BBC News Briefing

13 June, 2025

Alex has bobbed light brown hair and blue eyes. She is smiling and wearing a pink jumper over a high-necked grey top

Alex Binley

Hello. Tehran has struck back at Israel, launching a wave of ballistic missiles after Israel fired fresh strikes on Iran in what it says is a bid to "thwart" its nuclear capabilities - we'll bring you the latest as the situation continues to develop. From Ahmedabad in India, family members of those killed or missing in the plane crash tell my colleague Zoya Mateen of their agonising wait for answers. Plus, test your news knowledge and try our quiz of the week.

TOP OF THE AGENDA

Iran launches ballistic missiles at Israel

Rescue workers wearing red and white outfits and masks work amidst piles of rubble of what was once a building. A yellow digger is nearby

Images from the sky over Tel Aviv on Friday night appeared to show the Israeli missile defence system - the Iron Dome - attempting to intercept ballistic missiles fired by Iran. Credit: Reuters

Iran has launched ballistic missiles at Israel, following several waves of strikes on Tehran's nuclear and military facilities overnight. "The conflict is intensifying by the hour," writes Middle East regional editor Sebastian Usher. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said 'Operation Rising Lion' was launched to "thwart the Islamic regime's nuclear and ballistic missile threat to us". In response, Iran has vowed Israel will "suffer a painful fate". The strikes come as US talks over Iran's nuclear programme appear to have stalled. US President Donald Trump "seems to believe that due to brute force Iran will now come to the negotiating table", writes North America correspondent Nomia Iqbal, "but it’s all a huge gamble given Iran could now use this as reason to have nuclear weapons for self defence".

Latest updates

GET UP TO SPEED

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Court temporarily allows Trump to keep troops in LA

A federal judge had earlier directed the Trump administration to return control of National Guard troops back to the state.

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Deported man pleads not guilty in trafficking case

The Salvadoran man was mistakenly deported, but was brought back to the US to face criminal charges which he denies.

More on this case >

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Meta AI searches made public - do users know?

Some people may be unwittingly telling the world about their searches - such as asking for help to cheat on tests.

More on this >

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Two men jailed for $6m gold toilet heist

Thieves smashed their way in and ripped out the functional, solid gold toilet from the birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill.

What happened >

AT THE SCENE

Ahmedabad, India

Families of air crash victims cling to hope

Two men and a woman stand in a line. The men are each holding a girl wearing pink, and the other holds a boy wearing a yellow T-shirt and brown shorts. The adults are all dressed in dark colours and are smiling

Imtiyaz Ali Sayed's brother and his family were his "life". Credit: Imtiyaz Ali Sayed

For families waiting for news of loved ones killed or missing in the Air India plane crash, the wait has been excruciating. Many have camped outside the hospital - in cars or on the street - their anguished cries echoing through the corridors. Authorities say they're working to identify victims - only one of the 242 people on board the plane survived and the BBC has been told eight people on the ground were killed, with others still missing - but the scale of destruction has made the task immensely difficult.

Three black boxes are in a row against a white background. The letters B, B and C are in each of them

Zoya Mateen, BBC reporter

Imtiyaz Ali Sayed refuses to grieve. Not when the news first broke - that his younger brother Javed, along with Javed's wife and two children, had perished in the devastating Air India crash in Ahmedabad on Thursday afternoon. Not even now, more than 10 hours later, as the clock strikes three in the morning and he paces the sterile corridors of the hospital where their bodies lie, refusing to sit, refusing to accept.

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Mr Sayed, a Mumbai-based businessman, is one of dozens of families awaiting closure after one of India's worst aviation disasters. He says that until he sees his brother's body - or "whatever remains of it" - with his own eyes, he will keep looking for him. "You don't understand. They were my life - if I give up now, I might never be able to recover," he says.

Keep reading

Saved by traffic: Initially Bhoomi Chauhan was angry that she missed her flight to London after getting stuck in traffic. Now she says it's a "miracle".

Survivor's story: The sole survivor from the plane crash has told of how he thought he was going to die, but managed to escape from the wreckage.

What happened? A flap issue, engine failure or a bird strike are among the possible causes of the crash, experts have told BBC Verify.

PICK OF THE WEEK

The African nation home to fashion's favourite models

A close-up of Arop Akol in a red plastic feathered outfit at the Ashish show during London Fashion Week in February 2025. She has shaved black hair and her head is decorated with plastic alphabet letters.

Arop Akol's burgeoning career has seen her walk runways for luxury brands in London and Paris. Credit: Getty Images

Flick through a fashion magazine or watch a video of a runway show and one thing becomes apparent - models born and raised in South Sudan, or those from the country's sizable diaspora, are everywhere. Why is this? From their beauty to "resilience", no one in the industry can quite put their finger on the exact reason behind the models' prominence, but many experts believe their dominance is "here to stay".

An image shows a wrecking ball with the Google multi-coloured G on it, breaking a computer screen

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SOMETHING DIFFERENT

The end of the internet?

Google says its new AI tool will revive the internet, but others fear a web apocalypse.

Find out more

And finally... in the UK

A treasure hunter inspired by a popular UK TV show has been celebrating after finding 1,064 silver coins dating back more than 400 years to the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, a daughter of Henry VIII. The detectorist almost missed the haul after thinking he had located a power cable. Find out how much the collection fetched at auction.

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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