Shingai Nyoka BBC News, Harare BBC “Sir Wicknell”, who started out as a wages clerk for a bus firm, has become such a celebrity that his face is decorating minibus taxis A flashy tycoon in Zimbabwe has a nation entranced – some beguiled, others alarmed – by his habit of giving away cars along with...
Corbis via Getty Images A 1900 photograph of the customs department in Dubai In the winter of 1956, The Times correspondent David Holden arrived on the island of Bahrain, then still a British protectorate. After a short-lived career teaching geography, Holden had looked forward to his Arabian posting, but he hadn’t expected to be attending...
Steve Rosenberg Russia Editor Getty Images At the St Petersburg International Economic Forum, a Russian MP came up to me. “Are you going to bomb Iran?” he asked. “I’m not planning to bomb anyone!” I replied. “I mean you, the British…” “Don’t you mean Donald Trump?” “He’s told what to do by Britain,” the man...
Columbia University activist Mahmoud Khalil has said the Trump administration failed to suppress pro-Palestinian voices, following his release from more than three months in immigration detention. “My existence is a message” to the Trump administration, he told the BBC after returning to New Jersey from a detention centre in Louisiana. “All these attempts to suppress...
Robin Levinson King BBC News Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office/Reuters Police said suspect Vance Luther Boelter was armed at the time of his arrest The suspect accused of fatally shooting a Minnesota lawmaker and her husband in a gun rampage last week was a doomsday “prepper”, according to the FBI. The wife of the accused, Vance...
Pakistan has announced it plans to nominate US President Donald Trump for a Nobel Peace Prize, citing the role that Islamabad says he played in helping to negotiate a ceasefire last month between India and Pakistan. On X, the Pakistani government said Trump deserved the award “in recognition of his decisive diplomatic intervention and pivotal...
Danai Nesta Kupemba BBC News BBC At least eight people have died in a hot air balloon accident in Brazil, a state governor has said. There were 21 people on board the balloon in the city of Praia Grande on Saturday morning, Governor of Santa Catarina Jorginho Mello said in a post on X. Mello...
Sofia Ferreira Santos BBC News Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images The director of national intelligence had previously said Iran was not building nuclear weapons Tulsi Gabbard says Iran could produce nuclear weapons “within weeks”, months after she testified before Congress that the country was not building them. The US Director of National Intelligence said...
Fashion legend Giorgio Armani will miss his two shows at Milan Fashion Week for the first time in his career. The 90-year-old Italian designer is “currently recovering at home”, his company said in a statement. His recovery follows a brief hospital stay in Milan, Italian media reported. He had “worked with usual dedication on the...
Panama has declared an emergency in its main banana-producing region, after shops were looted and buildings vandalised in ongoing protests over a pension reform. The government says constitutional rights will be suspended for the next five days in the north-western Bocas del Toro province. The measure restricts freedom of movement and allows the police to...
EPA / AFP Hakainde Hichilema (L) defeated Edgar Lungu (R) in the 2021 presidential election – the third time they had faced each other at the polls The personal has become very political in Zambia. Mourning and the build-up to a funeral is never an easy time, but throw in the fallout from a long-standing...
Matt Murphy, Olga Robinson & Shayan Sardarizadeh BBC Verify BBC A wave of disinformation has been unleashed online since Israel began strikes on Iran last week, with dozens of posts reviewed by BBC Verify seeking to amplify the effectiveness of Tehran’s response. Our analysis found a number of videos – created using artificial intelligence –...
Jonathan Beale Defence correspondent Getty Images Nato’s chief Mark Rutte (left) wants to give Donald Trump what he wants – higher defence spending by America’s allies Nato summits tend to be “pre-cooked”, not least to present a united front. Secretary General Mark Rutte has already settled on the menu for their meeting at The Hague:...
EPA-EFE/Shutterstock Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi (centre) met European diplomats in Geneva on Friday Iran has said it will not resume talks over its nuclear programme while under attack, hours after Israel’s defence minister warned of “prolonged” conflict against the Islamic republic. Exchanges of violence continued on Friday, as Iran fired another salvo of missiles...
Nikhil Inamdar BBC News, London The Trustees of the British Museum Gouache painting on paper depicting goddess Lakṣmi A new exhibition at the British Museum in London showcases the rich journey of India’s spiritual art. Titled Ancient India: Living Traditions, it brings together 189 remarkable objects spanning centuries. Visitors can explore everything from 2,000-year-old sculptures...