Starmer urges BBC to ‘get house in order’ after Trump legal threat

Sir Keir Starmer has said the BBC must get their “house in order” when mistakes are made, as Donald Trump’s legal threat looms.

The prime minister was asked by Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey whether he would tell the US president to drop his legal threat.

Sir Keir said he will “always stand up for a strong, independent BBC” and added: “The argument for an impartial British news service is stronger than ever, and where mistakes are made they do need to get their house in order and the BBC must uphold the highest standards, be accountable and correct errors quickly.”

The US president has said he has an “obligation” to sue the BBC over the way his “beautiful speech” on 6 January 2021 was edited.

Speaking for the first time since his lawyers took the unprecedented step of threatening to sue the corporation for $1bn, he told Fox News: “They actually changed my January 6 speech, which was a beautiful speech, which was a very calming speech, and they made it sound radical.”

He claimed the BBC “defrauded the public”, adding: “I think I have an obligation to [sue them], you can’t allow people to do that.”

Four-word message the BBC should send Trump about his $1bn lawsuit

There’s one way the BBC could retrieve some dignity from the smoking rubble of the past week. They should send Donald Trump a four-word reply to his blustering threat to sue them in Florida $1bn in damages: “See you in court.”

There’s barely a notable news organisation in the US that Trump hasn’t yet sued. ABC News and CBS News have demonstrated the resolve of a jellyfish in stumping up millions to settle lawsuits that were, in the view of most lawyers, perfectly defensible.

That leaves a $10bn claim against the Wall Street Journal for revealing a lewd scribble he allegedly penned to Jeffrey Epstein and a $15bn suit against The New York Times for engaging “in a decades long method of lying about your Favorite President (ME!), my family, business, the America First Movement, MAGA, and our Nation as a whole.” He’s even suing the Pulitzer Prize Committee for giving the NYT a gong.

The BBC should shame their American broadcasters for their spineless capitulation by refusing to be bullied into abject apologies or donations to Trump’s presidential library. They made an error. They have (belatedly) corrected it. They’ve expressed regret. Now move on.

If Trump had dared to sue in an English court (he can’t because he’s left it too late), the BBC could have replied with the coded response occasionally used by Private Eye: “We refer you to the reply given in the case of Arkell v Pressdram.”

This refers to a 1970s libel threat from a businessman named Arkell. The magazine considered the claim so preposterous that they replied: “Dear Sir, Fuck off, Yours Private Eye.”

But the joke is a little too esoteric for Trump and his lawyers, so “See you in court” would do just as well.

Trump’s first problem is that, according to the BBC, Panorama is not actually available in the US and neither is the BBC iPlayer – unless you’re using a VPN in a naughty way, which you might not want to ventilate in a court of law. So what’s the damage?

Then there’s the problem that the US media is protected from liability when reporting on public figures by the landmark 1964 case of NYT v Sullivan. In that case, a remarkable judge, Justice William J Brennan, essentially gave American journalists the right to be wrong, so long as erroneous statements about public figures are honestly made.

Brennan referred to “the pall of fear and timidity” that the routine prospect of legal actions would have on journalists. He ruled: “Debate on public issues should be uninhibited, robust and wide open and . . . it may well include vehement, caustic and sometimes unpleasantly sharp attacks on government and public officials.”

There are no higher public officials than the president, so unless Trump could demonstrate that a BBC editor deliberately set out to damage him by splicing together two different parts of a speech, it’s difficult to see how he could succeed.

Sullivan is under more ideological and rhetorical pressure than it has been in decades, and at least two justices want to revisit it, but the Supreme Court has not yet taken any concrete step to weaken it. The governing rule remains precisely what it has been since 1964.

Was the film misleading? In the narrow sense of a bad edit, yes. That was unprofessional and wrong. But was it materially misleading in the sense of overstating Trump’s role in urging on the crowd as they headed to Capitol Hill on 6 January? Several congressional and legal authorities could be cited by the BBC in its defence.

The veteran BBC Panorama reporter, John Ware, has been using the archives of The Daily Telegraph – the paper which has accused the BBC of “materially misleading” editing – to demonstrate a degree of hypocrisy.

He quotes the Telegraph’s own chief reporter, Robert Mendick, on 7 January: “Trump threw on the whole, messy heap a burning match. And throughout the day he kept throwing on more. A clenched fist, and a call for action.”

Ware moves onto the former prime minister as quoted in the Telegraph on 8 January: “Boris Johnson has ‘unreservedly condemned’ Donald Trump for encouraging protesters [his emphasis] who stormed the Capitol building in Washington DC. The Prime Minister said the US president had been ‘completely wrong’ to cast doubt on the outcome of the election and to encourage the ‘disgraceful’ behaviour that resulted in four deaths…”

Then Ware quotes the Telegraph’s own columnist Ambrose Evans-Pritchard on 8 January: “The putsch has failed….the desecration of Capitol Hill by Trump mobs – on explicit incitement by the president [his emphasis] – speaks for itself.”

For good measure, he adds the Telegraph’s own Ben Riley-Smith on 13 January, referring to Trump’s “incendiary speech to supporters” prior to the “mob that stormed the US Capitol last week”.

It would be amusing for the BBC to use the Telegraph’s own reporting to bolster the case that Trump did, indeed, bear significant responsibility for the carnage that followed his speech. Indeed, numerous rioters subsequently testified that they had been motivated by Trump’s words.

All in all, Trump doesn’t have much of a case and if BBC chair Samir Shah has any sense, he’ll announce that not a penny of licence fee payers’ money will go to furnishing the Donald J Trump Library.

Show the Americans what a British backbone is made of! Show weaselly US broadcasters how it’s done! Even Nigel Farage should cheer that on.

Russian troops exploit bad weather to make key gains in Ukraine

Ukrainian forces have pulled back from several positions in the southern Zaporizhzhia region amid heavy fighting and adverse weather.

Vladyslav Voloshyn, spokesperson for Ukraine‘s Southern Defense Forces, told public broadcaster Suspilne that troops had “completely withdrawn” from the villages of Uspenivka and Novomykolaivka.

“Very fierce fighting continues for Yablukove and several other locations,” he said. “The defensive operation is ongoing, and the contact line remains dynamic.”

Russia is taking advantage of the weather to advance in small groups, moving on foot or motorcycles, with the adverse weather preventing Ukrainian forces from deploying drones against them.

It comes as Ukraine’s government suspended its justice minister on Wednesday, amid an investigation into corruption in the energy sector.

Prime minister Yuliia Svyrydenko said the decision to suspend German Galushchenko was taken after an “extraordinary session of the government”.

Galushchenko, who previously served as energy minister, was the subject of investigative actions, his ministry said on Tuesday, without specifying whether this was in relation to the energy corruption case.

Turkey says all 20 soldiers on board military plane killed in Georgia crash

Turkey has confirmed that all 20 personnel aboard its military cargo plane that crashed in Georgia on Tuesday have been killed.

The Turkish military transport plane carrying 20 personnel, including crew members, crashed in Georgia shortly after taking off from Azerbaijan.

Footage of the C-130 Hercules showed it spiralling through the air, trailing white smoke before slamming into the ground and erupting into a column of black smoke.

The aircraft was en route back to Turkey when it went down, though the cause of the crash remains uncertain.

“We have learned with great sorrow that our C-130 military aircraft has crashed on the Georgia-Azerbaijan border. Our efforts to reach the wreckage continue in coordination with the national authorities,” said Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

A few minutes after entering Georgian airspace, the aircraft “disappeared from radar without transmitting a distress signal”, the Georgian air navigation service said earlier.

The Interpress news agency reported that the aircraft crashed in Sighnaghi, a municipality in the eastern Kakheti region near Azerbaijan. It said the crash was being investigated under a criminal code article covering air transport and the loss of life.

Mr Erdogan was handed a note by aides at the end of a speech in Ankara to inform him of the crash. He offered his condolences for “our martyrs”, referring to the personnel on the aircraft, without giving more details.

“God willing, we will overcome this crash with minimum hardships,” the leader said. “May God rest the soul of our martyrs, and let us be with them through our prayers.”

Georgian prime minister Irakli Kobakhidze offered his condolences to Mr Erdoğan over the deadly military plane crash, during a phone conversation between the two leaders. “In this difficult time, Georgia extends full solidarity to our Turkish friends. Our thoughts are with the victims, their families, and all those affected by this tragedy,” the prime minister said.

Earlier, Georgian authorities reached the crash site at around 5pm local time, Turkey’s interior minister Ali Yerlikaya said.

Azerbaijan’s president, Ilham Aliyev, expressed his condolences to Mr Erdogan, “the families and loved ones of the deceased, and the fraternal people of Turkey” in a call.

In an official readout, Mr Aliyev said he had discussed “the tragic news of the loss of servicemen” in the crash with Mr Erdogan.

Turkey deployed a drone to assist in the search and rescue operation and was preparing an accident investigation team to leave for Georgia, according to broadcaster NTV.

US ambassador to Turkey, Tom Barrack, said he was “deeply saddened by today’s tragic crash of a Turkish Armed Forces aircraft”, and extended condolences to the families of the fallen, adding that the US “stands in solidarity with our Turkish allies”.

Lockheed Martin, the American manufacturer of C-130 Hercules, which is used by air forces around the world, said it was “committed” to supporting the investigation.

The C-130 Hercules is a four-engine turboprop military cargo and troop carrier plane that can use unprepared runways for take-off and landing.

Turkey reached an agreement last month with the UK to buy 12 second-hand C-130J aircraft.

Turkey shares strong military and diplomatic ties with Azerbaijan. Mr Erdogan recently attended celebrations in Baku commemorating the 2020 win in the Nagorno-Karabakh war against Armenia.

Tycoon who gave £1m to Brexit campaigns considers relocating to Australia

One of Britain‘s richest men, who donated £1m to Brexit campaigns, says he’s considering moving permanently to Australia after delivering a damning assessment of a UK “in chaos”.

Lord Edmiston was ranked 187th on the Sunday Times Rich list this year with an estimated wealth of £855m, after making his fortune through his IM Group empire, which started by importing cars and later expanded into property and finance.

In 2011 he was made a Conservative life peer before he retired from the House of Lords four years later to focus on his evangelical charity, Christian Vision, where his donations make him one of the UK’s biggest philanthropic donors.

The devout Christian has also donated £1m to pro-Brexit campaigns, including £850,000 to Vote Leave through his company before the 2016 EU referendum.

But with his son, Andrew, taking a bigger hand in running the West Midlands-based business, Lord Edmiston told The Independent he is spending more time out of the UK, having semi-retired to Portugal in 2016 and built a property in Australia.

Now, he has revealed that he and his wife Lady Edmiston are considering going a step further by applying for permanent residency in Australia. He put it down to family reasons and a warmer climate, but also fired off criticism of the NHS and the country’s tax system.

Lord Edmiston, who said he would still return to the UK, said: “It hasn’t been a final decision, but my brother lives there [Australia], my sister lives there and one of my daughters lives there…. and I’ve got a charity base there. It’s a place we’ve built ourselves a nice house. So, we are basically temporary residents, and at some point, we’ll probably become permanent residents.”

Asked why he would make the move, Lord Edmiston said he liked the weather and praised the country’s health service, which operates under a hybrid model where more than half of the population have private health insurance.

He said: “As you get older, the health service becomes quite important and the health service is excellent in Australia.”

Speaking earlier, while clicking his fingers, Lord Edmiston said in Australia he could get a doctor’s appointment “like that”, followed by a blood test and a hospital appointment in under a month. The NHS waiting list of hospital treatment stood at 6.25m patients in March.

He said: “Why can’t we [UK] do that? Because there’s some sacred cows in there, we can’t touch that. If things stay like they are forever… we’re not going to be able to cope, and we’re not coping.

“How much did they say, a number of people waiting six months to go to hospital? Or we don’t have preventive medicines in here, we have medicine that when you have an issue, then we’ll deal with it and maybe three months we’ll get to it, and maybe it’s too late.

“I just think we’ve got to stand back, because if someone comes along and says they are going to touch the NHS, well, all hell will break loose. But I think, increasingly, the public is starting to see it isn’t working, it’s broken.”

Lord Edmiston also criticised the tax system in the UK. IM Group paid almost £14.5m in tax on its £56m profit in 2024, according to the latest accounts published on Companies House.

After he said there were “multiple reasons” for considering moving to Australia, he said: “The tax system here… if I think about it, let’s say even my business, it just seems there’s a bunch of people wanting to throw obstacles in your way all the time.”

He added: “It’s one of those things that if you win, they tax you heavily, and you don’t keep much of it. If you lose, you lose, and the whole environment has been very difficult for a number of years.”

He earlier voiced concern over speculated tax rises in the upcoming Autumn budget, and the November date for the announcement, which he said was stalling his own business decisions.

“Business operates on confidence,” he said. “If you know that something’s coming down the road, but you don’t quite know what, you’re not going to keep your foot on the accelerator are you? You’re going to put it on the brake and wait to see if that a train coming.”

After also talking about the impact of electric cars and a need for office-based working, he said: “There’s 101 things I think we could do, but at the moment I think we’re in full panic mode where we think the only solution is tax… what it means for consumers [is] they’re not going to buy as much, so it’s going to be bad for industry.”

According to the polls, for many, Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party is the answer.

Asked if he would consider switching his allegiance, he said: “I really don’t want to get into the political element because I tend to be quite loyal but I have to accept we [Conservatives] didn’t do a good job last time around, and I don’t think we deserved to win, personally, and we have a nasty habit of knifing ourselves in the back.

“Having said that, I think what’s happening with Labour also… I think the country is in chaos.”

Perfect portraits: from groups to selfies and candid snaps, expert tips

Portrait photography has come a long way from the days where everyone needed to be smiling directly into the camera, as a flash bulb popped.

And in fact, following on from an era where social media sites offered very curated, sometimes heavily filtered snapshots of our lives, more natural, candid images that really show off our personalities and experiences are now very much on trend. Think authentic photos of genuine moments where no-one is really paying attention to the camera. Instead they’re focused on enjoying what’s happening and the people they are with. For example, friends around a table enjoying a drink and a chat. Families engaged in a favourite activity. Photos that look like a glimpse into someone’s normal every day.

The best way to capture these in-the-moment shots? On a mobile: our ever-present, hand-held, do-everything device that has steadily taken over photography in the 26 years since the first camera phone appeared. Samsung’s newest device, the Galaxy S25 FE offers a wealth of photography-first features, from multiple cameras, lenses and wide angle settings, to in-built AI technology that will help you take the best possible pictures, then easily edit them afterwards. And as a photographer who runs masterclasses in mobile photography I couldn’t wait to try it out.

The phone itself is slim and lightweight, which makes it so much easier to hold steady, for clear, crisp, blur-free images, and take discreet, candid snaps.

Of course, we all have friends, family members and even pets who love performing for the camera. But for those who are a bit more reluctant to step into the frame, the Galaxy S25 FE offers a whole host of easy-to-use, fun AI features that will have even the most camera-shy feeling completely confident and ready for their close-up.

Samsung’s Drawing Assist function is a prime example and was an absolute hit with my kids, transforming our Sunday afternoon walk from a litany of moaning and dragging feet into a fun-filled adventure involving a lucky escape from the shark that apparently now lives in the park pond, and flying through the air with some giant balloons.

And all it took was a few simple, if strategically positioned snaps and some quick sketches using the Sketch to Image* function when editing the photo. This works best when you have some space in the frame around your subjects so you can easily draw what you want to add. In the shark image, for example, we needed enough water to the left of my kids for the shark to emerge from.

In the photo where the children are flying with the balloons, I needed them to be high up against the sky, and I also wanted the trees visible to add some context to the story we were trying to tell. They’re on top of the boulders, but I had to crouch down on the ground to cut out the houses in the background. By using the Generative Edit** function I was then able to replace the boulders with trees and then used Sketch to Image to draw in some balloons to make it look like they were floating away.

You don’t need to be an amazing artist for Sketch to Image to work well either, just enough line and shape for the app to recognise what you want to add into your image. The only limit here is your imagination and creativity. Involving the kids in some fun photography also meant that I got to capture some real, candid moments of them in the beautiful Autumn sunshine, with none of the usual complaints.

While playing around with reality can be fun, the Galaxy S25FE’s other AI features can also be used to make more subtle adjustments to enhance your images.

Just a few minutes of work with the Generative Edit function on a day out with a friend, helped me erase two unwanted photobombers from a photo (in which she perfectly co-ordinated with the graffitied heart wall in Borough Market). While removing some distracting weedkiller from the table where my cat was basking in the sunshine ensured the perfect pic where I can really appreciate him in all his fluffy glory.

Aside from fun and helpful editing functions, the phone’s AI technology is also running in the background to give your photos a boost, whatever and whenever you are capturing them.

This is great when you’re shooting challenging lighting conditions, for example at night. Dark, grainy and blurred photos are a thing of the past, with Samsung’s Nightography feature. Tapping the yellow moon icon that appears in dim lighting will enable this clever function which captures multiple images and then uses AI to blend them together to create one sharper, brighter image.

This can take a few seconds, so you’ll need to keep very still when using this feature – if you can, brace your arms on a table and hold the phone with two hands to keep the camera as steady as possible. It also helps if your subject is still, so this is more for capturing adults and older kids than snapping a restless pet or fast-moving child.

For these trickier subjects, from youngsters to four-legged friends, the excellent autofocus on the device makes for pin-sharp portraits rendered in high definition. And if you couple that with the outstanding Samsung colour profile you get beautifully saturated, nicely contrasted images which really pop. All the colours are beautifully rendered and all skin tones (and fur tones) are true to life. No filters are needed here.

And this is not just true of portraits you take of other people. The 12 MP camera lens on the front of the phone makes for gorgeously rendered, high resolution selfies with a variety of crop options, so you can find the perfect angle or image composition.

Taking a selfie at a 1:1 square crop, as well as the standard 3:4 crop option means you can easily include a friend or family member in your photo. And there’s a lovely little feature where you can get the lens to zoom out a little by tapping the ‘two person’ icon to provide a little extra space.

The 9:16 crop option means you can opt for a more flattering, longer and thinner photo while the full frame cop allows you a more zoomed-in selfie.

And if you want to take your selfies to another level, the option to add a little skin toning and smoothing effect and iron out any wrinkles (or in my case remove evidence of a sleepless night) is one of the additional features that makes the selfie camera stand out!

The excellent battery life means you don’t need to worry about it lasting, even after a few hours of photo fun. And when your battery does run down, lightning fast charging will see you back at 60 per cent in just 30 minutes, so you don’t have to wait long until you are good to go again.

Overall, whether it is taking vibrant portraits of yourself or capturing creative, candid images of the people (and pets) in your lives, making memories you’ll want to share is easy and fun with the Galaxy S25 FE.

To find out more about the Samsung Galaxy S25 FE visit Samsung

*Samsung account login and network connection may be required for certain AI features.

**Samsung account login is required. Requires network connection.

Six big changes to expect in the Budget and how they will hit your finances

Chancellor Rachel Reeves has set the scene for tax rises in her autumn Budget on 26 November and everyone from homeowners to pension savers could be in her sights.

High inflation and an estimated £30bn fiscal shortfall are putting pressure on the government and ultimately the nation’s finances.

Reeves said in a speech in Downing Street earlier this month that “each of us must do our bit for the security of our country and the brightness of its future”.

This has been seen as a sign of tax rises to come, especially as the chancellor suggested that she had to “deal with the world as I find it, not the world as I might wish it to be”.

The rumour mill has been running for months and with just two weeks to go until the latest fiscal update, here are the key policy changes expected in the Budget and how they might impact your finances.

Labour’s main manifesto pledge when it came to power last year was that it wouldn’t raise national insurance (NI), income tax or VAT.

Reeves already raised employer NI contributions in her 2024 Budget and it is now expected that an income tax hike is coming.

There are rumours that the Treasury is considering an idea from the Resolution Foundation to increase income tax by 2p and reduce employees’ NI by the same amount, which the think tank says could raise £6bn and hit higher earners more than what Labour describes as “working people”.

But Sarah Coles, head of personal finance for Hargreaves Lansdown, said it would also hit self-employed people who pay income tax, but not employee NI.

She said: “They do pay NI, but a different class at a different rate, so they pay 6 per cent on profits over £12,570 up to £50,270 and 2 per cent on profits over £50,270. By only cutting NI for employed people, the system would put more of a burden on the self-employed.”

Commentators have also speculated that the chancellor could instead add 1p to the basic rate of tax, increasing it from 20 per cent to 21 per cent.

Laura Suter, director of personal finance at AJ Bell, said this would cost taxpayers up to £377 a year in extra tax, with anyone earning £50,270 or more facing the maximum hit.

She said: “While it’s possible income tax rates could be hiked across the board, higher and additional rate taxpayers already account for a disproportionate share of the income tax take. What’s more, increasingly aggressive rates risk discouraging people from taking promotions and progressing their career.

“An increase to the basic rate is easier to position as a shared burden since it affects almost all workers, as well as pensioners and some savers.”

Reeves already announced last year that pension savings will form part of an estate for inheritance tax calculations from 2027.

There is always speculation about restrictions on pension tax relief for higher earners but the latest rumours suggest the chancellor could reduce how much tax relief employees can get from contributing to their pension through salary sacrifice.

It has been suggested such a move means the average worker might be affected to the tune of £210 a year.

Antonia Medlicott, managing director of Investing Insiders, said: “The chancellor risks undermining trust in the system, which could deter people from saving or push higher earners into more risky products as they look for alternative ways to save tax.”

A mansion tax is popular among many Labour MPs and was a party policy under former leader Ed Miliband.

Reeves previously ruled out a mansion tax as shadow chancellor.

But there are now rumours that an effective mansion tax could be introduced by charging council tax on the sale of homes above £1.5m or even charging a 1 per cent annual levy on properties worth above £2m.

Just over 150,000 properties in England and Wales would fall into the £2m bracket today, according to Knight Frank calculations, mainly around London.

Many homebuyers will be hoping for changes to stamp duty, especially after the thresholds increased in April and pushed up the cost of buying a property.

Reeves will also be under pressure on property taxes after Tory leader Kemi Badenoch announced in her party conference speech that the Conservatives would scrap stamp duty if they were back in government.

That seems unlikely given the high levels of income the tax provides for the Treasury but there are rumours that stamp duty could be replaced with a new national property tax on home sales above £500,000, shifting the cost from buyers to sellers.

Rightmove figures show that just under a third of homes for sale in England are priced above £500,000 and would be subject to the proposed new annual property tax.

But this would again hit London hardest, where 59 per cent of listings have an asking price above £500,000 versus just 8 per cent in the northeast.

Johan Svanstrom, chief executive of Rightmove, suggests that shifting the burden of stamp duty onto a seller may be good for first-time buyers, although any savings may be offset by higher asking prices.

He added: “If the responsibility for property taxes shifts onto the sellers’ side, the government will need to really think through how this transition will be phased in to avoid slowing down the mass market. Those who have recently paid stamp duty as a buyer and would face paying property tax as a seller in the future would clearly be at a disadvantage.”

Reeves is also rumoured to be looking at replacing council tax with a new percentage charge on a property’s value annually – capped at a minimum of £800.

Landlords are already facing extra regulations from the Renters’ Rights Act and were hit with higher stamp duty charges in the previous Budget.

Another tax clampdown could be coming for landlords as the Treasury is now rumoured to be considering charging NI on rental income.

Ben Beadle, chief executive of the National Residential Landlords Association, said: “The private rented sector is a significant driver of labour and social mobility. It enables people to move for work, access higher education, and seize new opportunities – everything the government wants to promote as part of its growth agenda.

“Instead, landlords are facing yet more speculation about tax hikes that would hinder investment, reduce supply, and ultimately drive up rents.”

Reeves is keen to boost investment in the UK and in British stocks.

One way to do this could be to cut the cash ISA allowance to encourage more money to go into stocks and shares ISAs, although there is no guarantee that this would mean investing in British companies.

There are reports that a £12,000 cash ISA limit could be introduced, effectively cutting the allowance by almost half.

Sarah Coles, head of personal finance for Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “This would be miserable news for diligent savers. If they’re saving for the short term, cash is the right home for their money, so they would end up being forced to pay more tax through no fault of their own.

“If they have a longer time horizon and they’re still in cash, then the reason they’re not investing yet isn’t anything to do with tax.”

When investing, your capital is at risk and you may get back less than invested. Past performance doesn’t guarantee future results.

Seven men charged in Bristol grooming gang investigation

Seven men have been charged after an investigation into group-based child sexual exploitation in Bristol.

The men have cumulatively been charged with more than 40 offences against 11 teenage victims.

Avon and Somerset Police said the offences date from between 2022 and 2025.

The men were all rearrested on Tuesday in a police operation in Bristol and are due to appear at Bristol Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday morning.

“It follows an investigation which began in November 2023 after concerns were raised about the sexual exploitation of a teenage girl,” Avon and Somerset Police said.

“In April 2024, initial arrests were made as part of a day of action in the city. Those arrested were released on bail to allow enquiries to take place, with a dedicated team working to identify and investigate offences.”

The alleged victims were in their mid to late teens when the alleged offences occurred, police said.

Syrian national Mohamed Arafe, 19, of Speedwell in Bristol, has been charged with five counts of arranging or facilitating the sexual exploitation of a child, one count of causing or inciting the sexual exploitation of a child, one count of sexual assault, one count of being concerned in the supply of cocaine and a further count of being concerned in the supply of ecstasy.

Iranian national Sina Omari, 20, of Fishponds in Bristol, has been charged with two counts of rape, four counts of arranging or facilitating the sexual exploitation of a child, one count of causing or inciting the sexual exploitation of a child, two counts of making an indecent photograph of a child, one count of being concerned in the supply of cocaine and a further count of being concerned in the supply of ecstasy.

Syrian national Wadie Sharaf, 21, of Redland in Bristol, has been charged with one count of rape, one count of attempted rape, three counts of sexual assault, and a further count of sexual activity with a child.

British national Hussain Bashar, 19, of Southmead in Bristol, has been charged with one count of rape.

British national Mohammed Kurdi, 21, of Henbury in Bristol, has been charged with two counts of rape, two counts of arranging or facilitating the sexual exploitation of a child, one count of supplying a class-A drug (ecstasy) and a further count of supplying a class-B drug (cannabis).

A 19-year-old man, who police are unable to name for legal reasons, has been charged with four counts of rape, one count of arranging or facilitating the sexual exploitation of a child, one count of distributing an indecent photograph of a child, one count of being concerned in the supply of cocaine and a further count of being concerned in the supply of ecstasy.

A 26-year-old man, who police are unable to name for legal reasons, has been charged with two counts of rape and one count of sexual assault.

Detective chief inspector Tom Herbert, the senior investigating officer, said: “This remains a complex and sensitive investigation which has the protection of young girls from exploitation and the disruption of offending at its very heart.

“Working with our partners, we’ve ensured the most appropriate safeguarding measures and support has been made available to each victim to protect them from harm.

“Officers have been working around the clock to identify potential offences and we’ve worked extremely closely with the CPS to reach this highly significant stage.”