BBC News

The number of children involved in care proceedings before they reach their first birthdays is at a persistently high level across England, according to experts who have published new figures.

Data from the universities of Lancaster and Oxford indicates care proceedings for babies have risen by 64% over the past two decades, with one in 118 infants affected. The figures - up to 2024-25 - peaked during Covid, before dropping slightly and plateauing.

While there are cases where it is unsafe for parents to continue contact with their children, experts have told File on 4 Investigates that many babies may not have needed to go into care if support had been in place.

And, since very young children who go into care are more likely to be adopted than older children, there are also concerns from experts that some may have been permanently separated from their birth families unnecessarily.

The BBC understands that new guidance for Family Court judges, to significantly reduce the number of short-notice care hearings - within hours or days of a baby being born - will be announced before the end of the year.

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A 22-year-old British national has been arrested on suspicion of preparation of terrorist acts in connection with an incident close to RAF Fairford, counter-terror police said.

The man was arrested in Westminster, London, on Tuesday as part of the investigation into the incident near the airbase in Gloucestershire last month.

It is the seventh arrest in connection to the incident - the six other men have been released on bail.

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#RAFFairford #CounterTerrorism #Police #BBCNews

How did the El Niño of 1877 contribute to the deaths of 50 million people, roughly 3% of the population?

As the world faces a record-breaking El Niño, we speak to historians and scientists about what happened in 1877 and what we can learn from one of the deadliest climate-related disasters ever recorded. We explain what El Niño is and how scientists think our warmer world could impact future events.

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00:00 Could this be the strongest El Niño on record?

01:14 What is El Niño?

02:16 How does El Niño affect weather around the world?

02:50 What regions are affected by El Niño?

03:23 What is a ‘Super El Niño’?

04:51 How strong was the 1877 El Niño?

07:46 How can El Niño impact global food supplies?

08:09 Who is most affected in climate disasters?

08:27 Is climate change making El Niño worse?

09:13 How can countries prepare to reduce the impacts of El Niño?

#BBCNews #ElNino #ClimateChange #ExtremeWeather #WeatherExplained #Climate

Today, after the US withdrew its bombers from RAF Fairford, the UK government has insisted the military base is safe.

Our security correspondent Frank Gardner explains why the Americans moved the planes back to their home stations. It comes a week after a major incident when police were alerted to three "suspicious vehicles" near the airbase and six arrests were made.

Plus, housing protests in Spain have lead to Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez calling a snap election. And in France, student protests over the condition of school buildings and staffing have led to clashes with police. Spain correspondent Guy Hedgecoe and Sophie Pedder, the Economists Paris bureau chief explain the context behind the unrest.

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#RAF #France #Spain #BBCNews

US psychiatrist and neurologist Karl Deisseroth and his German colleagues Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel have been awarded this year's Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their work in the field of optogenetics.

Their research has helped scientists learn more about the inner workings of the brain, to better understand how the human mind works.

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President Donald Trump has said the US moved its bombers out of RAF Fairford because of "some threats" to the base.

The Pentagon confirmed on Sunday it had removed its bombers - thought to be about a dozen B-1s - from the base back to their home stations in America.

Speaking to reporters as he departed for Nebraska on Monday, Trump said the US had known of a "threat", which led them to move the bombers.

Earlier a UK government spokesperson insisted that RAF Fairford was safe and pointed to Trump's comments last week, where he praised the UK's "police, defence and security services" in relation to the base.

Trump's comments appear to confirm reports by US media that a new threat led to the bombers being removed after a major incident on 27 September when police were alerted to three "suspicious vehicles" near the airbase. Six men have been arrested while a police investigation into a suspected terror plot continue. The UK government has suggested a link to Iran is likely.

Speaking to reporters outside the White House, Trump was asked if a "specific threat" had led the US to pull its bombers from the airbase and said: "Yeah I think we can say that. They didn't fly out by accident…. There were some threats. And rather than tempting the enemy, we'll capture the enemy and beat the enemy. But why should we leave them there? So we moved them around a little bit. Not very far."

The exact nature of the threat that prompted the aircraft's removal from RAF Fairfield remains unclear, but sources in suggested that there were fears of a drone strike or sabotage attempts in the event of resumed hostilities with Iran.

One source close to the White House pointed to Ukraine’s Operation Spiderweb - a covert drone attack on five Russian bases in June last year - as an example of what a determined enemy force could do.

Clive Myrie presents BBC News at Ten reporting by Frank Gardner and Gary O’Donoghue.

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Last week, Tennessee attempted to carry out the execution of Christa Pike, a convicted murderer who had spent three decades on death row. But the execution did not go as planned: After she was injected with two lethal doses of pentobarbital, Pike remained alive. She was then taken to hospital by ambulance.

This isn’t the first time an American execution hasn’t gone as planned. One reason is that the drugs needed for lethal injection have become increasingly difficult for US prison officials to obtain. Pharmaceutical companies don’t want their medicines used in executions — particularly manufacturers in Europe, where governments have opposed the death penalty for decades.

So, without access to regulated drugs, American prisons have had to improvise — sometimes with horrifying results.

The Global Story’s Tristan Redman speaks with investigative reporter Livvy Haydock about the consequences when the pharmaceutical supply chain refuses to feed the machinery of American executions.

Listen to Livvy’s podcast, Killing Death Row: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/m001rjdp

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00:00 Introduction

00:38 How a lethal injection is supposed to work

05:05 What went wrong in Christa Pike’s execution

07:16 Why America is struggling to get execution drugs

09:00 The drugs used in lethal injections

10:15 Why European drugmakers stopped supplying the US

12:38 America’s secret hunt for execution drugs

14:47 What happens when execution drugs expire

15:07 The London chemist supplying America

16:58 How the drug shortage can cause botched executions

17:30 Are lethal injections causing suffering?

19:05 Why the US can’t simply make its own execution drugs

21:21 Could prisons start making their own drugs?

21:46 Why Europe rejects the death penalty

22:32 Why Americans still support executions

23:17 When executions fail victims’ families

#ChristaPike #Deathrow #Tennessee #BBCNews

The United States has withdrawn all its bombers from a UK airbase which was the target of a suspected terror plot. The American aircraft had used RAF Fairford to launch missions against Iran. The bombers have now been redeployed to the US.

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Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has called a snap election after suffering a major defeat over housing reforms.

It's after protests sparked by the eviction of 87-year-old Maricarmen Abascal after her rent rose sharply.

So - how did we get here?

00:00-01:10 Intro

01:10-02:24 Why did Pedro Sanchez call an election?

02:24-03:53 What's at the heart of the housing protests?

03:53-04:50 What do the polls say?

04:50-05:50 Are Spaniards divided on housing issues?

05:50-06:53 Pedro Sanchez on the global stage

06:53-07:33 What are the key election issues?

07:33-08:19 What happens next?

#BBCNews #Spain #PedroSánchez #BBCNews

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Investigators reportedly say the co-pilot accused of trying to hijack a Flydubai plane heading from Dubai to Tel Aviv was a “lone wolf” extremist, who wanted to fly the aircraft into an airport or tower block. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has previously said that the heroic actions of the flight’s passengers and crew – including Captain Smit Machchhar of India – prevented a “9/11 disaster”.

Also in the Global News Podcast:

05:28 The US withdraws bomber planes from the UK base RAF Fairford, after men were arrested on suspicion of terrorism last week

10:00 Factory workers in India are paid to film themselves, to train their own AI replacements

13:04 US Marine Lance Corporal Devin Jacob Ballard is accused of killing a woman in Okinawa, Japan

15:39 Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez calls a snap election

19:49 Why cancer rates are rising amongst young adults

The Global News Podcast brings you the best of the BBC’s news coverage and analysis from around the world. You can watch us on YouTube every weekday – and find the audio version here: https://link.mgln.ai/GNP-YT

If you would like to get in touch, you can email us at [email protected].

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