News

In China, people are following the US election with keen interest and some anxiety. They fear what could happen next at home and abroad, whoever wins the White House. “None of us wants to see a war,” says Mr Xiang, as the music in the park reaches a crescendo and a nearby dancer elegantly spins […]

“I feel sick if I don’t search for diamonds. It’s like a drug.” Prakash Sharma, 67, speaks about diamonds with a passion that has defined his life for the past five decades. A diamond hunter in India’s central state of Madhya Pradesh, he spends most of his day in the mines of Panna district. Panna […]

In a few hours, a spacecraft should blast-off from Florida on the hunt for signs of alien life. Its destination is Europa, a deeply-mysterious moon orbiting the distant planet Jupiter. Trapped under its icy surface could be a vast ocean with double the amount of water on Earth. The Europa Clipper spacecraft will chase a […]

“It’s not at all how I imagined winning would be,” a minister reflects as the government hits its 100 days in office. There have been slips and accusations of sleaze. Scores of announcements. Enormous international events. The PM himself admits it’s been “choppy”. Even in the last 24 hours the government has blundered into a […]

The Piano Lesson has become the latest August Wilson play to be adapted for the screen by Denzel Washington and his family. But while the Hollywood star has directed, starred in or produced film adaptations such as Fences and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom in recent years, it’s his two sons who are taking centre stage […]

It was a phone call that ended a decades-long wait – of 56 years and eight months, to be precise. The caller, from a police station in Pathanamthitta district in the southern Indian state of Kerala, gave unexpected news to Thomas Thomas – the body of his elder brother, Thomas Cherian, had finally been found. […]

An international arrest warrant has been issued for Australian ex-rugby star Rocky Elsom following a conviction for embezzlement in France, French media say. The former captain of Australia’s national team was president of RC Narbonne, one of country’s most prestigious clubs, in 2015-16. On Friday a court found him guilty of misappropriating a total of […]

A man has described how he helped expose “seismic” rape and sexual assault allegations about Mohamed Al Fayed after his fiancee told him she was a victim of the Harrods billionaire. Keaton Stone spent years speaking to women around the world, gathering a “damning” dossier of evidence. He took that to the BBC in 2023 […]

Scotland’s former First Minister Alex Salmond has died suddenly at the age of 69. The former MP and MSP, who led the country between 2007 and 2014, became ill while attending an international conference in North Macedonia. The North Macedonian government said Mr Salmond had lost consciousness at the Inex Olgica hotel, near the city […]

A further 65 women have contacted the BBC saying they were abused by Mohamed Al Fayed, with allegations stretching far beyond Harrods and as far back as 1977. Their accounts include new details of sexual harassment, sexual assault and rape, sent to the BBC in the weeks since the documentary Al Fayed: Predator at Harrods […]