Accountability Records

The area burned in Brazil's Amazon in 2025 was far smaller in size than the previous year, according to the deforestation monitoring group MapBiomas. A MapBiomas report states that 3.1 million hectares of Brazil's Amazon were burned last year, compared with a record-breaking 15.8 million hectares in 2024. The amount of land burned in the world's largest rainforest last year covered the smallest area since MapBiomas records began in 1985. Protecting the Amazon was one of the pledges President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva made when he was running for running for office four years ago. These latest figures will be seen as a boost to his campaign for re-election in October. In 2024, the Amazon rainforest experienced its worst forest fires in over two decades, which the Copernicus Climate Change Service put down to "climate extremes and human activity". "The 2025 figures are significant and show that it is possible to reduce the burned area in the country," Vera Arruda, a researcher at the Amazon Environmental Research Institute (IPAM) and co-ordinator at MapBiomas, told the BBC. "The 31% drop compared to the historical average - driven primarily by the lowest number of fires recorded in the Amazon in 41 years - is positive news, but it does not yet allow us to conclude that this is an established trend or to scale back prevention efforts," Arruda added. The MapBiomas report shows a dramatic drop in area burned not just in the Amazon, but across the whole of Brazil in 2025. Figures show around 12.7 million hectares burned in Brazil in 2025, compared to 30 million hectares in 2024. The highest number of hectares burned in Brazil since records began was in 2007, when 30.7 million were recorded across the country. The decline in the 2025 figures partly reflects an easing of the unprecedented fires of 2024, helped by cooler La Niña conditions instead of the warmer El Niño. But MapBiomas warned the natural weather pattern of El Niño, which pushes up global temperatures, could extend this year's dry season and increase the risk of forest fires. Tropical rainforests like the Amazon are home to millions of species, and in a healthy state they absorb vast quantities of planet-warming carbon dioxide, helping to keep the Earth cool. They have come under increasing pressure as a result of decades of deliberate land clearance for agriculture and logging, as well as climate change, which scientists warn can create the conditions for bigger fires to spread. When he took office, President Lula promised to reverse the deforestation which occurred during the presidency of his predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro. Bolsonaro argued that more farming and mining in the Amazon would reduce poverty in the region and environmentalists accused him of allowing deforestation to accelerate. Three years into Bolsonaro's four-year term, the amount of trees cut down in the Amazon rainforest went up by 75%. On his first day in office, on 1 January 2023, Lula insisted that "our goal is to achieve zero deforestation in the Amazon". While that pledge was warmly welcomed by environmentalists, there has been widespread criticism of Lula's decision to approve oil exploration at the mouth of the Amazon river, which activists say flies in the face of his promise to protect the Amazon region.

Protests have taken place in Italy after the death of a Moroccan-born man while being forcibly restrained by two police officers in the northern city of Bologna. Several thousand people took to the streets on Monday night demanding "justice for Abderrahim Fakir". A smaller group then splintered off and clashed with police into the night. Prosecutors say 64 police were hurt in the unrest. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said it was imperative that the truth surrounding his death should be investigated but "nothing can justify violence against law enforcement". Police had been called on Sunday morning after a neighbour witnessed Fakir "behaving erratically" and kicking garage doors in the working class neighbourhood of Pilastro. The officers tried to calm the situation but then used pepper spray. A video circulating on Italian media shows two policemen sitting on Fakir as he lies face down and cries out for them to stop. A third person who is not a policeman pins his legs down as emergency workers stand by. About two minutes into the video, Fakir stops struggling. The police officers tie his wrists and ankles and, when one of them realises Fakir is no longer moving, slaps him twice on the cheek. By the time an ambulance worker approaches, it is clear Fakir is unconscious. Prosecutors in Bologna have opened an investigation into manslaughter against the police officers and the medical workers who were present at the scene. Several eyewitnesses told Italian media that while Fakir appeared to be in distress he did not threaten anybody and was clearly unarmed. "You can't die like this," his sister Khadija told Italian media. "They killed him mercilessly, and I want the truth." Bologna mayor Matteo Lepore told Italy's La Repubblica newspaper that anyone who watched the video was "shocked". He called for the demonstration in central Bologna on Monday evening and invited Fakir's niece to join him on stage. "He was my uncle. He wasn't a number, he wasn't a news line... he was loved," Yossra Fakir said. "He deserved to be helped and heard, and he deserved dignity." While the main demonstration on Monday night was peaceful, about 100 protesters clashed with police into the night and set two cars alight. Lepore said on Tuesday he had seen "two different squares" in Bologna - "thousands of people gathered peacefully and spontaneously to express their support for Abderrahim Fakir's family" and a smaller group "who think they can respond to violence with violence". Domenico Pianese, the Secretary-General of the police union, criticised Lepore's decision to call for a demonstration that later descended into chaos. Calling for a protest "the day after a dramatic event like this one," Pianese said, was like calling "all the pseudo-anarchists and those who are anti-police... to take advantage and protest against the state". Asked about what police got wrong when they detained Fakir, he said: "Judging from the images we saw, the intervention was carried out correctly." Pianese argued that the fact the two officers had to use pepper spray and needed the help of a civilian to restrain Fakir showed that the use of force had not been excessive. "The first thing they did [after the incident] was... hand all [bodycam] footage to prosecutors," he said. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni called the events "unacceptable". While Fakir's death should be "thoroughly investigated," she said, "nothing can justify violence against police." "Those who chose to use this incident as a pretext to set the city ablaze, attack officers, and sow violence... were not seeking the truth: they were seeking confrontation," she said. According to Italian media Fakir's family arrived in Italy over three decades ago and had been living near Bologna since, where Fakir ran a small logistics and delivery company. The lawyer who was handling his residency permit request, Barbara Spinelli, wrote on Facebook: "[Fakir] was a hardworker, he was kind... Ask yourselves why he died in the hands of those who had an institutional duty to protect his life." Some of the signs at the Bologna protest referenced other infamous cases of people who have died in police custody, like that of Stefano Cucchi, who died in 2009 after being held by police for six days. His sister Ilaria Cucchi, now a senator and member of the opposition Greens and Left Alliance party, criticised the government for the "solidarity" expressed to police. Others on the opposition benches too criticised the government's backing of the police. "If the right wants to import the ICE model, this is the wrong country for it," Francesco Boccia of the centre-left Democratic Party (PD) told the media.

Shortly after Andy Burnham telephoned a number of Keir Starmer's allies to sack them from the cabinet on Monday afternoon, John Healey received the signal to head to Number 10. Wearing a suit and one of his many red ties, the former defence secretary left parliament alone via a back entrance next to a pub. "I'm on my way to a meeting," he said with a slight smile as he marched down Whitehall. Healey's imminent appointment as chancellor was a surprise - to him, to his Labour colleagues, and to the British public. It was a consequential moment among a flurry of announcements from the new prime minister, including today's cut in VAT on energy bills, that demonstrate the new government's intention to move at breakneck speed - at least for now. The Conservatives support that tax cut but have questioned its funding. Five weeks earlier Healey had weakened Keir Starmer's grip on Downing Street by quitting as defence secretary in a row over military spending. Soon he would be back around the cabinet table alongside two others whose recent resignations had also damaged Starmer - new defence secretary Wes Streeting and new energy secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh. Were they rewarded for rebelling and hastening Burnham's path to office? Possibly. But all three are also widely seen as skilled operators taking on complex roles. John Healey's elevation to the second most important job in government has delighted senior figures in the Ministry of Defence, who are relieved to have someone in the Treasury who is committed to increasing military spending. "It's brilliant for us," said an insider. Yet the same MOD source is also relieved Healey is not returning. "We were dreading him coming back", they said. "He's a difficult person". Even some senior Conservatives think Healey's appointment as chancellor was clever. "For a number of reasons", explains one former Tory cabinet minister. "He's not Ed Miliband, he's hard to attack, and he's Treasury-literate." Healey served as a minister in the department for five years during Tony Blair's premiership. Burnham ally Anneliese Midgeley has the difficult task of trying to keep Labour MPs - including those sacked as ministers - loyal to the government. Former chief secretary to the prime minister Darren Jones's public swipe at Burnham's energy bills policy is a sign not all will play nice. One Labour MP claims that those sacked by Burnham can be divided into three groups. "Some went because of their politics, others just weren't good, and then there are those disliked in the parliamentary Labour party," said the MP. Behind the scenes, many in Westminster are talking about the possibility of Burnham taking advantage of a possible bounce in the opinion polls and calling a snap general election. Nigel Farage wants one and argues it is necessary since Burnham has no mandate. But with the Reform leader facing both a by-election and questions over his finances, some in his party worry that if Burnham moves too fast, Farage could miss his one great chance to become PM. "We are really worried about a snap election," said the Reform source, grinning. "Which is why we're calling for a snap election." Across all the parties at Westminster, plans are being put in place in case a snap contest is called. "We've started preparing," said a senior Liberal Democrat aide. Burnham has appeared to rule out heading to the polls. It would certainly anger some Labour MPs who could lose their seats. Yet it would also offer the new PM an opportunity to get a fresh mandate for more radical policies, as well as secure his position for a full five year term. "There is economic pain coming down the horizon", says the former Conservative cabinet minister. "And it's about how far he [Burnham] gets ahead of it. He faces a choice between going for an election, and a slow decline as we saw with Gordon Brown." That former PM was dubbed "bottler Brown" in 2007 after considering going to the polls before deciding against it. Yet Brown got to Number 10 with a mixture of patience, caution, guile and ruthlessness, whereas Burnham's speedy rise was largely due to one major electoral gamble. After his success in Makerfield and then the Labour leadership contest, will Burnham fancy another throw of the dice? Sign up for our Politics Essential newsletter to keep up with the inner workings of Westminster and beyond.

Two firefighters have died while battling a huge blaze near Bordeaux's airport in south-west France, officials have said. Reports in French media say the blaze, near one of the parking lots at the airport, originated from a brush fire and then spread to a building. Pictures shared on social media show passengers getting off a plane as a massive plume of smoke rises nearby. A number of flights scheduled to arrive at Bordeaux–Mérignac airport have been delayed. Some 100 firefighters, backed by specialist aircraft, are reported to be trying to extinguish the blaze. The country's Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said he had been informed about the deaths by officials in the Gironde department. Speaking during Tuesday's question-and-answer session at the French parliament, Nuñez also said he would travel to Gironde "as soon as possible" to oversee the firefighting efforts. Gironde is one of several French departments ravaged by wildfires in recent days, due to a series of unusual and prolonged heatwaves. Also on Tuesday, a huge fire broke out in the south-eastern Var department. The blaze in the Pontevès commune "is currently out of control and is evolving rapidly", said the PSFDF volunteer association, which monitors fires across France. It said 600 firefighters and rescuers had been deployed to contain the fire, and 150 people had already been evacuated. France has registered nearly 11,000 fires since the beginning of the year, with President Emmanuel Macron saying last week that there had not been so many blazes in the country since World War Two. Tuesday's satellite data from the European Forest Fire Information System (Effis) shows that more than 42,000 hectares (103,784 acres) burned in France between January and mid-July, surpassing the previous record set in 2022. Climate change is driving up temperatures around the world, and Europe is the fastest warming continent, heating up twice as fast as the global average, according to the Copernicus Climate Change Service. This is causing increased summer heatwaves, greater pressure on Europe's water supply, and more intense wildfires. The record-breaking temperatures across Europe this summer have led to major wildfires, most notably in Spain where at least 13 people have been killed. Some 29,000 hectares of land have been destroyed by a massive wildfire north of the Spanish capital Madrid.

Lebanon's army says its troops are deploying to a "pilot zone" in the south of the country following the withdrawal of Israeli forces under a US-brokered agreement reached last month. Engineering units entered the village of Zawtar al-Gharbiyeh in Nabatieh district on Tuesday morning, the army command announced. Later, it said Israeli forces had opened fire in the vicinity of the troops. Israel's military said warning shots had been fired after the troops crossed into the Israeli-declared "security zone". The pilot zone plan should see Israeli troops pulling out of a small part of the territory occupied during their conflict with Hezbollah and the disarmament of the Iran-backed Lebanese group. Tuesday's deployment began ahead of a meeting in Washington between US President Donald Trump and his Lebanese counterpart, Joseph Aoun. Aoun was expected to urge Trump to put pressure on Israel to withdraw from the rest of southern Lebanon and support the Lebanese army in taking full control of areas where Hezbollah holds sway. "I told him [Trump] I need two things from you: political support and supporting the LAF [Lebanese Armed Forces]," Aoun told reporters in the Oval Office. Speaking alongside Aoun, Trump vowed that the US would provide help to Lebanon which had been "hit hard" for decades. "It's been a very badly treated place and country, and we're going to have it properly treated," he said. "And treated with the respect it deserves." The US state department announced on Monday afternoon that "pilot zone operations" had begun in Zawtar al-Gharbiyeh and two other Lebanese villages, Froun and Srifa, in line with the Trilateral Framework agreed by Israel, Lebanon and the US at the end of June. It said the "milestone" was the direct result of discussions last week between Israeli and Lebanese representatives in Rome. Later on Monday, an Israeli military official confirmed the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) would "adjust its force posture in one of the pilot areas" to allow the Lebanese army to carry out its mission, while also "safeguarding the security of IDF soldiers and preserving its right to self-defence and to remove threats". "The objective of the pilot and the agreement is the disarmament of the Hezbollah terrorist organisation and the removal of its illegal weapons," the official said. They also reiterated that the IDF would remain in the "security zone" - the 10km (six-mile) deep strip of occupied Lebanese territory running along the border - for "as long as necessary" to defend northern Israeli communities. On Tuesday, the Lebanese army's command said its units had begun deploying to Zawtar al-Gharbiyeh "based on ongoing communications with the Military Co-ordination Group for Lebanon", referring to the trilateral body created to support implementation of the framework. The statement also called on Lebanese citizens "not to head to the village until the security situation stabilises, and to comply with the instructions of the deployed military units for their own safety". Later on Tuesday, the army command said Israeli forces had "opened fire in the vicinity of these units" and warned that the "attack hinders the implementation of deployment steps in the pilot zones". The IDF said its soldiers had fired "warning shots into the air" after the Lebanese troops and an engineering vehicle "crossed approximately 150m (490ft) into the security zone and breached the barriers" in the neighbouring area of Zawtar al-Sharqiyeh. The Lebanese troops "withdrew from the area, and no injuries were reported", it added. The Lebanese army said its troops were already carrying out missions in nearby Froun and Srifa following Monday's US announcement. An Israeli source also told Haaretz newspaper that there were no Israeli troops in those villages. Also on Tuesday, Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said Israeli forces were behind two large explosions near the villages of Beit Yahoun and Kounine, in Bint Jbeil district. It also reported blasts from Israeli controlled demolitions in the town of Majdal Zoun, in Tyre district. In areas still occupied by Israeli forces, many villages have been completely destroyed by Israeli strikes or demolitions. The Israeli military says it has been destroying Hezbollah infrastructure, but human rights groups say some of what has happened there amounts to the deliberate destruction of civilian infrastructure, a possible war crime. Hezbollah has rejected the agreement between Lebanon's government, Israel and the US, saying the provisions linking Israel's withdrawal to the group's disarmament crossed "all red lines". Israel has said it will not fully withdraw from the country until the group is fully disarmed. According to Trump, the US has "concrete plans" to help Lebanon build the capacity to disarm Hezbollah, but he provided no details. "They're also becoming much more self-sufficient," Trump said of the Lebanese army. Additionally, Trump said he would speak directly to representatives of Hezbollah if requested by Aoun. Lebanon was drawn into the war between Israel, the US and Iran on 2 March, when Hezbollah launched rockets into Israel in retaliation for a strike that killed Iran's supreme leader. Israel responded by launching a bombing campaign across Lebanon and invading a significant part of the country's south. More than 4,300 people have been killed in Lebanon, including almost 800 children, women and medics, according to the Lebanese health ministry. Israeli authorities say 37 Israeli soldiers and four civilians have been killed on both sides of the border during the conflict.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has sacked the country's commander-in-chief, Oleksandr Syrskyi. His dismissal comes just days after the removal of popular Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov - a move that triggered street protests across the country. Initial rumours that the end of Fedorov's tenure was related to a conflict between him and Syrskyi were soon confirmed. Fedorov, 35, has been widely praised for energising the ministry and transforming the armed forces, as well as leading a drive against corruption. Syrskyi, 60, is seen by many in Ukraine as a Soviet-school commander reluctant to implement radical changes in the army. He was replaced by Mykhailo Drapatyi, who is a popular, battle-hardened general. In a video post on social media late on Tuesday, Zelensky thanked Syrskyi for his military campaigns, including his role in successfully defending the capital Kyiv during the first days of Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022. Zelensky also revealed that earlier in the day, he met Fedorov and offered him a "worthy position in power", but did not say whether the offer had been accepted. Fedorov was last week replaced by Yevhenii Khmara, a former top official at Ukraine's Security Service (SBU). "All decisions will be formalised tomorrow," Zelensky added in his post.

Clover Hill Dairy, LLC of Mechanicsville, Maryland recalled its full range of soft and hard cheeses — including requesón, cuajada, and multiple hard cheese varieties — after FDA and CDC investigators linked the products to a Listeria monocytogenes outbreak spanning several years. As of June 24, 2026, 12 people across 4 states had been confirmed infected with the outbreak strain, 10 of whom were hospitalized and one of whom died in Maryland. Listeria is especially dangerous for pregnant women, newborns, older adults, and people with weakened immune systems, for whom infection can cause miscarriage, stillbirth, sepsis, or death. The recall was expanded on June 18, 2026 to cover every cheese product manufactured at the facility after continued positive environmental samples.

Raw ground beef kofta produced by Olympia Food Industries (doing business as Olympia Foods) in Franklin Park, Illinois and served at The Kebab Shop restaurant locations was confirmed via whole genome sequencing on June 1, 2026 to match an outbreak strain of E. coli O157:H7 that sickened at least 9 people in California, six of them children. Two of the affected children developed hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), a life-threatening form of kidney failure. The product was made on January 6, 2026 and distributed to Kebab Shop locations in California, Texas, and Florida. The Kebab Shop pulled beef kofta from all of its menus on May 18, 2026, and FSIS issued a public health alert on May 24 rather than a formal recall because the product was already out of commerce.

Paraquat is one of the world's most widely used herbicides and one of its most acutely toxic — a small sip can be fatal, and there is no antidote. Long-term exposure has been linked in a growing body of scientific literature to Parkinson's disease, and as of July 2026 there were roughly 1,952 plaintiffs in Philadelphia's Court of Common Pleas and 6,665 cases consolidated in the federal multidistrict litigation against manufacturer Syngenta, alleging the company knew of the Parkinson's risk for decades and failed to warn users. Paraquat is banned in more than 30 countries, including the entire European Union and China, but remains legal for licensed applicators in the United States. In March 2026, Syngenta announced it would stop manufacturing paraquat by the end of June 2026, though existing stock remains in use. A bipartisan U.S. Paraquat Prevention Act, backed by the Parkinson's Foundation, would ban it nationwide and force the EPA to cancel all remaining registrations.

Pelotazos futebolas by Cheetos — 520 kcal per 100 g.