The UN’s humanitarian chief has said people in Gaza are being subjected to forced starvation by Israel. In an interview with the BBC, Tom Fletcher said he believed this had led to a change in the international response to Gaza. Asked if his assessment of forced starvation amounted to a war crime, he said: “Yeah,...
Faizan Zaki correctly spelled the French-derived word “éclaircissement”, synonymous with enlightenment, to win the 2025 Scripps National Spelling Bee in the US. The 13-year-old from Texas outlasted eight other finalists and defeated last year’s champion, Sarvadnya Kadam, to claim the title and take home the $52,500 prize. Zaki lost to Kadam in 2024 during a...
The FBI is investigating an effort by one or more unknown people to access the personal phone of Susie Wiles, the White House chief of staff, sources told the BBC’s US news partner CBS. The key Trump ally told people that her phone had been hacked after a impersonator – or impersonators – used her...
Adam Easton BBC Warsaw correspondent Reuters Rafal Trzaskowski (L) has a narrow lead in the polls over national conservative historian Karol Nawrocki (R) Poles will vote for a new president on Sunday in a tight election that will have major consequences for the future of the country’s pro-EU government. Opinion polls say Warsaw’s liberal mayor...
Reuters The musicians were last seen in the Mexican city of Reynosa, near the US border Five musicians who disappeared in the Mexican city of Reynosa, near the US border, were murdered by suspected drug cartel members, Mexican authorities have said. Nine alleged members of the notorious Gulf Cartel have been arrested on suspicion of...
Rushdi Abualouf Gaza correspondent Reuters Israel resumed its military offensive against Hamas in Gaza in mid-March following the collapse of a two-month ceasefire A senior Hamas official has told the BBC the Palestinian armed group will reject the latest US proposal for a new Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal. The White House said on...
“I was speechless,” said Matthias Huss, a leading glacier specialist at Zurich’s Federal Institute of Technology. “It was the worst case that could happen.” Mr Huss had been aware of the situation in Blatten; he and his team check Switzerland’s glaciers all year round, and their annual reports show a clear, accelerated thaw, linked to...
Gaza has been subjected to forced starvation by Israel, a top UN official has told the BBC. Tom Fletcher told special correspondent Fergal Keane that the world has a responsibility to take greater action to get aid into Gaza and to “act to prevent genocide”. Israel has claimed Hamas steals food aid and has accused...
Vitaly Shevchenko Russia editor, BBC Monitoring Getty Images In the fourth year of its full-scale invasion, Russia is still making billions for its war on Ukraine by selling fossil fuels abroad Russia has continued to make billions from fossil fuel exports to the West, data shows, helping to finance its full-scale invasion of Ukraine –...
A former assistant of rap mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs has told a New York court that he repeatedly sexually assaulted her while she was employed by him for eight years. The witness – who testified anonymously under the pseudonym “Mia” – also tearfully said she lived in fear of violent rages from Mr Combs as...
Getty Images There are about 280,000 Chinese students studying in the US Xiao Chen turned up at the US Consulate in Shanghai on Thursday morning, hours after Washington announced that it would “aggressively” revoke the visas of Chinese students. The 22-year-old had a visa appointment: she was headed to Michigan in the autumn to study...
Rushdi Abualouf, Gaza correspondent & Alys Davies BBC News, in Cairo and London Reuters Displaced children queue for food at a charity kitchen in Gaza City There is a state of chaos, a breakdown of security, and looting in north Gaza’s main city, where Palestinians are desperately searching for food and where aid is difficult...
Getty Images Students attend Harvard University’s graduation ceremony on 28 May Harvard University won a reprieve in its fight to enrol international students, after the Trump administration appeared to walk back its initial decertification and a federal judge upheld a block on the government’s order. The Department of Homeland Security said Thursday it would now...
The trial of Diego Maradona’s medical staff has collapsed in Argentina after it was found that a judge involved in the case had taken part in a documentary about it. The judge in charge of the proceedings said the trial, which began on 11 March and was expected to last until July, would have to...
France will ban smoking in all outdoor places that can be frequented by children, health and family minister Catherine Vautrin has said. The ban will come into force on 1 July and will include beaches, parks, public gardens, outside schools, bus stops and sports venues. “Tobacco must disappear where there are children,” Vautrin said in...