Deadly mushroom cook weighed fatal dose on kitchen scales, says prosecutor
An Australian woman accused of murdering relatives with beef Wellington documented herself using kitchen scales to calculate a lethal dose of toxic mushrooms, prosecutors allege.
Erin Patterson has pleaded not guilty to killing three people and attempting to murder another at her home in regional Victoria in July 2023. The 50-year-old says she never intended to hurt them and it was a tragic accident.
Prosecutors on Thursday suggested photos found on her phone showing wild fungi being weighed depict her measuring the amount required to kill her guests.
Ms Patterson told the court she had likely taken the photos in question but said she didn’t believe the mushrooms in them were death caps.
Ms Patterson’s in-laws, Don and Gail Patterson, both 70, along with Gail’s sister Heather Wilkinson, 66, all fell ill and died days after the lunch.
Heather’s husband, local pastor Ian Wilkinson, was also hospitalised but recovered after coming out of a weeks-long induced coma.
The high-profile trial, which started almost six weeks ago, has already heard from more than 50 prosecution witnesses. Ms Patterson became the first defence witness to take the stand on Monday afternoon.
Under cross-examination from the lead prosecutor, Ms Patterson admitted she had foraged for wild mushrooms in the three months before the July lunch, despite telling police and a health official that she hadn’t.
The court was also shown images, taken in late April 2023 and recovered from Ms Patterson’s phone, which depicted mushrooms being weighed.
Ms Patterson previously admitted she had repeatedly deleted electronic data in the days following the lunch because she feared that if officers found such pictures they would blame her for the guests’ deaths.
Pointing to earlier evidence from a fungi expert who said the mushrooms in the images were “highly consistent” with death caps, Dr Rogers alleged Ms Patterson had knowingly foraged them days before.
She had seen a post on iNaturalist – a website for logging plant and animal sightings – and travelled to the Loch area ten days later on 28 April to pick the toxic fungi, Dr Rogers alleged.
Ms Patterson said she couldn’t recall if she went to the town that day, but denied she went there to find death cap mushrooms or that she had seen the iNaturalist post.
“I suggest that you were weighing these mushrooms so that you could calculate the weight required for… a fatal dose,” Dr Rogers put to her.
“Disagree,” Ms Patterson replied.
The mother-of-two also spoke about putting powdered dried mushrooms into a range of foods like spaghetti, brownies and stew, which prosecutors allege was practice for the fatal lunch.
Ms Patterson said this was not true, but rather an attempt to get “extra vegetables into my kids’ bodies”.
Prosecutors repeatedly asked her, with different wording each time, whether she had knowingly used the same food dehydrator to prepare death cap mushrooms for the lunch.
CCTV played at the trial shows Ms Patterson disposing of the appliance at a local dump.
“That’s why you rushed out, the day after your release from [hospital], to get rid of the evidence,” Dr Rogers said.
“No,” replied Ms Patterson.
Earlier, Ms Patterson’s barrister asked her why she repeatedly lied to police about foraging mushrooms and having a food dehydrator.
“It was this stupid knee-jerk reaction to dig deeper and keep lying,” she told the court. “I was just scared, but I shouldn’t have done it.”
Ms Patterson also repeated her claim that she never intentionally put the poisonous fungi in the meal.
She said the mushrooms used in the beef Wellington may have accidentally included dried, foraged varieties that were kept in a container with store-bought ones.
Ms Patterson was also quizzed on evidence given by other witnesses that she had asked her guests to come to the lunch to discuss health issues, namely a cancer diagnosis.
She said she didn’t outright say she had cancer, but still shouldn’t have misled her relatives, saying she’d done so partly because their concern made her feel loved.
“I suggest that you never thought you would have to account for this lie about having cancer because you thought the lunch guests would die,” Dr Rogers said. “Your lie would never be found out.”
“That’s not true,” Ms Patterson said.
She will resume being cross examined on Friday. The trial, initially expected to take six weeks, is now expected to run for at least another fortnight, the judge has told the court.
Former Zambian President Lungu dies aged 68
Zambia’s former President Edgar Lungu has died at the age of 68, his party has said in a statement.
He had “been receiving specialized treatment in South Africa” for an undisclosed illness, the Patriotic Front (PF) added.
Lungu led Zambia for six years from 2015, losing the 2021 election to the current President Hakainde Hichilema by a large margin.
After that defeat he stepped back from politics but later returned to the fray. He had ambitions to vie for the presidency again but at the end of last year the Constitutional Court barred him from running, ruling that he had already served the maximum two terms allowed by law.
Even after being disqualified from running for the presidency again, he remained hugely influential in Zambian politics and did not hold back in his criticism of his successor.
In a short video, Lungu’s daughter Tasila said that the former head of state, who had been “under medical supervision in recent weeks”, died at a clinic in South Africa’s capital, Pretoria, at 06:00 (04:00 GMT) on Thursday.
“In this moment of grief, we invoke the spirit of ‘One Zambia, One Nation’ – the timeless creed that guided President Lungu’s service to our country,” she added in an emotional statement.
There was no mention of what his condition was, but a decade ago he underwent throat surgery abroad. At the time his office said he was suffering from a narrowing of the oesophagus.
Lungu first became president in January 2015 after winning a special presidential election triggered by the death in office of Michael Sata.
After completing Sata’s term, he won a further five years in power in 2016 taking just over 50% of the vote.
But after six years at the helm, Lungu, who encouraged Chinese investment and enlisted the country’s help in infrastructure development, was blamed for a struggling economy, high unemployment and rising debt levels.
His time in office was also marred by corruption scandals involving his allies and relatives. Lungu always denied wrongdoing.
His party’s youth wing was accused of harassing opposition supporters, and the population at large.
Lungu lost in 2021 by close to a million votes with Hichilema, seen as more pro-Western, tapping into widespread dissatisfaction among the electorate.
He said he was retiring in the aftermath of the vote, but returned to frontline politics in 2023 as his successor’s popularity waned.
“I am ready to fight from the front, not from the rear, in defence of democracy. Those who are ready for this fight, please come along with me, I am ready for anything,” Mr Lungu told supporters at the time.
After returning to politics, the former president complained of police harassment. At one point last year he said he was “virtually under house arrest”.
“I cannot move out of my house without being accosted and challenged by the police and driving me back home”, Lungu told the BBC’s Newsday programme.
In the interview in May 2024, he alleged that he had been barred from attending a conference abroad and from travelling for medical treatment.
In 2023, the police warned him against jogging in public, describing his weekly workouts as “political activism”.
The government said that Lungu had “never been placed under house arrest” and that he was free to exercise his rights.
Lungu was a lawyer by training but enjoyed a meteoric rise in politics after winning a seat in parliament as a PF MP in 2011.
He entered government as deputy minister in the vice-president’s office in that year and rose to become minister of home affairs in just over 12 months.
He later became minister of defence and then justice. A close friend described Lungu as a “good foot-soldier, lawyer and politician, father, husband and grandparent”.
Born on 11 November 1956, Lungu graduated with a law degree from the University of Zambia in 1981. He also underwent military training at the then Miltez army college in Kabwe.
He later worked at Andre Masiye and Company Advocates, Barclays Bank and Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines.
‘I was pushed across the India border into Bangladesh at gunpoint’
Shona Banu still shudders when she thinks of the past few days.
The 58-year-old, a resident of Barpeta district in India’s north-eastern state of Assam, says that she was called to the local police station on 25 May and later taken to a point at the border with neighbouring Bangladesh. From there, she says, she and around 13 other people were forced to cross over to Bangladesh.
She says she was not told why. But it was a scenario she had been dreading – Ms Banu says she has lived in Assam all her life but for the past few years, she has been desperately trying to prove that she is an Indian citizen and not an “illegal immigrant” from Bangladesh.
“They pushed me over at gunpoint. I spent two days without food or water in the middle of a field in knee-deep water teeming with mosquitoes and leeches,” Ms Banu said, wiping away tears. After those two days in no man’s land – between India and Bangladesh – she says she was taken to what appeared to be an old prison on the Bangladeshi side.
After two days there, she and a few others – she is not sure if all of them were from the same group sent with her – were escorted by Bangladeshi officials across the border, where Indian officials allegedly met them and sent them home.
It’s not clear why Ms Banu was abruptly sent to Bangladesh and then brought back. But her case is among a spate of recent instances where officials in Assam have rounded up people declared foreigners by tribunals in the past – on suspicion of being “illegal Bangladeshis” – and sent them across the border. The BBC found at least six cases where people said their family members had been picked up, taken to border towns and just “pushed across”.
Officials from India’s Border Security Force, the Assam police and the state government did not respond to questions from the BBC.
Crackdowns on alleged illegal immigrants from Bangladesh are not new in India – the countries are divided by a 4,096km (2,545 miles) long porous border which can make it relatively easy to cross over, even though many of the sensitive areas are heavily guarded.
But it’s still rare, lawyers working on these cases say, for people to be picked up from their homes abruptly and forced into another country without due process. These efforts seem to have intensified over the past few weeks.
The Indian government has not officially said how many people were sent across in the latest exercise. But top sources in the Bangladesh administration claim that India “illegally pushed in” more than 1,200 people into the country in May alone, not just from Assam but also other states. Out of this, they said on condition of anonymity, Bangladesh identified 100 people as Indian citizens and sent them back.
In a statement, the Border Guard Bangladesh said it had increased patrolling along the border to curb these attempts.
India has not commented on these allegations.
While media reports indicate that the recent crackdown includes Rohingya Muslims living in other states too, the situation is particularly tense and complex in Assam, where issues of citizenship and ethnic identity have long dominated politics.
The state, which shares a nearly 300km-long border with Muslim-majority Bangladesh, has seen waves of migration from the neighbouring country as people moved in search of opportunities or fled religious persecution.
This has sparked the anxieties of Assamese people, many of whom fear this is bringing in demographic change and taking away resources from locals.
The Bharatiya Janata Party – in power in Assam and nationally – has repeatedly promised to end the problem of illegal immigration, making the state’s National Register of Citizens (NRC) a priority in recent years.
The register is a list of people who can prove they came to Assam by 24 March 1971, the day before neighbouring Bangladesh declared independence from Pakistan. The list went through several iterations, with people whose names were missing given chances to prove their Indian citizenship by showing official documents to quasi-judicial forums called Foreigners Tribunals.
After a chaotic process, the final draft published in 2019 excluded nearly two million residents of Assam – many of them were put in detention camps while others have appealed in higher courts against their exclusion.
Ms Banu said her case is pending in the Supreme Court but that authorities still forced her to leave.
The BBC heard similar stories from at least six others in Assam – all Muslims – who say their family members were sent to Bangladesh around the same time as Ms Banu, despite having necessary documents and living in India for generations. At least four of them have now come back home, with no answers still about why they were picked up.
A third of Assam’s 32 million residents are Muslims and many of them are descendants of immigrants who settled there during British rule.
Maleka Khatun, a 67-year-old from Assam’s Barpeta who is still in Bangladesh, says she has temporarily been given shelter by a local family.
“I have no-one here,” she laments. Her family has managed to speak to her but don’t know if and when she can return. She lost her case in the foreigners’ tribunal and in the state’s high court and hadn’t appealed in the Supreme Court.
Days after the recent round of action began, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma cited a February Supreme Court direction which ordered the government to start deportation proceedings for people who had been “declared foreigners” but were still held in detention centres.
“The people who are declared foreigners but haven’t even appealed in court, we are pushing them back,” Sarma said. He also claimed that people with pending court appeals were not being “troubled”.
But Abdur Razzaque Bhuyan, a lawyer working on many citizenship cases in Assam, alleged that in many of the recent instances, due process – which would, among other things, require India and Bangladesh to cooperate on the action – was not followed.
“What is happening is a wilful and deliberate misinterpretation of the court order,” he said.
Mr Bhuyan recently filed a petition on behalf of a student organisation seeking the Supreme Court’s intervention in stopping what they said was a “forceful and illegal pushback policy” but was asked to first approach the Assam high court.
In Morigaon, around 167km from Barpeta, Reeta Khanum sat near a table which had a pile of papers on it.
Her husband Khairul Islam, a 51-year-old school teacher, was in the same group as Ms Banu that was allegedly picked up by authorities.
A tribunal had declared him a foreigner in 2016, after which he spent two years in a detention centre before being released. Like Ms Banu, his case is also being heard in the Supreme Court.
“Every document is proof that my husband is Indian,” Ms Khanum said, leafing through what she said was Mr Islam’s high school graduation certificate and some land records. “But that wasn’t enough to prove his nationality to authorities.”
She says her husband, his father and grandfather were all born in India.
But on 23 May, she says that policemen arrived at their home and took Mr Islam away without any explanation.
It was only a few days later – when a viral video surfaced of a Bangladeshi journalist interviewing Mr Islam in no man’s land – that the family learnt where he was.
Like Ms Banu, Mr Islam has now been sent back to India.
While his family confirmed his return, the police told the BBC they had “no information” about his arrival.
Sanjima Begum says she is sure her father was declared a foreigner due to a case of mistaken identity – he was also taken on the same night as Mr Islam.
“My father’s name is Abdul Latif, my grandfather was Abdul Subhan. The notice that came [years ago, from the foreigners’ tribunal] said Abdul Latif, son of Shukur Ali. That’s not my grandfather, I don’t even know him,” Ms Begum said, adding that she had all the necessary documents to prove her father’s citizenship.
The family has now heard that Mr Latif is back in Assam, but he hasn’t reached home yet.
While some of these people are back home now, they fear they might be picked up again abruptly.
“We are not playthings,” Ms Begum said.
“These are human beings, you can’t toss them around as per your whims.”
Rare oil portrait of Mahatma Gandhi to be auctioned in London
A rare oil portrait of Indian independence leader Mahatma Gandhi – painted in 1931 in the UK – will be auctioned in London next month.
Gandhi led a non-violent resistance movement against British rule in India and his teachings have inspired millions. Most Indians revere him as the “father of the nation”.
Over the years, several paintings, drawings and sketches of him have circulated around the world.
The auction house Bonhams says the painting, made by British artist Clare Leighton, is “thought to be the only oil portrait that Gandhi actually sat for”.
The portrait was made when Gandhi went to London in 1931 for the second Round Table conference, held to discuss constitutional reforms for India and address its demands for self-governance.
It will be auctioned in the second week of July at Bonhams.
“This is a painting of unique historic and cultural significance. It would be great if it could be seen and appreciated more widely, whether in India or elsewhere,” Caspar Leighton, a great nephew of the artist, told the BBC.
According to Bonhams, Clare Leighton “was one of the very few artists admitted to his office and was given the opportunity to sit with on multiple occasions to sketch and paint his likeness”.
The works remained in the artist’s collection until her death in 1989 in the US, after which it was passed down through her family.
She was introduced to Gandhi through her partner and British political journalist, Henry Noel Brailsford, who was a strong supporter of India’s independence movement.
In November 1931, Leighton showcased her portraits of Gandhi at an exhibition at the Albany Galleries in London.
Though Gandhi did not attend the opening event, several representatives from the Indian delegation of the second Round Table were present.
Among them was Sarojini Naidu, also an eminent Indian independence leader, who was one of the key advisors to Gandhi at the meeting.
The exhibition included a charcoal sketch of Gandhi, asleep in his office, along with the oil portrait that is now set to be auctioned.
About the painting of Gandhi, British Journalist Winifred Holtby wrote: “The little man squats bare-headed, in his blanket, one finger raised, as it often is to emphasise a point, his mouth parted for a word that is almost a smile”.
The following month, Gandhi’s personal secretary Mahadev Desai wrote to Leighton, saying, “many of my friends who saw it [the oil portrait] in the Albany Gallery said to me that it was a good likeness”.
There doesn’t seem to be any public record of the oil portrait being displayed elsewhere until 1978, when the Boston Public Library organised an exhibition of Leighton’s works.
However, according to the artist’s family, the portrait was thought to have been on display in the 1970s in the US, where it was allegedly damaged in a knife attack.
A label attached to the backing board of the portrait says it was restored by the Lyman Allyn Museum Conservation Laboratory in Connecticut in 1974.
The details of the alleged attack are not clear – according to Bonhams, it was carried out by a right-wing Hindu activist.
Hindu hardliners in India accuse Gandhi of having betrayed Hindus by being too pro-Muslim, and blame him for the division of India and the bloodshed that marked Partition, which saw India and Pakistan created after independence in 1947.
He was shot dead on 30 January 1948 at a prayer meeting by Nathuram Godse, an activist with nationalist right-wing groups.
Israeli military recovers two hostages’ bodies in southern Gaza
Israeli forces have recovered the bodies of two Israeli-Americans taken back to Gaza as hostages during the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, the Israeli military says.
Judi Weinstein Haggai, 70, who was also a Canadian citizen, and her husband Gadi Haggai, 72, were murdered by gunmen from the Mujahideen Brigades group when they attacked Kibbutz Nir Oz, a statement said.
Their bodies were found in the southern Khan Younis area of Gaza overnight and brought back to Israel for forensic identification.
There are now 56 hostages still being held by Hamas in Gaza, at least 20 of whom are believed to be alive.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he and his wife sent their condolences to the families of Judi and Gadi Haggai.
“Our hearts grieve over this terrible loss. May their memories be blessed,” he added.
“I would like to thank, and express appreciation to, the fighters and commanders for this determined and successful operation. We will not rest, nor will we be silent, until we return home all of our hostages – the living and the deceased.”
The couple’s families recalled how they “went out for a walk on the morning of that cursed Saturday and never returned”.
“We welcome the closure and their return to a proper burial at home, in Israel,” they said.
Judi, an English teacher, and Gadi Haggai, who used to work in Kibbutz Nir Oz’s kitchen, were last seen alive in a video they shared with a group chat at the start of the 7 October attack. They were seen taking cover in a field as incoming rockets fired from Gaza streaked overhead and the sound of gunfire was heard.
Judi later told friends and relatives they had been wounded, before ceasing contact.
The couple’s daughter Iris Weinstein Haggai said after the attack her mother had told her they had been “shot by terrorists on a motorcycle and that my dad was wounded really bad”. She added: “Paramedics tried to send her an ambulance. The ambulance got hit by a rocket.”
In December 2023, the kibbutz announced that both Judi and Gadi were killed that day and their bodies were being held hostage in Gaza.
On Wednesday, an Israeli military official said the couple’s bodies were recovered from the Khan Younis area following an operation based on “precise intelligence” from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and the Shin Bet security service.
They said they could not disclose further details due to the sensitivity of the operation. However, Israeli Army Radio reported the intelligence was obtained through the Shin Bet’s interrogation of a Palestinian fighter captured by Israeli troops in Gaza.
“We will keep doing the utmost for the mission of bringing our hostages back – the living, to reunite with their families, and the deceased to dignified burial. We will deploy all the methods and tools in our disposal for this goal,” the military official said.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum urged decision-makers to do everything they could to agree a new ceasefire deal with Hamas to secure the return of all the remaining hostages.
“There is no need to wait another 608 agonising days for this,” it said. “The mission can be completed as early as tomorrow morning. This is what the majority of the Israeli people want.”
Israel launched a military campaign in Gaza in response to the unprecedented cross-border attack almost 20 months ago, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.
Another four people, two of them dead, were already being held captive in Gaza before the conflict.
So far, 199 hostages have been returned, 148 of them alive, mostly through two temporary ceasefire deals with Hamas.
At least 54,677 people have been killed in Gaza during the war, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.
Israel imposed a total blockade on Gaza on 2 March and resumed its military offensive against Hamas two weeks later, collapsing a two-month truce during which 33 Israeli hostages and five Thai hostages were freed. Israel said it wanted to put pressure on Hamas to release the remaining hostages.
On 19 May, the Israeli military launched an expanded offensive that Netanyahu said would see troops “take control of all areas” of Gaza. Israel also partially eased its blockade, allowing some food into the territory amid warnings from experts of a looming famine.
More than 4,400 people have reportedly been killed in Gaza over the past three months, while 640,000 others have been displaced again by Israeli ground operations and evacuation orders.
Hopes of a new ceasefire deal faded last week, with Hamas and Israel remaining at odds over the conditions of the latest US proposal.
Hamas said it was prepared to release 10 living hostages and the bodies of 18 dead ones, which was the number specified in US envoy Steve Witkoff’s proposal, in exchange for a 60-day truce and the release of Palestinian prisoners.
But the group also repeated its demands for guarantees that the truce would lead to a permanent ceasefire, as well as a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, and the resumption of unrestricted aid deliveries.
Israel called Hamas’s statement a refusal of the proposal, and Witkoff said it was totally unacceptable. But a Hamas official insisted it had acted positively and responsibly.
When joy turned to horror for Bengaluru fans celebrating team’s IPL win
When Shamili left her home in India’s Bengaluru city on Wednesday, it wasn’t to see her favourite cricket team – she isn’t even a fan of the game.
But the buzz around the Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s (RCB’s) Indian Premier League victory parade – the home team won the tournament for the first time – had swept through the city like wildfire.
Wearing an RCB jersey with “18 Virat” on the back – a nod to Virat Kohli, the city’s favourite cricket icon – Shamili joined her sister and friends near the Chinnaswamy Stadium, looking forward to celebrations.
What she didn’t expect was to get caught in a terrifying crush.
The victory parade turned deadly when surging crowds – far beyond what authorities expected – led to a horrific crush that killed 11 people and injured dozens more.
Survivors like Shamili are now grappling with trauma, pain and a sense of disbelief after the celebration spiralled into catastrophe.
“I kept saying, ‘let’s go, let’s go’ – the crowd was getting out of control,” Shamili recalled, sitting on a bed at the government-run Bowring and Lady Curzon Hospital. “The next thing I knew, I was on the ground. People were walking over me. I thought I was going to die.”
She is not alone. Many who had come just to soak in the atmosphere – fans, families, curious onlookers – found themselves caught in a tide of bodies as crowds swelled beyond control.
Police had expected no more than 100,000 people. In reality, Karnataka’s chief minister Siddaramaiah said, the crowd surged to 200,000-300,000. The stadium, with a capacity of 32,000, was overwhelmed long before the team arrived.
Videos from before the crush showed people climbing trees and trying to scale the stadium walls.
Haneef Mohammed, an engineering student, told BBC Hindi that he had no intention of going inside because he didn’t have a pass or ticket.
“I was just standing and watching the crowds near the main gate. Suddenly, people started running all around and the police started hitting people with their lathis,” he said.
Police in India often wield lathis – long bamboo sticks – to try and control crowds.
Mr Mohammed got hit on the head with a lathi and started bleeding. He says the police immediately arranged for a vehicle to take him to the hospital.
The ages of the 11 victims range from 13 to 43 years.
The youngest, Divyanshi, was a Class 9 student who had come to the stadium with her mother and other family members. Other victims include college students and a young tech worker who had come to the stadium with her colleagues.
A doctor who spoke on condition of anonymity said that most of them were “brought dead to hospital” due to suffocation or broken ribs. The massive crowds had delayed ambulances getting to the site of the crush.
Even as chaos and panic ensued on the roads around the Chinnaswamy stadium, the RCB team went inside the stadium after being felicitated on the footsteps of the Vidhana Soudha – the seat of power in Karnataka – by the governor, chief minister and other ministers.
“They went on a victory lap around the stadium. Inside the stadium, there was no sign that anything had happened outside,” said a young man who spoke on condition of anonymity.
IPL chairman Arun Dhumal said he did not know who had planned the event in Bengaluru and that RCB officials inside the stadium were not aware of the crush until they got phone calls.
In a statement on X, RCB said it was “deeply anguished by the unfortunate incidents”.
“Immediately upon being made aware of the situation, we promptly amended our programme and followed the guidance and advice of the local administration,” it said.
“At a loss for words. Absolutely gutted,” star player Kohli wrote on Instagram.
But questions still remain over how and why the event was organised.
“Normally, the felicitation of a team should be done in a controlled environment. But here, there appeared to be no preparation,” a relative of an injured person at the Bowring Hospital said.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has announced a magisterial enquiry into the incident.
“A moment of joy has turned into sorrow,” he said on Wednesday.
Pornhub and three other porn sites face EU child safety probe
The EU is investigating Pornhub, Stripchat and two other pornography websites it believes may be falling foul of its online content laws.
The European Commission said the sites, which also include XVideos and XNXX, did not appear to have measures in place to safeguard children and their rights.
It said this included an apparent lack of “appropriate” age verification methods to stop children accessing adult material.
“Online platforms must ensure that the rights and best interests of children are central to the design and functioning of their services,” it said.
Pornhub’s parent company Aylo said it was aware of the investigation and “fully committed to ensuring the safety of minors online”.
“We will always comply with the law, but we hope that governments around the world will implement laws that protect the safety and security of users,” it added.
The BBC has also approached Stripchat for comment.
‘Negative effects’
The Commission said its initial investigations found the four platforms had not put in place “appropriate and proportionate measures to ensure a high level of privacy, safety and security for minors”.
It said the platforms also do not appear to be abiding by requirements for porn sites to use age verification tools to protect children from accessing adult content.
A Commission official said that “click away” pop-ups currently used by some porn sites, asking users if they are over 18, may not be an effective means of doing so.
The platforms were also found not to have put into place “risk assessment and mitigation measures of any negative effects on the rights of the child, the mental and physical well-being of users,” it said.
It comes amid wider scrutiny of online pornography services worldwide, with many regulators looking to crack down on those that do not have age verification in place.
The UK’s online safety regulator Ofcom recently announced two investigations into porn sites that did not appear to have any methods to check the age of users.
It said in early May that Itai Tech Ltd – which operates a so-called “nudifying” site – and Score Internet Group LLC had failed to detail how they were preventing children from accessing their platforms.
Pornhub is the most visited porn site in the world – and the 19th most visited on the entire web, according to data from Similarweb.
But it finds itself under increasing regulatory pressure.
It has blocked access to its site in 16 US states, including Alabama, Florida, Louisiana and Texas, that passed laws requiring it to verify the age of users.
It argues age verification should take place on users’ devices, rather than on individual, age-restricted sites, to create a simpler process for regulators and enhance privacy for users.
Tougher regulations
The companies subject to the EU’s investigation were designated as very large online platforms under its Digital Services Act (DSA) in 2023.
Under the bloc’s sweeping set of digital content rules, they face tougher requirements to tackle harmful and illegal material on the platforms.
If suspected infringements of the DSA are confirmed, platforms could face further enforcement actions or, ultimately, a fines of up to 6% of their annual turnover.
The Commission said on Tuesday that Stripchat would no longer be designated a so-called VLOP, but its suspected non-compliance with its digital content rules would still be investigated.
Smaller platforms that do not meet the 45m EU user threshold must also abide by the bloc’s digital rules to safeguard children, it said.
Coordinated action by its member states will also seek to enforce requirements for smaller pornography sites.
“Our priority is to protect minors and allow them to navigate safely online,” said Henna Virkkunen, the Commission’s executive vice-president for tech sovereignty, security and democracy.
“Together with the Digital Service Coordinators in the Member States we are determined to tackle any potential harm to young online users.”
India set to count its population after a six-year delay
After a six-year delay, India is finally set to count its population in a two-phase census that will conclude in 2027, the government has announced.
India’s decennial census is one of the world’s largest administrative exercises and provides critical data for planning welfare schemes, allocating federal funds, drawing electoral boundaries and making key policy decisions.
It was originally due in 2021, but has been delayed several times since. The last census was conducted in 2011.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government had initially cited the Covid-19 pandemic as the main reason but critics have questioned what has taken so long to resume the exercise.
On Wednesday, India’s home ministry said in a statement that the much-awaited census will be conducted in two phases, with 1 March 2027 as the reference date.
For the snow-bound Himalayan regions, which includes the states of Uttarakhand, and Himachal Pradesh, and the region of Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir, the reference date will be 1 October 2026.
It did not, however, specify when the survey would actually begin.
For the first time, the government will also collect the caste details – a politically and socially sensitive issue in India – of all its citizens, the statement added.
The last time caste was officially counted as part of a national census was in 1931, during British colonial rule.
India’s census is conducted under the Census Act, 1948, which provides a legal framework for conducting the exercise, but does not specify a fixed schedule for when the census must be conducted or when its results must be published.
In 2020, India was set to begin the first phase of the census – in which housing data is collected – when the pandemic hit, following which the government postponed the exercise.
In the years since, the government further delayed the exercise several times without any explanation, even as life returned to normal.
Experts have spoken of the consequences this could have on the world’s most populous country – such as people being excluded from welfare schemes, and the incorrect allocation of resources.
“The census is not simply a count of the number of people in a country. It provides invaluable data needed to make decisions at a micro level,” Professor KP Kannan, a development economist, had told the BBC in 2023.
Three Maori MPs suspended over ‘intimidating’ haka
New Zealand’s parliament has voted to suspend three Māori MPs for their protest haka during a sitting last year.
Opposition MP Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke, who started the traditional dance, was suspended for seven days, while her party’s co-leaders Rawiri Waititi and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer were banned for 21 days.
The MPs did the haka when asked if their Te Pāti Māori or Māori Party, supported a bill that sought to redefine the country’s founding treaty with Māori people.
The Treaty Principles Bill has since been voted down but it drew nationwide outrage – and more than 40,000 people protested outside parliament during the bill’s first reading in November last year.
We have been “punished for being Māori”, Ngarewa-Packer told the BBC. “We take on the stance of being unapologetically Māori and prioritising what our people need or expect from us.”
There were tense exchanges on Thursday as the house debated penalties, with Foreign Minister Winston Peters being asked to apologise for calling Te Pāti Māori a “bunch of extremists” and saying the country “has had enough of them”.
“We will never be silenced, and we will never be lost,” Maipi-Clarke, who at 22 is the youngest MP, said at one point, holding back tears.
“Are our voices too loud for this house – is that why we are being punished?”
Last month, a parliamentary committee proposed suspending the MPs, It ruled that the haka, which brought parliament to a temporary halt, could have “intimidated” other lawmakers.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon had rejected accusations then that the committee’s ruling was “racist”, adding that the issue was “not about haka”, but about “parties not following the rules of parliament”.
Following a heated debate, the suspensions handed out on Thursday are the longest any New Zealand lawmaker has faced. The previous record was three days.
New Zealand has long been lauded for upholding indigenous rights, but relations with the Māori community have been strained recently under the current conservative government Luxon-led government.
His administration has been criticised for cutting funding to programmes benefiting Māori, including plans to disband an organisation that aims to improve health services for the community.
Luxon though has defended his government’s record on Māori issues, citing plans to improve literacy in the community and move children out of emergency housing.
The Treaty Principles Bill that has been at the heart of this tension. It sought to legally define the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi, the pact the British Crown and Māori leaders signed in 1840 during New Zealand’s colonisation.
The bill’s defenders, such as Act, the right-wing party that tabled it, argue the 1840 treaty needs to be reinterpreted because it had divided the country by race, and does not represent today’s multicultural society.
Critics, however, say it is the proposed bill that would be divisive and lead to the unravelling of much-needed protections for many Māori.
The bill sparked a hīkoi, or peaceful protest march, that lasted nine days, beginning in the far north and culminating in the capital Wellington. It grew to more than 40,000 by the end, becoming one of the country’s biggest marches ever.
The Treaty Principles Bill was eventually voted down by 112 votes to 11 in April, days after a government committee recommended that it should not proceed. The party holds six seats in the 123-member parliament.
How airline fees have turned baggage into billions
With Air Canada and Southwest the latest airlines to charge passengers for check-in luggage, the ballooning cost of such ancillary or “junk fees” is provoking anger among politicians and consumer groups. At the same time, sales of suitcases small enough for passengers to take on the plane as hand luggage are booming.
Standing outside Toronto’s downtown airport, Lauren Alexander has flown over from Boston for the weekend. She describes such additional charges as “ridiculous”.
“It feels like a trick,” says the 24-year-old. “You buy the ticket, you think it’s going to be less expensive, then you have to pay $200 (£148) extra [to bring a suitcase].”
To avoid the fee, Ms Alexander instead travelled with a small backpack as hand luggage.
Sage Riley, who is 27, agrees, telling the BBC, “It can be pricey.”
There was a time when checked bags, seat selection and your meals all came as standard on commercial flights. But that all changed with the rise of the budget airlines, says Jay Sorensen of US aviation consultancy IdeaWorks.
It was in 2006 when UK low-cost carrier FlyBe became what is believed to be the world’s first airline to start charging passengers to check in bags. It charged £2 for a pre-booked item of luggage, and £4 if the customer hadn’t paid in advance.
Other budget carriers then quickly followed suit, with the so-called flag carriers or established airlines then also doing so, at least on shorter flights.
In 2008 American Airlines became the first US airline to charge a fee, $15, for the first checked bag on its domestic routes.
Mr Sorenson says such traditional airlines felt they had no choice when they “began to realise that the low-cost carriers were providing very significant competition”. He adds: “They felt they had to do something to meet that.”
Fast forward to today, and US airlines alone made $7.27bn from check-in baggage fees last year, according to federal figures. That is up from $7bn in 2023, and $5.76bn in 2019.
Little wonder then that more of us are trying to just take carry-on. Kirsty Glenn, managing director of UK luggage firm Antler, confirms that there is an ongoing surge in demand for small suitcases that meet airline dimension limits for carry-on luggage.
“We have seen huge spikes in searches online and on our website,” she says. Describing a new small-dimension case her company launched in April, Ms Glenn adds: “Testament to the trend of only travelling with hand luggage, it’s sold like crazy.”
At the same time, social media content about travel packing “hacks” and luggage that meets airlines’ carry-on size measurements, have soared according to travel journalist Chelsea Dickenson. She makes this content for TikTok.
“Social media has really propelled this idea of needing a bag that fits the baggage allowance requirements, says Ms Dickenson. “It’s become a core part of the content that I create and post on social media.”
Ms Dickenson, whose social media following has ballooned to close to a million followers, adds that her luggage videos have become a “core part of the content” she creates.
“It blows my mind,” she says. “I could spend weeks and weeks researching a big trip, and the resulting videos will not come close to doing as well as me going and buying a cheap suitcase, taking it to the airport, testing it in one of those baggage sizes and reporting back.”
The overall global cost of all airline extra fees, from luggage to seat selection, buying wifi access, lounge access, upgrades, and food and drink, is expected to reach $145bn this year, 14% of the sector’s total revenues. That’s according to the International Air Transport Association, which represents the industry. This compares with $137bn last year.
These numbers have caught the attention of some politicians in Washington, and last December airline bosses were grilled before a senate committee. It was a Democrat senator who used the term “junk fees”.
He wants the federal government to review such costs and potentially fine airlines. We asked the US Department of Transportation for a comment, but did not get a response.
But if having to pay for check-in wasn’t enough, a growing number of airlines are now charging for hand luggage. For example, Irish budget airline Ryanair will only allow you to carry a small bag that fits under the seat in front of you for free. If you want to take a bigger bag or suitcase to go in the overhead locker that will cost you from £6.
Other European airlines that now have similar charges for hand luggage are Easyjet, Norwegian Airlines, Transavia, Volotea, Vueling, and Wizzair.
This has annoyed pan-European consumer group Becu (The European Consumer Organisation), which last month filed a complaint with the European Commission.
Becu cites a 2014 EU Court of Justice ruling, which said “carriage of hand baggage cannot be made subject to a price supplement, provided that it meets reasonable requirements in terms of its weight and dimensions, and complies with applicable security requirements”.
However, what determines “reasonable requirements” continues to be a grey area in need of an official ruling.
There can, however, be a different way of doing things, as shown by Indian airline IndiGo. Its boss Pieter Eibers says that it does not charge for check-in luggage.
“The entire philosophy here is different,” he says. “We don’t want long lines, and endless debates at gates about the weight of luggage. We don’t have any of that. We turn our planes around in 35 minutes.”
-
Published
-
Comments
England manager Sarina Wiegman says her team’s build-up to Euro 2025 “doesn’t feel like a crisis at all” despite a chaotic 10 days which has seen three high-profile senior players either retire from international football or withdraw from the tournament.
Wiegman named a 23-player squad on Thursday for the tournament in Switzerland, which starts on 2 July, where England are defending champions.
She will be without goalkeeper Mary Earps and midfielder Fran Kirby, who have both retired from international football, while defender Millie Bright, who captained the side to the World Cup final in 2023, withdrew from selection to focus on her mental and physical wellbeing.
The loss of three players who have won a combined 217 caps in such a sort time has led to a potentially unsettling period for the Lionesses – and distractions off the pitch dominated discussions at the end of their Women’s Nations League campaign this week.
But Wiegman says she is happy with the atmosphere inside the England camp.
“You [the media] see part of it, you are not in our environment all the time and I can ensure that the training sessions were really good last week,” said the Dutchwoman.
“I didn’t see anything [to suggest] that there were no connections within the team. I am really happy [with] where we are right now.”
Wiegman had to address issues around player’s performance-related bonuses in the build-up to the World Cup and there was also heavy scrutiny on her decision to omit former captain Steph Houghton from the Euro 2022 squad in her first year in charge.
“My experiences before is that there is always noise. We expect noise until we go into the tournament,” said Wiegman.
“The difference is, between 2015 and 2017 to now, is that the attention and visibility of the women’s game has increased so much.
“It seems like there is more noise but there’s just more journalists here. Which is right. It shows what we are doing. We have to deal with it and move on. Which we have.”
-
James and Agyemang in England’s Euro 2025 squad
-
Published1 hour ago
-
-
Renard and Le Sommer out of France Euro 2025 squad
-
Published2 hours ago
-
‘I don’t go around the bush’
Wiegman said she was feeling “good” despite it being a week full of difficult decisions and conversations.
Kirby’s retirement followed Wiegman’s decision not to include her in the Euros squad, while goalkeeper Earps was unhappy at her position as number two.
Wiegman said it is “part of the job” to endure those experiences but she can “move forward” to the Euros now.
“Yes, those hard conversations are not nice. I know what players do and how hard they work to make the squad. It’s hard to give disappointing messages,” she added.
“At the same time, I also had very nice messages to give so that gives me more energy.
“After I have conversations with players, I always think, ‘OK, what went well?’ For me, it is really important that I am honest, that I treat people in the right way.
“Sometimes, you have very good news and, sometimes, you don’t have good news – and I don’t go around the bush with that.
“I just give that message, then I can’t always control how people respond to that. I just hope that they have the clarity to move on.”
Wiegman also said part of the growth of women’s football, and the success of the Lionesses, has added increased demands on her players.
Bright’s withdrawal has been a blow for England as Wiegman said the Chelsea captain would have been selected had she not ruled herself out.
Asked when she was made aware of Bright’s decision, she said: “In the last couple of days I found out. It was sad and disappointing.
“It’s not nice when you don’t feel well physically and mentally and I just hope she feels better soon.
“England’s profile is growing. That’s life changing and very exciting but at the same time players are not robots. They have to deal with these things too.
“That’s also why we’re trying to support them as well as possible on and off the pitch. Hopefully many players stay fit and healthy.”
Related topics
- England Women’s Football Team
- UEFA Women’s EURO
- Football
- Women’s Football
-
Published
-
335 Comments
Ousmane Dembele and Lamine Yamal, the two favourites for the Ballon d’Or, go head to head in Thursday’s Nations League semi-final.
Dembele’s France and Yamal’s Spain meet in Stuttgart (20:00 BST) for a place in Sunday’s final against Portugal – after the conclusion of remarkable domestic seasons for both.
As well as impressing for their clubs, both netted in their country’s respective Nations League quarter-final victories.
Yamal played down any suggestion this match would have an impact in the Ballon d’Or decision – with the winner announced on 22 September in Paris.
“If you were voting for the Ballon d’Or, would you choose the best player of the year, or the one who wins the match on Thursday?” the 17-year-old told El Partidazo de COPE.
“Whether we win or not, I would vote for the best player of the year.
“I’m not thinking about the trophy or whether I’m going to win. You’ll do badly if you think you have to win it. What I do is play and try to win.”
BBC Sport compares their stats and looks at the seasons that two of the most exciting forwards in world football have just completed.
-
How is the Ballon d’Or winner decided?
-
Published3 days ago
-
-
Ronaldo winner sends Portugal into Nations League final
How the stats compare for 2024-25
Paris St-Germain forward Dembele is well clear of Barcelona winger Yamal for goals (33 v 18) but the Spaniard beats his French rival for assists (21 v 13).
Across all competitions, Yamal, despite being 11 years younger, played significantly more than Dembele this season – 4,548 to 3,286 minutes – and in a tougher league in terms of the general level of competition.
Yamal has taken more shots overall (but fewer per 90 minutes) while Dembele’s conversion rate is much higher.
And Yamal ranks much higher for dribbles than Dembele, with a higher success rate on them too.
The Spaniard has won possession more times, tackled more and won more duels than the Frenchman.
In terms of trophies, both won their domestic double, plus their Community Shield equivalents – and Dembele lifted the Champions League.
Dembele’s career revival
Dembele delivering the season he has had would have been unthinkable even seven months ago, and winning the Ballon d’Or would complete one of football’s greatest revivals.
This season has already resulted in the 28-year-old being named the Champions League’s player of the season and the Ligue 1 Golden Boot winner.
His career looked destined to be one of of unfulfilled potential, and he has admitted himself for years he lacked professionalism. He once cost Barcelona a fee of £96.8m, potentially rising to £135.5m.
But before this season he had only managed double figures for goals in a league campaign once, his first in senior football for Rennes (12 goals in 2015-16).
Maybe he was best known in England for missing the chance to put Barca 4-0 up in their 2019 Champions League semi-final, with the Reds going on to win 4-3 on aggregate.
Even approaching the halfway point of the season, he was only having a fairly average one by his standards – with five goals before playing Lyon on 15 December.
But everything changed that day as Luis Enrique moved him from his more accustomed right-wing berth to play him at centre forward – and he netted in a 3-1 win.
That was part of a run of 18 goals in 10 games. After that he chipped in goals at a regular rate.
Even with a return of one goal in his final 10 games of the season, he ended on 33 – with 21 in the league making him Ligue 1’s top scorer.
Dembele has also performed for his country, netting in Nations League wins over Belgium and Croatia – doubling his tally of competitive goals in a France shirt.
He also managed 13 assists for PSG, including two in the record-breaking 5-0 Champions League final win over Inter Milan.
“I would give the Ballon d’Or to Mr Ousmane Dembele,” PSG boss Luis Enrique said in Munich.
“The way he defended, just that alone could be worth the Ballon d’Or. That’s how you lead a team: goals, trophies, leadership, defence, his pressing.”
Unlike Yamal, Dembele still has the Fifa Club World Cup to play in this summer to cement his claims.
-
Discipline, injuries & family – how Dembele turned career around
-
Published19 February
-
Yamal’s unprecedented campaign
Yamal is achieving things few 17-year-olds have ever done before.
Before his 18th birthday – which he will celebrate on 13 July – he has already won the European Championship with Spain, La Liga, the Copa del Rey, plus a Spanish Super Cup while in the colours of Barca.
He has actually won two La Liga titles, as he played once as a 15-year-old in 2022-23.
But in the space of two years his influence has grown significantly as Yamal, who has already passed 100 appearances for Barcelona, scored 18 goals and made 25 assists in 55 games this season.
He was named in the Champions League team of the year after some remarkable displays – including in the thrilling semi-final defeat by Inter Milan.
“Lamine is the kind of talent that comes along every 50 years, and to see him up close really impressed me,” said opposition manager Simone Inzaghi.
“He caused us huge problems because we were supposed to double up on him and it wasn’t enough.”
It is not just the quantity of Yamal’s goals but the quality and big-game nature of them.
He netted three goals in four Clasicos against Real Madrid this season, plus a fantastic strike in that epic tie against Inter.
And he struck in the Nations League quarter-final against the Netherlands.
The CIES Football Observatory recently valued him at 400m euros (£340m).
Yamal recently signed a new six-year deal with Barca, and BBC pundit Stephen Warnock called him “a future Ballon d’Or winner”.
Brazil legend Ronaldo is the youngest winner of the award at the age of 21 – so Yamal has three attempts to break that record.
What information do we collect from this quiz?
Related topics
- Football
-
‘A talent that comes along every 50 years’ – ‘genius’ Yamal steals show
-
Published30 April
-
-
Stunning stats and ‘Ronaldo behaviour’ – is Yamal cut out to rival Messi?
-
Published27 May
-
-
Listen to the latest Football Daily podcast
-
Get football news sent straight to your phone
-
Published31 January
-
-
Published
-
410 Comments
There aren’t many things Cristiano Ronaldo hasn’t done but beating Germany was one of them – until now.
When Ronaldo popped up with the winner in the Nations League semi-final in Munich, it extended his record goalscoring total – and ended a long wait.
It was the 40-year-old’s 137th international goal in 220 caps, and his 937th strike in all football.
All three of those totals are men’s records.
But until now Ronaldo had never experienced a worse record at international level against any other team.
He played Germany five times, losing all five – with Portugal last beating them at Euro 2000. But that is now five from six.
That means England take the record of the country Ronaldo has played the most times without beating – three (all draws). Although the biggest caveat in the world is needed here.
Portugal won two of the three ‘draws’ on penalties – the Euro 2004 and 2006 World Cup quarter-finals.
After Germany, the nation Ronaldo has suffered defeat against most is France – with four losses.
But his Portugal side most famously beat France in the Euro 2016 final, and there have been three draws (although that includes a penalty shootout defeat).
Ronaldo’s goalscoring record against Germany was also poor with just one goal in those five meetings, a total of 450 minutes. That is now two in 540 minutes (so one every 270 minutes).
Funnily enough it was against German clubs where he excelled the most in the Champions League, with 28 goals in 26 games.
Since turning 30, Ronaldo has scored 85 goals for Portugal.
By way of comparison only five other players have ever scored more than 85 goals.
So that means in the second half of his international career he has scored more than legends like Ferenc Puskas, Pele, Diego Maradona and Gerd Muller – or current players like Neymar and Harry Kane – have in their entire international careers.
“It’s difficult to put into words. He takes each day as an opportunity to get better,” said Portugal boss Roberto Martinez.
“As a human, when you have success, you wake up and you have less hunger. But not Cristiano.”
While his international teammate, Bernardo Silva, added: “It’s his ambition to keep going.
“It’s never easy – to still be hungry to go every day.
“He’s been doing this for more than 20 years. It’s tough, but he’s here with us and we’re happy he scored again.”
Where next for Ronaldo?
After Sunday’s Nations League final against either France or Spain – who meet on Thursday in Stuttgart (20:00 BST) it is not entirely clear where Ronaldo’s club future lies.
Ronaldo has been playing for Saudi club Al-Nassr for the past two and a half years but his contract expires this summer.
After their final game of the season, he wrote on social media: “This chapter is over. The story? Still being written. Grateful to all.”
That led many to presume Ronaldo was leaving Al-Nassr.
Fifa president Gianni Infantino had said “there are discussions” over Ronaldo playing at the Club World Cup this summer.
Al-Nassr had failed to qualify – but he would be able to join another team in it, even if just on a short-term deal.
Brazilian side Botafogo were the most strongly linked.
But now multiple media outlets report that Ronaldo is likely to sign a new contract with Al-Nassr, tying him to the club until he is 42.
Can Ronaldo reach 1,000 goals?
Ronaldo needs 63 more goals to become the first player to reach 1,000 ever.
Brazil legends Pele and Romario both claimed to have scored more than 1,000 goals but they included many unofficial matches, including friendlies – so neither are recognised figures.
Ronaldo scored 35 goals for Al-Nassr last season – so would reach the landmark in less than two years if he keeps up that goalscoring rate.
Related topics
- Football
- Portugal
-
Listen to the latest Football Daily podcast
-
Get football news sent straight to your phone
-
Published31 January
-
-
Published
-
264 Comments
Liverpool have rejected an approach from Barcelona to speak to forward Luis Diaz.
Club sources told BBC Sport that Colombia international Diaz, one of Liverpool’s key players in winning the Premier League title last season, is not for sale.
The 28-year-old joined Liverpool from Porto in January 2022 and has a contract with the club until 2027.
He scored 13 goals and made seven assists in the league as Liverpool won the title by 10 points.
Diaz attracted interest from Manchester City last summer and also has admirers in Saudi Arabia.
“I’m very happy at Liverpool – I’ve always said so,” said Diaz, who is on international duty for his country’s games against Peru and Argentina. “They’ve welcomed me very well.
“The transfer market is opening, and we’re trying to arrange what’s best for us. I’m waiting to see what happens.
“If Liverpool gives us a good extension or I have to see out my two-year contract, I’ll be happy. It all depends on them. I’m here to decide and see what’s best for us and the future.”
-
Wirtz and Kerkez next? Why Liverpool are spending big
-
Published1 day ago
-
-
Delap done – which other strikers will be wanted this summer?
-
Published9 hours ago
-
Speculation about Diaz’s future increased after he and his girlfriend both wrote lengthy posts on social media to Liverpool fans that could be interpreted as farewell messages.
Liverpool sporting director Richard Hughes and Fenway Sports Group’s chief executive of football Michael Edwards have looked to refresh Arne Slot’s squad early in the transfer window.
Last week the Premier League champions completed the £29.5 million signing of Dutch right-back Jeremie Frimpong from Bayer Leverkusen.
Liverpool are close to agreeing a club-record £109m fee to sign Germany midfielder Florian Wirtz from Leverkusen, and are in talks to sign Bournemouth left-back Milos Kerkez for between £45m and £50m.
Georgian goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili will join the squad after joining Liverpool last summer but spending the season on loan at Valencia.
In April, prolific forward Mohamed Salah ended speculation about his future by signing a new two-year contract to keep him at Anfield until 2027, while captain Virgil van Dijk signed a new deal later that month.
Trent Alexander-Arnold has joined Real Madrid one month before the end of his Liverpool contract, while goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has been sold to Brentford for an initial £12.5m fee.
Striker Darwin Nunez has been linked with moves to Saudi Arabian clubs as well as Barcelona.
Related topics
- Liverpool
- Barcelona
- Premier League
- Football
-
Latest Liverpool news, analysis and fan views
-
Get Liverpool news sent straight to your phone
-
Published26 July 2022
-
-
Published
-
191 Comments
England selector Luke Wright stopped short of backing incumbent number three Ollie Pope after Jacob Bethell was included in the squad for the first Test against India.
Bethell, 21, returns after missing the defeat of Zimbabwe while at the Indian Premier League with Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
Before that match, Test captain Ben Stokes appeared to suggest Bethell would make an immediate return to the XI when available. After vice-captain Pope made a sparkling century at Trent Bridge, Stokes clarified that he was referring to Bethell returning to the squad and claimed his earlier comments had been “twisted to suit an agenda”.
Although Pope is still expected to retain his place at Headingley, Wright said: “We’ll get together when we get up to Leeds and announce that two days out from the Test.
“We’ll consider everything: conditions, what has gone before. All of those considerations go into the melting pot.”
Left-hander Bethell made three half-centuries in New Zealand at the end of last year, batting at number three after Pope slid down the order to stand in as wicketkeeper.
Though he opted to miss the Zimbabwe Test in order to play at the IPL, he further impressed in the first one-day international against West Indies last week with 82 at Edgbaston.
On the prospect of Bethell playing in the first Test, Wright said he is “very close”.
Wright added: “It’s a great option to have. What a talent we all see in him. It’s a great issue to have, to have that depth in the squad.”
What information do we collect from this quiz?
-
Bethell and Overton in England first Test squad
-
Published7 hours ago
-
-
Tendulkar-Anderson Trophy for England-India series
-
Published51 minutes ago
-
-
Salt to miss West Indies T20s on paternity leave
-
Published2 hours ago
-
Bethell could pressure opener Zak Crawley or frontline spinner Shoaib Bashir for a place in the XI but realistically it is a choice between the Warwickshire man and Pope.
Former England all-rounder Wright rejected the suggestion that the lack of clarity around Bethell’s position could unsettle the established members of the squad.
“Everyone knows before you go into any game there are always places up for grabs,” said Wright. “I don’t think anyone takes it for granted in international cricket. That’s the way it always should be.
“You want a strong squad. They are all big lads who know what it is all about. There will always be speculation about what that XI will be. I’m sure the players will be very aware of what’s going on and how it’s going to look before that first Test.”
Elsewhere, Jamie Overton returns to the Test squad for the first time in three years, but Matthew Potts misses out.
Wright explained that England wanted the option of Overton’s extra pace, while Potts had fallen behind Sam Cook in the role of Chris Woakes’ new-ball understudy.
It was also confirmed that Jofra Archer is planning to play for Sussex in their County Championship match at Durham, beginning on 22 June.
Archer, has not played red-ball cricket for more than four years because of a string of injuries.
He would have played for England Lions against India A at Northampton on Friday had it not been for a thumb injury.
Instead he will look to play for the Sussex second XI, then the first team at Chester-le-Street, with a view to being available for the second or third Test against India.
Related topics
- England Men’s Cricket Team
- Surrey
- Warwickshire
- Cricket
-
Get cricket news sent straight to your phone
-
Published31 January
-