The bikers battling extreme heat and armed conflict to smuggle Iranian fuel to Pakistan

BBC Mazaar is riding his small motorbike with canisters filled with fuel on the back of it. He's on a wide road in a semi-rural area with mountains in front of him and a few vehicles BBC
Mazaar (pictured) faces temperatures of up to 50C and risks his fuel deliveries catching fire and even exploding

Mazaar's small motorbike is so laden with plastic canisters filled with petrol that there's barely room for him to sit.

His worn-out bike is carrying five 70-litre oil containers, weighing roughly 600 pounds (272kg) in total.

The fuel hangs precariously from the sides of his bike, strapped on with rope and string.

He bought it at

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'We fear for our lives' - deadline looms for migrants to leave South Africa

Thuthuka Zondi / BBC Esnat Joseph, wearing a maroon woollen bobble hat and black jacket, sitting in front of a tent with her baby triplets - two dressed in yellow hoodies and one black. Thuthuka Zondi / BBC
Esnat Joseph said a gang of men came to her home in Durban to threaten the family - forcing her to flee with her triplets

South Africa has become a hostile place for undocumented migrants, as a deadline set by protesters for them to leave the country approaches.

"I am very scared and traumatised," Esnat Joseph, a 36-year-old Malawian woman, told the BBC as she tried to comfort her crying one-year-old triplets.

She fled her home in an informal

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India: Why a country of 1.4 billion is not in the football World Cup

NurPhoto via Getty Images A man rides a scooter past giant cutouts of Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo and Argentina's Lionel Messi displayed along a roadside in Kochi, India, on June 9, 2026, ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. (Photo by Sivaram Venkitasubramanian/NurPhoto via Getty Images) NurPhoto via Getty Images
A scooter rider passes giant cutouts of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo in Kerala

Will India ever play at the Fifa World Cup?

The familiar lament that Indian football fans have learnt to live with is back after the "greatest show on earth" kicked off last week .

For those tracking the fortunes of the Blue Tigers - as the Indian men's national football team is called - over the years, the question is one of the biggest clichés as the country has never progressed beyond the preliminary

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'Warning fire went up': Couple on board yacht describe encounter with Russian warship

The Russian frigate fired warning shots near a British retired couple on a yacht in the English Channel.

German broadcaster removes TV intro after Elon Musk takes legal action

Alex Wong/Getty Images A man in a suit and tie stares at his phone while sitting down opposite a man in a blue jacket in Beijing Alex Wong/Getty Images
Elon Musk reacted to the ZDF broadcast after it was highlighted by a German journalist

German public broadcaster ZDF has removed part of a report that claimed tech trillionaire Elon Musk had called for migrants to be hunted in Northern Ireland.

ZDF conceded its wording was "misleading" while Musk said "legal action is being taken against ZDF for their outrageous lies".

Violence erupted in Belfast last week, following a brutal knife attack in a street in the north of the city.

The victim was seriously wounded and


Hundreds of cats stolen for food in Vietnam rescued by police, welfare group says

Phuong Pham / Humane World for Animals Viet Nam Dozens of cats in cages seized by police in Ho Chi Minh City in Viet Nam cat meat trade bust Phuong Pham / Humane World for Animals Viet Nam
More than 40 of the stolen cats have been reunited with their owners

More than 400 cats destined for slaughter have been rescued in Vietnam after authorities dismantled an alleged feline theft ring, an animal welfare group has said.

Nine people have been arrested in connection with what police described as a "criminal group specialising in stealing and collecting cats", according to the official newspaper of Ho Chi Minh City police.

Officers recovered more than 400 live cats and around


Fragile quiet in Lebanon as US-Iran truce leaves unanswered questions

Reuters A man looks at the remains of a building destroyed by an Israeli strike in Kfar Sir, in Nabatieh district, southern Lebanon (16 June 2026) Reuters
An estimated 50,000 homes have been damaged or destroyed in Lebanon during the war

On Monday, hours after the announcement of a ceasefire agreement between the US and Iran, families that had been displaced because of the war began to return to communities in southern Lebanon, despite warnings from the authorities that it was not safe yet.

In a video widely shared online, some residents arrived by car in a village to find an Israeli armoured vehicle blocking a street.

Exhausted after more than three months of conflict

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Drones create the first-ever Fifa scoreboard in Seattle sky

BBC reporter Max Matza is in Seattle, Washington, where 400 drones lit up the night sky on Monday to display the score of the Egypt v Belgium match.

UK investigating reports Russian warship fired warning shots near yacht in English Channel

Ministry of Defence Russian frigate Admiral Grigorovich Ministry of Defence
The incident on Tuesday involved a Russian frigate, the Admiral Grigorovich

A Russian warship fired warning shots near a UK-registered yacht in the English Channel on Tuesday morning after the two vessels came into close contact.

The incident, involving a Russian frigate, the Admiral Grigorovich, happened between the Isle of Wight and Normandy shortly before midday.

BBC News understands that the small, motor-less yacht had drifted towards the warship in foggy conditions after setting off from the UK.

The Russian Defence Ministry said the yacht

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Tehran selling deal with US as victory – but for Iranians it was necessity

Reuters A woman holds an Iranian flag on a street in Tehran, Iran. Reuters

Iran's leadership is trying to present its emerging memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the US not as a retreat, but as the result of resistance and victory. That is not an easy argument to make.

The country has just gone through a damaging war, the economy is under severe pressure, and parts of the Islamic Republic's own support base have spent months denouncing any compromise with Washington.

There are also Iranians, both inside the country and abroad, who see the crisis not as a moment

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