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  • Red Cross declares crisis over blood supply shortage in US for second time its history

    Red Cross declares crisis over blood supply shortage in US for second time its history

    The American Red Cross, the United States’ largest blood provider, has issued a dire alert that national blood inventories have dropped to a historic crisis level — marking only the second time in the organization’s 141-year history that supplies have fallen this low. What makes this shortage particularly acute is that it has hit during the summer months, a period when demand for blood at hospitals already surges, driven by higher rates of outdoor activity, traffic accidents, and traumatic injuries that require urgent transfusions. Last month alone, available blood supplies fell by 25%, according to Dr. Courtney Lawrence, a medical leader with the American Red Cross, who spoke to the BBC about the unfolding emergency.

    Right now, the organization is distributing roughly 3,500 more units of blood weekly than it typically does at this time of year, forcing it to draw down reserves to critically low levels. Unlike many medical supplies, blood cannot be stockpiled long-term to offset shortages: red blood cells have a maximum shelf life of just 42 days before they degrade and become unusable. While all blood types are in urgent need of replenishment, demand is most pressing for O positive blood, the universal donor type that is critical for emergency care when a patient’s blood type is unknown.

    A perfect storm of overlapping crises has pushed a pre-existing mild shortage into a full-blown public health emergency, Dr. Lawrence explained. Record-breaking extreme heat across much of the U.S. has deterred potential donors from leaving their homes to attend donation events, and many planned blood drives at community and commercial sites have been unable to maintain cool, comfortable environments that meet donor safety standards. Widespread wildfires across North America have further strained logistics and diverted organizational resources away from donation outreach. Additionally, the country is currently facing an unusual outbreak of cyclosporiasis, a foodborne parasitic infection that causes severe gastrointestinal illness, which has ruled out many recently infected people from donating blood under existing safety guidelines.

    The only other time the American Red Cross has declared a blood supply crisis of this magnitude was in January 2022, when surging Covid-19 cases combined with brutal winter weather to collapse donation rates. The current crisis is already starting to impact patient care: hospitals that work with the Red Cross have reported that routine medical procedures may be disrupted, and some facilities are already evaluating whether they will need to redirect emergency trauma patients to other centers if they cannot maintain sufficient blood reserves to handle critical cases.

    The crisis is not limited to the United States. Neighboring Canada is also facing a significant drop in blood donations, with Canadian Blood Services reporting that donations have fallen nearly 20% since the start of June. Over the past six weeks, the organization has seen between 1,500 and 2,500 unfilled donation appointments every week, forcing it to draw on existing reserves to meet ongoing patient needs. While a small seasonal dip in summer donations is expected and accounted for in annual planning, the current decline has fallen far below typical seasonal patterns. Several blood types now have only a few days of reserve stock on hand, a situation that Canadian Blood Services warns is unsustainable for long-term patient care unless donation trends reverse quickly. Unlike in the U.S., Canadian health officials have not identified a clear set of causes for the unexpected drop in donor turnout.

  • Worth $5m? Visitors react to renovated Washington horse statues

    Worth $5m? Visitors react to renovated Washington horse statues

    A major restoration project completed on the iconic Arts of War horse statues flanking the approach to the Lincoln Memorial has sparked widespread public discussion, after the Trump administration revealed the works had been refitted with a 23.75-karat gold leaf finish at a total cost of $5 million.

    The neoclassical statues, which have stood at their location near the National Mall since the 1950s, had suffered decades of wear from weather, pollution and foot traffic, prompting calls for a full structural and cosmetic restoration. In a move that deviated from the statues’ original muted finish, administration officials approved a full regilding process that applied a thin layer of high-purity gold across the entire surface of the bronze sculptures.

    Since the project was completed, visitors to the National Mall have shared sharply differing reactions. Many tourists and heritage observers have noted that the gilded finish gives the monuments a striking, eye-catching glow under Washington’s sunny skies, bringing renewed attention to the works of public art that honor American military service. However, critics have questioned both the $5 million price tag and the decision to alter the statues’ historic appearance, arguing that public funds could have been allocated to more pressing national needs, and that the dramatic gold redesign erases the original artistic intent of the sculptors.

    The restoration project adds to a list of changes to National Mall monuments completed during the Trump administration, with the debate over the gilded statues highlighting ongoing tensions between heritage preservation priorities, public spending choices, and artistic integrity for iconic American public monuments.

  • Salman Rushdie attacker convicted of terror offenses

    Salman Rushdie attacker convicted of terror offenses

    In a landmark federal ruling handed down in upstate New York on Wednesday, Hadi Matar, the 28-year-old man already serving a 25-year state sentence for attempting to murder author Sir Salman Rushdie, has been convicted on additional federal terrorism charges, including providing material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization. The jury in Buffalo found Matar guilty on two counts: engaging in an act of transnational terrorism and providing material support to Lebanese armed faction Hezbollah, which has been formally listed as a terrorist group by the U.S., the United Kingdom and dozens of other governments around the world.

    Prosecutors laid out a detailed case during the trial, tracing Matar’s radicalization and two years of plotting back to decades-old religious edicts targeting Rushdie. They argued that the 1989 fatwa issued by Iran’s supreme religious leadership calling for Rushdie’s death, amplified by a 2006 speech from then-Hezbollah leadership urging enforcement of that edict, directly motivated Matar’s attack. “The defendant decided no one was going to do it, so he had to do it. The defendant is the one who answered that call,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy Lynch stated in closing arguments, per local reporting from The Buffalo News.

    In a powerful, high-profile appearance on the witness stand, the award-winning British-Indian author recounted the brutal 2022 attack that left him permanently injured. Rushdie, 77, described being stabbed 15 times across his face, neck, chest, thigh, and eye, telling the court “I was on the stage, lying down, with an enormous pool of blood all around me. It was an enormous and expansive lake of blood.” He also lifted the darkened lens of his eyeglasses to show the jury the wound that cost him partial vision in one eye, noting that the knife came “within millimetres from my brain.” The author specifically credited a quick-acting firefighter with administering emergency on-scene care that saved his life.

    Defense attorneys pushed back against the terrorism framing, arguing that Matar’s attack was not tied to organized terrorist activity. They also questioned Rushdie about whether he should have anticipated backlash to his 1988 controversial novel *The Satanic Verses*, which sparked global outrage among some Muslim communities who view its depiction of the Prophet Muhammad as blasphemous. Rushdie rejected the framing, responding firmly: “I don’t believe the book is on trial. Somebody else is on trial.”

    This is not the first conviction for Matar: he was already found guilty of attempted murder by a New York state court in 2025 and sentenced to 25 years behind bars. With the new federal convictions, he now faces the possibility of a life sentence added to his existing term.

    For Rushdie, the stabbing was the culmination of decades of threats that began immediately after the publication of *The Satanic Verses*. Following the 1989 fatwa, he was forced to live in hiding for nine years under constant security protection. In recent years, he has gradually returned to public life, documenting his experience after the 2022 attack and his long recovery in the 2024 memoir *Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder*, followed by his first post-attack novel *The Eleventh Hour* released in 2025.

  • Meta shares fall as frustration grows over AI spending plans

    Meta shares fall as frustration grows over AI spending plans

    In a move that has sent shockwaves through global tech stock markets, Meta Platforms, the parent company of major social media platforms Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, has seen its shares drop by 11% in Wednesday trading. The sell-off came directly after the firm released its second-quarter financial results, which laid out a sharp increase in planned artificial intelligence (AI) capital expenditure alongside declining quarterly profits.

    The April-to-June results showed Meta delivered 28% year-over-year revenue growth, hitting $61 billion (£45.6 billion). However, net profits for the quarter fell 14% year-over-year to $6 billion, a decline that caught many market analysts off guard. Most notably, the company revised its full-year 2024 capital expenditure guidance upward to a range of $130 billion to $145 billion, a $5 billion increase from the forecast it released just three months prior. The vast majority of this expanded budget will be directed toward AI research, infrastructure, and product development, cementing Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s position as one of the biggest corporate spenders on AI globally.

    Zuckerberg has framed the aggressive spending push as a high-stakes, long-term bet that will pay off for the company and its investors over time. “I get that this is a big bet across the industry,” Zuckerberg told analysts during a post-results earnings call. “My personal bet is that the people who invest in this will feel very good and be rewarded over time.” The Meta chief added that existing AI investments are already driving higher user engagement on Facebook and Instagram, while also streamlining ad creation tools for small and medium-sized businesses. Looking ahead, he positioned autonomous AI agents as the next major product wave for the company, noting that soon these tools will be able to work around the clock on behalf of users.

    Beyond consumer-facing products, Meta is preparing to launch a new line of business selling AI technology and infrastructure to other companies. The first step of this rollout will be simplifying integration for Meta’s existing Muse Spark AI model, with additional coding and productivity tools planned for future release. Meta CFO Susan Li told analysts that monetizing these enterprise AI offerings will be key to generating returns on the company’s massive capital outlay. “By 2028, we’ll have turned over a lot of cards,” Li said, referencing the timeline for the new business segment to mature. Zuckerberg added that while building an enterprise AI business requires new capabilities the company has not historically prioritized, the market opportunity is too large to ignore. “It’s not just about selling compute; it’s the API services and the productivity services and I think there is a very, very large opportunity there and we’re quite focused on that,” he said.

    Despite the leadership’s optimistic long-term outlook, investors have reacted with immediate concern to the rising spending and shrinking near-term profitability. Meta’s quarterly free cash flow – the capital the company retains after covering operating expenses – fell to just $784 million, the lowest reading the firm has posted in at least five years, according to its official financial filings. Meta is not alone in this trend: Alphabet, Google’s parent company, posted its own record-low free cash flow last week, which also triggered a notable drop in its share price. For the moment, Zuckerberg’s big AI bet has split market sentiment: while the CEO and his team insist the investments will unlock massive value down the line, investors have made clear they are uneasy about the short-term hit to earnings and the unproven nature of Meta’s upcoming enterprise AI business.

  • A look at Trump’s $22bn plans to makeover Dulles Airport near Washington

    A look at Trump’s $22bn plans to makeover Dulles Airport near Washington

    Nestled just outside the U.S. capital, Washington Dulles International Airport has long served as a critical gateway for international and domestic travel, but its aging infrastructure has drawn growing criticism from travelers and industry experts alike. At the center of a newly proposed sweeping upgrade is a $22 billion transformation initiative put forward by former U.S. President Donald Trump, a project that would reshape one of the busiest aviation hubs on the East Coast. The BBC’s Shaimaa Khalil recently explored the airport’s current state, starting her on-site report aboard one of Dulles’ signature people movers – a transit system that has carried passengers between terminals continuously since 1962. That half-century-old transit system stands as a symbol of the airport’s stalled modernization: while other major U.S. hubs have invested billions to update concourses, security checkpoints, baggage systems and passenger amenities, Dulles has retained much of its original mid-century infrastructure that struggles to keep up with growing passenger volumes. Trump’s plan calls for a full gut-and-rebuild of key terminal areas, expansion of runway capacity to accommodate larger aircraft and reduce flight delays, replacement of outdated internal transit systems including the current people movers, and major upgrades to ground transportation connections linking the airport to downtown Washington and surrounding suburbs. Proponents of the plan argue that the overhaul would create thousands of local construction jobs, boost the regional economy by increasing Dulles’ capacity to handle growing air travel demand, and solidify the airport’s role as a key global entry point for the United States. Critics, however, have raised questions about the $22 billion price tag, how the project would be funded, and whether the overhaul aligns with long-term national aviation infrastructure priorities. As discussions around the proposal continue, the 60-year-old people movers still move thousands of passengers daily, a quiet reminder of how long infrastructure upgrades have been pending at this critical national transportation hub.

  • ‘Blood everywhere’ – Clancy’s ex-husband testifies in children murder trial

    ‘Blood everywhere’ – Clancy’s ex-husband testifies in children murder trial

    A Massachusetts murder trial that has gripped the nation has seen harrowing firsthand testimony from Patrick Clancy, the ex-husband of Lindsay Clancy, the woman accused of murdering their three young children in January 2023. Patrick Clancy recounted the chilling sequence of events on January 24 that ended in the deaths of 5-year-old Cora, 3-year-old Dawson, and 8-month-old Callan, describing a quiet and off-kilter atmosphere that immediately set off alarm bells when he returned home with takeout food.

    After checking most rooms of the Duxbury family home, including a quick pass through the basement, Clancy found the second-floor bedroom door locked. When he gained entry, the first thing he saw was blood spread across the space — a sight that confirmed his worst fears. He testified that prosecutors’ photos of the scene correctly showed no blood on the walls or bedding, a small detail that prosecution has emphasized as part of their narrative.

    Rushing from the blood-stained bedroom, Clancy ran outside to find his wife Lindsay on the grass. She had jumped from the second-story window in an apparent suicide attempt, and he found her with deep lacerations across her wrists and a red ligature mark around her neck. After calling 911 emergency services, Clancy told the court Lindsay revealed the children were being held in the basement. Sprinting to the space, he found each child, one by one, each with a fitness band wrapped around their neck, all unresponsive. Clancy described frantically switching between the three young victims, administering CPR until first responders arrived to take over.

    Lindsay Clancy, who faces three counts of first-degree murder, has pleaded not guilty to the charges. Her legal team does not dispute she killed the children, but argues she was suffering severe postpartum psychosis at the time of the killings and was not in control of her actions. Patrick Clancy told the court that roughly a week after the tragedy, Lindsay told him she had heard a male voice commanding her to harm the children, adding he had no knowledge of psychosis as a condition prior to this incident.

    Lindsay Clancy, who was left paralyzed from the fall during her suicide attempt, has attended every day of the trial from her wheelchair. She reacted visibly to her ex-husband’s testimony on Wednesday: court footage showed her squeezing her lawyer’s hand, turning her face away from the gallery to wipe away tears. When prosecution played the 911 call Patrick Clancy made the day of the killings and entered the children’s bloodied pajamas as evidence, Lindsay Clancy broke down into audible sobs, forcing the judge to call a recess.

    Prosecutors are building a case that the killings were a premeditated, calculated act, and have cross-examined Patrick Clancy extensively on small details of his account, including the severity of his ex-wife’s cuts when he found her. Clancy confirmed he told first responders he did not believe it was necessary to apply pressure to the wounds, a detail prosecutors have highlighted to support their argument.

    The trial is expected to run for several more weeks, with additional witnesses scheduled to take the stand. If convicted, Lindsay Clancy will face a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

    This story contains discussion of suicide and fatal violence that may be distressing to readers. People experiencing suicidal thoughts or emotional crisis can access support through Befrienders Worldwide at www.befrienders.org, with UK-specific resources listed at bbc.co.uk/actionline.

  • US interest rates held for fifth time in a row

    US interest rates held for fifth time in a row

    After months of careful economic monitoring and deliberation, the United States Federal Reserve has announced it will maintain current interest rates for the fifth consecutive time, locking the benchmark borrowing cost between 3.5% and 3.75%. This outcome was widely predicted by financial analysts and market observers, aligning with widespread expectations that policymakers would hold rates steady to continue assessing ongoing economic trends.

    The Fed’s decision to keep rates unchanged this meeting builds on a policy stance that has remained consistent throughout all of 2026. The central bank’s choice to pause rate adjustments comes on the heels of a reported slowdown in inflation last month – the key metric measuring the pace of rising consumer prices that has been the central focus of the Fed’s monetary policy for nearly three years.

    Higher interest rates create a tangible ripple effect across household finances and the broader economy. For consumers seeking out personal loans, home mortgages, or carrying balances on credit cards, elevated rates mean steeper borrowing costs that can curb discretionary spending and large purchases. On the flip side, savers benefit from higher interest rates, as deposit institutions typically pass along increased rates to deliver stronger returns on savings accounts and certificates of deposit.

    While the recent cooling of inflation is widely viewed as a positive development for the economy, key risks still remain that have given policymakers reason to hold off on any rate cuts for the time being. Inflation still sits above the Federal Reserve’s long-term target of 2%, meaning the central bank has not yet hit its core policy goal. Adding to this uncertainty is the ongoing military conflict in the Middle East, which carries persistent risk of disruption to global oil supplies. Any spike in oil prices would likely push up broader consumer prices across sectors, erasing recent progress on cooling inflation and forcing a shift in monetary policy. The Fed has opted to keep rates steady to retain flexibility amid these ongoing global economic risks, waiting for clearer signals that inflation is on a sustained path toward its 2% target before adjusting policy.

  • Two Americans convicted of murdering Canadian couple in Dominica

    Two Americans convicted of murdering Canadian couple in Dominica

    In a high-profile trial that has drawn international attention, two American men have been found guilty of murdering a prominent Canadian entrepreneur and his partner on the Caribbean island nation of Dominica. The victims, Daniel Langlois and Dominique Marchand, a Quebec-based couple, were reported missing in late 2023, prompting a widespread police search that ultimately ended with the discovery of their remains inside a charred vehicle.

    The two convicted men, Jonathan Lehrer, a New Jersey-born chocolate entrepreneur, and Robert Snyder Jr., have maintained their innocence since their arrest shortly after the killings, entering not guilty pleas to all murder charges brought against them. Langlois, a legendary figure in the digital animation industry, founded Softimage, the pioneering animation software company whose groundbreaking technology was used to create iconic visual effects in some of Hollywood’s biggest blockbusters, including *Titanic* and *The Matrix*. He and Marchand had relocated to Dominica permanently in 1997, building a life and deep ties to the local community over more than two decades.

    Beyond their private life on the island, the pair became widely respected as leading philanthropists, investing in local community development projects and just before their deaths, opening the high-end Coulibri Ridge luxury eco-resort on a 200-acre plot of land they owned. Prosecutors in the case outlined a long-running, bitter dispute between Lehrer and Langlois centered on a shared access road connecting the couple’s resort to Lehrer’s adjacent neighboring property. The conflict stretched over years, and in 2019, a Dominica court ordered Lehrer to open the road for public use and grant unobstructed access to guests staying at Langlois’ resort.

    When the victims’ bodies were recovered in late 2023, four individuals — three foreign nationals and one Dominican citizen — were taken into custody on the same day. Within days, prosecutors formally charged Lehrer and Snyder Jr., whom court documents identify as Lehrer’s accomplice, with two counts of first-degree murder. In a 2024 interview with Canada’s *Toronto Star*, a spokesperson for Lehrer pushed back against the narrative that the road dispute motivated the killings, calling that framing “completely inaccurate.”

    To date, no sentencing date or formal sentence has been announced for the two convicted men. Representatives of the BBC have reached out to Lehrer’s legal team for additional comment following the verdict, with no formal response released as of this reporting.

  • Anthony Fauci refuses to answer questions during US Senate hearing about Covid origins

    Anthony Fauci refuses to answer questions during US Senate hearing about Covid origins

    A high-stakes partisan showdown unfolded on Capitol Hill Wednesday, as former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) director Anthony Fauci declined to answer questions from a Republican-led Senate committee about COVID-19 origins, invoking his constitutional right against self-incrimination under the Fifth Amendment. The clash came just days after Republican Senator Rand Paul publicly released private diary entries written by Fauci, a move the former top health official framed as a targeted campaign to damage his reputation and seek criminal prosecution.

    In his opening statement to the committee, Fauci acknowledged that his decision ran counter to his longstanding respect for the legislative branch, but confirmed he was acting on the advice of legal counsel. “Although it pains me to do so because of the respect I have for the legislative branch of government … under the advice of my attorneys, I will invoke my right under the Fifth Amendment of the constitution to refrain from answering your questions,” Fauci stated.

    Fauci emphasized that his invocation of the Fifth Amendment was not an admission of any wrongdoing, noting that he has already testified under oath before multiple congressional panels on COVID-19-related matters. He argued that Paul’s long-stated public obsession with seeing him prosecuted created an unfair coercive environment that left him no other option. “The only conclusion I can reach is that the sole reason he is calling me before this committee is to get me to say something – anything – that could vindicate his repeated public pledges that I end up, in his words, ‘behind bars,’” Fauci added.

    Legal experts clarify that invoking the Fifth Amendment is a constitutional protection, not an acknowledgment of guilt. The rule is designed to shield individuals from forced self-incrimination, coerced misstatements, and unfair procedural burdens.

    Paul, a leading proponent of the unconfirmed theory that COVID-19 escaped from the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China, has long clashed with Fauci over pandemic policy and virus origins. He claims the newly released diary entries contradict Fauci’s public claims that the virus most likely originated via natural animal-to-human spillover. Paul argues that Fauci privately doubted the natural origin theory and leaned toward the lab leak hypothesis.

    A review of the diary entries shows a more nuanced picture: at the start of the pandemic in early 2020, Fauci kept an open mind to both hypotheses, noting that there was no universal consensus among scientists on the origins of the novel virus. By later entries, he wrote that he was “almost certain that the virus evolved naturally from a species jump, even though… I keep an open mind about the possibility of a lab leak”. He also added that “just because two alternatives are possible that does not mean that they are equally probable”. To date, no conclusive scientific evidence has confirmed either the natural spillover or lab leak theory, though the majority of the scientific community leans toward the natural origin hypothesis.

    The hearing quickly descended into tension after Fauci declined to answer questions. When one of Fauci’s attorneys attempted to interject multiple times during Paul’s questioning, Paul ordered Capitol security to remove the lawyer from the hearing room.

    Democratic members of the committee rallied to Fauci’s defense, arguing the entire hearing was a partisan stunt designed to damage Fauci rather than uncover new information about COVID-19 origins. Senator Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire called the proceeding an attempt to “entrap” Fauci. Democrats also used the hearing to raise alarms about growing public health threats under current Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., noting rising cases of measles and cyclosporiasis, a parasitic gastrointestinal infection. Kennedy, a longtime critic of Fauci who has promoted controversial anti-vaccine views, confirmed over the weekend to Fox News that his administration spent eight months extracting Fauci’s diary entries from 11 separate government servers.

    This latest confrontation is the culmination of years of partisan criticism targeting Fauci, who became one of the most public faces of the U.S. federal COVID-19 response. After retiring from NIAID in 2022, Fauci has continued to face vociferous attacks from Republicans over his support for mask mandates, lockdowns, and other public health restrictions implemented during the pandemic. He also repeatedly clashed with then-President Donald Trump over the administration’s handling of the pandemic, including over Trump’s promotion of unproven COVID-19 treatments. Fauci has also received hundreds of death threats since the start of the pandemic, a pattern that has continued into his retirement.

  • Fauci invokes Fifth Amendment in showdown with Republican lawmakers

    Fauci invokes Fifth Amendment in showdown with Republican lawmakers

    A high-stakes congressional showdown took an unexpected turn on Wednesday when former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director Anthony Fauci invoked his constitutional right against self-incrimination at the start of a hearing with Republican lawmakers. The dramatic move came directly in response to months of targeted criticism from Kentucky Senator Rand Paul, who has repeatedly pushed for harsh action against Fauci over his role in shaping U.S. public health policy during the COVID-19 pandemic.

    In his opening statement to the committee, Fauci did not hold back in calling out Paul’s repeated attacks, describing the senator’s focus on his actions as an “unhinged obsession” that centers on a personal goal of seeing him incarcerated. Citing this ongoing campaign and the legal context of the proceeding, Fauci told committee members he would exercise his Fifth Amendment rights to decline answering questions, rather than subject himself to what his team frames as a politically motivated fishing expedition.

    The confrontation marks the latest escalation in a years-long partisan battle over the origins of COVID-19 and the federal public health response to the pandemic. Republican leaders have argued that Fauci withheld key information about the origins of the virus and gain-of-function research ties to the Wuhan Institute of Virology, allegations Fauci and his allies have repeatedly denied. Wednesday’s clash is expected to deepen partisan divides over public health accountability and congressional oversight of federal health agencies, with both sides signaling they will continue to press their cases in the public and political spheres.