Dramatic video filmed on a plane carrying DR Congo’s mining minister captured the moment it crashed on landing at an airport in Kolwezi in the southeast. No casualties have been reported. The minister was travelling to the site of a recent mining disaster.
Published On 18 Nov 202518 Nov 2025
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United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer has sought to distance himself from an unofficial briefing to the media by unnamed “allies” that he intends to fight off a leadership contest which, they say, could come just 18 months into his premiership.
On Tuesday evening, unnamed sources were cited in The Guardian newspaper saying Health Secretary Wes Streeting has gathered significant backing to supplant Starmer.
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But on Wednesday morning, Streeting denied this, telling journalists that he was “not challenging the prime minister”.
“I’m not doing any of the things some silly briefer said overnight,” he stated.
Asked if those responsible for the briefing should be sacked, Streeting said, “Yes. But he’s [Starmer] got to find them first, and I wouldn’t expect him to waste loads of time on this.”
“There are people around the prime minister who do not follow his model and style of leadership,” he said.
In response to the ensuing media storm, Starmer, whose premiership since last year has been marred by poor polling, told reporters in north Wales on Thursday that briefings against ministers are “completely unacceptable”.
“I have been talking to my team today. I have been assured that no briefing against ministers was done from Number 10, but I have made it clear that I find it absolutely unacceptable,” he said.
The current internal party strife has shone a light on the prime minister’s standing as leader of the Labour Party.
In its most recent poll on Tuesday, pollster YouGov said of 4,989 people polled, only 27 percent thought he should continue as Labour Party leader.
Here’s what we know about the rumours of a leadership plot:
On Tuesday evening, unnamed senior Starmer aides told The Guardian newspaper that any attempt to remove the prime minister would be “reckless” and “dangerous”. According to the aides, deposing Starmer so early in his term as prime minister would undermine financial markets and reverberate on the stock market, the party and its international relationships.
“The party would not recover for a generation,” one of the unnamed sources told The Guardian.
Number 10 sources also told The Guardian they are concerned about rumours that Streeting could be planning a “coup” and is just one of several Labour ministers who are “on manoeuvres” to take the leadership if the opportunity arises. However, none of them were likely to move against the prime minister right now.
They said the most likely moment for a leadership challenge would be after the autumn budget – the government’s tax-and-spending review, due in parliament on November 26 – if higher taxes are announced, or after May elections next year if the Labour party performs poorly.
“Keir will not stand aside at this point, for Wes or anybody else,” one source told The Guardian.
On Friday, the UK’s Financial Times cited an unnamed minister who claimed that support for the health secretary was growing following the news of the unsanctioned “briefing”.
Streeting was not the only name mentioned as a potential leadership contender. Both Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood and Energy Secretary and a former leader of the Labour Party, Ed Miliband were named as possible contenders, the sources said.
The British press is speculating that the unofficial briefing may have been organised by Starmer’s chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, as a tactic designed to put off any ministers thinking about challenging him.
McSweeney, who has been widely credited with helping Starmer to win the July 2024 election, is now facing calls to resign from unnamed members of parliament, according to reports.
However, Starmer appeared not to support such a move on Thursday when he reiterated that he “of course” has complete confidence in his chief of staff.
Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch was quick to respond, accusing Starmer of losing control of his party during Wednesday’s Prime Minister’s Question Time.
Badenoch called Starmer a “weak prime minister at war with his own cabinet”.
“Two weeks before the budget, isn’t it the case that this prime minister has lost control of government, he’s lost control of his party and lost the trust of the British people,” she said.
Earlier in the debate, Badenoch referred to an interview Streeting gave to the BBC in which he accused Downing Street of having a “toxic culture”, and asked Starmer if his minister was correct.
“Any attack on any member of my cabinet is completely unacceptable,” Starmer said in response.
Meanwhile, the far-right Reform UK party’s head of policy, Zia Yusuf, wrote on X on Thursday that the “terrifying thing about the coup against Starmer is that Labour members will choose his replacement”.
“Their favourite Labour minister is Ed Miliband. Some of the most unhinged people in the country will choose the next Prime Minister,” he added.
Reform’s popularity has risen hugely in the UK since last year’s election.
The briefing came just two weeks before Starmer and his chancellor of the exchequer, Rachel Reeves, announce the autumn budget on November 26.
The budget, which outlines the government’s tax-and-spending plans for the next year, has been the subject of intense speculation in recent weeks, as it was widely expected to break one of Labour’s main election pledges: not to increase income taxes.
However, the Financial Times reported on Friday morning that Reeves is now ruling out any rise in income tax amid concerns that it could seriously anger voters and backbench legislators.
Since winning the election in 2024, the prime minister has received backlash from across the political spectrum, including from Labour voters, over several issues.
According to a YouGov poll in September, if an election were to be called now, the far-right Reform UK would win, leaving the Labour Party as the second-largest party and the former governing party, the Conservatives, in third place.
Here are some of the main areas of domestic policy which are causing the popularity of Starmer’s Labour Party to wane.
The opposition Reform UK party has risen in popularity largely on the back of its calls for stricter migrant control. The key issue is the rapid rise in the numbers of people arriving in small boats across the English Channel from France, particularly in the past year.
In September, Starmer struck a “one-in-one-out” migrant exchange deal with France in an effort to deter people from attempting the Channel crossing. Under the deal, France will accept the return of asylum seekers who crossed to the UK but cannot prove a family connection to the UK.
For each migrant France takes back, the UK will grant asylum to one person who has arrived from France through official channels and who can prove they have family connections in the UK.
But only a handful of migrants have been deported under the scheme so far. Furthermore, on Monday, the Home Office reported that a second migrant had re-entered the UK after being deported to France.
Starmer has faced criticism for his lukewarm response to the rising number of far-right protests across the country.
In September, at least 11,000 people joined a “Unite the Kingdom” march, displaying the St George flag in London.
While Starmer denounced violence against police officers during the protests and argued that the US was “built on diversity”, the antifascist group, Hope Not Hate, and several MPs have urged the government to take stronger action against the rise of far-right groups.
Critics also say Starmer has not done enough to appeal to people who support Reform, or to address their concerns about migration.
In a major blunder, HMP Wandsworth prison in London wrongly released two offenders in early November, including an Algerian sex offender.
Both men were eventually returned to prison but, in the case of the Algerian offender, only after the man handed himself in. Conservative Party shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick said the mistake revealed “the incompetence of this government”.
Starmer has been grappling with a low-growth economy since the start of his term in government.
According to new figures from the Office for National Statistics on Thursday, between July and September, the UK’s gross domestic product (GDP) increased by just 0.1 percent in comparison with growth of 0.3 percent between April and July.
Meanwhile, inflation remained stuck at 3.8 percent in September 2025 – unchanged from July and August. This is the highest it has been since the start of 2024.
LONDON — British Prime Minister Keir Starmer refused to say Wednesday whether he would urge President Trump to drop his threat to sue the BBC for a billion dollars over the broadcaster’s edit of a speech he made after losing the 2020 presidential election.
During his weekly questioning in the House of Commons, Starmer was asked by Ed Davey, the leader of the Liberal Democrats, whether he would intervene in the row between Trump and the British public broadcaster, and to rule out the idea that the British people would hand over money to the U.S. president.
Instead of responding directly, Starmer reiterated the government’s line since the BBC’s director-general, Tim Davie, announced his resignation on Sunday because of the scandal.
“I believe in a strong and independent BBC,” he said. “Some would rather BBC didn’t exist, I’m not one of them.”
However, he added that “where mistakes are made, they do need to get their house in order.”
In an interview that aired Tuesday on Fox News, Trump said he intended to go through with his threat to sue the BBC, a century-old institution under growing pressure in an era of polarized politics and changing media viewing habits.
“I guess I have to,” he said. “Because I think they defrauded the public and they’ve admitted it.”
The president’s lawyer, Alejandro Brito, sent the threat to the BBC over the way a documentary edited his Jan. 6, 2021, speech before a mob of his followers stormed the U.S. Capitol. The letter demanded an apology to the president and a “full and fair” retraction of the documentary along with other “false, defamatory, disparaging, misleading or inflammatory statements” about Trump.
If the BBC does not comply with the demands by 5 p.m. EST Friday, then Trump will enforce his legal rights, the letter said.
The row centers on an edition of the BBC’s flagship current affairs series “Panorama,” titled “Trump: A Second Chance?” days before the 2024 U.S. presidential election.
The third-party production company that made the film spliced together three quotes from two sections of the 2021 speech, delivered almost an hour apart, into what appeared to be one quote in which Trump urged supporters to march with him and “fight like hell.”
Among the parts cut out was a section where Trump said he wanted supporters to demonstrate peacefully.
BBC Chairman Samir Shah apologized Monday for the misleading edit that he said gave “the impression of a direct call for violent action.”
In addition to Davie’s resignation, the news chief Deborah Turness quit Sunday over accusations of bias and misleading editing.
Pylas writes for the Associated Press.
Justice Minister German Galushchenko allegedly took part in the scheme involving state nuclear power firm Energoatom.
Published On 12 Nov 202512 Nov 2025
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Ukraine has suspended Justice Minister German Galushchenko for his alleged involvement in a corruption scandal involving the state-run nuclear power company, Energoatom, during his tenure as the country’s energy minister.
Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko announced on Wednesday that Galushchenko had been suspended from his duties, which will be carried out by Deputy Justice Minister for European Integration Lyudmyla Sugak.
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Galushchenko, who served as energy minister for four years before taking over the justice portfolio in July, is accused of profiting from a scheme that laundered money from Energoatom.
Ukraine’s Pravda news outlet reported that anticorruption authorities raided Galushchenko’s offices on Monday.
In a statement, Galushchenko said he had spoken with the prime minister and agreed his suspension is appropriate while he defends his case.
“A political decision must be made, and only then can all the details be sorted out,” said Galushchenko. “I believe that suspension for the duration of the investigation is a civilised and correct scenario. I will defend myself in court and prove my position.”
According to Ukraine’s Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO), the alleged $100m scheme was orchestrated by businessman Timur Mindich, a close ally of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
SAPO’s investigators say Galushchenko helped Mindich manage illicit financial flows in the energy sector, while contractors working with Energoatom were forced to pay bribes of 10 to 15 percent to avoid losing contracts or facing payment delays.
Accusations of kickbacks in the energy sector are particularly sensitive in Ukraine, much of which is facing lengthy daily blackouts as it fends off massive Russian attacks on its infrastructure.
The scandal also highlights a potential challenge to Ukraine’s European Union membership bid, for which eradicating corruption remains a key condition.
Addressing the country on Monday, Zelenskyy urged full cooperation with the anticorruption inquiry and said anyone implicated should be held to account.
Zelenskyy’s comments come just months after he was forced to reverse plans to curb the independence of the country’s key anticorruption watchdogs – SAPO and the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine – following widespread protests.
Move comes after Betssy Chavez, who is on trial on coup charges, fled to the Mexican Embassy in Peru.
Published On 4 Nov 20254 Nov 2025
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Peru has severed diplomatic relations with Mexico after accusing it of granting asylum to a former Peruvian prime minister who is on trial over an alleged coup attempt in 2022.
The announcement on Monday came hours after former Prime Minister Betssy Chavez – who served under former President Pedro Castillo – fled to the Mexican Embassy in Peru.
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“Today we learned with surprise and deep regret that Betssy Chavez, the alleged co-author of the coup attempt by former President Pedro Castillo, is being granted asylum at the Mexican Embassy residence in Peru,” Minister of Foreign Affairs Hugo de Zela told a news conference.
“Given this unfriendly act, and considering the repeated instances in which the current and former presidents of that country have interfered in Peru’s internal affairs, the Peruvian government has decided to sever diplomatic relations with Mexico today,” he added.
There was no immediate comment from Mexico.
Chavez’s lawyer, Raul Noblecilla, told local radio station RPP that he had not heard from his client in several days and was unaware of whether she had requested asylum.
Chavez, who served in Castillo’s cabinet as Minister of Culture, was appointed as prime minister in November 2022 amid a months-long standoff between the president and the Congress.
Castillo – a former rural schoolteacher and trade unionist, dubbed Peru’s “first poor president” – was impeached by lawmakers the following month when he attempted to dissolve the Congress.
Relations between Lima and Mexico deteriorated sharply afterwards.
Following his impeachment, Castillo was on his way to the Mexican embassy in Lima to request asylum when he was arrested and charged with rebellion and abuse of authority.
Chavez was charged alongside him.
In December 2022, Peru expelled Mexico’s ambassador after Mexico granted asylum to Castillo’s wife and children.
Castillo’s successor, then-President Dina Boluarte, also temporarily recalled Peru’s ambassador to Mexico City in February 2023, accusing then-left-wing president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador of meddling in her country’s affairs for expressing support for Castillo.
The former president and Chavez went on trial in March of this year.
While Castillo has been in preventive custody since his impeachment, Chavez was released on bail in September.
Prosecutors had sought a 25-year term for Chavez for allegedly participating in Castillo’s plan to dissolve Congress.
They have sought a 34-year sentence for Castillo.
The pair has denied the charges.
Jennifer MeierhansBusiness reporter
PA MediaThere will be a review of rail security in the UK following a mass stabbing on a train, Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander has said.
A man has been charged with 10 counts of attempted murder after the knife attack on a Doncaster to London service on Saturday night.
Alexander told the BBC the government would “review security arrangements” and respond “swiftly and in a proportionate way”.
But she did not think airport scanning technology “is the right solution for stations in the UK”.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood is expected to make a statement about the attack to MPs in the House of Commons on Monday afternoon.
Questions about passenger safety on the UK’s rail network have been raised after a a black British national, who boarded a train at Peterborough station, attacked passengers with a knife.
Eleven people were treated in hospital including a member of train staff who is said to be in a “critical but stable condition”.
Anthony Williams, 32, from Peterborough has been charged with 10 counts of attempted murder, one count of actual bodily harm and one count of possession of a bladed article, British Transport Police (BTP) said on Monday morning.
Alexander told BBC Breakfast that BTP officers would increase visible patrols at mainline stations over the coming days “because I do understand that people will want to feel reassured following what happened”.
“Thankfully incidents like this on the public transport network are very, very rare,” she added.
She said the rail network in the UK was a “low crime environment” and for every one million passenger journeys only 27 crimes were committed.
Asked what steps the government would take to improve security on trains, she said: “We are investing in improved CCTV in stations and the Home Office will soon be launching a consultation on more facial recognition technology which could be deployed in stations as well.”
Asked about luggage scanners similar to those used in some major train stations abroad she said: “At the moment that type of airport scanning technology I don’t think is the right solution for stations in the UK.”
Andy Trotter, former British Transport Police Chief Constable told BBC Breakfast Saturday’s attack illustrates “people’s real concerns about being trapped with an offender or with someone causing disorder”.
“I hope this results in a broader review of security, the need for more British Transport Police, the need for more security from the rail companies themselves.”
Asked about reports that BTP had carried out a training exercise a few months ago based on a scenario similar to what happened he said: “I know they did have a very similar exercise, as in the few weeks before 7/7 we had an exercise similar to the outcome on that day as well.
“It does make it work a lot better on the day, you learn from experience from those exercises what went well what didn’t go well.
“The police and the other emergency services also look at every event immediately afterwards to make sure you do learn lessons.”
Shadow home secretary Chris Philp told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme he was calling for “a dramatic increase in the use of stop and search to take knives off the streets and potentially prevent attacks like the one was saw on the train”.
When asked for what reason the suspect in Saturday’s stabbing should have been stopped and searched before boarding the train when only his age, gender and ethnicity was known, he said “it would depend if there was an indication of suspicion”.
“But in high crime hot-spot areas there should actually be stop and search undertaken without suspicion,” he added.
Asked if he was suggesting the man should have been stopped and searched purely based on the colour of his skin he said “categorically not I am absolutely not saying that”.
The Conservative government in 2024 described laws on knife crime in England and Wales as “already among the toughest in the world”.
Challenged on why these same laws were no longer good enough, he said: “We need to go further with tougher knife crime laws, with more stop and search, and the use of technology like live facial recognition to identify wanted criminals and dangerous people so they can be arrested.”
Senior Reform UK politician Zia Yusuf on Sunday said he would not like to see increased security at train stations.
He told the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme it would impose “enormous friction” on the lives of law-abiding people “as a result of the actions of a tiny minority”.
He argued for a significant increase in the use of stop-and-search powers “to saturation”, saying this would remove deadly weapons from circulation.
There is no single knife crime statistics publication in the UK but as far as England and Wales goes, police recorded 51,527 offences across both nations in the year to June 2025, according to the latest figures, published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
However, these figures show knife crime is falling by 5% compared with the same period last year and 7% compared with five years ago. Homicides involving a knife also fell by nearly a fifth in the latest year to 196 offences, compared with 239 the year before.