Nato leaders have agreed to ramp up defence spending to 5% of their countries’ economic output by 2035, following months of pressure from Donald Trump.

The US president described the decision, taken at a summit in The Hague, as a “big win for Europe and… Western civilisation”.

In a joint statement, members said they were united against “profound” security challenges, singling out the “long-term threat posed by Russia” and terrorism.

Nato leaders reaffirmed their “ironclad commitment” to the principle that an attack on one Nato member would lead to a response from the full alliance.

However, the statement did not include a condemnation of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, as it had a year ago.

“No-one should doubt our capacity or determination should our security be challenged,” said Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte. “This is a stronger, fairer and more lethal alliance that our leaders have begun to build”.

The US president had earlier appeared to raise questions about the security guarantee, referring to “various definitions of Article Five”. But Trump said after the summit: “I stand with [Article Five], that’s why I’m here.”

The Hague summit has been described by several leaders as historic, and Rutte said decisions made on Wednesday would include continued support for Ukraine while pushing for peace.

The commitment to raise defence spending over 10 years involves at least 3.5% of each member state’s GDP on core defence expenditure by 2035, plus up to 1.5% on a broadly defined series of investments loosely connected to security infrastructure.

The US president hailed the summit – the first he has attended since 2019 – as a “big success”.

He had said earlier that the hike in spending would be a “great victory for everybody, I think. We will be equalised shortly, and that’s the way it has to be”.

Spain in particular had objected to the 5% target ahead of the meeting. Economy Minister Carlos Cuerpo said Madrid was making an “enormous effort” to reach a target of 2.1% and “the discussion about the percentage is misguided”.

As the leaders gathered for the traditional “family photo”, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez appeared to stand by himself at the far end of the group.

Nevertheless, Sánchez later went ahead and signed Nato’s statement, maintaining that it was “sufficient, realistic and compatible” for Madrid to meet its commitments while paying less.

The Belgian government had also expressed reservations, but Prime Minister Bart de Wever told reporters that while it wouldn’t be easy “3.5% within 10 years is a realistic goal”.

Slovakia had also raised concerns about the big hike in defence spending, but President Peter Pellegrini indicated that Bratislava would not stand in the way.

• The nine Nato countries that missed their defence spending targets
• Could this be the most significant Nato summit since the Cold War?
• Who’s in Nato and how much do they spend on defence?

French President Emmanuel Macron took issue with President Trump’s trade tariff confrontation with the European Union and called for a deal.

“We can’t say to each other, among allies, we need to spend more… and wage trade war against one another, it makes no sense.”

The Hague summit, which began with a dinner on Tuesday night hosted by King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima, has been scaled back so Wednesday’s set-piece gathering of leaders was due to last only two and a half hours.

Rutte told Nato leaders that they were meeting at a “dangerous moment”, and that the defence alliance’s guarantee of mutual defence – “an attack on one is an attack on all, sends a powerful message”.

Rutte also praised Trump for his handling of the Iran-Israel conflict, and referenced the president’s use of an expletive when describing his frustration at signs a ceasefire announced hours earlier could be in jeopardy on Tuesday.

Speaking at the summit, Trump said the two countries had fought like “two kids in a schoolyard”, and Rutte interjected: “And then daddy has to sometimes use strong language”.

The US president also held talks with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky on the sidelines of the summit. During a press conference afterwards, Trump said achieving a ceasefire in Ukraine was proving “more difficult” than he had expected, and raised the prospect of supplying Ukraine with further air defences.

“He’s got a little difficulty, Zelensky, a nice guy,” said Trump. “I’ve spoken to Putin a lot… he volunteered help on Iran. I said do me a favour, help us on Russia, not Iran.”

In their final communique, Nato member states stressed their commitments to providing support for Ukraine, “whose security contributes to ours”, adding that direct contributions to Kyiv’s defence and its defence industry would be included in assessment of allies’ defence spending.

UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said Nato was as relevant and important now as it had ever been: “We live in a very volatile world and today is about the unity of Nato, showing that strength. We’re bigger than we were before, we’re stronger than we were before.”

For the Netherlands this was the biggest security operation in its history; for Nato’s 32 member states the Hague summit was historic too.

There were unexpected moments of levity in among the momentous decisions over the looming threat from Russia and raising defence spending to levels not seen since the Cold War.

Here is what we learned from a whirlwind two days in The Hague.

The main takeaway is the allies’ commitment to a 5% defence spending target, to be reached within a decade. It’s a remarkable jump from the current 2% guideline, which currently isn’t even met by eight Nato members out of 32.

Only 3.5% of that figure is meant to be achieved entirely through core defence spending on troops and weapons – while the remaining 1.5% can be put towards “defence-related expenditure”.

And that’s a suitably broad concept that can apply to spending even only loosely linked to defence: as long as it is used to “protect our critical infrastructure, defend our networks, ensure our civil preparedness and resilience, unleash innovation, and strengthen our defence industrial base”.

Reaching that 3.5% core defence spending target will still be a significant ask for many Nato countries, many of which currently hover around the 2% line.

Plans to reach the 5% figure will have to be submitted annually and will have to follow a “credible, incremental path”. A review will take place in 2029.

For as long as Nato has existed, its Article Five on collective defence has been a core principle that means an attack against one ally is considered an attack on all.

So when Trump suggested on the way to the summit there were “numerous definitions” of the mutual security guarantee, it was a reminder of comments he made on the campaign trail last year, when he suggested if a country did not pay its way “I would not protect you, in fact I would encourage [Moscow] to do whatever they want”.

This summit agreement appears to put to bed any lingering concerns about Trump’s intentions because it reaffirms “our ironclad commitment to collective defence”. “I stand with [Article Five], that’s why I’m here,” he told reporters afterwards.

That reassurance will be well received by Nato member states seen as under most threat, but then they paid their way anyway. And Trump has gone back to Washington with a deal that means all other member states have agreed to do up their spending too.

The Russia question was always going to be tricky. Most Nato countries – particularly those in close proximity to the Russian border – are in agreement that Moscow could pose a direct threat to them in the near future; Rutte himself has said Russia could use military force against the alliance within five years.

Last year’s end-of-summit declaration referenced – in no uncertain terms – Moscow’s “brutal war of aggression” several times.

But Trump has had a much softer approach to Moscow, and has resisted treating it as an adversary. As such it was always unlikely he was going to approve a declaration that labelled Russia as the clear culprit for the bloody Ukraine war, now more than three years old.

So while the statement mentions the “long-term threat posed by Russia to Euro-Atlantic security” and reaffirms the need to provide enduring support to Ukraine, there is no specific condemnation of Russia in the communique.

• The nine Nato countries that missed their defence spending targets
• Ukraine in maps: Tracking the war with Russia
• Who’s in Nato and how much do they spend on defence?

Ever since Volodymyr Zelensky’s difficult experience in the White House last February, European leaders have sought to avoid getting off on the wrong foot with Donald Trump.

Spain’s Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez went to The Hague already mired in domestic political scandals and he was expecting a tough time.

Spain props up the bottom of the Nato spending league with 1.24% of economic output on defence. He came to The Hague insisting that 2.1% was plenty, and told reporters after signing the summit declaration that Spain considered the amount “sufficient, realistic and compatible with our social model and welfare state”.

The Spanish PM was noticeably aloof during the “family photo”, preferring to stand on the end away from his Nato colleagues. There were suggestions that he had gone out of his way to avoid Trump too.

But Sánchez had already caught Trump’s eye and the US president was having none of it.

“It’s terrible, what they’ve done,” said Trump, who accused Madrid of seeking “a little bit of a free ride”. “We’re negotiating with Spain on a trade deal but we’re going to make them pay twice.”

Because Spain is a member of the European Union, Trump will find that difficult to do – but Sánchez will go back to Madrid isolated in Nato as well as struggling at home.

No-one would have been more keenly aware of the potential pitfalls of this summit than Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte, who was involved in a surprising exchange with the US president in which he referred to him as “daddy”.

Rutte had already flattered Trump in a private message for “decisive action in Iran” that “NO American president in decades could have done”. Trump had then posted his words on his social media network and Rutte denied being embarrassed.

But then in a joint appearance with Trump on Wednesday, Rutte reacted to Trump describing the war between Israel and Iran as “like two kids in a schoolyard” who had had a big fight.

“And then daddy has to sometimes use strong language to get them to stop.”

Asked if he had gone too far with his flattery, Rutte said he didn’t think so: “I think he deserves all the praise.”

Trump, flanked by a smirking Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, seemed amused by the whole thing: “I think he likes me, if he doesn’t… I’ll come back and hit him hard. He did it very affectionately: ‘Daddy you’re my daddy,'” he laughed.

Zohran Mamdani, a 33-year-old state assemblyman, is set to be the Democratic candidate for New York City Mayor, making history as the first Muslim nominee.

With 95% of ballots counted, Mamdani leads former governor Andrew Cuomo – who resigned that post after sexual harassment allegations in 2021 – 43% to 36% in the Democratic primary, propelled by a wave of grassroots support and a bold left-wing platform.

“Tonight, we made history,” Mamdani told supporters. “I will be your Democratic nominee for the mayor of New York City.”

New York’s ranked-choice voting system means the final result could still evolve, but Mamdani’s lead and momentum appear decisive.

His victory over Cuomo – once a dominant figure in state politics – marks a watershed moment for progressives and signals a shift in the city’s political centre of gravity.

Born in Kampala, Uganda, Mamdani moved to New York with his family age seven. He attended the Bronx High School of Science and later earned a degree in Africana Studies from Bowdoin College, where he co-founded the campus chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine.

The millennial progressive, who would be the city’s first Muslim and South Asian mayor, has leaned into his roots in a diverse city. He’s posted one campaign video entirely in Urdu and mixed in Bollywood film clips. In another, he speaks Spanish.

Mamdani and his wife, 27-year-old Brooklyn-based Syrian artist Rama Duwaji, met on the dating app Hinge.

His mother, Mira Nair, is a celebrated film director and his father Professor Mahmood Mamdani, teaches at Columbia. Both parents are Harvard alumni.

Mamdani presents himself as a candidate of the people and an organiser.

“As life took its inevitable turns, with detours in film, rap, and writing,” reads his state assembly profile, “it was always organising that ensured that the events of our world would not lead him to despair, but to action.”

Before entering politics, he worked as a housing counsellor, helping low-income homeowners in Queens fight eviction.

He has also made his Muslim faith a visible part of his campaign. He visited mosques regularly and released a campaign video in Urdu about the city’s cost-of-living crisis.

“We know that to stand in public as a Muslim is also to sacrifice the safety that we can sometimes find in the shadows,” he said at a rally this spring.

“There’s nobody who represents the totality of the issues that I truly care about that’s running for mayor currently other than Zohran,”Jagpreet Singh, political director for social justice organization DRUM, told the BBC.

Mamdani said that voters in the most expensive US city want Democrats to focus on affordability.

“This is a city where one in four of its people are living in poverty, a city where 500,000 kids go to sleep hungry every night,” he told the BBC at a recent event. “And ultimately, it’s a city that is in danger of losing that which it makes it so special.”

He has proposed:

• Free bus service citywide
• Rent freezes and stricter accountability for negligent landlords
• A chain of city-owned grocery stores focused on affordability
• Universal childcare for children aged six weeks to five years
• Tripling the production of rent-stabilized, union-built housing

His plan also includes “overhauling” the Mayor’s Office to hold property owners responsible and massively expanding permanently affordable housing.

In his campaign, he linked these policies to highly visual, and viral, gestures. He plunged into the Atlantic to dramatize rent freezes and broke a Ramadan fast on a subway train with a burrito to underscore food insecurity. Days before the primary, he walked the entire length of Manhattan, pausing for selfies with voters.

While he insists he can make the city more affordable, critics question such ambitious promises.

The New York Times did not endorse anyone in the city’s mayoral primary and criticised the candidates generally. Its editorial board said Mamdani’s agenda is “uniquely unsuited to the city’s challenges” and “often ignores the unavoidable trade offs of governance.”

His rent freezes would restrict housing supply, said the board.

Cuomo and others frame Mamdani as untested and too radical for a city with a $115 billion budget and over 300,000 municipal workers.

Cuomo, backed by big donors and centrist endorsements including Bill Clinton, insisted experience matters, saying: “Experience, competence, knowing how to do the job, knowing how to deal with Trump, knowing how to deal with Washington, knowing how to deal with the state legislature, these are basics. I believe in on-the-job training, but not as the mayor of New York.”

But Trip Yang, a political strategist, said “experience” isn’t necessarily a game changer in this political era. And whether or not Mamdani wins, Mr Yang believes his campaign has done “the unthinkable.”

“Zohran is powered by tens of thousands of volunteers, hundreds of thousands of unique donors. It’s very rare to see a local Democratic primary New York campaign with this much amount of volunteer and grassroots excitement,” he said.

“He understand us. He belong to us. He’s from our community, you know, the immigrant community,” added supporter Lokmani Rai.

At a recent Mamdani campaign event at a park in Jackson Heights, one of the most diverse communities in the country, children ran and played on swings, as Latino food vendors sold ice cream and snacks.

In many ways, the scene perfectly captured the city’s diversity – what many Democrats consider New York’s greatest asset. But the city is not without its racial and political tensions. Mamdani said he’s received Islamophobic threats daily, some targeting his family. According to police, a hate-crimes investigation into the threats is underway.

He told the BBC that racism is indicative of what’s broken in US politics and criticised a Democratic Party “that allowed for Donald Trump to be re-elected” and fails to stand up for working people “no matter who they were or where they came from”.

The candidates’ stances on the Israel-Gaza war was also likely on voters’ minds.

Mamdani’s strong support of Palestinians and staunch criticism of Israel goes further than most of the Democratic establishment. The assemblyman introduced a bill to end the tax-exempt status of New York charities with ties to Israeli settlements that violate international human rights law.

He has also said he believes Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, is an apartheid state, and that the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should be arrested. Israel vehemently rejects accusations of genocide and apartheid.

Mamdani has been pressed numerous times by press in interviews to state whether he supports Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state. In a response this month, he said: “I’m not comfortable supporting any state that has a hierarchy of citizenship on the basis of religion or anything else, I think that in the way that we have in this country, equality should be enshrined in every country in the world. That’s my belief.” Israel says all religions have equal rights under the law.

Mamdani has also said he accepts Israel’s right to exist as a state, telling the Late Show on Monday that “like all nations, I believe it has a right to exist and a responsibility also to uphold international law”.

Mamdani has also said that there is no room for antisemitism in New York City, adding that if he were elected, he would increase funding to combat hate crimes.

Cuomo, on the other hand, has described himself as a “hyper supporter of Israel and proud of it”.

In many ways the issues facing New York Democrats are the same ones the party faces in future elections, and afterwards, the primary may be dissected nationally for what it says about the party – and how it should take on Trump.

One afternoon, as Isabella left school for the day, someone thrust a leaflet into her hand. “Do you want to make money with your beauty?” it asked.

She says a studio looking for models seemed to be targeting teenage pupils in her area in Bogotá, Colombia’s capital.

At 17, with a two-year-old son to support, she desperately needed money, so went along to find out more.

She says when she got there, it was a sexcam studio, run by a couple in a house in a run-down neighbourhood – it had eight rooms decorated like bedrooms.

Studios range from small, low-budget operations to large businesses with individual rooms set up with lights, computers, webcams and an internet connection. Models perform sexual acts which are streamed to viewers around the world, who message them and make requests via intermediaries, also known as monitors.

The next day Isabella, whose real name we are not using, says she started work – even though it is illegal in Colombia for studios to employ webcam models under 18.

She told the BBC World Service there was no written contract detailing how much she would be paid or what her rights were. “They had me streaming without teaching me anything. They said, ’Here’s the camera, let’s go.'”

Isabella says the studio soon suggested she do a livestream from school, so as classmates around her were learning English, she quietly took out her phone and started to film herself at her desk.

She describes how viewers began to ask her to perform specific sexual acts, so she asked her teacher for permission to go to the toilet and, locked in a cubicle, did what the customers had requested.

Her teacher had no idea what was happening, “so I started doing it from other classes”, says Isabella. “I  kept thinking, ‘It’s for my child. I’m doing it for him.’ That gave me the strength.”

The global sexcam industry is booming.

The number of monthly views of webcam platforms globally has more than tripled since 2017, reaching nearly 1.3 billion, in April 2025, according to analytics firm Semrush.

Colombia is now estimated to have more models than any other country – 400,000 – and 12,000 sexcam studios, according to Fenalweb, an organisation representing the country’s adult webcam sector.

These studios film performers and feed the content to global webcam platforms, which broadcast to millions of paying viewers around the world who make requests of models, give tips and buy them gifts.

Many of the models who work in studios do so because they lack privacy, equipment or a stable internet connection at home – often if they’re poor or young and still living with parents.

Performers told the BBC that studios often try to attract people with the promise of making easy money in a country where a third of the population lives in poverty.

• Listen to Colombia’s webcam women on BBC Sounds and watch the documentary on YouTube

Models explained that while some studios are well run and offer performers technical and other support, abuse is rife at unscrupulous operators.

And Colombia’s President, Gustavo Petro, has described studio owners as “slave masters” who trick women and girls, like Isabella, into believing they can earn good money.

The four biggest webcam platforms that stream material from the studios, BongaCams, Chaturbate, LiveJasmin and StripChat, which are based in Europe and the United States, have checks that are supposed to ensure performers are 18 or older. EU and US laws prohibit the distribution of sexually explicit material involving anyone under 18.

But models told the BBC these checks are too easily sidestepped if a studio wants to employ under-age girls.

They say one way of doing this is to “recycle” old accounts of models who are of legal age but no longer perform, and give them to under-age girls.

Isabella says this is how she was able to appear on both Chaturbate and StripChat when she was 17.

“The studio owner said it was no problem that I was under-age,” Isabella, now 18, says.  “She used the account of another woman, and then I started working under that identity.”

Other models the BBC spoke to say they were given fake IDs by studios. One, Keiny, says this enabled her to appear on BongaCams when she was 17.

Milley Achinte, a BongaCams representative in Colombia, told the BBC they do not allow under-18s to perform and they shut accounts that break this rule. She added that the platform checks IDs on a Colombian government website and if a “model contacts us and we are aware that the model left the studio, we give them their password so they can close their account”.

In a statement, Chaturbate said it has “categorically” stopped the use of fake IDs, and models must regularly submit live images of themselves standing next to government-issued photo IDs, which are checked digitally and manually. It said it has “an average of one reviewer to fewer than 10 broadcasters” and any attempt to recycle accounts “would be unsuccessful” because “the age verification process continues as each and every broadcast is constantly reviewed and checked”.

StripChat also sent a statement saying it has a “zero-tolerance policy regarding under-age models” and that performers “must undergo a thorough age verification process”, adding that its in-house moderation team works with third-party verification services to “validate models’ identities”.

It said that recycled accounts cannot be used on its platform, and recent changes to its rules mean that the account holder must be present on every stream. “So, if a model moves to a new account to work independently, the original account tied to them becomes inactive and unusable by the studio.”

LiveJasmin did not respond to the BBC’s requests for comment.

Keiny is now 20 and works from her bedroom at home in Medellín – streaming through another studio which provides a route to big international platforms.

And if it wasn’t for the high-tech equipment – several ring lights, a camera, and a large screen – this could pass for a child’s room. There are about a dozen stuffed animals, pink unicorns and teddy bears.

Viewers “really like it when you look young”, she says.

“Sometimes I think that’s problematic. Some clients ask that you act like an actual child, and that’s not OK.”

She says she got into the business to help her family financially after her parents decided to divorce.

Her father knows what she’s doing and she says he’s supportive.

Looking back, Keiny thinks she was too young when she started at the age of 17, but even so, she isn’t critical of her former employers.

Instead, she believes they helped her into a job which she says now earns her about $2,000 (£1,500) a month – far more than the minimum wage in Colombia, which is about $300 (£225) a month.

“Thanks to this job, I’m helping my mum, my dad, and my sister – my whole family,” she says.

That point of view is echoed by the studios – some of which are keen to demonstrate they look after their performers.

We visited one of the biggest, AJ Studios, where we were introduced to an in-house psychologist, employed to support models’ mental health. We were also shown a spa which offers pedicures, massages, botox and lip fillers at a “discount” or as prizes for “employees of the month” who may be high earners or people who are collaborative and support fellow models.

But as the country’s president has pointed out, not every performer is treated well or makes good money. And the industry is waiting to see if his new labour law will pave the way for tighter regulations.

Models and studios told the BBC that streaming platforms typically take 50% of the fees paid by viewers, studios take 20-30%, and the models get what’s left. This means that if a show makes $100 (£75), the model would usually get between $20 (£15) and $30 (£22). They explained that unscrupulous studios often take much more.

Models say there have been times when they logged on for sessions of up to eight hours and made as little as $5 (£4) – which can happen if a performance doesn’t have many viewers.

Others say they have been pressured into streaming for up to 18 hours without breaks and fined for stopping to eat or go to the toilet.

These accounts are supported by a report from the campaign group Human Rights Watch, published in December 2024. The author, Erin Kilbride, who did additional research on this story for the BBC, found some people were being filmed in cramped, dirty cubicles infested with bedbugs and cockroaches and were being coerced into performing sexual acts they found painful and degrading.

Sofi, a mother-of-two from Medellín, had been a waitress in a nightclub but, fed up with being insulted by customers, moved into webcam modelling.

But the 26-year-old says a studio she worked for pressured her into carrying out painful and degrading sexual acts, including performing with three other girls.

She explains that these requests were made by customers and agreed to by studio monitors – the staff employed to act as intermediaries between models and viewers.

Sofi says she told the studio she didn’t want to perform these acts, “but they said I had no choice”.

“In the end, I had to do it because it was either that, or they would ban my account,” she adds, explaining that means her account would effectively be closed down.

Sofi continues working in webcam studios because she says a typical salary in Colombia would not be enough to support her and her two children. She is now saving to start a law degree.

It’s not just Colombia that is facing these issues, says Erin Kilbride.

She found that between them, the big four streaming platforms also broadcast material from studios in 10 more countries – Bulgaria, Canada, the Czech Republic, Hungary, India, Romania, Russia, South Africa, Ukraine, and the US.

And she says she identified “gaps in platform policies and protocols that facilitate or exacerbate human rights abuses”.

When we asked platforms about conditions at the studios they stream, Milley Achinte from BongaCams said she is part of a team of eight women who visit some studios in Colombia “making sure that the models are getting paid, that the rooms are clean, that models are not getting violated”.

StripChat and Chaturbate do not visit studios and said they are not direct employers of performers and therefore do not intervene in the terms set between studios and models. But they both told us they are committed to a safe working environment. StripChat also said it expects studios to ensure “respectful and comfortable working conditions”.

BongaCams, StripChat and Chaturbate all said they have teams to intervene if they believe a model is being forced or coerced to do something.

After two months of waking up at 05:00 to juggle webcamming, secondary school, and caring for her son, Isabella says she was eager to receive her first payment.

But after the platform and the studio took their cut, Isabella explains she was paid just 174,000 Colombian pesos ($42; £31) – far less than she expected. She believes that the studio paid her a much lower percentage than agreed and also stole most of her earnings.

The money was a pittance, she says, adding that she used some of it to buy milk and nappies.  “They deceived me.”

Isabella, who is still at school, only worked as a webcam model for a few months before quitting.

The way she says she was treated at such a young age left her deeply traumatised. She couldn’t stop crying, so her mother arranged for her to see a psychologist.

She and six other former employees of the studio have got together to file an official complaint with the state prosecutor’s office. Collectively, they have accused the studio of exploitation of minors, labour exploitation and economic abuse.

“There are video recordings of me still online, under-age,” she says, explaining she feels powerless when it comes to trying to get them removed. “It’s affected me a lot and I don’t want to think about it any more.”

Hear more on Assignment on BBC Sounds

At least eight people have been killed and 400 injured as thousands took to the streets in a day of protests across Kenya against President William Ruto’s government.

Police clashed with protesters in the capital Nairobi and other cities exactly a year on from the wave of deadly anti-government demonstrations that hit the nation in 2024.

Many of those demonstrating chanted “Ruto must go” and waved branches as a symbol of peaceful opposition to his rule.

The government banned live TV and radio coverage of the protests, but its decree was overturned by the High Court in the capital, Nairobi.

Ruto urged protesters not to threaten peace and stability, as crowds tried to reach his official residence but were pushed back by police.

“Protests should not be to destroy peace in Kenya. We do not have another country to go to when things go wrong. It is our responsibility to keep our country safe,” he said.

The president was speaking at a burial ceremony in the coastal county of Kilifi.

His absence from State House, his official residence, was notable as young protesters threatened to storm it.

• Why the death of a blogger has put Kenya’s police on trial
• BBC identifies security forces who shot Kenya anti-tax protesters

Police used barricades and razor wire to seal off major roads – especially those leading to State House and parliament.

The authorities have not yet given any casualty figures from Wednesday’s protests, but the Kenya Medical Association, Law Society of Kenya and the Police Reforms Working Group said in a joint statement that at least eight protesters were killed.

Of the 400 injured, 83 required “specialised treatment” and eight had suffered gunshot wounds. The injured included three police officers, the statement added.

A human rights group – Amnesty Kenya – put the death toll as high as 16.

One demonstrator, Amina Mude, told the BBC she joined the protests “to fight for the future of my kids”.

“I feel like as a country we’re not going in the right direction, especially in education and everything happening.

“I feel like it’s high time that the country and the leadership listens to us.”

In Nairobi, video footage showed plumes of white tear gas drifting between buildings, sending protesters scrambling for cover, coughing, and shielding their eyes.

In the heart of the city, protesters marched pass shuttered shops and empty streets.

The fence around parliament was lined with wreaths and handwritten notes from grieving families and defiant youths – a reminder of last year’s unrest at the site.

A young woman draped in a Kenyan flag clutched a poster bearing the names of those killed a year ago by the security forces as they tried to end the protests.

• El Chapo & Deputy Jesus – why Kenya’s president has so many nicknames
• Four Kenyan police officers charged over baby’s killing as others freed
• New faces of protest – Kenya’s Gen Z anti-tax revolutionaries

The site of Fordo is probably the most spied-on place on the planet.

Western intelligence first went public in 2009 that it was home to a secret nuclear facility and now understanding the damage done by US strikes will be vital in determining where the conflict goes next.

A leaked Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) assessment has suggested the core components of Iran’s nuclear programme have not been destroyed and the strikes only set back Iran’s efforts by months rather than years.

But that is only an initial assessment and labelled as “low confidence” – the tag comes because it is early days in trying to understand what happened at a place which is deliberately hidden from prying eyes.

The DIA is the Pentagon’s own agency which specialises on military intelligence to support operations. It collects large amounts of technical intelligence but is distinct from other agencies like the CIA.

“Final battle damage will take some time,” Chairman of the Joint Chiefs General Dan Caine said in the immediate aftermath. But what does it mean to destroy or damage the programme and how do you find out?

Satellite images of holes and dust reveal little about what really happened underground. And they do not suggest massive subsidence or a cave-in of the mountain.

That likely indicates that even though the US used multiple bombs, the Iranians used enough reinforced concrete to keep them from reaching the main hall and destroying the machinery inside. It was the first time these bombs had been used operationally, which adds to the uncertainty.

Even so, the centrifuge machines, which spin at high speeds to enrich uranium, are highly sensitive which means the explosion will likely have crashed many of them by sending them spinning off their axis.

Developing a clearer picture of the damage will require other forms of intelligence – ranging from seismic detectors which can analyse the depth and magnitude of underground explosions (also used to understand earthquakes), sniffers to look for radiation (which international inspectors say they have not seen), and sensors like LIDAR (light detection and ranging) which can provide 3D maps using laser pulses from aircraft or drones to try and look inside the mountain.

Informers and intercepted communications will also be vital as they may reveal Iranians discussing the damage and its implications. All of that will be constantly updated to provide the final assessment with a higher degree of confidence.

And even if the sites like Fordo were dealt serious damage and made unusable for the moment, as US officials have claimed, that is different from saying it is the end of Iran’s overall programme. That is because it could be reconstituted at new sites.

A fleet of lorries was seen at Fordo just before the attack and the crucial question is what they were moving and where it has gone.

All the indications are that Tehran moved its stock of highly enriched uranium to another location. Another mountain known as “pickaxe” has drawn international attention and Iran may also have moved some of the centrifuges, although almost certainly not enough to make progress at the speed it could have done before the attack.

And even when you have enough highly enriched uranium there are more stages required in making a bomb through weaponisation and developing a delivery system. Those require a level of extremely high specialist scientific knowledge. And one of Israel’s most notable actions at the start of the conflict was to kill scientists involved in the programme in the hope of lengthening the timeline.

The attack will have certainly put back Iran’s programme. But by how much? Any answer depends on working out what remains after the attacks and is inevitably going to be an estimate rather than a hard figure.

All of this means that the work of intelligence agencies in trying to understand Iran’s nuclear programme is going to become even more intense in the coming months. And if the signs are Tehran is secretly reconstituting the programme or racing for a bomb then the conflict is likely to begin again.

Daniel Anjorin waved goodbye to his mum as he walked out of the front door of his family home in Hainault at about 07:00, rucksack on his back and headphones on as he headed to school.

Moments later the 14-year-old was murdered by Marcus Monzo, who struck him with a 60cm sword causing devastating injuries to his face and neck.

The 37-year-old has been found guilty of his murder at the Old Bailey.

The Brazilian-Spanish national was also found guilty of attempting to murder local residents Donato Iwule and Sindy Arias, as well as PC Yasmin Mechem-Whitfield in a 20-minute rampage on 30 April 2024.

He was convicted of wounding with intent against Inspector Moloy Campbell and Ms Arias’s husband Henry De Los Rios Polania.

Body-worn camera footage from the police officers showed the extraordinary bravery they displayed as they tried to disarm Monzo, suffering serious injuries as a result.

Monzo had started his rampage by driving his van straight into Donato Iwule, who was walking to work, his trial heard. This was captured on a doorbell camera. Mr Iwule was “catapulted” into the air, his piercing screams shattering the quiet morning.

Mr Iwule shouted that he did not know his attacker as Monzo, armed with the sword, chased him down the street telling him: “I don’t care, I will kill you.”

Monzo “moved quickly, like a predator”, the court heard, moving behind Daniel before lifting the sword above his head and swinging it downwards towards his head and neck area.

As his body lay in the middle of the road, Monzo was seen to drag him. A woman exclaimed in shock “he’s just killed that boy”.

An ambulance arrived to try to treat the schoolboy but Monzo attacked the vehicle with his sword, causing the paramedics – who described it as “extremely frightening” – to retreat.

Police officers rushed in screaming “drop the sword, drop the sword” as they stood toe-to-toe with him. Pepper spray proved ineffective and, as Monzo shouted “does anybody here believe in God?”, they chased him down an alleyway.

Armed with a Taser, PC Yasmin Mechem-Whitfield led the pursuit, which was captured on police-worn body cameras.

When she got to the end of the alleyway, Monzo jumped out and slashed her three times with the sword. She fell to the ground bleeding as her colleague, PC Cameron King, screamed “police officer stabbed, police officer stabbed, Yas has been stabbed”.

PC King said he was “petrified”, while PC Mechem-Whitfield told her colleague “don’t let me die here”.

Henry De Los Rios Polania was asleep with his wife and four-year-old daughter when Monzo burst into their bedroom.

In a terrifying conversation, he repeatedly asked them if they believed in God and then slashed Mr De Los Rios Polania with the sword as he raised his arm to protect his wife.

When their daughter started crying, Monzo said he would spare their lives and walked out of the house leaving Mr De Los Rios Polania with serious injuries to his hand.

Despite the injury to their colleague the police officers ran towards Monzo as he appeared to be cornered by a set of garages.

In remarkable police video, which resembles hand-to-hand combat, Inspector Moloy Campbell raised his baton as Monzo brought down his sword trying to slash him. The police baton and Monzo’s sword clashed twice as Inspector Campbell tried to defend himself and disarm Monzo.

“Monzo was slashing at me with a large sword,” Inspector Campbell said. “I saw my hand was open – I could see the inside of my hand.”

Eventually officers fired a number of Tasers at Monzo and managed to arrest him, removing the sword that had caused so much bloodshed.

During a police interview, Monzo claimed his personality had switched and he compared the events to the movie The Hunger Games. He also told police that he had “many personalities” and that one of them was a “professional assassin”.

Monzo, who grew up in Brazil and moved to England in 2013, gave evidence in court.

He spoke in a calm manner – occasionally weeping – and while he admitted attacking people with the sword in Hainault he insisted he could not remember doing so, claiming everything about the day was confused in his mind.

Monzo was a martial arts enthusiast who believed in conspiracy theories – including that the earth was flat. He denied the 9/11 attacks on New York and posted on X claims that were antisemitic and promoted conspiracy theories.

His brother said he had changed after attending retreats in India and the Amazon where he drank ayahuasca, a hallucinogenic tea.

After a visit to India in 2018, Monzo said he began to engage in some “very extreme” practices, including drinking and washing himself with his own urine. He said he became distant from his family and followed various practices, including sleeping and eating as little as possible.

Both the prosecution and defence agreed Monzo’s had a psychotic disorder. However, prosecutors said his behaviour was triggered “by self-induced intoxication in the form of drugs” through his use of cannabis, which led to the psychosis. The defence claimed he was “most likely suffering from a pre-existing condition”.

He had bought the sword two months before the attack, videoing himself with his cat, unboxing it and calling it “freaking sexy” and simulating “ninja stuff”.

On the day of the attack he strangled his cat and tried to eat it.

That morning, Monzo said he had felt the onset of “something like Armageddon” and he believed “the world was collapsing”.

Daniel Anjorin’s father sat in court throughout the trial, listening to disturbing evidence about how his son was killed and watching the police videos of Monzo with his sword attacking others that day.

He was sat just feet away from Monzo as he told the court he did not remember attacking Mr Anjorin’s son.

Mr Anjorin was occasionally in tears as he listened to the evidence, as were some of the jurors. One juror asked to be excused due to the graphic nature of the evidence.

When Daniel was killed, the Anjorin family said in a statement that it was difficult for them to fathom that “Daniel had left the house for school and then he was gone.”

“Our children have lost their loving and precious brother and we have lost the most loved and amazing son,” they said.

The British paedophile charged in connection with organising a “mock wedding” to a child in Disneyland Paris is Jacky Jhaj, who was found guilty of sexual activity with two 15-year-olds in 2016, the BBC understands.

Jhaj, 39, has been charged in connection with organising the fake ceremony on Saturday, in which a nine-year-old Ukrainian girl was due to feature as his bride.

He was arrested when police were called on Saturday morning by an actor who said he had been hired by Jhaj to play the father of the bride.

The BBC has previously investigated how Jhaj was able to hire hundreds of children to act as his fawning fans at a fake film premiere in London’s Leicester Square in 2023.

Some of the children, who had been hired from casting agencies, were as young as six.

Teenage girls told the BBC that they had been asked to scream for him and try to touch him, without being told his real identity by the agencies.

Then in June last year, Jhaj was seen giving gifts to children outside dance auditions for another production – he was recognised by a parent who had seen the BBC article.

Two months later, and following the BBC’s further investigation, Jhaj was filmed posing naked in front of a mocked-up BBC News lorry in London which had been set on fire.

For the mock wedding at Disneyland Paris, which was to be filmed by Jhaj’s team, around 100 French extras had been recruited to take part.

The BBC understands that he appeared in front of a judge in Meaux, north-east of Paris, on Monday and was charged with fraud, breach of trust, money laundering, and identity theft and placed in pretrial detention.

Preliminary findings also stated that he had allegedly been “made-up professionally so that his face appeared totally different from his own”, according to the French prosecutor.

Jhaj has been on the sex offenders register since 2016 and has spent time in prison. He is subject to restrictions on his freedoms under the terms of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order.

Since he was released from prison, he has repeatedly staged productions involving children or young people.

BBC News can reveal that some videos of these productions were uploaded to a YouTube account styled as an official performer’s channel.

The account received more than six million views and had over 12 million subscribers.

A video on a different channel included secretly filmed footage of one of the 15-year-old victims he was convicted of sexually exploiting.

Her family has told the BBC that Jhaj “destroyed” her life and said it’s unacceptable that YouTube allowed the video to be watched for entertainment for four years.

Videos of the productions remained on YouTube for years until last September, when the BBC alerted Google, which owns the platform.

It told the BBC at the time that it takes users’ safety seriously, but offered no explanation as to how an account featuring a man with almost no profile or success had 12 million subscribers, or why the videos were not removed.

Over the past two years, the BBC has spoken to videographers, production assistants and technicians who worked on some of the events before they discovered Jhaj’s real identity.

Their records show that the cost of hiring casts and venues has run into hundreds of thousands of pounds.

The cost of hiring the area in front of the Odeon cinema in London’s Leicester Square, which hosts red carpet events for major Hollywood premieres, would have run into tens of thousands of pounds.

French outlet BFMTV reported that the fake wedding at Disneyland may have cost organisers more than €130,000 (£110,000).

It remains unclear how these elaborate productions have been funded.

The French prosecutor said the Ukrainian girl arrived in France two days before the Disneyland event – but had not been a victim of either physical or sexual violence and had not been “forced to play the role” of a bride.

The prosecutor’s statement also said that Disneyland Paris had been “deceived” and that the organiser had used a fake Latvian ID to hire the venue. Disneyland Paris can be rented by members of the public outside opening hours.

In a statement, the UK’s Metropolitan Police said:

“A 39-year-old man is wanted by the Met Police for breaching a Sexual Harm Prevention Order and a breach of a Sex Offenders’ Register notification requirement.

“We are aware the man has been arrested in France for other matters and officers are in contact with the French authorities.”

A South African court has halted plans to bury former Zambian President Edgar Lungu at a private ceremony just as it was about to start.

The news was only announced to mourners in a church in South Africa after a funeral mass had already finished.

This is the latest twist in a row between the government and Lungu’s family over his burial, after the family opted for a private ceremony in South Africa, rather than a full state funeral at home.

The Zambian government had filed an urgent case in the Pretoria High Court seeking to stop the burial planned by his family.

The court said that the funeral would not go ahead following an “agreement between the parties” however it appears that any funeral won’t happen until August at the earliest.

The dispute follows a long-standing feud between Lungu and his successor, President Hakainde Hichilema, with Lungu’s family saying he had indicated that Hichilema should not attend his funeral.

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Following Lungu’s death in South Africa aged 68, the family wanted to be in charge of the funeral arrangements, including the repatriation of his body, but the Zambian authorities sought to take control.

The government and his family later agreed he would have a state funeral before relations broke down over the precise arrangements, prompting the family to opt for a burial in South Africa.

President Hichilema has since argued that Lungu, as a former president, “belongs to the nation of Zambia” and should be buried in the country.

The Pretoria court gave Zambian attorney general Mulilo D Kabesha until 4 July to submit his “amended notice of motion” in support of Lungu’s repatriation to Zambia. His family has until 11 July to file their opposing papers.

“This matter will be heard as a special motion on the 4th of August 2025,” the court said. The costs of the urgent application will be determined then.

The Zambian government argues that personal wishes should not override the greater public interest, citing the case of founding President Kenneth Kaunda.

In 2021, Kaunda’s family said he wanted to be laid to rest next to his wife and not at the site designated by the government.

However, the government went ahead and buried Kaunda at Embassy Memorial Park in Lusaka.

The current row over Lungu’s burial underscores the tense relationship between him and his successor, which played out in life and continues even in death.

When Lungu was president, Hichilema was locked up for over 100 days on treason charges after Hichilema’s motorcade allegedly refused to give way for him.

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France has ordered the recall of 2.5 million cars equipped with defective airbags that can explode on impact and have caused a series of deaths.

It follows a fatal accident earlier this month in Reims, east of Paris, in which a 37 year-old mother driving a Citroen C3 was struck in the head by pieces of flying metal after a minor collision.

It is the latest drama in the 20-year scandal over now-defunct Japanese manufacturer Takata, whose airbags were installed by nearly all the world’s leading car-makers.

The airbags use ammonium nitrate gas for instant inflation. But the gas can deteriorate in hot and humid conditions, leading to powerful explosions which throw shrapnel into the driver’s face.

The transport ministry in Paris on Tuesday issued a “do not drive” order on cars of all brands bearing Takata airbags in Corsica and in France’s overseas territories, as well as on pre-2011 cars in mainland France.

The difference is because hotter climates – such as in the Caribbean or the Mediterranean – make the airbags more unstable. Of the 18 French deaths attributed to the airbags, 16 have been in the overseas territories.

The number of affected vehicles is put at 1.7 million. The ministry said owners of a further 800,000 post-2011 cars on the mainland should report to their dealers and have their airbags changed.

The measure is a major step-up from the initial reaction to the Reims tragedy, which was to immobilise only certain Citroën vehicles – the CS3 and DS3.

“This decision should send a clear and firm message to the manufacturers, and at the same time encourage owners to have their vehicles checked as soon as possible,” the ministry said.

The move risks causing serious disruption to families, a few weeks ahead of summer holidays. The ministry said all drivers affected by order should be able to access free replacement vehicles until their airbags are changed.

In a statement last week, car-maker Stellantis – which produces the C3 and DS3 – said it was “committed to acting quickly and with the utmost transparency” to provide its customers with a solution.

It is thought that 35 people have been killed by Takata airbags around the world, and some 100 million vehicles have been recalled in various countries.

The scandal was mainly focused in the US and has belatedly hit Europe over the last two years. The UK arm of Stellantis also issued a stop drive notice for its Citroen C3 and DS3 cars this week.

Lawyers and victims’ families met in Paris to discuss possibilities of legal redress on Tuesday.

“The rhythm of accidents is accelerating. Since January 2025 there has been a death every two months,” lawyer Charles-Henri Coppet said.

“It is urgent to force manufacturers to issue recalls and make sure they are properly carried out, otherwise there will be more deaths.”

“If my father had not had a Takata airbag, he would be alive today,” Vicky – a woman from the French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe – told Le Figaro newspaper. Her father was killed in July 2024 when his airbag exploded.

“There was no recall order out on his car. He had no idea he was driving a time-bomb.”

France’s main consumers’ association UFC-Que Choisir accused the government and manufacturers of complacency.

“No measure has been taken by the manufacturers which reflects the urgency and gravity of the situation,” said the association’s president Marie-Amandine Stévenin.

“Their risk analyses were obviously not reliable, because we are continuing to have accidents.”

Eurostar services have resumed but some delays are expected until the end of Wednesday following two days of major disruption.

Wednesday saw knock-on disruption after two people died in separate incidents on the LGV Nord line the previous day, before services were further impacted by cable theft.

Eurostar had earlier urged passengers to postpone their journey as services were cancelled and delayed in both directions on lines connecting London with Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam.

On Wednesday evening, Eurostar said the line had been fully repaired and more cancellations were not expected, though some delays would continue throughout the evening.

The theft near Lille, which French media said was of around 600 metres of copper cables, caused trains to be rerouted, leading to extended journey times.

Five trains between London and Paris were cancelled.

It added that impacted passengers can change their travel plans for free or request a full refund.

“We’re very sorry for the impact this is having on our customers,” Eurostar said in a statement.

“Our teams are working closely with the French authorities and infrastructure teams to manage the situation and restore services safely.”

The operator earlier said one track had reopened, allowing some trains to run in both directions until full repairs were completed.

Water was being handed out to passengers onboard delayed trains, and stations are also very busy.

Hundreds of people were queuing at London’s St Pancras International railway station trying to access the service centre to rebook onto other trains.

Elizabeth Romijn, a yoga teacher from the Netherlands, told PA news agency at St Pancras that the situation was “very chaotic” and people were having to sit on the ground because there were not enough chairs.

The 75-year-old was planning to travel home to Brussels after visiting friends in Surrey.

“My plan is to just wait. Maybe I should go and be more proactive and go to ask one of the staff but nobody seems to know anything,” she said, adding that “it’s quite horrible long queues.”

The railway line in France was closed for much of the afternoon and evening on Tuesday after the two fatalities between Lille and Paris.

Services were cancelled on routes to and from Paris while trains between London, Brussels and Amsterdam ran with delays.

Eurostar said disruption continued into Wednesday as trains and crew were displaced.

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Donald Trump will make a full state visit to the UK later this year after King Charles and the US president’s schedules meant they would be unable to meet informally over the summer, it is understood.

Buckingham Palace confirmed an invitation signed by the King, called the “Manu Regia”, was taken to the White House by representatives from the British Embassy in Washington last week.

The dates of Trump’s visit are yet to be confirmed but September is said to be the most likely.

It is also understood that there will not be a private meeting between Trump and King Charles this summer before the state visit.

The scheduling issues come despite the King going to Scotland for his summer break each year, and Trump being expected to visit his new golf course in Aberdeenshire when it opens this summer.

“His Majesty has known President Trump for many years and looks forward to hosting him and the First Lady later this year,” a Buckingham Palace aide told the BBC.

Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner told Parliament on Wednesday: “We are really pleased the US president is coming for a second state visit.”

Trump was hosted by the late Queen Elizabeth II during his previous three-day state visit in 2019, which took place during his first term in office.

Formal planning for the second official state visit has now begun.

In February during a visit to the White House, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer handed Trump a letter from the King.

Traditionally, second-term US presidents are not offered a state visit and have instead been invited for tea or lunch with the monarch at Windsor Castle.

King Charles’ letter proposed a meeting to discuss details of the state visit at either Dumfries House or Balmoral, both in Scotland, a country to which Trump has connections.

Speaking in April, Trump said: “They’re going to do a second, as you know, a second fest… that’s what it is: a fest, and it’s beautiful, and it’s the first time it’s ever happened to one person.

“And the reason is we have two separate terms, and it’s an honour… I’m a friend of Charles, I have great respect for King Charles and the family, William, we have really just a great respect for the family.

“And I think they’re setting a date for September.”

The Times reported that Buckingham Palace raised concerns about Trump’s “threats to Canada, seeing it as a reason not to rush into a state visit”.

According to the newspaper, a senior source said that a senior Palace aide told government officials that the King did not want to give Trump a state visit while the US president was “impugning his sovereignty” over Canada.

It added that senior government sources said the King wished to have a state visit at a later date.

The prime minister’s spokesman was asked whether Starmer overruled the King in bringing Trump’s visit forward. The spokesman said: “That is untrue.”

A woman in a “Make America Great Again” hat leads a chant for “regime change” in Iran.

The crowds dance and wave Iranian, Israeli and American flags as Persian music blasts. Car horns beep in support but also some annoyance in LA’s gridlocked traffic.

Protests outside the West LA Federal Building are a common site, but even by LA standards this one is unusual, happening under the watchful eyes of armed US Marines, controversially ordered there by President Trump during protests against immigration raids.

But these immigrants are proudly demonstrating in MAGA hats in support of President Trump and his decision to intervene in the Israel-Iran conflict by launching air strikes against Iranian nuclear sites.

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“We want regime change in Iran,” says Bita Ashrafi, who left Iran 50 years ago and attended the protest wearing a “Trump Was Right About Everything” hat.

“I fully support President Trump’s decisions because this has been going on for 46 plus years – the tyranny, the dictatorship.”

West LA, often called Tehrangeles, is home to the largest population of Iranians outside of Iran, formerly known as Persia. There are Persian restaurants and bookstores and shops selling the saffron and rose ice cream popular in Iran.

Many of Southern California’s Iranian Americans are in full support of President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu.

But others say the involvement of the US, called the “Great Satan” by hardliner religious leaders in Iran, will only bolster Iran’s leaders.

Ms Ashrafi took to the streets with several hundred others to show her support for Trump and regime change in Iran a day after a “No War” protest broke out in the same spot in response to the US “bunker busting” bombing of nuclear sites in Iran.

The US president said the action was necessary because Iran was close to developing a nuclear bomb. Tehran has always said its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes.

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Persian Americans are worried about friends and family in their homeland who they’ve struggled to reach with Iran’s phones and internet shut off. They also have strong feelings about how their adopted country should respond to Iran.

“Do not negotiate with them. They will go back to terrorising the world,” said Farzan Seyed, who was dressed in a MIGA (Make Iran Great Again) hat – the acronym popularised by Trump on social media – and a tie showing the lion and sun emblem from Iran’s pre-1979 flag. He says Trump should show support for regime change but not get too involved.

“The people have to choose,” he says, though he hopes they choose exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi who also lives in the United States.

Iranian-American families in Southern California lost so much when they fled Iran, he says, adding that when they get together – whether Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Baháʼí or Zoroastrian – they “speak with one voice from West LA” against the Islamic Republic.

Many Iranian Americans dispute that there is one voice. The cafes and restaurants in West LA are full of debates about what should and could happen next in Iran. And not everyone in the community wears MAGA hats and supports the US bombing.

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Roozbeh Farahanipour – once imprisoned in Iran for his activism – says he fears the US involvement will push Iran into a broken, uncertain future.

“The job needs to be done by Iranian people,” he says in one of the three restaurants he now owns in the heart of Tehrangeles. “If we look at the history, I don’t think that’s the result of the Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, even Syria.”

While he voted for Trump, Mr Farahanipour says he’s disappointed in the president. He said he supports targeted sanctions, not missiles, and that he doesn’t want his taxpayer money going to fund attacks against Iran.

He knows that’s not a popular opinion in this community and it’s caused a rift with one of his oldest and closest friends, Elham Yaghoubian.

While the majority of this region’s Persian community fled to LA in 1979 after the Islamic Revolution, Mr Farahanipour and Ms Yaghoubian came later in 2000 after they were both targeted as enemies of the state for creating an underground opposition movement.

Mr Farahanipour was arrested along with his mother and several friends for his activism during a meeting at his home. Ms Yaghoubian escaped arrest – she was meant to be at Mr Farahanipour’s house that night but decided not to go.

For decades, they have worked together as activists in Iran and in LA, where they both became successful entrepreneurs. Together they were instrumental in getting a corner of LA named “Persian Square.”

Later, they successfully lobbied the city to rename part of Westwood Boulevard “Women Life Freedom Square” in honour of Masha Amini, who was killed by Iran’s morality police in 2022 for not wearing her hijab head covering the way they wanted.

“We were shoulder-to-shoulder, until now,” says Mr Farahanipour.

Ms Yaghoubian says her position is nuanced.

“I’ve never been a supporter of military action against Iran,” she says. “Now that it has happened and many of the regime’s tools of suppression have been weakened it may present an opportunity for people in Iran to push for change.”

She says she hopes the Israeli and the US attacks on Iran will help Iranians rise up and overthrow the regime.

The majority of people in Iran are “living in poverty,” she says. Her friends there tell her they have nothing to lose.

“This is the only opportunity for the Iranian people to rise and make a change,” she says.

Like others in Southern California’s Persian community they both fret over loved ones back in Iran, even if they don’t see eye to eye on how the US should respond to Iran.

When President Trump warned “everyone to evacuate” Tehran earlier this month, the world saw footage of thousands of terrified Iranians stuck in traffic trying to escape an escalation in the war.

Writer and actor Mary Apick, who was a child star in Iran and now lives in Los Angeles, says she is heartened watching how many Iranians she saw helping each other amid the traffic, sharing water and gasoline and offering strangers rides.

“There’s a camaraderie which is unbelievable,” she says, adding that she has family she is worried about in Iran. “This regime has to go. People are sick and tired.”

Satellite images have revealed new signs of damage to access routes and tunnels at Iran’s underground Fordo enrichment facility which was targeted by Israel on 23 June, a day after the US dropped bunker-buster bombs on the site.

Previously unseen damage is also visible near tunnel entrances at Iran’s Isfahan Nuclear Technology Centre after it was hit by the US. Meanwhile, there are signs work is already underway to fill in craters at the Natanz enrichment complex in the wake of US strikes.

A leaked US intelligence document has cast doubt on the overall impact of the strikes. Media coverage of its conclusions prompted an angry response from President Donald Trump.

Other new satellite images reveal previously unseen damage at a university in north-east Tehran and an area adjacent to a major airport west of the capital.

Israel, and subsequently the US, said strikes were aimed at preventing Iran from building a nuclear weapon. Iran has consistently denied those allegations, insisting its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes.

The Fordo enrichment facility, buried underground in a mountainside near the city of Qom, was struck with US bunker-buster munitions on 22 June, resulting in six large craters visible in satellite images, as well as grey dust and debris scattered around across the area.

A day later, Israel said that it had struck Fordo again, this time targeting access routes to the facility. The attack was later confirmed by Iranian authorities.

High-resolution satellite images captured on 24 June and published by Maxar Technologies show new craters and damaged buildings that were not visible in the aftermath of US strikes.

One new crater can be seen on an access road that leads to a tunnel entrance north-west of the facility. At least two craters are also visible near a tunnel opening at the southern edge of the complex.

Maxar images also show a destroyed installation north of the facility, alongside air strike craters and grey dust in the same area.

One new additional crater and scorch marks can be seen in the middle of an access road at the western edge of the facility.

It’s believed the strikes were intended to make these sites difficult to reach and repair.

The volume of grey dust visible in some of the satellite images may be sign of the level of destruction beneath the surface, analysts believe.

“Deep below ground detonations of sufficient magnitude to expel the concrete as described would cause significant blast damage to underground structures,” said Trevor Lawrence, head of the Centre for Energetics Technology, Cranfield University and an expert on effect of explosions.

“Given the complexity of building these structures, significant damage is very unlikely to be repaired in the short term, if at all.”

The Isfahan Nuclear Technology Centre, located south-east of the city of Isfahan, is Iran’s largest nuclear research complex. It also houses a uranium conversion facility where natural uranium is converted into material that could be enriched in the country’s two uranium enrichment facilities in Natanz and Fordo.

The complex was struck twice by Israel. It was then targeted by the US on 22 June, resulting in more extensive damage across the complex.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio defended the efficacy of the US strikes on Iran, apparently referencing the uranium conversion facility at Isfahan.

“You can’t do a nuclear weapon without a conversion facility, yet we can’t even find where it is, where it used to be on the map – because the whole thing is just blackened out… it’s gone… wiped out.”

The overall complex has been captured in the latest Maxar images, and there is extensive destruction to a large number of buildings. One structure, previously identified by the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) as the main uranium conversion building has been mostly destroyed.

New images of the aftermath of US strikes also reveal damage to tunnel entrances located north of the complex. Damage can be clearly seen to one tunnel entrance at the northern tip of the facility near a complex by the mountainside.

Additional damage is also visible at two more tunnel entrances in another image.

Experts from intelligence analysis firm Maiar assessed that the entrances probably sustained “moderate” structural damage. They noted scorching around the entrances but also the relative lack of damage to the adjacent concrete and the fact that there wasn’t visible caving in of the earth above the entrances.

Iran’s prior efforts to reinforce the entrances by piling up earth may have reduced the effectiveness of the US attacks.

“One Isfahan tunnel entrance looks like there was an internal explosion and fire, given the darkened debris spilling out of the entrance. If so, that would take years to repair,” said Mark Cancian, from the Centre for Strategic and International Studies.

“On the other hand, the discoloration could be caused by the weapon itself and not any penetration. The other tunnel entrance looks like it was covered with sand and dirt. If that’s all that happened, it could be opened in a few weeks.”

Natanz, Iran’s primary uranium enrichment facility, was targeted by both Israel and the US during the conflict.

Satellite images captured on 22 June in the immediate aftermath of US strikes revealed two visible craters in a large area at the centre of the complex. The craters are believed to be above underground buildings housing centrifuge halls, where uranium enrichment takes place.

A new image, taken on 24 June, shows the craters have since been covered with dirt, which may suggest work is underway to address damage inflicted on the facility.

“Think of what you do if you have a hole in your roof,” says David Albright, from the ISIS, “and also they likely want to at least offer some resistance to another earth penetrator hitting the same spot.”

A key target of Israeli strikes during the conflict was Mehrabad airport, located west of Tehran. Videos and images authenticated by BBC Verify show it was bombed multiple times by Israel.

Once the capital’s main international airport, it now mostly serves domestic flights.

Israel shared footage of it targeting two F-14 Tomcat fighter jets, purchased by the Shah before the 1979 Islamic revolution, at the airport.

One image, captured in an industrial area immediately south of the runway, shows damage to multiple structures.

Another image shows an area west of the runway, where at least one warehouse appears to have been completely destroyed.

The area is home to several aerospace companies which have been linked to Iran’s defence industry.

Satellite images also show multiple buildings targeted at Shahid Rajaee University, located in Tehran’s northeastern district of Lavizan.

Videos verified by the BBC confirm Lavizan was the target of multiple air strikes by Israel during the conflict.

Satellite images reveal extensive damage to multiple large buildings near the university campus, with debris scattered around the area.

The latest images do not address one central question in the aftermath of the US and Israeli strikes: does Iran still retain its stocks of enriched uranium?

“Overall, Israel’s and US attacks have effectively destroyed Iran’s centrifuge enrichment program, said Mr Albright. “It will be a long time before Iran comes anywhere near the capability it had before the attack.

“That being said, there are residuals such as stocks of 60 percent, 20 percent, and 3-5 percent enriched uranium and the centrifuges manufactured but not yet installed at Natanz or Fordow. These non-destroyed parts pose a threat as they can be used in the future to produce weapon-grade uranium.”

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One of India’s biggest stars Diljit Dosanjh has defended his new film, which won’t be shown in India following controversy over its casting.

The Punjabi singer and actor features in Sardaar Ji 3 alongside Canadian actress Neeru Bajwa, but backlash against his other co-star, Hania Aamir, has overshadowed its release.

The Pakistani actress was criticised for comments online after tensions flared between India and Pakistan in April, when 26 tourists were killed in an attack in Indian-administered Kashmir.

Speaking to BBC Asian Network, Diljit defended the movie, saying “everything was fine” between the two countries during filming in February.

“When the film was being made, the situation was OK.

“After that, there’s been a lot of things… that are not in our hands.”

India blamed Pakistan for the April attack – which Pakistan denied – and then launched air strikes inside Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir, with Pakistan firing missiles back.

It was the worst military confrontation between the neighbouring countries in decades, with dozens of people killed.

• Read more: Why India and Pakistan fight over Kashmir

Hania reportedly shared comments on social media calling India’s strikes “cowardly” and “shameful”.

That sparked backlash in India and calls to boycott the Punjabi-language film, which is released on Friday.

“The producers decided that the film won’t be able to release in India but it can release overseas,” Diljit told BBC Asian Network’s Haroon Rashid, speaking both Punjabi and English.

“Obviously they’ve put a lot of money in the film and when they made it none of this had happened – so we were like, they are already going to have a loss.”

On working with Hania, Diljit says “we didn’t have much time together” but describes her as “very professional”, adding they had a “very good” experience on set.

Newsbeat has approached Hania Aamir for comment.

Diljit and Neeru have been working together for 15 years and Sardaar Ji 3 is their seventh film together as a lead couple.

The actress says that during that time, Diljit’s work on screen and as a musician has “impacted the Punjabi community greatly”.

“We finally have representation,” she says. “We are finally being celebrated and it is because of him.”

Diljit’s profile has been slowly rising outside of India, where he’s been a household name for years.

And his reputation for representing Punjabi culture was on display at last month’s Met Gala in New York.

His head-turning look was inspired by 20th century Indian king Maharaja Bhupinder Singh and included a cape printed with Gurmukhi (Punjabi) script and a jewel-encrusted turban, as well as a replica of a priceless necklace worn by the monarch.

“For me to go to the Met Gala wasn’t a big thing,” he says.

“But for Punjab and the turban to go there – that was the biggest thing.”

The star says the thought of wearing the symbolic outfit to the event – seen by millions around the world – got him emotional before he’d even arrived.

And the look wouldn’t be complete without a key accessory – his kirpan.

He says he was told not to take the ceremonial sword with him, but managed to get it past the event’s security thanks to an unwitting accomplice.

Shakira.

“Her dress was huge and had lots of pins and metal in it,” he says.

“And because Shakira is such a big star, no-one wanted to go behind her because they wouldn’t get any photos.

“I thought: ‘I don’t mind, I’ve come here, that’s the main thing’.

“As she was going through the metal detector, it was beeping so much – I just put the kirpan under my cape and followed through.

“They were so busy checking her that they didn’t even check me.”

As well as fashion and acting, Diljit has been making waves around the world with music too.

In 2023, he became the first Punjabi star to play Coachella, following that up with an appearance on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon in 2024.

He says he purposely chose to sing Punjabi folk and bhangra tracks during the performance rather than some of his more western-inspired songs.

“If I’ve been given the chance to be on that stage, if I can showcase our music, our beats, then that’s a big deal,” he says.

He recently released a dance track with Korean star Jackson Wang, went viral on social media with Will Smith and brought out Ed Sheeran during his UK tour.

“It’s my intention if my song becomes a massive international hit then I want it to be Punjabi in feel, the beat, it needs a dhol in it,” he says.

“Otherwise what’s the point if it’s the same as someone else’s style?”

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“Did you know I can run 100 metres in 19 seconds?”

Rod Stewart, Rod Stewart, is boasting about his physical prowess. And why not?

At the age of 80, he’s still cavorting around the world, playing sold out shows, recording new music and even writing a book about his beloved model train set.

This weekend, he’ll play the coveted “legends” slot on Glastonbury’s Pyramid stage… although the former headliner isn’t 100% happy about his billing.

“I just wish they wouldn’t call it the tea time slot,” he complains.

“That sounds like pipe and slippers, doesn’t it?”

He’s also persuaded organisers to extend his set, securing an hour-and-a-half slot after initially being offered 75 minutes.

“Usually I do well over two hours so there’s still a load of songs we won’t be able to do,” he says.

“But we’ve been working at it. I’m not gonna make any announcements between songs. I’ll do one number, shout ‘next’, and go straight into the next one.

“I’m going to get in as many songs I can.”

It’s not like he’s short of choice. Sir Rod has one of the all-time classic songbooks, from early hits with the Faces such as Stay With Me and Ooh La La, to his solo breakthrough with Maggie May, the slick pop of Do Ya Think I’m Sexy? and his reinvention as a crooner on songs like Downtown Train and Have I Told You Lately.

The last time he played Glastonbury, in 2002, he was viewed as an interloper – sitting awkwardly on the bill beside the likes of The White Stripes, Coldplay and Orbital.

At first, “the crowd was wary” of the musician, who “looked to be taking himself too seriously”, said the BBC’s Ian Youngs in a review of the show.

But a peerless setlist of singalongs won them over. By the end of the night, 100,000 people were swaying in time to Sailing as if they were genuinely adrift on the surging tides of the Atlantic.

Amazingly, Rod has no memory of it.

“I don’t remember a thing,” he confesses. “I do so many concerts, they all blend into one.”

• Glastonbury Festival: Five newcomers you don’t want to miss
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One particular show does stand out, though. On New Year’s Eve 1994, Sir Rod played a free gig on Brazil’s Copacabana Beach, drawing a crowd of more than three million people.

But it wasn’t the record-breaking audience that made it memorable.

“I was violently sick about an hour before I was supposed to go on,” he confesses.

“I’d eaten something terrible, and I was in a toilet going, ‘huerrrgurkurkbleaggggh’

“I didn’t think I was going to make it but luckily they got a doctor to sort me out.”

We’re talking to the star about a month before Glastonbury at the Devonshire, a relaxed, old-school boozer just off Picadilly Circus that’s become the favoured haunt of everyone from Ed Sheeran to U2.

It’s a bit too early for a drink, though, so Sir Rod orders up a venti coffee, shooing away an over-eager assistant who attempts to stir in his sugar.

He’s dressed in a cream jacket and black jeans, which sit above the ankle to show off his box-fresh, zebra-striped trainers. His white shirt is unbuttoned far enough to display a diamond-encrusted necklace with the crest of his beloved football club, Celtic.

And then there’s the hair. A bleached blonde vista of windswept spikes, so famous that it earned a whole chapter in the singer’s autobiography.

Steve Marriott of The Small Faces once claimed that Sir Rod achieved this gravity-defying barnet by rubbing mayonnaise into his scalp, then rubbing it with a towel.

This, says the musician, is utter “bollocks”.

“Nah, nah, nah. I used to use sugared hot water, before the days of hair lacquer. And I couldn’t afford hair lacquer, anyway.”

But what really sets Sir Rod apart is that voice.

Raspy, soulful, raw and expressive, he’s one of rock and roll’s best interpretive singers. There’s a reason why his covers of Cat Steven’s First Cut Is The Deepest or Crazy Horse’s I Don’t Wanna Talk About It have eclipsed the originals.

So it’s a surprise to learn that he was discovered not for his vocals, but his harmonica skills.

That fateful night in 1964, he’d been at a gig on Twickenham’s Eel Pie Island, and was drunkenly playing the riff from Holwin’ Wolf’s Smokestack Lightnin’ while he waited for the train home, when he was overheard by influential blues musician Long John Baldry.

“As he described it, he was walking along platform nine when he noticed this pile of rubble and clothes with a nose pointing out,” Sir Rod recalls.

“And that was me playing harmonica.”

At the time, he “wasn’t so sure” about his singing voice. But, with Baldry’s encouragement, he started to develop his signature sound.

“I wanted to always sound like Sam Cooke and Otis Redding, so that’s the way I went,” he says. “I suppose I was trying to be different from anybody else.”

Sir Rod began his ascent to stardom with the Jeff Beck Group and the Faces, a boisterous blues-rock outfit heavily inspired by the Rolling Stones – both on and off the stage.

They were regularly so drunk he’d forget the words to his own songs, he admits. In the US, the group received a 40-year ban from the Holiday Inn hotel chain after racking up a $11,000 bill (£8,000 – or £54,000 in 2025 money) for trashing their rooms.

“We only did it because the Holiday Inns would treat us so badly, like we were the scum of the earth,” he says.

“So we’d get our own back by smashing the hotels up. One time we actually got a couple of spoons and chiselled through the walls to one another’s rooms.

“But we used to book in as Fleetwood Mac, so they’d get the blame.”

How come he never succumbed to drink and drugs, like many of his contemporaries?

“I never was a really druggy person, because I played football all the time and I had to be match fit,” he says.

“I would use the word dabble. I’ve dabbled in drugs, but not anymore.”

Perhaps a more destructive force was the singer’s womanising.

He wrote You’re In My Heart for Bond girl Britt Ekland, but they split two years later, due to his persistent unfaithfulness.

His marriage to Alana Stewart and relationship with model Kelly Emberg ended the same way.

“When it came to beautiful women, I was a tireless seeker of experiences,” he wrote in his memoir.

“I didn’t know how to resist. And also… I thought I could get away with it.”

He thought he’d settled down after marrying model Rachel Hunter in 1990, but she left him nine years later, saying she felt she had “lost her identity” in the relationship.

The split hit Sir Rod hard.

“I felt cold all the time,” he said. “I took to lying on the sofa in the day, with a blanket over me and holding a hot water bottle against my chest.

“I knew then why they call it heartbroken: You can feel it in your heart. I was distracted, almost to the point of madness.”

However, since 2007, the star has been happily married to TV presenter / police constable Penny Lancaster, with the couple reportedly renewing their vows in 2023.

Last week, they celebrated their 18th wedding anniversary with a trip on the Orient Express from Paris, where they met in 2005, to La Cervara in Portofino, where they held their wedding ceremony, in a medieval monastery.

These days, Sir Rod says, family is his priority.

“I’ve got eight kids all together, so sometimes I’ll wake up in the morning and see all these messages, Stewart, Stewart, Stewart, Stewart… and it’s all the kids. It’s just gorgeous.”

His youngest, Aiden, is now 14, and becoming an historian of his dad’s work.

“He’s gone back and listened to everything I’ve done, bless him,” says the star. “He knows songs that I don’t even remember recording!”

His Glastonbury appearance coincides with the release of a new greatest hits album – his 20th. (“Is it really?” gasps Sir Rod. “Oh “)

So how does it feel to look back over those five decades of music?

“Oh, it’s tremendous,” he says. “It’s a feeling that you’ve done what you set out to do.

“I don’t consider myself a particularly good songwriter,” he adds. “I struggle with it. It takes me ages to write a set of lyrics.

“So I don’t think I’m a natural songwriter. I’m just a storyteller, that’s all. A humble storyteller.”

Maybe – but this humble storyteller is going to draw a crowd of thousands when he plays the Pyramid Stage on Sunday afternoon.

“You know, it’s wonderful,” he concedes. “I’ll be in good voice. I’ll enjoy myself. I don’t care anymore what the critics think.

“I’m there to entertain my people.”

A quarter of a century after their land was seized during a chaotic land reform programme that made global headlines, a small group of white Zimbabwean farmers have accepted a controversial compensation deal from the government.

Once the backbone of the country’s agricultural sector, many of them are now elderly, visibly frail, battling illness and financially desperate.

“I believe this is the only opportunity. We can’t wait 10 years for another deal, ” 71-year-old Arthur Baisley told the BBC.

Still recuperating from back surgery, Mr Baisley was among those who arrived earlier this year at a conference room in the capital, Harare – some aided by walking sticks and walking frames – to discuss the deal.

The catch is that these farmers have now been paid only 1% of their total compensation in cash – the rest is being issued as US dollar-denominated treasury bonds that mature in 10 years – with 2% interest paid twice a year.

The land reform programme, sparked by the invasion of white-owned farms around the country by supporters of the late Robert Mugabe, was launched in 2000 by the then president, who was desperate to shore up political support at the time when Zimbabwe had about 2,500 white farmers owning 4,000 farms – half of the country’s best farmland.

The seizures became Africa’s biggest modern-day land revolution, and was meant to redress colonial-era land grabs, when black people were forced to leave their land. But it set the country on a collision path with Western nations – economic sanctions followed, companies exited and the economy collapsed.

This compensation deal has been pushed by Mugabe’s successor President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who is keen to mend fences. The money being given to the farmers, as stipulated by the constitution, is for infrastructure and improvements to the land – like buildings and dams, not the value of the land itself, which Zimbabwe’s government insists was illegally seized from the country’s original inhabitants.

Overall this is estimated to total $3.5bn (£2.6bn). However, the recent cash pay-out totalled just $3.1m for 378 farms.

Mr Baisley said it was not the best deal but was reasonably fair – and his decision to accept it has come with the realisation that the takeovers cannot be undone.

“It was difficult for my family in the beginning but life goes on, you have to move on,” he said, adding that he would start selling some of the bonds immediately to offset medical bills and to care for his sickly parents.

It is a significant shift, a softening of hard lines previously drawn by both sides.

Mugabe used to pound the lectern at party rallies saying the white farmers should go to the UK, the former colonial power, for their compensation – although quietly he was paying out select farmers.

The white farmers meanwhile had insisted on a $10bn full cash settlement. Both sides have settled on the $3.5bn figure.

However, unlike Mr Baisley, the majority of white farmers are holding out for a deal which would see all the cash paid upfront.

Deon Theron, who in 2008 was forced off the farm he had bought after independence, leads more than 1,000 farmers who have rejected the offer.

Boxes of his possessions, hastily packed during his departure, still fill the veranda of his Harare home where he told me the deal was not fair as there was no guarantee that the bonds would be honoured in 10 years’ time.

The 71-year-old said it was clear that the government did not have the money – and he wanted to see the international community, including the UK, help with negotiations as the government was refusing to budge, or even meet the dissenting group.

“The British can’t go and sit in the pavilion and watch what’s happening because they are part of it. They are linked with our history. They can’t walk away from it,” he told the BBC.

In an agreement brokered in the run-up to independence, the UK was to support land reform financially – but it floundered towards the end of the 1990s when the Labour government came to power and relations soured.

The need to re-engage Britain on the compensation was the battle cry of many of the war veterans who led the farm invasions. They had fought in the 1970s war against white-minority rule – and felt let down by the slow pace of land reform following independence.

But like the white farmers, the war veterans are also split over the government’s handling of the compensation.

One faction is suing the government for “clandestinely” agreeing to pay $3.5bn in compensation, saying the offer should have been agreed in parliament.

One of its leaders, Godfrey Gurira, said that given the myriad economic challenges cash-strapped Zimbabwe faced, it should not have prioritised white farmers.

“It’s such a colossal amount… for a nation of our size. People are suffering they can hardly make ends meet, the hospitals have nothing, then we have the luxury to pay $3.5bn. In our opinion it’s an unnecessary act of appeasement,” he told the BBC.

A second lawsuit challenges an aspect of a new land policy that demands that new farmers pay for the land in order to obtain title deeds to own the land outright.

In the wake of the redistribution, the 250,000 people who replaced the 2,500 white farmers were only entitled to 99-year leases. However this meant it was near-impossible for them to get bank loans as their security of tenure was not guaranteed.

Last year, the government said farmers could apply to own their land outright – with title deeds – but they needed to pay between $100 and $500 per hectare (2.47 acres).

That money will go towards the compensation deal to white farmers, according to the government.

Those challenging this say forcing black farmers to effectively buy back the land contradicts the law.

And the black farmers themselves are divided over the issue.

The land reform programme has had mixed results. Many new farmers did not have the skills, the finances and labour to farm successfully. But the country’s agricultural sector is now rebounding with pockets of successful farmers.

In 2002, Solomon Ganye arrived on a bicycle to receive a 20-hectare bare piece of land in Harare South.

It was part of the sprawling 2,700-hectare farm that had been divided among 77 people.

He found the initial years a struggle – suffering from a lack of finances and climate shocks. But slowly through Chinese money ploughed into the tobacco sector, and after handing the business over to his sons – both agriculture graduates in their 20s – things have improved.

They have built an enviable enterprise with 200 permanent workers, and have expanded into dairy and livestock farming. They are applying for the title deeds of their land and have even acquired more in recent years from the government.

Aaron Ganye, his oldest son, told the BBC that without the land reform programme, his family would probably not have been able to buy a farm because in the past the structure of ownership saw vast tracts of land being held by a single family.

“I’m very happy because to be honest we’ve taken farming to another level because now we’re living a good life through farming. We’re doing more than what the white guys were doing in terms of quality of tobacco and the leaf is good,” the 25-year-old said proudly.

“We’ve invested in technology. It’s not easy. I’m now motivating more farmers to do good work here,” he said.

He does believe that new farmers should contribute to compensation payments but based on the value of infrastructure they inherited.

On the political front, tensions are also easing – and the UK government no longer has any Zimbabwean on its sanction list having recently delisted four military and government officials it had accused of human rights abuses.

The UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office told the BBC this was because they were no longer in the positions they held at the time they were added to the list in 2021.

Nonetheless, it is a significant development, marking the end of more than 20 years of sanctions against Zimbabwe.

The country now hopes that the farmers’ compensation issue can be properly sorted out to get Western support for ongoing talks on restructuring its massive foreign debt.

There is no question that 25 years on, calm has returned to almost all farming fronts.

Agriculture is rebounding, this year farmers have sold over 300,000 tonnes of tobacco at auction – the highest tobacco production ever.

But compromise is needed on all sides for the country to fully jump over the hurdle of land reform and its fallout.

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• I cannot forgive Mugabe’s soldiers – massacre survivor
• Is Zimbabwe extending an olive branch to its white farmers?

Inside an anonymous building in Oxford, Riley Jackson is frying a steak. The perfectly red fillet cut sizzles in the pan, its juices releasing a meaty aroma. But this is no ordinary steak. It was grown in the lab next door.

What’s strangest of all is just how real it looks. The texture, when cut, is indistinguishable from the real thing.

“That’s our goal,” says Ms Jackson of Ivy Farm Technologies, the food tech start-up that created it. “We want it to be as close to a normal steak as possible.”

Lab-grown meat is already sold in many parts of the world and in a couple of years, pending being granted regulatory approval, it could also be sold in the UK too – in burgers, pies and sausages.

Unlike so-called vegetarian meat, which is already available in UK supermarkets – from fake bacon rashers made from pea protein to steaks made of soy, and dyed bright red to resemble the real thing – lab-grown meat is biologically real meat, grown from cow cells.

To some, this could be a smart technological fix for a growing environmental problem: the rise in planet-heating gases caused, in part, by the rapid and growing demand for meat.

But others argue that the environmental benefits of lab-grown meat, officially known as cultivated meat, have been oversold. Some critics say that more effort should instead be expended on reducing meat consumption, instead of looking to a technology fix.

Then there are questions around the ultra-processed nature of this meat, which some also worry will be produced by a handful of multinational companies.

So now, with dog food made from meat that was grown in factory vats having already gone on sale in the UK earlier this year and with the possibility of lab-grown food for humans becoming available sooner than expected – the debate has never been more prescient.

Nor has the question: to grow or not to grow?

Global demand for meat is growing. According the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation, meat production has increased fivefold since the 1960s and reached around 364 million tonnes in 2023.

Producing 1kg of beef can generate planet-heating greenhouse gases, equivalent to roughly 40kg of carbon dioxide, though estimates can vary depending on the type of production.

A study published in Nature Food in 2021 concluded that food production was responsible for a third of global greenhouse gas emissions. Cattle also burp planet-heating methane gas, plus they require water and land.

Tim Lang, a professor of food policy at City St George’s, University of London argues that the issue is a ticking environmental time bomb. “The situation is absolutely dire,” he says.

“Politicians are fearful of engaging with the issue. They don’t want to take on the meat and farming industry, nor do they wish to risk unpopularity by enacting policies that would reduce meat consumption.”

Lab-grown meat has been marketed as part of a solution. Its advocates claim that it can meet the growing demand for meat with much less carbon emissions and land use, plus it can help governments hit certain targets.

In the UK, for example, a 2021 independent review for the Department for the Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has called for a 30% reduction in meat consumption by 2032 to meet the country’s net zero target.

The science behind lab-grown meat is also relatively straightforward. Researchers take cells from a farm animal and grow more of them in a dish. When they have enough, they are put into ever larger vats until they have enough to produce a meat product.

Turning this into something that people want to eat is trickier. Each company has its own closely guarded secret sauce. But in the main, the cells are developed in a cocktail of nutrients, which encourage them to grow in the right way, after which other ingredients are sometimes added to boost the nutritional values.

The result is a paste, which is then processed and mixed with other foods such as soy to make it look, feel and taste more like meat. There are also plans to produce fish-like products this way, including eel and even caviar.

Ivy Farm Technologies business that has applied for approval to sell its cultivated meat in the UK. If granted, its first products won’t be steaks but burgers and sausages.

It plans to combine cultivated mince, (which is cheaper and easier to produce than trying to replicate the taste of a real steak) with regular mince to create a blended cow-cultivated beef burger.

“If you want to make a sustainable difference, you have to go for mass production and burgers are where the masses are,” says the firm’s CEO Dr Harsh Amin. “If you blend our cultivated meat with animal derived meat, you are [still] reducing the carbon footprint.”

Ivy Farm claims this type of meat can lead to significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and other environmental benefits. Other companies make similar claims, but these are based more on hope than hard evidence, according to Dr John Lynch, of Oxford University, who has carried out a comprehensive, independent assessment of the climate impact of lab-grown meat.

“There have not been any accurate climate assessment studies because production is not happening at large scale at the moment,” he adds.

The problem with comparing the climate impact of lab-grown meat with agricultural production is that there is little data and many variables.

Growing cells in vats requires energy, as does producing the chemicals that are added. Businesses keep the details of their processes secret, for perfectly legitimate reasons, so it is hard to produce a single figure for the climate cost of cultivated meat.

Dr Lynch has assessed the data available in scientific papers and found that the best-case cultivated meat carbon footprints were as low as 1.65 kg of CO2 per kg, which is better for the climate than traditional beef production.

However, if a lab-grown meat process needs a lot of energy, some estimates put the figure as high as 22kg of CO2 per kg, making its climate advantage less certain.

Then there is the fact that the cows’ methane gas burps disappear from the atmosphere after 12 years or so, whereas the CO2 produced to grow the lab meat continues to do its damage for much longer. Dr John Lynch has taken the more damaging impact of methane into account in his calculations and they indicate that the persistance of CO2 in the atmosphere can do more damage in the long term.

So, in the long run, it may be a bad idea to replace cows with high energy lab-grown production, according to Dr Lynch’s assessment. Yet that may be counter-balanced by the fact that cultivated meat production would require far less land.

The bottom line is that the environmental advantages of lab-grown beef over cattle farming is a closer run thing than its advocates argue – but it is likely to have the edge as production methods scale up and become more efficient, according to Dr Lynch.

“For beef, it is quite viable for cultured meat to come out on top,” he argues. “But I don’t think it is the same story for chicken and pork, which convert their feed into meat more efficiently than cattle.”

Singapore became the first country to allow the sale of cell-cultivated meat for human consumption in 2020. This was followed by the United States three years later and Israel in 2024.

UK firms have complained that the regulatory approvals process is too slow for them to keep up with overseas competitors. But sales in those countries have in the main been peripatetic, with many firms only offering tastings or serving it in upmarket restaurants for short periods.

This is largely because manufacturers are not able to mass-produce their products in sufficient quantities or as cheaply as traditional meat.

In the US, four companies have received some form of regulatory approval for their lab-grown chicken, pork fat and salmon. Salmon from Wildtype, for example, is now served at Kann, a fine-dining restaurant in Oregon, while Good Meat’s chicken was introduced at a restaurant in Washington, DC.

The response from consumers so far has been “optimistic and curious”, according to Suzi Gerber who is the executive director of the US Association for Meat, Poultry and Seafood Innovation.

Some parts of the US cattle industry have, however, expressed opposition to the technology and lobbied for it to be banned, though other livestock firms have remained neutral or been supportive.

The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and several state-level organisations publicly oppose bans, perhaps in case it sets a precedent for banning other scientific advances, such as bio-engineered food stock for cattle.

The cultivated meat industry says that their products should have no effect on the livestock industry – people will always prefer real meat over artificial. The role of the new technology is, they say, to meet the demand that livestock production is unable to.

The seafood industry has also shown openness: for example, the US National Fisheries Institute recognises cultivated seafood as part of a broader domestic production of on-land fish, like aquaculture.

Ellen Dinsmoor is chief operating officer of Vow, a Sydney-based firm that sells cultivated Japanese quail products in Singapore. It recently received approval to sell in Australia too.

Unlike some cultivated meat firms, Vow is not trying to copy normal meats. Instead, the firm has chosen quail because fewer people know what it is supposed to taste like.

“What we have to do is produce a really delicious product that people want,” she explains. “A little later we can sell it on nutrition, for example we can add healthy omega-3 oils found only in salmon into chicken. And then if we can do all that at a fraction of the price, this is where it becomes interesting to consumers.”

This is all part of a strategy to create a stable high-end market, which could in time enable investment in producing food that is less posh and in larger quantities.

But for some critics, the potential benefits of this technology for the environment, or indeed for the poorest communities in the world, are being lost.

Some of the start-up companies involved are driven by delivering swift returns to their investors, argues Dr Chris van Tulleken, author of Ultra-Processed People, which can be more easily done by producing high-priced products in high-income countries.

A simpler, cheaper and easier option, he argues, would be to persuade people in both developed and emerging countries to eat less meat.

“It is all very well to propose to people that they should eat a high-protein slurry to keep themselves well,” he argues, “but… I don’t think it is something we should impose on already marginalised groups of people.”

He also worries that the emergence of cultivated food is an acceleration of a long-term trend away from environmentally sustainable, locally sourced, whole foods and toward factory mass-produced fare. “And at the moment the process is pretty energy intensive.”

But like it or not, lab-grown meat is here. To some, it’s a healthier option with less cholesterol, no animal suffering – and a clever solution to a pressing environmental problem. To others, those benefits may have been overblown.

For all the promises and potential about helping the world, however, most people choose food for more personal reasons, namely how it tastes and how affordable it is. That, more than anything, may well decide its future.

Demand for so-called “fast tech” – cheap electronic items often quickly binned or abandoned in drawers – is growing, a not-for-profit that works to reduce electronic waste has warned.

Material Focus singled out heatwave-fuelled demand for battery powered mini-fans as an example of the problem, suggesting over seven million were purchased last year.

Nearly £8m was spent on light-up toilet seats, mini karaoke machines and LED balloons, the group’s calculations also suggested.

Overall, consumer spending on fast tech has quadrupled to £11.6bn since 2023, surveys carried out for Material Focus suggested.

The boom could be as rapid as the growth in fast fashion with a “similar negative impact”, Professor Cathrine Jansson-Boyd wrote in the announcement of the findings.

Although fast tech can cost less than a pound, valuable materials can still be locked up in the cut-price gadgets.

A previous report by Material Focus looking at tech lurking in so-called “drawers of doom” suggested in total the junk could contain over 38,000 tonnes of copper.

The mining of materials used by tech gadgets can be environmentally damaging, and yet, experts say, such elements will be crucial as nations seek to transition to low carbon technologies.

Material Focus, whose board includes trade bodies representing manufacturers of domestic appliances, and lighting manufactures, argued that consumers needed to be more thoughtful,

“We had fast food, then fast fashion, now fast tech”, Scott Butler, the group’s executive director wrote.

He urged consumers to “think before you buy your latest fast tech item, and if you do really need it”.

Unwanted tech should always be recycled, Mr Butler argued. However, surveys carried out for the group suggest that over half of fast tech ends up in the bin or unused.

Joe Iles of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation which promotes the idea of a “circular economy” based on reuse and recycling said the charity believed the problem of fast tech could be fixed.

“It’s easy to think of these patterns of rapid use, disposal as inevitable, but they’re a recent symptom that has accelerated in the past 50 years or so”, he told the BBC.

There was already a booming market for some durable, reused, and refurbished electronics, he added.

And policy tools such as Right to Repair and Extended Producer Responsibility could encourage better design, as well as new practices in collection, repair, and resale, he said.

Others highlight how goods need to be manufactured in a way that helps consumers make sustainable choices.

Laura Burley, plastics campaign lead at Greenpeace UK told the BBC that the combination of plastic and electrical components made fast tech “a toxic cocktail that is very hard to recycle”.

The fact that so much cheap tech is not built to be repaired or to last exacerbated the problem she said.

When plastic and electronic waste is thrown away it often ends up being dumped on poorer countries.

The solution was “a circular economy where producers are responsible for the full life cycle of their products, and incentivised to make them easier to repair”.

Consumers could help by not buying fast tech – “manual fans or an open window work just as well” she noted.

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Thousands of people have poured into Worthy Farm after the gates officially opened for the 2025 Glastonbury Festival.

Co-founder Sir Michael Eavis and his daughter Emily Eavis, who now runs the festival, led the countdown shortly before 08:00 BST in front of many who slept outside the gate on Tuesday night.

More than 200,000 people are set to descend on the site in the coming days ahead of the main festival programme launching on Friday.

Speaking shortly before the gates opened, Ms Eavis told the BBC: “It’s been such a build-up this year, it’s been an amazing amount of excitement.”

Ms Eavis said: “We’re all so looking forward to opening the gates and to be able to do it with my dad has been amazing.

“It’s the best moment to let them all in and it’s just such a joyful city, the most joyful city in the UK for the next five days.”

• Rod Stewart on Glastonbury: ‘I wish they wouldn’t call it the tea time slot’
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Hundreds of people arrived on Tuesday night, sleeping under the stars in queues in a bid to be the first on site.

Among them were James Trusson, 31, from Ash, Somerset, Grace Ball, 29, from Bournemouth and Dan Mortimore, from Compton Dundon, Somerset, who made it to the front of the line for the second year in a row.

Having put themselves in prime position for a top camping spot, Ms Ball said their plans for the rest of the day were to go “back to the car for snacks, and then sleep”.

“I’ll crack a beer I think,” added Mr Trusson.

Hundreds of people have got in touch with the BBC with photos and stories of travelling to the festival – whether that’s a train into Castle Cary, a long coach journey or by bike.

A coach full of Glastonbury-goers was sat on the hard shoulder of the M6 with a blown tyre, and Bobby told us he had broken down next to the A303 on his way to the festival.

Many heading to the festival for the first time shared their excitement, while others said returning for the 13th time was “pretty awesome”.

We also spoke to Laurence, who said he quit his job to attend Glastonbury Festival because his leave request was denied.

Apart from the expected traffic on the A361 between Glastonbury and Worthy Farm, the main travel routes to the festival have remained relatively clear throughout the day.

While the main acts might not start performing until Friday, there is plenty for revellers to enjoy away from the music.

There are performances at the circus and theatre fields, seaside entertainment on offer at “Glastonbury-on-Sea” and plenty of food and drink stalls.

Luis Rubiales, the former president of Spain’s football federation, has lost an appeal against his sexual assault conviction.

Rubiales was fined €10,800 (£9,206) in February for kissing captain Jenni Hermoso without her consent after Spain’s women’s team won the 2023 World Cup.

A Spanish appeals court upheld the fine, and also dismissed a separate appeal from prosecutors, who had sought a retrial and pushed for a jail sentence.

The incident – in which Rubiales grabbed Hermoso’s head and kissed her on the lips – triggered protests and calls for his resignation.

He denied the sexual assault charge, describing the kiss as an “act of affection” and “completely spontaneous”.

On Wednesday, the Audencia Nacional said it did not consider the kiss consensual, and said Hermoso had objected to it from the outset.

It found that Rubiales “restrained himself” when interacting with other players and “could also have done so, without too much effort, with the captain”.

At the original trial, Hermoso said she had not given permission for the kiss, which she felt “disrespected” her and “stained one of the happiest days” of her life.

The court upheld the sentence handed down in February, which included a ban on Rubiales going within a 200m radius of Hermoso and from communicating with her for one year.

The court also upheld the decision not to convict Rubiales of coercion.

Prosecutors had alleged he pressured Hermoso into publicly saying the kiss was consensual, which Rubiales denied.

Three other former Spanish football federation employees – coach Jorge Vila, marketing executive Rubén Rivera and sporting director Albert Luque – were previously cleared of coercion, a decision which was upheld on Wednesday.

Dozens of people have been hospitalised for heat-related illnesses as the summer’s first major heat wave descends on eastern North America.

More than 150 people fell ill at an outdoor school graduation ceremony in Paterson, New Jersey on Monday, according to US media, as the city’s mayor declared a state of emergency.

In Washington DC, six people needed hospital treatment during a concert by South Korean band ‘Stray Kids’, according to CBS News, the BBC’s US news partner.

Heat warnings are in effect from the US Midwest to the East Coast, as well as in parts of Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia in Canada, impacting more than 160 million people through the week.

Further south along the US east coast, dozens in North Carolina sought treatment for heat-related injuries.

Local news media reported at least 41 people – including children – had been hospitalized in central North Carolina.

Local authorities in New Jersey called the illnesses at a pair of graduation ceremonies a “mass casualty” incident due to how many were sickened. It led to some graduation ceremonies being cancelled in the area.

Paterson Mayor Andre Sayegh declared a state of emergency over the heat, cancelling all recreational activities in the area and opening cooling centres.

Experts warn that the soaring temperatures throughout parts of North America could aggravate the risk of heat-related illness, especially due to high humidity levels.

Compounding the danger is the extended duration of the event, with little nighttime relief – temperatures in some eastern cities may remain above 80F (27C) overnight.

The heatwave arrives less than a week after the official start of summer. Forecasters say several places may experience record highs.

The Mid-Atlantic region is expected to face the most intense conditions by Thursday, followed by the eastern Ohio Valley into Friday. Several consecutive days of oppressive heat in these areas could significantly increase health risks.

• What is the best clothing to keep you cool in a heatwave?
• What science says about staying cool in a heatwave

The US National Weather Service (NWS) has warned people to “take action when you see symptoms of heat exhaustion and heat stroke”.

People are advised to stay out of the sun during the hottest times of day, drink plenty of water, and to check on vulnerable individuals, including the elderly and those with pre-existing health conditions.

Although spells of extreme heat affect many parts of North America each summer, this heatwave could surpass June records in places.

In New York, highs on Tuesday may reach 101F (38C) which would equal the highest June temperature ever recorded in the city, dating back to 1966.

Energy companies on the east coast have appealed to customers to conserve power, due to fears of blackouts, as millions crank up their air conditioning units to high.

Jubilant Indians have been celebrating the successful launch of the Axiom-4 (Ax-4) mission which has taken off with a multi-country crew, including an Indian astronaut.

Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, who’s piloting the mission, has become only the second Indian to travel to space.

In just over 26 hours – when the spacecraft docks at the International Space Station (ISS) – Group Captain Shukla will become the first ever Indian to visit Nasa’s orbiting laboratory.

His trip comes 41 years after cosmonaut Rakesh Sharma became the first Indian to fly to space aboard a Russian Soyuz in 1984.

Led by former Nasa astronaut Peggy Whitson – a space veteran who has been commander of ISS twice, has spent more than 675 days in space and done 10 space walks – Ax-4 lifted off from Nasa’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 02:31 EDT, (06:31 GMT; 12:01 India time) on Wednesday.

The trip to ISS aboard Ax-4 – a commercial flight operated by Houston-based private company Axiom Space – is a collaboration between Nasa, India’s space agency Isro, European Space Agency (Esa) and SpaceX.

Its four-member team also includes Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski from Poland and Tibor Kapu from Hungary. They will also be taking their countries back to space after more than four decades. The astronauts spent weeks in quarantine before Wednesday’s launch.

The flight has generated huge interest in India with Isro saying the experience Group Captain Shukla will gain during his trip to the ISS will help its efforts immensely.

The 39-year-old was among four Indian air force officers shortlisted last year to travel on the country’s first-ever human space flight, scheduled for 2027. India has also announced ambitious plans to set up a space station by 2035 and send an astronaut to the Moon by 2040.

Isro, which has been carrying out a number of tests to prepare for going into space, has paid 5bn rupees ($59m; £43m) to secure a seat for Group Captain Shukla on Ax-4 and his training.

Within minutes of take off, Group Captain Shukla had a message for India.

“We’re back in space after 41 years and what an amazing ride it’s been,” he said.

“Right now, we are orbiting Earth at a speed of 7.5km per second. On my shoulder, I carry the Indian flag. This is not the start of my journey to the ISS, this is the beginning of India’s human spaceflight. I welcome all my fellow Indians to be a part of this journey and feel proud and excited.”

The launch, using the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule on a Falcon 9 rocket, was broadcast live by Axiom Space and Nasa and set off celebrations in India.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi welcomed the successful launch and said the Indian astronaut “carries with him the wishes, hopes and aspirations of 1.4 billion Indians”.

In Group Captain Shukla’s home city of Lucknow, his parents joined hundreds of students to watch the lift-off. They were welcomed by a music band on their arrival at the school and were seen breaking out into applause as the rocket lifted off.

Born on 10 October 1985 in the northern city of Lucknow, Group Captain Shukla joined the Indian air force as a fighter pilot in 2006.

He has flown MiGs, Sukhois, Dorniers, Jaguars and Hawks and has more than 2,000 hours of flying experience.

Describing the past year as “nothing short of transformative”, Group Captain Shukla recently told an online press conference that he did not have words to describe his excitement.

“It has been an amazing journey so far, but the best is yet to come,” he said.

“As I go into space, I carry not just instruments and equipment, I carry hopes and dreams of a billion hearts.

“I request all Indians to pray for the success of our mission,” he added.

Besides piloting the mission, the Indian astronaut will have a busy schedule during his two weeks on ISS.

Considering the huge interest in the flight, Isro has said they are organising events for him to interact with Indian students and answer their questions while floating in space. An interaction with Prime Minister Narendra Modi is also on the cards.

But most of the time, the four-member crew will be conducting 60 scientific experiments, seven of which come from India.

Former Nasa scientist Mila Mitra says Isro’s experiments will help improve our understanding of space and its effects on biology and micro-gravity.

One of the key experiments, she explains, will investigate the impact of spaceflight on six varieties of crop seeds.

• Sweets to toy swan – what Indian astronaut will take on historic space voyage
• The Indian pilot set for a historic space journey on Axiom-4

Another Isro experiment involves growing three strains of microalgae which could be used as food, fuel or even in life support systems and this will help identify the most suitable ones for growing in microgravity, she says.

The Isro projects will also investigate how tardigrades – micro-animals on Earth that can survive extreme environments – would fare in space.

The other experiments aim to identify how muscle loss occurs in space and how it can be treated; and the physical and cognitive impact of using computer screens in microgravity.

Nato leaders have agreed to ramp up defence spending to 5% of their countries’ economic output by 2035, following months of pressure from Donald Trump.

The US president described the decision, taken at a summit in The Hague, as a “big win for Europe and… Western civilisation”.

In a joint statement, members said they were united against “profound” security challenges, singling out the “long-term threat posed by Russia” and terrorism.

Nato leaders reaffirmed their “ironclad commitment” to the principle that an attack on one Nato member would lead to a response from the full alliance.

However, the statement did not include a condemnation of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, as it had a year ago.

“No-one should doubt our capacity or determination should our security be challenged,” said Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte. “This is a stronger, fairer and more lethal alliance that our leaders have begun to build”.

The US president had earlier appeared to raise questions about the security guarantee, referring to “various definitions of Article Five”. But Trump said after the summit: “I stand with [Article Five], that’s why I’m here.”

The Hague summit has been described by several leaders as historic, and Rutte said decisions made on Wednesday would include continued support for Ukraine while pushing for peace.

The commitment to raise defence spending over 10 years involves at least 3.5% of each member state’s GDP on core defence expenditure by 2035, plus up to 1.5% on a broadly defined series of investments loosely connected to security infrastructure.

The US president hailed the summit – the first he has attended since 2019 – as a “big success”.

He had said earlier that the hike in spending would be a “great victory for everybody, I think. We will be equalised shortly, and that’s the way it has to be”.

Spain in particular had objected to the 5% target ahead of the meeting. Economy Minister Carlos Cuerpo said Madrid was making an “enormous effort” to reach a target of 2.1% and “the discussion about the percentage is misguided”.

As the leaders gathered for the traditional “family photo”, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez appeared to stand by himself at the far end of the group.

Nevertheless, Sánchez later went ahead and signed Nato’s statement, maintaining that it was “sufficient, realistic and compatible” for Madrid to meet its commitments while paying less.

The Belgian government had also expressed reservations, but Prime Minister Bart de Wever told reporters that while it wouldn’t be easy “3.5% within 10 years is a realistic goal”.

Slovakia had also raised concerns about the big hike in defence spending, but President Peter Pellegrini indicated that Bratislava would not stand in the way.

• The nine Nato countries that missed their defence spending targets
• Could this be the most significant Nato summit since the Cold War?
• Who’s in Nato and how much do they spend on defence?

French President Emmanuel Macron took issue with President Trump’s trade tariff confrontation with the European Union and called for a deal.

“We can’t say to each other, among allies, we need to spend more… and wage trade war against one another, it makes no sense.”

The Hague summit, which began with a dinner on Tuesday night hosted by King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima, has been scaled back so Wednesday’s set-piece gathering of leaders was due to last only two and a half hours.

Rutte told Nato leaders that they were meeting at a “dangerous moment”, and that the defence alliance’s guarantee of mutual defence – “an attack on one is an attack on all, sends a powerful message”.

Rutte also praised Trump for his handling of the Iran-Israel conflict, and referenced the president’s use of an expletive when describing his frustration at signs a ceasefire announced hours earlier could be in jeopardy on Tuesday.

Speaking at the summit, Trump said the two countries had fought like “two kids in a schoolyard”, and Rutte interjected: “And then daddy has to sometimes use strong language”.

The US president also held talks with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky on the sidelines of the summit. During a press conference afterwards, Trump said achieving a ceasefire in Ukraine was proving “more difficult” than he had expected, and raised the prospect of supplying Ukraine with further air defences.

“He’s got a little difficulty, Zelensky, a nice guy,” said Trump. “I’ve spoken to Putin a lot… he volunteered help on Iran. I said do me a favour, help us on Russia, not Iran.”

In their final communique, Nato member states stressed their commitments to providing support for Ukraine, “whose security contributes to ours”, adding that direct contributions to Kyiv’s defence and its defence industry would be included in assessment of allies’ defence spending.

UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said Nato was as relevant and important now as it had ever been: “We live in a very volatile world and today is about the unity of Nato, showing that strength. We’re bigger than we were before, we’re stronger than we were before.”

Daniel Anjorin waved goodbye to his mum as he walked out of the front door of his family home in Hainault at about 07:00, rucksack on his back and headphones on as he headed to school.

Moments later the 14-year-old was murdered by Marcus Monzo, who struck him with a 60cm sword causing devastating injuries to his face and neck.

The 37-year-old has been found guilty of his murder at the Old Bailey.

The Brazilian-Spanish national was also found guilty of attempting to murder local residents Donato Iwule and Sindy Arias, as well as PC Yasmin Mechem-Whitfield in a 20-minute rampage on 30 April 2024.

He was convicted of wounding with intent against Inspector Moloy Campbell and Ms Arias’s husband Henry De Los Rios Polania.

Body-worn camera footage from the police officers showed the extraordinary bravery they displayed as they tried to disarm Monzo, suffering serious injuries as a result.

Monzo had started his rampage by driving his van straight into Donato Iwule, who was walking to work, his trial heard. This was captured on a doorbell camera. Mr Iwule was “catapulted” into the air, his piercing screams shattering the quiet morning.

Mr Iwule shouted that he did not know his attacker as Monzo, armed with the sword, chased him down the street telling him: “I don’t care, I will kill you.”

Monzo “moved quickly, like a predator”, the court heard, moving behind Daniel before lifting the sword above his head and swinging it downwards towards his head and neck area.

As his body lay in the middle of the road, Monzo was seen to drag him. A woman exclaimed in shock “he’s just killed that boy”.

An ambulance arrived to try to treat the schoolboy but Monzo attacked the vehicle with his sword, causing the paramedics – who described it as “extremely frightening” – to retreat.

Police officers rushed in screaming “drop the sword, drop the sword” as they stood toe-to-toe with him. Pepper spray proved ineffective and, as Monzo shouted “does anybody here believe in God?”, they chased him down an alleyway.

Armed with a Taser, PC Yasmin Mechem-Whitfield led the pursuit, which was captured on police-worn body cameras.

When she got to the end of the alleyway, Monzo jumped out and slashed her three times with the sword. She fell to the ground bleeding as her colleague, PC Cameron King, screamed “police officer stabbed, police officer stabbed, Yas has been stabbed”.

PC King said he was “petrified”, while PC Mechem-Whitfield told her colleague “don’t let me die here”.

Henry De Los Rios Polania was asleep with his wife and four-year-old daughter when Monzo burst into their bedroom.

In a terrifying conversation, he repeatedly asked them if they believed in God and then slashed Mr De Los Rios Polania with the sword as he raised his arm to protect his wife.

When their daughter started crying, Monzo said he would spare their lives and walked out of the house leaving Mr De Los Rios Polania with serious injuries to his hand.

Despite the injury to their colleague the police officers ran towards Monzo as he appeared to be cornered by a set of garages.

In remarkable police video, which resembles hand-to-hand combat, Inspector Moloy Campbell raised his baton as Monzo brought down his sword trying to slash him. The police baton and Monzo’s sword clashed twice as Inspector Campbell tried to defend himself and disarm Monzo.

“Monzo was slashing at me with a large sword,” Inspector Campbell said. “I saw my hand was open – I could see the inside of my hand.”

Eventually officers fired a number of Tasers at Monzo and managed to arrest him, removing the sword that had caused so much bloodshed.

During a police interview, Monzo claimed his personality had switched and he compared the events to the movie The Hunger Games. He also told police that he had “many personalities” and that one of them was a “professional assassin”.

Monzo, who grew up in Brazil and moved to England in 2013, gave evidence in court.

He spoke in a calm manner – occasionally weeping – and while he admitted attacking people with the sword in Hainault he insisted he could not remember doing so, claiming everything about the day was confused in his mind.

Monzo was a martial arts enthusiast who believed in conspiracy theories – including that the earth was flat. He denied the 9/11 attacks on New York and posted on X claims that were antisemitic and promoted conspiracy theories.

His brother said he had changed after attending retreats in India and the Amazon where he drank ayahuasca, a hallucinogenic tea.

After a visit to India in 2018, Monzo said he began to engage in some “very extreme” practices, including drinking and washing himself with his own urine. He said he became distant from his family and followed various practices, including sleeping and eating as little as possible.

Both the prosecution and defence agreed Monzo’s had a psychotic disorder. However, prosecutors said his behaviour was triggered “by self-induced intoxication in the form of drugs” through his use of cannabis, which led to the psychosis. The defence claimed he was “most likely suffering from a pre-existing condition”.

He had bought the sword two months before the attack, videoing himself with his cat, unboxing it and calling it “freaking sexy” and simulating “ninja stuff”.

On the day of the attack he strangled his cat and tried to eat it.

That morning, Monzo said he had felt the onset of “something like Armageddon” and he believed “the world was collapsing”.

Daniel Anjorin’s father sat in court throughout the trial, listening to disturbing evidence about how his son was killed and watching the police videos of Monzo with his sword attacking others that day.

He was sat just feet away from Monzo as he told the court he did not remember attacking Mr Anjorin’s son.

Mr Anjorin was occasionally in tears as he listened to the evidence, as were some of the jurors. One juror asked to be excused due to the graphic nature of the evidence.

When Daniel was killed, the Anjorin family said in a statement that it was difficult for them to fathom that “Daniel had left the house for school and then he was gone.”

“Our children have lost their loving and precious brother and we have lost the most loved and amazing son,” they said.

For the Netherlands this was the biggest security operation in its history; for Nato’s 32 member states the Hague summit was historic too.

There were unexpected moments of levity in among the momentous decisions over the looming threat from Russia and raising defence spending to levels not seen since the Cold War.

Here is what we learned from a whirlwind two days in The Hague.

The main takeaway is the allies’ commitment to a 5% defence spending target, to be reached within a decade. It’s a remarkable jump from the current 2% guideline, which currently isn’t even met by eight Nato members out of 32.

Only 3.5% of that figure is meant to be achieved entirely through core defence spending on troops and weapons – while the remaining 1.5% can be put towards “defence-related expenditure”.

And that’s a suitably broad concept that can apply to spending even only loosely linked to defence: as long as it is used to “protect our critical infrastructure, defend our networks, ensure our civil preparedness and resilience, unleash innovation, and strengthen our defence industrial base”.

Reaching that 3.5% core defence spending target will still be a significant ask for many Nato countries, many of which currently hover around the 2% line.

Plans to reach the 5% figure will have to be submitted annually and will have to follow a “credible, incremental path”. A review will take place in 2029.

For as long as Nato has existed, its Article Five on collective defence has been a core principle that means an attack against one ally is considered an attack on all.

So when Trump suggested on the way to the summit there were “numerous definitions” of the mutual security guarantee, it was a reminder of comments he made on the campaign trail last year, when he suggested if a country did not pay its way “I would not protect you, in fact I would encourage [Moscow] to do whatever they want”.

This summit agreement appears to put to bed any lingering concerns about Trump’s intentions because it reaffirms “our ironclad commitment to collective defence”. “I stand with [Article Five], that’s why I’m here,” he told reporters afterwards.

That reassurance will be well received by Nato member states seen as under most threat, but then they paid their way anyway. And Trump has gone back to Washington with a deal that means all other member states have agreed to do up their spending too.

The Russia question was always going to be tricky. Most Nato countries – particularly those in close proximity to the Russian border – are in agreement that Moscow could pose a direct threat to them in the near future; Rutte himself has said Russia could use military force against the alliance within five years.

Last year’s end-of-summit declaration referenced – in no uncertain terms – Moscow’s “brutal war of aggression” several times.

But Trump has had a much softer approach to Moscow, and has resisted treating it as an adversary. As such it was always unlikely he was going to approve a declaration that labelled Russia as the clear culprit for the bloody Ukraine war, now more than three years old.

So while the statement mentions the “long-term threat posed by Russia to Euro-Atlantic security” and reaffirms the need to provide enduring support to Ukraine, there is no specific condemnation of Russia in the communique.

• The nine Nato countries that missed their defence spending targets
• Ukraine in maps: Tracking the war with Russia
• Who’s in Nato and how much do they spend on defence?

Ever since Volodymyr Zelensky’s difficult experience in the White House last February, European leaders have sought to avoid getting off on the wrong foot with Donald Trump.

Spain’s Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez went to The Hague already mired in domestic political scandals and he was expecting a tough time.

Spain props up the bottom of the Nato spending league with 1.24% of economic output on defence. He came to The Hague insisting that 2.1% was plenty, and told reporters after signing the summit declaration that Spain considered the amount “sufficient, realistic and compatible with our social model and welfare state”.

The Spanish PM was noticeably aloof during the “family photo”, preferring to stand on the end away from his Nato colleagues. There were suggestions that he had gone out of his way to avoid Trump too.

But Sánchez had already caught Trump’s eye and the US president was having none of it.

“It’s terrible, what they’ve done,” said Trump, who accused Madrid of seeking “a little bit of a free ride”. “We’re negotiating with Spain on a trade deal but we’re going to make them pay twice.”

Because Spain is a member of the European Union, Trump will find that difficult to do – but Sánchez will go back to Madrid isolated in Nato as well as struggling at home.

No-one would have been more keenly aware of the potential pitfalls of this summit than Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte, who was involved in a surprising exchange with the US president in which he referred to him as “daddy”.

Rutte had already flattered Trump in a private message for “decisive action in Iran” that “NO American president in decades could have done”. Trump had then posted his words on his social media network and Rutte denied being embarrassed.

But then in a joint appearance with Trump on Wednesday, Rutte reacted to Trump describing the war between Israel and Iran as “like two kids in a schoolyard” who had had a big fight.

“And then daddy has to sometimes use strong language to get them to stop.”

Asked if he had gone too far with his flattery, Rutte said he didn’t think so: “I think he deserves all the praise.”

Trump, flanked by a smirking Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, seemed amused by the whole thing: “I think he likes me, if he doesn’t… I’ll come back and hit him hard. He did it very affectionately: ‘Daddy you’re my daddy,'” he laughed.

Satellite images have revealed new signs of damage to access routes and tunnels at Iran’s underground Fordo enrichment facility which was targeted by Israel on 23 June, a day after the US dropped bunker-buster bombs on the site.

Previously unseen damage is also visible near tunnel entrances at Iran’s Isfahan Nuclear Technology Centre after it was hit by the US. Meanwhile, there are signs work is already underway to fill in craters at the Natanz enrichment complex in the wake of US strikes.

A leaked US intelligence document has cast doubt on the overall impact of the strikes. Media coverage of its conclusions prompted an angry response from President Donald Trump.

Other new satellite images reveal previously unseen damage at a university in north-east Tehran and an area adjacent to a major airport west of the capital.

Israel, and subsequently the US, said strikes were aimed at preventing Iran from building a nuclear weapon. Iran has consistently denied those allegations, insisting its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes.

The Fordo enrichment facility, buried underground in a mountainside near the city of Qom, was struck with US bunker-buster munitions on 22 June, resulting in six large craters visible in satellite images, as well as grey dust and debris scattered around across the area.

A day later, Israel said that it had struck Fordo again, this time targeting access routes to the facility. The attack was later confirmed by Iranian authorities.

High-resolution satellite images captured on 24 June and published by Maxar Technologies show new craters and damaged buildings that were not visible in the aftermath of US strikes.

One new crater can be seen on an access road that leads to a tunnel entrance north-west of the facility. At least two craters are also visible near a tunnel opening at the southern edge of the complex.

Maxar images also show a destroyed installation north of the facility, alongside air strike craters and grey dust in the same area.

One new additional crater and scorch marks can be seen in the middle of an access road at the western edge of the facility.

It’s believed the strikes were intended to make these sites difficult to reach and repair.

The volume of grey dust visible in some of the satellite images may be sign of the level of destruction beneath the surface, analysts believe.

“Deep below ground detonations of sufficient magnitude to expel the concrete as described would cause significant blast damage to underground structures,” said Trevor Lawrence, head of the Centre for Energetics Technology, Cranfield University and an expert on effect of explosions.

“Given the complexity of building these structures, significant damage is very unlikely to be repaired in the short term, if at all.”

The Isfahan Nuclear Technology Centre, located south-east of the city of Isfahan, is Iran’s largest nuclear research complex. It also houses a uranium conversion facility where natural uranium is converted into material that could be enriched in the country’s two uranium enrichment facilities in Natanz and Fordo.

The complex was struck twice by Israel. It was then targeted by the US on 22 June, resulting in more extensive damage across the complex.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio defended the efficacy of the US strikes on Iran, apparently referencing the uranium conversion facility at Isfahan.

“You can’t do a nuclear weapon without a conversion facility, yet we can’t even find where it is, where it used to be on the map – because the whole thing is just blackened out… it’s gone… wiped out.”

The overall complex has been captured in the latest Maxar images, and there is extensive destruction to a large number of buildings. One structure, previously identified by the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) as the main uranium conversion building has been mostly destroyed.

New images of the aftermath of US strikes also reveal damage to tunnel entrances located north of the complex. Damage can be clearly seen to one tunnel entrance at the northern tip of the facility near a complex by the mountainside.

Additional damage is also visible at two more tunnel entrances in another image.

Experts from intelligence analysis firm Maiar assessed that the entrances probably sustained “moderate” structural damage. They noted scorching around the entrances but also the relative lack of damage to the adjacent concrete and the fact that there wasn’t visible caving in of the earth above the entrances.

Iran’s prior efforts to reinforce the entrances by piling up earth may have reduced the effectiveness of the US attacks.

“One Isfahan tunnel entrance looks like there was an internal explosion and fire, given the darkened debris spilling out of the entrance. If so, that would take years to repair,” said Mark Cancian, from the Centre for Strategic and International Studies.

“On the other hand, the discoloration could be caused by the weapon itself and not any penetration. The other tunnel entrance looks like it was covered with sand and dirt. If that’s all that happened, it could be opened in a few weeks.”

Natanz, Iran’s primary uranium enrichment facility, was targeted by both Israel and the US during the conflict.

Satellite images captured on 22 June in the immediate aftermath of US strikes revealed two visible craters in a large area at the centre of the complex. The craters are believed to be above underground buildings housing centrifuge halls, where uranium enrichment takes place.

A new image, taken on 24 June, shows the craters have since been covered with dirt, which may suggest work is underway to address damage inflicted on the facility.

“Think of what you do if you have a hole in your roof,” says David Albright, from the ISIS, “and also they likely want to at least offer some resistance to another earth penetrator hitting the same spot.”

A key target of Israeli strikes during the conflict was Mehrabad airport, located west of Tehran. Videos and images authenticated by BBC Verify show it was bombed multiple times by Israel.

Once the capital’s main international airport, it now mostly serves domestic flights.

Israel shared footage of it targeting two F-14 Tomcat fighter jets, purchased by the Shah before the 1979 Islamic revolution, at the airport.

One image, captured in an industrial area immediately south of the runway, shows damage to multiple structures.

Another image shows an area west of the runway, where at least one warehouse appears to have been completely destroyed.

The area is home to several aerospace companies which have been linked to Iran’s defence industry.

Satellite images also show multiple buildings targeted at Shahid Rajaee University, located in Tehran’s northeastern district of Lavizan.

Videos verified by the BBC confirm Lavizan was the target of multiple air strikes by Israel during the conflict.

Satellite images reveal extensive damage to multiple large buildings near the university campus, with debris scattered around the area.

The latest images do not address one central question in the aftermath of the US and Israeli strikes: does Iran still retain its stocks of enriched uranium?

“Overall, Israel’s and US attacks have effectively destroyed Iran’s centrifuge enrichment program, said Mr Albright. “It will be a long time before Iran comes anywhere near the capability it had before the attack.

“That being said, there are residuals such as stocks of 60 percent, 20 percent, and 3-5 percent enriched uranium and the centrifuges manufactured but not yet installed at Natanz or Fordow. These non-destroyed parts pose a threat as they can be used in the future to produce weapon-grade uranium.”

What do you want BBC Verify to investigate?

A woman in a “Make America Great Again” hat leads a chant for “regime change” in Iran.

The crowds dance and wave Iranian, Israeli and American flags as Persian music blasts. Car horns beep in support but also some annoyance in LA’s gridlocked traffic.

Protests outside the West LA Federal Building are a common site, but even by LA standards this one is unusual, happening under the watchful eyes of armed US Marines, controversially ordered there by President Trump during protests against immigration raids.

But these immigrants are proudly demonstrating in MAGA hats in support of President Trump and his decision to intervene in the Israel-Iran conflict by launching air strikes against Iranian nuclear sites.

• Follow latest on Iran-Israel conflict
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“We want regime change in Iran,” says Bita Ashrafi, who left Iran 50 years ago and attended the protest wearing a “Trump Was Right About Everything” hat.

“I fully support President Trump’s decisions because this has been going on for 46 plus years – the tyranny, the dictatorship.”

West LA, often called Tehrangeles, is home to the largest population of Iranians outside of Iran, formerly known as Persia. There are Persian restaurants and bookstores and shops selling the saffron and rose ice cream popular in Iran.

Many of Southern California’s Iranian Americans are in full support of President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu.

But others say the involvement of the US, called the “Great Satan” by hardliner religious leaders in Iran, will only bolster Iran’s leaders.

Ms Ashrafi took to the streets with several hundred others to show her support for Trump and regime change in Iran a day after a “No War” protest broke out in the same spot in response to the US “bunker busting” bombing of nuclear sites in Iran.

The US president said the action was necessary because Iran was close to developing a nuclear bomb. Tehran has always said its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes.

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Persian Americans are worried about friends and family in their homeland who they’ve struggled to reach with Iran’s phones and internet shut off. They also have strong feelings about how their adopted country should respond to Iran.

“Do not negotiate with them. They will go back to terrorising the world,” said Farzan Seyed, who was dressed in a MIGA (Make Iran Great Again) hat – the acronym popularised by Trump on social media – and a tie showing the lion and sun emblem from Iran’s pre-1979 flag. He says Trump should show support for regime change but not get too involved.

“The people have to choose,” he says, though he hopes they choose exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi who also lives in the United States.

Iranian-American families in Southern California lost so much when they fled Iran, he says, adding that when they get together – whether Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Baháʼí or Zoroastrian – they “speak with one voice from West LA” against the Islamic Republic.

Many Iranian Americans dispute that there is one voice. The cafes and restaurants in West LA are full of debates about what should and could happen next in Iran. And not everyone in the community wears MAGA hats and supports the US bombing.

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Roozbeh Farahanipour – once imprisoned in Iran for his activism – says he fears the US involvement will push Iran into a broken, uncertain future.

“The job needs to be done by Iranian people,” he says in one of the three restaurants he now owns in the heart of Tehrangeles. “If we look at the history, I don’t think that’s the result of the Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, even Syria.”

While he voted for Trump, Mr Farahanipour says he’s disappointed in the president. He said he supports targeted sanctions, not missiles, and that he doesn’t want his taxpayer money going to fund attacks against Iran.

He knows that’s not a popular opinion in this community and it’s caused a rift with one of his oldest and closest friends, Elham Yaghoubian.

While the majority of this region’s Persian community fled to LA in 1979 after the Islamic Revolution, Mr Farahanipour and Ms Yaghoubian came later in 2000 after they were both targeted as enemies of the state for creating an underground opposition movement.

Mr Farahanipour was arrested along with his mother and several friends for his activism during a meeting at his home. Ms Yaghoubian escaped arrest – she was meant to be at Mr Farahanipour’s house that night but decided not to go.

For decades, they have worked together as activists in Iran and in LA, where they both became successful entrepreneurs. Together they were instrumental in getting a corner of LA named “Persian Square.”

Later, they successfully lobbied the city to rename part of Westwood Boulevard “Women Life Freedom Square” in honour of Masha Amini, who was killed by Iran’s morality police in 2022 for not wearing her hijab head covering the way they wanted.

“We were shoulder-to-shoulder, until now,” says Mr Farahanipour.

Ms Yaghoubian says her position is nuanced.

“I’ve never been a supporter of military action against Iran,” she says. “Now that it has happened and many of the regime’s tools of suppression have been weakened it may present an opportunity for people in Iran to push for change.”

She says she hopes the Israeli and the US attacks on Iran will help Iranians rise up and overthrow the regime.

The majority of people in Iran are “living in poverty,” she says. Her friends there tell her they have nothing to lose.

“This is the only opportunity for the Iranian people to rise and make a change,” she says.

Like others in Southern California’s Persian community they both fret over loved ones back in Iran, even if they don’t see eye to eye on how the US should respond to Iran.

When President Trump warned “everyone to evacuate” Tehran earlier this month, the world saw footage of thousands of terrified Iranians stuck in traffic trying to escape an escalation in the war.

Writer and actor Mary Apick, who was a child star in Iran and now lives in Los Angeles, says she is heartened watching how many Iranians she saw helping each other amid the traffic, sharing water and gasoline and offering strangers rides.

“There’s a camaraderie which is unbelievable,” she says, adding that she has family she is worried about in Iran. “This regime has to go. People are sick and tired.”

Four women have told a BBC investigation they were sexually assaulted or raped by the same man in the 1980s and 90s.

The alleged attacks took place in Dumfries over an 11-year period when the women were teenagers. One was just 15.

Days before the BBC was due to broadcast its documentary The Rapist In Our Town, police arrested a man over claims by two of the women in the programme.

The women had first gone to the police 20 years ago but prosecutors decided not to take the case to court.

Warning: This article contains details that readers may find upsetting

The BBC Disclosure investigation, which began in April, uncovered new alleged victims in the case and features claims that police missed a crucial lead two decades ago.

The man, who the BBC is not naming for legal reasons, denies the allegations.

He says the claims had been previously “robustly investigated” and he was never prosecuted.

In 1989, Fiona was 18, living in Dumfries and working in a local bank.

One night, she’d been out with a friend in a club. They ended up in a taxi with a man her friend was seeing, and another man she didn’t know.

“I didn’t think that I was in any danger at that point,” Fiona said.

She ended up in the stranger’s home after her friend went with the other man to a house across the road.

“He made me a cup of tea and I asked him could he phone across to see when my friend was coming over,” Fiona said.

“That’s when everything changed.

“He started coming across to try to take my clothes off.”

Fiona said: “He had me pinned down with one arm.

“I kept saying to him: ‘No, no, no’. But he didn’t stop.

“And then once he had raped me, he said to me: ‘I suppose you’ll say I’ve raped you now’.”

Fiona said the man raped her again the next morning.

“My next recollection was getting back to my house, taking a deep breath – I’m safe now,” she said.

Five years earlier in 1984, 18-year-old Fee was working in a Dumfries bar the same man used to frequent.

She said she had gone upstairs one night to lock up and been followed by the man.

Fee said: “He knew that there’d be nobody up there. He was prowling.”

She said the man attacked her and pinned her to the ground.

“He started kissing me,” she said.

“I kept fighting with him and telling him to stop and he wouldn’t.”

Fee said the man tried to rape her.

“And I thought, there’s no way, you’re not doing this to me,” she said.

“I just fought and fought. I kneed him, punched him, kicked him, just so he would get off me.”

Fee said the man then fled downstairs and out of the pub.

Neither Fee or Fiona, who didn’t know each other, told anyone initially.

They say they feared they would not be believed.

Fee said: “I thought it’s my word against his. I’ll just forget it happened.”

Within a few years, Fiona started telling people what she said had happened to her.

Then in 2005 she received a letter from the man’s lawyers, threatening a defamation action if she didn’t stop telling people he had raped her.

Fiona told the BBC: “It was probably the kick up the arse I needed to get the courage to go to the police.”

The police had also heard about Fee’s case and took a statement from her. The man was charged and a file sent to prosecutors in the procurator fiscal’s office.

In 2007, the fiscal told the women the case would not proceed because of “insufficient evidence”.

A review by another fiscal in 2010 seemed to close the door on the case, telling Fiona: “There is no realistic prospect of us being able to take any action at any time.”

Fiona said she was devastated as she believed there were other alleged victims the police had missed.

In November last year she went back the police, who reopened the case.

She said she had since become frustrated at what seemed like a lack of progress, especially around leads she felt were important.

The BBC started to investigate the case in April this year. Soon, a third woman had come forward.

Caroline told the BBC about an alleged sexual assault carried out by the same man in about 1982.

She said she had been using a phone booth when the man, who was known to her, came in and closed the door behind him.

Caroline, who was about 18 or 19 at the time, said: “He literally had got me up against the wall.

“Before I knew it he grabbed my breasts and I sort of pushed him and went: ‘What are you doing? Get out!’.”

Like Fee and Fiona, Caroline didn’t report it.

“Maybe I thought folk wouldn’t believe me,” she said.

Fiona says she gave the police a lead about another alleged victim in 2005.

She says she provided the same details in November last year when she went back to the police.

The BBC tracked the woman down.

Now 48, she says she has never been contacted by the police about the case.

The woman says she was raped by the same man in 1993, when she was aged 15.

She kept her alleged attack secret for 32 years, and tells her story for the first time in BBC Disclosure’s The Rapist In Our Town.

She said: “I’ve come to realise it’s not my fault. I didn’t do anything wrong.”

The woman said she would have cooperated with police if they had asked her 20 years ago – and that she is still prepared to do so.

“If I can help put him where he belongs, yeah, I want to help do that,” she said.

Fiona told the BBC she was angry “because this could have been sorted 20 years ago”.

A few days after the BBC put questions about their handling of the case to the police, they arrested the man.

Through his lawyer, the man denied any allegations of criminality and said claims in 2005 were robustly investigated by police at the time, and he was never prosecuted.

He also denied raping the 15-year-old, and told the BBC: “I was never with her.”

A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “A 66-year-old man has been arrested and charged in connection with a report of sexual offences committed between 1984 and 1989 in the Dumfries area.”

They added that he would appear at Dumfries Sheriff Court in due course and a report would be sent to the fiscal.

A spokesperson for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service said: “Sexual offence cases are often challenging and we are committed to continually improving how we investigate and prosecute them, and how we communicate with victims.

“We recognise the profound impact sexual offending has and would urge anyone affected to report it regardless of how long ago it took place.”

The BBC Action Line gives information and support to anyone affected by sexual abuse (current or historic) including sources of support for children, young people and adults.

The British paedophile charged in connection with organising a “mock wedding” to a child in Disneyland Paris is Jacky Jhaj, who was found guilty of sexual activity with two 15-year-olds in 2016, the BBC understands.

Jhaj, 39, has been charged in connection with organising the fake ceremony on Saturday, in which a nine-year-old Ukrainian girl was due to feature as his bride.

He was arrested when police were called on Saturday morning by an actor who said he had been hired by Jhaj to play the father of the bride.

The BBC has previously investigated how Jhaj was able to hire hundreds of children to act as his fawning fans at a fake film premiere in London’s Leicester Square in 2023.

Some of the children, who had been hired from casting agencies, were as young as six.

Teenage girls told the BBC that they had been asked to scream for him and try to touch him, without being told his real identity by the agencies.

Then in June last year, Jhaj was seen giving gifts to children outside dance auditions for another production – he was recognised by a parent who had seen the BBC article.

Two months later, and following the BBC’s further investigation, Jhaj was filmed posing naked in front of a mocked-up BBC News lorry in London which had been set on fire.

For the mock wedding at Disneyland Paris, which was to be filmed by Jhaj’s team, around 100 French extras had been recruited to take part.

The BBC understands that he appeared in front of a judge in Meaux, north-east of Paris, on Monday and was charged with fraud, breach of trust, money laundering, and identity theft and placed in pretrial detention.

Preliminary findings also stated that he had allegedly been “made-up professionally so that his face appeared totally different from his own”, according to the French prosecutor.

Jhaj has been on the sex offenders register since 2016 and has spent time in prison. He is subject to restrictions on his freedoms under the terms of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order.

Since he was released from prison, he has repeatedly staged productions involving children or young people.

BBC News can reveal that some videos of these productions were uploaded to a YouTube account styled as an official performer’s channel.

The account received more than six million views and had over 12 million subscribers.

A video on a different channel included secretly filmed footage of one of the 15-year-old victims he was convicted of sexually exploiting.

Her family has told the BBC that Jhaj “destroyed” her life and said it’s unacceptable that YouTube allowed the video to be watched for entertainment for four years.

Videos of the productions remained on YouTube for years until last September, when the BBC alerted Google, which owns the platform.

It told the BBC at the time that it takes users’ safety seriously, but offered no explanation as to how an account featuring a man with almost no profile or success had 12 million subscribers, or why the videos were not removed.

Over the past two years, the BBC has spoken to videographers, production assistants and technicians who worked on some of the events before they discovered Jhaj’s real identity.

Their records show that the cost of hiring casts and venues has run into hundreds of thousands of pounds.

The cost of hiring the area in front of the Odeon cinema in London’s Leicester Square, which hosts red carpet events for major Hollywood premieres, would have run into tens of thousands of pounds.

French outlet BFMTV reported that the fake wedding at Disneyland may have cost organisers more than €130,000 (£110,000).

It remains unclear how these elaborate productions have been funded.

The French prosecutor said the Ukrainian girl arrived in France two days before the Disneyland event – but had not been a victim of either physical or sexual violence and had not been “forced to play the role” of a bride.

The prosecutor’s statement also said that Disneyland Paris had been “deceived” and that the organiser had used a fake Latvian ID to hire the venue. Disneyland Paris can be rented by members of the public outside opening hours.

In a statement, the UK’s Metropolitan Police said:

“A 39-year-old man is wanted by the Met Police for breaching a Sexual Harm Prevention Order and a breach of a Sex Offenders’ Register notification requirement.

“We are aware the man has been arrested in France for other matters and officers are in contact with the French authorities.”

Zohran Mamdani decided, in his quest to become New York City’s mayor, he would walk the entire length of Manhattan – starting at 7 one Friday evening in early June.

By the time he was done, it was 2:30 a.m.

Video of the feat on social media captures New Yorkers frame by frame giving him thumbs up and embracing him. Several clap for the “next Mayor”. He’s doing it, he tells followers, because New Yorkers deserve a mayor they can see, hear and even yell at.

It takes only a quick scroll through 33-year-old Mamdani’s social media accounts to understand just how different his style is from that of a traditional politician, rejecting typical soundbites for a more unrehearsed feel. After he won the New York Democratic primary on Tuesday, that playbook is getting accolades for its ability to attract a large coalition.

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This is a wakeup call for the Democratic Party, said pollster Frank Luntz. The big loser of the night wasn’t his main opponent, former governor Andrew Cuomo, he said, but the US Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who represents the Democratic Party establishment.

Grassroots Democrats are demanding “a more ideological, confrontational approach to policy and politics” in the time of President Donald Trump, Mr Luntz said.

Before Tuesday night’s win, Cuomo and several Democrats mocked Mamdani’s platform – including free public buses and city-run grocery stores – as unrealistic. Billions were spent attacking him. But the millennial, left-wing state assemblyman who represents the diverse neighbourhood of Astoria, Queens, clearly connected with social media-age voters who crave his brand of authenticity and accessibility.

Harris Krizmanich, 30, watched the Manhattan journey video three times. He started following the state lawmaker and Democrat Socialist in January, when Mamdani was polling at 1%. Krizmanich began canvassing for his campaign.

“I was blown away by his personable skills with the way he talks to people and the way he can relate to just the average person and the way he humanises the voters that felt very frustrated with the way things were going,” Mr Krizmanich told the BBC. “It was really inspiring.”

Without Cuomo’s name recognition or wealthy donors, Mamdani relied on introducing himself to voters by flooding social media consistently with positive, even humorous, content that showcased his personality and positions.

Polling indicated he piqued the interest and admiration of Gen Z and disaffected voters, who ultimately contributed to his impressive grassroots ground game.

Nearly 50,000 volunteers helped door-knock, and small donors helped him break fundraising records in the race. He also used traditional settings to his advantage: Mamdani’s viral clip attacking Cuomo’s record and scandals at one of the Democratic debates was viewed over 10 million times on X and over a million more on TikTok.

His identity as an immigrant, unapologetic about his beliefs and faith as a Muslim, was refreshing to those who saw in him their own experiences. The current New York mayor, Eric Adams – far from Mamdani’s biggest fan – said earlier in June: “I don’t agree with his stance on many things, but I respect the fact he’s true to who he is.”

After Mamdani’s win, however, perhaps sensing a greater threat, Adams – who is running for mayor as an independent in November – called him a “snake oil salesman”.

Mamdani is laser focused on cost-of-living issues. He said his conversations with voters often came down to common-sense discussions about leading a dignified life and how city government can help ensure that.

At a recent event, Mamdani told the BBC that “there’s a lot of understandable despair and disappointment with so-called leaders within our own party who have shown themselves unable or unwilling to fight Donald Trump”. He included Andrew Cuomo and Eric Adams on that list.

“We need a mayor who can look authoritarianism in the eye and not see a reflection of themselves.”

In the wake of Trump’s victory, many left-wing Democrats have argued that the lesson of November’s defeat is not that Americans have moved further right, but that they want a new approach to politics.

Stephanie Taylor, of Progressive Change Campaign Committee, told the BBC that she hopes this is finally a wake-up call that the Democratic base is absolutely fed up.

“We’ve seen a Democratic Party establishment that has actively worked to undermine and defeat some of our best and brightest and most charismatic for ideological reasons. Because they didn’t like their anti-corporate stances or anti-war stances or their anti-corruptions stances,” she said.

“Voters want to believe that you’re going to fight for them.”

Mamdani still has to win in the general election in November, and if he prevails, the pressure will be on to prove he can actually deliver on his big promises despite limited experience in government.

At least eight people have been killed and 400 injured as thousands took to the streets in a day of protests across Kenya against President William Ruto’s government.

Police clashed with protesters in the capital Nairobi and other cities exactly a year on from the wave of deadly anti-government demonstrations that hit the nation in 2024.

Many of those demonstrating chanted “Ruto must go” and waved branches as a symbol of peaceful opposition to his rule.

The government banned live TV and radio coverage of the protests, but its decree was overturned by the High Court in the capital, Nairobi.

Ruto urged protesters not to threaten peace and stability, as crowds tried to reach his official residence but were pushed back by police.

“Protests should not be to destroy peace in Kenya. We do not have another country to go to when things go wrong. It is our responsibility to keep our country safe,” he said.

The president was speaking at a burial ceremony in the coastal county of Kilifi.

His absence from State House, his official residence, was notable as young protesters threatened to storm it.

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Police used barricades and razor wire to seal off major roads – especially those leading to State House and parliament.

The authorities have not yet given any casualty figures from Wednesday’s protests, but the Kenya Medical Association, Law Society of Kenya and the Police Reforms Working Group said in a joint statement that at least eight protesters were killed.

Of the 400 injured, 83 required “specialised treatment” and eight had suffered gunshot wounds. The injured included three police officers, the statement added.

A human rights group – Amnesty Kenya – put the death toll as high as 16.

One demonstrator, Amina Mude, told the BBC she joined the protests “to fight for the future of my kids”.

“I feel like as a country we’re not going in the right direction, especially in education and everything happening.

“I feel like it’s high time that the country and the leadership listens to us.”

In Nairobi, video footage showed plumes of white tear gas drifting between buildings, sending protesters scrambling for cover, coughing, and shielding their eyes.

In the heart of the city, protesters marched pass shuttered shops and empty streets.

The fence around parliament was lined with wreaths and handwritten notes from grieving families and defiant youths – a reminder of last year’s unrest at the site.

A young woman draped in a Kenyan flag clutched a poster bearing the names of those killed a year ago by the security forces as they tried to end the protests.

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Zohran Mamdani, a 33-year-old state assemblyman, is set to be the Democratic candidate for New York City Mayor, making history as the first Muslim nominee.

With 95% of ballots counted, Mamdani leads former governor Andrew Cuomo – who resigned that post after sexual harassment allegations in 2021 – 43% to 36% in the Democratic primary, propelled by a wave of grassroots support and a bold left-wing platform.

“Tonight, we made history,” Mamdani told supporters. “I will be your Democratic nominee for the mayor of New York City.”

New York’s ranked-choice voting system means the final result could still evolve, but Mamdani’s lead and momentum appear decisive.

His victory over Cuomo – once a dominant figure in state politics – marks a watershed moment for progressives and signals a shift in the city’s political centre of gravity.

Born in Kampala, Uganda, Mamdani moved to New York with his family age seven. He attended the Bronx High School of Science and later earned a degree in Africana Studies from Bowdoin College, where he co-founded the campus chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine.

The millennial progressive, who would be the city’s first Muslim and South Asian mayor, has leaned into his roots in a diverse city. He’s posted one campaign video entirely in Urdu and mixed in Bollywood film clips. In another, he speaks Spanish.

Mamdani and his wife, 27-year-old Brooklyn-based Syrian artist Rama Duwaji, met on the dating app Hinge.

His mother, Mira Nair, is a celebrated film director and his father Professor Mahmood Mamdani, teaches at Columbia. Both parents are Harvard alumni.

Mamdani presents himself as a candidate of the people and an organiser.

“As life took its inevitable turns, with detours in film, rap, and writing,” reads his state assembly profile, “it was always organising that ensured that the events of our world would not lead him to despair, but to action.”

Before entering politics, he worked as a housing counsellor, helping low-income homeowners in Queens fight eviction.

He has also made his Muslim faith a visible part of his campaign. He visited mosques regularly and released a campaign video in Urdu about the city’s cost-of-living crisis.

“We know that to stand in public as a Muslim is also to sacrifice the safety that we can sometimes find in the shadows,” he said at a rally this spring.

“There’s nobody who represents the totality of the issues that I truly care about that’s running for mayor currently other than Zohran,”Jagpreet Singh, political director for social justice organization DRUM, told the BBC.

Mamdani said that voters in the most expensive US city want Democrats to focus on affordability.

“This is a city where one in four of its people are living in poverty, a city where 500,000 kids go to sleep hungry every night,” he told the BBC at a recent event. “And ultimately, it’s a city that is in danger of losing that which it makes it so special.”

He has proposed:

• Free bus service citywide
• Rent freezes and stricter accountability for negligent landlords
• A chain of city-owned grocery stores focused on affordability
• Universal childcare for children aged six weeks to five years
• Tripling the production of rent-stabilized, union-built housing

His plan also includes “overhauling” the Mayor’s Office to hold property owners responsible and massively expanding permanently affordable housing.

In his campaign, he linked these policies to highly visual, and viral, gestures. He plunged into the Atlantic to dramatize rent freezes and broke a Ramadan fast on a subway train with a burrito to underscore food insecurity. Days before the primary, he walked the entire length of Manhattan, pausing for selfies with voters.

While he insists he can make the city more affordable, critics question such ambitious promises.

The New York Times did not endorse anyone in the city’s mayoral primary and criticised the candidates generally. Its editorial board said Mamdani’s agenda is “uniquely unsuited to the city’s challenges” and “often ignores the unavoidable trade offs of governance.”

His rent freezes would restrict housing supply, said the board.

Cuomo and others frame Mamdani as untested and too radical for a city with a $115 billion budget and over 300,000 municipal workers.

Cuomo, backed by big donors and centrist endorsements including Bill Clinton, insisted experience matters, saying: “Experience, competence, knowing how to do the job, knowing how to deal with Trump, knowing how to deal with Washington, knowing how to deal with the state legislature, these are basics. I believe in on-the-job training, but not as the mayor of New York.”

But Trip Yang, a political strategist, said “experience” isn’t necessarily a game changer in this political era. And whether or not Mamdani wins, Mr Yang believes his campaign has done “the unthinkable.”

“Zohran is powered by tens of thousands of volunteers, hundreds of thousands of unique donors. It’s very rare to see a local Democratic primary New York campaign with this much amount of volunteer and grassroots excitement,” he said.

“He understand us. He belong to us. He’s from our community, you know, the immigrant community,” added supporter Lokmani Rai.

At a recent Mamdani campaign event at a park in Jackson Heights, one of the most diverse communities in the country, children ran and played on swings, as Latino food vendors sold ice cream and snacks.

In many ways, the scene perfectly captured the city’s diversity – what many Democrats consider New York’s greatest asset. But the city is not without its racial and political tensions. Mamdani said he’s received Islamophobic threats daily, some targeting his family. According to police, a hate-crimes investigation into the threats is underway.

He told the BBC that racism is indicative of what’s broken in US politics and criticised a Democratic Party “that allowed for Donald Trump to be re-elected” and fails to stand up for working people “no matter who they were or where they came from”.

The candidates’ stances on the Israel-Gaza war was also likely on voters’ minds.

Mamdani’s strong support of Palestinians and staunch criticism of Israel goes further than most of the Democratic establishment. The assemblyman introduced a bill to end the tax-exempt status of New York charities with ties to Israeli settlements that violate international human rights law.

He has also said he believes Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, is an apartheid state, and that the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should be arrested. Israel vehemently rejects accusations of genocide and apartheid.

Mamdani has been pressed numerous times by press in interviews to state whether he supports Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state. In a response this month, he said: “I’m not comfortable supporting any state that has a hierarchy of citizenship on the basis of religion or anything else, I think that in the way that we have in this country, equality should be enshrined in every country in the world. That’s my belief.” Israel says all religions have equal rights under the law.

Mamdani has also said he accepts Israel’s right to exist as a state, telling the Late Show on Monday that “like all nations, I believe it has a right to exist and a responsibility also to uphold international law”.

Mamdani has also said that there is no room for antisemitism in New York City, adding that if he were elected, he would increase funding to combat hate crimes.

Cuomo, on the other hand, has described himself as a “hyper supporter of Israel and proud of it”.

In many ways the issues facing New York Democrats are the same ones the party faces in future elections, and afterwards, the primary may be dissected nationally for what it says about the party – and how it should take on Trump.