Foreign
Israel pounds Gaza as death tolls on both sides rise
The death toll from five days of ferocious fighting between Hamas and Israel rose sharply overnight as Israel kept up its bombardment of Gaza Wednesday after recovering the dead from the last communities near the border where Palestinian militants had been holed up.
In Israel, the death toll from Saturday’s shock cross-border assault by Hamas militants rose to 1,200, making it the deadliest attack in the country’s 75-year history, while Gaza officials reported more than 900 people killed as Israel pounded the territory with air strikes.
Hamas said two of its top officials had been killed, while Israel’s military said the bodies of roughly 1,500 Hamas infiltrators had been found.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned Israel’s military response to Saturday’s attack is only the start of a sustained war to destroy the Islamist group and “change the Middle East”.
Fears of a regional conflagration have surged ahead of an expected Israeli ground incursion into Gaza.
At least 30 people were killed and hundreds wounded as Israel pounded the Gaza Strip with hundreds of air strikes overnight, a Hamas government official said Wednesday.
The strikes destroyed several buildings of the Hamas-linked Islamic University in Gaza City, a university official said.
The Israeli military confirmed it had hit dozens of Hamas targets during the night.
It said fighter jets destroyed “advanced detection systems” that Hamas used to spot military aircraft.
They also hit 80 Hamas targets in the Beit Hanoun area of the northeastern Gaza Strip, including two bank branches used by the Islamist group to “fund terrorism” in the enclave, the military said.
In response to Saturday’s attack, Israel imposed a “total siege” on Gaza, suspending supplies of food, water, electricity and fuel to the already blockaded enclave.
Hamas, which has controlled the Gaza Strip since 2007, is threatening to execute hostages kidnapped in Israel, including young people captured during a music festival where around 270 died.
– ‘Discovering bodies’ –
Israel has been left reeling by Hamas’s unprecedented ground, air and sea assault, likening it to the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.
In announcing Israel’s latest death toll on Wednesday morning, army spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus said the figure was rising not because of the ongoing fighting, but because “we are discovering bodies of dead Israelis in the various communities that Hamas infiltrated and where they conducted their massacres”.
During Saturday’s attack, Hamas gunmen killed more than 100 people in the kibbutz of Beeri alone, said Moti Bukjin, a volunteer with the charity Zaka.
US President Joe Biden condemned the Hamas attacks as “sheer evil”, and Netanyahu said the militants committed “savagery never seen since the Holocaust”, including the beheading of soldiers.
Condemnation from Western leaders contrasted with some pro-Palestinian demonstrations in support of “resistance” to Israel.
“My entire life, I have seen Israel kill us, confiscate our lands and arrest our children,” said Farah al-Saadi, 52, a coffee vendor from Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank who praised the Hamas assault.
The Israeli army has called up 300,000 reservists and massed tanks and other heavy armour both near Gaza and on the northern border with Lebanon.
The military said its forces had dislodged holdout Hamas fighters from more than a dozen communities near the border and were largely back in control.
But late Tuesday, in the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon, troops backed by helicopters and drones exchanged fire with several militants, leaving three fighters dead, the army said.
“Around 1,500 bodies of Hamas (fighters) have been found in Israel around the Gaza Strip,” army spokesman Richard Hecht said earlier.
– ‘Blackmail’ –
In a speech on Tuesday, Biden confirmed at least 14 Americans were killed, and others were missing.
The US has sent an aircraft carrier and other warships to the eastern Mediterranean as part of efforts to deter any expansion of the conflict, and is also providing other assistance, including sharing intelligence with Israel.
Relatives of Americans believed held in Gaza called on the Biden administration to bring them home safely.
Many other nations have reported citizens killed, abducted or missing, including Brazil, Cambodia, Canada, Ireland, Mexico, Nepal, Panama, Paraguay, Russia, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Ukraine.
On Monday, Hamas warned it would start killing its hostages every time Israel launches a strike on a civilian target in Gaza without warning. French President Emmanuel Macron called the threat “unacceptable blackmail.”
Israeli munitions have continued to hammer Gaza, a densely populated territory of about 2.3 million people.
Hamas said the strikes killed two of its senior figures: Zakaria Muammar led its economics section, and Jawad Abu Shamala coordinated ties with other Palestinian factions.
Eight Palestinian journalists have also been killed in the strikes, according to media unions and officials.
The United Nations said more than 263,000 people had been displaced inside Gaza, most taking shelter in UN schools.
White smoke billowed from among fishing boats after an air strike on Gaza’s port, and in Jerusalem the deserted streets were targeted by Hamas rocket fire.
“Israeli people they are scared of the Arabs and the Arabs are scared of the Jews… everybody is scared of each other,” said Ahmed Karkash, a shopkeeper in the Old City.
In Gaza City, streets are clogged with rubble and littered with shards of glass.
Mazen Mohammad and his family slept on the ground floor of their apartment block, huddling together as explosions rang out around them.
What they woke up to the next day was unrecognisable.
“We felt like we were in a ghost town, as if we were the only survivors,” Mohammad, 38, told AFP.
After Israel imposed a total siege on Gaza, European Union foreign ministers called for humanitarian corridors for those trying to flee.
UN human rights chief Volker Turk said such sieges are prohibited under international humanitarian law.
Medical supplies, including oxygen, were running low at Gaza’s overwhelmed Al-Shifa hospital, said Mohammed Ghonim, a doctor in the emergency room.
– Taken ‘by surprise’ –
Soldiers who were on guard duty along the hi-tech security barrier around Gaza recounted how Hamas’s attack began with an effort to cripple observation cameras and communications.
“They took us by surprise and we weren’t ready for it,” a lookout soldier said in testimony posted on Instagram.
Israel faced the threat of a multi-front war after three days of clashes with militants on the northern border with Lebanon.
For the first time since the Hamas attack, there was an exchange of fire between Israel and forces in Syria, after Israel’s military said munitions were fired towards the Golan Heights it has occupied since 1967.
On Tuesday, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades claimed a fresh salvo of rocket fire from Lebanon towards Israel, the Israeli army said, adding it retaliated with artillery fire.
“It’s like a state of war,” said Yaakov Regev, sipping coffee at a petrol station in northern Israel, a few kilometres (couple of miles) from the Lebanon border.
Unrest has also surged in the West Bank, where 15 Palestinians have been killed since Saturday.
Netanyahu, the veteran leader at the helm of Israel’s hard-right coalition, has called for an “emergency government of national unity” after his administration’s proposal for judicial reforms split the nation.
AFP
Investigators have recovered the flight recorders from an Amazon cargo plane that crashed while attempting to land at Miami International Airport, as authorities continue efforts to recover victims and determine what caused the deadly incident.
Five people were killed and five others seriously injured when the Boeing 767-300, operated by 21 Air, overran the runway shortly before 2pm local time on Sunday.
The aircraft, which had two crew members aboard, was arriving from San Juan, Puerto Rico, on its third flight of the day when it crashed.
According to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), the plane struck airport navigational equipment before breaking through a perimeter fence and hitting two vehicles—a white Ford cleaning van carrying seven people and a Toyota Corolla with three occupants.
The aircraft eventually came to rest about 1,300 feet (394 metres) beyond the runway.
NTSB Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy said investigators were still in the fact-finding stage and warned against drawing conclusions about the cause of the crash.
She described the scene as “devastating” and said the immediate priority was recovering the victims.
“The investigation and access to the aircraft, as well as evidence, can wait,” Homendy said.
The flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder have been recovered and will be transported to NTSB headquarters for detailed analysis.
Investigators are expected to examine the aircraft’s flight history, the crew’s experience and training, radar information, aircraft performance, mechanical systems and engines.
A meteorologist will also assess weather conditions at the time of the crash.
Earlier analysis by BBC Verify indicated that an active thunderstorm was near the airport shortly before the incident, with winds reportedly gusting to about 26 knots (48km/h).
The NTSB will also investigate whether the runway should have been equipped with an Engineered Materials Arresting System (EMAS), which is designed to help stop aircraft that overrun runways.
Homendy described the issue as a key part of the investigation.
The NTSB has appealed to members of the public who may have photographs or videos of the crash to submit them to investigators.
The agency said it would issue safety recommendations at the conclusion of the investigation, with Homendy stressing the need to prevent similar tragedies in the future.
Meanwhile, two of Miami International Airport’s four runways remained closed following the crash, with passengers warned to expect further disruption.
The incident occurred during the US Labor Day holiday weekend, one of the country’s busiest travel periods, resulting in flight cancellations and disruption to aircraft and crew movements.
Amazon expressed grief over the loss of lives and said it was working closely with authorities.
21 Air, the company operating the aircraft, also expressed condolences to the victims and their families and said it was cooperating fully with the investigation.
The investigation into the crash is ongoing.
A 68-year-old British woman, Dawn Ottewell, has claimed that her 31-year-old Nigerian husband, Bright Emokpae, disappeared from their home months after moving to the United Kingdom on a spouse visa.
Ottewell, from Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, told The Sun UK that she met Emokpae, an Edo State native, on dating platforms Tinder and Plenty of Fish in 2021 while she was experiencing loneliness and depression.
According to her account, Emokpae initially introduced himself as “Brian Thomas” before later revealing that he was a fashion student from Benin City.
The relationship reportedly developed through regular video calls, after which Ottewell travelled to northern Cyprus, where Emokpae was studying on a student visa.
The couple married at a registry office in Nicosia on March 22, 2022, with two Turkish friends acting as their best man and maid of honour.
Following the wedding, Emokpae returned to Nigeria to process his UK spouse visa. About a year later, after the visa was granted, Ottewell travelled to Heathrow Airport to welcome him to Britain.
However, Ottewell said their relationship deteriorated after his arrival in the UK.
She alleged that Emokpae became increasingly distant, regularly asked her for money and refused to contribute to household expenses, while allegedly sending money to Nigeria.
Her 72-year-old brother, Rory, reportedly helped Emokpae secure a job with a local door manufacturing company.
The couple separated briefly in October 2023 but later reconciled, about six months after the separation. Ottewell said the reconciliation occurred after she received a £63,000 settlement following what she described as a botched NHS prolapse operation.
She now says she regrets taking him back.
Ottewell recalled that shortly before Christmas 2024, she went on a £2,000 Caribbean cruise with her brother. When she returned home, she allegedly discovered that Emokpae had left.
She said he has not returned since and has blocked her on social media, leaving her unable to contact him.
Ottewell believes her estranged husband may now be living in Scotland, where she suspects he runs an online clothing business.
“He’s done a runner and is refusing to sign the divorce papers because I believe he wants to cling on to his spouse visa,” she said.
The woman also expressed concern about what could happen to her estate if she dies before their marriage is legally dissolved.
“My biggest fear is that I’ll die before this is sorted out and he’ll run off with the money my three children should inherit,” she said.
Ottewell said she does not currently have a will and fears Emokpae could potentially make claims against some of her assets, including jewellery, cash and furniture.
She is now seeking assistance from Citizens Advice to help locate her estranged husband and serve him with divorce papers.
“I feel I’m being used,” Ottewell said.
She also advised people to exercise caution when entering relationships that involve international partners, saying she believed her husband had married her primarily to obtain a UK visa.
However, her claims about Emokpae’s motives have not been independently established.
A UK-based Nigerian taxi driver, Kolawole Erunkulu, 45, has been sentenced to six years in prison after falling asleep at the wheel and fatally hitting a 59-year-old man.
Erunkulu, from Bexleyheath, was driving an Audi on August 17, 2025, when he suffered a “microsleep”, causing the vehicle to leave the road and collide with Philip Dray, who had stopped in a lay-by.
Dray was getting into his Volkswagen after taking a break from driving when he was struck.
According to reports, Erunkulu had worked for about 12 hours on the day of the crash, taking only short breaks. In the three days before the fatal collision, he had driven for 53 hours, with his longest rest period being seven hours.
Footage from inside his vehicle showed Erunkulu falling asleep briefly before the Audi swerved off the road and hit Dray. The vehicle continued moving for about 10 seconds after the collision.
A microsleep is a brief episode of sleep that can last only a few seconds, during which the brain fails to properly process information.
Erunkulu pleaded guilty in June 2026 to causing death by dangerous driving.
He was sentenced to six years in prison and disqualified from driving for eight years. He will also be required to pass an extended driving test if he seeks to regain his licence.
Sentencing him, Her Honour Judge Lees said the footage demonstrated that Erunkulu was extremely tired and should have known that he was not fit to drive.
“The footage shows the defendant was extremely tired and, in my view, has continued to drive when he must have known that. He was driving commercially,” the judge said.
She added that the incident could have been prevented if Erunkulu had stopped driving and slept.
Acting Detective Inspector Rob Baldwin of the Serious Collision Investigation Unit said the case highlighted the potentially devastating consequences of driving while fatigued.
He said Erunkulu had worked long hours with insufficient rest, resulting in a “sleep debt”.
“Fatigue can seriously impair a driver’s ability to remain alert and react safely, particularly during the early hours of the morning when the natural drive to sleep is at its strongest,” Baldwin said.
He urged motorists who feel tired not to continue driving.
Dray’s family described him as “an amazing partner and man” who was dependable, caring and respectful.
His sister said Philip was a quiet man who cared deeply about others and had spent his life as a careful and conscientious driver.
“The fact that he, someone who worked every day to keep others safe, had his life taken in such a way makes this loss even more incomprehensible and tragic,” she said.
Dray’s partner described him as “a sweet, gentle, and caring man” and her “soulmate”.
She said his death had left an “enormous emotional and physical void” in her life.
“He would ring me several times a day whenever he was waiting for a client or at lunch, just to see how my day was going. I miss those calls very much,” she said.
Foreign
UK: 11 Drug Couriers Convicted Over £13.8m Cannabis Smuggling Plot Through Birmingham Airport
Eleven drug couriers have been convicted for their roles in a plot to smuggle cannabis worth an estimated £13.8 million into the United Kingdom through Birmingham Airport.
The National Crime Agency (NCA) investigated the group after Border Force officers arrested them in August 2024 and seized 460kg of cannabis concealed in 22 suitcases.
According to an NCA statement published on Wednesday, the couriers had travelled to the UK from Thailand via Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport on the same flights.
The convicted couriers were identified as Carsten Kyei, 21, from Newham, East London; Bradley Lloyd, 27, and Claire McCullough, 36, both from Wythenshawe, Greater Manchester; Lewis Ross, 35, from Bolton, Lancashire; Nathan Vitorino, 26, from Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire; Ryan Boachie, 32, from Edmonton, North London; Gideon Oluwasetemi Olumoyegun, 26, from Dagenham; Tasia Nelson, 22, from Newquay, Cornwall; Jaden Ramen, 23, from Colliers Wood, South London; Paige Crisp, 24, from Broomhall, Worcester; and Jamal Clarke, 22, from Walthamstow, London.
Birmingham Crown Court heard that each courier had two suitcases, with each suitcase containing about 20kg of cannabis.
The suitcases were reportedly so heavy that the couriers had to pay excess baggage charges at Bangkok Airport to have them placed in the aircraft hold.
The cannabis had been vacuum-packed and concealed beneath a thin layer of clothing. Eight of the suitcases also contained Apple AirTag trackers, which NCA investigators established were connected to the same Apple ID account.
Suspicion was raised after Border Force established that four passengers had travelled from Birmingham to Charles de Gaulle Airport earlier on August 9, 2024, each carrying two large suitcases.
Border Force officers subsequently fully staffed the Nothing to Declare channel and intercepted the group.
One of the couriers had also been instructed by an associate: “my man gonna be on the other side – don’t leave the airport until you see him leave.”
Kyei and Vitorino were convicted on May 26, 2026, following a three-week trial, while Ross and Lloyd changed their pleas to guilty during the trial.
Crisp, Nelson and Ramen were convicted on Wednesday, August 19, following a four-week trial.
McCullough, Boachie, Olumoyegun and Clarke had previously pleaded guilty.
Those convicted on August 19 will be sentenced on October 22, while the others will be sentenced on September 3.
NCA Senior Investigating Officer Paul Boniface said the operation involved extensive planning.
“A huge amount of planning went into this sophisticated attempt to bring hundreds of kilos of cannabis into the UK,” Boniface said.
He said the coordination of flights and luggage demonstrated “the lengths criminals will go to in order to hide their offending.”
“With thanks to Border Force, we were able confiscate these drugs and stop criminals from benefitting financially from the damage they cause,” he added.
Boniface warned people against agreeing to smuggle drugs into the UK, saying anyone who attempted to do so would face justice.
Adam Chatfield, Head of Border Force Midlands Command, said the convictions should serve as a warning to anyone considering transporting cannabis into the UK.
He said the young people involved now faced serious consequences, including criminal records that could affect their employment opportunities and future prospects.
Victoria Norman of the Crown Prosecution Service said prosecutors and investigators had pieced together evidence of a coordinated attempt to smuggle large quantities of drugs into the country.
She said the evidence resulted in six members of the group pleading guilty, while the others were convicted following trial.
An Australia-based Nigerian, Foluso Omole, is facing trial over his alleged role in a $5m fraud involving the National Disability Insurance Scheme.
Omole was arrested by operatives of the Australian Federal Police at Adelaide Airport last Friday while allegedly attempting to flee Australia.
According to the report, Omole had allegedly “cut ties” in Adelaide and was preparing to travel to Nigeria before his arrest, a court heard.
The 38-year-old appeared before the Adelaide Magistrates Court on Monday, where his bail application was refused following allegations that he had attempted to leave Australia for Nigeria.
The court heard that Omole, a dual Australian and Nigerian citizen, had “purchased a one-way ticket to Nigeria” before his arrest.
A prosecutor also told the court that Omole appeared to have “sent, over the course of his offending, significant funds back to Nigeria”, where his wife resides.
The report stated that Omole was working as an NDIS coordinator and operating two businesses that employed several staff at the time of the alleged offences.
The prosecutor reportedly told the court that Omole allegedly received information “improperly” from a woman employed by the National Disability Insurance Agency over a period of six years and “used that information to obtain benefit fraudulently”.
The woman, who has also been charged in connection with the alleged fraud, was expected to appear in court on Thursday.
However, disputing the allegation that Omole intended to flee Australia, his lawyer, Mark Twiggs, told the court that his client had informed him that he planned to travel to London on a “return ticket” purchased before any raid on the woman’s home.
“The charges are denied. He has no record at all.
“My client has good reason why he should be given bail,” Twiggs said.
Omole is yet to enter pleas to one count of dealing with proceeds of an indictable crime worth more than $1m and one count of dealing with money or property valued at more than $1m that is allegedly the proceeds of crime.
Magistrate Patrick Hill, however, refused bail, citing concerns that Omole posed a flight risk.
“Whether it was a one-way ticket to Nigeria or a return ticket to London does make a difference as to the court’s assessment of whether or not Mr Omole is a flight risk.
“For the other reasons put forward by the prosecution, in any event, I remain concerned that he is a risk of flight and the bail application is refused,” Hill said.
In April, a Nigerian couple, Luciana and Femi Akanbi, were jailed in the United Kingdom for their involvement in a similar fraud scheme.
The couple reportedly used personal data belonging to Transport for London employees to carry out a tax rebate fraud scheme that cost the public purse more than £433,000.
The fraud, which was carried out between September 2021 and January 2022, was reportedly based on sensitive information belonging to at least 40 TfL workers, including passport details, National Insurance numbers and bank records. The information was used to submit 139 fraudulent tax refund claims.
Court proceedings at Woolwich Crown Court revealed that Luciana Akanbi, 38, who worked in TfL’s human resources department, had access to the personal records of about 107 employees, which were later exploited for the scheme.
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