Decline in migratory fish populations prompts fight for protection

Esme Stallard Climate and science reporter

Getty Images The Atlantic tarpon - a silvery fish with yellow fins and an upturned mouth is seen swimming in aqua blue water and the sun reflecting off the surface. In the background are brown corals and other similar sized fish Getty Images
The Atlantic tarpon migrates hundreds of miles along the US coast but the population has dropped as its mangrove habitats are damaged

Fish species that undertake mammoth migrations through rivers, lakes and ponds are facing a combined threat from dams, pollution and overfishing preventing them from reaching their breeding grounds.

The golden mahseer and goonch catfish are some of the thirty flagship fish species which have now been prioritised for global conservation by the UN in a new report.

A team of international scientists assessed more than 1

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Married at First Sight star Mel Schilling dies at 54

Ian Youngs Culture reporter

Getty Images Mel Schilling smiling at the Baftas in May 2025 Getty Images
Mel Schilling was diagnosed with bowel cancer more than two years ago

Married at First Sight dating coach Mel Schilling has died at the age of 54, her husband has said on Instagram, two weeks after she revealed her cancer had spread to her brain.

Schilling, who had been a part of the cast of the reality TV show since 2016, revealed she was diagnosed with colon cancer in December 2023.

She "passed away peacefully today


Search for four missing soldiers after Colombia plane crash kills 66

Vanessa Buschschlüter Latin America online editor

Watch: Footage shows smoke and scattered debris from Air Force plane crash in Colombia

Rescue workers in Colombia are searching for four people who are missing after a military plane crashed in the south of the country.

Sixty-six members of the Colombian security forces were killed on Monday, when the Hercules C-130 transport plane came down shortly after take-off near Colombia's border with Peru.

Locals were first to the scene, pulling out dozens

A map of Colombia shows the airport in Puerto Leguízamo, near the border with Peru.

At least five killed in massive wave of Russian strikes across Ukraine, officials say

Jessica Rawnsley and

Vitaly Shevchenko , Chief Analyst, BBC Monitoring, Kyiv

Reuters A firefighter works at the site of a building damaged during overnight Russian drone and missile strikes with flames seen in the background Reuters
Firefighters battled a blaze in Poltava, where two people were killed overnight

At least five people have been killed in Russian strikes across Ukraine, after a massive overnight aerial bombardment targeted several regions across the country.

A 61-year-old woman was killed when a drone hit an electric train in Kharkiv early on Tuesday, authorities said, while other deaths were reported in Zaporizhzhia, Kherson and Poltava.

Officials said the attacks were

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Elon Musk's Starlink blocked from operating in Namibia

AFP via Getty Images A head shot of CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, South African-Canadian-US businessman Elon Musk, with a blue background AFP via Getty Images
Starlink owner Elon Musk is the world's richest man

Namibia has rejected an application by Elon Musk-owned Starlink for a licence to provide satellite internet services in the country, dealing the company a second setback in southern Africa.

The Communications Regulatory Authority of Namibia (Cran) announced the decision without giving reasons for its refusal, but noted that Starlink's Namibian subsidiary did not have local ownership.

Starlink has not yet commented on the decision.

It operates in about 25 African countries but has

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Cuba's mothers-to-be prepare to give birth in a country plunged into darkness

Will Grant Cuba correspondent reporting from Havana

BBC Indira Martínez, who has long black curly hair, smiles at the camera. She is sitting on a patio, the paint on the wall is peeling and a metal oil drum can be seen in the background. She is wearing a lime-green top and a thin chain around her neck. BBC
Indira Martínez is seven months pregnant and fears her baby will have limited prospects in life due to the crisis facing Cuba

Since the Trump administration imposed a near-total fuel blockade on Cuba three months ago, Mauren Echevarría Peña has been inside a ward in Havana's specialist maternity and neonatal hospital.

Mauren, 26, is expecting her first baby, but her pregnancy has been complicated.

"I've had gestational diabetes and chronic hypertension,

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China dials back on fuel price hikes to 'reduce burden' on drivers

Getty Images A woman in a red jacket looks at the metre on the petrol pump as she holds the hose near the rear of a white car Getty Images
China has already hiked fuel prices five times this year

China has dialled back on planned fuel price hikes in a bid to "reduce the burden" on drivers, as energy costs surge amid the Iran war.

The local price of petrol has jumped by about 20% since the start of the conflict, which has seen Iran effectively close one of the world's busiest oil shipping channels, the Strait of Hormuz.

Gasoline and diesel prices were initially set to rise by 2,205 yuan (

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More Australian beef headed for Europe under new EU trade deal

Getty A woman in a bright blue suit smiles next to a man in a dark blue suit who is gesturing with his hands. Getty
Ursula von der Leyen has inked an EU-Australia trade deal with Anthony Albanese

Australia and the European Union have agreed a sweeping free trade deal after eight years of negotiations.

The deal, worth about A$10bn ($7bn; £5.2bn), was signed on Tuesday with Australia's prime minister and the head of the European Commission describing it as a mutual "win-win".

As well as removing almost all tariffs on trade, the two


Ultimatums, diplomacy and a trip to Graceland as Trump eyes a deal with Iran

Anthony Zurcher North America correspondent

Trump: "We'll just keep bombing our little hearts out" if no deal with Iran

America may be a nation at war, but President Donald Trump's activities over the past few days have been a mix of diplomacy and diversions - with the occasional swing towards the surreal.

On Friday, he said the US war against . By Saturday night, he had given Iran a 48-hour deadline to reopen the Strait of Hormuz or face withering new American airstrikes.

The next

REUTERS/Kylie Cooper US President Donald Trump walks across the South Lawn with a black gate and a fountain in the background. He is wearing black gloves, a long black coat and his looking down. His hair is blowing.

US bans new foreign-made consumer internet routers

Kali Hays Technology reporter

Reuters FCC chairman Brendan Carr speaking at a wooden podium wearing a navy suit, white shirt and red and blue checked tie. Reuters
FCC chairman Brendan Carr

The US has banned new foreign-made consumer internet routers over national security concerns.

In an update on Monday to a list of equipment seen as not secure enough for use, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) added all consumer-grade routers made outside the US.

It puts routers - which are used widely in homes and businesses to connect computers, phones, TVs and other devices to the internet - on a par with foreign-made drones, which were banned at