In the heart of the Iranian capital, the Boof cafe serves up refreshing cold drinks on a hot summer’s day.

They must be the most distinctive iced Americano coffees in this city – the cafe sits in a leafy corner of the long-shuttered US embassy.

Its high cement walls have been plastered with anti-American murals ever since Washington severed relations with Tehran in the wake of the 1979 Iranian revolution and the hostage crisis – which still cast a long shadow over this tortuous relationship.

Inside the charming Boof cafe, Amir the barista says he’d like relations to improve between America and Iran.

“US sanctions hurt our businesses and make it hard for us to travel around the world,” he reflects as he pours another iced coffee behind a jaunty wooden sign – “Keep calm and drink coffee.”

Only two tables are occupied – one by a woman covered up in a long black veil, another by a woman in blue jeans with long flowing hair, flouting the rules on what women should wear as she cuddles with her boyfriend.

It’s a small snapshot of this capital as it confronts its deeply uncertain future.

A short drive away, at the complex of Iran’s state TV station IRIB, a recorded speech by the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was broadcast to the nation on Thursday.

“The Americans have been opposing the Islamic Republic of Iran from the very beginning” he declared.

• Iran carries out wave of arrests and executions in wake of Israel conflict
• ‘We are exhausted’ – how Iranians are feeling after fragile ceasefire

“At its core, it has always been about one thing: they want us to surrender,” went on the 86-year Ayatollah, said to have taken shelter in a bunker aer Israel unleashed its unprecedented wave of strikes targeting Iran’s nuclear and missile sites and assassinating senior commanders and scientists.

We watched his speech, his first since President Donald Trump suddenly announced a ceasefire on Tuesday, on a small TV in the only office still intact in a vast section of the IRIB compound. All that’s le is a charred skeleton of steel.

When an Israeli bomb slammed into this complex on 16 June, a raging fire swept through the main studio which would have aired the supreme leader’s address. Now it’s just ash.

You can still taste its acrid smell; all the TV equipment – cameras, lights, tripods – are tangles of twisted metal. A crunching glass carpet covers the ground.

Israel said it targeted the propaganda arm of the Islamic Republic, accusing it of concealing a military operation within – a charge its journalists rejected.

Its gaping shell seems to symbolise this darkest of times for Iran.

You can also see it in the city’s hospitals, which are still treating Iranians injured in Israel’s 12-day war.

“I am scared they might attack again, ” Ashraf Barghi tells me when we meet in the emergency department of the Taleghani General hospital where she works as head nurse.

“We don’t trust this war has ended” she says, in a remark reflecting the palpable worry we’ve heard from so many people in this city.

When Israel bombed the threshold of the nearby Evin prison on 23 June, the casualties, both soldiers and civilians, were rushed into Nurse Barghi’s emergency ward.

• What we know about the Iran-Israel ceasefire

“The injuries were the worst I’ve treated in my 32 years as nurse, even worse than what I saw in the Iran-Iraq war in the 80s,” she recounts, still visibly distressed.

The strike on the notorious prison where Iran detains most of its political prisoners was described by Israel as “symbolic”.

It seemed to reinforce Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s repeated message to Iranians to “stand up for their freedom”.

“Israel says it only hit military and nuclear prison but it’s all lies,” insists Morteza from his hospital bed. He had been at work in the prison’s transport department when the missile slammed into the building. He shows us his injuries in both arms and his backside.

In the ward next door, soldiers are being cared for, but we’re not allowed to enter there.

Across this sprawling metropolis, Iranians are counting the cost of this confrontation. In its latest tally, the government’s health ministry recorded 627 people killed and nearly 5,000 injured.

Tehran is slowly returning to life and resuming its old rhythms, at least on the surface. Its infamous traffic is starting to fill its soaring highways and pretty tree-lined side streets.

Shops in its beautiful bazaars are opening again as people return to a city they fled to escape the bombs. Israel’s intense 12-day military operation, coupled with the US’s attacks on Iran’s main nuclear sites, has le so many shaken.

“They weren’t good days, ” says Mina, a young woman who immediately breaks down as she tries to explain her sadness. “It’s so heart-breaking, ” she tells me through her tears. “We tried so hard to have a better life but we can’t see any future these days.”

We met on the grounds of the soaring white marble Azadi tower, one of Tehran’s most iconic landmarks. A large crowd milling on a warm summer’s evening swayed to the strains of much-loved patriotic songs in an open air concert of the Tehran Symphony Orchestra. It was meant to bring some calm to a city still on edge.

Supporters and critics of Iran’s clerical rulers mingled, drawn together by shared worry about their country’s future.

“They have to hear what people say,” insists Ali Reza when I ask him what advice he would give to his government. “We want greater freedoms, that’s all I will say.”

Despite rules and restrictions which have long governed their lives, Iranians do speak their minds as they wait for the next steps by their rulers, and leaders in Washington and beyond, which carry such consequences for their lives.

Iranian authorities have carried out a wave of arrests and multiple executions of people suspected of links to Israeli intelligence agencies, in the wake of the recent war between the two countries.

It comes after what officials describe as an unprecedented infiltration of Iranian security services by Israeli agents.

Authorities suspect information fed to Israel played a part in a series of high-profile assassinations during the conflict. This included the targeted killings of senior commanders from the elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and nuclear scientists, which Iran attributes to operatives of Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency working inside the country.

Shaken by the scale and precision of these killings, authorities have been targeting anyone suspected of working with foreign intelligence, saying it is for the sake of national security.

But many fear this is also a way to silence dissent and tighten control over the population.

During the 12-day conflict, Iranian authorities executed three people accused of spying for Israel. On Wednesday – just one day after the ceasefire – three more individuals were executed on similar charges.

Officials have since announced the arrest of hundreds of suspects across the country on accusations of espionage. State television has aired alleged confessions from several detainees, purportedly admitting to collaboration with Israeli intelligence.

Human rights groups and activists have expressed fears over the latest developments, citing Iran’s longstanding practice of extracting forced confessions and conducting unfair trials. There are concerns that more executions may follow.

Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence claims it is engaged in a “relentless battle” against what it calls Western and Israeli intelligence networks – including the CIA, Mossad, and MI6.

According to Fars News Agency, which is affiliated with the IRGC, since the beginning of Israel’s attack on Iran on 13 June, “the Israeli spy network has become highly active inside the country”. Fars reported that over the course of 12 days, Iranian intelligence and security forces arrested “more than 700 individuals linked to this network”.

Iranians have told BBC Persian they received warning text messages from Iran’s intelligence ministry informing them their phone numbers had appeared on social media pages related to Israel. They were instructed to leave these pages or face prosecution.

The Iranian government has also stepped up pressure on journalists working for Persian-language media outlets abroad, including BBC Persian and the London-based Iran International and Manoto TV.

According to Iran International, the IRGC detained the mother, father, and brother of one of its TV presenters in Tehran to pressure her into resigning over the channel’s coverage of the Iran-Israel conflict. The presenter received a phone call from her father – prompted by security agents – urging her to quit and warning of further consequences.

After the conflict began, threats directed at BBC Persian journalists and their families have become increasingly severe. According to the journalists recently affected, Iranian security officials contacting their families have claimed that, in a wartime context, they are justified in targeting family members as hostages. They have also labelled the journalists as “mohareb” — a term meaning ‘one who wages war against God’ — a charge that, under Iranian law, can carry the death penalty.

Manoto TV has reported similar incidents, including threats against employees’ families and demands to cut all ties with the outlet. Some relatives were reportedly threatened with charges such as “enmity against God” and espionage – both capital offences under Iranian law.

Analysts view these tactics as part of a broader strategy to silence dissent and intimidate exiled media workers.

Security forces have also detained dozens of activists, writers and artists, in many cases without formal charges. There are also reports of arrests targeting family members of those killed during the 2022 “Woman, Life, Freedom” anti-government protests.

These actions suggest a broader campaign aimed not only at current activists but also at those connected to previous waves of dissent.

During the war, the Iranian government severely restricted access to the internet, and even after the ceasefire, full access has not yet been restored. Limiting internet access during crises, especially during nationwide protests against the government, has become a common pattern by Iran. Additionally, most of the social networks like Instagram, Telegram, X and YouTube, as well as news websites such as BBC Persian, have long been blocked in Iran and cannot be accessed without using a Virtual Private Network (VPN) proxy service.

Human rights advocates and political observers have drawn parallels to the 1980s, when the Iranian authorities brutally suppressed political opposition during the Iran-Iraq War.

Many fear that, in the wake of Iran’s weakened international standing after the conflict with Israel, the authorities may again turn inward, resorting to mass arrests, executions, and heavy-handed repression.

Critics point to events of 1988, when, according to human rights groups, thousands of political prisoners – many already serving sentences – were executed following brief, secretive trials by so-called “death commissions.” Most victims were buried in unmarked mass graves.

A young Syrian national has been charged with supporting a foreign terror group over a foiled plot to attack a Taylor Swift concert in Vienna last August.

Mohamed A, who is described by German authorities as a juvenile and not in custody, is accused of following the ideology of jihadist group Islamic State (IS) and helping another suspect to prepare the attack.

Concert organisers called off Taylor Swift’s three sold-out gigs on the eve of the first show at Vienna’s Ernst Happel Stadium last year, disappointing tens of thousands of fans during her Eras Tour.

Authorities arrested several suspects at the time saying they appeared to have been inspired by IS and al-Qaeda.

“Mohammad A has adhered since April 2024 at the latest to the ideology of the terrorist organisation Islamic State (IS),” Germany’s federal public prosecutor said in a statement.

“Between mid-July and August 2024, he was in contact with a young adult from Austria who was planning a bomb attack on a concert by singer Taylor Swift in Vienna.”

Sixty-five thousand fans had bought tickets for Swift’s three concerts on 8-10 August, and the singer later apologised for the cancellation, speaking of the “tremendous amount of guilt” she felt. She said she had decided to throw all her energy into the shows at the end of her European tour in London.

The main suspect in the case has been identified as Beran A, who authorities say was part of an IS cell in eastern Austria.

Beran A, who is now 20 and from Ternitz south of Vienna, was arrested before the concerts following a tip-off by the CIA, which said the plotters had hoped to kill a large number of concert-goers.

Investigators allege he had also planned to carry out an earlier attack in Dubai in March 2024.

Reports suggested it was part of a co-ordinated plot involving three simultaneous IS attacks but Beran A had changed his mind at the last minute.

According to the federal prosecutor in Germany, Mohammad A had helped the main suspect with a translation of bomb-making instructions from Arabic as well as making contact with a member of IS abroad over the internet.

He is also accused of providing the text for an oath of allegiance to the main suspect to join IS.

Actor Brad Pitt’s home in Los Angeles has been ransacked by a trio of thieves.

Three suspects broke into the home in Los Feliz late on Wednesday through a front window and “ransacked the location,” according to the Los Angeles Police Department.

Police did not confirm the home belonged to the Oscar-winning actor, but the address matched that of a home Mr Pitt purchased in 2023.

Authorities said the suspects fled with stolen items, though it’s unclear what was taken. The actor was not home at the time of the burglary, US media reported.

Mr Pitt was in the UK earlier this week for the London premier of his new film F1, which is released on Friday. He was accompanied by fellow Hollywood star Tom Cruise and Lewis Hamilton, who has seven Formula One World Drivers’ Championship titles.

Authorities said the burglary happened around 22:30 local time on Wednesday.

LA police would not confirm the value of items stolen. The BBC also contacted representatives for the actor.

The large three-bedroom home sits just outside Griffith Park – which is home to the famous Hollywood Sign. It is surrounded by a large fence and greenery that shields the home from public view.

The burglary follows others reported in the city targeting other celebrities, including Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban.

Last month, a man was also arrested on stalking and vandalism charges after he allegedly rammed his vehicle into the gate of the home of Pitt’s ex-wife, Jennifer Aniston.

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A month after the start of a controversial US- and Israeli-backed aid distribution system in Gaza, BBC Verify analysis of dozens of videos shows repeated incidents of gunfire near people travelling to collect aid, as well as other moments of chaos and panic.

In several of the videos analysed, gunfire can be heard and there are a number showing dead or injured Palestinians.

According to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry, in the past month more than 500 people on their way to get aid have been killed and 4,000 injured – the vast majority blamed on Israeli fire by Gazan officials and medics as well as eyewitnesses.

BBC Verify has not found videos which allow a definitive assessment of who is responsible for the wave of killings, but the overall picture is one of confusion and constant danger.

In statements over the past month, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have several times said they fired “warning shots” at individuals who they described as “suspects” or said posed a threat.

The IDF has told BBC Verify that Hamas does “everything in its power to prevent the success of food distribution in Gaza, tries to disrupt aid, and directly harms the citizens of the Gaza Strip”.

On 18 May Israel announced it was partially easing its 11-week long blockade of aid into Gaza, which it had said was aimed at putting pressure on Hamas to release hostages.

The IDF built four aid distribution sites – three in the far south-west of Gaza and one in central Gaza by an Israel security zone known as the Netzarim Corridor – which began operations on 26 May.

These sites in IDF-controlled areas – known as SDS 1, 2, 3 and 4 – are operated by security contractors working for the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), with the Israeli military securing the routes to them and the perimeters. On Thursday the US State Department announced $30m (£22m; €26m) in funding for the GHF – the first known direct contribution to the group.

From the start the UN condemned the plan, saying it would “militarise” aid, bypass the existing distribution network and force Gazans to make long journeys through dangerous territory to get food.

Within days of the plan starting, dozens of Palestinians were killed in separate incidents on 1 and 3 June, sparking international condemnation. Since then there have been near-daily reports of killings of people travelling to collect aid.

The IDF said that its “forces conduct systematic learning processes aimed at improving the operational response in the area and minimizing possible friction between the population and the IDF forces”.

Israeli government spokesman David Mencer called reports of people killed while getting aid “another untruth”. “There have not been hundreds of people dying.”

The GHF denied there had been any “incident or fatalities at or near” any of its distribution sites.

On Tuesday, the Red Cross said its field hospital in Rafah had had to activate its mass casualty procedures 20 times since 27 May, with the vast majority of patients suffering gunshot wounds and saying they had been on the way to an aid site.

The UN and its World Food Programme as well as other aid providers are continuing to try to distribute aid in Gaza, but they say they are reliant on the Israeli authorities to facilitate their missions.

The UN’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said the killing of Palestinians trying to access aid was a “likely war crime”. International human rights lawyer Sara Elizabeth Dill told BBC Verify that if there had been any intentional targeting of civilians, it could constitute a serious violation of international law.

“Mass shootings during civilian relief access violate core rules against targeting civilians and using starvation against them, potentially rising to war crimes,” she said.

Three videos, the first of which was published on 9 June, showed hundreds of people, some holding what appear to be empty flour sacks, scrambling over mounds of rubble and hiding in ditches. Several bursts of automatic gunfire can be heard.

On that day, the Hamas-run health ministry reported six people had been killed that morning while seeking aid and more than 99 injured. The next day, it reported 36 aid-related deaths and more than 208 injuries.

It’s not possible to verify whether any of these casualties were a result of the gunfire that could be heard in the footage.

We were able to confirm the videos were filmed from about 4km (2.5 miles) north-west of SDS4, on the way to the site in central Gaza.

Audio analysis of the gunfire from Steve Beck, a former FBI consultant who now runs Beck Audio Forensics, said one of the guns sounded like and fired at rates consistent with the FN Minimi machine gun and the M4 assault rifle. The second gun, Mr Beck said, fired at a rate that was “compatible” with the sound of an AK-47. We cannot establish whose weapons were firing but FN Minimis and M4s are commonly used by the IDF, while AK-47s are typically used by Hamas and other groups in Gaza.

In footage published the next day, on 10 June, and filmed nearby, more crowds were seen running in panic as the sound of gunfire, followed by what sounds like an explosion, was heard in the distance. Injured and bloodied people, including children, were then seen being carried away.

GHF has maps showing “safe passages” to its sites and communicates opening times via WhatsApp and social media.

Each passage has a “start point” and a ”stop point” with Palestinians warned that they must not cross the latter until instructed. The GHF has said these corridors are secured by the IDF and warned people that crossing these stop points, unless told to, may be dangerous.

But at SDS4 there was no safe passage planned for people coming from the north.

There have also been killings close to non-GHF related aid sites.

Verified footage from 17 June showed at least 21 bodies and several injured people on a road in which several vehicles, including a heavily damaged flatbed truck, were parked.

Witnesses told the BBC that IDF drones and a tank fired at the crowd as they were waiting to collect aid.

An IDF statement acknowledged that it had identified a “gathering” of people “adjacent to an aid distribution truck that got stuck in the area of Khan Yunis, and in proximity to IDF troops operating in the area”.

It said: “The IDF is aware of reports regarding a number of injured individuals from IDF fire following the crowd’s approach.” It expressed regret for “any harm to uninvolved individuals” and said the details of the incident were under review.

A spokesman for Gaza’s Hamas-run civil defence agency said at least 50 people were killed at the scene.

The video shows a number of the dead around scorch marks on the ground, including one person with their legs blown off.

Mark Cancian, from the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, noted the lack of obvious impact crater but told us the extent of damage was likely the result of “a lot of direct fire”.

Another video posted on 16 June, which we’ve verified, shows bodies pulled on a cart by a horse along al-Rashid street in northern Gaza, the main coastal road and often used by aid convoys.

The caption alongside the video claims that these Palestinians were killed while waiting for aid.

The next day, several photos and videos we verified were posted on social media located nearby showing a body carried by several men on a wooden pallet along the same road.

The GHF claimed many of the alleged incidents were linked to convoys and distribution sites for other groups, including the UN. It said those aid supplies were “being looted by criminals and bad actors”.

A GHF spokesperson said it has overall been “pleased” with its first month of operations, with 46 million meals distributed to two million Gazans, but was aiming to scale up its capacity.

The IDF has said that among other changes it is installing fences and signs and opening additional routes.

“We have raised concern [with the IDF] about maintaining safe passage for aid seekers but unfortunately some have attempted to take dangerous short cuts or travel during restricted times,” the GHF spokesperson said.

“Ultimately the solution is more aid, which will create more certainty and less urgency among the population.”

What do you want BBC Verify to investigate?

Japan has executed a man who murdered nine people in 2017, the first time since 2022 that the country has enacted capital punishment.

The serial killings by Takahiro Shiraishi, dubbed the “Twitter killer”, had shocked the country and triggered debate over how suicide was discussed online.

Shiraishi, then 30, lured his victims – most of them young women between the ages of 15 and 26 – to his apartment, before strangling and dismembering them.

The killings came to light in October 2017, when police found body parts in the Japanese city of Zama, near Tokyo, when they were searching for one of the victims.

Shiraishi later admitted to murdering nine suicidal victims and revealed that he got acquainted with them on Twitter, the social media platform now known as X.

He then told them he could help them die, and in some cases claimed he would kill himself alongside them.

His Twitter profile contained the words: “I want to help people who are really in pain. Please DM [direct message] me anytime.”

Nine dismembered bodies were found in coolers and tool boxes when officers visited his flat, which was dubbed by media outlets as a “house of horrors”.

While prosecutors sought the death penalty for Shiraishi, his lawyers argued for the lesser charge of “murder with consent”, claiming his victims had given their permission to be killed.

They also called for an assessment of his mental state.

Shiraishi later disputed his own defence team’s version of events and said he killed without the victims’ consent.

Hundreds of people showed up at his verdict hearing in December 2020, when he was sentenced to death.

The murders also prompted a change by Twitter, which amended its rules to state users should not “promote or encourage suicide or self-harm”.

Japan’s justice minister Keisuke Suzuki, who said he ordered Shiraishi’s execution, said the killer acted “for the genuinely selfish reason of satisfying his own sexual and financial desires”, according to an AFP report.

The case “caused great shock and anxiety to society”, Suzuki said.

The Supreme Court is expected to decide one of the most consequential cases in modern US history on Friday – whether a single federal judge can block an order from the US president from taking effect nationwide.

The case stems from President Donald Trump’s bid to end birthright citizenship, which has been frozen by multiple lower courts.

The Supreme Court is not likely to rule on the constitutionality of birthright citizenship itself. It will instead focus on federal judges’ use of nationwide injunctions, which have stunted key aspects of Trump’s agenda.

The Trump administration has argued that the judges have overstepped their power, but others say the injunctions are needed to avoid “chaos”.

On his first day back in office, Trump signed an executive order aimed at ending automatic citizenship rights for nearly anyone born on US territory – commonly known as “birthright citizenship”.

The move was instantly met by a series of lawsuits that ended in judges in district courts in Maryland, Massachusetts and Washington state issuing nationwide injunctions that blocked the order from taking effect.

In Washington, US District Court Judge John Coughenour called Trump’s executive order “blatantly unconstitutional”.

Trump’s Department of Justice responded by saying the case did not warrant the “extraordinary measure” of a temporary restraining order and appealed the case to the Supreme Court.

Injunctions have served as a check on Trump during his second term, amid a flurry of executive orders signed by the president.

Roughly 40 different court injunctions have been filed this year. This includes two lower courts that blocked the Trump administration from banning most transgender people from the military, although the Supreme Court eventually intervened and allowed the policy to be enforced.

So the case being heard at the nation’s highest court is not about birthright citizenship directly – but about whether lower courts should have the authority to block nationwide presidential orders with injunctions.

The issue of nationwide injunctions has long troubled Supreme Court justices across the ideological spectrum.

Conservative and liberal justices alike have argued that a judge in one district should not be able to unilaterally decide policy for the entire country.

Liberal Justice Elena Kagan said in remarks in 2022: “It can’t be right that one district judge can stop a nationwide policy in its tracks and leave it stopped for the years that it takes to go through the normal process.”

Similarly, conservative Justice Clarence Thomas once wrote that “universal injunctions are legally and historically dubious”.

Injunctions are also criticised for enabling what is known as forum shopping – the practice of filing a lawsuit in a jurisdiction where a more favourable ruling is likely.

Another critique of injunctions is the speed at which they are delivered versus their far-reaching impact.

The Trump administration is arguing in the birthright citizenship case that lower judges did not have the right to put time-consuming legal obstacles in front of the Trump’s agenda.

Without nationwide injunctions, backers of the measure say the power of the executive branch could go unchecked and leaves the burden of protection from potentially harmful laws on individuals who would need to file separate lawsuits.

Injunctions are often the only legal mechanism to prevent Trump’s executive orders from taking immediate legal effect. Such orders are a marked contrast from laws passing through Congress, which takes longer and subjects them to additional scrutiny.

Liberal Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson said the Trump administration’s argument advocated for a “catch me if you can” justice system.

“Your argument says ‘we get to keep on doing it until everyone who is potentially harmed by it figures out how to file a lawsuit, hire a lawyer, etc,'” Jackson said.

“I don’t understand how that is remotely consistent with the rule of law,” she said.

The other argument for injunctions is that it allows for consistency in the application of federal laws.

Lawyers arguing against the Trump administration have said that, in the birthright citizenship case, there would be “chaos” in the absence of a nationwide injunction, creating a patchwork system of citizenship.

The first sentence of the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution establishes the principle of birthright citizenship.

“All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside.”

However, the Trump administration’s arguments rest on the clause in the 14th Amendment that reads “subject to the jurisdiction thereof”. It argues that the language excludes children of non-citizens who are in the US unlawfully.

Most legal scholars say President Trump cannot end birthright citizenship with an executive order.

At the 15 May hearing, Justice Kagan noted that the administration had lost on the birthright citizenship issue in every lower court and asked: “Why would you ever take this case to us?”

On nationwide injunctions, the justices could say injunctions can only apply to the people who sued, including class actions, as government lawyers have advocated for.

The justices could also say injunctions can only apply in the states where the cases are brought, or that injunctions can only be issued on constitutional questions (like birthright citizenship).

Constitutional questions, though, concern the bulk of the cases with nationwide injunctions that the Trump administration is appealing.

If the court rules the injunctions should be lifted, then the Trump administration could deny birthright citizenship to children of undocumented immigrants while the court cases proceed.

If the injunctions hold, the individual court cases challenging the birthright citizenship order will likely work their way to the Supreme Court.

The high court could decide on the constitutionality of birthright citizenship, but justices have indicated they would prefer a separate, full hearing on the question.

They could also give indications or hints in their written opinion on which way they are leaning on the citizenship question, without ruling directly on it.

More than a third of Tuvalu citizens have entered the ballot for a world-first climate visa which would allow them to permanently migrate to Australia.

Opening for the first intake on 16 June, the influx of registrations could indicate that programme will be hugely oversubscribed, with only 280 visas awarded to Tuvalu citizens from the random ballot each year.

The visa programme has been pegged by the Australia’s foreign affairs department as a landmark response to the threat of climate-related displacement.

At just five metres (16ft) above sea level, the tiny Pacific archipelago is one of the most climate-threatened nations in the world.

There have been 1,124 applications submitted to the ballot as of 27 June, which accounts for 4,052 Tuvalu citizens with the inclusion of family members.

The island nation is home to 10,643 people, according to census figures collected in 2022.

If successful, holders of the Pacific Engagement visa will be granted indefinite permanent residency in Australia, with the ability to freely travel in and out of the country.

The visa will also provide for Australian supports on arrival in the country, such as access to the country’s Medicare system, childcare subsidies and the ability to study at schools, university and vocational facilities at the same subsidisation as Australian citizens.

Entry to the 2025 ballot costs A$25 (£11.93, $16.37), and will close 18 July.

The new class of visa was created as part of the Australia-Tuvalu Falepili Union, announced in August 2024, which includes a commitment by Canberra to defend the island in the face of natural disasters, public health emergencies and “military aggression”.

“For the first time there is a country that has committed legally to recognise the future statehood and sovereignty of Tuvalu despite the detrimental impact of climate changed-induced sea level rise,” said Prime Minister Feleti Teo in a statement last year.

Scientists at Nasa have predicted that the majority of land mass and critical infrastructure in Tuvalu will sit below the level of the current high tide by 2050.

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Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough may not be a household name, but the so-called referee of the Senate has found herself at the centre of a firestorm after she objected to several parts of US President Donald Trump’s mega-sized tax bill.

The 1,000-page document, which he’s dubbed the “big beautiful bill”, would slash spending and extend tax cuts.

But Ms MacDonough has said that certain provisions violate Senate rules, throwing billions of dollars of cuts into doubt.

Her findings have also made it difficult for Congress to pass the bill by 4 July – a deadline set by the president himself.

Now, some Republicans are calling for the Senate to ignore her recommendations – going against long-standing tradition – or to fire her.

Earlier this month, the House of Representatives narrowly passed a massive spending bill that included cuts to low-income health insurance programme Medicaid, reforms to the food assistance programme SNAP, and a measure to end taxes on tips and overtime pay.

That version then went to the Senate, where both Republicans and Democrats wanted adjustments made.

The US Senate has spent recent weeks debating changes and writing a new version of the bill.

• A look at the key items in Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’
• ‘Our food doesn’t even last the month’ – Americans brace for Trump’s welfare cuts

Legislators are now racing against the clock to deliver the bill to Trump’s desk by 4 July.

Republicans maintain a majority in both the House and the Senate, which should make it easy to pass legislation. But leadership in both chambers has struggled to get consensus on a number of provisions – particularly on social programs like Medicaid – from competing factions within the party.

The Senate parliamentarian’s job is to decide whether a bill complies with budget rules.

Ms MacDonough – the first woman to hold the role – has held the position since 2012. Before that, she spent 25 years as a Senate staffer and worked for the Justice Department.

While she was appointed by former Democratic Senator Harry Reid, she has served Senates controlled by both Republicans and Democrats.

In 2021, multiple Democratic legislators called on the Senate to overrule Ms MacDonough when she said a minimum wage increase could not be included in a policy bill at the time.

People serving as the Senate parliamentarian have been fired before, too.

In 2001, the Senate majority leader at the time fired then Senate parliamentarian, Robert Dove, after one of Dove’s rulings on a bill infuriated Republicans.

Several of the provisions Republican senators have proposed violate the Byrd Rule, she said, which is a 1985 rule the Senate adopted that says “extraneous” provisions cannot be tacked onto “reconciliation” bills.

The budget bill is a reconciliation bill, which means it does not need a 60-vote supermajority to pass the Senate. Reconciliation bills tell the government how to spend money, not how to issue policy, the Byrd rule says.

Because of these rules, Republicans can avoid a Democratic filibuster on the bill and pass it with a simple majority.

But as Ms MacDonough has examined the text she has found a number of places where the reconciliation bill tries to change policy.

Among the provisions Ms MacDonough has ruled against is a plan that would cap states’ ability to collect more federal Medicaid funding through healthcare provider taxes and a measure that would have made it harder to enforce contempt findings against the Trump administration.

And more rulings could come as she continues to examine the large bill.

Some Republicans, like Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville, are not pleased with her rulings and have gone as far as calling for her to be fired.

“President Trump’s landslide victory was a MANDATE from 77 million Americans,” he wrote on X on Thursday. “The One Big Beautiful Bill delivers on that mandate. The Parliamentarian is trying to UNDERMINE the President’s mandate and should be fired.”

Kansas Senator Roger Marshall urged his party to pass a resolution to term limit the parliamentarian.

He noted in a social media post that the Senate parliamentarian was fired during reconciliation in 2001: “It’s 2025 during reconciliation & we need to again fire the Senate Parliamentarian.”

Texas Senator John Cornyn said Republicans should not let “an unelected Senate staffer” stop the party from passing the bill.

Such a move by Republicans could set a precedent for Democrats, however, whose past legislative priorities also have been thwarted by the parliamentarian’s rulings. When the party held the majority in 2022, they came two votes from scrapping the filibuster rule in order to pass voting rights legislation – and overriding or dismissing the parliamentarian would be a different means to achieve a similar procedural objective.

But Senate Republican Leader John Thune, of South Dakota, does not seem to agree with calls to oust her.

Thune, who is the chief spokesperson for the party in the chamber, told reporters on Capitol Hill on Thursday he would not overrule Ms MacDonough.

Instead, he described the senate referee’s rulings as “speed bumps”, and said his party had other options to reach Republican-promised budget cuts, namely rewriting the bill.

Thune had previously said a vote on the bill was expected on Friday, though it remains unclear if Republicans can agree on a bill to move to the floor for a vote by then.

Once the bill passes the Senate, it goes back to the House for approval. Some Republicans in the House have already indicated their displeasure with the Senate’s edits to the bill.

After the bill passes both houses, then it can go to Trump’s desk.

Karoline Leavitt, White House Press Secretary, said the Trump administration is sticking by the 4 July deadline.

“This is part of the process, this is part of the inner workings of the United States Senate, but the president is adamant about seeing this bill on his desk here at the White House by Independence Day,” she said referring to the parliamentarian’s rulings.

At his 1,200-person cleaning business in Maryland, chief executive Victor Moran carefully screens new recruits to make sure they are authorised to work in the US.

Even so, President Donald Trump’s crackdown on immigrants is starting to chip away at his workforce.

About 15 people have left his company, Total Quality, since Trump won a fight to strip immigrants from Venezuela and Nicaragua from temporary protections shielding them from deportation, he says.

If the White House expands its efforts, it could cost him hundreds more of his workers, who rely on similar work permits and would be difficult to replace.

Similar kinds of concerns are reverberating at businesses across the US, as Trump’s deportation drive appears to pick up pace, threatening to choke off a supply of workers that is increasingly critical to the US economy.

Nearly one in five workers in the US was an immigrant last year, according to census data. That marked a record high in data going back decades, up from less than 10% in 1994.

Trump has said he is targeting people in the US illegally, who account for an estimated 4% of the US workforce. His pledge to conduct mass deportations was a centrepiece of his campaign and an issue on which he drew widespread support, including many Hispanic voters.

His administration has resumed raids at workplaces, a tactic that had been suspended under Biden.

But White House efforts have been much broader in scope, taking aim at people in the US on student visas; suspending admissions of refugees; and moving to revoke temporary work permits and other protections that had been granted to immigrants by previous presidents.

The actions threaten disruption to millions of people, many of whom have lived and worked in the US for years.

“We are terrified,” says Justino Gomez, who is originally from El Salvador and has lived in the US for three decades.

The 73-year-old is authorised to work under a programme known as TPS, which grants temporary work permits and protection from deportation, based on conditions in immigrants’ home countries.

His employment, first as a dishwasher and line cook in a restaurant and now as a cleaner, helped him send an adopted daughter in El Salvador to school to become a teacher.

But Trump has already taken steps to end the programme for people from Haiti and Venezuela. Mr Gomez, who lives in Maryland, fears El Salvador could be next.

“Every time I leave home, I have this stress on my mind,” he tells the BBC, through a translator provided by his labour union, 32BJ SEIU. “Even when I go to the metro, I’m afraid that ICE will be there waiting to abduct us.”

Many of Trump’s actions have been subject to legal challenge, including a lawsuit over TPS brought by the SEIU.

But even if the White House does not successfully ramp up arrests and deportations, analysts say his crackdown could weigh on the economy in the near term, as it scares people like Mr Gomez into hiding and slows arrivals.

Growth in the workforce, which has been powered by immigrants, has already flattened since January, when Trump took office.

As firms have a harder time finding workers, it will limit their ability to grow, slowing the economy, warns economist Giovanni Peri of University of California, Davis.

A smaller workforce could also feed inflation, by forcing firms to pay more to recruit staff.

If the policies are sustained, they could have far-reaching economic consequences, Prof Peri adds. He points to the example of Japan, which has seen its economy shrink as it keeps a lid on immigration and the population ages.

“The undocumented raids are a piece of a policy that really wants to transform the United States from one of the places where immigrants come, are integrated and part of the success of society to a closed country,” he says.

“Instead of an engine of growth, it will become a more stagnant and slow growing and less dynamic economy.”

Many firms say it is already hard to find people to fill the jobs available.

Adam Lampert, the chief executive of Texas-based Cambridge Caregivers and Manchester Care Homes, which provides assisted living and in-home care, says about 80% of his 350 staff are foreign-born.

“I don’t go out and place ads for non-citizens to fill our roles,” he says. “It is the immigrants who are answering the call.”

Like Mr Moran, he said Trump’s moves had already cost him some workers, who had been authorised to work on temporary permits.

He said he was also worried about the ripple effects of Trump’s crackdown on his business, which in some ways competes with undocumented workers employed directly by families to provide care.

He said if those workers are forced out, it will drive up demand for his own staff – forcing him to pay more, and ultimately raise his rates.

“We’re going to have incredible inflation if you scrape all these people out of the economy,” he warned. “We can’t do without these people in the workforce.”

At Harris Health System, a major hospital network in Texas, Trump’s policy changes have already led to the loss of some workers, says chief executive Esmail Porsa.

He says training American workers to fill the jobs available in his sector would take years, given the rising needs.

“As the population is getting older and we are clamping down on one viable source of current and future workforce, this issue will come to a head,” he says.

Trump last week acknowledged the disruption his policies were creating for sectors that rely heavily on undocumented labour, such as hospitality and agriculture, even reportedly pausing workplace raids in some industries temporarily after receiving blowback from fellow Republicans.

But despite the concerns about the economic impact, Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told the BBC that such raids remain a “cornerstone” of their efforts.

In the homebuilding industry, firms across the country are reporting seeing some work crews stop showing up for work, which will slow construction and raise costs in a sector where prices are already a concern, says Jim Tobin, president of the National Association of Homebuilders, which represents businesses in the sector.

The industry has called on Congress to reform immigration laws, including creating a special visa programme for construction workers.

But Mr Tobin says he was not expecting big changes to immigration policy anytime soon.

“I think it’s going to take a signal from the president about when it’s time to engage,” he says. “Right now it’s all about enforcement.”

When the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) announced last month that it would disband and end its decades-long insurgency against Turkey, Leila hoped she might soon be reunited with her son.

Three years ago, the former sandwich seller left home to join the group – proscribed as a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the US, UK and EU – in the remote Qandil Mountains, near Iraq’s border with Iran.

Apart from two videos he’s sent, the last in March, Leila hasn’t seen him since.

“When I first heard about the announcement I was very happy,” says Leila, whose name we have changed because she fears reprisals from the group.

“But as time has passed, nothing has changed.”

For 40 years the PKK has been at war with Turkey in a conflict that has killed more than 40,000 people, many of them civilians, and is one of the longest-running in the world.

Some families the BBC spoke to bitterly condemned the PKK, while others spoke proudly of how family members had died fighting for the group and felt this sacrifice had paved the way for peace talks.

The PKK’s announcement that it would stop fighting was seen as a historic moment for Turkey, its Kurdish minority, and neighbouring countries into which the conflict has spilled over.

But since then, no formal peace process with Turkey has begun and there is no official ceasefire in place, with reports of killing continuing on both sides.

Initially set up with the aim of fighting for an independent Kurdish state in Turkey, the PKK has, since the 1990s, shifted focus to demand greater cultural and political autonomy for the Kurds.

Leila, who lives in the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region of Iraq, which borders Turkey, says she hadn’t even heard of the PKK until her son, an Iraqi-Kurd in his twenties, came home one day talking about the group’s ideologies.

She accuses the group of “brainwashing” her son, convincing him they were defending the ethnic Kurdish minorities in Turkey, Iraq, Syria and Iran. The Kurds are the fourth largest ethnic group in the Middle East but do not have a nation state.

Leila says over time her son started to become more independent, making his bed, washing his clothes and doing the dishes. She now believes the PKK was preparing him for the tough life he would soon be living in the mountains.

On the day he left, he came home with three “comrades” to tell his mother he was going to the mountains to begin six months of training.

She says she repeatedly tried to dissuade him from joining the PKK but he was determined to go.

“He was so determined. Arguing with him would have been of no use.”

Since then, Leila says she has regularly visited the Qandil Mountains in the hope of catching a glimpse of her son, but has never seen him.

“If they just let me see him once a year, I would be happy,” she says.

The BBC travelled to the Qandil Mountains, having been granted rare access by the PKK to film there.

The mountains, which are sparsely populated and known for their natural beauty, help shield thousands of PKK fighters from Turkish air strikes.

The journey took hours of driving up narrow, bumpy roads, in an area where there are few signs of inhabitation apart from a handful of farmers and shepherds.

As the BBC approached a PKK checkpoint, we saw large pictures of the group’s leader and founding member Abdullah Ocalan – imprisoned by Turkey in solitary confinement since 1999 – displayed across the mountains. But when the BBC reached the checkpoint, the PKK denied us entry.

We were later told by PKK authorities that talks are underway with the group and they did not want media attention.

They did not say what the talks were about, though Iraq’s Foreign Minister Fuad Mohammed Hussein last month told the BBC discussions would be taking place with the PKK, Turkey, Iraq and the Kurdistan Regional Government to discuss how the group’s weapons will be handed over.

So far, the terms of a possible peace deal between Turkey and the PKK are unknown.

The PKK told the BBC in a written statement that it is sincere and serious about the process, insisting its leader, Ocalan, must be freed.

“The ball is now in Turkey’s court. A peace process cannot develop based on unilateral steps,” said Zagros Hiwa, the spokesman for the PKK-linked Kurdistan Democratic Communities Union (KCK), an umbrella group of regional Kurdish organisations.

But in a possible sign of the hurdles ahead, a senior local commander, who’s part of the second line of leadership within the group in Iraq, told the BBC in a written statement that in his view disarmament is “not up for discussion”.

Still suspicious about Turkey’s intentions, he adds that “when we address the reasons of the armed conflict, weapons will be of no use for both sides”.

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s apparent willingness to bring an end to the conflict with the PKK has been interpreted by some as a bid to attract Kurdish support for a new constitution to extend his 22-year-rule, which he denies.

He has described the PKK’s decision to disband as an important step towards “our goal of a Turkey without terrorism”.

Writing on X, the Turkish president said a new era was about to begin after “the elimination of terror and violence”.

For some families whose loved ones were killed fighting for the PKK, the idea the conflict might soon end is bitter-sweet.

Kawa Takoor was 21 when he was killed two years ago. His sister, Rondek Takoor, who lives in Iraqi Kurdish city of Sulaimaniya, last saw him in the Qandil Mountains in 2019.

Speaking from the family home, where photos of Kawa adorn the living room walls, Rondek says her brother’s death changed the family’s life. “I always dream about him,” she says with tearful eyes.

Rondek, who is in her twenties, still remembers the last conversation they had together.

“I asked him if he would like to go back home with me and he said ‘never’. He even asked me to join him in the mountains,” she says.

For Rondek and her family, who are pro-PKK, the group disbanding would be both a moment of “pride and pain, especially after our huge loss”.

She believes that “it’s the sacrifices we’ve made and the martyrs we’ve lost, that paved the way for leaders to talk peace”.

What happens next is uncertain.

There are questions about what would happen to thousands of Turkish PKK fighters and whether they would be allowed to reintegrate into Turkish society.

Turkish officials have yet to say whether these fighters will be treated as criminals and face prosecution. But Turkish media reports have suggested fighters who haven’t committed crimes in Turkey could return without fear of prosecution, though PKK leaders might be forced into exile to other countries or required to stay in Iraq.

It is also unclear what the group disbanding would mean for other Kurdish groups, notably in north-east Syria, which Turkey regards as being off-shoots of the PKK.

During the Syrian civil war, Turkish forces and Turkish-backed Syrian fighters launched a series of offensives to capture border areas held by a Syrian Kurdish militia called the People’s Protection Units (YPG).

The YPG dominates an alliance of Kurdish and Arab militias called the Syrian Democratic Forces, which drove the Islamic State group out of a quarter of Syria with the help of a US-led multinational coalition.

The YPG says it is a distinct entity from the PKK, but Turkey rejects that and proscribes it as a terrorist organisation.

Erdogan has said the PKK’s decision to disband should “cover all extensions of the organisation in Northern Iraq, Syria and Europe”. SDF commander Mazloum Abdi said the PKK’s decision would “pave the way for a new political and peaceful process in the region”.

However, he has also said that the PKK’s disarmament does not apply to the SDF, which signed a separate deal to merge with the Syrian armed forces in December.

In Iran, the PJAK group, which is also part of the KCK, has told BBC Turkish that it supports the “new process” in Turkey, but that it is not planning to disarm or disband itself.

PJAK is designated as a terrorist organisation by Turkey and Iran. There has been a de facto ceasefire between the group and the Iranian government since 2011.

Turkey says the PJAK is the Iranian arm of the PKK, but the Kurdish groups deny this.

For mothers like Leila, all the complexities of politics and the intricate balance of military powers across the region are irrelevant. What she cares about is having her son with her again.

“He will come back home when he gets tired of the harsh life in the mountains, at some point he will realise that he can take it no more.”

If this happens, Leila plans to leave their home city where her son was recruited by the PKK.

“This city has brought me nothing but pain.”

Parents in several Indian cities, including capital Delhi, are protesting against what they call “unsustainable” fee raises by private schools. These increases, they say, are stretching household budgets to a breaking point and taking a toll on their children.

Aaditya Mattey, 14, woke up on 9 May feeling confident about his English exam.

His father dropped him off at his school in Indian capital Delhi, but Aaditya never got to write his exam.

“Two or three minutes after I entered the class, guards and bouncers asked me to leave the room,” Aaditya recalls.

His father was still standing outside the school gates when Aaditya and a few other students were asked to get on the school bus, which dropped them off at their homes.

Aaditya’s name was removed from Delhi Public School Dwarka’s rolls after his father refused to pay a recent fee hike which he alleges was arbitrary and unauthorised.

The BBC reached out to DPS Dwarka and the Delhi Public School Society – which runs the DPS chain of schools – for comment, but did not receive a response.

Aaditya’s case is not an isolated one and DPS is not the only school which is facing allegations of arbitrary fee increase.

Over the past two months, protests have erupted across Indian cities – from Delhi to Pune to Hyderabad – as a growing number of parents accuse private schools of imposing steep fee raises.

In Delhi, which has emerged as the epicentre of the protests, the issue recently made headlines after DPS Dwarka allegedly confined students in the library, hired security guards to stop them from entering classes and expelled them over unpaid dues. Parents have accused the school of punishing children for financial decisions made by their families.

Government-run schools operate nationwide but often suffer from poor, inconsistent quality, prompting even many low-income families to choose private schools for better opportunities.

In Delhi, rules say that private schools on government-leased land must get Directorate of Education (DoE) approval before raising fees and must admit 25% economically weaker or disadvantaged students – a condition tied to their subsidised leases.

The BBC has contacted the DoE for comment on the fee rises, which parents have reported to us, but has not received a response.

Schools, on the other hand, have argued in court and told parents that they are struggling. They cite inflation, rising staff salaries, delayed reimbursements from the government for economically weaker students and the need for infrastructure upgrades as reasons for raising fees.

Divya Mattey says his son Aaditya’s annual fee in 2020 was 93,400 rupees ($1,077; £802). This, he says, has more than doubled to 189,096 rupees in 2025-26.

Mr Mattey is among dozens of parents who have taken the school to court, alleging it has unlawfully removed students from rolls and harassed families over the fee issue.

“We never thought a school of this stature would treat children like this – bar them from classrooms, assign bouncers and make them sit in the library for days,” he says.

The school did not answer the BBC’s questions over email and on a phone call. But in court, it reportedly argued that there was no legal obligation to retain students whose fees haven’t been paid. According to a report in The Indian Express newspaper, DPS claimed it suffered losses of 490m rupees last year and had to raise fees.

A notice on the school’s website meanwhile accuses “a small group of parents” of spreading “false and malicious information regarding the school fee structure” in an attempt to “mislead and create confusion”.

But the controversy reflects a broader problem.

A recent survey by online community platform LocalCircles found that more than 80% of parents with children in private schools said fees had increased by over 10% this academic year. In cities like Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru, the rise in some schools was as high as 30%.

India has no centralised regulation for private schools; each state sets its own rules.

For example, Maharashtra allows a 15% fee rise every two years – subject to review if 25% of parents object – while Karnataka permits a 10% annual increase with audit justification. Enforcement, however, is weak, and legal disputes over fees often drag on for years, providing little timely relief to families.

Gagandeep Singh, whose son attends Mira Model School in West Delhi, says fees rose 45% last year and over 10% this year.

Singh is willing to pay the earlier DoE-approved fee, but says the school has refused his cheque for the current term, which began nearly three months ago.

The BBC reached out to Mira Model School but received no response.

“It’s not our job to regulate schools,” Mr Singh says. “That’s what the government is supposed to do.”

Meanwhile, many parents fear that the DPS case has set a troubling precedent.

“We don’t want our children to be thrown out of their classes, like what happened there,” says Pankaj Gupta, whose son studies at Delhi’s Maharaja Agarsain Public School.

Mr Gupta said the school increased fees by 25% this year without advance notice.

“We had no choice. We had to pay,” he added.

Mr Gupta runs a small convenience store but has faced declining sales since the pandemic. The rise of online shopping has further squeezed physical stores. Now, rising school fees are pushing his family to the brink.

The BBC has reached out to Maharaja Agarsain Public School for comment.

Another parent, who wanted to remain anonymous, said she’s considering withdrawing her son from the school he attended since childhood due to an “unsustainable” 30% fee hike this year.

“Both my husband and I work, but our salaries haven’t gone up significantly. As a parent, you try to give your child the best but sometimes that comes at great personal cost,” she said.

But she admits that switching schools also feels risky – what if the next one also increases fees?

“It’s the same situation everywhere,” she said.

The uproar has prompted the Delhi government to act.

On 10 June the state cabinet approved the Delhi School Education (Transparency in Fixation and Regulation of Fees) Ordinance, 2025, pending the Lieutenant Governor’s approval – necessary for it to become a law.

Though not yet public, Education Minister Ashish Sood says it will tighten private school fee regulations.

But parents are demanding greater transparency. Last weekend, hundreds protested in Delhi, urging the government to consider their feedback when drafting the bill.

Shikha Sharma Bagga, Supreme Court lawyer and secretary of a group called Justice for All, urges timely audits: “Schools’ finances must be audited before each academic year so parents know what they’re paying for.”

Back in Dwarka, Aaditya is still trying to get back to class.

Media reports say DPS Dwarka has agreed to reinstate students expelled for not paying fees. But Mr Mattey says they are still waiting.

“The school has shown some reciprocation, but to this date my child’s name is not back on the register,” he says, adding that he hasn’t received any assignments for the current academic session.

“My son is only 14. He should be focusing on his studies, not worrying about whether he’ll be allowed to sit in class tomorrow.”

MrBeast has removed a YouTube thumbnail generator that used artificial intelligence (AI) after a backlash from creators.

The world’s most-subscribed YouTuber, real name Jimmy Donaldson, released the tool last week and said his intention had been “to help smaller creators make better thumbnails”.

But he admitted he had “missed the mark” after it was criticised by other high-profile YouTubers, including PointCrow and Jacksepticeye, who said the tool “steals” creators’ work.

In a post on X, MrBeast said he’d decided to remove the tool from his YouTube analytics platform Viewstats and would replace it with links to human artists available for commission.

When he launched the AI thumbnail tool last week, MrBeast said, he “thought people were going to be pretty excited about it”.

The small preview pictures are a key part of any YouTuber’s strategy, and are used to catch the eye of potential viewers as they scroll through a sea of content.

Mr Beast’s tool was advertised as “taking the guesswork out” of designing eye-catching images for an $80 (£58) per month subscription.

It gave users the option to insert themselves into existing thumbnails and recreate the work of other creators.

Generative AI – or GenAI – tools such as this are trained on mountains of exisiting data, which are then used to create outputs in response to user prompts.

There are several current court cases examining accusations of copyright theft against companies that make AI models.

PointCrow, real name Eric Morino, accused MrBeast of making “something that can steal… hard work without a thought” and alleged that the AI model was “clearly trained on all our thumbnails and uses them without any creator’s permission”.

While the US streamer said the intention of making content creation more accessible was a “great idea”, the tool “fundamentally hurts creators as a whole”.

MrBeast acknowledged the feedback and told his followers: “I care more than any of you could ever imagine about the YouTube community.

“Obviously I’m the biggest YouTuber in the world and I don’t take that responsibility lightly and so it deeply makes me sad when I do something that people in the community are upset by.”

He said his goal with Viewstats had been to build tools to help creators, “but if creators don’t want the tools, no worries”.

The US YouTuber has more than 385 million subscribers on the site and is thought to be its highest-paid creator.

He has a number of other business ventures and last year hosted Beast Games, an Amazon series which saw 1,000 people competing in a series of elimination challenges for a $5m (£3.9m) cash prize.

The series was named in a lawsuit where some contestants claimed they’d been “exploited” during filming – allegations MrBeast said had been “blown out of proportion”.

In May, the Mexican government accused him of “exploiting” the Mayan pyramids for a video and the month before he had to apologise after fans had a “horrible” experience at a Las Vegas event in his name.

Listen to Newsbeat live at 12:45 and 17:45 weekdays – or listen back here.

The Grammy Award-winning composer of the Mission: Impossible theme, Lalo Schifrin, has died aged 93, his family announced.

The Argentine musician’s son, Ryan Schifrin, confirmed his father died of complications from pneumonia on Thursday, in a statement shared with the BBC’s US partner CBS.

Schifrin was known for his unique percussive and jazzy style during a career that spanned more than six decades, with over 100 film and TV soundtracks to his name.

He was nominated for six Oscars and won four Grammys, three of which were for his most celebrated theme for the Mission: Impossible TV series in 1966, which he later updated for the Tom Cruise blockbuster film franchise.

Schifrin’s family said he “passed peacefully” surrounded by loved ones and thanked the public for their moving messages of support.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences paid tribute to the musician’s “genius” compositions which “built tension, ignited adrenaline and gave stories their pulse”.

“We’ll forever remember the composer who turned every beat into a thrill, and every silence into suspense,” it said in a post on X.

The prolific artist – a composer, pianist and conductor – was a consistent nominee at the Oscars with scores for films such as The Sting II, Cool Hand Luke, The Amityville Horror and Dirty Harry.

In 2018, Schifrin received an honorary lifetime achievement Oscar presented by Dirty Harry lead Clint Eastwood, who hailed his “unique musical style, his compositional integrity, and his influential contributions to the art of film scoring”.

When accepting the honour, the Argentine musician said composing for film had given him “a lifetime of joy and creativity” and the award was “a culmination of a dream”.

“It is a Mission: Accomplished,” he said at the time.

Born into a musical family in Buenos Aires, Schifrin studied classical piano as a child before moving to Paris in his early 20s to play jazz – later sharing the stage with famous artists such as Dizzy Gillespie, Ella Fitzgerald and Count Basie.

After a move to America, he began writing for Hollywood with an eccentric blend of musical genres including jazz, classical, contemporary and pop.

His most unforgettable melody for Mission: Impossible was written in an unusual 5/4 time signature and, in his words, was intended to inject “a little humour, lightness” to form a theme “that didn’t take itself too seriously”.

The result became a global earworm to introduce one of the most successful film franchises, with the latest iteration Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning crossing $540m (£393m) worldwide.

Canada’s parliament has passed a landmark bill giving Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government new powers to fast-track major national projects.

The One Canadian Economy Act was passed by the Senate on Thursday, and allows the cabinet to streamline approvals processes and bypass certain provisions of federal laws for projects that could boost the economy.

Supporters have argued the legislation is a critical step in reducing Canada’s dependence on the United States, amid trade tensions sparked by President Donald Trump’s tariffs.

But it has been criticised by Indigenous groups and environmental activists who say expediting the projects could stifle opposition voices.

The legislation does not determine what will be built, but the prime minister has previously signalled that it could be used to construct energy corridors, such as pipelines and electricity grids, and expand mines and ports.

The act will “remove trade barriers, expedite nation-building projects, and unleash economic growth, with Indigenous partnership at the centre of this growth,” Carney said last week.

The government said the act will reduce barriers for internal trade and labour mobility. It will also give the government sweeping powers to approve projects “that are in the national interest”.

That has alarmed Indigenous leaders, who fear they will not be consulted adequately before such projects are approved.

The passage of the bill into law is a significant victory for Carney, and upholds an election promise to remove interprovincial barriers by Canada Day on 1 July.

Trump has imposed tariffs on Canadian steel, aluminium and its auto sector. Carney had campaigned heavily on bolstering the country’s economy to counter tariff threats from the US, with whom Canada does the bulk of its trade.

Paul Prosper, a Nova Scotia senator who belongs to the Mi’kmaq Indigenous group, unsuccessfully attempted to insert an amendment that would require consent from Indigenous groups before a project could go ahead.

He criticised the speed with which the legislation passed, saying that rights holders could have been consulted by “investing a few more months”.

He said he supports development, but the law could allow the government and industry leaders to ignore Indigenous rights.

“No one wants to watch our children grow up in squalor, with no access to clean drinking water, no opportunity for good-paying jobs and no support for our sick and dying. However, we do not want success and progress to come on the backs of Indigenous Peoples,” he said in the Senate, as quoted by CBC.

However a supporter of the bill, Senator Hassan Yussuff, said it was a response to an “urgent and immediate crisis”, in comments reported by CBC.

The legislation states that the government will consult with Indigenous peoples before fast-tracking a project.

One of the two charismatic criminals involved in the kidnapping that gave the world the term “Stockholm syndrome” has died aged 78, his family has said.

Clark Olofsson – who rose to global notoriety in 1973 following a kidnapping and bank robbery in the Swedish capital – died following a lengthy illness, his family told online media outlet Dagens ETC.

During a six-day siege, Olofsson’s hostages began to sympathise with him and his accomplice, defending their actions while growing more hostile to the police outside.

The incident lends its name to a theorised psychological condition whereby kidnap victims develop affections for their captors.

• What is Stockholm syndrome?

The notorious bank siege was instigated by another man, Jan-Erik Olsson. After seizing three women and a man hostage, he demanded Olofsson – who he had previously befriended in prison – be brought to the bank from jail.

Swedish authorities agreed to his demand, and Olofsson entered the bank, which was surrounded by police.

Years later, in an interview with the Aftonbladet newspaper, he claimed he was asked to work as an inside man to keep the captives safe in exchange for a reduced sentence, but accused officials of not honouring the agreement.

Olofsson persuaded one of the hostages, Kristin Enmark, to speak to the Swedish prime minister on the phone on behalf of the robbers.

She begged to be allowed to leave the bank in a getaway car with the kidnappers, telling him: “I fully trust Clark and the robber… They haven’t done a thing to us.”

She went on: “On the contrary, they have been very nice… Believe it or not but we’ve had a really nice time here.”

Over the course of several phone calls, Enmark said she feared her captors would be harmed by police and repeatedly defended their actions.

In her memoir, she said of Olofsson: “He promised that he would make sure nothing happened to me and I decided to believe him. I was 23 years old and feared for my life.”

The hostage situation ended after six days when police officers broke through the roof and used tear gas to subdue the pair.

Initially, hostages refused to leave their captors over fears they would be shot by police. The hostages also later refused to testify against Olofsson and Olsson.

Experts have since debated whether Stockholm syndrome is an actual psychiatric condition, with some arguing it is a defence mechanism to cope with traumatic situations.

The term was coined in the aftermath of the siege by Swedish criminologist and psychiatrist Nils Bejerot to explain the seemingly irrational affection some captives felt for their hostage-takers.

The theory reached a wider audience the following year when Californian newspaper heiress Patty Hearst was kidnapped by revolutionary militants.

Speaking on the BBC’s Sideways podcast in 2021, Enmark rubbished the concept of Stockholm syndrome, saying: “It’s a way of blaming the victim. I did what I could to survive.”

Olofsson was a repeat offender and spent much of his life in prison. He was released for the last time in 2018 after serving a sentence for a drug offence in Belgium.

In 2022, actor Bill Skarsgård portrayed him in the Netflix drama series Clark.

Dame Anna Wintour is stepping back as editor-in-chief of American Vogue after 37 years.

The British-born fashion magnate, 75, is leaving the role she has held longer than any other editor, but will retain senior positions at its publisher.

Dame Anna will continue as Vogue’s global editorial director, as well as chief content officer for its parent company Conde Nast.

She was made a dame by the late Queen Elizabeth II for services to fashion and journalism in 2017, and was made Companion of Honour by King Charles earlier this year.

Dame Anna announced to staff on Thursday that a new role, head of editorial content, would be introduced at American Vogue.

According to an account published by the company, Dame Anna told staff she wanted to help “the next generation of impassioned editors storm the field with their own ideas” as she announced her departure from the editor-in-chief role.

She said she would continue with many of her responsibilities, and that “it goes without saying that I plan to remain Vogue’s tennis and theatre editor in perpetuity”.

Raised in London, Dame Anna was the editor of British Vogue before she took the helm at its US sister publication in 1988.

She is credited with giving American Vogue a new lease of life, turning it into one of the world’s top fashion publications and was credited with overhauling its output, including featuring less well-known models and mixing inexpensive clothes with couture.

Over her long career, Dame Anna has become one of the most recognisable and influential figures in the fashion industry.

Outside of her work with Vogue, she has also organised the Met Gala, a New York fundraiser which attracts high-profile celebrities, since 1995.

She is known for her trademark bob and dark glasses. Last December, she told the BBC’s culture editor Katie Razzall the signature shades were a “prop”, and “they help me see and they help me not see”.

Dame Anna’s tenure as editor-in-chief of US Vogue is also widely rumoured to have inspired the tyrannical but revered character of Miranda Priestly in the Devil Wears Prada – a novel by a former assistant of Wintour, Lauren Weisberger.

Earlier this year, King Charles asked Dame Anna whether she would stop working – to which she said she replied “firmly no”.

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The prosecution in Sean “Diddy” Combs’s trial made its final case Thursday, arguing the music mogul used a business “kingdom”, violence, drugs and fraud to coerce women into unwanted sex acts

“You’ve learned a lot about Sean Combs,” Assistant US Attorney Christy Slavik told 12 New Yorkers on Thursday. “He’s the leader of a criminal enterprise. He doesn’t take no for an answer.”

Combs has pleaded not guilty to charges of sex trafficking, racketeering and transportation to engage in prostitution.

For four hours, Ms Slavik reviewed seven weeks of evidence, accusing Combs of manipulating women into fulfilling his sexual fantasies with employees’ help.

The rapper, wearing a cream sweater, watched, leaning back in his chair at the defence table, while his twin daughters and 85-year-old mother sat a few rows behind.

For the racketeering charges – the allegation that Mr Combs relied on a loyal network of employees to facilitate and conceal sex trafficking and other crimes – Ms Slavik reminded jurors that they needed to find Combs committed only two crimes through his “criminal enterprise”.

She alleged he committed “hundreds” with the help of his employees.

Among those crimes, she included drug trafficking – when his employees allegedly procured drugs for him and others – as well as arson, when prosecutors say he hired someone to blow up musician Kid Cudi’s car.

But the “brutal crimes at the heart of the case” were sex trafficking, Ms Slavik said, citing harrowing testimony from two of Combs’ ex girlfriends, Casandra Ventura and “Jane”.

They had testified Combs manipulated them into participating in freak-offs – having sex with a male escort while Combs watched and filmed. Combs used repeated beatings to coerce Ms Ventura into the unwanted sex acts, Ms Slavik said – a rebuttal to the defence’s main argument that Combs’ domestic violence did not amount to sex trafficking.

“The cloud of abuse was hanging over Cassie’s head – always hovering,” she said.

• Who testified in the Diddy trial?

Jurors again watched the viral 2016 video of Mr Combs beating Ms Ventura in a Los Angeles hotel hallway, attempting to drag her back to a room, allegedly after she tried to leave a freak-off.

Combs kept his head down and his daughters shifted in their seats as jurors were shown the footage, played repeatedly during ther trial.

“This is what happened when Cassie said no,” Ms Slavik told the court.

The video is particularly effective in helping prosecutors turn theoretical sex trafficking arguments into something more concrete, said Mitchell Epner, a New York-based lawyer and former prosecutor.

“The government is doing a very good job saying that these particular incidents on these particular days constituted sex trafficking,” he said.

Ms Slavik also described other ways Combs allegedly coerced the women into unwanted sex, including “plying” them with copious amounts of drugs, and in the case of Jane, refusing to pay her rent if she did not comply.

She cited texts from Jane telling the rapper she did not want to participate and that she was “in fear of losing the roof over my head”.

The prosecution was not there to “criminalize dysfunctional relationships” or criticize “unconventional sex lives”, she told jurors. Combs’ lawyers have argued he participated in a “swingers” lifestyle.

“Cassie and Jane did not want to have sex with escorts while the defendant watched,” Ms Slavik said.

The government’s summation did what it needed to do, said Anna Cominsky, associate professor at New York Law School.

“They have marshaled the evidence – walked the jury through their case and told them the significance of each piece of evidence.”

The 12 jurors could begin deliberations on Combs’ fate as soon as Friday. His lawyers are set to give closing arguments then, after which the judge will instruct the jurors on its deliberations.

Earlier this week, Combs’ legal team rested its case after about 20 minutes, introducing text messages from Jane, but calling no witnesses.

Combs faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted of the most serious charges of sex trafficking and racketeering.

Iranian authorities have carried out a wave of arrests and multiple executions of people suspected of links to Israeli intelligence agencies, in the wake of the recent war between the two countries.

It comes after what officials describe as an unprecedented infiltration of Iranian security services by Israeli agents.

Authorities suspect information fed to Israel played a part in a series of high-profile assassinations during the conflict. This included the targeted killings of senior commanders from the elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and nuclear scientists, which Iran attributes to operatives of Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency working inside the country.

Shaken by the scale and precision of these killings, authorities have been targeting anyone suspected of working with foreign intelligence, saying it is for the sake of national security.

But many fear this is also a way to silence dissent and tighten control over the population.

During the 12-day conflict, Iranian authorities executed three people accused of spying for Israel. On Wednesday – just one day after the ceasefire – three more individuals were executed on similar charges.

Officials have since announced the arrest of hundreds of suspects across the country on accusations of espionage. State television has aired alleged confessions from several detainees, purportedly admitting to collaboration with Israeli intelligence.

Human rights groups and activists have expressed fears over the latest developments, citing Iran’s longstanding practice of extracting forced confessions and conducting unfair trials. There are concerns that more executions may follow.

Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence claims it is engaged in a “relentless battle” against what it calls Western and Israeli intelligence networks – including the CIA, Mossad, and MI6.

According to Fars News Agency, which is affiliated with the IRGC, since the beginning of Israel’s attack on Iran on 13 June, “the Israeli spy network has become highly active inside the country”. Fars reported that over the course of 12 days, Iranian intelligence and security forces arrested “more than 700 individuals linked to this network”.

Iranians have told BBC Persian they received warning text messages from Iran’s intelligence ministry informing them their phone numbers had appeared on social media pages related to Israel. They were instructed to leave these pages or face prosecution.

The Iranian government has also stepped up pressure on journalists working for Persian-language media outlets abroad, including BBC Persian and the London-based Iran International and Manoto TV.

According to Iran International, the IRGC detained the mother, father, and brother of one of its TV presenters in Tehran to pressure her into resigning over the channel’s coverage of the Iran-Israel conflict. The presenter received a phone call from her father – prompted by security agents – urging her to quit and warning of further consequences.

After the conflict began, threats directed at BBC Persian journalists and their families have become increasingly severe. According to the journalists recently affected, Iranian security officials contacting their families have claimed that, in a wartime context, they are justified in targeting family members as hostages. They have also labelled the journalists as “mohareb” — a term meaning ‘one who wages war against God’ — a charge that, under Iranian law, can carry the death penalty.

Manoto TV has reported similar incidents, including threats against employees’ families and demands to cut all ties with the outlet. Some relatives were reportedly threatened with charges such as “enmity against God” and espionage – both capital offences under Iranian law.

Analysts view these tactics as part of a broader strategy to silence dissent and intimidate exiled media workers.

Security forces have also detained dozens of activists, writers and artists, in many cases without formal charges. There are also reports of arrests targeting family members of those killed during the 2022 “Woman, Life, Freedom” anti-government protests.

These actions suggest a broader campaign aimed not only at current activists but also at those connected to previous waves of dissent.

During the war, the Iranian government severely restricted access to the internet, and even after the ceasefire, full access has not yet been restored. Limiting internet access during crises, especially during nationwide protests against the government, has become a common pattern by Iran. Additionally, most of the social networks like Instagram, Telegram, X and YouTube, as well as news websites such as BBC Persian, have long been blocked in Iran and cannot be accessed without using a Virtual Private Network (VPN) proxy service.

Human rights advocates and political observers have drawn parallels to the 1980s, when the Iranian authorities brutally suppressed political opposition during the Iran-Iraq War.

Many fear that, in the wake of Iran’s weakened international standing after the conflict with Israel, the authorities may again turn inward, resorting to mass arrests, executions, and heavy-handed repression.

Critics point to events of 1988, when, according to human rights groups, thousands of political prisoners – many already serving sentences – were executed following brief, secretive trials by so-called “death commissions.” Most victims were buried in unmarked mass graves.

In the heart of the Iranian capital, the Boof cafe serves up refreshing cold drinks on a hot summer’s day.

They must be the most distinctive iced Americano coffees in this city – the cafe sits in a leafy corner of the long-shuttered US embassy.

Its high cement walls have been plastered with anti-American murals ever since Washington severed relations with Tehran in the wake of the 1979 Iranian revolution and the hostage crisis – which still cast a long shadow over this tortuous relationship.

Inside the charming Boof cafe, Amir the barista says he’d like relations to improve between America and Iran.

“US sanctions hurt our businesses and make it hard for us to travel around the world,” he reflects as he pours another iced coffee behind a jaunty wooden sign – “Keep calm and drink coffee.”

Only two tables are occupied – one by a woman covered up in a long black veil, another by a woman in blue jeans with long flowing hair, flouting the rules on what women should wear as she cuddles with her boyfriend.

It’s a small snapshot of this capital as it confronts its deeply uncertain future.

A short drive away, at the complex of Iran’s state TV station IRIB, a recorded speech by the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was broadcast to the nation on Thursday.

“The Americans have been opposing the Islamic Republic of Iran from the very beginning” he declared.

• Iran carries out wave of arrests and executions in wake of Israel conflict
• ‘We are exhausted’ – how Iranians are feeling after fragile ceasefire

“At its core, it has always been about one thing: they want us to surrender,” went on the 86-year Ayatollah, said to have taken shelter in a bunker aer Israel unleashed its unprecedented wave of strikes targeting Iran’s nuclear and missile sites and assassinating senior commanders and scientists.

We watched his speech, his first since President Donald Trump suddenly announced a ceasefire on Tuesday, on a small TV in the only office still intact in a vast section of the IRIB compound. All that’s le is a charred skeleton of steel.

When an Israeli bomb slammed into this complex on 16 June, a raging fire swept through the main studio which would have aired the supreme leader’s address. Now it’s just ash.

You can still taste its acrid smell; all the TV equipment – cameras, lights, tripods – are tangles of twisted metal. A crunching glass carpet covers the ground.

Israel said it targeted the propaganda arm of the Islamic Republic, accusing it of concealing a military operation within – a charge its journalists rejected.

Its gaping shell seems to symbolise this darkest of times for Iran.

You can also see it in the city’s hospitals, which are still treating Iranians injured in Israel’s 12-day war.

“I am scared they might attack again, ” Ashraf Barghi tells me when we meet in the emergency department of the Taleghani General hospital where she works as head nurse.

“We don’t trust this war has ended” she says, in a remark reflecting the palpable worry we’ve heard from so many people in this city.

When Israel bombed the threshold of the nearby Evin prison on 23 June, the casualties, both soldiers and civilians, were rushed into Nurse Barghi’s emergency ward.

• What we know about the Iran-Israel ceasefire

“The injuries were the worst I’ve treated in my 32 years as nurse,” she recounts, still visibly distressed.

The strike on the notorious prison where Iran detains most of its political prisoners was described by Israel as “symbolic”.

It seemed to reinforce Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s repeated message to Iranians to “stand up for their freedom”.

“Israel says it only hit military and nuclear prison but it’s all lies,” insists Morteza from his hospital bed. He had been at work in the prison’s transport department when the missile slammed into the building. He shows us his injuries in both arms and his backside.

In the ward next door, soldiers are being cared for, but we’re not allowed to enter there.

Across this sprawling metropolis, Iranians are counting the cost of this confrontation. In its latest tally, the government’s health ministry recorded 627 people killed and nearly 5,000 injured.

Tehran is slowly returning to life and resuming its old rhythms, at least on the surface. Its infamous traffic is starting to fill its soaring highways and pretty tree-lined side streets.

Shops in its beautiful bazaars are opening again as people return to a city they fled to escape the bombs. Israel’s intense 12-day military operation, coupled with the US’s attacks on Iran’s main nuclear sites, has le so many shaken.

“They weren’t good days, ” says Mina, a young woman who immediately breaks down as she tries to explain her sadness. “It’s so heart-breaking, ” she tells me through her tears. “We tried so hard to have a better life but we can’t see any future these days.”

We met on the grounds of the soaring white marble Azadi tower, one of Tehran’s most iconic landmarks. A large crowd milling on a warm summer’s evening swayed to the strains of much-loved patriotic songs in an open air concert of the Tehran Symphony Orchestra. It was meant to bring some calm to a city still on edge.

Supporters and critics of Iran’s clerical rulers mingled, drawn together by shared worry about their country’s future.

“They have to hear what people say,” insists Ali Reza when I ask him what advice he would give to his government. “We want greater freedoms, that’s all I will say.”

Despite rules and restrictions which have long governed their lives, Iranians do speak their minds as they wait for the next steps by their rulers, and leaders in Washington and beyond, which carry such consequences for their lives.

Actor Brad Pitt’s home in Los Angeles has been ransacked by a trio of thieves.

Three suspects broke into the home in Los Feliz late on Wednesday through a front window and “ransacked the location,” according to the Los Angeles Police Department.

Police did not confirm the home belonged to the Oscar-winning actor, but the address matched that of a home Mr Pitt purchased in 2023.

Authorities said the suspects fled with stolen items, though it’s unclear what was taken. The actor was not home at the time of the burglary, US media reported.

Mr Pitt was in the UK earlier this week for the London premier of his new film F1, which is released on Friday. He was accompanied by fellow Hollywood star Tom Cruise and Lewis Hamilton, who has seven Formula One World Drivers’ Championship titles.

Authorities said the burglary happened around 22:30 local time on Wednesday.

LA police would not confirm the value of items stolen. The BBC also contacted representatives for the actor.

The large three-bedroom home sits just outside Griffith Park – which is home to the famous Hollywood Sign. It is surrounded by a large fence and greenery that shields the home from public view.

The burglary follows others reported in the city targeting other celebrities, including Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban.

Last month, a man was also arrested on stalking and vandalism charges after he allegedly rammed his vehicle into the gate of the home of Pitt’s ex-wife, Jennifer Aniston.

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Japan has executed a man who murdered nine people in 2017, the first time since 2022 that the country has enacted capital punishment.

The serial killings by Takahiro Shiraishi, dubbed the “Twitter killer”, had shocked the country and triggered debate over how suicide was discussed online.

Shiraishi, then 30, lured his victims – most of them young women between the ages of 15 and 26 – to his apartment, before strangling and dismembering them.

The killings came to light in October 2017, when police found body parts in the Japanese city of Zama, near Tokyo, when they were searching for one of the victims.

Shiraishi later admitted to murdering nine suicidal victims and revealed that he got acquainted with them on Twitter, the social media platform now known as X.

He then told them he could help them die, and in some cases claimed he would kill himself alongside them.

His Twitter profile contained the words: “I want to help people who are really in pain. Please DM [direct message] me anytime.”

Nine dismembered bodies were found in coolers and tool boxes when officers visited his flat, which was dubbed by media outlets as a “house of horrors”.

While prosecutors sought the death penalty for Shiraishi, his lawyers argued for the lesser charge of “murder with consent”, claiming his victims had given their permission to be killed.

They also called for an assessment of his mental state.

Shiraishi later disputed his own defence team’s version of events and said he killed without the victims’ consent.

Hundreds of people showed up at his verdict hearing in December 2020, when he was sentenced to death.

The murders also prompted a change by Twitter, which amended its rules to state users should not “promote or encourage suicide or self-harm”.

Japan’s justice minister Keisuke Suzuki, who said he ordered Shiraishi’s execution, said the killer acted “for the genuinely selfish reason of satisfying his own sexual and financial desires”, according to an AFP report.

The case “caused great shock and anxiety to society”, Suzuki said.

Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough may not be a household name, but the so-called referee of the Senate has found herself at the centre of a firestorm after she objected to several parts of US President Donald Trump’s mega-sized tax bill.

The 1,000-page document, which he’s dubbed the “big beautiful bill”, would slash spending and extend tax cuts.

But Ms MacDonough has said that certain provisions violate Senate rules, throwing billions of dollars of cuts into doubt.

Her findings have also made it difficult for Congress to pass the bill by 4 July – a deadline set by the president himself.

Now, some Republicans are calling for the Senate to ignore her recommendations – going against long-standing tradition – or to fire her.

Earlier this month, the House of Representatives narrowly passed a massive spending bill that included cuts to low-income health insurance programme Medicaid, reforms to the food assistance programme SNAP, and a measure to end taxes on tips and overtime pay.

That version then went to the Senate, where both Republicans and Democrats wanted adjustments made.

The US Senate has spent recent weeks debating changes and writing a new version of the bill.

• A look at the key items in Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’
• ‘Our food doesn’t even last the month’ – Americans brace for Trump’s welfare cuts

Legislators are now racing against the clock to deliver the bill to Trump’s desk by 4 July.

Republicans maintain a majority in both the House and the Senate, which should make it easy to pass legislation. But leadership in both chambers has struggled to get consensus on a number of provisions – particularly on social programs like Medicaid – from competing factions within the party.

The Senate parliamentarian’s job is to decide whether a bill complies with budget rules.

Ms MacDonough – the first woman to hold the role – has held the position since 2012. Before that, she spent 25 years as a Senate staffer and worked for the Justice Department.

While she was appointed by former Democratic Senator Harry Reid, she has served Senates controlled by both Republicans and Democrats.

In 2021, multiple Democratic legislators called on the Senate to overrule Ms MacDonough when she said a minimum wage increase could not be included in a policy bill at the time.

People serving as the Senate parliamentarian have been fired before, too.

In 2001, the Senate majority leader at the time fired then Senate parliamentarian, Robert Dove, after one of Dove’s rulings on a bill infuriated Republicans.

Several of the provisions Republican senators have proposed violate the Byrd Rule, she said, which is a 1985 rule the Senate adopted that says “extraneous” provisions cannot be tacked onto “reconciliation” bills.

The budget bill is a reconciliation bill, which means it does not need a 60-vote supermajority to pass the Senate. Reconciliation bills tell the government how to spend money, not how to issue policy, the Byrd rule says.

Because of these rules, Republicans can avoid a Democratic filibuster on the bill and pass it with a simple majority.

But as Ms MacDonough has examined the text she has found a number of places where the reconciliation bill tries to change policy.

Among the provisions Ms MacDonough has ruled against is a plan that would cap states’ ability to collect more federal Medicaid funding through healthcare provider taxes and a measure that would have made it harder to enforce contempt findings against the Trump administration.

And more rulings could come as she continues to examine the large bill.

Some Republicans, like Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville, are not pleased with her rulings and have gone as far as calling for her to be fired.

“President Trump’s landslide victory was a MANDATE from 77 million Americans,” he wrote on X on Thursday. “The One Big Beautiful Bill delivers on that mandate. The Parliamentarian is trying to UNDERMINE the President’s mandate and should be fired.”

Kansas Senator Roger Marshall urged his party to pass a resolution to term limit the parliamentarian.

He noted in a social media post that the Senate parliamentarian was fired during reconciliation in 2001: “It’s 2025 during reconciliation & we need to again fire the Senate Parliamentarian.”

Texas Senator John Cornyn said Republicans should not let “an unelected Senate staffer” stop the party from passing the bill.

Such a move by Republicans could set a precedent for Democrats, however, whose past legislative priorities also have been thwarted by the parliamentarian’s rulings. When the party held the majority in 2022, they came two votes from scrapping the filibuster rule in order to pass voting rights legislation – and overriding or dismissing the parliamentarian would be a different means to achieve a similar procedural objective.

But Senate Republican Leader John Thune, of South Dakota, does not seem to agree with calls to oust her.

Thune, who is the chief spokesperson for the party in the chamber, told reporters on Capitol Hill on Thursday he would not overrule Ms MacDonough.

Instead, he described the senate referee’s rulings as “speed bumps”, and said his party had other options to reach Republican-promised budget cuts, namely rewriting the bill.

Thune had previously said a vote on the bill was expected on Friday, though it remains unclear if Republicans can agree on a bill to move to the floor for a vote by then.

Once the bill passes the Senate, it goes back to the House for approval. Some Republicans in the House have already indicated their displeasure with the Senate’s edits to the bill.

After the bill passes both houses, then it can go to Trump’s desk.

Karoline Leavitt, White House Press Secretary, said the Trump administration is sticking by the 4 July deadline.

“This is part of the process, this is part of the inner workings of the United States Senate, but the president is adamant about seeing this bill on his desk here at the White House by Independence Day,” she said referring to the parliamentarian’s rulings.

Japan has condemned US President Donald Trump for comparing recent US strikes on Iran to the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki that ended World War II.

“That hit ended the war,” Trump told reporters on Wednesday. “I don’t want to use an example of Hiroshima, I don’t want to use an example of Nagasaki, but that was essentially the same thing.”

About 140,000 people died when the US dropped atomic bombs on the two southern Japanese cities in August 1945. Survivors live with psychological trauma and heightened cancer risk to this day.

If Trump’s comment “justifies the dropping of the atomic bomb, it is extremely regrettable for us as a city that was bombed,” said Nagasaki Mayor Shiro Suzuki.

Trump’s comments are “unacceptable”, said Mimaki Toshiyuki, an atomic bomb survivor who co-chairs the Nobel Peace Prize-winning advocacy group Nihon Hidankyo, public broadcaster NHK reported.

“I’m really disappointed. All I have is anger,” said another member of the group, Teruko Yokoyama, in a Kyodo News report.

Survivors of the atomic bomb attacks staged a protest in Hiroshima on Thursday, demanding Trump retract his statement.

Lawmakers in Hiroshima also passed a resolution on Thursday rejecting statements that justify the use of atomic bombs, and called for armed conflicts to be settled peacefully.

Asked if Tokyo would lodge a complaint over Trump’s remarks, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hayashi Yoshimasa said that Japan has repeatedly expressed its position on atomic bombs to Washington.

Trump’s comments on Wednesday came as he pushed back on a leaked intelligence report that said US strikes on Iran only set its nuclear programme back by a few months.

Trump had insisted that the strikes “obliterated” the programme and set it back “decades” – a claim backed by CIA director John Ratcliffe.

Japan is the only country in the world to have been hit by a nuclear attack and the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki still stir painful memories.

In Hiroshima, a peace flame that symbolises the country’s opposition to nuclear weapons has been burning since the 1960s while a clock that counts the number of days since the world’s last nuclear attack is displayed at the entrance of a war museum.

World leaders who visit Hiroshima are also asked to make paper cranes to affirm their commitment to peace.

Investigators have recovered flight recorder data from the Air India crash earlier this month, the civil aviation ministry has confirmed, marking a key step in the probe.

At least 270 people were killed when the London-bound Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner crashed less than a minute after taking off on 12 June from Ahmedabad airport in western India.

Investigators had earlier recovered both sets of Enhanced Airborne Flight Recorders (EAFRs) – the “black boxes” – from the Boeing 787 crash site on 13 and 16 June – one from a rooftop, the other from the debris.

It could be several weeks before the federal government is able to release information gathered from the recorders.

The particular aircraft model carries the two recorder sets to aid in thorough analysis. These combined units record flight data and cockpit audio.

Data recorders track with high precision the position of gear and flap levers, thrust settings, engine performance, fuel flow and even fire handle activation.

The data can be used to reconstruct the flight’s final moments and determine the cause of the incident.

The cockpit voice recorder (CVR) captures pilot radio calls, individual mic audio, and ambient cockpit sounds via an area microphone.

The aviation ministry said data from the recorder was accessed on Wednesday by a team led by India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), with the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).

“The analysis of CVR and FDR [flight data recorder] data is underway. These efforts aim to reconstruct the sequence of events leading to the accident and identify contributing factors to enhance aviation safety and prevent future occurrences,” the ministry said in a statement.

Meanwhile, US National Transportation Safety Board chair Jennifer Homendy told Reuters news agency that she hopes the Indian government will be able to share details from the investigation into the crash in short order.

“For aviation safety and for public safety and public awareness we hope that they will make their findings public swiftly,” Homendy said on the sidelines of an aviation event.

She said the NTSB team has been working diligently to provide assistance to India and “we have had excellent cooperation from the Indian government and the AAIB.”

India’s decision to download and investigate data from the flight recorders comes nearly two weeks after the crash and has raised questions among aviation experts, some of whom described the delay as unusual.

Air India Flight 171 was airborne for less than 40 seconds before it crashed into a crowded Ahmedabad neighbourhood, killing all but one of the 242 passengers on board, in one of India’s most puzzling air disasters in recent memory.

The London-bound Boeing 787, piloted by Captain Sumeet Sabharwal and co-pilot Clive Kundar, took off at 13:39 local time, but issued a mayday call moments later – its final transmission.

MrBeast has removed a YouTube thumbnail generator that used artificial intelligence (AI) after a backlash from creators.

The world’s most-subscribed YouTuber, real name Jimmy Donaldson, released the tool last week and said his intention had been “to help smaller creators make better thumbnails”.

But he admitted he had “missed the mark” after it was criticised by other high-profile YouTubers, including PointCrow and Jacksepticeye, who said the tool “steals” creators’ work.

In a post on X, MrBeast said he’d decided to remove the tool from his YouTube analytics platform Viewstats and would replace it with links to human artists available for commission.

When he launched the AI thumbnail tool last week, MrBeast said, he “thought people were going to be pretty excited about it”.

The small preview pictures are a key part of any YouTuber’s strategy, and are used to catch the eye of potential viewers as they scroll through a sea of content.

Mr Beast’s tool was advertised as “taking the guesswork out” of designing eye-catching images for an $80 (£58) per month subscription.

It gave users the option to insert themselves into existing thumbnails and recreate the work of other creators.

Generative AI – or GenAI – tools such as this are trained on mountains of exisiting data, which are then used to create outputs in response to user prompts.

There are several current court cases examining accusations of copyright theft against companies that make AI models.

PointCrow, real name Eric Morino, accused MrBeast of making “something that can steal… hard work without a thought” and alleged that the AI model was “clearly trained on all our thumbnails and uses them without any creator’s permission”.

While the US streamer said the intention of making content creation more accessible was a “great idea”, the tool “fundamentally hurts creators as a whole”.

MrBeast acknowledged the feedback and told his followers: “I care more than any of you could ever imagine about the YouTube community.

“Obviously I’m the biggest YouTuber in the world and I don’t take that responsibility lightly and so it deeply makes me sad when I do something that people in the community are upset by.”

He said his goal with Viewstats had been to build tools to help creators, “but if creators don’t want the tools, no worries”.

The US YouTuber has more than 385 million subscribers on the site and is thought to be its highest-paid creator.

He has a number of other business ventures and last year hosted Beast Games, an Amazon series which saw 1,000 people competing in a series of elimination challenges for a $5m (£3.9m) cash prize.

The series was named in a lawsuit where some contestants claimed they’d been “exploited” during filming – allegations MrBeast said had been “blown out of proportion”.

In May, the Mexican government accused him of “exploiting” the Mayan pyramids for a video and the month before he had to apologise after fans had a “horrible” experience at a Las Vegas event in his name.

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A man who stabbed his wife to death in front of their infant son after tracking her to a refuge has been found guilty of murder.

Habibur Masum stabbed Kulsuma Akter more than 25 times after confronting her in Bradford while she pushed their seven-month-old son in a pram in April 2024. The baby was unharmed.

Bradford Crown Court heard Ms Akter, 27, had been living in a refuge in the city since January after Masum held a knife to her throat at their home in Oldham.

Masum, 26, of Leamington Avenue in Burnley, had pleaded guilty to manslaughter and possession of a bladed article but was convicted of murder after a trial.

He was also convicted of one count of assault by beating, making a threat to kill and stalking.

His trial heard Ms Akter left the hostel to meet a friend on the day of the attack in the belief that Masum was away in Spain.

However, he later confronted her in the city centre having tracked her through her phone location.

Masum was seen on CCTV attempting to take control of the pram and steer Ms Akter away with him.

He pulled a knife from his jacket and repeatedly stabbed her after she refused to go with him.

• The wannabe dad influencer who killed his baby’s mother in cold blood

The trial heard he calmly walked away after the “ferocious” attack on 6 April and was pictured grinning on CCTV as he boarded a bus, with prosecutors describing him as the “smiling killer”.

Masum then travelled almost 200 miles (321km) south to Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, sparking a nationwide manhunt.

He was arrested in the early hours of 9 April in a car park near Stoke Mandeville Hospital, where he had gone to be treated for “lockjaw”.

In the days leading up to the attack, Masum was seen “loitering, watching and waiting” in streets around the hostel, jurors heard.

He sent messages threatening to kill family members if she did not return to him, before trying to lure her out by sending fake messages from a local GP practice.

The texts claimed their son had an appointment and warned of “increasingly dire consequences” if she did not attend, the trial was told.

Masum, who gave evidence through a Bengali interpreter, said he did not remember killing his wife and had taken a weapon with the intention of harming himself if she did not “listen to him”.

Ms Akter had told him there would be no lack of people to replace him as a father to their son, according to his evidence.

However, prosecutors argued antagonising Masum was “the very last thing Kulsuma would do” as she knew what he was capable of.

They said his tears were “as fake as his claims of self harm”, with Masum due to be sentenced on 22 July.

Reacting to the conviction, Det Ch Insp Stacey Atkinson, of West Yorkshire Police, said Ms Akter had “suffered a brutal attack in broad daylight whilst her baby son was in his pram”.

“Kulsuma’s family have been left absolutely devastated by her death, I hope today’s conviction will bring them a sense of justice in knowing that the man responsible has been found guilty,” she said.

Jurors were told the couple met and married in Bangladesh and came to the UK in 2022 after Masum obtained a student visa and enrolled on a Masters course.

They initially lived apart but moved into a house together in Oldham in September 2022.

Ms Akter left the home briefly to stay with her brother in July 2023 due to his controlling behaviour, the court heard, but returned when he threatened to harm himself.

In November 2023 he became jealous over a “completely innocuous” message she received from a male colleague, prosecutors said.

The following day he went into their bedroom carrying a knife and held it to her throat.

Ms Akter’s sister-in-law called police and Masum was arrested, with Ms Akter moved to the Bradford refuge by social services in January 2024.

West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds

More than a third of Tuvalu citizens have entered the ballot for a world-first climate visa which would allow them to permanently migrate to Australia.

Opening for the first intake on 16 June, the influx of registrations could indicate that programme will be hugely oversubscribed, with only 280 visas awarded to Tuvalu citizens from the random ballot each year.

The visa programme has been pegged by the Australia’s foreign affairs department as a landmark response to the threat of climate-related displacement.

At just five metres (16ft) above sea level, the tiny Pacific archipelago is one of the most climate-threatened nations in the world.

There have been 1,124 applications submitted to the ballot as of 27 June, which accounts for 4,052 Tuvalu citizens with the inclusion of family members.

The island nation is home to 10,643 people, according to census figures collected in 2022.

If successful, holders of the Pacific Engagement visa will be granted indefinite permanent residency in Australia, with the ability to freely travel in and out of the country.

The visa will also provide for Australian supports on arrival in the country, such as access to the country’s Medicare system, childcare subsidies and the ability to study at schools, university and vocational facilities at the same subsidisation as Australian citizens.

Entry to the 2025 ballot costs A$25 (£11.93, $16.37), and will close 18 July.

The new class of visa was created as part of the Australia-Tuvalu Falepili Union, announced in August 2024, which includes a commitment by Canberra to defend the island in the face of natural disasters, public health emergencies and “military aggression”.

“For the first time there is a country that has committed legally to recognise the future statehood and sovereignty of Tuvalu despite the detrimental impact of climate changed-induced sea level rise,” said Prime Minister Feleti Teo in a statement last year.

Scientists at Nasa have predicted that the majority of land mass and critical infrastructure in Tuvalu will sit below the level of the current high tide by 2050.

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