Author: BBC

Secret Service agents have rushed former President Donald Trump off stage after what sounded like gunshots rang out at a rally in Pennsylvania.Footage showed him grimace and raise a hand to his ear, before ducking as sharp cracks – apparently shots – broke out. He was quickly swarmed by secret service agents and rushed off stage to a waiting vehicle. In a statement Trump’s campaign said he was “fine” and was being “checked out” at a local medical facility. “President Trump thanks law enforcement and first responders for their quick action during this heinous act,” spokesman Steven Cheung said. The…

Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski has said Warsaw is considering a proposal from Kyiv to shoot down Russian missiles heading towards Polish territory while they are still in Ukrainian airspace.The proposal was included in a joint defence agreement between the two countries signed during President Volodymyr Zelensky’s visit to Warsaw earlier this week.”At this stage, this is an idea. What our agreement said is we will explore this idea,” Mr Sikorski told the American Enterprise Institute in Washington.He said some Russian missiles fired from the St Petersburg area towards Ukrainian targets near the western city of Lviv, not far from…

Two French international rugby players have been charged with the aggravated rape of a woman following a match in Argentina, prosecutors in the South American country say. Hugo Auradou, 20, and Oscar Jegou, 21, are accused of raping a 39-year-old woman after France beat Argentina on Saturday. She alleges that they raped her multiple times and beat her in a hotel room in the city of Mendoza. The pair, who chose “not to testify” at a hearing in the city, say they had consensual sex with the woman and deny rape. They will remain in custody while authorities investigate further.…

Renowned sex therapist and talk show host Dr Ruth Westheimer, who spoke openly about sex and intimate subjects, died on Friday at 96 years old. Her publicist confirmed her death to BBC News partner CBS News without providing a cause. Ruth Westheimer, often referred to as Dr Ruth, became known for talking openly about sex, becoming a pop culture icon as well as a best-selling author with guides like “Sex for Dummies”. She pushed for having open conversations about sex with a non-judgmental approach. Dr Ruth, who spoke with a German accent, is a Holocaust survivor who was born in…

15 hours agoBy Nick Thorpe, BBC Budapest correspondent@PM_ViktorOrbanViktor Orban finished off his global tour with Donald Trump, dubbing his visit “Peace mission 5.0″Hungary’s Viktor Orban has no peace plan of his own, but he has spent the past two weeks on a whistle-stop tour of Kyiv, Moscow, Azerbaijan, Beijing, Washington and even Mar-a-Lago, on a one-man mission that has infuriated leaders in the EU and US.”Peace will not come by itself in the Russia-Ukraine war, someone has to make it,” he proclaims in videos posted daily on his Facebook page.He has been bitterly attacked by both Brussels and Washington for breaking EU…

Strictly Come Dancing star Graziano Di Prima has confirmed that he is leaving the show. In a statement on Instagram, he said he “deeply regrets” the events leading up to his departure and acknowledged that his “intense passion and determination to win might have affected my training regime”.A BBC spokesperson confirmed that Di Prima was “no longer a part of the line-up of professional dancers for the upcoming series”. “While we would never comment on individual cases, it is well-known that the BBC has established a robust duty of care procedures, and if issues are raised we will always take…

The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza says at least 71 Palestinians have been killed in an Israeli air strike on a designated humanitarian area, in an attack which Israel says targeted senior Hamas leaders. More than 289 people were injured, according to the health ministry’s statement.Hamas says the strike hit the al-Mawasi area near Khan Younis, which the Israeli military has designated as a humanitarian zone, urging Palestinians to seek shelter there.An Israeli official said the strike targeted the head of Hamas’s military wing, Mohammed Deif, in an “open area” where there were “only Hamas terrorists and no civilians”.Rafa Salama,…

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has ruled out changes to how the BBC is funded until at least 2027. “We are committed in our manifesto to the BBC and to the licensing scheme,” the prime minister said during his trip to Washington DC this week.The BBC has faced real terms cuts in recent years, including a two-year freeze on the licence fee, leading to cuts to services and programmes.The Conservative government suggested in 2022 it would abolish the licence fee when its charter was up for renewal and move towards a voluntary funding model. But signalling his commitment to the…

9 hours agoBy Shingai Nyoka, BBC News, TsholotshoBBCThabani Dhlamini was 10 years old when he witnessed a massacre in his villageAn astounding number of mass graves surround Thabani Dhlamini’s home in south-western Zimbabwe.One pointed out to the BBC lies near the ablution block at a primary school in the village of Salankomo in Tsholotsho district. Teachers were killed and dumped there in the 1980s.In another, steps away from Mr Dhlamini’s house, 22 relatives and neighbours are buried in two graves – all killed by Zimbabwe’s military under the command of then-leader Robert Mugabe.Mr Dhlamini was just 10 at the time – but…

Five people linked to one of Ecuador’s biggest criminal gangs have been jailed for the murder of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio last year. Mr Villavicencio, a member of the country’s national assembly and an ex-journalist, was shot dead as he left a campaign rally in the capital, Quito, last August. Carlos Angulo, the alleged leader of the Los Lobos gang, and Laura Castilla were sentenced to 34 years and eight months in prison for directing the hit. Two men and a woman were handed 12-year sentences by the court in Quito for aiding a hit squad in the attack. Prosecutors…