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Swedish sword attack victim was 17-year-old girl, police say

Sun, 23 Aug 2026 01:34:15 GMT

EPA

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson and Social Democratic Party leader Magdalena Andersson visit the makeshift memorial.

Claire Keenan

2 hours ago

The victim of a deadly sword attack at a high school in central Sweden was a 17-year-old girl, police have confirmed.

Two boys aged 12 and 17 were also seriously injured in the attack at Brinell School in Fagersta on Friday afternoon, according to local authorities, while a third person sustained minor injuries.

An 18-year-old man, who has not been named, was arrested and police said they were treating the case as murder and attempted murder.

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson and opposition leader Magdalena Andersson visited the school, where flower tributes have been laid to honour the victims, on Saturday morning.

Students at the school had only just returned to the classroom following the summer break when the deadly attack unfolded on Friday afternoon.

The police later confirmed they fired shots after being called to the scene but did not say whether the alleged attacker was hit before he was detained.

Sweden's public broadcaster reported that the suspect was wearing a helmet. Local media also said he was a former student.

The region went into a state of emergency on Friday, but it had ended by Saturday.

The school has just under 500 students on its roster, according to SVT, and is located 170km (105 miles) north-west of the capital, Stockholm.

Investigators have already carried out two house searches in connection with the suspect, police said.

On Friday, Sweden's Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson described the attack as a "serious incident," and said "we do not know what lies behind the act, but we know that police are working very intensively", in a post on X.

Sweden's King Carl XVI Gustaf said he received the news "with dismay and sadness".

Syria says Israeli strike near Damascus violation of international law

Sat, 22 Aug 2026 21:42:42 GMT

Getty Images

The village of Beit Jinn is southwest of Syria's capital Damascus

Henry Moore

22 August 2026

Syria has condemned an Israeli attack on the village of Beit Jinn, southwest of the country's capital Damascus, which officials said hit a civilian vehicle and left several people injured.

The attack was the second known Israeli strike on Syria in the past week, with Syria branding it a "violation" of its sovereignty and international law.

In a post on X, the Israeli military said it had targeted a "terrorist" in the "final stages" of preparing attacks which posed an immediate threat to soldiers.

The latest incident comes days after reports emerged Israel had struck a military airbase close to the Turkish border, which Syria said threatened to escalate tensions in the region.

After the earlier attack, Washington issued a rare rebuke of Israel, calling it an "unnecessary escalation that does not advance regional stability".

In an interview on Friday, the US ambassador to Turkey, Tom Barrack, suggested that the strike could be "the Israelis baiting the Turks" in an attempt to draw Turkey into a conflict ahead of upcoming Israeli elections.

Barrack's comments led Israel's far-right defence minister, Israel Katz, to describe his account as "full of inaccuracies".

Writing on X, Katz added Israeli forces were acting "in light of clear intelligence information about Turkey's intentions".

Following Tuesday's strikes on the Abu al-Duhur airbase, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu published a statement: "Israel and Syria agreed to a status quo in security matters, which Syria was on the verge of breaching by permitting Turkish troops to deploy at an airbase near Aleppo."

Anadolu via Getty Images

Abu al-Duhur military base captured by anti-Assad forces in December 2024

After the strike Turkey did not confirm whether any of its troops moved to the Abu al-Duhur airbase, which sits 70km from the Turkish border. However, Ankara rejected Israel's suggestion that it posed a threat.

Abu al-Duhur airbase has been out of service as a dedicated military airfield since 2013. Rebel forces seized control of the base as they swept through the country in December 2024.

Israel occupies territory in southwest Syria it seized after the fall of Bashar al-Assad in 2024.

Syria has been trying to rebuild its military facilities that were damaged during the offensive that saw Bashar al-Assad's government overthrown.

The Turkish military has provided assistance to Syria since the overthrow of Assad, while Israel continues to view both countries with deep suspicion.

Al-Sharaa has forged closer ties with the West since coming to power, particularly the US and in November 2025 he became the first Syrian leader to visit the White House.

Carney say Trump started trade war with fresh tarrifs 'attack'

Sat, 22 Aug 2026 20:10:00 GMT

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Watch: 'US asked too much and offered too little,' says Canada's PM Mark Carney

Nadine Yousif

Senior Canada reporterToronto

22 August 2026

Prime Minister Mark Carney has said a fresh wave of US tariffs on Canada is a "miscalculation" designed to "hurt and divide us", after trade talks collapsed late on Friday.

"They asked too much and they offered too little," Carney said on Saturday, adding that that the US and Canada were now in a trade "war". "You're at war when you get attacked. We got attacked," he said.

The prime minister confirmed he would match US tariffs "dollar-for-dollar" from 8 September, including levies on steel, dairy, appliances and electronics.

The collapse of the trade talks upends a deeply integrated trading relationship, with no clear path to resolution. US President Donald Trump has yet to comment.

"We cannot accept what they've offered, and we will not give what they've asked," Carney said.

Both countries were optimistic of a deal earlier in the week, but talks fell apart after both sides accused the other of making last-minute changes.

Now that talks have broken down, Canada has been hit with new 50% US tariffs on a range of Canadian goods, in addition to existing US tariffs on Canadian steel, aluminium, automobiles and lumber.

The new tariffs are limited in scope, covering about $20bn (£15bn; C$28bn) of Canadian imports, or about 5% in total, including wine, dairy, cement, clothing and hockey equipment.

The prime minister said Canada was retaliating "reluctantly" to protect its interests. Details of the counter-measures will be released in the coming days, he said.

Leaders of other federal parties in Canada, including the Conservative opposition, voiced support for the prime minister, as have the leaders of some Canadian provinces.

Tariffs - a tax placed on imports from other countries - have been a key component of Trump's trade policy, with the US president arguing they will boost American manufacturing and create jobs at home.

Critics, however, say tariffs have raised prices for American consumers and have disrupted and damaged the global economy.

Carney faces crucial test after walking away from Trump's deal

Carney's speech on Saturday was his first address to Canadians after he announced late on Friday night that a deal would not be reached, accusing the Americans of making "last-minute changes" that were "unfair" and "uneconomic".

US negotiators, meanwhile, accused Canada of making "new demands and walk backs" on terms which had been previously agreed.

On Saturday, US trade representative Jamieson Greer told Fox News there were no plans to resume talks.

He added that the US had been prepared to cut some of its tariffs on Canada as part of the ill-fated deal.

Carney, however, said the US presented "unacceptable" terms that were too restrictive, including curbing Canada's ability to strike new trade deals with other countries.

He also rejected the assertion that Canada had made last-minute requests: "We clarified what was on offer and were continually disappointed by the answers."

Doug Ford, the leader of Canada's most populous province Ontario, backed Carney and said Trump "can't be trusted".

British Columbia Premier David Eby said the US demand for restrictions on Canada's ability to have other trade deals "would reduce us to the economic equivalent of the 51st state".

"It was never acceptable to Canadians," Eby said.

The Conservative opposition leader Pierre Poilievre also appeared to support Carney, calling the latest US levies "unjustified".

Quebec's premier, Christine Fréchette, warned jobs would likely be lost as a result of the new US tariffs.

"Behind these numbers are real people," she said, vowing to introduce measures to support impacted sectors.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, whose oil-rich province has worked to make inroads with the Trump administration, urged both sides to resume talks.

The collapse comes after more than a year of on-again, off-again trade talks, which intensified in recent weeks after a US-imposed deadline to strike a deal or face further tariffs.

The two countries were also engaged in a mandatory review of an existing North American free trade agreement, known as USMCA, with Mexico.

The pact was signed by Trump during his first term to replace the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement. It underpins $1.6tn (£1.2tn) in annual trilateral trade across Canada, the US and Mexico.

Earlier this summer, Canada and Mexico had formally requested for USMCA to be renewed for another 16 years. The US, however, declined to renew it in its current form.

Asked how Friday's trade talk collapse would impact the North American free trade pact, Carney said it was "certainly not good news".

Carney faces crucial test after walking away from Trump's deal

Sat, 22 Aug 2026 20:02:46 GMT

Reuters

Jessica Murphy

Canada digital editorToronto

22 August 2026

The United States and Canada have entered into uncharted territory.

The longtime allies and economic partners, who have enjoyed free trade for decades, are now in an escalating trade war with no clear off ramp.

And for Prime Minister Mark Carney, the late night decision to suspend talks with President Donald Trump and to retaliate instead of agreeing to a deal that seemed in reach will be a significant political test.

He is one of the first world leaders to walk away from the negotiating table with the White House - and the outcome will be closely watched.

Both sides have blamed last-minute changes for torpedoing the tentative deal, with Carney saying the US "asked too much" and "offered too little".

Carney's decision will challenge the appetite among Canadians to accept some economic pain as Ottawa pushes for more US concessions.

After rejecting Trump's high pressure tactics, and in choosing to hit back against the latest duties, Carney will need to convince Canadians that the economic pain is worth the cost of standing up to the Trump administration in search of a better agreement in the long run.

In remarks on Saturday, he said "we take this step confident this is in the best interest of Canada" and accused the US of a "power play" by seeking eleventh-hour changes.

Asked by a reporter whether the US and Canada were locked in a trade war, he replied: "You're at war when you're attacked - we got attacked."

Switching to French, he said the spiralling trade dispute "wasn't our choice", adding: "Canada is strong, Canada is ready, Canada is united."

There is no doubt this will cause pain on both sides of the border, with business facing more pressure from US duties and Canadian counter-tariffs.

Canada sends about 70% of its exports to the US, and the country is the top trading partner for a number of US states, with Michigan, Kentucky, Indiana and Ohio among the most exposed.

Carney came to power with a call for "elbows up" - an ice-hockey term for an aggressive approach - vowing to fight for Canada in the face of a Trump administration keen to exert economic pressure for its America First agenda.

Many Canadians have told pollsters that they are willing to fight.

A recent survey by Abacus Data suggested that around 36% of Canadians would support retaliating to US tariffs, while a Leger poll indicated that 56% of Canadians want the federal government to take a hard line and make no more concessions.

Canadians frustrated with the US tariffs have already chosen to avoid travelling there. The boycott has meant a loss of about C$3.3bn ($2.35bn; £1.75bn) in travel revenue for the US last year.

A decision by most provinces to remove US alcohol from store shelves has hammered that sector.

Based on US government trade data, US wine exports to Canada fell 78% year over year, a $357m loss in export value. The US distillers association reported similar numbers - saying provincial bans have caused exports of American spirits to drop by more than 70%.

The ban quickly became a point of frustration for the Trump administration.

Canada’s prime minister will also need to convince the provinces who have been less affected by the US trade dispute so far that walking away is a risk worth taking.

He briefed them on Saturday on the current state of affairs, and for now, they are showing a united front.

British Columbia Premier David Eby said he was committed to the "national project we are on", while Ontario Premier Doug Ford said "we didn't start this fight but I can assure you. we're going to win this fight".

Many Canadians are boycotting the US, so this is where they're travelling instead
Canada says it will match US tariffs 'dollar for dollar' as trade talks break down
Carney calls Trump's fresh tariffs a 'miscalculation' after trade talks collapse

What went wrong?

For a week, it seemed that a deal between Washington and Ottawa was in reach.

It's still unclear exactly how the talks fell apart in the final hours, but by all accounts it came down to the wire.

Carney said that late US proposed terms "were unfair, uneconomic, and called into question the reliability of any deal".

He added on Saturday those terms included demands on the automobile sector and "unacceptable" restrictions on trade deals with other countries.

In one biting line, he said of the Trump administration: "We recognise sometimes its signature is written in pencil".

US trade representative Jamieson Greer, meanwhile, pointed to "new demands and walk backs of other commitments by Canada".

In a statement on Friday, the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States suggested "Canadian provinces' continued refusal to return US spirits products to store shelves has led to this outcome".

There were also reports by Canadian media, external that US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, was unhappy with the deal. The BBC has contacted his office for comment.

And as details on an interim trade agreement with the US trickled out over last week, some provincial leaders, industry groups and political opponents raised concerns that the prime minister had not delivered on the fight he promised - though Carney denied that swayed his thinking.

Ford, usually one of the most vocal Canadian politicians on US tariffs, had been silent on the tentative deal all week. But in a letter sent to Carney, he raised concerns that an agreement under pressure would “embolden the United States to seek concession after concession".

The province, which has a large manufacturing and vehicle sector, has been among the hardest hit regions in this trade dispute.

Conservative opposition leader Pierre Poilievre said that any agreement that included "one-sided" tariffs on Canadian industry would be "a bad deal".

On Saturday, he backed Carney's decision to walk away for now, saying: "Canada cannot accept one-sided tariffs that will de-industrialise our country."

The collapse of this agreement calls into questions the future of such talks, including an ongoing review of the US-Mexico-Canada free trade pact.

Now Carney - and Canada - must wait to see how Trump responds.

The hotel booking mix-up that could free mushroom murderer

Sat, 22 Aug 2026 19:03:03 GMT

AFP via Getty Images

Erin Patterson is trying to overturn her convictions

Tiffanie Turnbull

Sydney

9 hours ago

Last July, hundreds descended on Australia's Gippsland region from around the country for the most exciting event on the annual table tennis calendar.

But as elite players vied for medals at the national championships, one of the biggest criminal cases in the nation's history - that of mushroom murderer Erin Patterson - was unfolding just a few kilometres away.

This tournament inadvertently became part of a perfect storm which the triple killer's lawyers are now arguing "fatally undermined" the fairness of her trial.

The jury which condemned Patterson to prison were supposed to be isolated - sheltered from the frenzy surrounding the case while they deliberated.

But accommodation shortages in the region, exacerbated by the table tennis competition, meant they shared a hotel with members of the prosecution, a key police witness, and journalists.

Now Patterson's legal team is trying to overturn her convictions on appeal.

"The only proper remedy is... the order for a re-trial," Patterson's barrister Richard Edney said.

Towns overwhelmed by frenzy

The fatal lunch was hosted at Erin Patterson's home in Leongatha in July 2023

When Patterson served her estranged husband's relatives a poisonous mushroom-laced lunch in 2023, killing three and gravely injuring another, she thrust the sleepy Gippsland region into the global spotlight.

The community of Korumburra, where the victims were beloved figures, became shrouded in grief. Leongatha, where Patterson lived, was gripped by shock. And Morwell, host of the lengthy trial, was overwhelmed by journalists, lawyers and spectators - as were towns nearby.

You couldn't walk down the main street without spotting some of the courtroom's stars, or grab a coffee without overhearing chatter about the case.

Mushroom murders and cancer lie: Nine weeks of evidence that gripped a courtroom
'Everyone knows somebody affected': The small towns in shock after mushroom murders

It was this frenzy from which the jury of 12 needed protection, the trial judge decided.

Jurors are required to consider only the evidence presented to them in court, and must only talk about the case among themselves. In Australia, these rules are so strict that discussion with outsiders is forbidden even after a trial wraps up.

To reduce the risk of contamination and the temptation of gossip, Justice Christopher Beale decided the jury should be sequestered once deliberations began - a relatively rare move which meant they would stay in supervised accommodation with little to no contact with the outside world until they reached a decision.

But finding the jury, and the jury keepers watching them, somewhere to sleep became something of a logistical nightmare.

As the trial dragged on, stays became longer than anyone anticipated and accommodation became a constant scramble.

And the week the table tennis tournament came to town - which by a stroke of bad luck was the one in which the jury finally retired - turned the accommodation drought into a famine.

Early morning email revelations

At 08:28 on Monday 7 July, an email from the judge's chambers popped into the inboxes of the lawyers in the case.

It revealed that the lead detective who investigated the murders - a key trial witness - and two prosecution solicitors had been staying at the same hotel as the sequestered jury.

Getty Images

Detective Senior Constable Stephen Eppingstall led the murder investigations

The jurors had exclusive use of a separate floor of the hotel, the email said, and had eaten their meals in a conference room, away from all other guests.

Common areas like the lobby were used by everyone, but the jury keeper who reported the issue said there had been no interaction between his charges and anyone from the prosecution case.

"I understand that there is a shortage of accommodation in the district, but it is obviously undesirable," Justice Beale wrote.

About two hours later, the prosecution responded, admitting they had been aware of the situation for days.

The detective "took steps to avoid common areas from the point that he became aware that [the jurors] were there", their email read.

Upon learning their team would cross over with the jury for a single night, the prosecution had done its best to find other hotels for staff. But they couldn't get alternative rooms for two solicitors, though the email stressed the pair also took steps to avoid any "incidental contact".

However, another missive from the judge's chambers quickly overshadowed the hotel snafu that same afternoon: the jury had reached their verdicts.

They had found Patterson guilty on all counts.

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Moment Erin Patterson is sentenced to life in prison

'Most critical week of trial'

Patterson's lawyers are now arguing the hotel mix-up amounted to a "fundamental irregularity" which "fatally undermined" the integrity of the verdicts.

"We would describe... it as catastrophic," Patterson's appeal counsel, Edney, told Victoria's Court of Appeal this week.

"What occurred here was an inexplicable and perhaps still unexplained failure in the process."

The defence - which Edney pointed out had been kept in the dark several days longer than anyone else - didn't immediately move for a mistrial last July.

Instead, it twice asked the state's juries commissioner to investigate in the weeks following the verdicts. Both requests were rejected, the barrister said, and the reasons have not been made public.

A year on, there remains a "vacuum of evidence" around what occurred during "the most critical week" of the entire trial, Edney argued.

Reuters

Patterson's legal team, lead by Richard Edney (centre)

There is no CCTV from the hotel; no sworn statements from those who were sharing it with the jury - a group which also includes an unknown number of journalists; and nothing to say what happened except the two brief emails sent last July.

There was also at least one media report at the time - raised by Edney this week but rubbished by the prosecution lawyers as "unverified" and "seemingly inaccurate" - that the mix-up had led to "people hiding in doorways to avoid contact" and "skipping breakfast".

"My question is... so what?" Justice Peter Kidd bit back.

In any criminal trial, jurors see other parties all the time - in corridors, or even nearby cafes - but they're under the constant supervision of jury keepers who have sworn to ensure there's no improper communication, he said.

Edney conceded there was "no evidence" that the jurors had communicated with anyone else, but said innocent contact - even just seeing the detective or solicitors - could have resulted in "subconscious influence".

"This was a hotel with windows," Edney said several times - a likely thing for it to have, someone from the judge's bench countered.

Patterson's team cited two cases to support their argument: one in which jurors were discharged when one was offered a throat lozenge by a defendant's relative during a coughing fit, and another in which a retrial was ordered after jurors caught a taxi without being escorted by a jury keeper.

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Watch: 'Catastrophic' hotel mix-up at the heart of Australia's mushroom murderer appeal

The prosecution's response was simple.

"The system worked as it was intended to work," Director of Public Prosecutions Brendan Kissane KC said.

The jury was constantly supervised, and when a potential problem was identified, steps were immediately taken to prevent it becoming an actual issue.

The jury keeper, the lead detective, and the prosecution all say there was no contact.

"The evidence in this case is that there was no interaction between any other person and the jury," he said.

Other cases the defence pointed to in which jury errors resulted in retrials all had evidence of actual contact, he noted.

"That's not the situation here."

Patterson has seven appeal grounds - the others relating to rulings on evidence and alleged unfairness by the prosecution - but this one, by the defence's own admission, is unprecedented.

Just as important as actual interference is the perception of interference, said Edney, quoting the trial judge's own speech as he selected jury members on the very first day of the trial.

"Justice must not only be done, it must be seen to be done."

The trio of judges are now deliberating on Patterson's appeal, as well as an argument by the prosecution that her parole period should be scrapped.

They will announce their decisions at a later date.

Watch: Moment humanoid robot beats Usain Bolt's 100m record

Sat, 22 Aug 2026 17:02:06 GMT

Watch: Moment humanoid robot beats Usain Bolt's 100m record

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A robot has outperformed humans by running faster than Usain Bolt's 100m sprint world record at the World Humanoid Robot Games in China.

The humanoid robot, developed by the Beijing Innovation Centre of Humanoid Robotics, ran the distance in 9.39 seconds at the event.

Eight-time Olympic gold medallist Bolt set the world record for humans in 2009, running 100m in 9.58 seconds.

The robot beat two others including one made by Chinese smartphone maker Honor - which the manufacturer says ran the distance in 9.32 seconds in a test run.

Other events at the robot games, which started on Saturday, include boxing and football, but also household tasks such as folding laundry.

The BBC's China correspondent Laura Bicker reports from Beijing.

Subsection
Asia

11 hours ago

US military newspaper editor voices censorship fears after being fired

Sat, 22 Aug 2026 16:57:19 GMT

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Watch: Stars and Stripes editor Erik Slavin speaks to the BBC after his dismissal

Jamie Whitehead and Paulin Kola

22 August 2026

The editor-in-chief of US military newspaper Stars and Stripes has told the BBC of his concern over censorship a day after being dismissed by the US Department of Defense (DoD) for "insubordination".

"This is a time when we really need to hear what's happening," Erik Slavin said, adding that Pentagon officials appeared to be "less and less inclined to speak on the record".

Slavin says he believes he was fired for having stated in an interview that "in a hypothetical situation, censorship would be a red line". A reporter and the paper's publisher were also sacked.

The Pentagon told the BBC it would not comment. But the sackings come amid tension between the Trump administration and the US media.

Getty Images

Stars and Stripes provides news to US troops around the world

Even though partially funded by the Pentagon, Stars and Stripes has been editorially independent - through a congressional mandate and DoD rules.

The newspaper's Middle East reporter Lara Korte said she had also been told she was fired.

Both Slavin and Korte say their dismissals - both for insubordination - relate to an interview they gave to CBS's Sunday Morning programme last month, according to the BBC's US partner CBS News.

Stars and Stripes reported that publisher Max Lederer was also fired.

He had announced his retirement on Tuesday, saying his understanding of the paper's value and mission differed in "fundamental ways" from the Pentagon's plans for the publication.

Slavin, who has worked for the paper for 21 years, told the PM programme that he had not been given an official explanation for his dismissal - and was considering his response even though he was not allowed to appeal.

He said he did not know if it had to do with his paper's original reporting of conditions aboard USS Abraham Lincoln - the warship which has been deployed in the Gulf for months as the US-Israeli war with Iran continues.

The vessel has spent a record-setting uninterrupted time at sea of more than 240 days and family members of sailors aboard have expressed concern about their mental health, with some sailors having reportedly attempted to jump overboard.

But Slavin said his dismissal came in a climate where the Pentagon had not had a press conference since May, and where journalists had refused attempts to interfere with their reporting.

For her part, Korte wrote on X: "It's a shame for the institution and service members, who swore to defend the Constitution and deserve the right to a free and independent press."

The president of the National Press Club, Mark Schoeff Jr, described Slavin's firing as "another brazen attempt by the Pentagon to dictate coverage of the military and should be immediately reversed".

An average of 1.4 million people consume Stars and Stripes's content daily, mostly online, according to CBS.

The paper is still printed outside the US for members of the military in places with unreliable internet access.

In October, leading US news outlets rejected a new policy which barred journalists from entering the building unless they only reported information officially authorised by the DoD.

At the time, the New York Times, Washington Post, CNN and the BBC were among the major outlets which said they would not agree to the new rules.

The Trump administration argued that the changes were needed to protect national security.

In April 2025, a US judge ordered the administration to restore the Associated Press's access to presidential events after it was blocked in a dispute over the term "Gulf of America".

A few months prior, the White House broke with tradition and took control of the press pool which covers the US presidency.

Father leaves 7-year-old son alone on Mount Fuji to continue hike

Sat, 22 Aug 2026 14:35:11 GMT

Reuters

The boy was found alone on Japan's highest mountain

Dan Sales

22 August 2026

A father has been reprimanded by police after leaving his son on Japan's highest mountain for several hours with just a soft drink and snack.

The seven-year-old was spotted sitting on a bench on Mount Fuji in foggy and rainy conditions, at a point situated at over 2,000m (6,500ft).

His father, 48, reportedly told him to "wait here" after the boy complained he was tired - and continued the climb with his elder son.

Staff at a mountain hut found the child near the sixth station of a hiking route towards the summit and alerted police. His father was tracked down between the route's seventh and eighth stations - said to be a three-hour hike away.

The boy was found on his own at 07:30 local time on Thursday (22:30 GMT).

Officers castigated his father when he returned from the higher station and reunited with his son, who is said to have been "tired and fussy" after eight hours of waiting.

"Even if it means having to give up on climbing the mountain together, leaving a child behind is unacceptable," one told him, according to Japan Today. He is said to have apologised for the "rash" decision.

The family was reported to have been on the Fujinomiya route, which starts from the fifth station on the mountain, a spot which is accessible by public transport.

From there it takes around five hours to reach the peak and a further three hours to get down, climbing guides suggest.

Mount Fuji climber rescued twice after going back for lost phone

Mount Fuji, which stands at a height of 3,776m (12,389ft), has been the site of a number of climbing mishaps in recent years.

In July, a 99-year-old woman had to be rescued attempting the route after falling and hurting her hip and back.

And last year, a 27-year-old university student who went outside of official climbing season had to be rescued twice in four days - after he went back to look for his lost mobile phone.

Mount Fuji, an active volcano located south-west of Tokyo, was granted World Heritage status in 2013.

It is also one of three traditional "Holy Mountains" together with Mount Tate and Mount Haku.

Around 200,000 people climb it each year, but there are daily caps on some routes to avoid overcrowding.

Fourteen killed in strike on Myanmar monastery

Sat, 22 Aug 2026 13:48:06 GMT

Myaung Union Army

The monastery said to have been targeted in the village of Chhay Hoe O

Dan Sales

22 August 2026

Fourteen people were killed in military air strikes at a monastery in Myanmar early on Friday, opposition fighters and a local rescue worker have said.

All of those killed were elderly and a number of monks were also injured, the rescue worker told BBC Burmese, adding that the site was struck twice.

The attack happened at around 09:00 local time (02:30 GMT) in Myaung township in the central Sagaing region, some 70km (47 miles) west of Mandalay, the news agency AFP reported.

Civilians had reportedly gathered at the site for a meditation retreat to mark Buddhist Lent. Myanmar's military has not commented.

Nway Oo Myaung, a pro-democracy rebel, told AFP that the victims included 11 men and three women. Five of the victims were said to be from one village, while the remaining nine were from a neighbouring township.

"Older people had entered the meditation centres," Myaung added, saying the dead were aged between 50 and 70.

A second, unnamed opposition fighter said he had been among those searching for survivors of the attacks.

"While we were trying to rescue people, the aircraft came to bomb a second time," he said.

Myanmar has been locked in civil war since the military staged a 2021 coup ousting Aung San Suu Kyi, and has been under martial rule since. The military, which is frequently accused of carrying out strikes on public buildings, has previously said it only strikes legitimate targets.

Rescuers dig through Ukraine mall wreckage as Zelensky condemns 'despicable' Russian strike

Sat, 22 Aug 2026 13:13:16 GMT

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Watch: Video shows Russian drone strike Ukraine shopping mall on Friday

Jaroslav Lukiv and Claire Keenan

21 August 2026

Updated 22 August 2026

Rescuers in Ukraine are continuing their search for survivors in the wreckage of a big shopping centre hit by Russia on Friday.

Sixteen people were killed and 130 injured when two drones hit the busy centre in Kryvyi Rih in quick succession in what is known as a double-tap strike. Four people are still missing. The search and rescue operation could last for another two days.

President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned the "cynical and despicable" attack in which the second drone targeted emergency workers.

The sides exchanged more fire overnight, with Ukrainian attacks said to have killed at least four people in Russia, including two children, and three people reported dead by Kyiv as a result of Russian strikes.

The death toll from Friday's attack reached 16 after another body was retrieved from the rubble overnight, said Dnipropetrovsk regional head Oleksandr Hanzha.

"We're doing everything possible to speed up... the search and rescue operation," he told Ukrainian TV on Saturday morning.

He added that the work could continue for another two days because of the sheer scale of devastation and constant threats of more Russian attacks.

Rescue teams from seven other Ukrainian regions were urgently deployed on Friday evening to help search for survivors.

The huge fire covering an area of some 9,000 sq m has been extinguished.

In an update later on Saturday, Hanzha said that 52 injured people, including 14 children, were still in city hospitals.

Dozens of people had already undergone surgery, said Kryvyi Rih's miltiary chief Oleksandr Vilkul.

A day of mourning is being observed across the Dnipropetrovsk region.

Dramatic footage verified by the BBC showed the second drone hitting the already burning shopping centre in Zelensky's hometown. Russia's military has not commented.

Vilkul said the drones had been flying at "extremely low altitudes" and described the attackers as "animals".

Officials have not commented on why Ukraine's air defence units - which the military says are 90% successful at intercepting drones - failed to stop Friday's attacks on the shopping centre.

Ukraine's interception rate of ballistic missiles, however, is much lower - at about 40%, the defence ministry reported in June. Kyiv has repeatedly said it is running low on US-made Patriot missiles - the most effective weapon against the ballistics.

The attack in Kryvyi Rih came a day after 17 people were killed and more than 40 injured in a major Russian missile and drone attack on Ukraine's capital Kyiv.

Oleksandr Hanzha/Dnipropetrovsk regional administration

A number of people are reported to be trapped in the rubble of the shopping centre in the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih

DSNS/Dnipropetrovsk region

Specially trained psychologists were deployed to help some survivors after Friday's attack

Zelensky said there had been "missile and drone strikes throughout the evening and night" across Ukraine, with residential buildings and civilian infrastructure damaged.

He said one person was killed and another injured after ballistic missile strikes damaged railway infrastructure in the capital Kyiv, while three people were injured by a "brutal" drone strike on a city minibus in the southern city of Zaporizhzhia.

Two people were killed in a separate Russian attack in the Kyiv region, Ukraine's state emergencies service DSNS said.

Meanwhile, Russia's defence ministry said it downed a total of 457 Ukrainian drones overnight.

Two children were killed and two adults injured in a drone strike on a port town in Russia's southern Krasnodar region, according to Governor Veniamin Kondratyev.

In the western Belgorod region two people were killed and 13 injured in Ukrainian air strikes and shelling, acting Governor Alkesandr Shuvaev said.

Ukraine's military said it had struck an oil refinery in Russia's Samara region overnight, causing a fire to break out.

Russian online retailer Ozon - the country's second largest - said one of its warehouses in the region had also been hit for the first time.

This comes after a series of devastating Ukrainian attacks on logistics hubs of the largest retailer Wildberries, known as Russia's Amazon.

Ukraine has in recent months intensified attacks on Russian energy facilities, as well as on Wildberries warehouses.

Kyiv describes them as legitimate targets because they help finance Russia's war. Russia has said civilians are being targeted.

Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, and currently Moscow controls about a fifth of Ukrainian territory in the south-east.

Robot horse and rider steal the spotlight at Chinese conference

Sat, 22 Aug 2026 10:01:18 GMT

Robot horse and rider steal the spotlight at Chinese conference

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A robot horse and dancing humanoids are among the machines that have been showcased by Chinese manufacturers at a conference in Beijing.

The five-day 2026 World Robot Conference, which started on Wednesday, comes as the country continues to expand its robotics industry.

On the day the conference kicked off, the world's biggest humanoid robot maker Unitree Robotics made its stock market debut in Shanghai.

The Chinese firm's machines are competing in the 2026 World Humanoid Robot Games, which started on Saturday in the capital. The event involves more than 2,000 robots from 16 countries.

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Asia

18 hours ago

Sydney Marathon medal mistakenly depicts Munich stadium

Sat, 22 Aug 2026 07:53:57 GMT

Instagram: sydney_marathon

The medal design appears to show Munich's Allianz Arena on the bottom-right

Harry Sekulich

Sydney

22 August 2026

One week out from the world-renowned Sydney Marathon, organisers face questions about whether designers etched the wrong city's stadium on the participation medal.

The medal appears to feature a stadium carved in the likeness of Allianz Arena in the German city of Munich, rather than Allianz Stadium in Sydney – which the 42.2km (26.2 mile) course runs past.

The BBC has reached out to Sydney Marathon for comment.

Some 40,000 runners will be taking part in the event on 30 August, after more than 120,000 ballot entries.

Speculation about a possible mix-up began after Sydney Marathon's official social media account unveiled its design for the 2026 medal, inviting users to "look closely and you'll find the story of the course in the details".

They continued: "A beautiful Sydney skyline brings the course to life, featuring the landmarks runners will experience along the way - starting with the Sydney Harbour Bridge and finishing at the world-famous Sydney Opera House."

Getty Images

The Munich arena (bottom) appears to feature on the medal instead of the Sydney landmark

Munich's Allianz Arena is sculpted by thousands of diamond-shaped inflatable cushions, while Sydney's similarly-named Allianz Stadium has a flatter façade smoothed with long bronze fins.

The other face of the double-sided medal features a gold and indigo pattern designed by First Nations artist Ambrose Killian. Forty-two half-round markings lining the circular edge "represent each kilometre of the course", organisers explained.

Killian told the BBC he was not responsible for the other artwork.

Instagram: sydney_marathon

The front of the Sydney Marathon medal features an artwork by Ambrose Killian

The blunder follows a similar incident at last year's Great North Run in Newcastle, where medals mistakenly featured the Sunderland and Wear River – which is not part of the event.

Sydney was announced as the seventh city added to the Abbott majors series in 2024, joining London, Berlin, Boston, Chicago, New York, and Tokyo. Cape Town is set to become the eighth city when it hosts its first marathon major next year.

Lindsay Clancy suffering 'command hallucination' when she killed children, court hears

Sat, 22 Aug 2026 03:43:26 GMT

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Ana Faguy

22 August 2026

Warning: This story contains distressing details and discussion of attempted suicide

Lindsay Clancy, the Massachusetts mum who has been charged with murdering her three children, was suffering from a "command hallucination" at the time, a forensic psychiatrist has told the jury in her trial.

The defence, which rested its case on Friday, does not dispute that Clancy carried out the killings but say she has pleaded not guilty to murder charges because she was experiencing postpartum psychosis.

Forensic psychiatrist Phillip Resnick, the defence's final witness, testified about the effects of postpartum psychosis.

Prosecutors, meanwhile, alleged she made a calculated decision to intentionally kill her children - Cora, five, Dawson, three, and Callan, who was eight months.

Lindsay Clancy's trial puts postpartum psychosis in the spotlight

"My opinion is that Ms Clancy was, due to her mental disease, unable to conform her conduct to the requirements of the law on the day that she took the lives of her children," Resnick told jurors. "It was a matter where she was just following the command rather than being able to make any decision to do it or not."

The forensic psychiatrist said that in his opinion on the day Clancy killed her children she experienced "not only a command hallucination" but also "a delusion of influence".

Resnick evaluated Clancy after the killings and reviewed her medical records.

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Watch: What is postpartum psychosis and why is it central in the Lindsay Clancy trial?

Clancy lacked control and was likely unable to tell the difference between right and wrong on that January 2023 day, he told the jury on Friday.

"In her mind, she believed that she would be doing her children a favour by having them go to heaven with her rather than remain on earth without her doing the mothering," Resnick testified.

The case is expected to go to the jury early next week following nearly a month of witness testimony.

Earlier this week, Clancy's mother and former mother-in-law testified about how Clancy's mental health deteriorated after the birth of her youngest son.

"She was begging for help," Clancy's former mother-in-law, Susan Clancy, said of a woman she described as a "very nurturing, very loving" mother.

Clancy has been charged with three counts of first-degree murder.

Prosecutors have said that in January 2023, Clancy intentionally strangled the three children with fitness bands in their Massachusetts home before jumping out of a second-floor window. Clancy, now 36, was paralysed by the jump and has attended the trial in a wheelchair.

The defence have said Clancy experienced hallucinations and delusions after giving birth to Callan and she was undergoing medical treatment for psychiatric problems. She checked herself into a psychiatric hospital for a few days just before the deaths.

The UK's National Health Service (NHS) defines postpartum psychosis as a rare serious mental health illness that can affect someone soon after having a baby.

"Postpartum psychosis is very different from the 'baby blues'," the NHS adds. "It's a serious mental illness and should be treated as a medical emergency."

If you are suffering distress or despair and need support, you could speak to a health professional, or an organisation that offers support. Details of help available in many countries can be found at Befrienders Worldwide. www.befrienders.org.

In the UK a list of organisations that can help is available at bbc.co.uk/actionline.

'Quiet, quiet, quiet!' - What triggers Trump to shut down reporters?

Sat, 22 Aug 2026 02:39:10 GMT

'Quiet, quiet, quiet!' - What triggers Trump to shut down reporters?

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President Donald Trump has been lashing out at reporters, often female journalists, when confronted with questions he does not like to answer.

The BBC's Tom Bateman takes a look at what triggers these public insults, and what are the questions the president doesn’t want to be asked.

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US & Canada

1 day ago

As they return to the UK, Harry and Meghan search for a brand that sticks

Sat, 22 Aug 2026 00:03:10 GMT

Getty Images

Roland Hughes

22 August 2026

In late July, the Duchess of Sussex's lifestyle range, called As ever, launched a "rich, vibrant" blackberry spread alongside a softly lit video of her picking the fruit.

A month later, Meghan and her husband Prince Harry are returning to live in the UK just as blackberry season ends. Perhaps we can expect another video soon, shot on these shores.

Or perhaps not, because experts say the Harry and Meghan brand is at a crossroads.

After the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's acrimonious exit from the Royal Family in 2020, the projects marking their fresh start in California - from streaming to signature scents - have mostly failed to find large audiences, and experts say it's unclear where the couple goes from here.

Their return to the UK has surprised many and we don't know their reasons for the switch, but what's clear is that they will not be working royals when they return. So what could they be doing instead?

Meghan in talks for role in Netflix series The Gentlemen, BBC understands
Prince Harry and six others face privacy case legal bill of up to £34.5m

Andrew Stephen, the L'Oréal professor of marketing at the University of Oxford's Saïd Business School, says that after they moved to the US the Sussexes "attracted enormous attention and were initially very good at monetising it. But I don't think they have been as successful at converting that initial success into an enduring brand."

Now, he says, they have a "fragmented portfolio spanning social impact, entertainment and lifestyle, which has made it difficult to know exactly what their brand stands for".

After splitting with the Royal Family, the Sussexes said they would work to become financially independent. They began life as civilians with interviews about their relationship with the royals before pivoting to new fields of interest, including media production and lifestyle, which now appears to be Meghan's focus.

The couple's aim, according to the mission statement of their Archewell Productions company, is to highlight "our common humanity and celebrate community". They have continued to promote the Invictus Games, the sporting event for injured service men and women that Prince Harry founded, and launched charitable projects around the world through Archewell Philanthropies.

They are widely reported to have earned $100m (£73m) from a deal with Netflix in 2020. An agreement in the same year with Spotify to produce podcasts was reported to be worth $25m (£18m).

By most metrics, it would be hard to call either of those projects a success. The five years of the Netflix deal yielded five shows, including the six-part series Harry & Meghan and two series of the lifestyle show With Love, Meghan, drawing underwhelming streaming numbers. The deal was replaced last year by an arrangement giving Netflix a first look at any pitches from the couple. Only one new Archewell production has been announced so far this year.

Meanwhile, in 2023, a joint statement from Archewell Productions and Spotify said they had "mutually agreed to part ways". Spotify confirmed it was not renewing Meghan's 12-episode podcast Archetypes for a second series.

Harry & Meghan: Why Are They Moving Back?

After years of global headlines and their high-profile move to California, Prince Harry and Meghan are preparing for a return to the UK.

Watch on iPlayer

One challenge facing the Sussexes on their return is that they are once more associated with the Royal Family from which they have tried to stay separate, says Stephen.

"It could make them feel more culturally relevant by bringing them closer to the centre of British royal life," he says, "but it would also reinforce how dependent their distinctiveness remains on royalty, potentially undermining their attempt to build a more independent, American-style celebrity, media and lifestyle brand."

The fact the Sussexes have switched between projects brings risks to their brand, says Susan Fournier, a branding expert and former professor at Harvard Business School and Boston University. She says the couple went from royal insiders, giving a glimpse into a secret world, to royal critics, then from media producers to, in Meghan's case, a lifestyle influencer.

Reuters

"Every time a brand does a 180 like that, you can't go back," Fournier tells the BBC. The most successful brands, she says, are consistent in the image that they present - and a return to the UK risks looking like another U-turn.

A solution, Stephen says, would be for them to focus on "a coherent portfolio of focused businesses and credible causes".

Project Cotswolds?

The couple have other income sources, from inheritance to the sales of Harry's memoir Spare, which was the fastest-selling non-fiction book in the UK since records began in 1998. A return to acting for Meghan even appears possible.

The BBC has learned she is in talks about a role in Netflix series The Gentlemen, a comedy series created by Guy Ritchie about a duke who becomes a drug baron. No details have yet been revealed, but this would be Meghan's first significant acting role since her marriage to Prince Harry.

Since 2024, Meghan's professional focus has been on her lifestyle range, As ever, which was initially supported by Netflix before that partnership ended in March. As ever sells jams, teas, candles and other products "crafted to elevate your everyday and inspire moments of joy", and there is no indication that it will end when she moves across the Atlantic.

One potential opportunity is their mooted move to the A-list haven of the Cotswolds, where they are believed to have spent time earlier this summer.

Laura Stoloff, an American stylist and creative director who lives in London and the Cotswolds with her British husband Harry, sees "a natural connection" between Meghan's lifestyle brand and Cotswolds life.

"I actually think it could make her brand more distinctive," Stoloff tells the BBC. "There is still a lot of fascination with English country life, particularly in America, and she has the ability to bring that to a very large, global audience."

Stephen has a warning, though: "A return to the UK could be a useful brand reset, but a postcode does not reposition a brand. Behaviour does."

Drugs at their fingertips, intense pressure: Why child stars fall into addiction

Fri, 21 Aug 2026 23:41:33 GMT

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Hayden Panettiere's death at the age of 36 was announced earlier this week

Madeline Halpert

22 August 2026

Hayden Panettiere was 16 when drugs first arrived in her life in Hollywood.

Ahead of a red carpet event for the hit series Heroes, she has said someone on her team handed her a pill to help amp up her energy. The hit sci-fi NBC series had catapulted the teen into a household name - and that brought with it intense pressure and exhaustion she says felt overwhelming.

"Within minutes, a wave of energy washed over me, like I'd just woken up from the most refreshing night's sleep of my life," Panettiere wrote about that pill in her memoir, which was released just months before her death.

She called it "the gateway drug that ushered me toward the good of pharmaceuticals and the downfall of addiction".

The star's sudden death at the age of 36 has placed a renewed focus on her struggles with mental health and substance abuse, and re-ignited a discussion about the pressures of Hollywood on child stars.

The coroner's office in Greenville, South Carolina said crews treated a woman in "cardiac arrest" and her autopsy showed "no signs of trauma".

No cause of death has been released, though additional tests are yet to be completed.

Audio from police dispatchers and crews who responded to the address said they were responding to a "cardiac arrest" and detailed their efforts to resuscitate the woman after a possible "overdose". Panettiere's ex boyfriend, Brian Hickerson - who has admitted to abusing her - and his brother Zack, were with Panettiere when emergency services came, according to a police report.

There is no suggestion of wrongdoing on their part, according to police.

It is not known if drugs or alcohol played a factor in her death, but the US Drug Enforcement Agency is joining an investigation into her death, according to US media reports.

Panettiere is one of many actors who has openly struggled with addiction after exposure to fame at an early age, which addiction experts told the BBC can put people at risk for mental health and substance abuse issues.

It can sometimes seem to the rest of the world that child actors have "everything" at their fingertips - like fame and money, said Lucas Trautman, the medical director of Oxford Treatment Center, an addiction treatment centre in Mississippi.

"But it's important to remember that they were also exposed during a developmental time to many adult aspects of life that the rest of us weren't - including traumatic experiences - and so that gives them unique risk factors for addiction," Trautman said.

Panettiere's death comes after she published a memoir where she discussed at length her issues with addiction, her postpartum depression and the loss of her 28-year-old brother.

Panettiere's decision to publicly share her struggles is worthy of respect, said William Moyers, the vice-president of public affairs for Hazelden Betty Ford, the largest nonprofit addiction treatment provider in the US. But he said the constant public scrutiny she faced may not have allowed her room to address her mental health in private.

"Her entire life from the beginning was centred in the intense public spotlight, and this didn't give Hayden much in the way of a respite," said Moyers, who has been in recovery from an addiction since 1989.

Tributes to actress Hayden Panettiere as coroner finds 'no signs of trauma'
Hayden Panettiere: A life of struggles alongside screen success
In pictures: Hayden Panettiere's life and career, from child actor to Scream star

Trautman - who has treated child stars - said they often have "adult access" to drugs and alcohol without adult protection.

"We aren't equipped at a young age to be able to say no to it, to manage it, to correctly stay away from it altogether," he said.

Other child stars have talked about being exposed to drugs at an early age, including Drew Barrymore, who went to rehab at 12, and Demi Lovato, a Disney Channel star.

"I got into a car accident and they prescribed me opiates. My mum didn't think she would have to lock up the opiates from her 13-year-old daughter, but I was already drinking at that point," the singer told podcast Call Her Daddy in 2022.

Actress Michelle Rodriguez, who once hosted the World Music Awards with Panettiere, said this week that the number of child actors who had passed away at a young age was strange.

"I just can't stand how many young people are leaving us lately. It's disheartening, and it's making me think, 'What's going on?' It's not normal," she told Variety.

Panettiere's death comes just a year after the death of Michelle Trachtenberg and months after Daveigh Chase, two child stars who both struggled with drugs and alcohol.

In an essay she wrote after Panettiere's death, former Disney star Christy Carlson Romano compared early fame to a traumatic brain disease.

"[W]e have almost no language for what happens when stress, scrutiny, rejection, adult pressure, and the collapse of privacy become the architecture of a childhood," she wrote.

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Watch: Hayden Panettiere on her career and growing up in the spotlight

And when a child actor's career changes or comes to an end, they are left without the dopamine of fame and money that came with their identity as an actor, cautioned Trautman.

"At the same time many of them self medicated... so their brain is still reliant on that, and it's really really hard to stop using," he said.

Many child stars also have professional relationships with their parents, which can blur boundaries and leave them vulnerable, Trautman said.

In her book and in the media, Panettiere has discussed the pressure her mother placed on her to excel as an actress from an early age. She appeared in her first commercial when she was just 11-months-old.

"You always want to think the best of your parents and see them in the brightest light," the actress told the New York Times in May. "But there were a lot of things done with an approach that was not about my mental health or what was emotionally or mentally safe for me to do."

Substance abuse also puts people at risk for a host of medical conditions, including heart disease and liver and other organ damage.

Panettiere's brother, Jansen, died aged 28 from a heart condition, and Panettiere revealed in her book that her brother was using heroin and cocaine leading up to his death.

But after he died, the actress told People Magazine in 2024 she was committed to staying sober, telling the outlet her addiction was "in the rear view mirror".

She said in her book that at one point a doctor told her that if she did not stop drinking, she would be "dead within five years".

For Moyers and other substance abuse experts, addiction is a chronic illness, meaning that relapses still happen even while treatment saves lives.

"Living in recovery means doing the best we can, but doing it imperfectly," he said.

Two injured in stabbing attack at Canada Sikh temple

Fri, 21 Aug 2026 22:45:01 GMT

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Nadine YousifSenior Canada reporter and Grace Eliza Goodwin

21 August 2026

A man has been arrested after injuring two people in an early morning stabbing attack at a Sikh temple in Edmonton, Canada, police said.

Officials said the attack inside the sprawling Nanaksar Gurdwara unfolded around 05:00 local time (12:00 BST) on Friday morning. Police did not identify the suspect, nor did they specify a motive.

The attack comes after police confirmed last week that they were investigating threatening calls made to two Sikh gurdwaras in Calgary, two hours south of where Friday's attack took place.

The World Sikh Organization, based in Canada, has said the attack is deeply troubling and has occurred against the backdrop of rising anti-Sikh hate across the country.

Police first received reports around 04:49 local time of a man walking in traffic on a highway, and about 15 minutes later, they got calls about a stabbing inside the temple, the Edmonton Police Service said.

The reports said a man had entered the Gurdwara and tried accessing the prayer area when he was confronted by staff, police said.

"This confrontation then escalated, and two male patrons of the Gurdwara were stabbed. Thankfully, quick-acting witnesses intervened and detained the man," Acting Inspector Eric Stewart said at a press conference Friday.

The two victims, a 75-year-old man and 51-year-old man, were not seriously injured and are in stable condition, police said. Police described them as "worshippers" and did not provide further details.

The suspect, a 27-year-old man who was known to police, has an extensive history of violent attacks dating back to 2015, police said. He had been released from a federal prison in Alberta the day before the attack, and failed to report to his designated halfway house in Edmonton, officials said.

Charges are still pending against the suspect, and police are investigating if the attack was motivated by hateful ideology.

Edmonton police chief Warren Driechel urged the public to be patient as officials determined the suspect's motivations, but acknowledged growing concerns about hate crimes.

"I see the heightened geopolitical tensions and increasing polarisation around the world showing up locally," he said. "These realities can't be ignored, and we need to call them out when they happen. We cannot remain silent."

The World Sikh Organization said a copy of the Sikh scripture inside the temple was also desecrated in the attack. Police said they are aware of that report and are looking into it.

"Police are currently on scene and the Gurdwara has been closed to the public while the investigation continues," the Sikh organisation said in its statement.

Calgary's mayor Jeromy Farkas condemned the previous threats made in his own city in a social media post, calling them "utterly disgusting".

"Gurdwaras are places of hospitality, generosity and service. Everyone is welcome," Farkas said.

TikTok to pay $400m to US in one of largest child privacy settlements

Fri, 21 Aug 2026 22:36:12 GMT

Reuters

TikTok has been under pressure in the US since 2024.

Kali Hays

Technology reporterSan Francisco

21 August 2026

TikTok has agreed to pay $400m (£293m) to the US to end a lawsuit alleging its platform violated children‘s privacy, marking one of the largest ever settlements over the issue.

The deal stems from a 2024 suit by the Department of Justice under former President Joe Biden alleging TikTok and its parent company ByteDance collected "vast amounts of data" on millions of users under the age of 13.

Doing so was against the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), a federal law enacted in 2000. It is the same law that dozens of US states are now suing Meta over.

"Children and parents are better protected today than they were when this case began," assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate said.

Other companies to have paid penalties to the US government for COPPA violations include Google's YouTube, which in 2019 paid $170m, and Epic Games, which in 2022 paid $275m.

Meta is also now facing penalties that could exceed hundreds of billions of dollars stemming from COPPA violations alleged by attorneys general of 29 US states. A jury trial in the lawsuit started this week, with the Instagram and Facebook owner accused of targeting child users and profiting from them.

While the TikTok lawsuit predates last year's split of TikTok's US business and operations from its original base of China, the settlement only involves TikTok's operations in China.

ByteDance, which is a privately held company, was most recently valued by investors at $550bn, external.

Under the terms of the deal, TikTok and ByteDance will immediately pay the DOJ $300m. It will pay another $100m when the government vacates a 2019 consent decree, external with the Federal Trade Commission.

As part of the agreement, the predecessor to ByteDance, Musical.ly, was required to pay a $5.7m fine for COPPA violations and ensure it sought parental consent for any user aged under 13.

The justice department did not detail on Friday any action against TikTok beyond the fine. But the department noted that since it sued the platform, TikTok has "undergone significant changes," including to its ownership, privacy practices and platform controls for young users.

When the lawsuit was filed, attorneys for the US said there were more than 170 million teenagers using TikTok and that the app was "directed to children." Yet, it did not effectively gauge the age of users or get parental consent for use from those underage.

In 2024, former President Biden pushed for TikTok to be either banned, or have the company divest its US operations. President Donald Trump went on to support divestment of the app, which occurred last year.

Its US operations are now 81% owned by a consortium of investors, while Bytedance maintains a 19% stake.

A representative of TikTok did not respond to the BBC for comment.

These bookshops let Chinese readers question their country - now the doors are closing

Fri, 21 Aug 2026 22:26:25 GMT

AFP via Getty Images

The owner of Hunter bookstore, pictured here, was arrested in late June

Abel U

BBC ChineseHong Kong

21 August 2026

When Chen Zhu heads to Hong Kong from mainland China every month, there's one place she always goes: Hunter Bookstore.

Founded four years ago by a former councillor, the independent bookshop has earned a reputation for stocking what authorities would consider sensitive books - from accounts of Hong Kong's pro-democracy campaigners, to famous allegories on authoritarianism, such as George Orwell's Animal Farm or Hajime Isayama's Manga series Attack on Titan.

It's a short journey from Zhu's home in Guangzhou on China's southern coast to the crowded street in Hong Kong's Sham Shui Po district, where Hunter is sandwiched between fabric sellers, garages and trendy cafes.

But, for the 23-year-old, it is also a passage into a different, freer world - where she can find answers to forbidden questions.

When she learned the bookshop had been raided by police in late June, Zhu broke into tears: "I was devastated."

Hong Kong saw a boom in independent bookshops after huge pro-democracy protests rocked the city in 2019. But it has been increasingly difficult for them to survive as China's control over the city has grown.

While Beijing defends its far-reaching National Security Law (NSL) as essential for stability, many Hong Kongers and rights groups argue it has crushed free speech. Thousands of locals, including activists and former lawmakers, have left in recent years, as tough new security laws have led to a slew of arrests and convictions.

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Books about the Tiananmen Square democracy movement and billionaire businessman and newspaper founder Jimmy Lai

When police searched Hunter Bookstore on 24 June, they accused owner Letitia Wong, 33, and a 32-year-old man, of violating those laws and arrested them for sedition and money laundering. They deny the charges and have since been released on bail.

In March, they arrested the owner of Book Punch, along with three employees on the same charges, and reportedly seized copies of a biography on Jimmy Lai, the jailed democracy campaigner.

On 15 July, when the annual Hong Kong Book Fair opened, national security police searched two more independent bookshops, Greenfield Bookstore and Have a Nice Stay, arresting five people for sedition. They, too, have been released on bail.

At the end of the month Greenfield posted on social media, saying: "Our store will be closing after our lease expires. Thank you for walking with us, through wind and rain, for 50 years since our opening." It was the third independent bookshop to shut within a month.

These bookshops have long had a loyal following not just in Hong Kong, but also among many mainland Chinese readers. Some like Zhu travel to the city in search of a single book.

For 19-year-old Li from Shanghai, who didn't give her first name, these are places where she "can see so many possibilities, and where existing ideas can be challenged". Others treasure them as spaces that offer a sense of freedom and community they feel is missing on the mainland.

Now they fear China is eroding that spirit in Hong Kong too.

Getty

Police escort a worker out of Have a Nice Stay bookstore, whose t-shirt reads 'I am a bookshop employee'

When Zhu began university in 2021, she became increasingly curious about lesser-discussed chapters of Chinese history - such as the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, a taboo topic that has been scrubbed off the country's tightly controlled internet.

The massive student-led protests ended in a bloody army crackdown whose toll is still contested. Beijing said at the time that 200 civilians died, but according to de-classified UK diplomatic cables, at least 10,000 people were killed.

Zhu sought out films which touch on the era-defining event, but neither epic romance Summer Palace nor the secretly filmed gay drama Lan Yu could satisfy her curiosity.

She became set on tracking down The Unburned Book by Taiwanese poet Yang Du, a bittersweet reflection on protesters who later went into exile.

In 2023, as soon as the China-Hong Kong border reopened after the pandemic she made her way to Hong Kong to find it.

This was when the city's independent bookshops were taking off. People were sharing walking routes online, complete with neighbourhood guides and curated recommendations.

In bustling Mong Kok there was Luck Win, known for its generous discounts, and Greenfield, with its packed floor-to-ceiling shelves. A short walk away were the cosy Have a Nice Stay, founded by former journalists, which held popular late-night reading sessions, and Elmbook, whose cramped but beloved shelves made regulars feel like they were on a treasure hunt.

Then there was Book Punch on trendy Tai Nan Street, with a collection as defiant as its motto, "one punch to wake the reader", and the food lovers' favourite, Word by Word in historic Wan Chai, and, of course, Hunter, with a sofa outside where passers-by can take a break.

That's where Zhu found The Unburned Book. She had tried - and failed - in other stores, so she was surprised when she finally spotted it.

Hong Kong, once a refuge for those fleeing China post 1989, commemorated the killings every year with a vigil. They gradually disappeared as the new laws targeted political gatherings.

Still, when Chris, 20, whose name we have changed, travelled to Hong Kong in early June, he found that one bookstore was displaying relevant books, white candles and rolls of masking tape printed with the Roman numerals "VI-IV" - 6-4, a coded way of representing the 4 June anniversary.

These young people may not be from Hong Kong, but they describe feeling a deep sense of belonging in these bookshops: politically vibrant spaces that engage with the history their governments would rather they forget.

But it's more than just about the books.

Getty Images

The shuttered entrance to Greenfield Bookstore following the police raid

Li visited Hong Kong during the Lunar New Year earlier this year, months after a massive apartment blaze in the north-eastern Tai Po district claimed 168 lives.

At Hunter Bookstore, she discovered a wall covered in black sticky notes, where visitors had left messages of encouragement for those affected by the tragedy.

Li says this sense of community is difficult to find in mainland China. She says while they have message boards there too, they wouldn't be focused on solidarity with victims of one particular incident, perhaps because authorities are wary of any outpouring of public sentiment. "People can only express themselves indirectly," Li says.

She was equally struck by another small detail: handwritten notes left by staff alongside the books. Using sticky notes, booksellers had shared reflections on books they had read or highlighted passages they found particularly meaningful. It's not something she had ever seen back home.

Zhu experiences something similar. "We all love books. We all value independent bookshops. That's why we choose to buy books here."

She rarely speaks to strangers while browsing, but she never feels like an outsider. The books and events the shops host give her the feeling she's escaped to somewhere with "at least a little freedom of expression".

"You've left mainland China behind. Of course, you know [this] freedom has its limits. But it's still better than not being able to say anything at all."

Getty Images

Hong Kong has lost many independent bookshops over the years - regulars gathered at Mount Zero on its last day in March 2024

But now Zhu can sense this freedom being curtailed.

She says she finds herself encountering authorities more often in Hong Kong than in mainland China. At one bookshop event, she recalls government officials entering the premises. "They just sat there listening alongside us."

Increasing raids have not only targeted explicitly political shops, according to a bookseller who asked not to be identified because of possible repercussions.

"Luck Win Bookstore and Elmbook have always kept a very low profile," the bookseller says.

"They rarely make public statements or organise events. I genuinely can't think of anything they could have done to offend the government."

In the weeks leading up to this year's book fair, both shops were criticised in Wen Wei Po, a newspaper controlled by Beijing's liaison authorities in Hong Kong.

The paper accused them of selling books promoting "soft resistance". This included The Hong Kong Diaries by the last governor of Hong Kong, Chris Patten, before the city returned to Chinese rule, and 300 Short Essays by late Apple Daily columnist Lee Yee. The newspaper was shuttered and several senior staff, including its owner Jimmy Lai, were jailed for violating the new security laws.

"The authorities don't want people to know exactly where the boundaries are," says Tong Kin-long of University College London. "They want people to work out the red lines for themselves, or to censor themselves before crossing them."

Watching these changes unfold in Hong Kong has felt strangely familiar to a man we are calling K, in his 30s from Sichuan.

He remembers a time when mainland China's bookshops were also vibrant spaces for public discussion. Liberal books and magazines would be prominently displayed. Bookshops regularly hosted talks and discussions. But around 2015, he began to notice a gradual tightening.

At first it was books about the country's leaders. But then less obviously sensitive books started disappearing. Public events became less frequent, and the atmosphere changed.

Zhu has a friend who currently runs a bookshop in Guangzhou. She says police occasionally visit the shop to harass the bookseller. During film screenings organised by the bookshop, the electricity has even been cut off.

"Hong Kong," she says, "should be a freer place".

Getty Images

Books by Chinese leader Xi Jinping displayed during the Hong Kong Book Fair in July

Still, mainland Chinese readers are keen on bringing books home from Hong Kong, even though customs authorities can confiscate those they deem harmful to national sovereignty, security or unity.

K feels anxious every time he returns from Hong Kong. He chooses busier border crossings, avoids books prominently featuring politically sensitive figures and has hidden books inside his clothes, or deep in his luggage.

But that is no longer his only worry. "In the past, people would simply think, 'If I can't buy a book in mainland China, I'll go to Hong Kong'. Now the feeling is different. You don't even know which bookshops will still be here the next time you come."

A week after learning it had been excluded from the Hong Kong Book Fair, Elmbook announced it would close its physical shop in April next year. Soon afterwards, Have A Nice Stay said it would close at the end of August, citing economic difficulties and unpredictable "red lines" over what material was considered problematic.

Many within Hong Kong's bookselling industry have grown pessimistic. Some believe things will only get worse before they get better.

But readers are not powerless, an industry insider says. "We can still buy books. We can still read. And we can still read a great many books."

Chris was frightened after hearing about the arrests at Hunter Bookstore, but he says he will keep going.

"Buying a book has become a quiet way of showing support, and a quiet form of resistance."

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Modi spent years building his strong image - why is he making Gen Z reels now?

Fri, 21 Aug 2026 22:15:32 GMT

Reuters

Nikita Yadav

BBC News, Delhi

21 August 2026

Many among India's Gen Z may not see Narendra Modi as a friend. But the Indian prime minister is trying to talk to them like one.

The 75-year-old leader - who has long cultivated a strongman image through scripted speeches, formal broadcasts and carefully choreographed appearances - has in recent weeks adopted a more casual style on Instagram, the photo and video platform popular with young people.

Modi's timeline, which until a month ago featured carefully curated posts, now also includes more "candid" content, such as a get-ready-with-me reel and several selfie-style addresses to young people, whom he calls "friends".

In one video, he even refers to a phrase popular among Gen Z, saying, "first in my bloodline, external to build a rocket, a chip and a drone" while addressing students at a graduation ceremony in Delhi.

Modi has more than 106 million followers on Instagram, making him one of the most-followed political leaders on the platform.

But the tone of his communication on the platform was never central to his team or the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) social media strategy, despite the party's reputation for acing the digital playbook that helped it win the 2014 elections.

However, things changed after the youth protests in India this year.

Led by the satirical Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), the movement spread through memes, livestreams and Instagram reels before evolving into a force strong enough to make a federal minister resign.

The CJP began as a joke, but its ability to turn online attention into street mobilisation and political pressure appeared to catch the BJP off guard.

For more than a decade, the Hindu nationalist party has built one of India's most formidable political forces online using WhatsApp groups, Facebook pages and X accounts to amplify its message, says author and commentator Anurag Minus Verma.

But young Indians consume content and politics differently.

More than 60% of India's population is under 35 and Gen Z (born between 1997 and 2012) is expected to form one of the country's largest voting blocs by the 2029 general election, experts say.

Winning them over means reaching them on platforms such as Instagram, where personal and unfiltered content can resonate more than traditional political messaging.

That shift was evident when Modi's posts first appeared on Instagram. Young users were quick to respond with sarcasm.

Many people mocked his first selfie-video reel, external - in which he broke his silence about the youth protests while they were still ongoing. But what really caught their attention was a long pause after Modi said, "friends".

Versions of it soon trended online, with users adding edits and jokes and mocking the lighting and camera angles in his video.

NurPhoto via Getty Images

Shared and streamed widely on Instagram, the protest eventually gathered enough momentum to lead to the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan

In the posts that followed, Modi's team appeared to respond to some of that criticism, experimenting with different camera angles, backdrops and lighting.

While some young users appreciated the outreach, many were still sceptical about its timing.

Ginni Malia, 22, "understands" why the BJP wants to connect with people her age, but says "the timing of this sudden increased engagement is what we really need to look at".

The videos appear to adopt Gen Z language and formats, but fail to address concerns that fuelled the protests, she adds.

It is not just Modi's account. BJP social media pages have also started using memes, slang and pop-culture references to reach younger audiences.

Shortly after the protests ended, the BJP posted a reel set in a gym, external. It featured young people and an older trainer arguing that young Indians should stay away from the protests. But many comments and shares called the video "cringe".

Another video posted by the BJP had the 90s sitcom Friends title track playing in the background, with the caption, "PM Modi is there for you, external" - a reference to a show that was a hit with millennials but has little recall value among Gen Z.

Malia says among her peers, these videos are seen as "comic content" rather than taken as political messaging or outreach.

According to reports, the BJP seems to be aware that its attempts to reach younger audiences were not landing as intended.

During the protests, Modi reportedly asked his cabinet ministers to increase their social media engagement and reach out to the youth.

On Wednesday, federal ministers were given a "report card" on their social media performance and told to step up their presence across platforms, the Hindustan Times reported.

Recently, the party also replaced its social media chief Amit Malviya who had held the post since 2015. Some analysts say it could be because of criticism directed at the BJP online during the protests and how they were unable to contain the social media narrative.

The BJP is not alone in trying to connect with younger audiences.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi - who often posts selfie-style videos and candid pictures on Instagram - also held an Instagram Ask Me Anything after the protests, with playful responses such as "have you seen me and Batman in the same room together?"

Reuters

Young users say that the most important thing for them is that leaders listen to their concerns instead of chasing trends

However, getting attention on Instagram is one thing and controlling the conversation there is another.

Joyojeet Pal, who teaches the political use of social media at the University of Michigan, says the BJP has long relied on a network of supporters on X and WhatsApp to amplify its messages and shape the narrative - but that does not work on Instagram.

The platform tends to push content that generates more engagement, such as longer watch times, replays, shares and comments.

"It is not too difficult to find a reel which has 10 million views posted from an account that has 200 followers, while some posted by people with a huge base might do only a few thousand," Pal says.

"This is a challenge for the BJP because its strategy was built for a network-centric internet, while today's platforms are far more affect-centric."

Another hurdle for the BJP could be losing control over what happens after a video is posted.

Modi's first reel, which has been viewed more than 400 million times, is a case in point. While it attracted a huge audience, Verma says young people reshared it with sarcastic and mocking edits, giving it a very different tone from what Modi intended. For the BJP, learning to accept that dynamic could be a challenge.

"Instagram is fundamentally a platform built around irony," says Verma. "Serious political messaging, packaged as reels, can still be trolled."

Experts, however, caution against putting too much weight on the BJP's efforts to win over Gen Z. They say the party's electoral success still depends far more on its organisational strength and loyal support base than on how its content performs on Instagram.

"It's important to distinguish between the ability to win an election and to win a social-media narrative," Pal says. "The BJP is absolutely capable of sweeping elections even if every Gen Z person hates it on social media."

For now, the party - like many in India's political space - is learning to operate in unfamiliar territory.

But it would not be surprising if the BJP eventually figures it out it, Pal says.

The party has a history of adapting to new forms of political communication, from being an early adopter of social media for campaigning to embracing newer formats such as podcasts and influencer interviews.

"But it will take time, and the fact that we are seeing this problem now means that they will have to learn a new set of rules," he adds.

One killed in sword attack at Swedish school

Fri, 21 Aug 2026 21:03:24 GMT

EPA

Police respond to the scene in Fagersta

Jamie Whitehead

21 August 2026

One person has been killed in a sword attack at a high school in central Sweden, authorities have said.

Police were called to the Brinell School in Fagersta shortly after 14:00 local time (13:00 BST) on Friday, where officers arrested an 18-year-old man.

In an update on Friday, police said officers fired at the suspect before arresting and detaining him. He has not been named.

Two teenage boys were seriously injured in the attack. Another person had minor injuries.

Eight other schools in the area were placed under lockdown measures - which have now been lifted - while a state of high alert was declared in the Västmanland region following the attack.

Sweden's public broadcaster reported that the suspect was wearing a helmet. Local media also said he was a former student.

Police said officers were now working to establish possible motives, adding that there was currently no danger to the public.

In a post on X, Sweden's Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson described the attack as a "serious incident," and said "we do not know what lies behind the act, but we know that police are working very intensively".

Sweden's King Carl XVI Gustaf said he received the news "with dismay and sadness".

In a statement, he said: "My thoughts are with those directly affected, as well as their families and loved ones."

Students at Brinell School had only just returned to the classroom following the summer break, with the new term beginning either on Monday or Wednesday this week, depending on the academic year.

The school has just under 500 students on its roster, according to SVT, and is located 170km (105 miles) north-west of the capital, Stockholm.

Sweden has experienced a number of attacks on educational institutions in recent years.

The country experienced its worst-ever mass shooting in 2025, where 11 people, including the gunman, died at an adult education centre in Örebro.

This led to the government tightening the country's gun laws after it was found that the suspect legally owned four rifles, three of which were found in the school where attack took place.

Two teachers were killed in a violent attack on a secondary school in Malmo in 2022 - an 18-year-old student later confessed to the attack.

In 2015, a teacher and a pupil were killed in a sword attack at a school in Trollhättan.

How Israel is expanding settlements in drive to reshape West Bank

Fri, 21 Aug 2026 19:31:47 GMT

Ilia YEFIMOVICH / AFP via Getty Images

Joe Inwood

World news correspondent

21 August 2026

It was during a ceremony at a settlement in the occupied West Bank last September that Israel's prime minister made his intentions clear. "We are going to fulfill our promise that there will be no Palestinian state," said Benjamin Netanyahu. "This place belongs to us."

He was signing an agreement to push ahead with the expansion of a settlement in an area known as E1, just to the east of Jerusalem.

In recent days, the opening up of tenders for the construction of some 1,200 settlement homes on the strategically important land has brought widespread condemnation.

All settlements are illegal under international law and, under global pressure, Israel held off for decades on plans to build in the area.

After the recent announcement, the UN secretary general said they posed an "existential threat" to a future Palestinian state, while a joint statement by the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Canada said the plans were "unacceptable" and would "drive a wedge through the West Bank", a sentiment echoed by the European Union.

That was welcomed by Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority, who called for the signatories to take "concrete measures to halt the implementation of the E1 plan".

Along with Gaza and the Golan Heights, the West Bank was captured during the 1967 war against a coalition of Arab states. Israel has controlled it ever since.

As occupied land, international law prohibits Israel from settling it. Despite that, the number of Israelis living there has grown over the years. Israel has built about 160 settlements housing 700,000 Jews since 1967.

There has been a notable increase in the speed of settlement construction since 2022, however, when Netanyahu returned to power at the head of a right-wing, pro-settler coalition, further escalating after the start of the Gaza war, triggered by Hamas's 7 October 2023 attack on Israel.

One example of this is Tzofim, a settlement in the north west of the territory, where BBC Verify analysis of satellite imagery shows the construction of around 185 new buildings since 2022.

The same can be seen around Kochav Hashahar, where the existing settlement has been expanded in multiple directions, with construction of roads, houses and a new settler outpost on surrounding land.

Hundreds of outposts - illegal under Israeli and international law - have been established since the 1990s. Dozens of them have been retrospectively legalised by the government.

Maybe the most contentious is the aforementioned E1 settlement. To understand why, you need to look at maps of its proposed location.

The development would in effect divide the West Bank in two and isolate East Jerusalem from the rest of the territory. Opponents of the project have warned that it would effectively block the establishment of a Palestinian state because it would cut off the north of the West Bank from the south, and prevent the development in the centre of a contiguous Palestinian urban area connecting Ramallah, East Jerusalem and Bethlehem.

Peace Now, an Israeli anti-settlement watchdog that has challenged the plans in court, said: "The government is trying to sign contracts with contractors before the (upcoming October) elections so that it will be much harder for the next government to cancel the construction."

It is not just settlements that have been expanding. Over the last few years, much of the responsibility for the administration of the West Bank has shifted from military control to a civilian authority headed by Bezalel Smotrich, the country's far right finance minister.

This has led to a huge increase in the numbers of roads that cross the West Bank, connecting settlements but bisecting Palestinian towns and villages, something he said "ensures that the settlements will not remain on paper - but will be established on the ground".

In May of this year, the Israeli government announced more than a billion shekels ($360m; £246m) of funding for new road construction in the West Bank, with the intention of "strengthening of their grip on the territory", according to an official press release.

There has also been an escalation of settler violence against Palestinians. Recently, two Palestinian homes were besieged by settlers, with their water and power cut, leading US Ambassador Mike Huckabee, usually a prominent supporter of settlements, to denounce the attack as a "criminal and terrorist act".

All taken together, it has led to fears from Palestinians in the West Bank and supporters of Palestinian statehood that the "facts on the ground" will render it unviable.

According to some senior Israeli ministers, that is the strategy. Speaking in 2024, Smotrich said the construction of E1 would help "establish sovereignty in Judea and Samaria (a name for the occupied West Bank used by Israel), first on the ground and then through legislation… My life's mission is to thwart the establishment of a Palestinian state".

The recent news that the tender has been put out for construction of E1, comes just a couple of months ahead of deeply consequential and tightly contested elections in Israel.

Benjamin Netanyahu and his coalition partners will hope that moves like this appeal to their base and increase their chances of victory. If that is not possible, they may believe that settlement expansion has established new "facts on the ground", ones which cannot be undone.

Additional reporting by Barbara Metzler, BBC Verify. Graphics by Tom Shiel and Mesut Ersoz.

UK, Canada and Australia condemn Israel for refusing criminal probe into aid worker killings in Gaza

Fri, 21 Aug 2026 15:58:57 GMT

World Central Kitchen

Seven World Central Kitchen humanitarian workers were killed in Israeli strikes in April 2024

Tinshui Yeung

21 August 2026

The UK, Canada and Australia have described as "shameful" Israel's decision not to launch a criminal investigation into strikes on a World Central Kitchen (WCK) convoy in Gaza in 2024, which killed seven humanitarian workers.

The victims were three British nationals, a Pole, an Australian, a Canadian and a dual US-Canadian citizen.

A joint statement by the three foreign ministries said: "The victims of this incident and their families deserve justice and accountability, and we will continue to seek answers on their behalf."

Earlier, Israel's ambassador to Australia, Hillel Newman, defended the decision, saying "there was no criminal intention" and therefore "no criminal responsibility".

The statement said that on 1 April 2024, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) fired on the WCK convoy as it was delivering food to civilians in Gaza.

"In the more than two years since, we have been pressing for Israel to swiftly and thoroughly consider the case and hold those responsible to account," it said.

The three countries said the fact that Israel's announcement came on World Humanitarian Day, "while the world honoured the courage and sacrifice of humanitarians, was particularly egregious".

It also said the WCK attack was only "one of countless incidents in Gaza where there has been no accountability", as Gaza remains "the deadliest place to deliver aid", with 186 humanitarian workers killed in 2025.

It urged Israel to comply with its obligations under international humanitarian law and do more to ensure that humanitarian staff can carry out their work safely.

Who were the World Central Kitchen workers killed in Gaza?

'Serious failures'

In its statement on Wednesday, the IDF said the presence of an armed guard with the convoy had not been flagged to it before the convoy set off, and that he was falsely identified as a Hamas fighter. It also accused the convoy of deviating from the route co-ordinated with the military.

Notwithstanding "serious failures" in the process that led to the killings, "the decisions of the commanders did not raise reasonable suspicion of criminal misconduct," the IDF said.

Prior to the statement by the three countries, Australia summoned Hillel Newman. Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said her country was "outraged" by the Israeli government's decision.

She also said there were still many "unanswered questions" about the strikes, including why, if the first strike on the convoy was "a catastrophic error", two further strikes followed just minutes apart.

Poland's foreign ministry also said on Thursday that it was "very disappointed" and had summoned Israel's ambassador in Warsaw.

The founder of World Central Kitchen, Jose Andres, described the decision as "wrong" and "painful for all of us", demanding an independent commission to investigate.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has not publicly responded to the latest statement from the UK, Australia and Canada, but he previously said that the military had "unintentionally" killed the volunteers.

The statement came after a harsh exchange of words between UK Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband and Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar over Israel's plans to open tenders for the construction of about 1,200 settlement homes in a strategically important part of the occupied West Bank.

Israeli settlements are illegal under international law and plans to build in the so-called E1 area - east of Jerusalem - have long been internationally condemned.

Miliband condemned the publication of the tender as "an unacceptable and destructive act", and called on Israel to "halt E1 plans immediately, retract the tender and stop all settlement expansion".

In response, Saar said on social media that he rejected "outright" Miliband's statement.

"The Jewish people have the right to live throughout the Land of Israel, just as the British have the right to live in London and throughout the United Kingdom," he wrote.

AFP via Getty Images

File photo of the Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim in the occupied West Bank next to the so-called E1 project in East Jerusalem, taken in February 2026

While the IDF had decided not to launch a criminal investigation into the strikes on the WCK convoy, it announced in the same statement that it would carry out a criminal investigation into the killing by Israeli forces of five-year-old Palestinian girl Hind Rajab and six of her relatives in Gaza in 2024.

It also said it would similarly investigate the killing of 15 Palestinians, including medics and a UN worker, in March 2025. Their bodies were found buried in shallow graves a week later next to crushed vehicles.

Tornadoes touch down in New York and Delaware

Fri, 21 Aug 2026 14:35:50 GMT

Tornadoes touch down in New York and Delaware

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Tornadoes, heavy rain and powerful winds battered the Northeast, through Atlantic Beach in Long Island, New York and knocked out power across parts of Delaware’s capital. Police say there are no reports of serious injuries in Atlantic Beach.

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US & Canada

1 day ago

Priyanka Chopra Jonas on making a film about love and caste inequality

Fri, 21 Aug 2026 13:32:28 GMT

Priyanka Chopra Jonas on making a film about love and caste inequality

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Priyanka Chopra Jonas talks to the BBC about her new film, The Cycle of Love.

Chopra Jonas, who is the executive producer of the film, said she was instantly drawn to the story when she heard it for the first time.

The film is based on the true story of Indian artist PK Mahanandia, who cycled 6,000 miles from India to Europe to reunite with the Swedish woman he loved. The film, which follows Mahanandia’s journey, also explores the caste discrimination that he faced in India.

The BBC's culture correspondent Noor Nanji spoke to Chopra Jonas, and the film’s director, Orlando von Einsiedel, before its premiere in New York.

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Asia

1 day ago

Rosenberg: Shortage of petrol but not patriotism as Russians feel growing impact of war

Fri, 21 Aug 2026 13:07:00 GMT

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Watch: The BBC's Steve Rosenberg speaks to residents about the struggle to find fuel for their vehicles

Steve Rosenberg

BBC Russia editorMoscow

21 August 2026

At a petrol station in the south-east of Moscow, Svyatoslav has been queuing in his car for two hours.

The sign board up ahead has just been changed to show there's no fuel.

"They say there will be petrol here," Svyatoslav tells me optimistically. "They just don't know when. Maybe today, maybe tomorrow."

I ask him why he doesn't drive off and look for another place to fill up.

"I haven't got enough in the tank to do that," Svyatoslav replies.

Even if he had, there'd be no quick fuel fix for Svyatoslav. This week across Moscow, and in other parts of Russia, there have been long queues for petrol.

"Unscheduled repairs at oil refineries," explain Russian officials.

Those repairs have been triggered by Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian oil facilities. Such long-range attacks sparked major fuel shortages earlier this summer. The targeting of oil refineries has continued apace.

This time the queues in Moscow are even longer than before. The authorities appear to be struggling to resolve problems with refining capacity and logistics.

"The second wave of the fuel crisis is building," declared broadsheet Nezavisimaya Gazeta this week.

Driving around Moscow this week two things catch the eye: patriotic announcements on giant billboards about Russian Flag Day…and giant petrol queues.

Outside one Moscow petrol station I count 80 vehicles waiting in line.

The search for fuel is now a constant struggle.

"Last night I went to get petrol at 11pm," says Elizaveta who's queuing again for fuel. "By midnight I'd reached the front of the queue. Then they shut the petrol station until 2am."

"I drove into Moscow yesterday from the provinces," says Lyubov. "It was empty petrol stations all the way."

Lyubov says all the petrol stations on her drive to Moscow were empty

To stay calm in the queue Lyubov is stroking her pet dog Agatha.

How does Lyubov view the fuel crisis?

"Everyone says there is a difficult situation in the country," Lyubov tells me. "Everyone connects this to that situation."

Before Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 there were no drone attacks on Russian oil refineries - or on any facilities inside Russia. These strikes haven't forced the Kremlin to U-turn. It's continuing what it still calls the "special military operation", Russia's war on Ukraine.

To ease the crisis, Russia has begun importing petrol.

That is extraordinary for a country widely recognised as an energy superpower and one of the world's leading exporters of crude oil.

To reduce the fuel shortage the government has also temporarily authorised the production and sale of lower-grade petrol, like Euro 2, which is faster to produce. Euro 2 contains up to 50 times more sulphur than modern Euro 5 and was banned in Russia in 2013.

It comes with a warning.

"For modern cars," wrote the government newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta, "regular use of lower-grade petrol can increase the pressure on the fuel injector, spark plugs, oxygen sensors, the catalytic converter and soot filter. Euro 2 won't kill an engine on one re-fuelling. But it sharply reduces the margin of safety."

It's not just the targeting of oil facilities which have brought the war home to Russians.

Ukrainian strikes on distribution centres of Wildberries, Russia's equivalent of Amazon, are causing disruption to shoppers and economic pain for sellers.

This week President Vladimir Putin conceded that attacks on industrial facilities and infrastructure "do inflict damage; this is obvious. We understand this, we see it."

But the Kremlin leader played down the problems.

"There are no critical consequences from such attacks. There have not been and cannot be."

In other words, no need for panic.

"It is a disconnect between people's feelings and the description of reality by Vladimir Putin, the description of his personal reality in his head," believes Andrei Kolesnikov, a columnist for independent news outlet Novaya Gazeta.

"Maybe he's trying to hypnotise himself that everything is okay."

Recent polling inside Russia, including by the Public Opinion Foundation, suggest that anxiety in society is rising. That would suggest that the Kremlin's message of 'keep calm and carry on' isn't landing.

"This permanent feeling of anxiety is with everyone right now. You feel that something is wrong. Anxiety is the main sentiment," says Kolesnikov.

"This regime doesn't demonstrate any model of the future: the nearest future, a middle- term future, a long-term future. We are 'great' right now. What are the qualities of this greatness? The petrol crisis? In that sense, the future is aborted. People are trying not to think about the future. The horizon of planning is very short."

A few minutes' drive from the petrol station where I'd been chatting with Svyatoslav, I spot another long queue.

But this one is for candyfloss.

The local authorities have set up stalls and put on a street concert to mark Russian Flag Day.

There may be a shortage of petrol. But not of patriotism. Not here.

"It's my country, my fate, my dream," croons a singer. "I'm raising my flag. The flag of my country."

Weapons are on display for the public in Moscow to mark Russian Flag Day

Volunteers are handing out Russian tricolours to people on the square.

"Dear friends, we live in a wonderful country!" declares one of the speakers. "We know that we will always be victorious. I wish you peaceful skies, a good mood, comfort, prosperity and pride in our country."

Along with the candyfloss there are Kalashnikovs. At one stall children are being shown an array of military hardware, including hand-held rocket launchers. The kids are picking up the weapons and posing with them.

It hints to the growing militarisation of Russian society.

The patriotic presentation is lifting some people's spirits.

"Difficulties unite us," pensioner Tatyana tells me. "The harder things are, the stronger we get."

But the war is very much on people's minds - especially the Ukrainian drone attacks on the Moscow region.

"When you go to sleep you don't know if you'll wake up in the morning," Angelina tells me. "That's the only problem. Everything else is fine."

"The problems we have are high prices, petrol shortages and last night, for the first time, my windows shook…I heard 'boom boom!' another woman tells me.

"Right now, it's important to take care of your psychological state, so that it's strong and unbreakable. So that, whatever happens, you can say: 'Oh well, never mind.'

Comments like that suggest that Russians don't believe they can influence what's happening around them. All they feel they can do is try to adapt.

Israel re-establishes closed West Bank settlement, defying growing international protests

Fri, 21 Aug 2026 05:00:57 GMT

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Watch: Israeli settlers return to settlement of Kadim

Lucy Williamson

Middle East Correspondent Jenin

21 August 2026

A new generation of Israeli settlers has returned to the settlement of Kadim, in the occupied West Bank, two decades after it was closed by a previous Israeli government.

Thirty "pioneer families" had arrived in the settlement on Thursday from Tel Aviv, according to the regional settlers' council, riding a wave of Jewish nationalism driven by Israel's current government.

They came in small groups, some under military escort, blue and white Israeli flags fluttering from their cars as they passed Palestinian villages and farmlands. Some dragged trailers loaded with bedding, furniture and building material.

Israel's government has overturned a 20-year ban on Jewish settlements around Jenin. Palestinian residents are watching the new push on settlement expansion here with fear.

All Israeli settlements and settler outposts are illegal under international law. Outposts are also illegal under Israeli law, though are often supported by state services and funding.

"21 years after the crime of expulsion from northern Samaria, we have completed the correction […] and have returned to the settlement of Kadim," said Israel's far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich at the opening ceremony, using the Biblical word for the northern West Bank.

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Alongside him were Israel's Justice Minister, the Speaker of the Knesset, and Yossi Dagan, head of the regional settlers' council, who vowed that settlers would one day return to Gaza too.

Kadim, on a small hillside outside the Palestinian city of Jenin, was evacuated in 2005 by a previous Israeli government as part of a wider unilateral Disengagement Plan that also saw all Jewish settlers and soldiers pulled out of Gaza, and three other settlements in the northern West Bank dismantled.

At the time, the four settlements were considered too isolated and costly to protect, and of little strategic value.

Senior Israeli politicians including Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana attended a national ceremony

In recent weeks, white trailer homes have appeared on the hilltop here again, in preparation for families to return.

Our request to speak to people at the opening ceremony was refused; we were told no media were allowed to enter the settlement today.

Driving along a dirt track on the hill behind it, we met a Palestinian vegetable farmer, living in the house he was born in 53 years ago.

He told me how, as a boy, he watched Kadim being built for the first time, then watched again as the settlers there were forced out by the government twenty years later.

"Back then, the settlers were living alongside us, and we coexisted peacefully. They lived their lives and we lived ours," he told me.

Now, watching them return, he's fearful.

"I'm afraid of the events spreading around us, and the bypass road [where] they demolished shops and businesses," he said.

"They drove my nephews away from their vegetables and citrus trees, telling them 'you have no place here, don't come back'".

He said his family fled here from Haifa during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.

"There's no more displacement left in me," he said. "We're living with a sense of resignation. It's a life of fear."

After Kadim and the three other settlements here were evacuated in 2005, Israelis were banned from settling in this area. Israel's current government overturned that ban.

Kadim is the last of the settlements evacuated in 2005 to reopen. Ganim, Sanur and Homesh have already been formally opened, and families moved in.

But they are a drop in the ocean of the Israeli government's settlement project here. Since it took power in late 2022, it has approved more than 100 new settlements across the West Bank, including 19 in the northern West Bank.

Hagit Ofran, director of the Settlement Watch programme at Peace Now, says the rapid construction in Jenin is part of a wider race by the Israeli government to expand settlements in the West Bank before Israeli elections are held in October.

One of those new settlements is Emek Dotan, to the west of Jenin, formally opened last Sunday and now home to almost two dozen Jewish families.

From the small hamlet of Palestinian houses next door to Emek Dotan, teacher Samer Jaber, has watched the settlement take shape: first the bulldozers, then the caravans lifted into place. The problems began even before most of the families moved in, he said.

"Groups come and stand opposite our houses, filming us," he told me.

"Yesterday they came and stood here, filming me and my children. Every time my wife stepped outside, they filmed her too. They try to enter our homes. And they go house by house, shining powerful floodlights directly through all the windows at two or three in the morning."

Problems began even before most of the families moved in, schoolteacher Samer Jaber told the BBC

Samer is partially blind and has a leg injury that makes moving difficult.

"Fear dominates everything. We are completely defenceless," he said. "All of them have weapons. I'm bringing concrete blocks to close off this side of the house because I'm afraid for my children."

Samer has watched settlements – and settler attacks – grow in other parts of the West Bank over the past few years, despite international pressure.

"Europe has no time for us, America is preoccupied with Iran, China has no interest," his analysis began. "Russia is busy with Ukraine, the United Nations is finished, and the Arab countries have their own internal problems."

"Democratic systems are over, they're finished," he concluded, anger and bitterness leaking out. "Civilisation, progress and modernity are lies."

Alongside the new settlements around Jenin, two new Israeli military bases are rapidly going up – construction vehicles churning up dust behind high concrete walls topped with watchtowers and barbed wire, Israeli flags flapping in the wind.

A military outpost is also being built on seized Palestinian land beside Jenin Refugee Camp – the first Israeli military base to be built on land under full Palestinian Authority control since the Oslo Accords were signed in 1993.

Israel's military evacuated thousands of residents from Jenin Refugee camp before occupying it in 2025.

The Israel Defence Forces confirmed that construction of the outpost in Jabriyat had been ordered "in accordance with operational needs".

The Palestinian Authority Governor for Jenin, Kamal Abu al-Rub, told me he was worried that Israel's seizure of land around the refugee camp signalled a plan to house settlers there, right in the heart of a Palestinian city, dividing it up like Hebron or Jerusalem.

He described the past two decades without settlers around Jenin as "bliss".

"Now, we live in the hell orchestrated by them and their assaults," he said. "It limits our movement. They cut off roads, bulldoze lands and cut down trees."

The speed of change here is breathtaking.

A few weeks ago, I sat drinking coffee in a café on the road that runs from Kadim through the northern West Bank to Israel: now that café – and dozens of Palestinian shops and businesses around it – are just piles of rubble along the road; demolished by the Israeli army.

The countdown to Israeli elections in October marked in the number of Palestinian buildings demolished, the number of new settler caravans.

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