop Republicans from holding a vote that could determine the balance of power in the US Congress. Republican Governor Greg Abbot has issued orders that they be arrested on sight - and fined $500 a day. He has also threatened to expel them from office. The Democrats left because at least two-thirds of the 150-member legislative body must be present to proceed with a vote on re-drawing Texas's electoral map. The plan would create five more Republican-leaning seats in the US House of Representatives. This high stakes battle may seem both bizarre and confusing – but it is one that could spread to other states in advance of next year's national midterm elections. At its heart, it's a bare-knuckle fight over political power, who can wield it most effectively and who can keep it.

Why does Trump want redistricting?

The US House of Representatives is made up of 435 legislators who are elected every two years. They represent districts with boundaries determined in processes set by their state governments. Who draws the lines and how can go a long way in shaping the ideological tilt of the district and the likelihood that it elects a Democrat or a Republican. At the moment, the House rests on a knife edge with 219 Republicans and 212 Democrats. There are four vacancies likely to be filled by three Democrats and one Republican in special elections later this year. It wouldn't take much of a shift in the political winds for Democrats to take back control of the House of Representatives in next year's midterm elections. And the party that controls the lower chamber of Congress has powers that extend far beyond simply setting the legislative agenda for the next two years, as important as that may be. House leaders can launch sweeping investigations of presidential actions, as Democrats did in the second half of Donald Trump's first term and Republicans did in Joe Biden's final two years. They can also dig in on policy issues and trigger government shutdowns. They can even vote to impeach a president, as Democrats did in December 2019 and Republicans contemplated during Biden's presidency. Trump appears focused on taking steps to improve his odds of avoiding a similar fate in his second term. He is reportedly fixated on the midterm races and encouraging Texas lawmakers to draw new congressional maps that could increase the likelihood of Republicans winning more House seats from there.

How does redistricting usually work?

Watch: What is gerrymandering? We use gummy bears to explain

District lines are typically redrawn every 10 years, after a national census, to reflect shifts in the population within and between states. The most recent regularly scheduled redistricting took place in 2021. In some states, the process is set by independent commissions but in others the state legislatures are responsible for line-drawing – and the results can frequently be crafted by the party in power to give their side a distinct advantage. In North Carolina, for instance, Republican-drawn lines gave their party 10 of the state's 14 House seats in last year's national elections even though Trump only won the state by a slim margin. Democrats in Illinois hold 14 of the state's 17 House seats, while former Vice-President Kamala Harris won the state with 54%. If Trump has his way, and the maps lead to a five-seat gain next year, Republicans would control 30 of the state's 38 seats. Last year, he won Texas with 56%.

So what could happen next?

The Republican push in Texas has leaders in Democratic-controlled states calling for a response, which could set off a redistricting "arms race" that spreads across the country. California Governor Gavin Newsom, for example, has asked legislators in his state, where Democrats control 43 of the 52 seats, to find ways to increase their advantage. Governors Kathy Hochul in New York and JB Pritzker in Illinois have issued similar calls. "Everything's on the table," Pritzker wrote in a post on social media. "We've got to do everything we can to stand up and fight back - we're not sitting around and complaining from the sidelines when we have the ability to stop them." Texas Republicans vote to arrest Democrats blocking redistricting

Democrats flee Texas to block Republican redistricting map Grassroots Democrats, many of whom have been frustrated by the inability of their party's national political leaders to block the Trump administration's policy agenda, may welcome such confrontational language. States like California and New York have laws that mandate congressional districts be drawn by a bipartisan commission to create constituencies that are compact and fair. Such efforts were the result of a push to remove political considerations from the redistricting process, but now some Democrats view those moves as unilateral disarmament that gave Republicans an advantage in the fight for a House majority. "I'm tired of fighting this fight with my hand tied behind my back," Hochul told reporters at the New York Capitol in Albany on Monday. "With all due respect to the good government groups, politics is a political process." She said the "playing field" has changed dramatically during Trump's second term and Democrats need to adjust. Democrats may not have the final say, however. Republicans are already looking beyond Texas for more places to pick up seats. Vice-President JD Vance is reported to be considering a trip to Indiana later this week to push for new district lines in that state. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis recently said his Republican-dominated state may undertake a similar process. Despite its explicit political designs, all of this is fair game under the US Constitution – at least the way a narrow majority of the US Supreme Court interpreted it in a landmark 2019 case. Partisan "gerrymandering", as the process is sometimes called, has a long tradition in US politics – one that frequently creates oddly shaped constituencies that stretch for miles to include, or exclude, voters based on their political affiliations, all with the goal of giving one party an electoral majority. The Republican move in Texas isn't even without precedent. In 2003, Republican leaders redrew their congressional maps to boost their electoral advantage. The state's Democrats even responded in a similar way – leaving the state to delay the legislative proceedings. The redistricting ultimately passed after enough Democrats returned. There is a risk in all of this, even for the party doing the line-drawing. While the goal is to maximise the number of seats where victory is probable, in an election where one side outperforms expectations even seemingly safe seats can flip sides. Texas, and other redistricting states, could create an electoral map that does not survive a political deluge, leading to otherwise avoidable losses at the ballot box. In a close election, however, every seat counts. And if next year's midterm elections continue the recent trend of narrowly decided political battles, what happens in state legislatures over the next few months could have dramatic political consequences in Washington DC – and, consequently, across America.

After multiple heatwaves early on this summer, many areas of the UK have seen cooler and wetter conditions dominate.

Storm Floris then made it feel like autumn had arrived early as it swept the country on Monday.

However, those on their summer break should not give up hope yet of drier and warmer conditions this month.

Forecasts are showing the potential for bursts of warmth through the rest of August, especially in the south and east of England.

Ion Iliescu: Romania's first democratic leader with a divisive legacy

2 hours ago Share Save Mircea Barbu BBC News in Bucharest Share Save

Peter Turnley/Corbis/VCG via Getty Images Iliescu at Romania's presidential palace in 1993, during his first of three terms in office

Ion Iliescu, a figure whose name is intertwined with the tumultuous birth of modern Romania, has died at the age of 95. A career politician who shaped the country's transition from communism to democracy, he was both a beacon of hope and a deeply divisive presence in Romanian politics. His death on 5 August marks the end of a life spent at the heart of some of Romania's most dramatic and contentious moments. "To understand Iliescu, you must grasp the complexity of Romania's 1990s," says political analyst Teodor Tita. "He was neither a simple hero, nor a straightforward villain. He embodied the contradictions of a country struggling to reinvent itself while haunted by its past." Iliescu rose to prominence amid the chaos of the December 1989 revolution, when decades of Nicolae Ceausescu's oppressive rule came to an abrupt and violent end. Initially hailed as the man who would lead Romania into a new democratic era, Iliescu's legacy soon became more complicated.

His leadership steered the nation through its fragile early years of democracy and towards eventual integration with Nato and the European Union, achievements that many credit to his steady hand. Yet, as Teodor Tita explains: "His presidency was also marked by moments that still scar Romania's collective memory - the suppression of protests in 1990, the violent Mineriads, and his apparent reluctance to fully break with the old communist structures. These events have left a shadow that lingers."

Georges Merillon/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images Iliescu addresses thousands of people during his campaign in May 1990

Born on 3 March 1930 in the Danube town of Oltenita, Iliescu studied engineering in Moscow, Russia, during the Stalin era, where he became active in Romanian student political circles. His time in the Soviet Union would later fuel speculation – never proven – that he had ties with high-ranking communist figures, including Mikhail Gorbachev. After returning to Romania, Iliescu rose rapidly within the Communist Party, holding positions in propaganda and youth policy. But his reformist leanings eventually made him a target for Ceausescu, who marginalised him from the party's upper ranks. By the 1980s, Iliescu was out of politics and working as a director at a government-affiliated academic publishing house. His re-emergence during the 1989 revolution, which lasted from 16-25 December and saw more than 1,000 people killed, was seen by some as opportunistic, but to others, it was a stabilising presence amid chaos. As leader of the National Salvation Front (FSN), a political organisation that formed during the revolution, Iliescu became Romania's interim president and oversaw the rapid dismantling of Ceausescu's regime. On Christmas Day, Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife were executed by firing squad after a trial at a military base that lasted two hours.

Watch: The fall of the Ceaușescus - when Romania stood up to tyranny

In 1990, he won Romania's first democratic election in more than 50 years with a staggering 85% of the vote. But the campaign was marred by disinformation and state-aligned propaganda against liberal rivals. Later that year, Iliescu faced growing protests from students and opposition supporters. His now-infamous call for miners to descend on the capital to "restore order" led to days of brutal street violence known as the Mineriads, during which dozens were injured and several killed. He served another full term after winning the 1992 elections, then returned for a final presidency between 2000 and 2004. Turbulent years followed the revolution. Deep-rooted and insidious influential figures, dating back to the communist era persisted, and Iliescu's presidency was marked by widespread corruption. Critics argue that his reluctance to fully reform the justice system or confront the legacy of the Securitate – the feared secret police – allowed a culture of impunity to take root. More than three decades on from the revolution, Romania still struggles with political corruption and remains one of the poorest and most corrupt members of the European Union – a reality that some trace back to Iliescu's rule. His later years in office saw progress on Romania's Western integration – including Nato membership and the closing of EU accession talks. There were also market reforms, allowing small businesses to open, and Romania adopted its first democratic constitution in 1991, which still shapes the country today. But Iliescu remained dogged by questions over his role in the bloodshed of the early 1990s.

Rwanda says it has agreed to take up to 250 migrants from the US

4 hours ago Share Save Danai Nesta Kupemba BBC News Share Save

Anadolu Agency/Getty Images Government spokesperson Yolande Makole says Rwanda will have the power to approve who it will accept "for resettlement"

Rwanda has said it will accept up to 250 migrants from the US in a deal agreed with President Donald Trump's administration. Under the scheme the deportees would be given "workforce training, health care, and accommodation to jump start their lives in Rwanda", government spokesperson Yolande Makole confirmed to the BBC. A condition of the agreement was that Rwanda would have "the ability to approve each individual proposed for resettlement", she added. The White House has not commented on the deal directly but told the BBC it was constantly talking to countries "willing to assist us in removing the illegal aliens that [ex-President] Joe Biden" had allowed to "infiltrate" the US.

AFP/Getty Images It is not clear what is planned for the facilities prepared in Rwanda for migrants who had been due to arrive from the UK

The UK had paid Rwanda £240m ($310m), even building places to house the asylum seekers. It is not clear what has happened to these facilities. The Reuters news agency reported that an unnamed Rwandan official had said the US would give Kigali an unspecified grant as part of the deal, but this has not been confirmed. Ms Makolo told the BBC that more details would be provided once they had been worked out. Human rights experts have raised concerns that removals to a nation that is not a migrant's place of origin - known as a third country - could violate international law. Rwanda has previously been criticised for its human rights record, including the risk that those sent to the East African nation could be deported again to countries where they may face danger. But Rwanda's government maintains it can provide a safe place for migrants. The country has also come under fire for backing the M23 rebel group embroiled in the conflict in neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo - an accusation it has denied. In June, a ceasefire deal was signed in Washington by Rwanda and DR Congo as part of an ongoing peace process aimed at ending three decades of instability in the region. Additional reporting from the BBC's Barbara Plett Usher in Nairobi and Bernd Debusmann Jr at the White House

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Getty Images/BBC

Zelensky thanks Trump for 'productive' talks ahead of ceasefire deadline

Zelensky said he and Trump had talked about the "increased brutality" of Russian strikes on Ukraine

Witkoff will be in Moscow on Wednesday and is expected to meet Vladimir Putin.

Trump has previously stated that if Russia fails to agree a ceasefire with Ukraine by Friday it will face hefty sanctions or see secondary sanctions imposed against all those who trade with it.

Thanking Trump for "productive" talks on Tuesday, Zelensky claimed that Moscow was particularly "sensitive" to the prospect of sanctions.

Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky has said he and Donald Trump discussed sanctions against Russia, defence cooperation and drone production ahead of a visit to Moscow by US envoy Steve Witkoff.

The Kremlin has mostly skirted Trump's sanctions threat, though spokesman Dmitry Peskov noted last week that the Russian economy had "developed a certain immunity" to sanctions due to being under them for so long. Trump has also admitted that he did not know whether sanctions "bothered" Putin.

The US president may be hoping that Russia's trading partners will be sufficiently inconvenienced by the tariffs that they will choose to pivot away from buying Moscow's oil - ultimately making a dent in the revenue the Kremlin needs to continue waging its war on Ukraine.

On Monday Trump said he would impose hefty new tariffs on India, a major buyer of Russian oil, accusing it of not caring "how many people in Ukraine are being killed by the Russian War Machine". The Kremlin said "attemps to force countries to cut trade relations with Russia" were "illegal".

In his Telegram post Zelensky said he and Trump had also talked about the "increased brutality" of Russian strikes on Ukraine.

The US president has previously referenced Moscow's repeated attacks on Ukrainian cities, signalling irritation that the bombings often follow "nice" phone conversations between himself and Putin.

Only last February Zelensky was asked to leave the White House after a disastrous meeting in which the US president accused him of not being thankful enough for US aid and of "gambling with World War Three".

The two men have gradually repaired their relationship. In July Trump said the US would sell "top-of-the-line weapons" to Nato members which would then pass them on to Kyiv - and this week it was announced that Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands and Sweden would be the first countries to buy weapons from the US under this scheme.

Their combined contributions will amount to more than $1bn and will go towards air defence equipment and ammunition.

Danish Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen said speed was "absolutely critical" and that Denmark would be willing to consider additional funding later.

More than three years on from Russia's full-scale invasion, Ukrainian cities continue to come under heavy bombardment and regular drone attacks. Over the last day six people were killed across eastern Ukraine, authorities said.

Before taking office Trump repeatedly said he would be able to end the conflict within a day - and it was at his behest that Russia and Ukraine sat down for ceasefire talks for the first time last May.

But the discussions failed to bring the two sides any closer to peace and the US president has appeared increasingly impatient with the lack of progress.

Despite Trump’s looming deadline, Vladimir Putin last week poured cold water on any hopes of a swift, long-term ceasefire with Ukraine. Although he said he viewed talks with Kyiv "positively," he also noted that "all disappointments arise from inflated expectations".

Racer killed in 280mph crash while trying to break land speed record

3 hours ago Share Save Max Matza BBC News Share Save

Speed Demon 715

Race organisers at Utah's famed Bonneville Salt Flats have confirmed that a veteran driver died in a 283mph (455km/h) crash while trying to break the land speed record. Driver Chris Raschke lost control of his rocket-shaped vehicle about two miles into the run, according to a statement from the Southern California Timing Association, which runs Speed Week - an event that has been running since the 1940s. Tributes are pouring in for Raschke, who took home the fastest time of the week at last year's event with a speed of 459mph, according to Hot Rod magazine. He was treated for his injuries but died at the scene, organisers say. The cause of the crash is still under investigation.

Race director Keith Pedersen said that his death on Sunday was a blow to the entire racing community. "It's much more of a camaraderie and community, and that builds a lot of friendships and trust," Pedersen said. "He's a big part of it, and he will be sorely missed." Raschke was driving Speed Demon III, the latest iteration of the team's vehicle. The Speed Demon team said in a statement that it was "deeply devastated" by his death. Steve Watt, Speed Demon's crew chief, told BBC News that Raschke died while performing a test, known as a "shakedown", and that the car wasn't "even at half speed". "It was supposed to be a simple easy run," he said on Tuesday. "We don't know what happened," he said, adding that there was no known mechanical failure. Race announcer Brian Lohnes paid tribute in Hot Rod magazine, writing that Raschke was "a pillar of an industry, he was a skilled operator of one of the fastest wheel driven cars in history". The largest salt flat in the world

Speed Demon 715 Speed Demon III, seen before the fatal accident

The real reason weather forecasters (like me) often appear to get it wrong

29 minutes ago Share Save Carol Kirkwood Lead weather forecaster Share Save

BBC

Sometimes I'll be walking around a supermarket, and a shopper will approach me in the aisle. "I hosted a barbecue on Saturday and you told me it was going to rain," they will say. "And it didn't. Why did you get it wrong?". Or the opposite: they planned for a day of sunshine, only to be disappointed by grey skies. Or a parent might ask me in March what the weather might be like for their son's wedding - in September. Those people are always delightfully friendly, and the conversations are part of what makes presenting the weather - which I've been doing for the last three decades - such a joy. But they also shed light on a strange fact. Over my career, forecasting has improved almost beyond recognition. We can now predict the weather with much higher accuracy, and in more granular detail, than when I began presenting in the mid 1990s.

Despite great strides in the accuracy of forecasting, there are still gaps in public trust

Liz Bentley, a professor of meteorology at Reading University and chief executive of the Royal Meteorological Society, says that a one-day forecast is correct over 90% of the time. But despite those strides, there are still gaps in public trust. When YouGov asked British adults last summer whether they trusted the weather forecast, a substantial minority - 37% - said they didn't trust it "very much" or "at all." (Reassuringly, 61% said they did trust forecasters like me.) Jokes about the forecast are widespread. The 2012 Olympics opening ceremony included a clip of the moment from 1987, when the weather forecaster Michael Fish told viewers not to worry because there wouldn't be a hurricane - only for a storm to hit hours later. (As it happens, Michael was correct: hurricane-strength winds did strike southeast England that night, but it wasn't technically a hurricane.) Still, the incident became a byword for forecaster error. So why, with our wealth of knowledge and our powerful forecasting technology, do some people still perceive the weather as incorrect? And do we really get it wrong or is something more complicated at play around how we share forecasts?

Great accuracy - and great expectations

Part of the challenge is around expectations, which have risen in our world of round-the-clock access to information. We can tweak the temperature of our fridge or identify a problem in our car from our smartphones in a fraction of a second. So why can't we find out whether it's going to rain on our street at 2pm on Sunday with 100% accuracy - surely, an easier feat?

AFP via Getty Images In the summer months in particular, viewers pay huge attention to the weather forecast

Another part of the challenge is how that wealth of information is boiled down and communicated. Meteorology produces an overwhelming amount of data; it's difficult to condense it into a snappy, TV or digital app-friendly prediction. It means that even when we are technically correct, some viewers might still end up confused. But the answer also lies in the tricky nature of meteorology. It's a delicate science, and any tiny inaccuracy in the data can skew things - or knock it out of shape.

It's difficult to condense the masses of data into a snappy, digital app-friendly predictions

Every day, across the British Isles, forecasters collect "observations" (or data) on things like temperature and wind speed, through a network of more than 200 "weather stations" run by the Met Office. The data is then plugged into mathematical models run by powerful machines, or "supercomputers". Earlier this year the Met Office unveiled a new supercomputer, switching for the first time from a physical machine to cloud-based software. The new device will deliver "better forecasts and help scientists advance important climate research around the world", the Met Office says. But as with any science, there are weaknesses.

Chaos Theory: when weather goes wrong

The atmosphere is known as a "chaotic system", meaning that a slight error - even as small as 0.01C - in the initial observations can produce a drastically different result. "It's called Chaos Theory," explains Prof Bentley. "Or the Butterfly Effect. The analogy is that if a butterfly flaps its wings in Brazil, it could have an impact on the atmosphere across northern Europe, six days later." There's also a particular challenge when predicting the weather over small geographic areas.

A slight error in the data - even as small as 0.01C - in the initial observations can produce a drastically different result

In the 1990s, a weather event needed to be larger than about 100 miles (161km) before it could be fully observed - now, the UK-wide weather model used by the Met Office can map weather events as small as 2 miles (3km), Prof Bentley says. But zooming in beyond that size remains difficult, so predicting weather like heavy fog - which might affect only a 1km space - is particularly tricky. And even with huge improvements in the science, technology glitches still happen - though these are mercifully rare. Last autumn, the BBC Weather website briefly showed impossibly fast winds of over 13,000mph in London, as well as temperatures of 404C in Nottingham. The BBC apologised for "an issue with some of the weather data from our forecast provider".

The trouble with boiling down data

The biggest challenge of my job is synthesising this data so it fits into a tight television segment. "There's no other science as tested, checked and judged by the general public," says Scott Hosking, a director of environmental forecasting at the Alan Turing Institute. "It's as complex as nuclear fusion physics, but most of us don't experience that day to day, and so we don't have to come up with a way to communicate that science to the public."

One cause of confusion is when different weather providers appear to show different forecasts - Carol Kirkwood explains why this happens

It's also easy to forget that forecasting is just that - predicting. Over the years, we've gotten a lot better at this subtle art of "communicating uncertainty". Meteorologists now produce "ensemble forecasts", where they might run 50 different models, all with slight variations. If all of those scenarios point to a similar outcome, meteorologists can be confident they've got it right. If they produce different outcomes, then their confidence is much lower. This is why, on a weather app, you might see a 10% chance of rain in your area.

Time to rethink forecasts?

Forecasters often think about this tricky issue of communication; how the weather can be more easily explained. Last week, the BBC announced a new partnership with the Met Office. It came eight years after they officially ended their relationship (since 2018, the Dutch MeteoGroup has provided the BBC's forecasts). The new deal aims to combine expertise of the two organisations and "turn science into stories," explained Tim Davie, the BBC's director-general. Certainly, some think more creativity is needed in communicating the weather. Dr Hosking of the Alan Turing Institute suggests forecasters could move away from giving a percentage chance of rain, and instead use the "storyline approach". In this style, forecasters could say things like, "What we're seeing now is similar to what we saw at a certain event a few years ago' - something within memory."

Getty Images More creativity is needed in communicating the weather, according to some experts - one has suggested a "storyline approach"

This is partly why the Met Office, in 2015, decided to name storms. But Prof Bentley argues that numbers can be powerful - and perhaps it's better to arm consumers with the hard data they need. In the US, she says, the weather forecast has percentages "everywhere"; American consumers are told of everything from chance of rain, to the likely spread in temperature. "The public are comfortable [with it]," she says. "Because they've had that information given to them so often, they kind of get it."

The new weather super predictor

Weather forecasting could soon change dramatically with the advent of Artificial Intelligence (AI). The use of machine learning to predict the weather has developed rapidly in recent months. It's often said that forecasters have gained 24 hours of accuracy with each passing decade, meaning the Met Office can now release a weather warning seven days in advance. But AI models designed by Google DeepMind are already correctly predicting the weather 15 days in advance, Dr Hosking says.

Met Office The Met Office calculates the forecast using ultra-powerful machines known as 'supercomputers' - like the one pictured above, which was used from 2017 until earlier this year.

Earlier this year, a team of researchers at Cambridge University released a fully AI-driven weather programme called Aardvark Weather. The results were written in the Nature journal. Whilst traditional forecasting requires hours of use on a powerful supercomputer, researchers say, Aardvark can be deployed on a desktop computer in minutes. They claim this uses "thousands of times" less computing power, and that it can predict the weather in more granular detail. They also claim it will improve forecasts in west Africa and other poor regions (the best traditional forecasting models are mostly designed for Europe and the United States). "It could be transformational; it's super exciting," says Richard Turner, professor of machine learning at Cambridge University, who is one of the designers of the model.

In 1987, weather forecaster Michael Fish told viewers not to worry because there wouldn't be a hurricane - only for a storm to hit hours later

But Prof Bentley identifies a weakness in AI-driven weather models: they are fed with reams of historic data, and trained to spot patterns - which in her view makes it very difficult to predict events that haven't happened yet. "With climate change, we're going to see new records," she says. "We may see 41C in the UK. But if AI is always looking backwards, it will never see 41 because we've not had it yet." Prof Turner accepts that this is a challenge with AI models like his and says his team is working on remedies.

The 'so what' factor

In the future, analysts think, forecasts will go into more depth. Rather than just predicting rain, the forecast will increasingly tell you what effect that rain will have - on your travel, or on your garden plans. Prof Bentley calls this the "so what" factor. "Do you put something on [a weather app] that says, 'If you're planning a barbecue, then you might want to do it at lunchtime because the chances are you're going to get washed out in the afternoon'?" This chimes with a trend I've noticed from my own career: a growing interest in understanding the science behind the weather.

Carol Kirkwood has been a weather forecaster for 30 years and has observed a change in what viewers want

Viewers are no longer just interested in knowing whether there'll be a heatwave; they want to know why. That's the reason we publish more content explaining the physics of the aurora borealis, or why climate change is leading to bigger hailstones. As for AI, it certainly could improve accuracy - but there's a risk, also, that viewers become deluged by information. Dr Hosking says that because AI is more nimble and can tweak weather models more quickly, users will soon have access to frequently-changing forecasts. They may also have "much more localised" information, he says (perhaps giving data not just on your town, but on your back garden, other analysts predict). This could lead to an overwhelming amount of data for those using the app, gluing users to their smartphones. And in that world, it will become even more important for human forecasters to communicate the weather in a clear, understandable way. But there are upsides too - not least the prospect of much longer-term, more accurate forecasts. Perhaps one day, when a mother asks me to predict weather at her son's wedding six months from now, I might be able to give a slightly better answer. Additional reporting: Luke Mintz

Boss of water regulator Ofwat to resign

Mr Black, who became chief executive in April 2022, said he wished the team "every success as they continue their important work".

Last month, the government said Ofwat will be scrapped to create a new watchdog as part of an industry overhaul to address failings.

Ofwat, which regulates the water sector in England and Wales, said David Black had decided that now was the time to "pursue new opportunities".

The chief executive of Ofwat will stand down at the end of the month, the regulator has confirmed.

Ofwat said an interim chief executive will be chosen "in due course".

Ofwat's chair Iain Coucher said Mr Black had worked "tirelessly, to bring about transformational change in the water sector".

The decision comes amid widespread criticism of water companies over leaking pipes and sewage spills, with pollution incidents in England hitting a new record.

A long-awaited report on the industry published last month made 88 recommendations to reform the water sector, including increasing bills sharply to pay for investment, making smart meters compulsory, and scrapping Ofwat.

Following its release, Environment Secretary Steve Reed confirmed Ofwat would be abolished.

The report by Sir Jon Cunliffe, a former Bank of England deputy governor, blamed Ofwat but also the government and water firms for the state of the industry.

Throughout the report, there are continual references to the media regulator, Ofcom - which is seen to have done a better job by maintaining a focus on continual investment in better infrastructure over time.

The commission behind the report heard that Ofwat has faced far too little accountability for its decisions, but also blamed the government for "providing no detailed guidance to help Ofwat balance its objectives and manage trade-offs".

The report also criticised the water firms for marking their own homework on sewage spills - and questioned their payouts to shareholders.

Since being privatised in 1989, water companies have paid out at least £54bn to shareholders, including to overseas investment funds.

"There are legitimate questions about whether companies have, in some cases, issued dividends at the expense of their own financial resilience," the report said.

The government was criticised for limiting the scope of the report to exclude renationalising the water industry in England and Wales.

Reed said at the time that the government did not have the money to nationalise the industry.

Former star fund manager and firm face £46m fine

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

PA

Former star fund manager Neil Woodford and his investment firm face a total of almost £46m in fines from the financial watchdog. Some 300,000 people lost out when Woodford Equity Income Fund collapsed in 2019 after investors tried to withdraw money faster than the fund could pay out. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has decided to fine Mr Woodford nearly £6m and ban him from holding senior manager roles and managing funds for non-professional investors. It has decided to fine his fund, Woodford Investment Management (WIM), £40m. WIM said it "strongly" disagreed with the FCA's decision and intends to appeal, meaning all the FCA's findings are not final.

Once a high-flying city fund manager, Mr Woodford was variously described as the man who made middle England rich and the UK's answer to Warren Buffet. He made his name at the fund management giant Invesco Perpetual, before leaving in 2013 to set up his own company. He was as close to a household name as is possible in the world of investing and people piled into his flagship UK Equity Income Fund. At its peak, it had £10bn of people's money in it. The Woodford Equity Income Fund (WEIF) was managed by Mr Woodford and WIM, but was suspended in June 2019 meaning investors, most of whom were ordinary retail investors, were unable to get hold of their money. The fund had fallen in value from a high of £10.1bn in May 2017 to £3.6bn in the run-up to its suspension. The FCA said between July 2018 and June 2019 WIM and Mr Woodford made "unreasonable and inappropriate investment decisions". The watchdog said they had sold off liquid investments, which were easier to sell, and bought ones that were harder to sell.

As a result, at the time the company was suspended, only 8% of the investments could be sold within seven days - investors should have been able to get their money within four days. According to the FCA, WIM and Mr Woodford "did not react appropriately as the fund's value declined, its liquidity worsened and more investors withdrew their money". "This disadvantaged investors who remained in the fund, compared to those who had withdrawn their investment before the fund was suspended." Steve Smart, joint executive director of enforcement and market oversight at the FCA, said: "The very minimum investors should expect is those managing their money make sensible decisions and take their senior role seriously." "Neither Neil Woodford nor Woodford Investment Management did so, putting at risk the money people had entrusted them with."

Water park investigation after girl, 4, dies

4 hours ago Share Save Alex McIntyre BBC News, West Midlands Share Save

BBC Police vehicles remained at Waterworld following the death of a four-year-old girl

A multi-agency investigation is under way into the circumstances surrounding the death of a four-year-old girl after her visit to a water park. The girl died in hospital following an incident at Waterworld in Festival Park, Stoke-on-Trent, at about 16:20 BST on Monday, Staffordshire Police said. The attraction, which remained closed on Tuesday out of respect for the girl's family, said she was found unconscious in the Lagoon area of its Aqua Park. Stoke-on-Trent City Council confirmed its environmental health team was working with the police and venue to "undertake a full health and safety investigation".

In a statement released on Tuesday evening, Waterworld said its aqua park, mini golf and mini village would re-open on Wednesday. "Resuming daily life and operations remains incredibly difficult. Our thoughts are, above all, with the family and their loved ones following the events of Monday," it said. "We remain committed to supporting the community and would like to thank you all for your support."

Emergency services were called to Waterworld on Monday afternoon

Steve Watkins, the Lord Mayor of Stoke-on-Trent, said: "We were all devastated to hear of the death of a four-year-old girl at Waterworld. "This is a terrible tragedy and our thoughts are with her family and loved ones." Waterworld said on Monday that lifeguard and management teams performed CPR on the girl before emergency services arrived. All visitors were asked to leave the pool during the rescue operation, a company spokesperson said. Det Ch Insp Lucy Maskew, of Staffordshire Police, said officers were making inquiries and urged people not to speculate about the incident. The force asked anyone who witnessed the incident or had knowledge of it to call 101.

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Live at Edinburgh Fringe: Why is Trump talking about actress Sydney Sweeney? Live at Edinburgh Fringe: Why is Trump talking about actress Sydney Sweeney?

Have they actually made a bid? Can they?

Manchester United made their first formal offer for Sesko on Tuesday.

BBC Sport chief football news reporter Simon Stone reports it is an initial fee of £65.2m, rising to £73.8m.

They had been thought to want to be sure Sesko wanted to join them before making their move.

Old Trafford sources say they do not have to sell players before making more signings - but do accept finance will have to be generated by several players unwanted by Ruben Amorim.

Why would Sesko want to join them?

Sesko would be a likely starter at one of the world's biggest clubs if he joined Manchester United.

Rasmus Hojlund, also aged 22, has only scored 14 Premier League goals in two seasons since his £64m move from Atalanta.

By contrast Sesko has scored 27 Bundesliga goals in that time, having joined Leipzig from Salzburg in the same summer.

"Although many external United observers feel any spare income would be better spent on a physical, energetic central midfielder, Ruben Amorim spent most of last season moaning about his side's inability to score often enough," said Stone.

"Clearly he feels an upgrade is required on Rasmus Hojlund at the top of the pitch. To that end, United are willing to listen to offers for Hojlund, which may end up being part of their negotiations with RB Leipzig."

And he could be part of an all-new front line with Matheus Cunha, a summer signing from Wolves, and ex-Brentford man Mbeumo joining for about £130m in total this summer.

He could get plenty of service from the three players nearest him if he was the focal point up top.

Bruno Fernandes created more chances than any other Premier League player last season - 91 - with his team-mates scoring 10 of them.

Mbeumo was fifth on the list, creating 70 chances for Brentford team-mates, and Cunha was 15th, with 57 opportunities laid on for Wolves players.

Why might Sesko not want to join them?

There are some fairly obvious reasons why Sesko might decide Old Trafford would not be the best destination to keep his career on this upward trajectory.

For one, they are not in any European competition this season. Sesko has played in the Champions League in three of the past four seasons, and the Europa League in the other.

And he would be joining a team who finished 15th last season, their worst campaign since they were relegated in 1973-74.

Boss Amorim has been given the opportunity to rebuild this summer, having only taken over midway through last season - but a bad start could see a managerial change too.

And Sesko would have to buck a fairly dramatic trend. There is a very strong argument that Portugal midfielder Fernandes is the only outright success United have had in the transfer market since 2016.

Fenerbahce boss Mourinho, who managed Costa at Porto between 2002 and 2004, fought back tears and paid tribute to his former captain at a news conference before Wednesday's Champions League third-round tie against Feyenoord.

"If he could speak with me now he would say 'do your press conference, tomorrow play the game mister and win the game - forget about me'," Mourinho said.

"I'm going to try and do my job today and tomorrow, and then I'll cry after."

Costa graduated from Porto's academy and went on to make 324 appearances for the club.

He won 24 trophies before leaving in 2005, including the Champions League, Uefa Cup and eight Primeira Liga titles.

Deco, who was also part of Porto's Champions League-winning side, said Costa was a "legendary captain" and referred to him by his nickname Bicho, which means bug in Portuguese.

"Today, Portuguese football and FC Porto lose one of its greatest symbols," Deco posted on Instagram.

"Jorge Costa was the embodiment of Porto's spirit and determination. A legendary captain who inspired us all.

"It was an honour to share so many titles and joys with you. Your name will forever be remembered. My condolences to the entire family. See you always, 'Bicho'."

Another former team-mate Pepe said: "My deepest condolences to all your family.

"Your dedication and legacy will always live in the unparalleled history of victories of FC Porto. Rest in peace, Jorge Costa."

In 2000, Costa won the Portuguese Golden Ball - an award given to the league's best player.

After falling out with Porto coach Octavio Machado, Costa joined Charlton on loan in 2001 and made 26 appearances for the Addicks.

"He was a fantastic person who always got his point across," former Charlton boss Alan Curbishley said.

"Everyone respected him because of his ability. He was a great lad."

Costa began his managerial career with Braga and the club said his "passing has shaken the entire national sporting community".

"Braga cannot help but share in the enormous grief felt by his family, his friends and the entire FC Porto organisation," the club added on X.

After stints in the dugout in Portugal with Braga, Olhanense and Academica, Costa managed teams in Romania, Cyprus, Tunisia, India and Gabon.

"A seismic legal confrontation between players and Fifa."

The view of former Fulham midfielder-turned-lawyer Udo Onwere when asked to assess the significance of the compensation claim launched against Fifa this week on behalf of current and former professional footballers over transfer rules.

On Monday, Dutch foundation Justice for Players (JFP) said it had started a class action lawsuit against the sport's world governing body, along with the football associations of France, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and Denmark.

It argues that 100,000 footballers playing in Europe since 2002 could have lost income as a result of "unlawful" Fifa regulations, and that "preliminary analysis" shows that damages could amount to several billion pounds.

The case is the result of last year's ruling by the highest European court that Fifa regulations over some football transfers broke EU laws.

In October, the European Court of Justice (CJEU) found in favour of former Chelsea and Arsenal midfielder Lassana Diarra after he argued some of the rules restricted his freedom of movement and breached competition law, and sued Fifa.

"This class action could rewrite the rules governing player mobility across the global football industry" says Onwere, who is now a partner at law firm Bray and Krais.

"What distinguishes this case from previous skirmishes with the governing body is its sheer scale and complexity... The outcome of this litigation could usher in a new era of transfer regulations and governance - one where contractual stability is balanced with player autonomy.

"It could prove to be as transformational as the landmark 1995 Bosman ruling."

Such a comparison is notable, because JFP is being advised by Diarra's Belgian lawyer Jean-Louis Dupont, who also won the landmark 1995 case at the CJEU on behalf of ex-player Jean-Marc Bosman.

That ruling dramatically changed the sport, meaning footballers could choose to run down their contracts and move clubs on a free transfer, with teams no longer able to demand compensation for out-of-contract players.

Thirty years on, some now believe this latest case could result in players being able to terminate their own contracts, without paying compensation, before those deals come to an end.

BBC Sport has been told that Fifa has until the start of September to respond to the threat of legal action.

British sprinter Matthew Richardson wants to become the "fastest track cyclist of all time" as he aims to break the 200m flying start time trial world record in Turkey next week.

Richardson, who switched his allegiance to Great Britain from Australia after the Paris Olympics last summer, is attempting to break the record that stands at 9.088 seconds.

He is one of three British cyclists bidding to break records on the same track on 14 August, with Charlie Tanfield attempting the elite hour mark and para-cyclist Will Bjergfelt taking on the C5 category hour milestone.

"It has a nice ring to it, being the fastest track discipline," Richardson said.

"There's no extra caveats to it afterwards - it's in a flat 200 [metres], you reached the highest peak speed possible on the track. It'd be cool, if I do it, to call myself the fastest of all time,"

Jason Behrendorff set the tone for an impressive Oval Invincibles bowling and fielding effort with a miserly 10-ball opening set.

The Australian left-arm seamer returned to dismiss Spirit skipper Kane Williamson in his next five, by which time opener Keaton Jennings had already gone.

David Warner, making his Hundred debut, was starved of the strike in the powerplay and in trying to make up for lost time holed out off Jordan Clark for just nine.

That left Spirit 26-3, in bother but the damage was far from terminal. Enter Rashid Khan.

The Afghanistan leg-spinner - who also took three catches in the deep - struck with his third ball to remove Wayne Madsen in a 10-ball set that went for 10 runs, and proceeded to show off his full arsenal of deliveries, varying his pace to great effect.

He conceded just one more run in his next 10 balls. Liam Dawson was trapped plumb in front and Ryan Higgins dollied a catch to backward point as Spirit's batters tried and failed to get to grips with the top T20 wicket-taker of all time.

Plenty of Rashid's deliveries were significantly quicker than the ultra-slow balls being deployed by Curran.

The lack of pace seemed to throw off the Spirit batters completely and the left-armer removed Ashton Turner, who top-scored for Spirit with 21, with a 47.7mph ball before going even slower to bowl Richard Gleeson and end the innings.

With such a small total to chase, Invincibles were able to take their time on a tricky pitch and despite Spirit spinner Dawson's excellent 2-9, it was only a matter of when rather than if the holders would seal the win.

It was left to Donovan Ferreira to finish it off by clubbing Luke Wood for six from the 69th ball of the Invincibles innings.

Anti-discrimination charity Kick It Out says it received record-high reports of discrimination during the 2024-25 season with a rise in sexism, transphobia and faith-based abuse.

Across all levels of English football last season, there were 1,398 incidents reported - up from the 1,332 published in last season's figures - and the most ever received by the organisation.

Reports of sexism and misogyny rose by 67%, with reports increasing from 115 in the 2023-24 season to 192.

Faith-based abuse climbed from 117 to 132, while reports of transphobia doubled from 22 to 44.

Reports involving girls' football doubled to 31, including two at under-9s level, while overall youth reports rose from 144 to a record high of 186.

Overall reports of racism fell across all levels of football, but the number of racist incidents in the professional game increased from 223 to 245.

Kick It Out also noted in its end-of-season reporting statistics for last season:

There were 621 reports of online abuse submitted - a 5% rise on last year - with 268 related to racism.

There were 18 reports of sexist chanting received for 2024-25, which almost matched the total from the previous four seasons combined.

Grassroots football accounted for 325 reports - up from 303 in 2023-24.

Homophobic abuse fell slightly, down from 162 to 139 reports.

Disability abuse also had a significant increase, with reports up by 45% across all levels of the game from 51 to 76.

Kick It Out chief executive Samuel Okafor said "discrimination remains deeply embedded across the game", and the rise in abuse in youth football "should be a wake-up call".

Okafor acknowledged there had been a "clear shift" in people "calling out sexist behaviour", but he wants to see greater action to tackle online abuse.

"It's clear that online platforms are still falling short. The volume of abuse remains high, and too often those responsible face no consequences," said Okafor.

"Fans are doing their part by speaking up. It's now up to football authorities, tech companies and government to show they're listening, and to act."