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A shadow industry of law firms and advisers is charging thousands of pounds to help migrants pretend to be gay in order to stay in the UK, the BBC has found. In the first part of a major undercover investigation, we reveal how migrants whose visas are due to run out are being given fake cover stories and instructed in how to obtain fabricated evidence, including supporting letters, photographs and medical reports. They then apply for asylum claiming to be gay and in fear for their lives if they return to Pakistan or Bangladesh.In response to our findings, the Home...

US President Donald Trump says countries "like the United Kingdom" who can't get jet fuel because of the restrictions around the Strait of Hormuz should “build up some delayed courage, go to the Strait, and just TAKE IT". In a post on Truth Social, he writes countries will “have to start learning how to fight for yourself, the U.S.A. won’t be there to help you anymore, just like you weren’t there for us," addressing countries "which refused to get involved in the decapitation of Iran". "Iran has been, essentially, decimated. The hard part is done," the post adds, ending with:...

The month-long closure of a crucial waterway for the global energy supply has sparked warnings the world is heading for problems worse than those caused by the 1970s oil crisis. Lars Jensen, a shipping expert and former director at Maersk, told the BBC the impact of the US-Israeli war on Iran could be "substantially larger" than the economic chaos seen in the 1970s. His comments follow a warning from the director of the International Energy Agency, Fatih Birol, earlier this month that the world is "facing the greatest global energy security threat in history". "It is much bigger than what...

A majority of the American public, polls suggest, have been against the ongoing US-Israeli military campaign in Iran from the day it started. Republicans, however, have largely stuck by their president as the war approaches the end of its fourth week. But that may be changing. At the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Texas, some of the party faithful expressed concern about why the US started this war, how Donald Trump is going to end it and whether the effort has been worth the costs. "I just wish that there was more transparency on why we're doing what...

The US Senate has voted to end a partial 40-day government shutdown, approving funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) - but with immigration enforcement excluded. The almost six-week funding lapse has had a knock-on effect on air travel in the US. Airport security workers' salaries are paid by the DHS, and hundreds have quit since the shutdown began. Democrats had refused to agree a funding deal without reforms to the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency, but the Senate reached unanimous agreement in the early hours of Friday morning after stripping ICE and parts of border protection...

Summary President Donald Trump says the US is considering "winding down" operations against Iran, but that other nations must guard the Strait of Hormuz - a vital shipping lane for oilTrump adds that he does not want a ceasefire. The US is making detailed plans for the possibility of deploying ground troops to Iran, the BBC's US partner CBS News reports The US says it will temporarily lift sanctions on Iranian oil stuck at sea, to contain the war's ongoing impact on energy prices Overnight, Israel launched a new wave of strikes on Tehran and Beirut. Israel, Saudi Arabia and...

Donald Trump has sparked fresh outrage in the UK after saying Nato troops stayed "a little off the front lines" during the war in Afghanistan. Labour MP Emily Thornberry, the chair of the foreign affairs committee, called it an "absolute insult" to the 457 British service personnel killed in the conflict, while Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said: "How dare he question their sacrifice?" Conservative MP Ben Obese-Jecty, who served in Afghanistan, said it was "sad to see our nation's sacrifice, and that of our Nato partners, held so cheaply". The UK was among several allies to join the...

Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper has reminded her US counterpart Marco Rubio of his obligations under international law, she told MPs, following US military action in Venezuela. US President Donald Trump's launched an operation resulting in the capture of President Nicolás Maduro this weekend, leading to accusations the US had flouted international law. Cooper's statement to the House of Commons went further than Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, who has so far avoided condemning Trump's decision and focused instead on the brutality of Maduro's dictatorship.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has promised to "defeat the decline and division offered by others" in his new year message, as he insisted 2026 would see people feel "positive change" in their lives. He acknowledged "things have been tough in Britain for a while" but said the public should now start to see improvements including lower bills, more police on the streets and new health hubs. It has been a difficult year for the PM, who has been battling slowing economic growth, poor poll ratings and speculation he could face a leadership challenge. In her own new year message,...

Multinational retail giant Costco has sued the US government to secure a full refund of import duties if the Supreme Court rejects President Donald Trump's authority to impose tariffs without congressional approval. Costco's lawsuit urges the federal trade court to declare Trump's 'emergency' tariffs illegal, an authority the president says he has under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). Two lower courts have already ruled that Trump exceeded his authority by using emergency powers to impose tariffs. The case has now reached the Supreme Court, and several companies are trying to protect their rights to refunds should the justices...

The BBC misled viewers by doctoring a video of President Donald Trump to make it appear he was encouraging the Capitol protest on Jan. 6, 2021, according to a whistleblower memo viewed by the Telegraph. The corporation aired the video during a Panorama program titled "Trump: A Second Chance," which was broadcast a week before the 2024 U.S. presidential election. The spliced-together version made it seem as though Trump said: "We're gonna walk down to the Capitol and I'll be with you, and we fight. We fight like hell, and if you don't fight like hell, you're not gonna have...

After two years of war, there is a chance of a deal that will end the killing and destruction in Gaza and return the Israeli hostages, living and dead, to their families. It is an opportunity, but it is not certain that it will be seized by Hamas and Israel.It is a grim coincidence that the talks are happening exactly two years after Hamas inflicted a trauma on Israelis that is still acute. The 7 October attacks killed around 1,200 people, mostly Israeli civilians, and 251 were taken hostage. The Israelis estimate that 20 hostages are still alive and they...

Donald Trump had a warning to Democrats. Soon he will decide what "Democrat agencies" he would cut and whether those reductions would be temporary or permanent. He said the government shutdown, which began on Tuesday, had afforded him an "unprecedented opportunity". "I have a meeting today with Russ Vought, he of PROJECT 2025 Fame," he posted on his Truth Social website on Thursday morning. Vought, the director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, may not be a household name. But Project 2025, a conservative blueprint for governing put together primarily by former Trump officials like Vought when...

A serving Metropolitan Police officer has been arrested on suspicion of perverting the course of justice over an allegation linked to a BBC Panorama investigation. The officer is a sergeant based at Charing Cross police station and was arrested in relation to an incident that took place on Thursday, a statement from the Met said. They have since been bailed and suspended from duty. The arrest follows a Panorama undercover investigation that revealed serving Metropolitan Police officers at the central London station called for immigrants to be shot, revelled in the use of force and were dismissive of rape claims....

Palestinians pursuing an apology from the UK over colonial-era war crimes allegations have urged the government to respond in light of its recognition this week of a state of Palestine. The group submitted a 400-page legal petition to the Foreign Office earlier this month seeking an official apology and reparations from the UK. They represent 13 families who say they were subjected to violence, exile or repression during the period known as the British Mandate in historical Palestine from 1917 until 1948. Victor Kattan, who speaks for the petitioners, said the government had a responsibility to acknowledge what took place...

The Trump administration has announced a plan to scrap a landmark finding that greenhouse gases are harmful to the environment, severely curbing the federal government's ability to combat climate change. Known as the "Endangerment Finding", the 2009 order from then-President Barack Obama allowed the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to create rules to limit pollution by setting emissions standards. ... The Endangerment Finding stemmed from a 2007 Supreme Court case in which the court ruled that greenhouse gases are "air pollutants" - meaning that the EPA has the authority and responsibility to regulate them under the US Clean Air Act....

When immigration agents pulled up outside a Los Angeles car wash on a quiet Sunday afternoon, it sparked instant chaos. Some customers at the Westchester Hand Wash, which sits in the centre of a busy shopping area just blocks from the city's airport, froze as the officers in olive-green uniforms approached, CCTV footage obtained by the BBC shows. Two employees who spotted them ducked behind a luxury SUV they were wiping down with a rag. Another worker halfway through cleaning the back window of a car looked up. Then all at once they scattered and ran, some jumping over a...

Americans across the country are remembering George Floyd five years after he was killed by police, with special gatherings in the city where he grew up and the one where he died. The murder of Floyd, a black man, in Minneapolis by police officer Derek Chauvin led to nationwide protests against racism and police brutality. On Sunday, Floyd's family gathered in their hometown of Houston near Floyd's gravesite for an event led by the Rev. Al Sharpton, while Minneapolis held several commemorations. What many hailed as a national "reckoning" with racism after Floyd's death, though, seems to be fading as...

Canadian Prime Minister Markey Carney has said that "high level" talks are taking place with the US about joining its proposed "Golden Dome" missile defence system, aimed at countering futuristic threats. US President Donald Trump unveiled the plan for the new missile defence system on Tuesday, announcing an initial total cost of $25bn (£18.7bn). He said Canada was interested in joining the project. There are doubts from experts on how the US would deliver a comprehensive system and it is unclear how Canada would participate or how much it would pay. "It's something that we are looking at and something...

Donald Trump has proved to be the political Rottweiler of right-wing Afrikaner groups, taking their fight to South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa.They were quick to celebrate the US president's ambush of Ramaphosa in the Oval Office, with the Solidarity Movement - which had toured the US to lobby the Trump administration - saying it welcomed the fact that South Africa's "enormous problems have been placed on the international stage".Ernst Roets, a leading personality on the Afrikaner right, showed his admiration for the US president. "Donald Trump made history today," he said in a post on X, before thanking him for...