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A rare new species of two-clawed dinosaur has been discovered by scientists in Mongolia’s Gobi Desert.

The species, named Duonychus tsogtbaatari, was unique within a group of dinosaurs called Therizinosaurs, which stood on their hind legs and usually had three claws.

It was medium-sized, with an estimated weight of approximately 260kg.

Researchers believe the species’ long, curved claws and its ability to strongly flex them would have made it an efficient grasper of vegetation.

Therizinosaurs were a group of either herbivorous or omnivorous theropod dinosaurs that lived in Asia and North America during the Cretaceous Period, which began 145 million years ago and ended 66 million years ago.

They are exemplified by the massive, long-clawed form Therizinosaurus, featured in the film Jurassic World Dominion, and were “awkward looking”, according to one of the study’s authors Dr Darla Zelenitsky, associate professor at the University of Calgary.

The specimen was recovered from the Bayanshiree formation in the Gobi Desert of Mongolia, which dates back to the Late Cretaceous period (between 100.5 to 66 million years ago).

Unesco, the UN’s Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, calls the Mongolian Gobi Desert the largest dinosaur fossil reservoir in the world.

The region is an especially important source of fossils from the later Cretaceous period, which is the last of the main three periods of the dinosaur age, representing the final phase of dinosaur evolution.

At nearly a foot long, the claws themselves were much larger than their underlying bone, the study revealed.

Besides better grasping, the two-fingered hands may have been used for display, digging, or as formidable weapons.

The most famous two-fingered theropods are species within the group tyrannosaurids, which includes Tyrannosaurus rex, but Duonychus evolved its two-fingered hands separately from them and from other two-fingered theropods.

The specimen also preserves the first keratinous sheath of a therizinosaur, an element that covers the claw much like human fingernails, aiding defence, movement, or prey catching.

Hundreds of people have taken part in the largest anti-Hamas protest in Gaza since the war with Israel began, taking to the streets to demand the group step down from power.

Masked Hamas militants, some armed with guns and others carrying batons, intervened and forcibly dispersed the protesters, assaulting several of them.

Videos shared widely on social media by activists typically critical of Hamas showed young men marching through the streets of Beit Lahia, northern Gaza on Tuesday, chanting “out, out, out, Hamas out”.

Pro-Hamas supporters defended the group, downplayed the significance of the demonstrations and accused the participants of being traitors. Hamas is yet to comment.

The protests in northern Gaza came a day after Islamic Jihad gunmen launched rockets at Israel, prompting an Israeli decision to evacuate large parts of Beit Lahia, which sparked public anger in the area.

Israel has resumed its military campaign in Gaza following nearly two months of ceasefire, blaming Hamas for rejecting a new US proposal to extend the truce. Hamas, in turn, has accused Israel of abandoning the original deal agreed in January.

Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed and thousands displaced since Israeli military operations resumed with air strikes on 18 March.

One of the protesters, Beit Lahia resident Mohammed Diab, had his home destroyed in the war and lost his brother in an Israeli airstrike a year ago.

“We refuse to die for anyone, for any party’s agenda or the interests of foreign states,” he said.

“Hamas must step down and listen to the voice of the grieving, the voice that rises from beneath the rubble – it is the most truthful voice.”

Footage from the town also showed protesters shouting “down with Hamas rule, down with the Muslim Brotherhood rule”.

Hamas has been the sole ruler in Gaza since 2007, after winning Palestinian elections a year prior and then violently ousting rivals.

Open criticism of Hamas has grown in Gaza since war began, both on the streets and online, though there are still those that are fiercely loyal and it is hard to accurately gauge how far support for the group has shifted.

There was opposition to Hamas long before the war, though much of it remained hidden for fear of reprisals.

Mohammed Al-Najjar, from Gaza, posted on his Facebook: “Excuse me, but what exactly is Hamas betting on? They’re betting on our blood, blood that the whole world sees as just numbers.

“Even Hamas counts us as numbers. Step down and let us tend to our wounds.”

The war in Gaza was triggered by Hamas’s attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, during which around 1,200 people, mainly civilians, were killed and 251 others taken hostage.

Israel responded to the attack with a military offensive in Gaza to destroy Hamas, which has killed more than 50,000 Palestinians, the Hamas-run health ministry said.

Most of Gaza’s 2.1 million population has also been displaced, many of them several times.

An estimated 70% of buildings have been damaged or destroyed in Gaza, healthcare, water and sanitation systems have collapsed and there are shortages of food, fuel, medicine and shelter.

Former footballer Joey Barton has been found guilty of assault by beating after pushing his wife to the floor and kicking her in the head.

The midfielder, 42, who played for Manchester City and QPR, assaulted Georgia Barton, 38, in June 2021 during a drunken row at their family home in Kew, south-west London.

The pair, who had been drinking with two other couples while their children slept upstairs started arguing after Barton threatened to fight his wife’s brother and father, Westminster Magistrates’ Court previously heard.

Barton, who was the manager of Bristol Rovers at the time, was given a 12-week suspended prison sentence.

Mrs Barton was left with a lump on her forehead and a bleeding nose, the court previously heard.

She had called police immediately after the attack, saying her husband had “just hit” her, but later sent a letter to the prosecution retracting her allegations.

Chief magistrate Paul Goldspring rejected Barton’s account of events and described them as “vague” as he convicted him.

While he acknowledged Barton had “a record of violence”, the magistrate said: “I am satisfied that it is not necessary to impose an immediate custodial sentence.”

Mr Goldspring said a mitigating factor was that the couple remained in a “happy relationship” with a young child, adding: “That is not something I want to interfere with.”

Speaking outside court after the sentencing, Barton said he was “really disappointed” with the magistrates’ verdict and intended to appeal to decision at the High Court.

Prosecution barrister Helena Duong told the court Mrs Barton’s 999 call to police on the night of the assault was “compelling evidence”, as she had described it in “clear terms”.

Ms Duong said Mrs Barton’s bloody nose was “an injury that really requires an explanation”, adding: “It was, plainly, something not caused by an accident.”

Barton previously told the court he admitted getting into an argument with his wife, but denied that anything “physical” had happened.

He was arrested in his bedroom on the night of the incident, where he had been asleep and was still drunk, the trial was told.

The former footballer was due to face trial at a magistrates’ court in 2022 but the case was adjourned after Mrs Barton sent a letter retracting her allegations.

In the letter, she said her injuries had been caused by accident when a friend moved in to separate the pair.

A judge ordered that proceedings be paused over concerns a trial would be unfair to Barton after the prosecution said they did not plan to ask Mrs Barton to give evidence in court.

The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Stephen Parkinson, appealed against the decision at the High Court in London, with barristers claiming at a hearing that a fair trial could go ahead.

In a judgment in June, two senior judges ruled in the DPP’s favour and said Barton should face a trial over the allegations in front of a different judge.

Barton was also ordered to pay £2,183 in victim surcharge and prosecution costs within seven days.

Russia and Ukraine have agreed to a naval ceasefire in the Black Sea in separate deals with the US, after three days of peace talks in Saudi Arabia.

Washington said all parties would continue working toward a “durable and lasting peace” in statements announcing the agreements, which would reopen an important trade route.

They have also committed to “develop measures” to implement a previously agreed ban on attacking each other’s energy infrastructure, the White House said.

But Russia said the naval ceasefire would only come into force after a number of sanctions against its food and fertiliser trade were lifted.

US officials have been separately meeting negotiators from Moscow and Kyiv in Riyadh with the aim of brokering a truce between the two sides. The Russian and Ukrainian delegations have not met directly.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the deal to halt strikes in the Black Sea was a step in the right direction.

“It is too early to say that it will work, but these were the right meetings, the right decisions, the right steps,” he told a press conference in Kyiv.

“No-one can accuse Ukraine of not moving towards sustainable peace after this,” he added, after US President Donald Trump had previously accused him of blocking a peace deal.

But shortly after Washington’s announcement, the Kremlin said the Black Sea ceasefire would not take effect until sanctions were lifted from Russian banks, producers and exporters involved in the international food and fertiliser trades.

The measures demanded by Russia include reconnecting the banks concerned to the SwiftPay payment system, lifting restrictions on servicing ships under the Russian flag involved in the food trade, and on the supply of agricultural machinery and other goods needed for the production of food.

It was unclear from the White House’s statement when the agreement is meant to come into force.

When asked about lifting the sanctions, Trump told reporters: “We’re thinking about all of them right now. We’re looking at them.”

Washington’s statement on the US-Russia talks does say the US will “help restore Russia’s access to the world market for agricultural and fertiliser exports”.

Speaking in Kyiv, Zelensky described this as a “weakening of positions”.

He also said Ukraine would push for further sanctions on Russia and more military support from the US if Moscow reneged on its commitments.

Later, in his nightly address to Ukrainians, Zelensky accused the Kremlin of lying when it said the Black Sea ceasefire depended on sanctions being lifted.

Ukraine’s Defence Minister Rustem Umerov said “third countries” could oversee parts of the deal.

But he warned that the movement of Russian warships beyond the “eastern part of the Black Sea” would be treated as a violation of the agreement and a “threat to the national security of Ukraine”.

“In this case Ukraine will have full right to exercise right to self-defence,” he added.

A previous arrangement allowing safe passage of commercial ships in the Black Sea was agreed in 2022, after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February of that year.

Both Ukraine and Russia are major grain exporters, and prices rocketed after the start of the war.

The “Black Sea grain deal” was put in place to allow cargo ships travelling to and from Ukraine to safely navigate without being attacked by Russia.

The deal facilitated the movement of grain, sunflower oil and other products required for food production, such as fertiliser, through the Black Sea.

It was initially in place for a period of 120 days but, after multiple extensions, Russia pulled out in July 2023, claiming key parts of the agreement had not been implemented.

After this week’s talks, both countries have also agreed to “develop measures” to implement a ban on attacking energy infrastructure on each other’s territory.

Russian strikes on Ukraine’s power supply have caused widespread blackouts throughout the war, leaving thousands of people without heating in the cold of winter.

Attacks on Ukraine’s nuclear power stations have led the UN’s atomic watchdog to call for restraint.

A ban was initially agreed in a call between Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin last week, but within hours of it being announced, both Moscow and Kyiv accused the other of breaching it.

Earlier on Tuesday, Moscow said Ukraine had continued to target Russia’s civilian energy infrastructure while the peace talks in Riyadh were under way.

The alleged attack showed Zelensky was “incapable of sticking to agreements”, Russia’s defence ministry said.

It came after Russia launched a missile strike targeting north-eastern Ukraine on Monday, leaving more than 100 people wounded in the city of Sumy.

On Tuesday morning, Ukraine said Russia launched some 139 drones and one ballistic missile overnight.

Up to 30 Russian troops were killed in an air strike on military infrastructure in Kursk, Kyiv added.

“Horrific to see in black and white. But hardly surprising,” is how a top European diplomat reacted to what comes across as deep, heartfelt disdain for European allies, revealed late on Monday, European time, in an online group chat between top US security officials.

Seemingly by accident, Atlantic magazine editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg was also invited to the chat, which discussed planned strikes on Houthi rebels in Yemen aimed at unblocking trade routes on the Suez Canal. He subsequently made the frank exchange public.

In the chat, Vice-President JD Vance notes that only 3% of US trade runs through the canal, as opposed to 40% of European trade, after which he and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth complain of European “free-loading”.

The monumental security breach is causing a ruckus at home, with Democrats calling for Hegseth’s resignation as a result.

Across the pond – aka the Atlantic – Europe’s leaders and policy-makers felt “sick to their stomach”, as an EU official put it to me.

Officials quoted here are speaking on condition of anonymity in order to comment freely on what are volatile times in US-European relations. You won’t see comments in the public domain, so as not to rock the transatlantic boat any further.

Vance first stunned European officials with his speech at last month’s Security Conference in Munich condemning the continent for having misplaced values such as protecting abortion clinics and censoring speech in the media and online. “The enemy from within,” he called it.

Monday’s Signal chat strikes at the heart of a slew of tensions, discomfort and plain old fear in Europe right now, that the Trump administration can no longer be relied on as the continent’s greatest ally. At a time when Europe is facing off against a resurgent Russia.

Western Europe has looked to the US to have its back in terms of security and defence since World War Two.

But it is precisely that fact that so riles the Trump administration and has cemented Europe in its mind as “freeloaders”.

While the US commits 3.7% of its colossal GDP to defence, it’s taken the majority of European partners in the transatlantic defence alliance Nato until recently to cough up even 2% of GDP. Some, like big economies Spain and Italy, aren’t even there yet, though they say they plan to be soon.

Europe relies heavily on the US, amongst other things, for intelligence, for aerial defence capabilities and for its nuclear umbrella.

With the phasing out of conscription in most European countries, the continent also relies on the around 100,000 battle-ready US troops stationed in Europe to help act as a deterrent against potential aggressors.

Europeans have focused more on investing in welfare and social services than defence – collective or otherwise – since the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War. Why on earth should the US pick up the slack, asks the Trump administration.

On the leaked group chat, National Security Adviser Michael Waltz laments the state of Europe’s naval forces. “It will have to be the United States that reopens these [Suez] shipping lanes.”

The chat then debates how to ensure that Europe remunerates the US for its actions.

“If the US successfully restores freedom of navigation at great cost there needs to be some further economic gain extracted in return,” states Waltz.

Europe is now loudly and publicly discussing spending a lot more on its own defence – hoping to keep Donald Trump onside and an aggressive Russia at bay after Ukraine.

But Trump’s irritation with Europe is nothing new.

He displayed his displeasure during his first term in office: furious about Europe’s low defence spending; incandescent over the EU’s trade surplus with the US.

The United States had been long been taken for a ride and that must stop, seemed to be his sentiment.

Imposing trade tariffs was one of Trump’s first responses. Then as now.

Earlier this month, when Trump threatened eye-watering 200% tariffs on European alcohol in an ongoing trade tit-for-tat, he lambasted the EU as “abusive” and “hostile” for allegedly taking advantage of the US at any opportunity.

Coinciding uncomfortably with the leaked Signal chat and its Euro-bashing, the EU’s trade commissioner Maros Sefcovic, along with the head of cabinet of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, arrived in Washington on Tuesday hoping to launch a charm offensive to try to stave off a new tariff onslaught.

On defence, Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened that the US wouldn’t protect countries that “didn’t pay”.

His candidate to be the next US ambassador to Nato says that means Europeans spending 5% of GDP.

The UK currently spends 2.3% of GDP on defence, aiming for 2.6% by 2027. France scrapes 2.1% of GDP on military spending annually.

During the Cold War, the common enemy was the Soviet Union, which included swathes of Eastern Europe.

The US wanted to keep western Europe close, and for it to stay militarily dependent.

Since then, there has been growing apathy towards Nato and Europe. Particularly after the 9/11 twin tower attacks in the US.

Attention in Washington turned to Iraq and Afghanistan. To China.

President Obama was clear he wanted Asia to be his top foreign policy priority.

Trump is far from the first US president to harrumph at Europe’s reluctance to do more for, as well as spend more on, its own defence.

But with Trump, there is also a deep ideological split.

On social values, as JD Vance alluded to in Munich.

But also – and this is key – Trump demonstrates not only an antipathy for Europe and an impatience to get the war in Ukraine “done and over”, he also displays an affinity for Russia’s Vladimir Putin, at a time when Europe considers him an immediate threat to the security and well-being of the whole continent.

The largest road tunnel in the UK will be built after a £9bn plan was approved by the government.

The Lower Thames Crossing would link Tilbury, Essex, and Gravesend in Kent by two tunnels running underneath the River Thames.

National Highways hoped the road would reduce traffic at the Dartford Crossing by 20% and open by 2032.

Jim Dickson, the Labour MP for Dartford, said the decision would “finally deliver a solution to the traffic chaos” faced by motorists.

The 14.5-mile (23km) road would link the A2 and M2 in Kent with the A13 and M25 in Thurrock.

About 2.6 miles (4.2km) of the route would be underground, with a northbound and a southbound tunnel running next to each other beneath the Thames.

Tuesday’s announcement was 16 years in the making, with the project first mooted in 2009 and more than £1.2bn in taxpayers’ money spent on planning since.

The application was submitted to the Planning Inspectorate for consideration by National Highways on 31 October 2022.

A recommendation for its approval was subsequently made to Secretary of State for Transport Heidi Alexander on 20 March.

National Highways has planned to begin construction in 2026.

Dickson said: “For far too long governments have dodged making a decision on the Lower Thames Crossing, leaving Dartford residents to endure endless gridlock.

“This decision will unlock economic growth across the country and finally deliver a solution to the traffic chaos faced by my constituents on a daily basis.”

The BBC understands the decision on the funding model has not been made yet, but the utility works would be publicly funded, alongside significant private sector finance.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves said in January that the private sector could help “to deliver the infrastructure that our country desperately needs”.

Reacting to the announcement on X, James McMurdock, the South Basildon and East Thurrock MP, said congestion in Kent would remain “unresolved” despite the project.

The Reform UK MP feared miles of countryside would be “covered with tarmac” adding: “Where has our pride and ambition gone?”

Campaigners have also raised concerns about ancient woodland being impacted by the works.

Chris Todd, the director of Transport Action Network, said the decision was “absolute madness”.

He added: “The only way that the government can afford this white elephant would be to take money from all the other nations and regions in the UK.

“Rather than boosting growth, this will clog up roads in the south east and slow the economy down even more.”

Gareth Bacon, the Conservative shadow secretary of state for transport, welcomed the project’s approval.

“The devil will be in the detail, not least on how this project is to be funded,” he said.

The Lib Dem MP for Tunbridge Wells, Mike Martin, added: “The announcement today must not come at the expense of other vital transport infrastructure in the area – including for rail connections between Kent and Essex.”

National Highways has described the project as “the most significant road project in a generation”.

Executive director Matt Palmer added: “It will unlock growth with quicker, safer, and more reliable journeys.

“Our plans have been shaped by the local community and refined by robust and rigorous examination from independent experts.”

Two RAF engineers who broke a Paddington statue have been told by a judge they are the “antithesis” of everything the bear stands for.

Daniel Heath and William Lawrence, both 22 and based at RAF Odiham in Hampshire, each admitted an offence of criminal damage at Reading Magistrates’ Court.

The statue in Newbury, Berkshire, was damaged before being taken shortly after 02:00 GMT on 2 March.

The pair, who committed the offence while drunk on a night out, have been ordered to carry out unpaid work and each pay £2,725 to cover the cost of repairs.

On sentencing, district judge Sam Goozee said Paddington Bear was a “beloved cultural icon”.

“He represents kindness, tolerance and promotes integration and acceptance in our society,” he said.

“His famous label attached to his duffle coat says ‘please look after this bear’.

“On the night of the 2nd of March 2025, your actions were the antithesis of everything Paddington stands for.

“Your actions lacked respect and integrity, two values you should uphold as members of the armed forces.”

CCTV footage was shown in court in which Heath, of Oakhall Park, Thornton, near Bradford in West Yorkshire, and Lawrence, of John Street, Enderby, Leicestershire, could be seen stopping by the Paddington Bear statue on Northbrook Street and attempting to lift it off the bench.

The seam of the statue then broke off and the pair could be seen walking off with the broken half.

The judge said the men then took it in a taxi back to RAF Odiham.

Thames Valley Police confirmed the statue did appear for sale on Facebook marketplace, but did not investigate further as it was recovered from the boot of Lawrence’s car soon after.

Mr Goozee, who handed each of them a 12-month community order, said the pair had committed “an act of wanton vandalism”.

The defendants’ defence lawyer, Tom Brymer, told the court they were “extremely ashamed about their actions”.

“They are two men who are very different than what we see on the CCTV footage,” he said.

A spokesperson for the Royal Air Force said they were aware of the trial outcome, but any disciplinary action would be a private matter.

The statue was unveiled in Newbury – the home of Paddington’s creator Michael Bond – in October 2024.

Mr Goozee said this made the statue in the Berkshire town even more significant.

It was one of 23 placed across the UK as part of the Paddington Visits Trail.

In a statement read out by prosecutor Jaimie Renuka, CEO of Newbury Business Improvement District (BID) Trish Willetts said the remains of the statue had to be covered with a bin bag to prevent it from upsetting children.

The damaged statue was recovered but a date for its return has yet to be confirmed.

Millions of tyres being sent from the UK to India for recycling are actually being “cooked” in makeshift furnaces causing serious health problems and huge environmental damage, the BBC has discovered.

The majority of the UK’s exported waste tyres are sold into the Indian black market, and this is well known within the industry, BBC File on 4 Investigates has been told.

“I don’t imagine there’s anybody in the industry that doesn’t know it’s happening,” says Elliot Mason, owner of one of the biggest tyre recycling plants in the UK.

Campaigners and many of those in the industry – including the Tyre Recovery Association (TRA) – say the government knows the UK is one of the worst offenders for exporting waste tyres for use in this way.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has told us it has strict controls on exporting waste tyres, including unlimited fines and jail time.

When drivers get their tyres changed, garages charge a small recycling fee – it can vary, but it is normally about £3-6 for each end-of-life tyre.

This should guarantee that they are recycled – either in the UK or abroad – at facilities like Elliot Mason’s Rubber World, in Rushden, Northampton.

His facility has repurposed tyres into tiny rubber crumbs since 1996. Rubber crumb is often used as flooring for equestrian centres and children’s playgrounds.

The UK ends up with about 50 million waste tyres (nearly 700,000 tonnes) in need of recycling every year and around half of those are exported to India – according to official figures – where they should end up in recycling plants.

Before tyres leave the UK they are compressed into huge rubber cubes known as “bales”.

“The pretence is that baled tyres are being sent to India and then shredded and granulated in a factory very similar to ours,” explains Mr Mason.

However, some 70% of tyres imported by India from the UK and the rest of the world end up in makeshift industrial plants, where they are subjected to what amounts to an extreme form of cooking, the TRA estimates.

In an oxygen-free environment, in temperatures of about 500C, a process known as pyrolysis takes place. Steel and small amounts of oil are extracted, as well as carbon black – a powder or pellet that can be used in various industries.

The pyrolysis plants – often in rural backwaters – are akin to homemade pressure cookers and produce dangerous gases and chemicals.

UK tyres are ending up in these Indian pyrolysis plants, despite legitimate official paperwork stating they are headed for legal Indian recycling centres.

Together with SourceMaterial – a non-profit journalism group – we wanted to follow the long journey UK tyres make. Trackers were hidden in shipments of tyres to India by an industry insider.

The shipments went on an eight-week journey and eventually arrived in an Indian port, before being driven 800 miles cross-country, to a cluster of soot-covered compounds beside a small village.

Drone footage, taken in India and shared with the BBC, showed the tyres reaching a compound – where thousands were waiting to be thrown into huge furnaces to undergo pyrolysis.

BBC File on 4 Investigates approached one of the companies operating in the compound. It confirmed it was processing some imported tyres but said what it was doing wasn’t dangerous or illegal.

There are up to 2,000 pyrolysis plants in India, an environmental lawyer in India told the BBC. Some are licensed by the authorities but around half are unlicensed and therefore illegal, he said.

At a different cluster of makeshift plants in Wada, just outside Mumbai, a team from BBC Indian Languages saw soot, dying vegetation and polluted waterways around the sites. Villagers complained of persistent coughs and eye problems.

“We want these companies moved from our village,” one witness told us, “otherwise we will not be able to breathe freely.”

Scientists at Imperial College London told the BBC plant workers continually exposed to the atmospheric pollutants produced by pyrolysis, were at risk of respiratory, cardiovascular and neurological diseases and certain types of cancer.

At the site the BBC visited in Wada, two women and two children were killed in January when there was an explosion at one of the plants. It had been processing European-sourced tyres.

The BBC approached the owners of the plant where the explosion happened but they haven’t responded.

Following the blast, a public meeting was held and a minister for the district of Wada promised that the local government would take action. Seven pyrolysis plants have since been shut down by the authorities.

The Indian government has also been approached for comment.

Many UK businesses will bale tyres and send them to India because it is more profitable and investing in shredding machinery is expensive, according to Mr Mason.

But he says he isn’t prepared to do this himself because he has a duty of care to make sure his company’s waste is going to the right place – and it is very difficult to track where tyre bales end up.

Bigger businesses, like Rubber World, have tightly regulated environmental permits and are inspected regularly. But smaller operators can apply for an exemption and trade and lawfully export more easily.

This is called a T8 exemption and allows these businesses to store and process up to 40 tonnes of car tyres a week.

But many traders told the BBC that they exported volumes of tyres in excess of the permitted limit, meaning they would have been exporting more tyres than they should.

The BBC was tipped off about several of these companies and teamed up with an industry insider who posed as a broker with a contract to sell waste tyres to India.

Four of the six dealers we contacted said they processed large numbers of waste tyres.

One told us he had exported 10 shipping containers that week – about 250 tonnes of tyres, more than five times his permitted limit.

Another dealer first showed us paperwork which suggested his tyres were baled and sent to India for recycling which would have been allowed – but he then admitted he knew they were going to India for pyrolysis. The Indian government has made it illegal for imported tyres to be used for pyrolysis.

“There are plenty of companies [that do it]… 90% of English people [are] doing this business,” he told us, adding that he cannot control what happens when tyres arrive in India.

When we asked if he had concerns about the health of those people living and working near the pyrolysis plants he responded: “These issues are international. Brother, we can’t do anything… I’m not a health minister.”

Defra told the BBC that the UK government is considering reforms on waste exemptions.

“This government is committed to transitioning to a circular economy, moving to a future where we keep our resources in use for longer while protecting our natural environment,” a spokesperson said.

In 2021, Australia banned exports of baled tyres after auditors checked to see where they were really ending up. Lina Goodman, the CEO of Tyre Stewardship Australia, told the BBC that “100% of the material was not going to the destinations that were on the paperwork”.

Fighting Dirty founder Georgia Elliott-Smith says sending tyres from the UK to India for pyrolysis is a “massive unrecognised problem” which the UK government should deal with. She wants tyres redefined as “hazardous waste”.

Additional reporting by Janhavee Moole and Shahid Shaikh, BBC Marathi

Millions of tyres being sent from the UK to India for recycling are actually being “cooked” in makeshift furnaces causing serious health problems and huge environmental damage, the BBC has discovered.

The majority of the UK’s exported waste tyres are sold into the Indian black market, and this is well known within the industry, BBC File on 4 Investigates has been told.

“I don’t imagine there’s anybody in the industry that doesn’t know it’s happening,” says Elliot Mason, owner of one of the biggest tyre recycling plants in the UK.

Campaigners and many of those in the industry – including the Tyre Recovery Association (TRA) – say the government knows the UK is one of the worst offenders for exporting waste tyres for use in this way.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has told us it has strict controls on exporting waste tyres, including unlimited fines and jail time.

When drivers get their tyres changed, garages charge a small recycling fee – it can vary, but it is normally about £3-6 for each end-of-life tyre.

This should guarantee that they are recycled – either in the UK or abroad – at facilities like Elliot Mason’s Rubber World, in Rushden, Northampton.

His facility has repurposed tyres into tiny rubber crumbs since 1996. Rubber crumb is often used as flooring for equestrian centres and children’s playgrounds.

The UK ends up with about 50 million waste tyres (nearly 700,000 tonnes) in need of recycling every year and around half of those are exported to India – according to official figures – where they should end up in recycling plants.

Before tyres leave the UK they are compressed into huge rubber cubes known as “bales”.

“The pretence is that baled tyres are being sent to India and then shredded and granulated in a factory very similar to ours,” explains Mr Mason.

However, some 70% of tyres imported by India from the UK and the rest of the world end up in makeshift industrial plants, where they are subjected to what amounts to an extreme form of cooking, the TRA estimates.

In an oxygen-free environment, in temperatures of about 500C, a process known as pyrolysis takes place. Steel and small amounts of oil are extracted, as well as carbon black – a powder or pellet that can be used in various industries.

The pyrolysis plants – often in rural backwaters – are akin to homemade pressure cookers and produce dangerous gases and chemicals.

UK tyres are ending up in these Indian pyrolysis plants, despite legitimate official paperwork stating they are headed for legal Indian recycling centres.

Together with SourceMaterial – a non-profit journalism group – we wanted to follow the long journey UK tyres make. Trackers were hidden in shipments of tyres to India by an industry insider.

The shipments went on an eight-week journey and eventually arrived in an Indian port, before being driven 800 miles cross-country, to a cluster of soot-covered compounds beside a small village.

Drone footage, taken in India and shared with the BBC, showed the tyres reaching a compound – where thousands were waiting to be thrown into huge furnaces to undergo pyrolysis.

BBC File on 4 Investigates approached one of the companies operating in the compound. It confirmed it was processing some imported tyres but said what it was doing wasn’t dangerous or illegal.

There are up to 2,000 pyrolysis plants in India, an environmental lawyer in India told the BBC. Some are licensed by the authorities but around half are unlicensed and therefore illegal, he said.

At a different cluster of makeshift plants in Wada, just outside Mumbai, a team from BBC Indian Languages saw soot, dying vegetation and polluted waterways around the sites. Villagers complained of persistent coughs and eye problems.

“We want these companies moved from our village,” one witness told us, “otherwise we will not be able to breathe freely.”

Scientists at Imperial College London told the BBC plant workers continually exposed to the atmospheric pollutants produced by pyrolysis, were at risk of respiratory, cardiovascular and neurological diseases and certain types of cancer.

At the site the BBC visited in Wada, two women and two children were killed in January when there was an explosion at one of the plants. It had been processing European-sourced tyres.

The BBC approached the owners of the plant where the explosion happened but they haven’t responded.

Following the blast, a public meeting was held and a minister for the district of Wada promised that the local government would take action. Seven pyrolysis plants have since been shut down by the authorities.

The Indian government has also been approached for comment.

Many UK businesses will bale tyres and send them to India because it is more profitable and investing in shredding machinery is expensive, according to Mr Mason.

But he says he isn’t prepared to do this himself because he has a duty of care to make sure his company’s waste is going to the right place – and it is very difficult to track where tyre bales end up.

Bigger businesses, like Rubber World, have tightly regulated environmental permits and are inspected regularly. But smaller operators can apply for an exemption and trade and lawfully export more easily.

This is called a T8 exemption and allows these businesses to store and process up to 40 tonnes of car tyres a week.

But many traders told the BBC that they exported volumes of tyres in excess of the permitted limit, meaning they would have been exporting more tyres than they should.

The BBC was tipped off about several of these companies and teamed up with an industry insider who posed as a broker with a contract to sell waste tyres to India.

Four of the six dealers we contacted said they processed large numbers of waste tyres.

One told us he had exported 10 shipping containers that week – about 250 tonnes of tyres, more than five times his permitted limit.

Another dealer first showed us paperwork which suggested his tyres were baled and sent to India for recycling which would have been allowed – but he then admitted he knew they were going to India for pyrolysis. The Indian government has made it illegal for imported tyres to be used for pyrolysis.

“There are plenty of companies [that do it]… 90% of English people [are] doing this business,” he told us, adding that he cannot control what happens when tyres arrive in India.

When we asked if he had concerns about the health of those people living and working near the pyrolysis plants he responded: “These issues are international. Brother, we can’t do anything… I’m not a health minister.”

Defra told the BBC that the UK government is considering reforms on waste exemptions.

“This government is committed to transitioning to a circular economy, moving to a future where we keep our resources in use for longer while protecting our natural environment,” a spokesperson said.

In 2021, Australia banned exports of baled tyres after auditors checked to see where they were really ending up. Lina Goodman, the CEO of Tyre Stewardship Australia, told the BBC that “100% of the material was not going to the destinations that were on the paperwork”.

Fighting Dirty founder Georgia Elliott-Smith says sending tyres from the UK to India for pyrolysis is a “massive unrecognised problem” which the UK government should deal with. She wants tyres redefined as “hazardous waste”.

Additional reporting by Janhavee Moole and Shahid Shaikh, BBC Marathi

The leak of classified information by President Donald Trump’s national security team on an unsecured chat app may have broken three basic rules, according to analysts.

Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg reported that he was accidentally included in the 18-member Signal group and saw details of imminent American strikes on Houthi rebels in Yemen.

The White House has acknowledged the messages reported by the Atlantic appear to be authentic.

Here are three basic issues with using Signal to share high-level information, experts told the BBC.

Signal has gone from a platform favoured by dissidents to the unofficial whisper network of Washington officialdom.

Privacy and tech experts say the popular end-to-end encrypted platform is more secure than conventional texting.

The app is open-source, meaning its code is available for independent experts to scour for vulnerabilities.

But like any messaging app with high-value targets, state-backed hackers try to find a way into Signal chats. Google Threat Intelligence Group has noticed increasing efforts to compromise the platform by individuals of interest to Russia’s intelligence services.

The app is not banned outright by the US government. Under President Joe Biden, some officials were allowed to download Signal on their White House-issued phones.

But they were instructed to use the app sparingly and never to share classified information on it, former national security officials who served in the Democratic administration told US media.

Pentagon regulations state that messaging apps “are NOT authorized to access, transmit, process non-public DoD information”, reports CNN.

Signal is used for communications by militaries around the world, the app’s president Meredith Whittaker told BBC News in December.

But a cybersecurity expert tells the BBC that using Signal to communicate sensitive communications of this nature is risky.

“The channels that are generally used for communications within government systems are monitored and well-secured from a usage standpoint,” said John Wheeler of Wheelhouse Advisors, a cybersecurity consultancy.

With outside tools, he said, it appears there may be no authorisation protocols in place.

“Something of this sensitive nature should really require some very strict protocols in terms of communications,” Wheelhouse told the BBC. “I was very surprised that they would be using this sort of solution.”

He added that this incident might make US partners abroad think twice before communicating sensitive information to American officials.

Using a Signal chat to share highly classified information and accidentally including a reporter on the discussion could raise the possibility of violations of federal laws such as the Espionage Act.

It can be a crime to mishandle, misuse or abuse classified information, though it is unclear whether such provisions might have been breached in this case.

Mara Karlin, who served under six secretaries of state and was assistant secretary of defence, told the BBC the leak is “stunning” and “not normal”.

Karlin said these types of conversations should take place in a secure space, in the Pentagon or in the Situation Room in the White House, not in a Signal group chat.

Sensitive government communications are required to take place in a sealed-off room called a Sensitive Compartmentalised Information Facility (Scif), where mobile phones are generally forbidden.

The US government has other systems in place to communicate classified information, including the Joint Worldwide Intelligence Communications System (JWICS) and the Secret Internet Protocol Router (SIPR) network, which top government officials can access via specifically configured laptops and phones.

Karlin says she expects both allies and adversaries to pay attention to this, saying they will ask: “Can the US government keep sensitive information in a secure manner?”

Inspector general investigations and congressional investigations will be carried out, Karlin predicts. “This is historic,” she adds.

Samar Ali, a professor of politics and law at Vanderbilt University who worked on counter-terrorism with the homeland security department in the Obama administration, said of the leak: “It’s baffling. It’s shocking. It’s dangerous.”

The text chain shows “a clear violation of our national security laws”, she told the BBC.

Prof Ali wonders what accountability the Trump team might face, and notes that she would have lost her job and security clearance if she committed any of these violations.

The White House has denied any classified information was shared on the chat.

Some of the Signal messages National Security Adviser Michael Waltz sent to the chat were set to disappear after one week, Jeffrey Goldberg reported in his article for the Atlantic.

If confirmed, that would raise questions about two federal laws that require the preservation of government records: the Presidential Records Act and the Federal Records Act.

“The law requires that electronic messages that take place on a non-official account are preserved, in some fashion, on an official electronic record keeping system,” said Jason R Baron, a former director of litigation at the National Archives and Records Administration.

Such regulations would cover Signal, he said.

Official government communications are supposed to be either automatically archived, or the individuals involved are supposed to forward, copy or preserve the messages.

“The open question here is whether these communications were automatically archived,” Baron told the BBC. “It’s not clear whether that occurred.”

It was also unclear whether the individuals in the chat had taken other steps to preserve the records.

“We should all be concerned about the use of these electronic messaging apps to evade federal record keeping requirements,” Baron said.

The leak of classified information by President Donald Trump’s national security team on an unsecured chat app may have broken three basic rules, according to analysts.

Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg reported that he was accidentally included in the 18-member Signal group and saw details of imminent American strikes on Houthi rebels in Yemen.

The White House has acknowledged the messages reported by the Atlantic appear to be authentic.

Here are three basic issues with using Signal to share high-level information, experts told the BBC.

Signal has gone from a platform favoured by dissidents to the unofficial whisper network of Washington officialdom.

Privacy and tech experts say the popular end-to-end encrypted platform is more secure than conventional texting.

The app is open-source, meaning its code is available for independent experts to scour for vulnerabilities.

But like any messaging app with high-value targets, state-backed hackers try to find a way into Signal chats. Google Threat Intelligence Group has noticed increasing efforts to compromise the platform by individuals of interest to Russia’s intelligence services.

The app is not banned outright by the US government. Under President Joe Biden, some officials were allowed to download Signal on their White House-issued phones.

But they were instructed to use the app sparingly and never to share classified information on it, former national security officials who served in the Democratic administration told US media.

Pentagon regulations state that messaging apps “are NOT authorized to access, transmit, process non-public DoD information”, reports CNN.

Signal is used for communications by militaries around the world, the app’s president Meredith Whittaker told BBC News in December.

But a cybersecurity expert tells the BBC that using Signal to communicate sensitive communications of this nature is risky.

“The channels that are generally used for communications within government systems are monitored and well-secured from a usage standpoint,” said John Wheeler of Wheelhouse Advisors, a cybersecurity consultancy.

With outside tools, he said, it appears there may be no authorisation protocols in place.

“Something of this sensitive nature should really require some very strict protocols in terms of communications,” Wheelhouse told the BBC. “I was very surprised that they would be using this sort of solution.”

He added that this incident might make US partners abroad think twice before communicating sensitive information to American officials.

Using a Signal chat to share highly classified information and accidentally including a reporter on the discussion could raise the possibility of violations of federal laws such as the Espionage Act.

It can be a crime to mishandle, misuse or abuse classified information, though it is unclear whether such provisions might have been breached in this case.

Mara Karlin, who served under six secretaries of state and was assistant secretary of defence, told the BBC the leak is “stunning” and “not normal”.

Karlin said these types of conversations should take place in a secure space, in the Pentagon or in the Situation Room in the White House, not in a Signal group chat.

Sensitive government communications are required to take place in a sealed-off room called a Sensitive Compartmentalised Information Facility (Scif), where mobile phones are generally forbidden.

The US government has other systems in place to communicate classified information, including the Joint Worldwide Intelligence Communications System (JWICS) and the Secret Internet Protocol Router (SIPR) network, which top government officials can access via specifically configured laptops and phones.

Karlin says she expects both allies and adversaries to pay attention to this, saying they will ask: “Can the US government keep sensitive information in a secure manner?”

Inspector general investigations and congressional investigations will be carried out, Karlin predicts. “This is historic,” she adds.

Samar Ali, a professor of politics and law at Vanderbilt University who worked on counter-terrorism with the homeland security department in the Obama administration, said of the leak: “It’s baffling. It’s shocking. It’s dangerous.”

The text chain shows “a clear violation of our national security laws”, she told the BBC.

Prof Ali wonders what accountability the Trump team might face, and notes that she would have lost her job and security clearance if she committed any of these violations.

The White House has denied any classified information was shared on the chat.

Some of the Signal messages National Security Adviser Michael Waltz sent to the chat were set to disappear after one week, Jeffrey Goldberg reported in his article for the Atlantic.

If confirmed, that would raise questions about two federal laws that require the preservation of government records: the Presidential Records Act and the Federal Records Act.

“The law requires that electronic messages that take place on a non-official account are preserved, in some fashion, on an official electronic record keeping system,” said Jason R Baron, a former director of litigation at the National Archives and Records Administration.

Such regulations would cover Signal, he said.

Official government communications are supposed to be either automatically archived, or the individuals involved are supposed to forward, copy or preserve the messages.

“The open question here is whether these communications were automatically archived,” Baron told the BBC. “It’s not clear whether that occurred.”

It was also unclear whether the individuals in the chat had taken other steps to preserve the records.

“We should all be concerned about the use of these electronic messaging apps to evade federal record keeping requirements,” Baron said.

A Japanese man who spent nearly 50 years on death row before he was acquitted of murder will be compensated 217 million yen ($1.45m), in what his lawyers say is the country’s largest-ever payout in a criminal case.

Iwao Hakamata, 89, was found guilty in 1968 of killing his boss, his boss’s wife and their two children, but was acquitted last year after a retrial.

Mr Hakamata’s lawyers had sought the highest compensation possible, arguing that the 47 years in detention – which made him the world’s longest-serving death row inmate – took a toll on his mental health.

Judge Kunii Koshi, who granted the request on Monday, agreed that he had suffered “extremely severe” mental and physical pain.

The Japanese government will pay Mr Hakamata’s financial compensation, in what local media is widely reporting as the biggest payout for a criminal case in the country’s history.

Mr Hakamata’s case is one of Japan’s longest and most famous legal sagas.

He was granted a rare retrial and released from prison in 2014, amid suspicions that investigators may have planted evidence that led to his conviction.

Last September, hundreds of people gathered at a court in Shizuoka, a city on Japan’s south coast, where a judge handed down the acquittal – to loud cheers of “banzai”, or “hurray” in Japanese.

Mr Hakamata, however, was unfit to attend the hearing. He was exempted from all prior hearings because of his deteriorated mental state.

He had lived under the care of his 91-year-old sister Hideko since being granted a retrial and released from prison in 2014. Hideko had fought for decades to clear her brother’s name.

Mr Hakamata was working at a miso processing plant in 1966 when the bodies of his boss, his boss’ wife and their two children were recovered from a fire at their home in Shizuoka, west of Tokyo. All four had been stabbed to death.

Authorities accused Mr Hakamata of murdering the family, setting fire to their home and stealing 200,000 yen in cash.

Mr Hakamata initially denied doing so, but later gave what he came to describe as a coerced confession, following beatings and interrogations that lasted up to 12 hours a day.

In 1968 he was sentenced to death.

For years, Mr Hakamata’s lawyers had argued that DNA recovered from the victims’ clothes did not match his, and alleged that the evidence was planted.

Although he was granted a retrial in 2014, prolonged legal proceedings meant it took until last October for the retrial to begin.

The case has raised questions about Japan’s justice system, including the time taken for a retrial and the allegations of forced confessions.

Additional reporting by Chika Nakayama, Gavin Butler and Shaimaa Khalil

A Japanese man who spent nearly 50 years on death row before he was acquitted of murder will be compensated 217 million yen ($1.45m), in what his lawyers say is the country’s largest-ever payout in a criminal case.

Iwao Hakamata, 89, was found guilty in 1968 of killing his boss, his boss’s wife and their two children, but was acquitted last year after a retrial.

Mr Hakamata’s lawyers had sought the highest compensation possible, arguing that the 47 years in detention – which made him the world’s longest-serving death row inmate – took a toll on his mental health.

Judge Kunii Koshi, who granted the request on Monday, agreed that he had suffered “extremely severe” mental and physical pain.

The Japanese government will pay Mr Hakamata’s financial compensation, in what local media is widely reporting as the biggest payout for a criminal case in the country’s history.

Mr Hakamata’s case is one of Japan’s longest and most famous legal sagas.

He was granted a rare retrial and released from prison in 2014, amid suspicions that investigators may have planted evidence that led to his conviction.

Last September, hundreds of people gathered at a court in Shizuoka, a city on Japan’s south coast, where a judge handed down the acquittal – to loud cheers of “banzai”, or “hurray” in Japanese.

Mr Hakamata, however, was unfit to attend the hearing. He was exempted from all prior hearings because of his deteriorated mental state.

He had lived under the care of his 91-year-old sister Hideko since being granted a retrial and released from prison in 2014. Hideko had fought for decades to clear her brother’s name.

Mr Hakamata was working at a miso processing plant in 1966 when the bodies of his boss, his boss’ wife and their two children were recovered from a fire at their home in Shizuoka, west of Tokyo. All four had been stabbed to death.

Authorities accused Mr Hakamata of murdering the family, setting fire to their home and stealing 200,000 yen in cash.

Mr Hakamata initially denied doing so, but later gave what he came to describe as a coerced confession, following beatings and interrogations that lasted up to 12 hours a day.

In 1968 he was sentenced to death.

For years, Mr Hakamata’s lawyers had argued that DNA recovered from the victims’ clothes did not match his, and alleged that the evidence was planted.

Although he was granted a retrial in 2014, prolonged legal proceedings meant it took until last October for the retrial to begin.

The case has raised questions about Japan’s justice system, including the time taken for a retrial and the allegations of forced confessions.

Additional reporting by Chika Nakayama, Gavin Butler and Shaimaa Khalil

Washington DC is still digesting a serious security breach at the heart of the Trump administration.

It’s the story of how a journalist – the Atlantic magazine’s Jeffrey Goldberg – was added to a Signal platform messaging group which apparently included Vice-President JD Vance and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, in addition to National Security Adviser Mike Waltz.

The topic being discussed was attacking the Iran-backed Houthi group in Yemen.

Goldberg said he had seen classified military plans for the strikes, including weapons packages, targets and timing, two hours before the bombs struck.

What are the main revelations in a nutshell?

On the military action, Goldberg reported that the account named JD Vance wrote: “I think we are making a mistake.”

The vice-president said targeting Houthi forces that are attacking vessels in the Suez Canal serves European interests more than the US, because Europe has more trade running through the canal.

Vance added that his boss was perhaps unaware of how US action could help Europe.

“I am not sure the president is aware how inconsistent this is with his message on Europe right now,” Vance said. “There’s a further risk that we see moderate to severe spike in oil prices.”

The vice-president went on to say, according to Goldberg, he would support the consensus but would prefer to delay it by a month.

Goldberg reported in his article that spokesman for JD Vance had later sent him a statement underlining that Trump and Vance had had “subsequent conversations about this matter and are in complete agreement”.

Since coming to power, Trump has castigated his European Nato allies, urged them to increase defence spending and generally insisted that Europe needs to take responsibility for protecting its own interests.

Arguments over why the US could – and should – carry out the military strike against the Houthis did not sway Vance.

He said to the defence secretary, “If you think we should do it let’s go. I just hate bailing Europe out again.”

Hegseth reciprocated:

“I fully share your loathing of European free-loading. It’s PATHETIC.”

A group member, only identified as “SM” suggested that after the strike, the US should “make clear to Egypt and Europe what we expect in return”.

“If Europe doesn’t remunerate, then what?” he asked.

“If the US successfully restores freedom of navigation at great cost there needs to be some further economic gain extracted in return,” the user continues.

According to Goldberg, the US national security chief posted three emojis after the strike: “a fist, an American flag, and fire”.

The Middle East special envoy, Steve Witkoff, responded with five emojis, Goldberg said: “two hands-praying, a flexed bicep, and two American flags”.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio and White House chief of staff Susie Wiles voiced messages of support, he said.

“I will say a prayer for victory,” Vance said as updates on the strikes were given.

Two others members added prayer emojis, Goldberg reported.

To Vance’s concerns that the action may be seen as going against Trump’s message on Europe, the US defence secretary wrote:

“VP: I understand your concerns – and fully support you raising w/ POTUS [Trump]. Important considerations, most of which are tough to know how they play out (economy, Ukraine peace, Gaza, etc).

“I think messaging is going to be tough no matter what – nobody knows who the Houthis are – which is why we would need to stay focused on: 1) Biden failed & 2) Iran funded.”

The Trump administration has consistently blamed Joe Biden for being too lenient with Iran.

Goldberg said he got an unsolicited invitation on the Signal messaging platform on 11 March by an account named Michael Waltz, and was then added to the group chat about Yemen two days later.

The president was not part of this group, but Trump’s closest collaborators were.

Goldberg initially thought this was a hoax, but soon realised it was real.

The whole issue is adding pressure on the national security adviser, with Democrats in the House and Senate calling for an urgent inquiry.

When asked on Monday about the whole incident, Trump said he didn’t know anything, but he has stood by Waltz.

The defence secretary has also said no secrets were revealed.

“Nobody was texting war plans,” he told journalists.

The Trump administration is facing political uproar after the White House confirmed that a journalist had been inadvertently added to an unsecure group chat in which US national security officials planned a military strike in Yemen.

The Atlantic magazine’s Jeffrey Goldberg reported that he had been added to a Signal message group which apparently included Vice-President JD Vance and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth.

He said he had seen classified military plans for US strikes on Houthi rebels, including weapons packages, targets and timing, two hours before the bombs struck.

The report sparked a firestorm of criticism from opposition Democrats and concerns among several Republicans.

Goldberg said he had been added to the message chain, apparently by accident, after receiving a connection request from someone who appeared to be White House National Security Advisor Michael Waltz.

“If they were going to pick an errant phone number, I mean at least it wasn’t somebody who supported the Houthis, because they were actually handing out information that I believe could have endangered the lives of American service people who were involved in that operation,” he told PBS in an interview.

President Donald Trump told reporters on Monday afternoon that he was not aware of the Atlantic article.

“The attacks on the Houthis have been highly successful and effective,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.

“President Trump continues to have the utmost confidence in his national security team, including National Security Advisor Mike Waltz.”

The defence secretary also defended the military operation discussed in the chat, citing its success. When pressed by reporters, Hegseth criticised Goldberg as a “deceitful and highly discredited” journalist and resisted questions about the content of the messages.

House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican, said the breach had been a mistake, but argued that the chat showed “top level officials doing their job, doing it well”.

Democratic lawmakers demanded an investigation, casting the episode as a national security scandal.

“This is one of the most stunning breaches of military intelligence that I have read about in a very, very long time,” Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said.

Senate Armed Services Committee chairman Roger Wicker, a Mississippi Republican, said his panel planned to investigate the matter.

“It’s definitely a concern,” he added. “It appears that mistakes were made.”

Atlantic editor-in-chief Goldberg writes in his article that he received a connection request on 11 March on the encrypted messaging app Signal from an account that purported to be Waltz’s.

Goldberg said he was then added to a chat entitled “Houthi PC small group”.

He had initially wondered if the messages in the chat might be a hoax until four days later, Saturday 15 March, when he was sitting in a supermarket car park, watching Signal communications about a strike.

When he checked X for updates about Yemen, he wrote, he was stunned to see reports of explosions in the capital city of Sanaa.

A Houthi official posted on X at the time that 53 people had been killed in the US air strikes.

Signal is generally used by journalists and Washington officials because of the secure nature of its communications, the ability to create aliases, and to send disappearing messages.

A number of accounts that appeared to belong to cabinet members and national security officials were included in the 18-person chat, Goldberg reported.

Accounts labelled “JD Vance”, the name of the vice-president; “Pete Hegseth,” the defence secretary; and “John Ratcliffe,” director of the Central Intelligence Agency; were among names in the chain.

Top national security officials from various agencies also appeared in it, including Tulsi Gabbard, Trump’s director of national intelligence, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

At one point during the communications over the strikes, the account labelled “JD Vance” seemed to disagree with Trump, Goldberg reported.

“I am not sure the president is aware how inconsistent this is with his message on Europe right now,” the Vance account wrote at approximately 8:15 on 14 March.

“There’s a further risk that we see a moderate to severe spike in oil prices.

“I am willing to support the consensus of the team and keep these concerns to myself.

“But there is a strong argument for delaying this a month, doing the messaging work on why this matters, seeing where the economy is, etc.”

In a statement to the BBC on Monday, Vance spokesman William Martin said the vice-president “unequivocally supports this administration’s foreign policy”.

“The president and the vice-president have had subsequent conversations about this matter and are in complete agreement,” Martin said.

The National Security Council confirmed much of the Atlantic report.

Spokesman Brian Hughes told the BBC: “At this time, the message thread that was reported appears to be authentic. We are reviewing how an inadvertent number was added to the chain.

“The thread is a demonstration of the deep and thoughtful policy co-ordination between senior officials.”

Goldberg reported that the officials had also discussed the potential for Europe to pay for US protection of key shipping lanes.

“Whether it’s now or several weeks from now, it will have to be the United States that reopens these shipping lanes,” the account associated with Waltz wrote on 14 March.

The message continued, saying that at Trump’s request, his team was working with the defence department and state department “to determine how to compile the cost associated and levy them on the Europeans”.

At one point in the thread the Vance account griped that the strikes would benefit the Europeans, because of their reliance on those shipping lanes, adding: “I just hate bailing Europe out again.”

The user identified as Hegseth responded three minutes later: “VP: I fully share your loathing of European free-loading. It’s PATHETIC.”

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has blamed opposition political parties for provoking a “movement of violence”, as protests in the country continue for a sixth night.

Unrest began in Istanbul last Wednesday when the city’s mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, Erdogan’s main presidential rival, was detained on corruption charges.

Thousands of people gathered once again on Monday. Unrest had escalated on Sunday night, with protesters fired on with tear gas and rubber bullets.

Imamoglu, also suspended from his post as mayor, said the allegations against him were politically motivated, a claim denied by Erdogan.

Large numbers of riot police accompanied protesters around Istanbul’s city hall on Monday night, as crowds chanted and waved Turkish flags.

Vehicles carrying water guns were also seen close by, though protests appeared to be largely peaceful with no repeat of the fierce clashes seen on Sunday.

In figures released before Monday evening’s gatherings, the Turkish government said 1,133 people had been arrested since the protests started.

In an earlier televised statement, Erdogan labelled the demonstrations “evil” and blamed opposition political parties for “disturbing the peace of our citizens with provocations”.

Speaking from Ankara, Turkey’s capital, he called for the protests to end and said that “instead of responding to allegations”, opposition parties had “made the most vile and unlawful statements in our political history for [the last] five days”.

CHP leader Özgür Özel spoke to the thousands gathered on Monday night He told the crowd that the demonstration was “an act of defiance against fascism”.

Özel said he would visit Imamoglu in jail in Silivri on Tuesday. He said the CHP would appeal for the politician to be released pending trial, and for his trial to be shown live on state broadcaster TRT.

Despite being in custody, Imamoglu was confirmed on Monday as the Republican People’s Party’s (CHP) candidate for Turkey’s 2028 presidential election. The vote confirming his candidacy was symbolic as he was the only person running.

He spent Sunday night in jail after being formally arrested and charged earlier that day with “establishing and managing a criminal organisation, taking bribes, extortion, unlawfully recording personal data and rigging a tender”.

In a post on X over the weekend, Imamoglu said he would “never bow” and criticised his arrest as a “black stain on our democracy”.

He also sent greetings to those protesting and said that voters had showed Turkey had had “enough” of Erdogan.

The demonstrations seen in recent days are the largest in Turkey since the Gezi protests of 2013, which began in Istanbul over the demolition of a local park.

They have been largely peaceful, but on Sunday police officers fired water cannons and used pepper spray as clashes unfolded.

Dilek Kaya Imamoglu, Imamoglu’s wife, was also outside Istanbul’s city hall and told demonstrators the “injustice” her husband faced had “struck a chord with every conscience”.

Imamoglu was one of more than 100 people detained last week as part of an investigation. Others arrested included politicians, journalists and businessmen.

His arrest does not prevent his candidacy or election as president, but he will not be able to run if he is convicted of any of the charges against him.

The jailed politician is seen as one of the most formidable rivals of Erdogan, who has held office in Turkey for 22 years as both prime minister and president.

However, due to term limits, Erdogan cannot run for office again in 2028 unless he changes the constitution.

Turkey’s Ministry of Justice criticised those connecting Erdogan to the arrests, and insisted on its judicial independence.

On Wednesday the chancellor will give an update on her plans for the economy.

The government has promised to boost growth, which should mean higher pay, more jobs, and more spending on services such as the NHS, education and transport.

Rachel Reeves will share the latest official outlook, which is expected to say the UK economy will grow 1% this year, rather than the previously forecast 2%.

And she will have to explain how she intends to tackle the big challenges facing her when she delivers her Spring Statement.

Those challenges are also being felt on the ground, in people’s everyday lives.

People have contacted the BBC through our Your Voice, Your BBC News to tell us how they are feeling about the months ahead and what plans they have to tackle the hurdles they face.

“I’m working paycheque to paycheque,” says Dylan Caulkin. “If I have a tyre that pops, I rely on credit.”

The teaching assistant, who lives with his parents near Truro, Cornwall, is about to start a new job as a support worker for people with learning difficulties.

At £12.24 an hour, his pay will be only just above the level the minimum wage is rising to in April. But it is more than he is getting in his current role.

“I’m very excited,” he says. The opportunity for doing overtime, too, means the change will have a “massive impact” on his finances.

He pays his parents £160 a month rent and contributes to food costs, which are higher for him as he is on a gluten-free diet. His car – a necessity, he says – costs about £500 a month to run. And he has a small amount of credit card debt he is currently trying to clear.

He sometimes has £100 left over at the end of the month for spending on himself.

“I’m very lucky to have family around me,” he says. “I wouldn’t be able to survive without them.”

He would like to see the government provide more help for young people like him.

“In the near-future I’m looking to move in with my partner but it is just so expensive.”

What happens next with interest rates is what matters most to Ellie Richardson and Billy Taylor.

They found their dream home for £350,000 last year, but the sale has been delayed and now won’t be completed before stamp duty rises at the end of this month, costing them an extra £2,500.

“You have to roll with the punches,” says Ellie, who works in sports PR. But they hope mortgage rates aren’t also about to go up.

She and Billy, a builder, have been shuttling between his parents’ and her parents’ houses in Essex for the past three years.

“We’ve worked really hard to save as much as we can for this house,” she says. “We’re pretty set on it.”

They have a joint income of around £80,000 and they have a mortgage offer that would see them pay around £1,200 a month.

But if the house purchase is delayed too long, they may end up having to apply for a new mortgage.

“The silver lining is, if we do complete later in the year, then hopefully mortgage rates could be lower,” she says.

The student from Worcester has a combination of health conditions including PoTS, which causes her heart rate to increase very quickly when she stands up and can lead to loss of balance and consciousness.

“I faint multiple times a day, I’m in immense pain constantly. I dislocate my fingers, elbows, shoulders and knees a lot.

“Most students work part-time,” she says. “I’ve been deemed unfit to work.”

Elspeth receives a total of about £1,200 a month through a student maintenance loan and incapacity and disability benefits.

She is dropping out of her current course – nursing – because she can’t manage the hospital shifts. She wants to start a new course, in astrophysics, in the autumn.

But she says her parents can’t support her financially, so if her benefits are cut, she will have to abandon that ambition.

“I’ve got more outgoings than the average student,” she says.

Currently, she has nothing left at the end of the month, after spending around £800 on rent and another good chunk on her cardiac support dog, Podge.

His food costs £90 a month, there are vet’s bills, and recently he needed a new harness that helps him to communicate to her, including when she is about to faint. It cost £1,200.

“Currently all my money goes on him,” she says.

Businessman Lincoln Smith reckons consumer confidence is the lowest it has been for 15 years.

He owns and runs Custom Heat, a plumbing firm based in Rugby. The rising cost of living has meant his customers have cut back on annual boiler services and other things. On top of that, taxes for businesses go up in April.

“That makes you shrink your ambitions, makes you think, ‘Let’s not replace people who are leaving.’”

The company is not taking on apprentices this year, and has even got rid of the office cleaner.

Lincoln himself is taking a 20% pay cut to help balance the books for the forthcoming financial year.

He’ll be earning £125,000, while his wife, who also works for the business, earns £45,000.

“It sounds like a lot,” he admits, but the cut will still mean lifestyle changes. “When you are earning any salary, you set your outgoings based on it.”

With a mortgage of £3,000 a month they are already at “breakeven point”, he says.

“We haven’t booked a holiday this year. We are definitely not going away,” he says.

But if that is not enough he will look at moving house to reduce the mortgage.

It’s a bit upsetting, he says, because it’s the only house his sons, aged seven and four, have known.

“I know it’s ‘first world problems’,” he says. “You’ve just got to do what you’ve got to do.”

Radhika Gupta thinks whatever Rachel Reeves does on Wednesday she shouldn’t cut spending on health or education.

The student from Derry in Northern Ireland is in the third year of a five-year medical degree at Queen’s University in Belfast.

“One thing that worries me is how many doctors want to leave,” she says.

“The consensus is it is not worth practising medicine in the UK because of how little you are paid. And you are left with a lot of student debt.

“I don’t think the government really understands the challenges.”

Despite what she sees as underfunded services and staff burnout she wants to work in England after she graduates.

But more needs to be done to fund and improve medical training, she says.

The other thing she would like to see more money spent on is transport, which is one of her biggest expenses at around £75 a month, partly because unreliable public transport sometimes means she takes a cab to the hospital.

Her parents and maintenance loan give her about £800 a month, which she supplements with tutoring and casual work in hospitality. Her rent is £600. There are extra costs like her scrubs – she needs several sets – at £35 a set.

“Things are quite tight,” she says.

“There doesn’t seem to be anything good on the horizon,” says Malcolm Hindley, a retired window cleaner from Liverpool.

A widower, he lives with his daughter, who “does everything round the house” and cares for him and her disabled daughter.

He owns his own house, but finds it hard to get by on his £200-a-week state pension, plus attendance allowance of around £80 a week.

He needs a car to get to the shops and medical appointments, and has just been in a car accident that has left him with a neck brace, on top of existing mobility issues.

He will be listening out on Wednesday for further details around cuts to benefits for the long-term sick and disabled.

Losing the winter fuel payment was hard, he says, because he feels the cold more as he gets older. Now he is worried what else might go.

“The way this government’s working, it just seems to be hitting the poorer more. What else are they going to take off us?”

He doesn’t have much left at the end of the month, but what he does have goes on ice creams and sweets for the grandchildren.

“When you see their faces it’s brilliant,” he says.