Author: BBC News Service
Daniel Sandford/BBC News Service In a Stockholm suburb a man dressed in black appeared out of the winter night. Carrying a handgun, he approached 20-year-old Murad Abdelkader, a student on his way back from a shift at McDonald’s. The gunman opened fire, shooting again and again as he approached his target. He fired the last shot into his victim’s head as he lay helpless on the ground. The killer was 18-year-old Atilla Azimov. On that February night last year, he had killed the wrong man. He had done it for money – hired by the Foxtrot Network, an organised crime…
Paulin Kolaand and Nikos Papanikolaou/BBC News Service. Two crew members have been killed after two helicopters collided mid-air in Greece while battling wildfires. The fatalities were a Danish pilot and a Greek fire service liaison officer. A British pilot and another Greek co-ordinator on the second helicopter survived. Video of the incident some 65 km (42 miles) west of the capital Athens shows one of the two Bell helicopters hitting the propellers of the other, which bursts into flames and crashes in a ravine. The other aircraft made an emergency landing. Wildfires have broken out in Greece this week, prompting…
BBC News As temperatures rise this summer, Japanese men are baring more leg at work than ever before. The Tokyo Metropolitan Government is pushing company employees to ditch their usual suit and tie for more casual attire, featuring t-shirts, trainers – and shorts. Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike introduced “Tokyo Cool Biz” in April, hoping to expand on her signature cool down initiative which has now become a widely recognised annual summer tradition. Almost four months in, the newly allowed shorts in the office policy is getting mixed reviews. Some commentators enjoy the relaxed rules, helping them work more comfortably. Others…
Sarah Rainsford/BBC News ‘Everyone’s afraid to die’: Struggle to recruit soldiers in Ukraine turns violent Vasyl Krupych (pictured) knows what it is to fight for Ukraine. He describes terrifying scenes from battles in the eastern Donbas region where, sometimes praying, sometimes crying, the machine gunner somehow survived the onslaught by Russian troops. But last December, by then serving in the rear, Krupych was attacked by his own countrymen whilst out searching for draft dodgers. He says two men ignored demands to show their documents and fled. When his patrol gave chase, Krupych was badly beaten with a crowbar. He spent…
Victoria Gill/BBC News A monkey that has striking pinkish-orange lips and a black face – and lives in the forests of the Democratic Republic of Congo – has been confirmed as a new species to science. The black-furred primate was spotted and photographed hidden away in the high tree canopy of dense tropical forests in Lomami National Park, in the central east of the country. Conservationists working there first reported seeing this unusual-looking animal back in 2008. But they captured just one blurry photograph. After another sighting 10 years later, an international team set out to find and study the…
BBC News The UAE accused Iran of a “brazen” attack on two tankers in the Strait of Hormuz on Monday, killing one and wounding eight, as Donald Trump said the US would impose a 20% charge as part of a new blockade on the waterway. The US president said they were hitting Iran “very hard” as strikes were launched for the third consecutive night amid escalating attacks between the two countries. Iran’s foreign minister responded to the announcement of a blockade by saying that Tehran would remain the Strait’s “GUARDIAN” – using Trump’s word. The dispute over control of the…
Catherine Wyatt/BBC religious affairs The Vatican has excommunicated followers of a conservative Catholic splinter sect, the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX), a day after it consecrated four new bishops against Pope Leo XIV’s direct instruction. In a decree, it said the Society’s total of six bishops were excommunicated – and, in a highly unusual move, it added that any lay members who “formally adhere” to the group “are to be considered schismatic and excommunicated”. But those who left the SSPX would be welcomed back “with sincere affection”. The Vatican later clarified that not all members would be excommunicated automatically,…
Adam Goldsmith/BBC News. Catherine, the Princess of Wales, has completed the Three Peaks Challenge in aid of the hospital where she was treated for cancer, describing it as a “chance to explore life beyond diagnosis and to give something back”. She did the event, which involves climbing the highest peaks in England, Scotland and Wales over a day, to raise funds for the Royal Marsden Cancer Charity. The princess revealed she was having cancer treatment in 2024, and said she was in remission at the start of 2025. On Sunday, she said she wanted to support “holistic healthcare” for people with cancer,…
Paul Seddon/BBC News Sir Keir Starmer has announced his resignation as Labour leader, heralding the end of his time in 10 Downing Street. He has said he will stay on as UK prime minister until his successor is in place. Why did Starmer resign? Pressure on the Labour leader had been building for a while, amid dire poll ratings and a series of damaging revelations over his decision to appoint Peter Mandelson as his US ambassador last year. Elections to the Welsh and Scottish parliaments, as well as local councils in parts of England, in May had long been billed…
Yvette Tan/BBC Australia The H5N1 strain of bird flu has for the first time been found in Australia, the country’s agriculture ministry confirmed. It means the highly contagious variant has now reached every continent. The disease was found in a migratory seabird, a brown skua, in remote Western Australia, Agriculture Minister Julie Collins said on Saturday. The bird was found on a beach at the Cape Le Grand National Park near the town of Esperance, about 700km (434 mi) south-east of Perth, according to local media. Australia was previously the only continent where the H5N1 bird flu strain had not…
By Laura Bicker/ BBC China correspondent For Chinese leader Xi Jinping, North Korea is the neighbour China can neither control nor afford to lose. The two sides often describe their relationship as one “forged in blood”, a reference to the Korean War. Yet in recent years, mistrust has strained ties. And now Beijing is trying to reassert sway over a strategically vital yet deeply unpredictable partner. China wants stability on its border and influence in Pyongyang, but without being dragged into crises triggered by North Korea’s nuclear ambitions. So Xi’s visit this week is likely to beless about friendship, more…
From Helen Sullivan, Tabby Wilson/ BBC News The suspect in a shooting near the White House was killed in an exchange of fire with Secret Service agents on Saturday evening, officials have confirmed. BBC’s US media partner CBS has named the suspect as Nasire Best, a 21-year-old man who was known to the Secret Service and had a documented history of mental health conditions. In a post to Truth Social, Donald Trump thanked the Secret Service for their “swift and professional action” in apprehending the gunman, who he said had a “violent history and possible obsession with our Country’s most…
By Zoya Mateen/BBC News Delhi Indian politics has acquired an unusual mascot: the cockroach. A satirical collective that takes inspiration from the insect – stubborn, reviled and considered indestructible – has attracted millions of online followers and mainstream media attention in less than a week, making even veteran politicians sit up and take notice. The cockroach was thrust into the spotlight last week after controversial comments made by India’s Chief Justice Surya Kant. During a hearing, he allegedly compared unemployed young people drifting towards journalism and activism with cockroaches and parasites. He later clarified that he was referring specifically to…
By Kelly Ng/BBC News A court in Pakistan has sentenced a man to death over the murder of a teen social media influencer that sparked uproar across the country. Umar Hayat broke into the home of 17-year-old TikTok star Sana Yousaf in June last year after she rejected his repeated advances, and shot her dead. Hayat, now 23, admitted his crime in July, saying he had developed a one-sided obsession with Yousaf after some interactions online. Yousaf’s father Syed Yousaf Hassan said the verdict handed down by the Islamabad court was “a lesson for all such criminals in society”, local media reported.…
The virus is believed to have killed 136 people in the DR Congo
By Caroline Hawley and Ghoncheh Habibiazad/BBC News The line is crackly. But the voice of Mehrab Abdollahzadeh is clear and, given the circumstances, surprisingly steady. He’s on death row in western Iran. He speaks quickly – as if time is running out. And his message is desperate. “You are hearing my voice from Oromiyeh Central Prison, and this may be the last time you hear it,” he says in a voice note obtained by the Kurdistan Human Rights Network. “From the very first day of my arrest, they forced confessions out of me through torture and threats, confessions that were…
By Thomas Mukhwana/Janes Gallagher, BBC News. The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared an Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo a public health emergency of international concern. The agency said the outbreak in DR Congo’s eastern Ituri province, which has seen around 246 suspected cases and 80 deaths reported, does not meet the criteria of a pandemic emergency. But it warned it could potentially be “a much larger outbreak” than what is currently being detected and reported, with significant risk of local and regional spread. The current strain of Ebola is caused by the Bundibugyo virus, the health…
US President Donald Trump has warned Iran the “clock is ticking” as talks to bring the war to an end have stalled. “They better get moving, FAST, or there won’t be anything left of them,” he wrote on his Truth Social platform. “TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE!” The message came as the president spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday, the Times of Israel reported, citing Netanyahu’s office. Iranian media meanwhile reported the US had failed to make any concrete concessions in its response to Tehran’s latest proposals to end the conflict. A lack of compromise from Washington…
By Nadine Yousoff/BBC News For decades, Canada was seen as a global laggard in defence funding, and just two years ago, recruitment was so dire that a former defence minister warned the armed forces were in a “death spiral”. Now, the Canadian army is growing at a pace not seen in decades, reaching its highest number of recruits in 30 years and potentially reversing the chronic personnel shortage that has plagued the country’s military. The boost over the last two years comes as the world grapples with major armed conflicts and geopolitical uncertainty, and as Canada commits billions in new…
By Sarah Rainsford/BBC News Southern and Eastern Europe correspondent, Granadilla, Tenerife Almost a month after the first passenger died of the hantavirus on board the MV Hondius cruise ship, it has finally reached Tenerife in the Canary Islands. Intensive preparations have been under way to receive the ship in the port of Granadilla and help more than 100 people onto shore to be repatriated. The Hondius arrived near the port before dawn, but even now it won’t be permitted to reach shore: a security perimeter of one nautical mile will be enforced around the ship as it approaches the island.…
By Bethany Bell/BBC News. A 21-year-old Austrian man has admitted plotting a jihadist attack on a Taylor Swift concert in Vienna in August 2024. The man, named only as Beran A, also admitted to being part of a terrorist organisation, although he denied other charges including involvement in planning an attack in the Islamic holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia. The state prosecutor told the court in Wiener Neustadt near Vienna that police had found an almost completed bomb during a search of the man’s house. Beran A was arrested after a tip-off from the CIA just before Swift’s…
by Simon Atkinson and Kelly Ng/BBC News Plans to erect a statue in New Zealand symbolising the so-called comfort women who were forced into sexual slavery by Japan during World War Two have been rejected. The Japanese embassy had warned that the installation of the structure in a public garden in Auckland “could have a significant impact” on the diplomatic relations between the two countries. The bronze statue, which depicts a girl seated next to an empty chair, was given to New Zealand by the Korean Council for Justice and Remembrance, a non-government group advocating against military sexual slavery. More…
By BBC News/ Colin Ambler cvnznews.com Iran has warned that any further strikes on civilian areas by the United States or Israel will trigger a “much more devastating and widespread” response, escalating fears of a deeper regional conflict as tensions over the Strait of Hormuz reach a critical point. The statement, issued by a spokesman for the Khatam al‑Anbiya Central Headquarters — Iran’s highest operational military command — was broadcast by state media and framed as a direct response to increasingly aggressive rhetoric from Washington. It follows US President Donald Trump’s latest threat to target Iranian power plants and bridges…