Nov 20, 2024 | Vladimir Putin has signed a decree lowering the threshold for Russia's use of nuclear weapons. It follows a US decision to allow Ukraine to carry out long-range missile strikes on Russia using American weapons. Ukraine has carried out its first such attack, with Russia confirming that US ATACMS missiles have hit its Bryansk region.
Russia’s revised nuclear doctrine states that a conventional attack on Russia by any nation that is supported by a nuclear power will be considered a joint attack. An attack on Russia with conventional missiles, drones or aircraft could meet the criteria for a nuclear response.
The Kremlin urged other countries to study the changes. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov described the decree as “a very important text” and said "it should become a subject to a very deep analysis".
Recently Russia warned it would deliver “an appropriate and tangible” response to the US President's decision to let Ukraine use ATACMS missiles to strike the country. Russia's foreign ministry said that such an attack "would represent the direct involvement of the United States and its satellites in hostilities against Russia”.
Joe Biden’s change of policy comes two months before Donald Trump is sworn in as the new US President. Mr Trump has claimed that he will help bring a swift end to the war in Ukraine.
Reeta Chakrabarti presents BBC News at Ten reporting by Steve Rosenberg, Nick Eardley, Vicki Young and Lyse Doucet.
Nov 18, 2024 | The parents of a British teenager who took his own life after becoming a victim of sextortion have made a direct appeal to criminals in Nigeria to stop "terrorising" the vulnerable.
Murray Dowey, from Dunblane, was only 16 when he ended his life last year. It is thought he had been tricked by criminals in West Africa into sending intimate pictures of himself and then blackmailed.
Sextortion often involves victims being sent a nude picture or video before being asked to send their own in return. They then receive threats the material will be shared with family and friends unless they meet the blackmailer's demands - pressure it is believed led Murray to take his own life.
Jan 30, 2024 | Britain is ready to bring forward the moment when it formally recognises a Palestinian state, the foreign secretary has suggested. Lord Cameron said Palestinians had to be given a political horizon to encourage peace in the Middle East. He is beginning his fourth visit to the region since being appointed foreign secretary in November. The UK has a responsibility to set out what a Palestinian state would look like, he told a Westminster reception.
Jan 26, 2024 | The jury has decided in Donald Trump's defamation trial brought by the writer E Jean Carroll. Trump has been ordered to pay a total of $83.3m (£65.6m) - made up of $18.3m in compensation damages and $65m in punitive damages.
Trump was in court on Friday for closing arguments - but was not in the room when the verdict was read out. A jury in a previous civil fraud trial found Carroll was sexually abused by Trump in the 1990s, but this case is about comments he made in 2019 while he was president.
The case is one of several legal issues unfolding against Trump while he campaigns for the Republican presidential nomination.
Jan 24, 2024 | A Russian Ilyushin-76 military transport plane has crashed in the southern Belgorod region bordering Ukraine. At least 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war were killed, according to Russia's ministry of defence. Ria Novosti news agency said another nine people were on board, including six crew. None of the details surrounding those on board can be independently verified.
Jan 24, 2024 | Donald Trump has won the New Hampshire Republican presidential primary.
It is a significant victory for the former president and puts him in a commanding position to become the party's presidential candidate in November.
His last remaining rival in the race, Nikki Haley, has vowed to fight on and said "this race is far from over".
Speaking at a campaign stop earlier, front-runner Trump told reporters "I don't care" if Haley stays in the race, adding "let her do whatever she wants".
Joe Biden is projected to win the Democratic primary, but because of a fight within the party those results will not be recognised.
Jan 23, 2024 | American mercenaries, hired by the UAE to kill in Yemen, have spoken candidly on camera for the first time in an investigation by BBC Arabic.
At a time when Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping have highlighted the international dimensions of the Yemeni conflict, the investigation also reveals how US mercenaries trained Emirati officers to kill the UAE’s political enemies in Yemen.
These extra-judicial killings, conducted in the name of counter-terrorism, started in 2015 and continue to this day.
Jan 19, 2024 | The husband of ex-Tory peer Michelle Mone, Doug Barrowman, is connected to a company that tax experts say should be investigated for fraud,
BBC Newsnight has found. Doug Barrowman has previously denied involvement in Vanquish Options, a firm that falsely claimed customers could write off money owed to the government.
But BBC News has identified Vanquish bosses with links to Mr Barrowman and seen emails sent by Vanquish from the same IP address as his Isle of Man HQ.
Dec 15, 2023 | The High Court has ruled that Prince Harry was the victim of mobile phone hacking by Mirror Group Newspapers and has awarded him £140,600 in damages. Mr Justice Fancourt said that his personal phone was targeted between 2003 and 2009. He said 15 of 33 sample articles were “the product of phone hacking … or the product of other unlawful information gathering". He ruled there was "extensive" phone hacking by Mirror Group Newspapers from 2006 to 2011 The publisher said in a statement that they “apologise unreservedly” for “historical wrongdoing”.
Dec 15, 2023 | Hungary has blocked €50bn ($55bn; £43bn) in EU aid for Ukraine - just hours after an agreement was reached on starting membership talks.
"Summary of the nightshift: veto for the extra money to Ukraine," Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said after Thursday's talks in Brussels. EU leaders said the aid negotiations would resume early next year.
The aid blocking was announced by Mr Orbán shortly after the EU leaders decided to open membership talks with Ukraine and Moldova and to grant candidate status to Georgia.
Hungary - which maintains close ties with Russia - has long opposed membership for Ukraine but did not veto that move.
Dec 7, 2023 | The former Austrian foreign minister Karin Kneissl, who hit the headlines when she danced with Vladimir Putin at her wedding in 2018, has moved to Russia. In an interview, Ms Kneissl claimed that “political pressure” had forced her out of Austria and described President Putin as “the most intelligent gentleman". It comes as this month European Union leaders are set to discuss imposing additional restrictions on Russia over the war in Ukraine, in what would be a twelfth round of sanctions.
Nov 24, 2023 | Twenty-four hostages have been released by Hamas and are now back in Israel. Among them are 13 Israelis, 10 Thais and one Filipino, says Qatar, which has been mediating negotiations between Israel and Hamas.
The Israelis include four children - aged two, four, six and nine - as well as an 85-year-old woman.
Palestinian women and teenagers held by Israel have also been released to the West Bank as part of the deal.
Nov 24, 2023 | Ina Garten – also known as the Barefoot Contessa – is an iconic American cook, author, and television personality.
The BBC’s Katty Kay visits Garten’s home in New York for a conversation about success, failure, and how Garten became one of the most influential figures in the culinary world.
Nov 24, 2023 | Ireland's police chief says over 30 people were arrested during riots in Dublin on Thursday, following an earlier knife attack in the city centre which left four people injured.
More than a dozen shops were damaged or looted, Garda Commissioner Drew Harris said, and several police vehicles and three buses were destroyed. One police officer was seriously injured in the rioting and many more were hurt, Harris added.
The Commissioner described "huge destruction from a riotous mob", which police have blamed on a "lunatic, hooligan faction driven by far-right ideology".
Earlier on Thursday, police said a five-year-old girl was in emergency care following the knife attack. A woman in her 30s and two other children aged five and six were also injured.
Nov 23, 2023 | Geert Wilders, a veteran anti-Islam populist leader, has won a dramatic victory in the Dutch general election, according to the latest forecast. After 25 years in parliament, his Freedom party (PVV) is set to win 37 seats, well ahead of his nearest rival, a left-wing alliance. "The PVV can no longer be ignored," he said. His win has shaken Dutch politics and it will send a shock across Europe too.
Nov 20, 2023 | Far-right libertarian outsider Javier Milei has won Argentina's presidential run-off poll, according to provisional results. His rival, economy minister Sergio Massa, called him to concede, while former US President Donald Trump congratulated Milei on his victory, saying he would "Make Argentina Great Again!". Milei's proposals, which included "blowing up" the central bank, won support with voters desperate for change amid an economy in crisis.
Nov 17, 2023 | The White House has accused Elon Musk of repeating a "hideous lie" about Jewish people, after the X owner appeared to respond approvingly to an antisemitic post on the platform.
On Wednesday, Mr Musk replied to a post sharing an antisemitic conspiracy theory, calling it "actual truth".
Mr Musk has denied that the post was antisemitic. But a White House spokesman said his endorsement of the post, which drew anger online, was "unacceptable".
Nov 17, 2023 | An asylum seeker who received a letter informing him he could be sent to Rwanda and was one of those to challenge the government at the Supreme Court has told BBC Newsnight he would rather die than go to the African nation.
The Supreme Court upheld a Court of Appeal ruling on Wednesday that deemed the government’s policy to fly asylum seekers to Rwanda and ban them from returning to the UK was unlawful.
Rishi Sunak says the government will work on a new treaty with Rwanda and he is prepared to change UK laws.
The 49-year-old asylum seeker has asked for his identity to be hidden, and his words have been spoken by a translator.
Nov 16, 2023 | The US and China have agreed to resume military-to-military communications in an effort to ease rising tensions, the US president said. Joe Biden met with China's President Xi Jinping in California on Wednesday. It was the first time the pair had spoken in person in more than a year. As well as resuming military communications, the two sides announced several other agreements in areas that have become sources of tension in recent times.
