BBC News Briefing

16 April, 2025

Alex has short blonde hair and blue eyes. She is smiling and wearing a black turtleneck

Alex Binley

Hello. The row over the deportation of more than 200 people to an El Salvador mega-jail has ramped up, with a US judge saying he could hold the Trump administration in contempt of court for its "wilful disregard" of an order to halt the flights. In Bangladesh, our South Asia correspondent Samira Hussain is shown around a secretive prison by a man held in a tiny cell for eight years by the former regime. And finally, from the depths of the ocean, a colossal creature that has never been filmed before has been captured on camera.

TOP OF THE AGENDA

US judge says he could hold Trump administration in contempt of court

Judge Boasberg talks with blue curtains seen behind him. He is wearing a grey suit, shirt an dyellow tie. He is bald and has grey hair. He is speaking into a microphone and has two bottles of water in front of him and a card with his name on it.

Judge Boasberg said the court had already given the government ample opportunity to rectify or explain their actions. Credit: Getty Images

US federal judge James Boasberg has said he could hold the Trump administration in contempt of court for its "wilful disregard" of an order to halt the departure of deportation flights carrying more than 200 people to an El Salvador mega-jail last month. The administration had invoked a 227-year-old law meant to protect the US during wartime to carry out the mass deportation. The White House has previously denied violating the court ruling, arguing that it was too late to turn around the flights as they were already in international air space en route to El Salvador. It says it will contest Judge Boasberg's decision.

Latest in the row

GET UP TO SPEED

A large yellow crane moves shipping containers at a port

US tariffs will make global trade shrink, says WTO

The global body predicts that North America will be particularly hard-hit, but Europe and Asia will see "modest" growth.

More on the forecast >

A woman with long black hair that is dyed brown at the ends. She is outside and wearing a brown coat over a black top

Trump seeks prosecution of NY attorney general

Letitia James, who won a real estate case against Trump, says the administration is weaponising the US government.

Background to this case >

A close-up shot shows a hand holding a syringe, drawing liquid out of a small vial

German doctor charged with murder of 15 patients

Prosecutors have accused the 40-year-old of setting fire to the homes of some of his suspected victims to cover his tracks.

Read more >

Two police officers wearing khaki-coloured shirts and black trousers enter a home with large glass walls and doors.

Sheriffs release footage of Gene Hackman's home

Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office released video of officers attending the home where the actor and his wife were discovered.

Watch the video >

AT THE SCENE

Dhaka, Bangladesh

Bangladesh's disappeared held in prison hidden in plain sight

Mir Bin Ahmad Quasem stands in a detention centre looking at the camera, he wears glasses, a dark polo shirt and light trousers and has a beard. He is stood in front of a hole in the wall exposing inner brickwork with a pile of rubble just in frame to his right.

There are hundreds of victims like Quasem, and many others are alleged to have been unlawfully killed. Credit: BBC/Aamir Peerzada

Before she was ousted from power in August, Sheikh Hasina ruled Bangladesh with an increasingly iron fist. At a pivotal moment in the country's history, some of those who were held in detention centres for criticising the regime are now sharing their stories.

Samira Hussain has shoulder length wavy brown hair. Her shoulders can be seen and she is wearing a white shirt and red lipstick

Samira Hussain, South Asia correspondent

Mir Ahmad Bin Quasem slowly walks up a flight of concrete steps to show the BBC where he was kept. Pushing through a heavy metal door, he bends his head low and goes through another narrow doorway into "his" room, the cell where he was held for eight years.

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In painful detail, Quasem walks around the room, describing how he spent his time during his years in captivity. During the summers, it was unbearably hot. He would crouch on the floor and put his face as close to the base of the doorway as he could, to get some air. "It felt worse than death," he says.

Keep reading

'House of Mirrors': Michael Chakma was snatched off a street in 2019 - the start of a five-year ordeal as one of the "disappeared", held at a detention facility in Bangladesh’s infamous military intelligence headquarters, known as Aynaghor, or “House of Mirrors”.

A 'terrible tornado': Nobel prize-winning economist Muhammad Yunus tells the BBC that his interim government is trying to "pick up the pieces" from the Hasina regime.

Sheikh Hasina: Who is the former pro-democracy icon who became an autocrat?

An illustration of a human head with neural pathways running through the brain, and DNA double helixes in the background

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SOMETHING DIFFERENT

A genetic mystery

Scientists are uncovering clues about how genes relate to the development of autism.

What to know

And finally... in the south Atlantic

Video from the deepest, darkest depths of the ocean has captured a creature never before filmed. A juvenile colossal squid was filmed at a depth of 600m (1,968ft), in the south Atlantic Ocean. Experts believe they can grow up to 7m (23ft) in length and weigh up to 500kg (1,100lb) - making them the heaviest invertebrate on the planet. Find out here what their ability to live at such depths teaches us about the mysteries of the oceans.

US Politics Unspun newsletter

No noise. No agenda. Just expert analysis of the issues that matter most, from North America correspondent Anthony Zurcher.

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– Alex

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