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Original title: International students warned not to overstay visas International students warned not to overstay visas 2 hours ago Share Save Nick Eardley Political correspondent Share Save Getty Images Tens of thousands of foreign students are being contacted directly by the government and told they will be removed from the UK if they overstay their visas. The Home Office launched the new government campaign in response to what it has called an “alarming” spike in the number of international students arriving legally on student visas then claiming asylum when they expire. As part of the campaign, the Home Office has for the first time proactively contacted international students directly by text and email. Home Secretary Yvette Cooper told the BBC some international students are claiming asylum “even when things haven’t changed in their home country”. Around 13% of asylum applications in the UK in the year to June, around 14,800, came from people who arrived on a study visa, according to Home Office data. The statistics do not break down how many app ...

Original title: Former actor Zack Polanski elected leader of the Green Party Zack Polanski elected leader of the Green Party His election potentially opens the door to cooperation with the new left-wing party being set up by former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and ex-Labour MP Zarah Sultana. In his victory speech, Polanski promised to build a “green left” to take on Labour, telling Sir Keir Starmer’s party: “We are here to replace you.” The London Assembly member beat Green MPs Adrian Ramsay and Ellie Chowns, who were standing on a joint ticket, by 20,411 votes to 3,705. Zack Polanski has been elected leader of the Green Party of England and Wales by a landslide, signalling a clear shift to the left for the party. He said it was “too soon to talk about joining electoral coalitions”, but he was interested in working with “anyone who wants to challenge a failing Labour government and take on fascism and the far right”. Asked about possible collaboration with Corbyn’s new party, he said he was “watching the situation very closely” but his immediate focus was on gro ...

Original title: Gold price hits record high as investors seek safety Gold price hits record high as investors seek safety 2 hours ago Share Save Faarea Masud Business reporter, BBC News Share Save Reuters The price of gold has hit a record high as demand for the precious metal remains strong amid global economic uncertainty. The spot gold price hit $3,508.50 per ounce early on Tuesday, continuing its upwards trend which has seen it rise by nearly a third this year. The precious metal is viewed as a safer asset for investors during times of economic uncertainty, and its price rose earlier this year after US President Donald Trump announced wide ranging tariffs which have upset global trade. Analysts say the price has also been lifted by expectations that the US central bank will cut its key interest rate, making gold an even more attractive prospect for investors. Adrian Ash, director of research at BullionVault, told the BBC’s Today programme that the rise in gold prices over the past few months is really down to Trump and “what he’s done to geopolitics ...

Original title: Scottish drug deaths fall but remain worst in Europe. Why are they still so high? Scottish drug deaths fall but remain worst in Europe 2 hours ago Share Save James Cook Scotland editor Share Save Getty Images Scotland has seen high numbers of people dying from drug misuse for the last seven years Official figures suggest that Scotland remains the drugs death capital of Europe for the seventh year in a row despite a 13% fall in fatalities. There were 1,017 drug misuse deaths in 2024, down 155 from the previous year. National Records of Scotland said the latest figure was the lowest annual number since 2017. It brings the total in a decade to 10,884. After adjusting for age, there were 191 drug misuse deaths per million people in Scotland in 2024. According to the most recent European data, the next highest rate was Estonia with 135 deaths per million in 2023. Scottish Drugs Minister Maree Todd said the fall in deaths was welcome but that there was “still work to be done”. Experts say they are concerned about the potential for deaths to increase again this year. Kirst ...

Original title: Zack Polanski elected leader of the Green Party Zack Polanski elected leader of the Green Party London Assembly member Zack Polanski has been elected leader of the Green Party of England and Wales by a landslide. Polanski defeated joint candidates, the Green MPs Adrian Ramsay and Ellie Chowns, by 20,411 votes to 3,705. Original article

Original title: Body seen in secret mortuary could solve 50-year mystery of vanished religious leader Body seen in secret mortuary could solve 50-year mystery of vanished religious leader 10 hours ago Share Save Moe Shreif BBC Eye Investigations Share Save BBC Musa al-Sadr has been missing since 1978 Warning: Contains images some may find upsetting A computer scientist at a university in the north of England is studying an image of a corpse - attempting to solve a mystery that has gripped the Middle East for nearly 50 years. “This is what he looks like now?” asks Bradford University’s Prof Hassan Ugail doubtfully. The digitised photo is of a decomposed face and it is about to be run through a special algorithm for our BBC investigation. The original photo was taken by a journalist who saw the body in a secret mortuary in the Libyan capital in 2011. He was told then that it could be charismatic cleric Musa al-Sadr, who vanished in Libya in 1978. Sadr’s disappearance has spawned endless conspiracy theories. Some people believe he was killed, while others claim he is still alive and being ...

Original title: Chris Mason: Starmer faces pressure to deliver as he tries to strike contrast with Reform Chris Mason: Starmer faces pressure to deliver as he tries to strike contrast with Reform Part of his solution is another shake-up of his Downing Street team. Sir Keir argues it was always going to take time to get things changing, but he is frustrated he hasn’t managed to deliver more of it up to now. Or, plenty may have concluded that what has changed has changed in the wrong direction. It was a tacit admission that despite campaigning on a platform of “change” before the general election, there is plenty of evidence that plenty of folk think there has been nowhere near enough of it. The words of the Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, about his priorities in his curtain-raising interview for the new political term with Matt Chorley on BBC Radio 5 live, which you can listen to here . You can read more about that from Henry Zeffman here. The other is to set out what he and the government are doing and to make the case that it is better than what he and his ministers are increasingly fra ...

Original title: I was pigeon-holed as box office star, says Dwayne Johnson Dwayne Johnson: I was pigeon-holed as box office star 10 hours ago Share Save Steven McIntosh Entertainment reporter at the Venice Film Festival Share Save A24 Johnson, pictured in The Smashing Machine, said he had “been scared to go deep and intense and raw until now” US actor Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has said he had a “burning desire” to make a different kind of film, after years of being “pigeon-holed” as a blockbuster star. The 53-year-old could be in line for the first Oscar nomination of his career for his role in The Smashing Machine, which has just launched at the Venice Film Festival. Johnson said playing UFC fighter Mark Kerr in the movie had “certainly changed my life”, adding that the transformation was something he was “really hungry to do”. He told journalists: “I’ve been scared to go deep and intense and raw until now, until I had this opportunity to do this.” Johnson is best known for his roles in big-budget movies such as Jumanji, San Andreas, Black Adam, Moana, Baywa ...

Original title: Scotland’s drug deaths expected to remain worst in Europe Scotland’s drug deaths expected to remain worst in Europe 3 hours ago Share Save James Cook Scotland editor Share Save Getty Images Scotland has seen high numbers of people dying from drug misuse for the last seven years Figures to be published on Tuesday are expected to show that Scotland remains the drugs death capital of Europe for the seventh year in a row. In 2023, there were 1,172 drug misuse deaths in Scotland, bringing the total in a decade to 10,481, according to official figures. Although experts expect that number to have dropped slightly for 2024, they are warning that any fall will almost certainly be a blip. Kirsten Horsburgh, chief executive of the Scottish Drugs Forum says the arrival of deadly synthetic opioids known as nitazenes in the country is “a crisis on top of a crisis.” Suspected deaths early this year “are already higher than they were last year” she said. How did we get here? This is a crisis with deep roots in the social and economic changes which swept thro ...

Original title: Power and a touch of paranoia as China prepares to host grand military parade Power and a touch of paranoia as China prepares to host grand military parade 39 minutes ago Share Save Laura Bicker China correspondent Share Save Getty Images Beijing is hosting a huge military parade - a show of strength from President Xi Jinping The stage is set in the heart of Beijing for a grand display of power and military might that has been choreographed by President Xi Jinping. Eight huge Chinese flags flutter and flank the portrait of Mao Zedong, the founder of Communist China, which sits on top of the Gate of Heavenly Peace overlooking Tiananmen Square, one of the largest public squares in the world. Below are rows of seats reserved for 26 foreign heads of state, including Russia’s Vladimir Putin and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, whose attendance is a diplomatic win for Xi. Across the road, near the Great Hall of the People, two huge floral arrangements commemorating the end of World War II rise up alongside seating for around 50,000 invitees. On the last day of preparations ...