The suspect, identified as Augustine Marimo, allegedly targeted undergarments hung out to dry on washing lines and left in communal bathing areas.

His actions were exposed during a traditional court session where several victims were summoned to testify before the community.

One of the women, who requested anonymity, said she initially attended the hearing out of curiosity to verify circulating rumours. However, she was left stunned when she recognised a pair of panties that once belonged to her late sister — an emotionally significant item she hadn’t realised was missing.

The thought that it had been used in a sex ritual was described as “sickening.”

According to the woman, Marimo did not deny the accusations. Instead, he reportedly gave an unnerving account of how he used the stolen underwear. He allegedly confessed to placing the panties on his bed, masturbating on them, and imagining himself having sex with the women they belonged to. He described the experiences as vividly real, despite the complete absence of consent or awareness from the women involved.

The same woman revealed that her marriage had begun to deteriorate around the time her underwear disappeared. She described how intimacy with her husband ceased nearly two years ago. Although he initially showed concern, their relationship had since grown distant and emotionally cold.

Further disturbing revelations emerged when Marimo reportedly claimed he was driven by a mysterious spiritual voice urging him to steal the panties and perform the rituals. He allegedly told the court that the voice warned him not to reveal its origin, threatening severe consequences if he disobeyed.

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 of 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.

‘Stress on my mind’

“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.”

Economic impact

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 the 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 available jobs.

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.”

Their first draft of the so-called “big, beautiful bill” has mostly kept House Republicans’ provisions intact but with some notable differences, including increased cuts to Medicaid.

Although the bill has been heavily endorsed by President Donald Trump, Republicans have been torn over how to fund many of the proposed tax cuts which the Congressional Budget Office estimates will increase the federal debt by nearly $3tn (£2.34tn) over the next decade.

“This is the largest tax cut in the history of this country,” Trump said at the White House on Thursday.

Senate Republicans are now racing to finalise an agreed version of the bill before it can reach the floor for a vote ahead of a self-imposed 4 July deadline to deliver it to Trump’s desk.

Here is a look at some of the key items in the bill.

No tax on Social Security

On the campaign trail, Trump vowed to eliminate taxes on Social Security income – monthly payments to people with disabilities and older adults.

The House bill fell short of delivering on that promise, but it did temporarily increase the standard deduction of up to $4,000 (£2,983) for individuals 65 and over. That deduction would be in place from 2025 to 2028.

The deduction extensions begin to decrease after $150,000 for married taxpayers filing jointly and $75,000 for individual filers.

Senate Republicans are also looking to extend Social Security tax breaks and have proposed an increase that would grant a $6,000 tax deduction for older Americans.

More Medicaid requirements

To help finance tax cuts elsewhere, Republicans have added additional restrictions and requirements for Medicaid, the health care programme relied upon by millions of elderly, disabled and low-income Americans.

Changes to Medicaid – one of the biggest components of federal spending – was a major source of political strife that caused significant disagreement among lawmakers.

One of the changes are new work requirements for childless adults without disabilities. To qualify, the bill says, they would be required to work at least 80 hours per month beginning December 2026.

Another change to the programme was requiring re-enrolment to shift from once per year to every six months. Enrolees will also have to provide additional income and residency verifications.

The Senate proposal puts even more restrictions on Medicaid, which is likely to cause more headaches for Republicans when the bill returns to the House.

Their version proposes to lower provider taxes – which states use to help fund their share of Medicaid costs — from 6% to 3.5% by 2031.

It also proposes tightening eligibility requirements so that adults with children aged 14 and over would need to work or volunteer at least 80 hours a month.

The Senate Medicaid work requirement is said to be the strictest ever proposed by Republicans, raising the odds that large numbers of Americans will lose medical coverage.

Increased cap on Salt tax

The bill increases the deduction limit for state and local taxes (Salt), a hugely important issue for a few Republican holdouts in some Democrat-controlled urban areas.

There is currently a $10,000 cap on how much taxpayers can deduct from the amount they owe in federal taxes. That expires this year.

In the new bill, House Republicans have raised the Salt limit to $40,000 for married couples with incomes up to $500,000.

This, too, was a major point of contention.

A 2017 law passed under the last Trump administration held the cap at $10,000 and was designed to make room in the federal budget to allow for tax breaks elsewhere.

Senate Republicans are proposing permanently extending the cap at the current $10,000 limit.

Snap benefits

Reforms have also been added to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Snap), the government programme used by over 40 million low-income Americans.

The new bill requires states to contribute more to the programme, which is also partially funded by the federal government.

It also adds work requirements for able-bodied Snap enrollees who do not have dependents.

No tax on overtime or tips and other elements

The House bill makes good on one of Trump’s signature campaign promises – ending taxes on tips and overtime pay.

The plan would also allow Americans to deduct interest on car loans for US-made cars only.

The child tax credit is also set to increase to $2,500 from $2,000 through to 2028, exclusively for Americans with social security numbers.

Additionally, the bill proposes increasing the debt ceiling by $4tn (£2.9tn). Senate Republicans want this raised to $5tn. The debt ceiling is the limit on the amount of money the government can borrow to pay its bills.

Lifting the debt limit allows the government to pay for programmes already approved by Congress.

The Senate version includes a provision that would allow Americans to deduct tips and overtime from their taxes. However, they propose gradually phasing out those benefits based on annual income, starting at $150,000 for individuals and $300,000 for joint filers.

On child tax credits, the Senate proposes making them permanent but lowering the limit to $2,200 per child.

Clean energy tax cuts

One of the most notable divisions between House and Senate Republicans is the Senate’s proposal for clean energy tax breaks.

Although both call for an end to the Biden-era federal clean energy tax credits, Senate Republicans suggest phasing them out more slowly.

For instance, the Senate has extended the runway for businesses that build wind and solar farms to still benefit from the tax credits.

Companies that begin construction this year could qualify for the full tax break. That drops to 60% if they begin construction in 2026 and 20% if they begin in 2027. The credit would disappear in 2028.

The House version of the bill sought to end the tax breaks for those companies almost immediately.

What happens next?

The Senate must agree on a final version of the bill before sending it to the floor for a vote.

Since it is likely to include some of the changes to the original House bill, it will return to the House for another vote where it will almost certainly run into more challenges.

Republicans in the House have already expressed their grievances.

Mike Lawler, a Republican congressman from New York, posted on social media that any Senate measure that kept the $10,000 SALT cap would be “DEAD ON ARRIVAL” in the House.

Representative Chip Roy from Texas said the Senate’s proposal on clean energy was “not close to enough”.

Trump has repeatedly urged the Senate to get on board.

Shortly after the bill passed the House, he wrote on social media: “It’s time for our friends in the United States Senate to get to work, and send this Bill to my desk AS SOON AS POSSIBLE!”

Democrats, who have neither a majority in the House nor Senate, have criticised the bill, particularly on changes to Medicaid and food stamps.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries called it a “reckless, regressive and reprehensible GOP tax scam” and pledged to use the bill against Republicans in next year’s midterm elections.

The 55-year-old was arrested last September and faces charges including racketeering, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution. He could be sentenced to life in prison if convicted.

Mr Combs has pleaded not guilty and denied all allegations against him.

Dozens of prospective jurors were screened before being whittled down to 12 and six alternates.

During the trial, the jury has heard from 34 witnesses, including ex-girlfriends, former employees of Mr Combs, male escorts and federal agents.

The prosecution presented their closing statement on Thursday, and told the jury that Mr Combs is the “leader of a criminal enterprise” who used violence and fear in “brutal crimes”.

Mr Comb’s defence team is expected to present their closing statements on Friday.

After that, it will go to the 12-member jury to decide the fate of the hip-hop mogul.

Mr Combs also faces dozens of civil lawsuits from individuals who accuse him of using his power to drug, assault, rape, intimidate and silence people. He has said the individual lawsuits are attempts “for a quick payday”.

How can I follow the trial?

The court is expected to be open to the public, but proceedings will not be televised or streamed online.

Cameras, phones and electronic devices are normally not allowed in US federal courtrooms.

The trial proceedings began in early May with jury selection at the Daniel Patrick Moynihan courthouse in Lower Manhattan.

US District Judge Arun Subramanian told jurors the trial could last around eight weeks.

How were jurors selected?

Dozens of potential jurors were vetted by the court.

The process included potential jurors looking through a long list of places and people that could be mentioned during the trial, with names like Kanye West and Kid Cudi.

The “People and Places” list was so long that Judge Subramanian said he “felt like I was reading an appendix for Lord of the Rings”.

Potential jurors also had to fill out questionnaires that asked whether they had “views about hip hop artists” or “feelings concerning violence, sexual assault”.

The judge reminded the court several times of the importance of choosing a fair and impartial jury.

Nearly all the potential jurors had read news reports of the allegations in the case, and many had seen footage of Mr Combs kicking his former girlfriend, Cassie Ventura, in a hotel hallway.

What are the charges and allegations against Diddy?

In the federal criminal case being heard in New York, Mr Combs is charged with racketeering conspiracy, two charges of sex trafficking and two charges of transportation to engage in prostitution.

Many of the most severe allegations relate to the racketeering conspiracy charge.

This includes accusations of kidnapping, drugging, and coercing women into sexual activities, sometimes using firearms or threats of violence.

In a raid on his Los Angeles mansion, police found supplies that they said were intended for use in orgies known as “freak offs”, including drugs and more than 1,000 bottles of baby oil.

Separately, Mr Combs faces a number of lawsuits accusing him of rape and assault.

Tony Buzbee, a Texas lawyer handling some of these cases, said that more than 100 women and men from across the US had either filed lawsuits against the rap mogul or intended to do so.

In December 2023, a woman known in court papers as Jane Doe alleged that she was “gang raped” by Mr Combs and others in 2003, when she was 17. She said she was given “copious amounts of drugs and alcohol” before the attack.

Mr Combs’ legal team dismissed the flurry of lawsuits as “clear attempts to garner publicity.”

Mr Combs’ current legal issues began in late 2023 when he was sued by Ms Ventura, also known as Cassie, for violent abuse and rape.

That lawsuit was settled for an undisclosed amount a day after it was filed, with Mr Combs maintaining his innocence.

Since then, dozens of other people have filed lawsuits accusing Mr Combs of sexual assault, with accusations dating back to 1991. He denies all the claims.

His controversial history with Ms Ventura resurfaced in 2024, when CNN published leaked CCTV footage from 2016 showing Mr Combs kicking his ex-girlfriend as she lay on a hotel hallway floor.

He apologised for his behaviour, saying: “I take full responsibility for my actions in that video. I was disgusted then when I did it. I’m disgusted now.”

What has Diddy said about the charges against him?

In a statement to the BBC about the federal criminal charges, Mr Combs’ lawyer said: “In court, the truth will prevail: that Mr Combs never sexually assaulted or trafficked anyone – man or woman, adult or minor.”

Diddy’s lawyers later filed a motion to dismiss one part of the federal indictment in which he is accused of transportation to engage in prostitution. His team argued he was being unfairly targeted due to his race.

In a hearing in New York a week before the trial officially began, his attorneys told the court that the rapper led the “lifestyle” of a “swinger” and was not a criminal.

They said he thought it was “appropriate” to have multiple sex partners, including sex workers.

At the same hearing, prosecutors revealed that Mr Combs had rejected a plea deal.

Mr Combs’ lawyers have consistently denied the allegations made against him in the civil lawsuits, describing them as “sickening” and suggesting they were made by “individuals looking for a quick payday”.

How long could Diddy spend in jail if he is found guilty?

If convicted on the racketeering charge, Mr Combs faces up to life in prison.

He faces another statutory minimum sentence of 15 years if he is found guilty of sex trafficking.

Transportation for purposes of prostitution carries a maximum sentence of 10 years.

Mr Combs has been held at the Metropolitan Detention Centre in Brooklyn, New York, since his arrest on 16 September 2024.

Critics describe the prison as overcrowded and understaffed, with a culture of violence.

His lawyers argued for his release, citing the jail’s “horrific” conditions, but a New York federal judge denied the bail request, describing Mr Combs as a “serious flight risk”.

Prosecutors previously alleged that Mr Combs had broken prison rules by contacting potential witnesses.

They accused him of “relentless efforts” to “corruptly influence witness testimony”.

A judge permitted Mr Combs to wear non-prison clothing during his trial rather than the jumpsuits he wears in jail.

When he appeared in court for jury selection, the rapper wore a blue sweater and white shirt with glasses on his head.

How did ‘Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs become successful?

Mr Combs – who has also gone by the names Puffy, Puff Daddy, P Diddy, Love, and Brother Love – emerged in the hip-hop scene in the 1990s.

His early music career success included helping launch the careers of Mary J Blige and Christopher Wallace – aka Biggie Smalls, or The Notorious B.I.G.

His music label Bad Boy Records became one of the most important labels in rap and expanded to include Faith Evans, Ma$e, 112, Mariah Carey and Jennifer Lopez.

Mr Combs also had a prolific business career outside of music, including a deal with British drinks company Diageo to promote the French vodka brand Cîroc.

In 2023, he released his fifth record, The Love Album: Off The Grid and earned his first solo nomination at the Grammy Awards. He was also named a Global Icon at the MTV Awards.

According to the official report, the locking mechanism of the Air India captain’s seat failed during takeoff, causing it to suddenly slide backward.

This led to the captain’s hands pulling the throttle levers into the “idle” position, drastically reducing engine thrust just seconds after liftoff.

The co-pilot’s attempts to regain control were said to have been hindered by the captain’s reclined position, which obstructed access to vital flight controls.

“Within seconds, the aircraft lost lift and crashed into a nearby building housing medical workers,” the report claimed.

The flight data and cockpit voice recordings provide a sobering sequence of events:

– +12 seconds: Captain’s seat slides backward

– +15 seconds: Co-pilot exclaims, “We’re losing thrust!”

– +26 seconds: Aircraft enters stall at just 214 feet altitude

The investigation also highlighted the lack of emergency protocols and system safeguards, including the absence of “GO-AROUND” or “STAB TRIM” commands.

The 787’s thrust levers was said to lack safety systems like weight-based lockout or reverse-motion protection, exacerbating the crisis.

In response to the report, regulatory bodies have taken swift action.

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) have ordered urgent inspections of all Boeing 787 pilot seats.

Air India has grounded 12 aircraft with similar maintenance histories, and Boeing has pledged a full redesign of the seat mechanism, with updates expected by 2026.

The final death toll stands at 270, including passengers, crew, and individuals in the hostel struck by the aircraft.

The only survivor in the Air India crash is a British national, currently receiving treatment.

The full investigation report is expected in July 2025, and authorities have vowed to reform inspection protocols and reinforce flight safety standards globally.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Just as she was becoming demotivated, the 23-year-old’s persistence was rewarded as she was offered a job as a trainee accountant after her 647th application.

But after 18 months of job hunting, Caitlin was left wondering if going to university for four years and getting a degree was worth it.

Latest research from the Institute of Student Employers shows competition for graduate roles is at a “record high” as estimates suggest there were 1.2 million applications for 17,000 graduate vacancies last year.

Setting herself a target of sending two applications a day, Caitlin was immediately rejected 150 times without feedback and did not hear back from 271 other applications.

She said: “I put so much effort into my applications and so much time that when I didn’t hear back from them that I just wondered what made my application not worthy of feedback?”

Caitlin completed a year in industry as part of her finance and accounting degree at Swansea University and hoped it would help her stand out when applying for roles.

Instead, she has a spreadsheet filled with rejections dating back to September 2023.

“I worked hard for my degree and had experience so was thinking, was it worth it?

“There was a period where I was feeling completely demotivated and didn’t believe in going to university or getting degree.”

Caitlin thinks the use of artificial intelligence (AI) by companies as part of their filtering process could be a reason why she did not get very far in some applications.

She said initially her CV was not written in a way that could be read by some resume screening programmes where AI is used to read CVs.

“I was just getting straight rejections, whereas after adjusting it, sometimes you’d be invited to an assessment after you’ve applied,” said Caitlin.

“Had I have known that from the get-go, that would’ve helped me with my other applications.”

She reached the assessment stages for 221 of the roles she applied for and had five final interviews before getting a job.

The latest data estimates that an average of 140 applications were received for each available graduate job in 2024.

The Institute of Student Employers spoke to 145 companies that hired almost 40,000 new students and the body said applications were the highest for 30 years – a more than 50% rise from 2023.

The figures showed that for finance roles like the ones Caitlin applied for, an average of 188 applications were submitted for each role.

Following months of uncertainty after graduating last year, Caitlin has been offered her first degree-level job and will move from her home in Tintern, Monmouthshire, to London to become a trainee accountant in September.

“It was exactly what I wanted and is offering all the courses I want to do in finance,” she said.

“I just wished it would’ve happened a bit quicker.”

Despite Wales having the lowest proportion of graduates in the UK workforce, the group that represents universities believes the demand for graduate-level skills will grow by 2035.

“While we recognise that today’s job market presents real challenges for many people, research shows that a degree continues to boost lifetime earnings, career prospects and personal development,” said a Universities Wales spokesperson.

“University offers a transformative experience that not only benefits individuals but also strengthens our communities and economy.”

Thousands more students are now preparing to follow in Caitlin’s footsteps this summer.

Huw Williams is getting ready to start his role as Bangor University Student Union’s Welsh officer for 12 months, before returning to education next year.

“I think I’ll apply to be on a teachers’ training course in history, a career pathway I’ve always been interested in,” said the 21-year-old.

While Huw knows what the next year looks like for him, the future is not so clear for fellow Bangor graduate Alaw Simpson.

The 21-year-old is returning home to nearby Anglesey, where she hopes to find her first graduate-level job.

She said, “I want to move on from education and try something different.

“It is a worry because it can be very difficult to find professional jobs these days.”

Recruitment experts have said many employers now focus on attitude and personal behaviour.

“Getting your first job post-education is the biggest step because you might not necessarily have a lot of experience,” said James Fortnam of Robert Half Recruitment.

“I think there’s a lot of noise with employers with a sheer number of applicants for an opportunity, so it’s really difficult for clients to whittle that down.

“It’s really important applicants tailor their CV to the opportunity.”

Mr Fortnam has said some firms use technology to help assess applicants’ skills.

“Companies will use software tools to match somebody’s CV to the job,” he said.

“Because they won’t have had huge volumes of experience, typically a lot of graduates sometimes appear lower on that matching capacity.”

French prosecutors said the 39-year-old man was a convicted sexual offender who is wanted in the UK. His name has not been made public.

He was arrested when police were called to the amusement park on Saturday morning at dawn by a “guest” who said he had been hired by the man to play the father of the bride.

The man said he had been paid €12,000 to play the role and that he only realised at the last minute that the “bride” was a child, according to a statement by Meaux prosecutor Jean-Baptiste Bladier.

The statement also said the Ukrainian girl – who arrived in France two days earlier – had not been a victim of either physical or sexual violence and had not been “forced to play the role” of bride.

A woman who says she was hired to play the role of a guest told BFMTV that when she arrived at Disneyland Paris she saw a “little girl dressed in white with her hair all done up and I saw a woman who picked her up in her arms… and I was shocked, I burst into tears”.

“When I saw [it was a] child – it was horrific.”

Around 100 French extras had been recruited to take part in the fake ceremony, which was to be filmed in a private capacity.

The British man had reportedly hired Disneyland Paris for several hours for the stunt, in which he was to play the role of the groom.

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

Three other people – including the 41-year-old mother of the girl, a 24-year-old Latvian woman who was to play the bride’s sister and a 55-year-old Latvian man – were also arrested.

By Tuesday only the British man was still being held by police.

The British man and the Latvian woman appeared in front of a judge in Meaux on 23 June and the man was charged with fraud, breach of trust, money laundering, and identity theft and placed in pretrial detention.

The Latvian remains a witness in the investigation.

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

BFMTV reported that the “mock wedding” may have cost organiser more than €130,000 (£110,000).

Mr Bladier’s statement said that the British man “was reportedly convicted in the past, including for offences of a sexual nature against minors.

“He is, as such, listed in the British database of sexual offenders and is currently wanted nationally by the judicial authorities of his country of origin due to a breach of the requirements deriving from said order.”

It is unclear, at this stage, what the point of the “stunt” was.

The investigation continues.

Although he was widely expected to run for office again, it is the first confirmation from his National Resistance Movement (NRM) party.

Uganda will hold its general election in January, in which voters will also elect lawmakers.

Museveni, 80, has been in power since 1986 and is Africa’s fourth-longest-ruling leader. The ruling party has changed the constitution twice in the past to allow him to extend his rule.

In a video posted late on Monday by state broadcaster UBC on social media platform X, the chairperson of the ruling party’s electoral body Tanga Odoi said Museveni would pick up forms on June 28 to represent the party in the polls.

“The president … will pick (up) expression-of-interest forms for two positions, one for chairperson of the party and the other to contest if he is given chance for presidential flag bearer,” Odoi said.

NRM and other political parties are at present vetting and clearing their candidate for the polls.

Museveni’s closest opponent will be pop star-turned-politician Bobi Wine who came second in the last polls in 2021 and has already confirmed his intention to run in 2026.

Wine, whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi, rejected the 2021 results, saying his victory had been stolen through ballot stuffing, intimidation by security forces and other irregularities.

Rights activists and critics have long accused Museveni of using patronage and security forces to maintain his grip on power, but he has denied the accusations and says his long rule is due to popular support.

Qatar’s Hamad International Airport, a critical hub in the region, temporarily halted operations on Monday before reopening.

Flights were temporarily paused at Dubai airport in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as passengers were told to expect further delays and cancellations.

More than a dozen airlines cancelled flights to parts of the region after tension mounted in recent days.

On Monday, Qatar briefly closed its airspace before Iran fired missiles at a US military base in the country, in what it said was retaliation for American strikes against its nuclear sites over the weekend.

Air India said it was stopping all operations to the Middle East and flights to North America’s east coast and Europe. Japan Airlines announced the cancellation of flights from Tokyo to Doha.

In recent years the Gulf region has become one of the world’s busiest flight hubs.

The airports in Dubai and Doha see nearly 400,000 travellers pass through on a daily basis. Another 80,000 passengers travel through the UAE’s other air hub, Abu Dhabi, every day.

For many, these airports are a stopover point for long-haul flights between Europe and Asia or Australia.

Hopes for an easing of tensions rose after US President Donald Trump announced on social media a “complete and total” ceasefire between Israel and Iran.

Israel agreed to the proposal, but on Tuesday accused Iran of attacking it in violation of the ceasefire.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said he had ordered “intense strikes” on Tehran, but Iran denied firing any missiles, and said it would respond to “any further aggression”.

Rob Liddle, a member of BBC staff who was stranded in Doha en route to Dhaka in Bangladesh, said late on Monday that hundreds of stranded passengers were trying to get food or bedding in the airport lounge while they waited to hear when flights would resume.

There was fear when the missiles were reported to be coming in, he said. But following that, the atmosphere had been “calm”.

Aviation consultant Tim Atkinson said situations like this “cause enormous disruption, not just to flights,” he said.

“There is a fundamental interconnected nature of air travel. So when disruption begins, it spreads almost like wildfire.”

Delays and cancellations are likely to cause significant disruption across and beyond the region, according to aviation expert John Strickland.

“Delays to flights because of following longer routings means more cost to the airlines because they are burning more fuel.” Mr Strickland said.

“It can lead to an airline saying an aircraft is not available when it should be, and in particular crew, because crew are limited by legal rest requirements.”

There is also the question of safety, said Mr Strickland. Many governments have advised against travel to parts of the region, which could force some travellers to cancel their flights.

Decisions on whether to fly to certain destinations could be made on a “day-by-day basis” he said.

According to data from aviation risk consultancy Osprey Flight Solutions, six commercial aircraft have been shot down unintentionally, with three near-misses, since 2001.

Arguably the best known incident was in 2014, when Russian-backed forces in Ukraine shot down Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, killing all 298 people on board.

Russian and Ukrainian airspace has already been closed to most airlines due to the conflict there, diverting even more flights to the Middle East, where they were now being “squeezed” into even smaller spaces, he added.

The conflict in the Middle East has already led to the closure of huge swathes of crucial airspace.

Since Israel launched its offensive, commercial flights have avoided flying over Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan.

Roughly 1,400 flights pass through this key corridor between Asia and Europe – but they now either have to fly north over Turkey or south over Saudi Arabia.

Brent crude, the international benchmark for oil prices, fell below $67 a barrel by the end of the day, though it then recovered some ground in later trading.

Prices had spiked in recent days as concerns grew that Tehran could disrupt global supplies by blockading the Strait of Hormuz, a key shipping route for oil and gas.

Stock markets in the US, the UK and Europe rose and held steady after US President Donald Trump told Israel on social media not to drop bombs after it accused Iran of breaching the ceasefire.

Just hours earlier,Trump had declared the ceasefire was “now in effect”, after which Israel confirmed that it had agreed to the move.

Oil prices have soared to as much as $81 a barrel since the missile strikes began, stoking fears that the cost of living could increase as petrol, diesel and business expenses grew.

Crude is currently tradingat $67.68, below the level it was at when Israel launched missiles against Iran’s nuclear sites on 13 June.

“If the ceasefire is followed as announced, investors might expect the return to normalcy in oil,” said Priyanka Sachdeva, senior market analyst at Phillip Nova.

But she added that “the extent to which Israel and Iran adhere to the recently announced ceasefire conditions will play a significant role in determining oil prices”.

The fall in prices narrowed as Israel claimed that Iran had violated the ceasefire after accusing Tehran of launching a missile strike.

Stock markets in the US closed higher. The S&P 500, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq all rose by more than 1%.

In Europe, the UK’s FTSE 100 index in the UK closed flat, while Germany’s Dax increased by 1.6%. In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei share index closed up 1.1%.

The Middle East conflict had pushed global energy prices higher, which if sustained, would have a knock-on effect on energy bills and petrol prices.

Wholesale UK gas prices dropped by 17% on Tuesday after spiking higher earlier in the day. Qatar is a major supplier of liquefied natural gas, which is transported through the Strait of Hormuz.

On Monday, Iran had launched missiles at a US military base in Qatar in retaliation for American strikes against Iran’s nuclear sites.

The recent rises in oil prices had led to fears that increased energy costs could make everything – from petrol and food to holidays – more expensive around the world, including in the UK.

That is what happened after Russia invaded Ukraine three years ago, affecting people’s lives around the globe.

State TV cited sources who said the scientist, Mohammad Reza Seddiqi Saber, was killed at his parents’ home in Astaneh-ye Ashrafiyeh, in Gilan province.

Gilan’s deputy governor said four apartments were destroyed by an explosion in a residential building.

The Israeli government meanwhile said its military had “eliminated an additional senior nuclear scientist” in recent days, without identifying them.

That claim came in a statement that said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet had agreed to US President Donald Trump’s proposal for a ceasefire with Iran.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said his country would respect the ceasefire if Israel did.

Trump announced the ceasefire on Monday night and said at 05:00 GMT on Tuesday that it had taken effect, warning both sides not to violate it.

He later criticised both countries after Israel’s military said it had shot down several incoming Iranian missiles and would carry out a new round of air strikes on Tehran in response.

Many Iranians who got in contact with BBC Persian said they doubted the ceasefire would last.

“[Iran and Israel] have, in a way, been forced into it at this point,” one man said. “If they had the capacity to continue, without a doubt, this wouldn’t have happened anytime soon.”

Another man said: “I believe the whole war was orchestrated. Israel and the US came in and destroyed military and nuclear sites, Iran launched a few missiles… and both sides are satisfied. But ordinary people suffered the most.”

A woman meanwhile said she feared that a “wounded, humiliated” Islamic Republic would now “turn its anger inward – towards the Iranian people”.

On 13 June, Israel launched an air campaign against Iran, saying it aimed to remove what it called the “existential threats” of the country’s nuclear and ballistic missile programmes.

Iran’s health ministry has said that Israeli strikes have killed 610 people so far, although one human rights group has put the death toll at 974.

Iran has launched missiles at Israel in response, killing 28 people, Israeli authorities have said.

Residents of Tehran and other Iranian cities told BBC Persian that on Monday night they witnessed one of the “heaviest” rounds of strikes since the conflict started.

Israel’s prime minister said its forces hit “regime targets” and killed “hundreds” of members of Iranian security forces and the paramilitary Basij Resistance Force.

Iranian Health Minister Mohammad Reza Zafarqandi said on Tuesday afternoon that Israeli attacks had killed 107 people and injured 1,300 over the past 24 hours.

Gilan’s deputy governor general, Ali Bagheri, said nine people were killed and 33 injured in what he described as a “terrorist attack” on a residential building in Astaneh-ye Ashrafiyeh, according to Iranian media.

Sixteen women and children were among the casualties, he added, without identifying anyone.

Iranian government restrictions mean BBC journalists have not been able to report from inside Iran, so it is difficult to verify the reports.

However, night-time videos posted on social media showed a crowd of people walking over a rubble-strewn street towards a large fire. And in a daytime photo received by BBC Persian several damaged buildings and streets covered in debris were visible.

State TV later confirmed that Mohammad Reza Seddiqi Saber, 50, was among those killed.

It said he had been staying at his parents’ house after his 17-year-old son was reportedly killed in an Israeli air strike on their home in Tehran several days ago.

Last month, the US imposed sanctions on Seddiqi Saber, saying he worked for Iran’s Organisation of Defensive Innovation and Research (SPND) and headed a group that worked on explosives-related projects.

The US alleged that he was “linked to projects including research and testing applicable to the development of nuclear explosive devices”.

At least nine other senior Iranian nuclear scientists have been assassinated by Israel since the start of the air campaign, according to the Israeli military.

The military claimed on 14 June that the men had “played a central part of the progress towards nuclear weapons” in Iran, without providing evidence.

Iran insists that its nuclear programme is entirely peaceful and that it has never sought to develop a nuclear weapon.

In an interview on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show on Tuesday, June 24, Mr. Fertik expressed concern over the growing number of applicants who fall victim to fraudulent intermediaries or submit incorrect information due to third-party involvement.

“I will say in general that the visa application process is something you can do by yourself. Visa fixers claim they have some sort of influence on the process and they demand thousands of dollars and say they can guarantee you the visa because they know someone inside [the Embassy]. Let me be clear, they are lying; they are ripping you off. It is probably not legitimate,” he cautioned.

Mr. Fertik noted that visa refusals have become a common issue in Ghana, largely due to the use of unauthorised and misleading intermediaries.

Many applicants, he explained, unknowingly submit incomplete or inaccurate documents, which significantly reduces their chances of being granted a visa.

He emphasised that the only legitimate way to apply for a U.S. visa is through the embassy’s official website and recommended that applicants carefully follow the instructions provided there.

“You can do it on our website, and there are also, on the website, phone numbers and email addresses that you can use when you run into difficulties,” he added.

The Consul General’s comments come amid increasing concerns over visa scams and the exploitation of hopeful travellers by unscrupulous actors who charge exorbitant fees under the guise of ‘guaranteeing’ visa approvals.

Mr. Fertik encouraged prospective travellers to seek information directly from the U.S. Embassy’s website or through its designated communication channels.

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U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday a ceasefire between Israel and Iran was now in place and asked both countries not to violate it, only hours after Iran launched waves of missiles, which Israel’s ambulance service said killed four people.

“THE CEASEFIRE IS NOW IN EFFECT. PLEASE DO NOT VIOLATE IT!” Trump said in a Truth Social post.

When Trump announced on Monday what he called a complete ceasefire to end a 12-day war, he appeared to suggest that Israel and Iran would have time to complete missions that were underway, at which point the ceasefire would begin in a staged process.

Witnesses said they heard explosions near Tel Aviv and Beersheba in southern Israel before Trump’s statement.

Israel’s military said six waves of missiles were launched by Iran and Israel’s national ambulance service said four people were killed in Beersheba, the first reported deaths in Israel since Trump announced the ceasefire.

Iran’s semi-official SNN news agency reported on Tuesday that Tehran fired its last round of missiles before the ceasefire came into effect.

A senior White House official said Trump had brokered a ceasefire deal in a call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel had agreed so long as Iran did not launch further attacks.

“On the assumption that everything works as it should, which it will, I would like to congratulate both Countries, Israel and Iran, on having the Stamina, Courage, and Intelligence to end, what should be called, ‘THE 12 DAY WAR’,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social site.

An Iranian official earlier confirmed that Tehran had agreed to a ceasefire, but the country’s foreign minister said there would be no cessation of hostilities unless Israel stopped its attacks.

Abbas Araqchi said early on Tuesday that if Israel stopped its “illegal aggression” against the Iranian people no later than 4 a.m. Tehran time (0030 GMT) on Tuesday, Iran had no intention of continuing its response afterwards.

“The final decision on the cessation of our military operations will be made later,” Araqchi added in a post on X.

Israel, joined by the United States on the weekend, has carried out attacks on Iran’s nuclear facilities, after alleging Tehran was getting close to obtaining a nuclear weapon.

Iran denies ever having a nuclear weapons program but Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has said that if it wanted to, world leaders “wouldn’t be able to stop us”.

Israel, which is not a party to the international Non-Proliferation Treaty, is the only country in the Middle East believed to have nuclear weapons. Israel does not deny or confirm that.

Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani secured Tehran’s agreement during a call with Iranian officials, an official briefed on the negotiations told Reuters on Tuesday.

U.S. Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff were in direct and indirect contact with the Iranians, a White House official said.

Neither Iran’s U.N. mission nor the Israeli embassy in Washington responded to separate requests for comment from Reuters.

Hours earlier, three Israeli officials had signaled Israel was looking to wrap up its campaign in Iran soon and had passed the message on to the United States.

Netanyahu had told government ministers whose discussions ended early on Tuesday not to speak publicly, Israel’s Channel 12 television reported.

Markets reacted favorably to the news.

S&P 500 futures rose 0.4% late on Monday, suggesting traders expect the U.S. stock market to open with gains on Tuesday.

U.S. crude futures fell in early Asian trading hours on Tuesday to their lowest level in more than a week after Trump said a ceasefire had been agreed, relieving worries of supply disruption in the region.

EARLY NOTICE

Earlier on Monday, Trump said he would encourage Israel to proceed towards peace after dismissing Iran’s attack on an American air base that caused no injuries and thanking Tehran for the early notice of the strikes.

He said Iran fired 14 missiles at the U.S. air base, calling it “a very weak response, which we expected, and have very effectively countered.”

Iran’s handling of the attack recalled earlier clashes with the United States and Israel, with Tehran seeking a balance between saving face with a military response but without provoking a cycle of escalation it can’t afford.

Iran’s attack came after U.S. bombers dropped 30,000-pound bunker-buster bombs on Iranian underground nuclear facilities at the weekend, joining Israel’s air war.

Much of Tehran’s population of 10 million has fled after days of bombing.

The Trump administration maintains that its aim was solely to destroy Iran’s nuclear program, not to open a wider war.

“Iran was very close to having a nuclear weapon,” Vice President JD Vance said in an interview on Fox News’ “Special Report with Bret Baier.”

“Now Iran is incapable of building a nuclear weapon with the equipment they have because we destroyed it,” Vance said.

Trump has cited intelligence reports that Iran was close to building a nuclear weapon, without elaborating. However, U.S. intelligence agencies said earlier this year they assessed that Iran was not building a nuclear weapon and a source with access to U.S. intelligence reports told Reuters last week that that assessment hadn’t changed.

In a social media post on Sunday, Trump spoke of toppling the hardline clerical rulers who have been Washington’s principal foes in the Middle East since Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Israel, however, had made clear that its strikes on Evin prison – a notorious jail for housing political prisoners – and other targets in Tehran were intended to hit the Iranian ruling apparatus broadly, and its ability to sustain power.

The court’s three liberal justices dissented from the majority ruling, saying it was “rewarding lawlessness”.

The case involves eight migrants from Myanmar, South Sudan, Cuba, Mexico, Laos and Vietnam, who were deported in May on a plane said to be heading for South Sudan. The Trump administration said they were “the worst of the worst”.

Boston-based US District Judge Brian Murphy ruled the removals had violated an order he issued in April that migrants must have a chance to argue they could be tortured or killed if they were removed to third countries – even if their other legal appeals had already failed.

Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson criticised the majority’s unsigned decision on Monday, calling it a “gross abuse”.

“Apparently, the court finds the idea that thousands will suffer violence in farflung locales more palatable than the remote possibility that a district court exceeded its remedial powers when it ordered the government to provide notice and process to which the plaintiffs are constitutionally and statutorily entitled,” Sotomayor wrote.

“That use of discretion is as incomprehensible as it is inexcusable.”

The Department of Homeland Security said the ruling was “a victory for the safety and security of the American people.”

“Fire up the deportation planes,” said the agency’s spokeswoman, Tricia McLaughlin.

The Trump administration said the eight migrants had committed “heinous crimes” in the US, including murder, arson and armed robbery.

But the migrants’ lawyers said in a filing to the Supreme Court that many of the detainees had no criminal convictions.

The National Immigration Litigation Alliance, which has represented the plaintiffs, called the court’s ruling “horrifying”.

Its executive director, Trina Realmuto, said the decision exposed their clients to “torture and death”.

Trump brought the case to the justices after a Boston-based appeals court last month declined to block the lower court ruling.

The original intervention by Judge Murphy, a Biden appointee, prompted the US government to keep the migrants in the Horn of Africa nation of Djibouti, where an American military base is located.

US Solicitor General John Sauer told the Supreme Court that immigration agents had “been forced to establish a makeshift detention facility for dangerous criminals” in a converted conference room.

Sauer said the government is often unable to deport violent criminal migrants to their homelands as those countries refuse to take them back, which he said allows them to stay in the US “victimising law-abiding Americans”.

Monday’s decision is another victory for the Republican president in his pursuit of mass deportations.

Last month, the Supreme Court allowed Trump to end Temporary Protected Status for Venezuelan nationals, affecting about 350,000 migrants.

In another ruling in May, the justices said the president could temporarily pause a humanitarian programme that has allowed nearly half a million migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela to stay in the US for two years.

Mr Smith founded the firm in 1973, having previously served in the US Marine Corps. He ran the company as CEO until 2022.

“Fred was more than just the pioneer of an industry and the founder of our great company. He was the heart and soul of FedEx,” current boss Raj Subramaniam wrote in a memo to staff.

Born in 1944, Mr Smith started FedEx with 389 staff and 14 small planes that carried 186 packages from Memphis to 25 cities within the US.

FedEx now has more than 500,000 employees across the globe and delivers millions of packages a day.

Its operations involve 705 aircraft and 200,000 vehicles, according to its website.

“He was a mentor to many and a source of inspiration to all. He was also a proud father, grandfather, husband, Marine, and friend,” Mr Subramaniam said.

Mr Smith joined the US Marine Corps as a second lieutenant after graduating from Yale University.

He served two tours in Vietnam and was awarded medals for bravery and wounds received in combat before leaving the military as a captain in 1969.

Mr Smith used a business theory he developed while at Yale to create what is now known as a hub-and-spoke delivery system.

Such a network relies on coordinated cargo flights centred around a main hub, which Mr Smith set up in Memphis, Tennessee, which remains FedEx’s base.

While well-known in Memphis, Mr Smith lived a life relatively out of the spotlight, although he did make a cameo appearance in the Tom Hanks movie Castaway, in which a FedEx employee is stranded on an island after a plane crash.

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The whole-genome sequencing will screen for hundreds of diseases and allow people to “leapfrog” killer illnesses, according to the Health Secretary, Wes Streeting.

Speaking to the Telegraph, he revealed plans to move the NHS towards a model of sickness prevention rather than treatment.

Personalised medicine, made possible through things like DNA testing, will form a big part of that plan, with £650m pledged to genomics research by the government.

“The revolution in medical science means that we can transform the NHS over the coming decade, from a service which diagnoses and treats ill health to one that predicts and prevents it,” said Mr Streeting in a statement.

“Genomics presents us with the opportunity to leapfrog disease, so we’re in front of it rather than reacting to it.”

The upcoming Life Sciences Sector Plan will be published in early July.

Newborns are currently offered a blood test when they are around five days old to check for nine rare but serious conditions.

In those blood spot tests, the baby’s heel is pricked to collect a few drops of blood on a card, but with whole genome sequencing, blood samples are typically taken from the umbilical cord shortly after birth.

In the past, Mr Streeting has spoken about his desire to make the NHS more preventative, in order to reduce rates of serious illness and save money.

Technologies like artificial intelligence will be used by the health service to predict illness and allow treatment or medication to be offered much earlier.

“With the power of this new technology, patients will be able to receive personalised healthcare to prevent ill health before symptoms begin, reducing the pressure on NHS services and helping people live longer, healthier lives,” said Mr Streeting.

Along with a greater focus on prevention, the Government’s 10-year plan is expected to include Mr Streeting’s two other “shifts” in the NHS: moving care away from hospitals to communities, and from analogue to digital services.

It follows Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ announcement that the Government would increase NHS funding by £29 billion per year in real terms over the next three years as it tries to cut waiting lists in line with its election promises.

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On X, the Pakistani government said Trump deserved the award “in recognition of his decisive diplomatic intervention and pivotal leadership during the recent India-Pakistan crisis”.

India has denied the US served as a mediator to end the fighting last month, and says it does not want any diplomatic intervention from a third party.

Trump has often suggested he should receive the Nobel Peace Prize, whose winner this year will be named in October.

In May, Trump made a surprise announcement of a ceasefire between India and Pakistan following four days of fighting between the nuclear-armed neighbours.

Pakistan’s government said in its post early on Saturday: “President Trump demonstrated great strategic foresight and stellar statesmanship through robust diplomatic engagement with both Islamabad and New Delhi, which de-escalated a rapidly deteriorating situation.

“This intervention stands as a testament to his role as a genuine peacemaker.”

There was no immediate response from Washington or New Delhi.

Trump has repeatedly said that India and Pakistan ended the conflict after a ceasefire brokered by the US, and also that he had used trade as a lever to make them agree.

Pakistan has corroborated US statements about brokering the ceasefire, but India has denied it.

Last month, Trump said he told India and Pakistan that a ceasefire was necessary in order for them to maintain trade with the US.

“I said, ‘Come on, we’re going to do a lot of trade with you guys [India and Pakistan]. Let’s stop it,” he told reporters.

The Nobel move was applauded by Mushahid Hussain, a former chair of the Senate Defence Committee in Pakistan’s parliament.

“Trump is good for Pakistan,” he told Reuters. “If this panders to Trump’s ego, so be it. All the European leaders have been sucking up to him big time.”

But Maleeha Lodhi, Pakistan’s former ambassador to the US, criticised the move as “unfortunate”.

“A man who has backed Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza and called Israel’s attack on Iran as ‘excellent’,” she wrote on X.

“It compromises our national dignity,” she added.

On Friday, Trump posted on Truth Social that he had helped broker negotiations between multiple nations, but despite this: “No, I won’t get a Nobel Peace Prize no matter what I do.”

Trump entered office vowing to quickly end the Russia-Ukraine and Israel-Gaza wars, although peace deals in both conflicts have eluded him so far.

He has frequently criticised Barack Obama for winning a Nobel Peace Prize in 2009 after less than eight months as US president. In 2013, Trump called on the Norwegian Nobel Committee to rescind the award.

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Borno state police spokesperson Nahum Kenneth Daso said in a statement that a woman with an improvised explosive device strapped to her body, infiltrated a crowd at the fish market before detonating it among civilians.

Daso said those injured were taken to hospital.

Local residents said at least 30 people were injured.

Borno state is the heartland of an insurgency – primarily driven by the Islamist armed group Boko Haram – that has been raging for the past 16 years, killing thousands and displacing at least 2 million people, according to aid agencies.

He called on Iran to quickly bring peace or said the US would go after other targets with “speed” and “precision”.

“This cannot continue. There will be either peace or there will be tragedy for Iran, far greater than we have witnessed over the last eight days,” Trump said in an address to the nation from the White House.

Israel initially attacked Iran earlier this month, while the Americans and the Iranians were in nuclear talks. Trump urged Iran to continue negotiations, but on Saturday he went ahead with strikes.

Appearing alongside Vice-President JD Vance, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Trump boasted of the mission’s success.

“Iran’s nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated,” Trump said. “Iran, the bully of the Middle East, must now make peace. If they do not, future attacks would be far greater and a lot easier.”

The Iranians have not yet said exactly what damage the strikes, which occurred in the middle of the night, caused. We do not know the full extent of the damage.

The bombing marked the first time since the Iranian Revolution in1979 that the US sent troops into Iran to strike facilities inside the country.

Using “bunker buster bombs”, the GBU-57A Massive Ordnance Penetrator, the US struck Fordo, Natanz and Esfahan in the middle of the night local time.

During his remarks, Trump described the three targets as the “most difficult” and said that if peace does not “come quickly” the US will go after other sites.

“Remember, there are many targets left,” Trump said. “Tonight was the most difficult of them all by far, and perhaps the most lethal.”

Trump announced the strikes Saturday evening in a post on Truth Social after all US planes were out of Iranian air space. The US reached out to Iran “diplomatically” on Saturday to say the strikes are all it plans to do and that “regime change efforts are not planned”, according to the BBC’s US partner CBS News.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the Trump administration gave him a heads up about the attack.

“President Trump and I often say: ‘Peace through strength.’ First comes strength, then comes peace,” Netanyahu said in remarks after the bombings. “And tonight, president Trump and the United States acted with a lot of strength.”

The conflict ignited on 13 June when Israel surprised Iran with attacks on nuclear and military targets in an effort to destroy Iran’s nuclear capability.

In retaliation, Iran launched hundreds of rockets and drones at Israel, military officials said.

The Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) – a Washington-based human rights organisation that has long tracked Iran – says 657 people have so far been killed. Iran has retaliated with missile attacks on Israel, killing at least 24 people.

Additionally, 10 others were said to have sustained injuries from the explosion.

Confirming the incident, the Kano State Commissioner of Police, Adamu Ibrahim, said the suspected explosion involved an Explosive Ordnance Disposal, EOD, personnel in a military-grade mortar vehicle.

According to him, “I received a call about the incident that had happened. When I arrived, I found that it was a suspected explosion – possibly an EOD on a military mortar bomb vehicle that exploded.

“Fifteen people were affected and rushed to Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital. I rushed to the place and found out that five died and 10 are receiving treatment.

“The case is under investigation, but from the information I got, the vehicle came from Yobe state.

“Preliminary findings suggest the explosive material was being transported by a trailer, but it remains unclear whether the vehicle was carrying military personnel or contractors,” Ibrahim said.

Meanwhile, at the time of filing the report, the authorities have yet to confirm the exact cause of the explosion.

The development has caused panic among residents in the state.

Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met European diplomats in Geneva who urged him to revive diplomatic efforts with the US over his country’s nuclear programme.

His Israeli counterpart, Eyal Zamir, said in a video address that his country should be ready for a “prolonged campaign” and warned of “difficult days ahead”.

Fighting raged into the night with the Israeli military announcing a new wave of attacks against Iranian missile storage and launch infrastructure after Iran launched missiles towards central Israel.

Explosions were heard close to the Israeli city of Tel Aviv. Reports say a building was set on fire in central Israel by falling shrapnel.

Araghchi said Iran was ready to consider diplomacy only once Israel’s “aggression is stopped”.

Iran’s nuclear programme was peaceful, he insisted, and Israel’s attacks violated international law. Iran, he added, would continue to “exercise its legitimate right of self-defence”.

“I make it crystal clear that Iran’s defence capabilities are non-negotiable,” he said.

Israel’s ambassador to the UN accused Iran of having a “genocidal agenda” and posing an ongoing threat, adding that Israel would not stop targeting nuclear facilities until they were “dismantled”.

US President Donald Trump said Iran had a “maximum” of two weeks to avoid possible American air strikes, suggesting that he could take a decision before the 14-day deadline he set on Thursday.

“I’m giving them a period of time, and I would say two weeks would be the maximum,” Trump told reporters.

The aim, he said, was to “see whether or not people come to their senses”.

The US president was also dismissive of the talks between Araghchi and foreign ministers from the UK, France, Germany and the EU.

“Iran doesn’t want to speak to Europe,” Trump said. “They want to speak to us. Europe is not going to be able to help in this.”

UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy said that the US had provided a “short window of time” to resolve the crisis in the Middle East which was “perilous and deadly serious”.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said the ministers had invited the Iranian minister to “consider negotiations with all sides, including the United States, without awaiting the cessation of strikes”.

Barrot added that there could be “no definitive solution through military means to the Iran nuclear problem” and warned that it was “dangerous to want to impose a regime change” in Iran.

Israel was also hit by a new round of Iranian strikes on Friday with the Israeli military reporting an attack of 20 missiles targeting Haifa.

One Israeli woman died of a heart attack, bringing the Israeli death toll since the conflict began to 25.

The Israel Defense Forces said they had attacked ballistic missile storage and launch sites in western Iran.

Over the past week, Israeli air strikes have destroyed Iranian military facilities and weapons, and killed senior military commanders and nuclear scientists.

Iran’s health ministry said on Sunday that at least 224 people had been killed, while a human rights group put the unofficial death toll at 639 on Thursday.

Iran has launched hundreds of ballistic missiles at Israel in response to the air strikes.

In an interview with an Indian news channel, N Chandrasekaran said that both engines of the aircraft had “clean” histories.

“The right engine was a new engine put in March 2025. The left engine was last serviced in 2023 and due for its next maintenance check in December 2025,” he told Times Now channel.

At least 270 people, most of them passengers, were killed last Thursday when AI171, a London-bound Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, crashed less than a minute after taking off from Ahmedabad airport in western India.

Investigators are now sifting through debris and decoding recorded flight data and cockpit audio – from the aircraft’s black boxes which have been found – to reconstruct the flight’s final moments and determine the cause of the incident.

“There are a lot of speculations and a lot of theories. But the fact that I know so far is this particular aircraft, this specific tail, AI171, has a clean history,” Mr Chandrasekaran said, cautioning people against jumping to conclusions.

“I am told by all the experts that the black box and recorders will definitely tell the story. So, we just have to wait for that,” he added.

Kishore Chinta, a former investigator with India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau, told the BBC that the condition of an aircraft engine is not necessarily linked to its age – particularly in the case of the Genx-1B engines used on the Boeing 787-8.

“The age of the engine has no bearing on the health of the engine, especially for the Genx-1B engines,” Mr Chinta said. In other words, just because an engine is new, does not necessarily mean it is healthy, or vice versa.

Unlike older models, the Genx-1B engines, which are made by GE Aerospace, don’t follow a fixed overhaul or maintenance schedule. Instead, they are equipped with a system called the Full Authority Digital Engine Control or FADEC that continuously monitors engine health and performance. The decision to service or replace the engine is based on this data and physical inspections.

However, Mr Chinta pointed out that certain components of the engine, known as Life Limited Parts (LLPs), still have a fixed lifespan, typically between 15,000 and 20,000 cycles.

“Every start and switch-off of the engine counts as one cycle,” he explained.

While the investigation continues, Air India has also announced a 15% cut in its international operations on wide-body aircraft until mid-July as it grapples with the fallout from the crash.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, the airline said the decision was driven by “compounding circumstances” – including enhanced safety checks, increased caution by crew and ground staff and tensions in the Middle East.

Separately, the airline said that inspections have been completed on 26 of its 33 Boeing 787-8 and 787-9 aircraft, all of which have been “cleared for service”.

India’s aviation regulator had ordered additional safety checks on Air India’s Boeing 787 fleet after the deadly crash as a “preventive measure”.

The remaining aircraft are expected to be examined in the coming days, Air India said, adding that the airline’s Boeing 777 fleet would also “undertake enhanced safety checks”.

“The curtailments are a painful measure to take, but are necessary following a devastating event which we are still working through and an unusual combination of external events,” it said.

Meanwhile, some experts say the crash will likely have an impact on Air India as it tries to transform from a troubled state-owned carrier to a privately-owned company.

Tata Sons, a conglomerate which also owns big brands like Tetley Tea and Jaguar Land Rover, bought the airline, formerly India’s national carrier, from the Indian government in 2022.

Arif Ahmed, from the Office for Students (OfS), which regulates universities, told the BBC that exposure to views which students might find offensive was “part of the process of education”.

It comes as the OfS published guidance for universities in England on how a new law, designed to protect free speech, will work when it comes into force from August.

But the National Union of Students UK (NUS UK) said the latest guidance was “just more nonsense playing into the so-called ‘culture wars'”.

NUS UK president Amira Campbell said, “Students and academics overwhelmingly already believe that universities and students’ unions know how to do freedom of speech, and there is already plenty of legislature around the issue”.

“I am disappointed in the governing bodies who have prioritised this over protecting and supporting marginalised students,” she added.

The guidance on the new law was issued after universities requested clarity from the OfS on how to best uphold freedom of speech, after the University of Sussex was fined £585,000 for failing to do so in March.

The university was issued with the fine earlier this year under existing powers, after the OfS said its policy on trans and non-binary equality had a “chilling effect” on freedom of speech.

Kathleen Stock had previously resigned from her post as philosophy professor at the university, following protests by students against her gender-critical views.

The university has begun a legal challenge against the fine, arguing that the investigation was flawed.

Universities UK, which represents 141 institutions, said at the time of the fine that it would write to the OfS to clarify what would represent a breach of freedom of speech rules.

They now say they are “pleased” the OfS has taken on feedback, and would “make sure universities are appropriately supported to comply” with the new rules.

From this summer, the new law will place a stronger responsibility on universities in England to uphold freedom of speech and academic freedom.

The OfS can sanction universities, with the potential for fines to run into millions of pounds, if they are found to have failed to do so.

Almost every aspect of university life – from protests to debates, training and teaching – is covered by the new guidelines on how the law will be applied.

For returning students, or those starting university this year, there may be not be a noticeable immediate change, but Dr Ahmed says the law is about the freedom for anything to be discussed or taught.

Speaking directly to students, the director for free speech said: “You should expect to face views you might find shocking or offensive, and you should be aware that’s part of the process of education.”

He added that students should be able to express any view, no matter how offensive it is to others, as long as it is not outside what is generally allowed by law, such as harassment or unlawful discrimination.

The Union of Jewish Students said it was pleased the guidelines said Holocaust denial was not a form of protected speech under the law, while also ensuring that universities will have to protect students against antisemitic harassment.

‘Be respectful of everyone’s opinions’

Paris and Marie-Louise, who both study mental health nursing at the University of Salford, said they felt that being respectful of others’ opinions is key.

Paris said she thought it was important to be able to “express your emotions and feelings without being disrespectful”, and allow others to do so too.

“I think it’s important to be able to allow other people to express themselves, because at the end of the day everyone’s gone through different situations that may lead to them having different opinions,” she said.

Similarly, Marie-Louise said freedom of speech “doesn’t mean you have to be nasty” or “act out of manner”, but rather “just stay true to yourself”.

In the OfS guidelines, 54 detailed scenarios are used to explore how the new law might be interpreted, with some likely to provoke debate and even controversy.

One looks at “simulated military checkpoints” as part of student protests about Palestine – something that has happened in the United States, but not on campuses in the UK.

The right for peaceful student protests is balanced with universities being able to limit the time and place they happen, in order to ensure no students are intimidated or prevented from attending lectures.

The guidelines also make it clear that any agreements with foreign states that enable censorship on campus must be changed or scrapped.

‘Offensive, shocking, controversial or disturbing’

But not everyone accepts there are serious issues around freedom of expression at universities.

When challenged on the scale of the issue, Dr Ahmed pointed to polling carried out for the OfS, which he said suggests a fifth of academics do not feel free to discuss controversial topics in their teaching.

The issues most frequently highlighted by those expressing concern were race and racism, as well as sex and gender, with women more likely to feel unable to speak out.

The guidelines also make clear that the OfS expects universities to support and protect academics whose views might provoke protest from students, and not to delay speaking up in their defence.

Dr Ahmed told the BBC universities could not sack a lecturer “simply because that person expresses views students find offensive, shocking, controversial or disturbing – and that’s essential to academic freedom.”

Edward Skidelsky, philosophy lecturer at the University of Exeter and director of the Committee for Academic Freedom, said the OfS guidance was “reassuringly robust” and “makes clear that academics and students may not be penalised for speaking their mind”.

What is less clear is what happens when an academic leaves a job because they feel the situation is untenable.

Prof Jo Phoenix won a case for constructive dismissal with the Open University, and a tribunal found she had faced harassment for her gender-critical views.

She said she welcomed the OfS guidance, but said some universities might take more to change their workplace culture, adding: “It’s like bringing a bucket of water to a burning fire.”

Another employment tribunal, due to take place next year, will look at an allegation by a different academic that he was constructively dismissed after students boycotted his teaching over his opinion that racial diversity programmes had gone too far.

In the meantime, the law will come into effect, with a complaints system to follow.

Students will be able to complain to the Office of the Independent Adjudicator if they feel free speech or academic freedom is not upheld, while academics or visiting speakers will go direct to the OfS.

Universities have expressed unease about the new system, pointing out they already have a legal obligation to uphold free speech.

A Universities UK spokesperson said: “We strongly agree that universities must be places where free speech is protected and promoted.”

It added that issues were complex, and said it was pleased the regulator had taken on board feedback on its previous draft guidelines.

A temperature of 32.2 °C was recorded in Kew and Heathrow, London, higher than the previous record for 2025 of 29.4 °C in Suffolk on 13 June.

Suffolk became the first place in the UK to officially enter a heatwave on Thursday after temperatures passed 27C for the third day in a row.

Amber heat health alerts are in place across the whole of England until 09:00 BST on Monday, as the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) warned that increased pressures on health and social care services were likely.

The heat is expected to build towards a high of 33C on Saturday, with central and eastern England seeing the peak temperatures.

Parts of the country could experience “tropical nights” over the weekend, when temperatures remain above 20C, the Met Office said.

Wales saw its hottest day of the year so far on Thursday, with temperatures of 30.2 °C recorded in Trawsgoed and Cardiff. Northern Ireland also registered a new record for 2025 – 25.7 °C in Castlederg.

In Scotland, Glasgow Bishopton reached 24.4C °C – lower than its record for this year of 25.5 °C in May.

For a heatwave to be declared by the Met Office, a threshold temperature needs to be met for at least three consecutive days.

The threshold varies from 25C across the north and west of the UK, to 28C in parts of England.

In Suffolk, where the threshold is 27C, a temperature of 29.3C was recorded in the village of Santon Downham on Thursday. This was the third day in a row the county’s threshold had been breached, resulting in a heatwave being declared.

In London, where the threshold is 28C, a heatwave could be declared on Friday, as the temperature has now passed that figure for two days in a row.

At Royal Ascot, which takes place in Berkshire, outside of London, race organisers confirmed dozens of attendees required medical assistance because of heat-related illness.

The alert system works in conjunction with the Met Office but has a focus on health risks using four levels of warning: green, yellow, amber and red.

An amber warning means the whole health service is likely to be affected by the hot weather.

Among examples given by UKHSA are difficulties managing medicines, the ability of the workforce to deliver services and internal temperatures in care settings exceeding the recommended thresholds.

The agency also refers to a possible rise in deaths, particularly among those aged 65 or over or with health conditions, as well as health risks to the wider population.

The rising temperatures are down to an area of high pressure situated across the UK, which with a south-easterly wind, draws in hot weather from other parts of Western Europe.

Friday will again see temperatures widely in the mid to high twenties across the UK, with a few spots in South East England once again exceeding 30C.

Northern and western parts of the UK will see a slight fall in temperature on Saturday, with the risk of some showers or thunderstorms.

For central and eastern England, Saturday will be the peak in the heatwave with temperatures rising to between 30 and 33C, although the Met Office has suggested the peak could be as high as 34C.

Regional fire services have issued warnings about water safety amid the high temperatures.

Pam Oparaocha, assistant commissioner for prevention and protection at the London Fire Brigade, warned that strong currents, underwater hazards and cold water shock “can be deadly”.

“With warm weather and school holidays on the horizon, we want people, especially young people, to enjoy our waterways safely, and that starts with education,” she added.

“It’s important to know the risks and to familiarise yourself with lifesaving equipment like throwlines, which are available along many of London’s waterways.”

Other organisations have also provided advice over recent days.

British Heart Foundation (BHF) told those with heart conditions to take precautions as high temperatures can put extra strain on the heart.

Age UK encouraged people to check in on older relatives, friends and neighbours.

A change in wind direction to a westerly on Sunday is set to cause the heatwave to break and all parts will be a little cooler.

Although eastern areas won’t be as hot, temperatures will still be in the mid to high twenties.

Climate change is continuing to drive global temperatures upwards and make extreme weather events more likely.

Leading scientists on Thursday warned that there were as little as three years left to limit global warming to 1.5C – the target that had been set by the Paris agreement in 2015.

Nearly 200 countries agreed to try to limit global temperature rises to 1.5C above levels of the late 1800s, with the aim of avoiding some of the worst impacts of climate change.

Last year was the hottest year on record and the first above the threshold – though a single year does not constitute a breach of the agreement.

The Met Office said heatwaves were 30 times more likely to occur than before the industrial revolution – and were projected to become even more common, potentially occurring every other year by the 2050s as greenhouse gas concentrations continue to rise.

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The Home Office said Julius Malema had been deemed “non-conducive to the public good” and that it was “undesirable” to grant him entry.

In a letter released by Malema’s party, the Home Office cited his vocal support for Hamas, including a speech he made after the 7 October attacks in which he said his own party would arm the group if it came to power.

The UK said Malema had made “statements calling for the slaughter of white people [in South Africa] or hinted that it could be an acceptable option in the future”, and also cited this as a reason for its decision.

His Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party, which came fourth in South Africa’s parliamentary election last year, condemned the decision as “cowardice” and said it would stifle democratic debate.

The EFF said the UK had distorted Malema’s views on how the “genuine frustrations of Africans who are excluded [from the economy] at the behest of a white minority may lead to social violence and resistance” in South Africa.

Malema and the party would not “trade” their “revolutionary beliefs in exchange for a visa”, the EFF said.

“The UK and all of its allies can keep their visas, and we will keep our Africa and a commitment to support the oppressed of the world, especially the Palestinian people,” the party added.

Malema featured prominently in a video played last month by President Donald Trump during a visit by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa to the White House.

In the video, Malema is seen singing “Shoot to kill” and “Kill the Boer”, which Trump says incites violence against the ethnic Afrikaner group.

However, South Africa’s Supreme Court of Appeal has ruled that the lyrics do not amount to hate speech and were a “provocative way” of advancing the EFF’s political agenda – which was to end “land and economic injustice” .

The court added that a “reasonably well-informed person” would understand that when “protest songs are sung, even by politicians, the words are not meant to be understood literally, nor is the gesture of shooting to be understood as a call to arms or violence”.

Malema is a fierce critic of what he sees as “Western imperialism”, and advocates the nationalisation of white-owned land in South Africa to address the legacy of colonialism and the racist system of apartheid.

White-minority rule ended in South Africa in 1994, with the rise of Nelson Mandela and his African National Congress (ANC) to power.

This is the second time Malema has been denied entry to the UK in just two months.

The first time the UK government said he had submitted his application too late – this time, a British official in South Africa told the BBC it was a “substantive decision”.

The Home Office said he has no right of appeal and was likely to be denied any future applications, according to the letter released by the EFF.

A Home Office spokesperson told the BBC: “It is our longstanding policy not to comment on individual cases.”

Some of Malema’s critics in South Africa are likely to welcome the UK’s decision, and will hope that he will be more cautious in his public statements in the future.

But his supporters are likely to argue that he is being targeted for expressing views that the UK finds uncomfortable.

Official statistics show that South Africa’s unemployment rate has risen to 33%, with black people being worst-affected.

The EFF’s support-base, made up largely of young people, believes that more radical action is needed to tackle racial inequality and injustices.

The party got less than 10% of the vote in last year’s election, and fell from third to fourth spot after losing support mostly to former President Jacob Zuma’s uMkhonto weSizwe (Spear of the Nation) party.

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The US president held off from initiating strikes in case Iran agreed to abandon its nuclear programme, a senior intelligence source told CBS. Trump is reportedly considering a US strike on Fordo, an underground uranium enrichment facility in Iran.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Wednesday rejected Trump’s demand for unconditional surrender, as the US president said his patience had run out.

On Wednesday, Trump said, “I may do it, I may not do it”, when asked a question about US involvement in Iran.

Khamenei rebuked Trump in Wednesday’s recorded speech, saying that “any US military intervention” would be costly and added: “The Iranian nation will not surrender.”

Trump brushed off the rejection, saying “good luck”, but again declined to disclose his plans. “I mean, nobody knows what I’m going to do,” he said.

“Unconditional surrender – that means I’ve had it.”

The news of Trump backing strike plans was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.

Israel’s military launched more attacks on Iran, hitting missile sites and nuclear facilities. Iran said it had fired hypersonic missiles in response. No serious damage was reported in Israel.

It was Khamenei’s first appearance since Israel launched its pre-emptive strikes on Friday.

Iran’s mission to the United Nations mocked Trump in posts on X: “Iran does NOT negotiate under duress, shall NOT accept peace under duress, and certainly NOT with a has-been warmonger clinging to relevance.

“No Iranian official has ever asked to grovel at the gates of the White House,” it added.

“The only thing more despicable than his lies is his cowardly threat to ‘take out’ Iran’s supreme leader.”

The war of words came as Iranians continued to jam roads out of the capital Tehran, a city of 10 million people, seeking sanctuary from Israeli attacks.

Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, said in a video on Wednesday that his country’s forces were “progressing step by step” towards eliminating threats posed by Iran’s nuclear sites and ballistic missile arsenal.

“We control the skies over Tehran. We are striking with tremendous force at the regime of the ayatollahs. We are hitting the nuclear sites, the missiles, the headquarters, the symbols of the regime,” he said.

Pete Hegseth, Trump’s defence secretary, told a Senate committee that the Pentagon was prepared to execute any order given by Trump.

His comments came amid a build-up of American forces in the Middle East. A carrier strike group led by the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier was steaming from south-east Asia to join another strike group led by the USS Carl Vinson, already in the Gulf.

Various air assets including refuelling tankers were also seen on flight trackers moving from Europe, with reports of F-22 and F-35 strike aircraft following.

The US State Department said Secretary of State Marco Rubio would meet UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy in Washington DC on Thursday, for talks expected to focus on Iran.

The BBC understands that, so far, the US has not made a formal request to use the UK’s military bases in Diego Garcia or Cyprus to conduct strikes against Iran.

Normally, the US would first inform its ally if it intended to conduct offensive operations from those bases. A British source said it was believed “all options” were on the table in Washington but there was no complete picture of America’s intent.

The US embassy in Jerusalem on Wednesday issued an evacuation plan for American citizens currently in Israel. It was unclear how many Americans were seeking to leave Israel or whether the US military would assist with the evacuation flights.

Since it launched its attack on Friday, Israel’s strikes on Iran have killed 585 people, according to Washington DC-based group Human Rights Activists, which said that 239 were civilians and 126 were security personnel.

In retaliation, Iran has fired around 400 missiles at Israel, killing 24 people, all of them civilians, according to Israeli authorities.

Meanwhile, Iranian state TV warned viewers to ignore an “irrelevant” clip calling for the public to “rise up” against the regime, after an apparent hack of its satellite feed.

“If you notice irrelevant messages while watching TV, it is due to the enemy jamming satellite signals,” state TV said.

Hackers apparently broke in and broadcast a video that accused the Iranian establishment of “failing” its own people, called on viewers to “take control of your future”. It featured several clips of mass protests against the regime in 2022.

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In the footage, female staff at Olabisi Onabanjo University in south-western Ogun State are seen touching some students’ chests as they queue to enter an examination hall.

The university has not yet commented on the video, but a student leader defended the bra policy as being part of the institution’s dress code aimed at maintaining “a distraction-free environment”.

However, he acknowledged that other ways were needed to enforce the policy that has been condemned by critics as archaic, sexist and likened to sexual assault.

A senior official at campaign group Human Rights Network told the BBC that students could sue the university for violating their rights.

“Unwarranted touches on another person’s body is a violation and could lead to legal action. The university is wrong to adopt this method to curb indecent dressing,” Haruna Ayagi said.

A student who did not want to be named told the BBC that the university enforced a strict moral code despite not being a religious institution.

She said their clothes were always being checked.

In response to the outcry, the president of the university’s students’ union, Muizz Olatunji, said on X that the university promoted “a dress-code policy aimed at maintaining a respectful and distraction-free environment, encouraging students to dress modestly and in line with the institution’s values”.

He added that the policy was not new, and the union had “engaged with the institution to explore alternative approaches to addressing indecent dressing, focusing on respectful and dignified interactions between students and staff”.

He also published the dress code, which included a ban on any clothes “capable of making the same or opposite sex to lust after the student in an indecent manner”.

The university was founded in 1982 as Ogun State University when Olabisi Onabanjo was state governor. It was renamed after him in 2001.

The main rate of inflation remained at 3.4% in the year to May, the highest for more than a year.

However, food prices grew for the third month in a row, as some economists speculated that businesses were passing on recent increases in employer National Insurance payments to customers.

The rise, along with a higher minimum wage, came into effect in April, after Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced the increases in last October’s Budget aimed at raising £25bn.

Food prices have risen for three months in a row and, at 4.4% in May, are the highest since February last year.

Ruth Gregory, deputy chief economist at Capital Economics, suggested that the increase “perhaps provides a tentative sign that firms are passing on more of April’s rise in National Insurance Contributions in their selling prices”.

The overall pace of price rises in May was the same as in April, following a revision by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

Inflation is above the Bank of England’s target rate of 2%, but it is not expected to cut interest rates from 4.25% when it meets on Thursday.

ONS data revealed that chocolate prices rose by 17.7% in the year to May – the sharpest increase since 2016 when its records began.

Bad weather in cocoa-producing regions such as Ghana and the Ivory Coast has hit harvests.

“These two countries produce well over half of all the cocoa in the world,” said Jonathan Parkman, head of agriculture at Marex, a commodities broker.

He added that problems in Ghana and Ivory Coast also included long-term government mismanagement of the cocoa sector and a surge in disease.

“There is little chance of a fall in chocolate prices this side of Christmas,” he said.

Rising food inflation was partially offset by cheaper travel prices in May.

Air fares fell by 5% between April and May this year compared to a 14.9% rise in the period last year.

The ONS said that the cost of plane tickets fell compared with the large rise last year, “as the timing of Easter and school holidays affected pricing”.

Easter fell at the end of March last year, but in 2025, Easter Sunday was on 20 April.

Commenting on the inflation rate, Chancellor Rachel Reeves said: “This government is investing in Britain’s renewal to make working people better off.”

But shadow chancellor Mel Stride called the latest inflation figures “deeply worrying for families”.

“Labour’s choices to tax jobs and ramp up borrowing are killing growth and stoking inflation – making everyday essentials more expensive,” he said.

Kris Hamer, director of insight at the British Retail Consortium, which represents the sector, said: “Since October, retailers have warned that the costs from the chancellor’s Budget could not be fully absorbed and would inevitably lead to higher prices for shoppers.”

John Roberts, chief executive of AO World, the electrical goods retailer, told the BBC’s Today programme on Wednesday: “If you put taxes on businesses and you put taxes on employment that isn’t a growth engine, it’s as simple as that for me.”

‘Young families now price-check’

Zayna Omer, owner of coffee stand Harbour Grind in Whitstable, told the BBC that business is “good” but she has noticed consumers’ budgets are squeezed.

Customers are not buying as much food from her, opting instead to bring packed lunches when they take a day trip to the Kent seaside town.

“Most people here are retirees, so they have income,” Ms Omer said.

“But the young families, you do notice with them they will price check first or compare prices along the strip, and then come back.”

Ms Omer said hidden costs – such as card machine fees, which cost her about 10p extra per coffee sold – have led to her offering cash customers a small discount.

For now, she will keep her prices as they are. “I’d go out of business if I increase my prices,” she said.

There is concern that inflation could rise if oil prices increase due to the conflict between Israel and Iran.

Disruption to the Strait of Hormuz could lead to “surging oil and shipping costs”, said David Bharier, head of research at the British Chambers of Commerce.

The Strait of Hormuz in southern Iran is an important sea passage for oil shipments from the Gulf.

A fifth of the world’s oil consumption passes through the area every day, and any hint that Iran might block the seaway would send crude prices soaring.

“Many smaller businesses will have little capacity to absorb these pressures,” Mr Bharier said.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei also said Israel made a “huge mistake” by launching the war, in his first comments since Friday.

“Intelligent people who know Iran, the Iranian nation, and its history will never speak to this nation in threatening language because the Iranian nation will not surrender,” he said in a statement read out by a presenter on state TV.

“The Americans should know that any US military intervention will undoubtedly be accompanied by irreparable damage.”

Tehran was preparing missiles and other equipment to strike US bases in the region if Washington joined the war, the New York Times reported, citing US intelligence officials.

On Tuesday the US president, Donald Trump, warned his “patience was growing thin” and demanded Iran’s capitulation in a two-word post on his Truth Social platform: “UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!”

The Trump administration initially distanced itself from the war, saying Israel had acted alone, but in recent days it has stepped up both its rhetoric and its military presence in the region.

Iran’s Fordow nuclear facility is at the heart of demands for the US to join the war, both in Israel and from hawks in Washington. Damage from extensive strikes on other facilities could be repaired within months, both Israeli military officials and nuclear experts say.

Destroying or crippling Fordow would have much more of a long-term impact on Iran’s ability to move towards creating a nuclear bomb.

It is buried deep below a mountain near the holy city of Qom, and the only munitions that could potentially damage or destroy it are the most powerful US bunker buster bombs, which only US B-2 bomber planes can carry.

Israel’s national security adviser, Tzachi Hanegbi, said the war had been an entirely Israeli campaign, but it “will not end without damaging Fordow”, in an interview with Israel’s Channel 12 television.

If the US does not join, Israel might still have military options but they would be riskier and more complicated. It could attempt to fly in special operations troops for a ground operation, like one that targeted a missile factory in Syria last year, or disable Fordow by attacking critical support systems such as its power supply.

Israel says it launched the war in self-defence, to destroy Iran’s nuclear programme, but Netanyahu and several ministers have made no secret of their desire for regime change.

Trump reportedly vetoed an Israeli plan to assassinate Khamenei, and critics have questioned why Israel targeted civilian institutions such as the state broadcaster.

On Wednesday, the defence minister, Israel Katz, said Israel was bombing “symbols of power” in Iran and suggested the regime could be in its last days.

“A tornado is sweeping through Tehran,” he wrote in a post on X. “Symbols of power are being bombed and collapsing, from the broadcasting authority and soon other targets, and masses of residents are fleeing. This is how dictatorships collapse.”

The escalating conflict has prompted a growing international chorus of concern. The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, offered to mediate between Iran and Israel, after one of his top diplomats urged Washington not to consider “speculative options” for intervention.

“This would be a step that would radically destabilise the entire situation,” deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov said, according to the Interfax news agency.

The Chinese president, Xi Jinping, also said on Wednesday he was “deeply worried as Israel’s military operation against Iran has caused a sudden escalation of tensions in the Middle East”.

The Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, had earlier said Iran had a legitimate right to defend itself in the face of Israel’s “thuggery and state terrorism”. He attacked Israel for launching a war while negotiations were still under way.

On a sixth night of attacks, Israel bombed a site that manufactured uranium centrifuges and also said it targeted a missile component factory and destroyed five attack helicopters.

Iran’s military has been battered but not fully destroyed. An advanced Israeli drone was shot down on Wednesday, despite Israel claiming control of the skies over western Iran and Tehran. Overnight Iran fired 15 missiles at Israel.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) confirmed Israeli strikes had hit two centrifuge productions in Iran, one in the capital and another in a city just outside it.

“At the Tehran site, one building was hit where advanced centrifuge rotors were manufactured and tested,” the IAEA said in a social media post. “At Karaj, two buildings were destroyed where different centrifuge components were manufactured.”

Iran has reported at least 224 deaths from Israeli attacks, mostly civilians, although it has not updated that toll for several days. A US-based watchdog, Human Rights Activists in Iran, says at least 585 people have been killed and more than 1,300 injured.

Iranian attacks on Israel have killed 24 people, all civilians. Israeli air defences have intercepted the majority of the 400 missiles fired by Tehran, with only about 10% hitting targets inside the country.

Israel could become more vulnerable if the war continues much longer as supplies of its most effective air-defence missiles are running low, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing a US official.

Its Arrow interceptors are complex missiles that cost several million dollars each, and have a long production process.

Although the US has been supporting Israel’s defences with Thaad ground-based systems, interceptions by F-16 jets and missiles launched by the navy, it does not have unlimited supplies of these defensive systems either.

Iran is still thought to have a substantial proportion of the estimated 2,000 missiles that were in its arsenal at the start of the war. Israeli strikes have focused on launcher systems that are needed to fire them.

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In a forcefully worded statement issued in Accra on Wednesday, June 18, and copied to Myjoyonline, Ambassador Ghomshi said Iran had no choice but to respond after Israeli forces launched a pre-dawn airstrike on Iranian territory on Friday, June 13. The attack, which occurred as Iranians were preparing for a national celebration, killed several civilians, including women and children, and destroyed key infrastructure in densely populated areas.

“The world witnessed once again a military aggression, in violation of all international laws and principles, targeting densely populated cities, residential areas, civilians, urban infrastructure, including energy supply facilities, as well as the peaceful nuclear facilities of our country,” the statement read.

Ambassador Ghomshi described the assault as “a flagrant violation of all international norms and regulations,” particularly highlighting that the attacks targeted Iran’s peaceful nuclear infrastructure—a move he called both reckless and illegal.

“We did not start this war; rather, it was imposed on us through aggressive actions against our country’s territorial integrity,” he stated, accusing Israel of sabotaging Iran’s readiness for a new round of negotiations aimed at addressing global concerns about its nuclear programme in return for lifting sanctions.

He said Iran’s military response, which he characterised as “fierce,” was conducted with “all our own capacities and with the help of God the Almighty,” and would be sustained “resolutely” for as long as necessary.

“Our response to the Zionist regime is legitimate defence in accordance with international law, with reason, and with human logic,” he insisted.

Accusations Against Israel

The Ambassador accused Israel of routinely defying international conventions, pointing out that the country is not a signatory to critical treaties such as the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), and refuses oversight from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

“This regime… possesses nuclear weapons, and openly threatens other countries with their use, [and] should never imagine itself in a position to act as a guarantor of global order or to attack the peaceful nuclear facilities of an NPT member state,” he said.

He further linked the Israeli military action against Iran to what he described as ongoing war crimes in the occupied Palestinian territories.

“We must not forget the crimes currently unfolding in the West Bank and Gaza, simply because another act of aggression is taking place,” he added.

Ambassador Ghomshi condemned what he called the silence and complicity of some Western governments, particularly the United States, saying:

“It is unimaginable that such aggressions and crimes by the Israeli regime could have taken place without the approval and full support of certain Western governments, including the United States of America.”

Call to the International Community

The statement included a pointed call to the United Nations and the broader international community to hold Israel accountable for what he described as repeated illegal acts of aggression.

“If [member states] truly believe in the principles enshrined in the UN Charter… in the prohibition of the use of force… in the rule of law at the international level… in collective security, then they must act now,” he stated.

Ambassador Ghomshi sharply criticised what he described as “ambiguous statements” from the UN and Western nations that place equal blame on Iran and Israel.

“Statements that equate the aggressor with the country under attack and ask Iran to exercise restraint are nothing but hypocrisy, nothing but irresponsibility,” he asserted.

Tribute and Determination

He ended the statement by extending condolences to the victims’ families and hailing the resilience of the Iranian people.

“The memory of each and every one of these dear ones will forever live on in the proud history of Iran,” he said. “Iran remains determined to exercise its right to self-defence, fully protect its sovereignty, citizens, and national security by utilising all its defensive capabilities.”

Background

The Israeli airstrike that prompted Iran’s response marked a major escalation in the already tense relationship between the two long-time adversaries. According to reports from international agencies, the Israeli bombardment resulted in at least 45 civilian deaths and damaged energy infrastructure and nuclear facilities in the cities of Isfahan and Natanz.

Iran’s response — a series of drone and missile strikes on Israeli military installations — caused extensive damage, though the full scale of casualties on both sides remains unclear. The situation has reignited concerns about a wider regional conflict, especially as tensions persist in Gaza and the West Bank, where over 36,000 Palestinians are reported to have been killed since October 2023.

Ambassador Ghomshi’s statement came not long after the Israeli Ambassador to Ghana granted an interview on JoyNews defending his country’s actions — a sign of the intensifying diplomatic contest to shape global opinion amid growing calls for de-escalation.

Speaking Tuesday night on Joy News’ PM Express, he described Israel’s retaliatory strikes on Iranian military targets last Friday as part of a broader and deeply entrenched strategy of controlling the global narrative.

“Without a doubt,” Mr Bombande said, “it underscores their sense of entitlement—to the extent that they have become very sophisticated in orchestrating how, as an aggressor, they are always a victim.”

The former Deputy Foreign Minister added, “Everybody must see it the way they see it, but they are not prepared to see it the other way around.”

Mr Bombande’s remarks followed Israel’s long-anticipated military attacks on Iran, which killed several high-ranking military officials.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed that the strikes would continue “as long as necessary,” escalating fears of a full-blown regional war.

While careful not to delve into the specifics of Israel’s military strategy, Mr Bombande argued that the narrative surrounding the attacks often shields Israel from scrutiny and undermines prospects for honest mediation.

“I will not go into those in detail,” he said, “but our abstention [in the UN votes] must be understood in the context of Ghana’s historical stance of positive neutrality.”

He stressed that Ghana’s foreign policy since independence has always favoured mediation over militarism, especially in moments of global crisis.

“Basically, the antecedents of our foreign policy are that when there is a global crisis such as the one we have, Ghana wants to mediate and be an intermediary,” Mr Bombande noted.

He warned that the current escalation in the Middle East poses serious risks for developing nations like Ghana, which are only beginning to recover from economic turbulence.

“We understood right at our independence that when there is instability globally, it directly impacts our capacity to attain our vision of economic development,” he explained.

Mr Bombande cautioned that while African nations may appear distant from the theatre of war, the ripple effects are immediate and dangerous.

“We are a developing country—and so is much of Africa—so you do not want the destabilisation of various aspects of our global landscape that now puts pressure on our capacity to pursue our vision,” he said.

He pointed to recent economic indicators showing signs of recovery in Ghana.

“You are making those observations with my good brother here before we started the programme,” he said to host Evans Mensah. “We are coming out of a situation in which the economist will tell you we are beginning to look on the brighter side. The downgrading of some of our indicators is being reversed.”

“The last thing we need,” he warned, “is the type of instability that now draws us back to where we came from—and we do not want to be there again.”

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It noted that this significant demographic shift presents an unparalleled opportunity, requiring renewed commitment and collective accountability from all partners to invest in the continent’s youngest generation.

A statement issued by UNICEF Ghana to mark the Day of the African Child indicated that in Ghana, the demographic trend holds particular significance, as children currently make up approximately 45 per cent of the population.

This, the statement said, underscores the vital local relevance of the Day of the African Child’s objectives and the critical need for collaborative efforts to secure Ghana’s future.

“This Day of the African Child is more than just a commemoration; it’s a critical call to action,” said Mr. Osama Makkawi Khogali, UNICEF Country Representative in Ghana.

“We face an urgent need to invest in foundational learning, health, nutrition, protection, digital inclusion, and job-readiness. Equipping this generation is essential not just for them to survive, but to truly thrive. Africa’s future is global, and immediate, bold action from all of us is imperative,” he added.

The annual observance, held on June 16, honours the courageous students who participated in the 1976 Soweto Uprising in South Africa, protesting educational injustices.

The day remains a powerful reminder of the ongoing need to champion the rights and welfare of all African children, as outlined in the 48 articles of the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child.

The statement noted that the Day of the African Child serves as a reminder for governments, communities, and individuals to renew their commitment and shared responsibility to ensure every African child—particularly those in Ghana—has access to quality education, healthcare, protection, dignity, opportunity, and a safe environment.

It emphasised that investing in Ghana’s children, along with others across Africa, is paramount to national development and, by extension, the future of the world.

UNICEF is the world’s leading child rights organisation, operating in over 190 countries and territories to reach every child, everywhere. It is committed to protecting and promoting the rights of all children, including their right to health and survival.

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Trump had already twice granted a reprieve from enforcement of a congressionally mandated ban on TikTok that was supposed to take effect in January.

“President Trump will sign an additional executive order this week to keep TikTok up and running,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday.

That would extend the deadline to mid-September.

“President Trump does not want TikTok to go dark,” she added, saying the administration will spend the next three months making sure the sale closes so that Americans can keep using TikTok with the assurance that their data is safe and secure.

Trump said in May he would extend the June 19 deadline after the app helped him with young voters in the 2024 election.

Earlier on Tuesday, he had told reporters on Air Force One he expected to again extend the deadline.

“Probably, yeah,” Trump said when asked about extending the deadline. “Probably have to get China approval but I think we’ll get it. I think President Xi will ultimately approve it.”

The law required TikTok to stop operating by January 19 unless ByteDance had completed divesting the app’s U.S. assets or demonstrated significant progress toward a sale.

Trump began his second term as president on January 20 and opted not to enforce it. He first extended the deadline to early April, and then again last month to June 19.

In March, Trump said he would be willing to reduce tariffs on China to get a deal done with TikTok’s Chinese parent ByteDance to sell the short video app used by 170 million Americans.

A deal had been in the works this spring that would spin off TikTok’s U.S. operations into a new U.S.-based firm and majority-owned and operated by U.S. investors, but it was put on hold after China indicated it would not approve it following Trump’s announcements of steep tariffs on Chinese goods.

Democratic senators argue that Trump has no legal authority to extend the deadline, and suggest that the deal under consideration would not meet legal requirements.

That’s how long Air India Flight 171 was airborne before it plunged into a densely populated neighbourhood in Ahmedabad in one of India’s rarest aviation disasters in recent memory.

Investigators now face the grim task of sifting through the wreckage and decoding the cockpit voice and flight data recorders of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner to piece together what went catastrophically wrong in the seconds after take-off.

Under international rules set by the UN aviation body ICAO, a preliminary investigation report should be released within 30 days, with the final report ideally completed within 12 months.

The London Gatwick-bound aircraft, piloted by Captain Sumeet Sabharwal and co-pilot Clive Kundar, lifted off from the western Indian city of Ahmedabad at 13:39 local time [08:09 GMT] on Thursday, with 242 people and nearly 100 tonnes of fuel on board.

Within moments, a mayday call crackled from the cockpit. It would be the last transmission. This was followed by a loss of altitude and a crash engulfed in flames.

Captain Kishore Chinta, a former investigator with India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), calls this “the rarest of the rare” crashes – a controlled flight into terrain just 30 seconds after take-off. “To my knowledge, nothing quite like this has ever happened,” he told the BBC.

Did both engines fail due to bird strikes or fuel contamination? Were the flaps improperly extended, reducing lift on a heavily loaded jet in extreme heat? Was there a maintenance error during engine servicing? Or did an inadvertent crew action cut off fuel to both engines?

Investigators will be probing all these possibilities – and more. Air crash investigations rely on triangulation and elimination – matching physical evidence from the wreckage with recorded aircraft performance data to build a coherent picture of what went wrong.

Every scorched cable, damaged turbine blade, aeroplane maintenance log, and signals and sounds from the flight data and cockpit voice recorders – the so-called “black box” – will be examined. The BBC spoke to accident experts to understand how the investigation will proceed.

Critically, the first clues on the ground may come from the wreckage of the two engines, at least three investigators said.

“You can tell from the damage whether the engines were generating power at impact – turbines fracture differently when spinning at high speed,” says Peter Goelz, a former managing director of US’s National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). “That’s the first clue to what went wrong.”

Turbines are crucial rotating components that play a key role in extracting energy to generate thrust.

“If the engines weren’t producing power, investigators have a serious case on their hands – and the focus will shift sharply to the cockpit.”

What happened in the cockpit will be revealed by the Boeing 787’s Enhanced Airborne Flight Recorders (EAFRs) – or the “black boxes” – which, investigators say, will help tell the story. (Indian officials say the recorders have been recovered from the crash site.)

These devices capture extensive flight data and cockpit audio, from pilot radio calls to ambient cockpit sounds. Voice recordings come from individual pilot mics, radio transmissions and an area microphone that picks up background noise in the cockpit.

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

“If the flight data recorder shows the engines were making full power, then the attention will move to the flaps and slats. If they are found to be extended as needed, then it becomes a very difficult investigation,” says Mr Goelz.

Flaps and slats increase lift at lower speeds, helping an aircraft take off and land safely by allowing it to fly slower without stalling.

“If [the trail leads] to a problem in the flight management control system, that would raise serious concerns – not just for Boeing, but for the entire aviation industry.”

The Boeing 787’s flight management control system is a highly automated suite that manages navigation, performance and guidance. It integrates data from a number of sensors to optimise the aircraft’s flight path and fuel efficiency.

With over 1,100 Boeing 787s flying worldwide since 2011, investigators must determine whether this was a systemic issue that could affect the global fleet – or a one-off failure unique to this flight, experts say. “If it points to a system problem, then the regulatory bodies have to make some tough decisions very quickly,” says Mr Goelz.

So far, there is no indication of fault on anyone’s part. India’s civil aviation ministry said on Tuesday that a recent inspection of Air India’s Boeing 787 fleet – 24 of 33 aircraft have been checked so far – “did not reveal any major safety concern,” adding that the planes and maintenance systems complied with existing standards.

Boeing President and CEO Kelly Ortberg said on 12 June: “Boeing will defer to India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) for information on Air India Flight 171, in line with UN ICAO protocol.”

Decoding of the data at the AAIBlab in Delhi will be led by Indian investigators, with experts from Boeing, engine-maker GE, Air India and Indian regulators. Investigators from the NTSB and UK will also be participating.

“In my experience, teams can usually determine what happened fairly quickly,” Mr Goelz says. “But understanding why it happened can take much longer.”

The wreckage may yield other clues. “Every part – wire, nut, bolt – will be meticulously collected,” says Mr Chinta.

Typically, wreckage is moved to a nearby hangar or secure facility, laid out to identify the nose, tail and wingtips, and then pieced together. In this case, depending on what the flight data and voice recorders reveal, a full reconstruction may not be necessary, investigators say.

The importance of wreckage varies by accident, say investigators. For Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, shot down over eastern Ukraine in July 2014, it was crucial – reconstruction of the nose revealed clear shrapnel damage from a Russian-made missile.

In the wreckage, investigators will also examine fuel filters, lines, valves and residual fuel to check for contamination – something that’s easy to detect or rule out, a crash investigator who preferred to remain unnamed, said. Also, he believed that the refuelling equipment used before departure “has likely been quarantined and already inspected”.

That’s not all. Investigators will gather maintenance and fault history records from the airline and Boeing’s ACARS (Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting system) which transmits data via radio or satellite to both Boeing and Air India, says Mr Chinta.

They will review all flights operated by the aircraft and the crew over recent months, along with the technical log of pilot-reported faults and corrective actions taken before release of aircraft to service.

Investigators will also examine pilot licenses, training records, simulator performance and instructor remarks – including how pilots handled scenarios like engine failures in advanced flight simulators. “I reckon Air India would have already provided these records to the investigation team,” says Mr Chinta.

Investigators will review the service history of all components of the aircraft that were removed and replaced, examining reported defects for any recurring issues – or signs of problems that could have affected this flight.

“These investigations are extraordinarily complex. They take time, but there will be early indicators of what likely went wrong,” says Mr Goelz.

A big reason is how far technology has come. “One of the first accidents I investigated in 1994 had a flight data recorder tracking just four parameters,” he says.

“Today’s recorders capture hundreds – if not thousands – every second. That alone has transformed the way we investigate crashes.”

Dr. Vines cautions that vital sectors such as oil, gold, and international travel are at serious risk.

Speaking on Joy News’ PM Express on Tuesday, he told host Evans Mensah that Ghana and other African economies are far from insulated from the shockwaves of the renewed Middle East hostilities.

“It impacts supply chains. It impacts the price of oil… It impacts the price of gold. It disrupts travel,” he said.

His comments came days after Israel launched coordinated military strikes against Iran, killing senior officials and hitting key infrastructure targets, in what Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed would continue “as long as necessary.”

Dr. Vines stressed that although Ghana is thousands of miles away, the fallout is immediate and inevitable.

From rising petroleum costs to volatility in gold prices—both critical to Ghana’s economy—the nation will feel the impact.

“So Ghana’s struck. The African continent is not immune by any means to what’s going on in the Middle East.”

The implications go beyond economics. Ghanaian travellers, especially those connecting through or near the conflict zones, are now at risk.

“If Ghanaians are going through the Middle East on travel, that will be disrupted. Flights that go near Iran at the moment or near Israel are being disrupted,” Dr. Vines added.

He also pointed to global entanglements, linking the Israel-Iran conflict to other major crises such as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which triggered global spikes in fuel and commodity prices.

“This overlaps with all the conflicts that we’ve also seen elsewhere. The Ukraine-Russia one is also one that has inflated the price of commodities. It’s impacted the price of fuel.”

Dr. Vines emphasized that in a globalised world, Ghana cannot afford to sit on the sidelines of international security threats.

“We are interconnected… Ghana can’t ignore this. Just as I can’t in my own country here in the UK.”

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According to court documents obtained by multiple outlets, Dixon first met Perry at a studio event in Atlanta. Perry offered him a small part in Ruthless before inviting him to his home in January 2020. Dixon says he drank too much and slept in a guest room, only to wake to Perry climbing into his bed and touching his thighs. Although Dixon rejected the advance that night, he soon secured a more prominent role on The Oval. Dixon alleges that Perry began sending suggestive texts and used Dixon’s character arc as leverage.

The lawsuit describes messages such as “No straight man would be going on walks with you or cooking dinner for you unless they wanted to f**k you. I would f**k you.” Dixon says he feared losing his job if he refused Perry’s advances.Matters escalated during a second visit to Perry’s Atlanta home when Perry allegedly asked Dixon “if you like it rough in bed” then grabbed him by the throat.

The most serious incident occurred in June 2021, when Dixon claims Perry entered his guest house bedroom, yanked down his underwear, groped his buttocks and coerced him with “Relax and just let it happen.” After enduring two more years of harassment, Dixon filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in June 2024 and left The Oval. He says the end of his role cost him nearly $400,000 in earnings. His lawsuit accuses Perry and Tyler Perry Studios of quid pro quo harassment, sexual assault and battery, and seeks $260 million in damages.

Tyler Perry’s attorney Matthew Boyd dismisses the claims as “fabricated” and suggests Dixon’s true motive is financial gain. “This is an individual who got close to Tyler Perry for what now appears to be nothing more than setting up a scam,” Boyd said in a statement.

Dixon’s lawyer Jonathan J. Delshad responded that the lawsuit “speaks for itself,” leaving the matter poised for a high‑stakes legal battle that could have major implications for one of Hollywood’s most prolific creators.

The suspension comes as tensions are rising between the West African country’s leader, Faure Gnassingbe and the opposition.

Gnassingbe received in May a powerful new role of President of the Council of Ministers which has no fixed term limit.

Two opposition parties – the Democratic Forces for the Republic and the National Alliance for Change – called this move a “constitutional coup” that could extend his rule for life.

RFI and France 24 have been covering opposition protests against the new constitution that created Gnassingbe’s new role.

“A number of recent broadcasts have relayed inaccurate, tendentious and even factually incorrect statements, damaging the stability of republican institutions and the country’s image,” Togo’s communications authority said in a statement.

In a joint statement, both outlets reaffirmed their commitment to journalistic principles and said that their management was willing to clear up any misunderstanding with the authority.

Initial fears of a broader regional conflict sent Brent crude soaring 7% to $74 a barrel. But markets have since reassessed the threat.

Prices have now eased slightly to $73, a sign that traders are betting against immediate escalation. The cedi, which slipped from GH¢10.25 to GH¢10.35 per dollar on Friday after Israel’s strike, also regained some ground, ending Monday at GH¢10.30.

That slight appreciation points to easing market anxiety. Gold, which surged to $3,432 on Friday as investors rushed to hedge against risk, also cooled, slipping to $3,395 on Monday.

That suggests investors are pulling back from safe-haven bets, for now.

Neither Iran’s key energy infrastructure for exports nor the Strait of Hormuz — a narrow shipping lane that handles 20% to 25% of global oil — has been seriously disrupted at the moment. Crude shipments passed through the Strait freely on Monday.

Fears that other oil producers in the region, such as Saudi Arabia, would be drawn into the conflict or come under attack have also not materialised.

Despite Tehran’s retaliatory drone launches, the worst-case scenarios that rattled markets appear to be off the table, at least temporarily.

However, given the continued uncertainty in the Middle East, oil tankers are reportedly charging higher risk premiums for shipments through the region.

That means oil prices are likely to remain slightly elevated, even without a major supply disruption, until the conflict clearly de-escalates.

OPEC+ production remains elevated. Some members are still pumping above their agreed quotas, while global oil demand in the second half of 2025 remains soft.

Supply-side abundance and muted consumption are combining to keep crude prices from climbing further.

This supports analysis by JoyNews Research over the weekend, which projected downward pressure barring a dramatic escalation.

Ghana is cautiously exhaling. Higher crude prices would have rippled across the economy, raising transport fares, pushing up food and imported inflation, and placing fresh pressure on the cedi.

See JoyNews Research’s breakdown on why Ghana is vulnerable to oil price shocks from the Israel–Iran conflict.

The Energy and Finance Ministries’ joint decision to suspend the proposed additional GH₵1 per litre fuel levy was timely as it shielded consumers from further volatility.

But this episode underscores just how exposed Ghana remains to global oil markets.

Despite repeated shocks in recent years, Ghana has failed to build meaningful buffers. Strategic reserves are nonexistent. According to a former BOST managing director, the levy that once funded such stockpiles was zeroed out in 2006.

No major effort has since been made to rebuild inventories. Refineries like the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) remain underutilised, and crude oil output has declined for five consecutive years.

This near-miss should serve as a wake-up call. Ghana must treat energy security as a structural priority. Stockpiling petroleum products when oil prices are low, ramping up local crude oil production, and restoring oil refinery capacity are urgent.

Until then, the country remains one headline away from another fuel price shock.

Crude prices may be falling back to pre-Israel–Iran war levels. However, as long as the conflict continues, Ghana is not out of the woods.

Oil markets seem calm for now. But with no buffers in place, Ghana remains one geopolitical shock away from renewed volatility.

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Speaking on PM Express on Monday, June 16, the ambassador said Israel’s recent missile attacks on Iran were necessary and long overdue.

“The answer is quite simple,” he said when asked why Israel had launched missiles into Iran.

“Whenever your enemy clearly declares his will and wish to get rid of you, to annihilate you, to destroy you, to erase you from the face of the earth—as the Iranian leaders have done since February 1979—that’s when we become worried.”

He warned that Iran’s threat to Israel is both ideological and technological.

“We have many enemies who would like to erase us from the face of the earth but do not have the ability. We have states that have the ability but do not want to. But when we have an enemy that has both—this is when we become worried,” he stressed.

The ambassador confirmed that the latest strikes on Iranian territory were carefully targeted at military and government sites. Several high-ranking Iranian officers were reportedly killed. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to continue the offensive “as long as necessary.”

Roey Gilad echoed that sentiment and noted growing internal support for the strikes.

“Israelis are very opinionated people. It’s very hard to find consensus. But now there is consensus that this was the right thing to do. The only discussion is whether we should have done it earlier.”

He said the immediate trigger was Iran’s rapid military buildup.

“They have enriched uranium up to 60%, which is enough for nine nuclear bombs. And they are developing, as you can see now, between 2,000 and 3,000 ballistic missiles.
They’ve already launched 200 against Israel. That caused significant damage. That has to be said.”

Asked if the strikes were strictly about the nuclear threat, the ambassador explained that it was a combination of threats.

“It’s two things. It’s the nuclear threat. And it’s the missile threat. The ability and the will together—that’s the danger.”

Ambassador Gilad was blunt about the stakes involved.

“We are not playing games. We are fighting for survival. If you know your enemy wants to destroy you and is getting closer to doing so, you do not wait for the final blow.”

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During jury selection, the juror indicated on a questionnaire that he lived in the Bronx area of New York. But more recently, he told a court staffer he had moved in with his girlfriend in New Jersey.

On Friday, Judge Arun Subramanian said he had found “several inconsistencies” between the juror’s answers in court transcripts, which he said could suggest a desire to “be deceptive” in an effort to get on the jury.

Lawyers for Combs had opposed the decision, saying that Combs would be “substantially prejudiced by the dismissal” of a black male from the jury.

The juror has been replaced by an alternative juror, a 57-year-old white father from Westchester.

Combs, 55, has pleaded not guilty to charges of sex trafficking, racketeering and transportation to engage in prostitution.

The possible dismissal of the juror has been discussed by lawyers for the past week.

Lead prosecutor Maurene Comey had asked that a juror be dismissed for what she described as “a lack of candour”.

The prosecution said the juror had disclosed that he recently moved to New Jersey with his girlfriend and had been staying there for most of the trial.

When he was questioned behind closed doors, the juror said he was staying in an apartment in the Bronx, New York, during the week, for four to five nights, when he was working and doing jury duty.

But the juror had said at an earlier stage, in a prospective juror interview several weeks ago, that he lived in the Bronx with his fiancée and daughter.

At one point, the juror had also mentioned living with an aunt, but later omitted her.

The judge said he had found “several inconsistencies” between the juror’s answers in the court transcripts.

The inconsistencies, the judge said, could point to a desire to “shade answers” and raised serious questions about the juror’s “candour” and his “ability to follow instructions”.

The judge noted that there were six alternative jurors to preserve the “integrity” of the court. “Removal of the juror is required, in this court’s view,” the judge said.

One of Combs’ lawyers, Xavier Donaldson, objected to the judge’s inclination, saying it is “very, very common” for New Yorkers to move between the city and New Jersey.

He said he believed the court is “equating inconsistencies with lying.”

“I do believe he will be able to follow instructions,” Donaldson said, adding that Juror No. 6 has been “awake – I can’t say they all have been awake”.

The defence’s main objection related to the juror’s race, with Donaldson noting that the trial’s jury was the most diverse he had seen in his three-decade career.

“That part is important to me and my client,” Donaldson said, adding that if the court were to dismiss the juror, it would be “a step backwards.”

“I don’t generally play the race card unless I have it in my hand,” Donaldson said.

Combs’s legal team had requested a mistrial should the juror be dismissed.

‘Wonderful thing’

Federal prosecutors rejected the implication that they were making decisions based on race, commenting that it was a “wonderful thing” that the jury was diverse.

The judge said the jury in the trial does not raise concerns about diversity, adding: “The court cannot and should not let race factor into what it should do.”

On Monday, the judge said: “There is nothing the juror can say at this point that can put the genie back in the bottle and repair his credibility.”

Eight men and four women were selected for the jury, along with six alternates. The trial is in its sixth week.

The prosecution plans to finish presenting its case this week, at which point the defence will have the chance to call its own witnesses.

The Grammy-winning star performed to thousands of fans at Manchester’s Co-op Live arena on Sunday, with a string of stadium dates to follow in other cities.

On Friday, he will appear in court in London for the latest hearing after he was charged with grievous bodily harm over an alleged assault in a nightclub in 2023. The 36-year-old, who is free on £5m bail, has not yet been asked to enter a plea.

“Thank you for coming and supporting me,” he said to fans in Manchester. “And thank you to the jail,” he joked, referring to a spell in custody after his arrest. “It was really nice.”

A video montage was shown of his career highs and lows, including brief clips of TV news footage from outside the Manchester court after he was arrested, which was met by a supportive roar from his loyal fans.

The star is accused of inflicting an “unprovoked attack” on a music producer with a tequila bottle at a nightclub in London while on his last UK tour in 2023.

He was arrested when he returned to the country a month ago, when detectives from London’s Metropolitan Police travelled to the hotel in which he was staying in Salford, Greater Manchester.

He was held in custody for almost a week, before being released after agreeing to pay a £5m security fee to the court.

A security fee is a financial guarantee to ensure a defendant returns to court. Mr Brown could be asked to forfeit the money if he breaches bail conditions.

However, the judge agreed that the singer could go ahead with his tour as part of his bail conditions, and he played the first night in Amsterdam last weekend.

The singer’s Breezy Bowl XX tour is marking 20 years in the music industry.

He came on stage in Manchester to screams from the sold-out crowd and opened the show with Run It, the breakthrough hit that made his name when he was 16.

In total, he has had 19 singles in the UK top 10, and played most of them on Sunday, including hits like Turn Up The Music, Freaky Friday, With You and Don’t Wake Me Up.

Last week, he won the prize for best male R&B/pop artist at the BET Awards in Los Angeles.

After performing a second night in Manchester on Monday, he will move on to Cardiff’s Principality Stadium on Thursday.

He will then appear at court on Friday with his co-defendant, Omololu Akinlolu, a 38-year-old who performs under the name HoodyBaby, also from the US.

After the hearing, Mr Brown is scheduled to play at London’s Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday and Sunday, before further stadium shows in Birmingham and Glasgow, and two more arena dates in Manchester.

Israel and Iran exchanged strikes overnight into Monday, as fighting between the two countries entered its fourth day.

The conflict began on Friday when Israel attacked nuclear and military sites in Iran. Iran retaliated with aerial attacks targeting Israel.

More than 220 people have been killed in Israeli strikes so far, according to Iran’s health ministry, while Israel says Iranian attacks have killed 24 people.

Here is what we know.

Unlike the dozens of political activists abducted by suspected security agents over the last year, the 31-year-old schoolteacher was taken to a police station, and officers shared their phone numbers with his family.

“When they came, they were so soft. They were not violent,” said Nevnine Onyango, who was present when the officers arrived, accusing her husband of insulting their “boss”. “So that is what gave me even more confidence.”

The next morning, a family member called with the news that Ojwang, the father of their three-year-old son, was dead.

In the week since, the blogger’s death has become a lightning rod in a nation just one year removed from mass youth-led protests that were fuelled, in part, by disgust at pervasive police violence.

Hundreds took to the streets of the capital Nairobi this week, with vehicles set ablaze and the police responding with teargas.

Demonstrators cited Ojwang’s death as evidence that nothing had changed one year after more than 60 people were killed during protests initially sparked by proposed tax hikes.

Ojwang was arrested in Homa Bay, in western Kenya, as part of an investigation triggered by a formal complaint from the deputy chief of the national police force, Eliud Lagat, according to the Independent Policing Oversight Authority, Kenya’s government-funded police watchdog.

Lagat had stated he was the target of alleged false and malicious information published on the social media platform X, IPOA said.

Kenya’s police chief initially implied that Ojwang had died by suicide but later apologised after an autopsy found that his wounds – including a head injury, neck compression and soft tissue damage – pointed to assault as the cause of death.

President William Ruto said on Wednesday that Ojwang had died “at the hands of the police”, which he said was “heartbreaking and unacceptable”.

Three people have so far been arrested in the case: the policeman in charge of the police station in Nairobi where Ojwang was found dead, a police constable and a closed-circuit television technician at the station.

Reuters was not able to reach Lagat for comment. A police spokesperson said Ojwang’s death resulted from a crime committed by “a couple of individuals” who are not representative of the national police service.

“We want to see justice served,” the spokesperson said.

SUPPOSED TO PROTECT, NOT HARM

It is not clear what Ojwang posted that got the attention of the police. His social media accounts no longer appear to be active.

According to IPOA, which is investigating his death, Lagat’s complaint triggered a probe that led to the arrest of another blogger.

Interrogations of that blogger identified Ojwang as a person of interest, IPOA said.

And so, last Saturday at lunchtime, police officers arrived at Ojwang’s home on motorcycles.

“There are some remarks that he had made about their boss, that the boss is corrupt,” his wife Onyango said they told him. They did not identify their boss.

They first took Ojwang to the local police station before telling his family they would transfer him to Nairobi, nearly 300 km (185 miles) away, she said.

She last heard from him at around 9 p.m. (1800 GMT) the Saturday of his arrest when he called her from Nairobi’s Central Police Station. She said he sounded worried and asked if she would be able to come to the city.

Onyango is now hoping for answers – and accountability – from IPOA’s investigation.

“We always see these things on television, and it actually reached my door,” she said of police abuses. “These people are supposed to protect us. They’re not supposed to harm us.”

ALSO READ:

• Kenyan blogger was hit and assaulted to death, autopsy reveals

• Kenya’s Ruto says blogger died at hands of police, shifting official account

The London-bound Air India aircraft, a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, crashed soon after taking off on Thursday from the western Indian city of Ahmedabad. At least 270 people have been killed, most of them passengers.

The CVR captures audio from the cockpit, including pilot conversations, alarms and ambient sounds.

The flight data recorder (FDR), which logs crucial flight parameters like altitude, speed and engine performance, had been recovered from the debris on Friday.

Both the CVR and FDR collectively form what is commonly known as the “black box” of a plane. It is a vital tool in air crash investigations, helping experts reconstruct the flight’s final moments and determine the cause of the incident.

The black box, unlike the name suggests, is actually two bright orange devices – one for the CVR and the other for the FDR – painted with reflective strips for easier recovery after a crash. Both these devices are designed to survive a crash.

India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) is leading the inquiry into the cause of the crash, helped by teams from the US and the UK.

On Sunday, officials from the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) surveyed the site of the plane crash.

“The AAIB has launched a detailed investigation, and the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is conducting a parallel probe under international protocols, since the aircraft is American-made,” a statement released on Sunday said.

Indian media outlets have reported, citing sources, that officials from Boeing and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) – the US aviation safety agency – also visited the site.

Separately, a high-level committee set up by the Indian government to examine the reasons behind the crash is expected to hold its first meeting on Monday.

The committee will submit a preliminary report within three months, the All India Radio said, and will propose new standard operating procedures (SOPs) to help prevent similar incidents in future.

As the investigation continues, families on the ground are still grappling with disbelief and trauma.

Less than a minute after taking off from Ahmedabad’s Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport, the AI171 flight crashed into a doctors’ accommodation building at the BJ Medical College and Civil Hospital.

All but one of the 242 passengers and crew members were killed. Officials have also been trying to establish how many people were killed on the ground and continuing the slow process of matching DNA samples to confirm the victims’ identities.

Over the weekend, doctors said 270 bodies had been recovered from the site of the crash.

More than 90 victims have been identified through DNA matching, Dr Rajnish Patel of Ahmedabad’s Civil Hospital said on Monday. He added that 47 of the identified bodies have been sent to their families.

Among the identified victims is Vijay Rupani, the former chief minister of Gujarat, whose funeral will be held on Monday. Rupani, whose political career spanned more than 50 years, will be laid to rest with full state honours in Rajkot city.

For many other families, the agonising wait continues.

Officials told the BBC that the identification process has been slow and painstaking, as many of the bodies were badly burned in the crash and are being processed in small batches.

Mistry Jignesh, waiting outside the hospital for updates on his niece, told the BBC on Saturday that officials told him that it might take longer for them to hand over his niece’s remains as the search for bodies is still ongoing.

He had earlier been told that the body would be handed over by Sunday, after the 72 hours it normally takes to complete DNA matching.

“When people are still missing, how can they complete the DNA process by tomorrow? What if my niece’s remains haven’t even been found? The wait is killing us,” he said.

ALSO READ:

• London-bound flight with 242 passengers crashes after takeoff in Ahmedabad
• British man is only passenger to survive India plane crash

History may now be repeating itself, with blame shifting from Europe to the Middle East.

On Friday, June 14, Israel launched unprovoked airstrikes on Iran. The targets included senior military officials, nuclear sites, and missile infrastructure.

The assault follows nearly two decades of Israeli warnings over Iran’s uranium enrichment, which it says is central to a nuclear weapons programme.

Israel has long maintained it would not allow Iran to acquire that capability.

Iran insists its programme is peaceful and aimed at generating electricity. It says nuclear power will allow it to export more oil

Israel claims Tehran is just months away from building a nuclear weapon and has acted accordingly.

Initial reports suggest the strikes killed top Iranian commanders and nuclear scientists.

Iran has since retaliated with missile launches into Israeli territory.

Oil Markets Panic. Ghana Braces

The escalation jolted oil markets. Brent crude rose more than 7% on Friday. That was the largest one-day gain since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

There is little sign of a quick resolution. Israel’s UN ambassador, Danny Danon, told Bloomberg the fighting could continue for weeks.

The economic fallout is already visible. Brent began the year at $74 a barrel, climbed to $81, then dropped to $60 by May. Over the same period, the cedi appreciated, supported by gold, cocoa and strong remittance inflows.

At the pumps, diesel and petrol are selling for under GH¢13 per litre in early June, down from GH¢16 in January.

Falling fuel costs had fed through to lower transport fares and food prices. Inflation fell to 18.4% in May, the lowest since February 2022.

But after the Israeli airstrikes, Crude prices quickly rebounded to $74 per barrel.

Iranian energy infrastructure is now also being targeted, and oil prices are expected to remain elevated as markets reopen. A further spike in price is possible if the fighting spreads.

The Middle East accounts for about 30% of global oil output, so any instability in the region risks disrupting supply.

One major risk is the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow shipping lane that handles about 25% of the world’s crude exports, mainly to Asia.

Saudi Arabia, Iran, Kuwait, the UAE, and Qatar all depend on the Strait to export crude.

Iran has often threatened to block the waterway, but has never done so. Bloomberg estimates a closure could push oil prices to $135 per barrel.

While the current surge in crude oil price is steep, the longer trend has been downward since late 2023 after Brent Crude peaked at $91 in September that year. OPEC oversupply and weak demand had kept prices soft, and unless the war escalates significantly, that trend could resume.

A shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz remains the most disruptive scenario, but it remains unlikely for now.

Fuel Levy Paused, Inflation Fears Grow

Nonetheless, oil prices are now returning to levels last seen in January 2025, when petrol and diesel were selling for nearly GH₵16 per litre at GOIL stations. The cedi, however, is significantly stronger now than it was then, but that may not be enough.

The Chamber of Oil Marketing Companies had projected a 9% increase at the pumps starting today. This was due to both the crude rebound and a proposed GH¢1 increase in the Energy Sector Levy.

But in response to escalating tensions in the Middle East, President Mahama instructed Energy Minister John Jinapor and Finance Minister Ato Forson to monitor developments closely and safeguard recent fuel price gains.

On Friday, the Energy and Finance Ministries, together with the Ghana Revenue Authority, officially postponed the levy’s implementation to shield consumers from further price shocks

The levy was expected to raise GH¢5.7 billion annually to buy light crude oil for thermal power. However, rising oil prices mean the same amount will now buy less.

Even if implemented, the levy is unlikely to fill the gap completely, especially if the conflict escalates further, further stressing the energy sector.

Gold Offers Some Cover — For Now

One source of relief is gold. On Friday, it rose to $3,432 per ounce. That is a daily increase of 1.37% and more than 30% up since January.

In global crises, investors usually flock to the US dollar and Treasuries. But with Donald Trump’s return stirring uncertainty, gold is outperforming. On Friday, both gold and the dollar rose. But gold gained more, signalling a shift in where investors feel safest.

The shift is not new. The European Union revealed that gold had overtaken the euro as the second most-held reserve asset by central banks in 2024, behind only the US dollar.

Ghana benefits directly. Higher gold prices boost export earnings and improve dollar inflows, which support the cedi.

Even so, the support is gradual. The cedi weakened slightly on Friday, slipping from GH¢10.25 to GH₵10.35 per dollar as oil shocks hit faster than gold flows.

If prices remain high, the Bank of Ghana may need to supply more dollars to Bulk Oil Distributors (BDCs). That would put pressure on foreign reserves.

If gold production and inflows remain strong, the situation should remain slightly manageable.

The Comeback of Inflation?

Delaying the fuel levy offers short-term relief but leaves a GH¢2.9 billion revenue gap for the second half of the year.

If the conflict escalates, especially if Iran blocks the Strait of Hormuz, oil prices could rise sharply. That would place Ghana’s fragile recovery at risk.

Inflation, now at a two-year low, may reverse course as fuel prices touch every part of the economy. Higher transport and input costs could drive up the price of food and utilities.

Many analysts had expected the PURC to announce a reduction in utility tariffs during its next quarterly review. This was based on the stronger cedi and falling crude prices recorded in May. That now appears unlikely.

A drawn-out conflict could lead to higher electricity and water bills, adding further pressure on households and inflation.

Rising fuel and food prices would also make it harder for the Bank of Ghana to meet its year-end inflation target of 11.9%.

Gold provides some cushion. Higher prices are boosting export earnings and helping to stabilise the cedi. But that support is limited if oil prices remain elevated.

Crude costs filter into nearly every import, from fertilisers and machinery to shipping and logistics. The result is higher prices across multiple sectors, even with strong gold inflows.

The vulnerability is partly self-inflicted as Ghana missed the opportunity to rebuild strategic oil reserves when crude was cheap. With no oil refinery running optimally, the country remains exposed unless structural fixes are made.

Oil export revenues may improve as a result of higher crude prices, but output has declined for five consecutive years. It remains unclear whether any windfall will be large enough to cover energy sector needs or generate enough foreign exchange to defend the currency.

Ghana cannot afford another oil shock like the one in 2022. What happens in the Middle East and how the government responds will shape the rest of 2025.

An internal memo from the head of the ministry’s HR department urges staff to attend a solemn prayer session and fast for the next three Mondays.

Some Nigerians have responded by questioning the government’s commitment to the task of bringing down the high cost of food.

A press release from the agriculture ministry on Saturday downplayed the issue, saying the call for prayers was not an official policy to tackle food insecurity but was intended to boost staff wellbeing.

“Just as the already existing monthly aerobic exercise and establishment of the gymnasium in the ministry are for physical fitness”, it continued, “as the regular medical check-ups of staff are for their health”.

At least 4.4 million people in Nigeria do not have enough food, according to UN estimates, with the country experiencing its worst economic crisis in a generation following policy changes brought in by the new government since 2023.

The ever-increasing price of basic food staples was one of the triggers for nationwide cost-of-living protests last year. Yams, for example, quadrupled in price from one year to the next.

Critics see the appeal for divine intervention as proof that the government is shirking its responsibility to citizens and taking a fatalistic attitude.

But officials say they have taken numerous steps to tackle the crisis, including giving farmers more than 1,000 tractors and over two million bags of fertiliser.

Exasperated reaction to the call to prayer online has ranged from people saying the ministry’s leadership should be replaced with pastors and imams, to simply saying “Nigeria is a joke”.

Trump said at the meeting with reporters present that “we have to take care of our farmers, the hotels and, you know, the various places where they tend to, where they tend to need people.”

“So a farmer will come in with a letter concerning certain people, saying they’re great, they’re working hard. We’re going to slow it down a little bit for them, and then we’re going to ultimately bring them back. They’ll go out. They’re going to come back as legal workers.”

It was unclear what he meant by “slow it down a little bit for them.” The administration has been pouring resources into arresting, detaining and deporting undocumented immigrants to fulfil Trump’s campaign pledge to conduct a history-making mass deportation of immigrants from the United States.

Trump said the administration is going to work with people if they “go out … in a nice way.”

“We’re going to work with them right from the beginning, trying to get them back in legally. So it gives you real incentive. Otherwise, they never come back. They’ll never be allowed once a certain period of time goes by, which is probably going to be 60 days,” he said.

In response to an NBC News request for more details, White House spokesman Kush Desai said the Trump administration “is committed to delivering on the mandate that the American people gave to President Trump with a whole-of-government approach to secure our borders, enforce our immigration laws, mass deport criminal illegal migrants, and put America First.”

The United States has programs that allow immigrants to come to the country and work, although employers often complain about the difficulties of using them. Farmworker and immigrant advocates have often pushed for better regulation of the programs to ensure workers are not exploited or abused or thrust into substandard living or work conditions.

A White House official told NBC News that Trump wants to improve the H-2A program, through which employers in the agricultural industry can hire temporary and seasonal workers, and the H–2B program, for hiring immigrant workers for temporary, seasonal jobs in other industry sectors, such as hospitality and entertainment, and in the tourism industry. Trump has used the H–2B program.

Trump spoke after Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem made statements about self-deportation and a Trump administration policy that requires people here illegally to register with the Department of Homeland Security using an app it has dubbed “CBP Home” or face criminal charges and fines. A federal judge on Thursday allowed the registration requirement to go forward.

About 40% of U.S. crop farmworkers are undocumented, according to the Agriculture Department. About 1.1 million undocumented people worked in the hospitality industry — hotels and restaurants — about 7.6% of the workforce, in 2023, according to an analysis by the American Immigration Council, a legal group that advocates for immigration.

In response to Trump’s comments, Teresa Romero, president of United Farm Workers, said the labor union is “skeptical”, particularly given that on Friday, the administration put in effect its requirement that all people without legal status in the country register with the Department of Homeland Security and other “intimidation” of workers.

“If Trump has a real desire to protect the farm workers … we’re all ears, but we’d like to see a real plan. Right now a plan does not exist,” Romero said in a statement.

The administration is estimated to have deported nearly 300 people last month, most of them originally from Venezuela, to a megaprison in El Salvador. Trump has declared the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua an “alien enemy,” and he invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1789, a wartime law, to deport people immigration officials designated as members of the gang, allegations relatives of some of the deported have contested.

Immigration officers also have been arresting people at homes, schools and universities when they arrive for immigration check-ins or if they are stopped for traffic violations. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, along with Texas officials, made several arrests in a Texas community where many homeowners are Latino in February, stopping some people as they headed to work. ICE said at the time that several of them had criminal backgrounds.

Trump has been under some pressure from industries whose workforces include undocumented workers. The pandemic showed that many essential workers were Latino and that in some industries, many were undocumented or were not citizens.

American farmers also have been raising alarms about the effect Trump’s tariff policies and funding cuts to federally subsidized school lunch, food banks and other such programs will have on their livelihoods.

In March, business owners and leaders rallied in Washington and met with members of Congress as part of the American Business Immigration Coalition’s “Secure the Workforce” campaign, aimed at continuing the flow of immigrant workers to the United States. The group is pushing for legislation that includes, among other things, work permits for immigrant workers.

“What we are seeing is President Trump beginning the negotiations of what a Trump-based immigration plan would look like,” said Artemio Muniz, an attorney who employs workers through his manufacturing business and joined the coalition rally and meetings. He was not speaking on behalf of the American Business Immigration Coalition.

He said that he and others supporting the coalition’s campaign believe Trump has secured the border and that “we now want to secure the undocumented workers because we don’t want to lose them, because if we do, we see an increase in costs. I respect the fact that Trump is willing to initiate the discussion.”