South Korea’s ex-president Yoon Suk Yeol handed life sentence

Former South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol has been sentenced to life imprisonment after he was found guilty of rebellion and abuse of authority over his failed attempt to introduce martial law.

Prosecutors had demanded the death penalty for Yoon’s 2024 bid to impose martial law via military force, paralysing the legislature and arresting political opponents.

In a hearing broadcast live on national TV, the Seoul Central District Court said the martial law attempt by Yoon amounted to insurrection and that Yoon caused fundamental harm to South Korea’s democracy.

Judge Jee Kui Youn said he found Yoon “guilty of rebellion for mobilising military” and police forces in an illegal attempt to seize the liberal-led National Assembly, arrest politicians and establish unchecked power for a “considerable” time.

Thursday’s ruling makes Yoon the first former South Korean leader to receive the maximum custodial sentence. The martial law episode plunged the country into deep uncertainty and sparked huge street protests, though it was ended after six hours when MPs regained control of the National Assembly.

At that time, Yoon claimed he took that step because of “anti-state forces” and a threat from North Korea.

The former president, who attended the hearing, maintained a straight face as a judge held him guilty and announced the verdict.

Yoon denied all the charges against him, describing the case as politically motivated. Himself a former prosecutor, he argued that he had the constitutional authority to declare martial law as a counter to what he called obstruction of his administration by opposition parties.

But prosecutors said Yoon had masterminded an insurrection, saying that his “unconstitutional and illegal emergency martial law undermined the function of the National Assembly and the election commission… actually destroying the liberal democratic constitutional order”.

The judgment in Yoon’s highly divisive case comes just over 14 months after the events of 3 December 2024, when his declaration of martial law sparked chaotic scenes in Seoul and beyond. Soldiers initially tried to block lawmakers from entering parliament, but eventually 190 MPs – a slim majority – managed to push past the military cordon and pass an emergency resolution overturning Yoon’s order.

The episode sent shockwaves through South Korea, Asia’s fourth-largest economy and a country long regarded as one of the world’s most resilient democracies.

Yoon was suspended from office and impeached by parliament within 11 days, and four months later, the Constitutional Court formally removed him from office.

He has been under arrest since last July while facing multiple criminal trials.

Yoon’s lawyer denounced the verdict, saying it was not backed by evidence, and also accused the judge of following a pre-scripted verdict before delivering the sentence.

“Watching what appears to be a collapse of the rule of law today, I am compelled to question whether we should proceed with an appeal or continue to participate in these criminal proceedings at all,” Yoon Kab Keun told reporters outside the Seoul courthouse.

He said he will consult with Yoon before determining the next course of action.

Yoon, along with others convicted in the case, can now choose to appeal their sentences.

In the hearing, the court also convicted Yoon’s allies, including ex-defence minister Kim Yong Hyun and former intelligence commander Roh Sang Won.

And the court sentenced law enforcement officers, including former police chief Cho Ji Ho, former Seoul Metropolitan police chief, Kim Bong Sik, and former head of the National Assembly police guards Mok Hyun Tae.

Security was tightened around the court complex ahead of the verdict, with a heavy police presence deployed as supporters of Yoon Suk Yeol gathered outside.

After the life sentence was announced, emotions ran high among his backers. Some shouted in protest while others were seen in tears.

One supporter allegedly struck a cameraman from local broadcaster KBS with a flag as he stood on a platform covering the ruling, BBC reported. Police quickly intervened and escorted the man away from the scene.

Though Yoon could have faced a maximum penalty of the death sentence, analysts had considered it unlikely. South Korea last handed down a death sentence in 2016 and hasn’t actually executed a death row inmate since 1997, in what is widely seen as a de facto moratorium on capital punishment amid calls for its abolition.

British couple on motorcycle tour jailed for 10 years in Iran

A British couple in Iran have been sentenced to 10 years in jail by the country, their family says.

Lindsay and Craig Foreman, from East Sussex, were arrested in January 2025 while travelling through the country on an around-the-world motorcycle journey.

They are being held in Tehran’s Evin prison on charges of espionage. They deny the allegations.

Foreign secretary Yvette Cooper has labelled the sentence “completely appalling and totally unjustifiable”.

She said: “We will pursue this case relentlessly with the Iranian government until we see Craig and Lindsay Foreman safely returned to the UK and reunited with their family.

“In the meantime, their welfare is our priority and we will continue to provide consular assistance to them and their families.”

Joe Bennett, Ms Foreman’s son, told ITV News they had been informed of the sentence last week.

His family was “deeply concerned” for the pair’s welfare and the “lack of transparency” in their judicial process.

“My parents have now been sentenced to 10 years following a trial that lasted just three hours and in which they were not allowed to present a defence,” he said.

“They have consistently denied the allegations. We have seen no evidence to support the charge of espionage.”

He added: “We were previously told that once sentencing occurred, further action would follow. We now hope the UK Government will act decisively and use every available avenue to secure their release.”

In January, Mr Bennett was joined by former detainee Anoosheh Ashoori and Richard Ratcliffe, who fought a public campaign that involved two hunger strikes to have his wife Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe freed from Iran, at the steps of Number 10 Downing Street.

They delivered a 70,000-signature petition calling on the government to do more to free them.

Ahead of his sentencing, Mr Foreman said he had a one-word message for the UK government.

“One word would be: Help. Full stop,” he told ITV News.

“I don’t understand why we have been here for 13 months, being held hostage in 2026. In what day and age does this [happen]? When does this end?”

He described being held in an “8ft cell with a hole in the floor and a sink” and described the effects of 57 days in solitary confinement, saying: “Emotionally and physically, it broke me to pieces”.

The couple is due to appear before a court in Tehran in the coming days.

Craig Foreman said the infrequent meetings with his wife are what sustain him.

“I know her prison is just 70 metres away, and I get to see her once a month,” he said.

“For me and for Lindsay, seeing each other is the only thing that’s keeping us going right now. I love my wife dearly. She’s the love of my life.”

Antonia Romeo is appointed as UK’s top civil servant

Sir Keir Starmer has appointed Dame Antonia Romeo as Britain’s first female cabinet secretary and head of the civil service.

The appointment, which has been rumoured for weeks, comes after allegations Dame Antonia was previously spoken to about her management style.

She previously faced allegations of bullying relating to her time as consul general in New York in 2017, but was later cleared by the Cabinet Office following an inquiry.

Dame Antonia, currently the permanent secretary of the Home Office, is the first female cabinet secretary in the more than 100-year history of the role.

She succeeds Sir Chris Wormald, who became the latest member of the prime minister’s top team quit last week as Sir Keir seeks to overhaul his Downing Street operation following a string of scandals.

Upon announcing the appointment, the prime minister said he had been “impressed by her professionalism and determination to get things done”.

“I am delighted to appoint Dame Antonia Romeo as the new cabinet secretary,” he said.

“She is an outstanding public servant, with a 25‑year record of delivering for the British people. Since becoming prime minister, I’ve been impressed by her professionalism and determination to get things done.”

He added: “Antonia has shown she is the right person to drive the government to reform and I look forward to working with her to deliver this period of national renewal.”

The prime minister defended Dame Antonia as an “outstanding leader” earlier this week amid growing expectations she would be handed the role.

Asked about reports that the senior civil servant had been spoken to about her management style following the inquiry, the prime minister’s official spokesperson insisted that Dame Antonia’s record “speaks for itself”.

A source told the BBC that Dame Antonia faced “tough conversations” about her leadership style in the wake of the investigation, adding that “there were some issues of personal style that grated with people”.

Dam Antonia, currently the longest-serving permanent secretary in government, had been permanent secretary at the Department for International Trade and the Ministry of Justice before taking up the top job at the Home Office last year.

She said it was a “huge privilege” to be appointed as the head of the civil service.

“The civil service is a great and remarkable institution, which I love,” she said.

“We should be known for delivery, efficiency and innovation, working to implement the government’s agenda and meet the challenges the country faces.

“I look forward to working with all colleagues across the civil service to do this, in support of the prime minister and the government.”

It comes after Dame Antonia’s former boss, Lord Simon McDonald, ex-permanent secretary at the Foreign Office, last week suggested he had doubts about a potential decision to appoint her.

He said there should be a “full process” to appoint a new cabinet secretary, which “needs to start from scratch”.

Government sources dismissed Lord McDonald’s claims, saying there was “absolutely no basis for this criticism” and calling him “a senior male official whose time has passed”.

Starmer’s decision to replace Sir Chris was part of an attempt to draw a line under the scandal over the appointments of peers Peter Mandelson and Matthew Doyle to top roles despite their association with sex offenders.

The government has vowed to improve its vetting processes after the prime minister claimed Lord Mandelson lied about the depth of his association with Jeffrey Epstein during his vetting before being appointed Britain’s ambassador to Washington.

The ‘Mounjaro gap’: How the rich have just got a lot thinner

When Kelly Todd, 46, entered secondary care for weight management on the NHS four years ago, she quickly realised it would take her years rather than months to the weight-loss drugs she needed.

She decided to go private, spending £189-£299 a month, whilst remaining within the NHS system. When the NHS made GLP-1 drugs like Mounjaro available last year to those with a BMI over 40 and four weight-related comorbidities, Todd was finally given a referral. But nine months on, she’s still waiting to access the medication.

“I still don’t have clarity on when I’ll be seen. From first approaching my GP to enquire about GLP-1 access on the NHS to now, I’ve effectively been waiting over four years. Given the length of time I’ve already spent within the NHS pathway, it did not feel realistic to wait indefinitely without support.”

Todd isn’t alone. New research shows that weight loss jabs are more likely to be used by middle-class women in their thirties and forties, than those in the most deprived areas.

The Health Foundation, working with weight-loss drug provider Voy, analysed private prescriptions for GLP-1 drugs like Mounjaro and Wegovy and discovered that 79 per cent are for women spending hundreds of pounds each month.

It also found that people in the most deprived areas were a third less likely to be taking the jabs, and tended to be much heavier when they started the medication – creating a stark class divide with real health implications.

“This is a phenomenon we’re very familiar with in public health,” says Kate Pickett, professor of epidemiology at York University. “It’s called intervention-generated inequality. Quite often, when a public health intervention is implemented, it’s preferentially taken up by those who are middle-class and wealthy.

“Sometimes that’s because it’s easier for them, they have more education to understand why it’s needed, or more capacity or time. The problem is that even when you’re improving the health of the population, you’re also creating bigger inequalities.”

NICE stated last year that GLP-1 drugs like Mounjaro would be available to anyone with a BMI over 35, and one weight-related comorbidity. But as that applies to 3.4 million people in the country, NHS England made the unusual step of adjusting the rollout so only 220,000 people would be able to access the drug in the next three years, rising to the threshold of a BMI over 40, and four or more comorbidities.

The problem is that due to availability constraints, not everyone will automatically receive the drug, leaving them with only one other option: to go private, where weight-loss jabs can cost £144-£324 a month.

“My decision to do that was health-led rather than convenience-led, and I am very aware that not everyone is in a position to self-fund treatment,” says Kelly Todd, who had to leave her job due to her health. “That disparity is a significant part of the wider access issue. That is why it can feel like a lottery. Eligibility does not automatically mean access.

“Funding the medication privately has not been a small or easy expense. It has required considerable lifestyle adjustments and prioritising long-term health over other areas of spending. If the NHS were able to prescribe it, it would make a meaningful financial difference. At present, continuing privately is a conscious choice to invest in my health, but it does come with sacrifice.”

Dr Charlotte Refsum, Director of Health Policy at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, believes the current Mounjaro rollout “risks entrenching health inequality”. “At the moment, those with the deepest pockets can buy better health and better life chances, while others are left behind. That runs directly counter to the founding principle of the NHS – that care should be based on need, not ability to pay.”

But there are multiple issues at play, not just the class health divide: there’s also a concern that the “Mounjaro gap” will take us back to a time where being thin was associated with status and wealth. To a moment where, as Kate Moss once famously said, “nothing tastes as good as skinny feels”.

“We’d moved on from that with the body positivity movement,” says Pickett, author of The Good Society And How We Make It. “But people are worried the needle is swinging back again, that class-related differences in body shape will become entrenched” – where “you can never be too rich or too thin”.

“I know there are private providers micro-dosing these drugs,” she adds, pointing out that the threshold privately lowers to anyone with a BMI of 30 and over. “They’re no longer being used by those who are clinically obese but are being purchased by people who don’t have a medical need for them, but an aesthetic desire.”

Field is more optimistic – wondering if “being thin will be seen as less desirable once it is easier to achieve” due to the jabs – but she is concerned about weight-loss drugs deepening life expectancy gaps with both class and gender.

“We know these drugs have a big impact on the health outcomes of those who take them,” explains Field. “We already have a 20-year gap in healthy life expectancy between the richest and poorest. The government wants to half this. But when we see these trends playing out in the private sector, it’s difficult to see how they’ll achieve that ambition.”

She also points out that only 21 per cent of private prescriptions are for men, which isn’t surprising considering women have more “health-seeking behaviour” than men – one of the reasons why, on average, women live four years longer than their male counterparts.

But to her, the biggest issue is the NHS trying to medicate a condition that is completely preventable. “If the government is serious about addressing health inequalities, then population-level interventions – like restriction of advertising and pricing of health foods – are the fairest ways to ensure everyone gets this.”

Pickett agrees, explaining that in our “obesogenic” world, those most in need can’t be blamed for not taking up interventions like Mounjaro. “If you live in areas of food desert or you’re reliant on food aid, you’re not getting the kind of nutritious diets or access to food and gyms you need. It’s complex and nuanced – not a simple answer like those in need aren’t interested.”

Both she and Field are calling for more research into uptake and patterns with weight-loss drugs, so the next rollout can really reach those who need it most.

Dr Refsum wants the NHS to go even further. “If we’re serious about prevention, we should be aiming to offer anti-obesity medications to adults with a BMI of 27 and over, with no major contraindications, over the next two years. That would mean rolling them out to an estimated 14.7 million people — not just the small proportion who can currently access them.

“The NHS also needs to move faster to keep pace with major medical advances that can dramatically improve outcomes and prevent long-term illness. The answer is to think boldly about widening access — from digital-first support to offering treatment at the point patients need additional help — so these innovations narrow health inequalities rather than deepen them.”

Olivia Colman criticised by Scottish lesbian group after describing herself as ‘gay man’

A Scottish lesbian group has criticised Olivia Colman for identifying as a “gay man”, describing her comments as “deeply painful” in a public letter.

Earlier this month, the Oscar winner said that she’s “always felt sort of non binary” and “never felt massively feminine” while promoting her upcoming film Jimpa. The 52-year-old, who won an Academy Award in 2018 for her portrayal of Queen Anne in The Favourite, has been married to husband Ed Sinclair for over 25 years.

Colman’s admission has prompted backlash from Scottish lesbian group The Fantastic Lesbians, who claimed that her comments “diminished [their] struggle” in a letter on social media.

“When someone who has lived openly and comfortably as heterosexual speaks about identifying as gay, it can be deeply painful for those whose lives have been shaped by the realities of actually being gay or lesbian,” a spokesperson for the group wrote in a two-page letter on X on Wednesday (18 February).

“For many people in the lesbian and gay community, sexuality has not simply been a label but a journey marked by confusion, fear, self-interrogation, and often profound alienation from family, faith communities or societies at large.

“Heterosexuality, in contrast, exists within an inclusive heteronormative framework. It is affirmed in media, celebrated in family structures, and reinforced by social expectations.”

The spokesperson highlighted that “many heterosexual people never have to question their orientation” or “come out”. They continued: “They are not typically asked to justify their relationships or prove the legitimacy of their families.”

Concluding the letter, they insisted that their intention is “not to accuse or attack”, but to “express the hurt” around Colman’s comments.

“For many, being gay has required courage, resilience, and sacrifice in ways that heterosexual life simply has not demanded,” they added.

Colman is best known for starring as Queen Elizabeth II in The Crown and her roles in dramas The Father and The Lost Daughter – which earned her Oscar nominations in 2020 and 2021 respectively. She’s also a staple on British TV, having won Baftas for her roles in Broadchurch, Accused and comedy Twenty Twelve.

The actor currently stars in upcoming drama Jimpa as a mother who travels with her non-binary child (Aud Mason-Hyde) to visit her gay father (played by John Lithgow) in Amsterdam.

Speaking about the film, Colman opened up to Them about her gender identity. “Throughout my whole life, I’ve had arguments with people where I’ve always sort of felt non-binary,” she said.

“I’ve never felt massively feminine in my being female. I’ve always described myself to my husband as a gay man. And then he goes, ‘Yeah, I get that.’”

Earlier in February, Colman’s Jimpa co-star Mason-Hyde called Lithgow’s decision to star in the new Harry Potter series as “vaguely hurtful” and “difficult”. Lithgow is set to play Albus Dumbledore in HBO’s adaptation of the hit novels.

While Mason-Hyde hailed their co-star as “a beautiful human”, they said that they found his casting as Hogwarts headmaster Dumbledore to be confusing due to JK Rowling’s comments about the transgender community.

“I never felt invalidated or questioned or doubted in my identity or in my transness by him,” they told OUT. “I consistently felt that he was a very loving and a very guiding co-star, and so there’s an element of this that feels vaguely hurtful.”

Traditions and tastes to savour: Hong Kong at Chinese new year

The air crackles and sparkles with pink, red, green and gold as fireworks stream through the inky skies. Crowds gather either side of Victoria Harbour, awestruck by a spectacle that outshines even Hong Kong’s iconic skyscrapers.

Held annually on the second day of Chinese New Year, this incredible display is just one highlight in a calendar of must-experience events that will herald the Year of the Horse this February. Daytimes are equally vivid; streets bloom with flower stalls and colourful paper lanterns, while the air is perfumed with incense, citrus fruits and crisp yau gok: fried dumplings believed to bring good fortune for the year ahead.

Hong Kong is at its brightest and boldest during Chinese New Year celebrations, with all its rich customs, cultural traditions and culinary delights on dazzling display. Here we explore the events and spectacles that usher in the Year of the Horse, offering a glimpse of what this diverse, compelling destination offers throughout the seasons.

There’s no danger of missing the celebrations. Stretching over 15 days, this is a party that barely pauses to take a breath (or snack on a rice ball). Festivities traditionally start with the Night Parade on the 17th of February in Tsim Sha Tsui, on the southern tip of the Kowloon peninsula. The area is famed for its skyline views across the harbour and this event, held on the first night of the new year, brings spectacle after breathtaking spectacle, with dancers and musicians starting the party in style before the floats parade past, each one more colourful and ornately decorated than the last.

Another highlight in this stellar line-up of events is the annual Raceday. Locals and visitors gather at Sha Tin Racecourse to try their luck and usher in good fortune with lion dances, where lavishly costumed performers shake and shimmy away evil spirits. It’s one of the biggest days in the racing calendar and new year celebrations, so the atmosphere – whether watching a nail-biting finish to races like the Chinese New Year Cup or seeing top musicians perform – is guaranteed to be electric.

Throughout the new year period – and beyond – moments of celebration and quiet reflection can be found all around the city. Flower markets fill the streets with vivid hues with the heady scents of chrysanthemums, orchids and peach blossom among the blooms believed to bring good luck. Victoria Park, a verdant bubble of calm in the midst of the urban bustle, hosts one of the biggest and most impressive markets, while petals and floral charms add pops of colour to every stretch and corner of Hong Kong.

The region is rich in cultural sites and monuments that can be enjoyed any time of year, but are enhanced during this time of vibrant celebration. The Lam Tsuen Wishing Trees in the Tai Po District, for example, draw visitors with the promise of making dreams come true via wishes, written on a piece of joss paper and hung on nearby wooden racks – while Chinese New Year festivities throw live music, food stalls and traditional dancing into the mix.

It’s a wonderful window onto the rich heritage of Lam Tsuen, an area made up of 26 traditional villages where ancient practices and customs are very much, and vividly so, alive. Nearby Tin Hau Temple, dedicated to the Goddess of the Sea, was built in 1865 by local fishermen. Today, worshippers and tourists alike visit the site in the busy Yau Ma Tei area, burning coils of incense or simply soaking up the bustling, scent-filled atmosphere.

Hong Kong’s temples draw even bigger crowds to partake in and witness rituals that are specific to the new year. At Wong Tai Sin, the first worshippers to burn incense are believed to be the most blessed for the year ahead. Man Mo, in the heart of the city, sees worshippers pray for good fortune and health in the tradition of An Tai Sui – a Taoist ritual practised by those whose birthdays conflict with the ruling zodiac sign of that year. While at Che Kung Temple in Sha Tin, kau chim or fortune sticks are drawn to predict the year ahead.

One core element threaded throughout all the celebrations is food. From tangerines believed to bring luck, to dumplings doled out by street vendors and impeccable chef-led menus served at the most coveted tables in town, Chinese New Year serves up a mouthwatering array of edible delights.

Traditional tastes here go deeper than mere deliciousness; they are firmly rooted in Hong Kong’s culture and history. Fish symbolises prosperity, while poon choi – a many-layered dish originating in the villages of the New Territories, where families would throw whatever food they had into one communal pot – perfectly showcases togetherness in every bite, with ingredients ranging from charred pork to oysters and bamboo shoots.

Tong yuen, squishy little rice flour balls filled with peanut, red bean paste or chocolate, offer a sweeter way to celebrate unity, and can be found everywhere from longstanding dessert shops to Hong Kong’s constellation of Michelin-starred restaurants.Making it even easier to negotiate Hong Kong’s rich and varied culinary scene, this year sees the launch of Taste Hong Kong, a curated guide with 250 restaurant recommendations from over 50 local master chefs and Chinese Culinary Institute graduates, organised by neighbourhood. It’s all about hou mei – the Cantonese expression for ‘delicious flavours’ – and the tastes and traditions worthy of celebration, at Chinese New Year and beyond.

For more travel inspiration and to plan your trip visit Discover Hong Kong

Major mobile provider lost nearly 400k customers amid price hikes

Virgin Media O2 has issued a warning regarding anticipated declines in sales and earnings for 2026, following significant customer attrition attributed to recent price increases.

The telecoms giant reported a net loss of 397,500 mobile subscribers last year, with a substantial 164,800 departing in the final quarter, primarily due to O2’s price adjustments.

Last October, the company announced a further monthly increase of £2.50 for its 15.6 million mobile customers, effective from spring 2026, revising an earlier proposed rise of £1.80.

Concurrently, Virgin Media O2 saw 138,400 broadband customers leave in 2025, including 16,700 in the last three months of the year.

The company’s annual results indicated a 0.4 per cent decline in underlying earnings for the year, reaching £3.9bn, following a more pronounced 2.4 per cent drop during the final three months.

When adjusted to exclude its recent transaction with business-to-business provider Daisy, the group reported a 0.9 per cent increase in earnings over the full year, though they still saw a 1.3 per cent decrease in the last quarter.

Looking ahead, Virgin Media O2 issued a caution regarding potentially steeper financial declines in the coming year, anticipating a continuation of what it described as “challenging market conditions”.

It is guiding towards a drop in underlying earnings of 3 per cent to 5 per cent, stripping out its takeover of Daisy, while underlying total service revenues are also expected to drop by 3 per cent to 5 per cent.

Virgin Media O2 and Daisy Group last year merged their business communications and IT operations to create a telecoms company with sales of about £1.4bn a year, called O2 Daisy.

Virgin Media O2 said the lower sales outlook “reflects heightened promotional intensity and ongoing uncertainty in the consumer fixed market, alongside the planned streamlining of the business-to-business product portfolio”.

It will look to make cost savings to offset the impact.

Lutz Schuler, chief executive of Virgin Media O2, said: “While we expect challenging market conditions to continue in 2026, we are well positioned to seize the right opportunities in each of our business areas – consumer, business-to-business and wholesale – and the foundations we’re putting in place today will help to build long-term customer trust and fuel future profitability and cash generation.”

Virgin Media O2 was formed in 2021 after the £31bn mega merger between Virgin Media, owned by Liberty Global, and O2, the network owned by Spanish rival Telefonica.

On Wednesday, Liberty Global, Telefonica and private equity firm InfraVia joined forces to buy British alternative fibre firm Substantial Group for £2bn.

The groups said the joint venture deal will strengthen its position competing against BT’s Openreach, the UK’s biggest fibre broadband firm and network operator.

Substantial, which runs fibre network Netomnia, is expected to have more than 3.4 million fibre premises and over 500,000 customers by the completion of the deal, the firms said.

Nexfibre – Liberty Global, Telefonica and InfraVia’s joint venture business – will take over Substantial in a deal which is set to expand it cover to eight million premises across the UK by the end of 2027.

However, rivals have already raised potential competition concerns over the move.

Simon Holden, chief executive officer of CityFibre, said: “There is an 80 per cent overlap between these two players and, if the deal goes ahead, it would significantly reduce competition and the choice available to consumers, as well as force hundreds of thousands of Netomnia customers back to Virgin Media O2.

“Given the scale of this overlap, the CMA must thoroughly examine the deal.

“Competition has driven lower prices, faster speeds and better services – and this deal risks re-establishing an ineffective duopoly of BT and VMO2 and undermining the significant progress the UK has made.”

Zuckerberg admits he struggles to be ‘human’ at landmark social media addiction trial

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Wednesday confessed he was “pretty bad” at portraying himself as “human” and “relatable,” admitting he tended to come off as “fake” and “cheesy” while testifying in court for the first time ever about Facebook’s alleged tendency to addict young users, which he denied.

The tech mogul pushed back strongly during questioning by attorney Mark Lanier, who is representing the plaintiff, a 20-year-old woman identified in legal filings only as “KGM,” seemingly contradicting prior testimony before Congress in which he insisted Meta did not set internal targets to ensure users spent as much time as possible on its platforms.

“If you are trying to say my testimony was not accurate, I strongly disagree with that,” Zuckerberg testified.

The landmark trial in Los Angeles Superior Court has been described as social media’s “Big Tobacco” moment, in which the industry will, at long last, be held to account for knowingly causing harm.

Lanier said in his opening statement nine days ago that KGM started using Instagram, which is owned by Meta, at age nine. Before she reached high school, KGM had posted nearly 300 videos online, Lanier said.

KGM, now 20, brought her lawsuit against Meta in July 2023. Her mother tried to stop her from accessing social media, using a third-party app blocker, but KGM was able to get around it, her suit said.

It claimed that KGM was enticed into using Meta products 24 hours a day, developing an addiction of sorts. Further, Meta allegedly connected KGM with predatory adults she never would have met in real life, leading her to depression and acts of self-harm, according to the suit.

KGM’s lawsuit said her social media use has caused depression and suicidal ideation.

“In fact, it took KGM’s friends and family spamming and asking other Instagram users to report the persons targeting minor KGM for a two-week period before Meta did anything about the abuses, violation of terms and illegal conduct of which it, by then, had full knowledge,” the suit said

Last week, Instagram head Adam Mosseri testified that he did not think people could become clinically “addicted” to social media.

The lawsuit brought by KGM, who lives in Chico, California, is widely considered to be a test case among more than 1,500 others that have been filed against social media companies. If KGM is successful, her victory could set a precedent holding tech companies liable for designing addictive products that hook young users and foment negative mental health outcomes.

Zuckerberg said on Wednesday that those under the age of 13 have never been allowed on Meta’s platforms, even though KGM said she started using the company’s offerings years earlier.

“I generally think that there are a set of people, potentially a meaningful number of people, who lie about their age in order to use our services,” Zuckerberg testified. “There’s a separate and very important question about enforcement, and it’s very difficult.”

“You expect a 9-year-old to read all of the fine print?” Zuckerberg was asked. “That’s your basis for swearing under oath that children under 13 are not allowed?”

Meta started asking users for their birthdates in late 2019.

Two-thirds of Americans have an unfavorable view of Zuckerberg, according to a February 2025 poll by the Pew Research Center, with just two percent saying they have “very favorable” feelings about him.

As Zuckerberg was about to pass through a metal detector at the courthouse on Wednesday, a security guard asked if he had any metal on him.

“I have a gold chain on,” he replied, according to the New York Post.

Zuckerberg’s testimony on Wednesday was the first time he has answered questions under oath about social media and child safety.

A Meta spokesperson told NBC News that the “evidence will show [KGM] faced many significant, difficult challenges well before she ever used social media.”

On Wednesday, Zuckerberg insisted he was “focused on building a community that is sustainable.”

“If you do something that’s not good for people, maybe they’ll spend more time [on the platform] short term, but if they’re not happy with it, they’re not going to use it over time,” he argued. “I’m not trying to maximize the amount of time people spend every month.”

Zuckerberg’s testimony has been a long time coming, according to attorney Matt Bergman of the Social Media Victims Law Center, which is representing more than 1,000 plaintiffs in proceedings against Meta.

“For the first time, a Meta CEO will have to sit before a jury, under oath, and explain why the company released a product its own safety teams warned were addictive and harmful to children,” Bergman said ahead of Zuckerberg’s appearance. “They deserve the truth about what company executives knew. And they deserve accountability from the people who chose growth and engagement over the safety of their children.”

Zuckerberg has faced criticism for cozying up to President Donald Trump as the twice-impeached former president took office again in 2025, donating $1 million to the two-time president’s inauguration fund.