BBC’s £28k compensation to October 7 survivors after filming in home

The BBC has paid £28,000 in compensation to an Israeli family after a film crew entered their destroyed home without permission following the October 7 attack.

The Horenstein family, from the small village of Netiv HaAsara, received the payment after a BBC team, reportedly led by senior correspondent Jeremy Bowen, filmed inside their property.

The crew captured personal photographs of their children at a time when many of the family’s friends and relatives were uncertain of their survival. Tzeela Horenstein stated that Hamas terrorists attacked the village early in the morning, throwing a grenade at her husband, Simon. The compensation was first reported by Jewish News.

The couple and their two young children only survived because their home’s door twisted and jammed when the attackers tried to blow it out with explosives, she said.

She told Jewish News: “Not only did terrorists break into our home and try to murder us, but then the BBC crew entered again, this time with a camera as a weapon, without permission or consent.

“It was another intrusion into our lives. We felt that everything that was still under our control had been taken from us.

“Even in times of war, there are limits, and when a media outlet crosses them, it must be held responsible.”

BBC News issued a written apology to the family and paid them £28,000 in compensation after legal proceedings were started in Israel, the newspaper reported.

A BBC spokesperson said: “While we do not generally comment on specific legal issues, we are pleased to have reached an agreement in this case.”

Last year, Ofcom sanctioned the BBC for breaching the broadcasting code in its Gaza: How To Survive A Warzone documentary after the corporation failed to disclose a narrator’s links to Hamas.

Hamas-led militants abducted 251 people and killed around 1,200, mostly civilians, in the October 7 2023 attack.

Trump called ‘reckless’ by Iran’s foreign minister for protest warning

Iran’s foreign minister has branded Donald Trump’s warning “reckless and dangerous” after he said the US will intervene if peaceful protesters are killed.

The US president posted a statement on Truth social which read: “If Iran shots [sic] and violently kills peaceful protesters, which is their custom, the United States of America will come to their rescue…We are locked and loaded and ready to go.”

Although it is not clear what the US would do in response to any killings, in the past Trump has carried out strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites, which led to retaliatory strikes on a US base in Qatar.

In response to Trump’s latest statement, Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s foreign minister, said the country’s armed forces were prepared on standby and “know exactly where to aim” in the event of an attack.

As of Saturday morning, at least eight people have reportedly died during the week-long protests held in Iran. The protests are largely against the collapse of the country’s currency and calling for the overthrow of the supreme leader Ayatollah Kamenei.

Many of the country’s economic hardships have persisted since the US first imposed tariffs on the country’s government in 2018.

Araghchi said that Iranians impacted by ”a transient exchange rate volatility have recently been peacefully protesting, as is their right.”

But he warned that that “separate to that” there have been “isolated incidents of violent riots—including attacks on a police station and throwing of Molotov cocktails at police officers”.

An eyewitness video has been circulating online which showcases cars burning and overturned outside a police station in Azna, Iran, in what experts are calling the biggest protests in the nation for years.

Araghchi said: “Given President Trump’s deployment of the National Guard within U.S. borders, he of all people should know that criminal attacks on public property cannot be tolerated.

“This is why President Trump’s message today, likely influenced by those who fear diplomacy or mistakenly believe it is unnecessary, is reckless and dangerous.

“As in the past, the Great People of Iran will forcefully reject any interference in their internal affairs. Similarly, our Powerful Armed Forces are on standby and know exactly where to aim in the event of any infringement of Iranian sovereignty.”

Similarly, Ali Shamkhani, an adviser to the Ayatollah, “Iranians know US “rescue” record well, from Iraq and Afghanistan to Gaza. Any intervening hand-nearing Iran Security on pretexts will be cut off with a regret inducing response. Iran’s national security is a red line, not material for adventurist tweets.”

Joshua flies back to UK after fatal Nigeria car crash

Anthony Joshua has flown back to the UK after being involved in a fatal car crash in Nigeria that killed two of his close friends.

Joshua, a passenger in the incident, was taken to hospital after the crash on the Lagos-Ibadan expressway on Monday, which was promptly confirmed to have taken two lives. It was not until later in the day that reports suggested the two casualties were Joshua’s personal trainer Latif “Latz” Ayodele and strength coach Sina Ghami.

The former two-time world heavyweight champion, who only sustained minor injuries, was discharged from a Lagos hospital on Wednesday afternoon and initially stayed in Nigeria to recuperate before flying back to his homeland.

Prosecutors have charged the vehicle’s driver, Adeniyi Mobolaji Kayode, with causing death by dangerous driving, reckless and negligent driving, driving without due care, and driving without a valid driver’s licence. The case has been adjourned until 20 January.

Joshua’s vehicle collided with a truck parked on the side of the expressway, according to Nigeria’s Federal Road Safety Corps.

They also suggested speeding and an overtake attempt were to blame for the crash, but Ogun state’s police commissioner later told ESPN that a burst tyre on Joshua’s vehicle caused the driver to lose control and “swerve into the stationary truck parked along the road”.

Video footage from the aftermath of the crash shows Joshua sitting in his mangled SUV, appearing dazed and in pain. Ayodele and Ghami were pronounced dead at the scene.

Matchroom, which promotes 36-year-old Joshua, and 258 MGT, his management company shared a joint statement: “With profound sadness, it has been confirmed that two close friends and team members, Sina Ghami and Latif Ayodele, have tragically passed away.

“Matchroom Boxing and 258 BXG can confirm that Anthony sustained injuries in the accident and was taken to hospital for checks and treatment. He is in a stable condition and will remain there for observation.

“Our deepest condolences and prayers are with the families and friends of all those affected – and we ask that their privacy is respected at this incredibly difficult time. No further comment will be made at this time.”

The crash came just 10 days after Joshua knocked out YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul in a fight in Miami.

The Briton beat Paul in six rounds in his first fight since a knockout defeat by Daniel Dubois in September 2024. It was his 29th win from 33 professional fights.

Scrapping the OBR could be Nigel Farage’s Liz Truss moment

Nigel Farage says that the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) is “a Blairite-style quango” in an interview with the Telegraph this weekend – as if being Blairite is a bad thing.

“I have questioned the need for it,” he says. “We have to discuss whether we would be better off without the OBR. I am giving that very serious thought.”

This could turn out to be a significant moment. The Independent’s poll suggested that allegations that Farage was a racist bully at school did not affect his popularity. But if voters think that he would struggle to manage the public finances, that may prove far more damaging, and could yet turn them away from voting for Reform.

The democratic argument against the OBR is an obvious temptation for Farage. His case against the “Blairite-style quango” is that it is “effectively dictating to elected politicians what they should or should not do”.

That complaint is heard on both left and right: that the OBR prevents politicians from giving people what they want. It mirrors the argument against the independence of the Bank of England in setting interest rates – another Blairite innovation that constrains elected politicians. Farage and Richard Tice, Reform’s deputy leader, have also hinted at ending the Bank’s independence.

Farage’s opponents must be hoping that he will be tempted to fall into this trap. Ultimately, the case for the OBR is far stronger than the case against it. It is a vital part of what keeps politicians honest – and a crucial defence against fiscal disaster.

We know this because it was only four years ago that Liz Truss provided a real-world experiment in what happens when you try to govern without it.

Kwasi Kwarteng, her chancellor, got himself into a terrible tangle when he spoke to students at King’s College London recently. He said he thought the OBR was “probably too powerful”, adding that “it really constrains the radicalism that you want to see”.

But it did not constrain your radicalism, Ed Balls, a professor at King’s, pointed out, because “you cut it out – and your radicalism was still constrained; there was something else constraining it”.

That “something else” was the government’s credibility with those who might lend it money. That constraint exists whether the OBR is involved or not. The difference is that it is less of a constraint when a government sets credible fiscal rules and has an independent body such as the OBR marking its homework.

If Farage were to abolish the OBR, he would quickly find himself in the same position as Truss and Kwarteng: rising interest rates, collapsing confidence and an embarrassingly brief tenure in 10 Downing Street.

Whether he pursues this idea will be a test of Farage’s seriousness. I think he will quietly drop it. I think his opponents are making a mistake if they assume he will make the mistakes they need to keep him out of power.

Even if Farage was only thinking aloud about ditching the OBR, there is a lesson here for those determined to stop him. His weak point is competence – specifically, his ability to manage the public finances.

Liam Byrne, the Labour chair of the Business and Trade Committee, and Best for Britain, the anti-Brexit campaign founded by Gina Miller, commissioned YouGov last year to research which arguments were most likely to dissuade people from voting for Reform.

At the top of the list was not Brexit, nor Farage’s friendship with Donald Trump. It was the economy. The single biggest reason given for not voting for Reform was that “Farage has made billions in unfunded promises that would drive up mortgages and bills”. Next came concerns about employment rights, pensions and the NHS.

Sir Keir Starmer should take note. He should ignore those voices urging him to be “bold” in setting out a pro-EU policy for the next election. Just as he should ignore the strident demands that he hold Farage to account for his slavish admiration of President Trump, one of the few people who is even more unpopular in Britain than the prime minister himself.

That is not how to change the minds of those who may be considering voting Reform at the next election. The spectre of Liz Truss – and the chaos that followed – is a far more effective deterrent.

Myanmar junta fails in bid to force high turnout for sham elections

Myanmar’s military-appointed election body has begun announcing the winners of the first phase of its three-part general election, saying that a military-backed party has won the majority of seats, as widely expected.

Critics of the current system say that the election is designed to add a facade of legitimacy to the status quo. They say the polls are neither free nor fair because of the exclusion of major parties and government repression of dissenters. Opposition groups have called for a boycott by voters.

The military government said on Wednesday that more than 6 million people – about 52 per cent of the more than 11 million eligible voters in the first phase of elections held on 28 December – cast ballots, calling the turnout a decisive success.

Yet that falls well short of the turnout of about 70 per cent in general elections in 2020 and 2015, according to the US-based non-profit International Foundation for Electoral Systems. The junta had gone to great lengths to force the Burmese public to head to the ballot box this time round.

The Union Election Commission, or UEC, announced in the state-run Myanma Alinn newspaper on Saturday that the Union Solidarity and Development Party, or USDP, won 38 seats in the 330-seat Pyithu Hluttaw lower house, though many seats from the election held on 28 December have yet to be declared.

A separate announcement named the USDP’s leader, Khin Yi, as the winning representative from his constituency in the capital, Naypyidaw. He is a former general and police chief, widely regarded as a close ally of the military ruler, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing. He was said to have won 49,006 of the 68,681 votes cast.

The Shan Nationalities Democratic Party and the Mon Unity Party got one seat each, according to the UEC statement.

Saturday’s announcement was still a partial result, but the USDP’s leaders were convinced of success for the first phase.

A senior official of the USDP told The Associated Press that the party has won 88 seats of the total 102 contested in the first phase.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to release information, said the party ran unopposed in 29 constituencies, facing no challengers or rivals.

Myanmar has a two-house national legislature, totalling 664 seats. The party with a combined parliamentary majority can select the new president, who can name a cabinet and form a new government. The military automatically receives 25 per cent of seats in each house under the constitution.

The USDP official said the party also won 85 per cent of contested seats in regional legislatures, though complete results will only be known after the second or third phases.

Voting is taking place in three phases due to ongoing armed conflicts, with the first round held on 28 December in 102 townships, nearly a third of Myanmar’s 330 townships. The remaining phases will take place on 11 January and 25 January, but 65 townships won’t participate because of the fighting.

While more than 4,800 candidates from 57 parties are competing for seats in national and regional legislatures, only six parties are competing nationwide with the possibility of gaining political clout in parliament. The USDP is by far the strongest contender.

Military rule began when soldiers ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021. It blocked her National League for Democracy party from serving a second term despite winning a landslide victory in the 2020 election.

The NLD was dissolved in 2023, along with 39 other parties, after refusing to officially register under the new military rules.

The takeover triggered widespread popular opposition that has grown into a civil war.

‘Tis the season to connect: How to maximise your mobile

Our mobile phones are a vital part of our everyday lives, providing us with connection, entertainment and information. We rely on the device in our pocket to help us work, socialise, learn and so much more – so we want to make sure we’re getting the most we can from it.

Tesco Mobile’s new Pay as you go Essentials tariff can help you do just that, offering increased flexibility and benefits. It keeps things simple and lets you add 30-day bundles of data, minutes and texts that best suit your needs.

The tariff will replace Rocket Pack, Triple Credit and Lite tariffs for all existing Tesco Mobile Pay as you go customers.

Customers who prefer traditional Pay as you go can continue to use top-up balance for calls, texts and data at the standard rate: 25p per minute, 10p per text, 10p per MB.*

So whether you’re an existing Tesco Mobile customer or thinking of making the switch, here’s seven reasons why Pay as you go Essentials is the perfect option…

We all use our phones differently. For some, it’s all about streaming favourite shows and music, so having enough data is vital. Others just want to be able to text and call friends and family whenever they want. Tesco Mobile make it easy to find the right Pay as you go Essentials bundle for your needs. New customers can choose the best bundle for their needs, with bundles auto-renewing every 30 days using available top-up balance.

Circumstances can change and you might find yourself needing more data or minutes some months than others. Depending on how much you use your phone, a bundle is often more cost-effective than using your top-up balance and being charged standard rates for calls, texts and data usage. Pay as you go Essentials is a flexible top-up tariff designed to give users full control over their spend, letting them add bundles of data, minutes and texts to suit specific needs. You can change your bundle as often as you like or cancel at any time. If you decide to opt-out of a bundle you can continue to use your top-up balance for calls, text and data at the standard out-of-bundle rate (25p per minute, 10p per text, 10p per MB).

Pay as you go Essentials offers a range of five great-value bundle options that all include data, minutes and texts. Pay as you go Essentials bundles start from just £5 for 30 days (minimum £10 top-up at activation), while every bundle from £10 and up includes unlimited calls and texts (subject to Fair Usage Policy) – making it easy and affordable to stay connected. If you’re an existing Tesco Mobile Pay as you go customer you’ll get a free 30 day Essentials bundle based on your previous use so you can see if its the right one for you.

The new Tesco Mobile app is packed with useful features to help you make the most of your Pay as you go phone. It’s a quick and simple way to manage or change your bundles, check usage, top-up your balance change auto-renew settings and more. You can easily see your remaining data, minutes and texts, so you know whether you need to add a new or different bundle. Need a hand with something? Chat with the customer care team via live in-app messaging. This is a new app for Pay as you go customers, and customers will no longer be able to use their old Tesco Mobile Pay as you go apps.

Phone calls cutting out, videos buffering, texts that don’t send… an unreliable phone signal can be hugely frustrating. Tesco Mobile shares O2’s network, which means 99 per cent UK coverage, and a better connection in hard-to-reach rural areas – so you won’t be searching for a signal. Tesco Mobile’s 4G and 5G networks are constantly being improved, and with Pay as you go Essentials, customers can use 4G Calling (also known as VoLTE) means you’ll use your 4G connection to make and receive calls, enjoying clearer calls. You can find this option in your network settings.

With Tesco Mobile, you get a Clubcard point for every £1 you spend. Just link your Clubcard to your phone (text the word CLUBCARD to 28578 free from your Tesco Mobile phone) and watch the points add up. You can then convert your points to vouchers to save on your weekly grocery shop or exchange the vouchers for Reward Partner codes to save money on meals out, entertainment, day trips, travel and more. For a limited time, Tesco Mobile customers can get 500 Clubcard points every time they add a £15 Pay as you go Essentials bundle when they link their Clubcard within the first 28 days of adding the bundle. Clubcard points will be automatically issued within 30 days.

For more information on Tesco Mobile’s Pay as you go Essentials, including all available bundles, visit Tesco Mobile

*Offer ends 01/02/2026. See Terms And Conditions for full terms.

Why a 2026 rebrand is the most toxic way to start the year

New Year’s Resolutions have, in recent memory, been quite a straightforward tradition. In a now-infamous scene of the 2001 film adaptation of Helen Fielding’s Bridget Jones Diary, Renée Zellweger sits cross-legged on her floor with last night’s smudged eyeliner down her face and yesterday’s underwear stuck to her leg, promising to become a better person. “1) Obviously, will lose 20 pounds,” she writes in her new journal. “2) Always put last night’s pants in the laundry basket. 3) Equally important, will find nice sensible boyfriend to go out with and not form romantic attachments with any of the following: Alcoholics, workaholics, commitment-phobics, peeping Toms, megalomaniacs, emotional f***wits or perverts.”

A long way back from this fictional, but ever relatable, list of betterments, are the originators of the ritual of New Year’s resolutions: the Ancient Romans. Every January, they made annual promises of improvement to Janus, the God of Transitions, in a notably more ceremonial way than Bridget, with prayers, offerings, and public ceremonies. Cut to (the end of) 2025 and the return of intricate pleas to the universe for personal growth appears to be inching ever closer, with the proliferation of the “2026 rebrand” among Gen Z users across social media sites including TikTok, Instagram and Pinterest.

According to Pinterest, searches for the word “rebrand” alone are up 290 per cent compared to data from this time last year. Meanwhile, searches for “rebranding yourself” are up by 240 per cent and “vision board ideas” are being looked up 385 per cent more than in 2024. “Over the past year, we’ve seen people increasingly looking for manifestation and ‘vision board ideas’, with specific priorities and goals including relationships, family, health and travel,” Pinterest’s managing director in the UK & Ireland, Caroline Orange-Northey, tells me. “As we head into 2026, it’s clear people aren’t just making resolutions, they’re visualising the life they want and mapping out how to get there.”

You might already be familiar with manifesting, a pseudoscience trend that gained popularity in 2022, where those employing the practice think various things into happening using the “law of attraction”. Rebranding is, to boil it down, a more aesthetic version of manifesting, where someone plans a detailed transformation for the New Year (akin to the old “new year, new me” adage) that will, in turn, make them anything from more academic to more healthy, rich, well-travelled or happy. The Romans would, perhaps, approve.

Initially, scheming a rebrand for 2026 is, simply, quite good fun. I make a list of my goals (to go to bed earlier, learn to style my hair with rollers, earn – and save – more money, eat fewer UPFs, spend more time outside, have a consistent skincare routine, keep exercising three times a week, stay reading two books per month and stop stressing about things I don’t need to). Then, I log onto Pinterest – the app du jour for moodboarding – and put together a collection of glossy images that allude to what I want to achieve. So far, it feels just like what I did in 2003 with nothing but a pair of scissors, a glue stick, and a copy of Teen Vogue. Although the publicly shared nature of it all does provide an added incentive to actually get these things done.

But then comes phase two, which is sort of like resolution prep. In order to hit the ground running on 1 January, some things need to go in the bin immediately: my lumpy old pillows, old receipts stuffed in drawers alongside expensive (forgotten about) skin products, gym kit that has lost its elasticity, and piles of old magazines. My clean out feels good, but I feel a jolt of concern when I see the 2026 rebrand videos I’m now being fed incessantly by the TikTok algorithm where some women are throwing out all their clothes and makeup in the pursuit of a better them. “I did this and now I have nothing to wear,” admits one woman in the comments. “Everything has to go,” chimes in another, overcome with new era giddiness.

Aside from this being insanely bad for the environment, there’s something sad about ridding yourself of the person you are at the end of every calendar year. The concept of simply rebranding like a product to be sold dependent on which “core” (cottage, coastal grandmother, Barbie) is trending online feels pretty soulless. “How to kill the old version of you,” reads one intense how-to guide. “Rewrite your identity,” demands another, as if a whole new selfhood is just a deep clean and £1,000 clothes order on ASOS away. But could the algorithms we inject really be changing who we believe we are?

“Algorithms can change people’s beliefs and what they think about themselves,” says social scientist Cameron Bunker, who examines the relationship between social media and the self. “TikTok is a very algorithmic platform,” he adds, nodding to Filter World: How Algorithms Flattened Culture by Kyle Jaika as evidence of how digital tastemaking is slowly making our tastes homogenised. “All coffee shops kind of look the same, so do AirBnBs, we’re all listening to the same music. Jaika thinks algorithms are the driving force behind this,” Bunker explains. “I’m interested in whether this also occurs with our self-concepts, whether algorithms make us more similar to other people – and how we see ourselves.”

Bunker tells me that he conducted an experiment where participants filled in a personality questionnaire and were told they’d receive a profile of the type of person they were, generated by an algorithm based on their answers, within 24 hours. “Regardless of what they put, we gave them a fake prediction, but they didn’t know that,” he says. Half the group were told they fit the “masculine” profile that was independent and liked to take charge in workplace settings. The other half were told they fit the “feminine” profile. “Then we had them fill out a measure of how feminine or masculine they thought they were. They were more likely to say whichever the algorithm told them they were than at the start.” So, it stands to reason that if your timeline tells you the kind of person you are, you’ll believe it.

There’s been much debate about how and why you should rebrand for 2026 among talking heads trusted online. “You have been told that if you simply create a collage of a beach house, or your dream body, or a million dollars in the bank or a Maserati, that suddenly the universe is going to hand you those things,” says guru Mel Robbins, known for her “Let Them” theory. “If the only thing that is on your vision board is the thing that’s going to take you 10 years to get done, it’s gonna feel like you might as well move to Mars for crying out loud,” she says. “It’s not motivating at all. Why? Because you start to become present day in and day out to how far away you are and that makes you start to feel less motivated.”

Robbins argues: “In order to make manifesting work for you, don’t visualise the end, visualise the steps and the actions that you’re going to take to get there. That means all that hard and annoying and tedious stuff that you’ve got to do that you don’t feel like doing in order to make that thing a reality – that’s what you’re going to put on the vision board.” Similarly, Bunker reasons: “We know from research that if you make more specific goals, they’re going to be more effective. If you say, I’m gonna exercise twice a week, it’s gonna be more effective than, say, I’m going to be better-looking. In this case, rebranding might be more ineffective than a private New Year’s resolution. But, to play devil’s advocate, rebranding could be positive if it aligns with your values… Research shows that we often think of material objects as part of ourselves. Like, if we have a really nice car. So, if you’re very materialistic, rebranding could strengthen those values. It could have a positive impact.”

But like Robbins, Bunker puts emphasis on the importance of somewhat staying in your lane when designing the shiny new you. “Influencers have a lot of resources,” he notes. “They could be a good role model and make viewers motivated to change. However, it could also provoke feelings of inadequacy if you don’t have the resources to actually make what you want to happen a reality,” he warns. Alternatively, make it your New Year’s resolution to go analogue.

I didn’t take “rebranding” to extreme levels, but the process of picking inspirational images, clearing the cupboards and planning the changes felt both cathartic and productive. It inspired a little hope that next year would be more productive and promising than the last. Still, that didn’t stop me filling my online shopping basket with a new coat, T-shirts and makeup come the Boxing Day sales, thanks to targeted ads.

Maybe we don’t all need new, rebranded wardrobes; maybe we just need less screen time.