When armed soldiers in the small West African nation of Benin appeared on national television on December 7 to announce they had seized power in a coup, it felt to many across the region like another episode of the ongoing coup crisis that has seen several governments toppled since 2020.

But the scenes played out differently this time.

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Amid reports of gunfire and civilians scampering to safety in the economic capital, Cotonou, Beninese and others across the region waited with bated breath as conflicting intelligence emerged. The small group of putschists, on the one hand, declared victory, but Benin’s forces and government officials said the plot had failed.

By evening, the situation was clear – Benin’s government was still standing. President Patrice Talon and loyalist forces in the army had managed to hold control, thanks to help from the country’s bigger neighbours, particularly its eastern ally and regional power, Nigeria.

While Talon now enjoys victory as the president who could not be unseated, the spotlight is also on the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). The regional bloc rallied to save the day in Benin after their seeming resignation in the face of the crises rocking the region, including just last month, when the military took power in Guinea-Bissau.

This time, though, after much criticism and embarrassment, ECOWAS was ready to push back against the narrative of it being an ineffective bloc by baring its teeth and biting, political analyst Ryan Cummings told Al Jazeera.

“It wanted to remind the region that it does have the power to intervene when the context allows,” Cummings said. “At some point, there needed to be a line drawn in the sand [and] what was at stake was West Africa’s most stable sovereign country falling.”

People gather at the market of Dantokpa, two days after Benin’s forces thwarted the attempted coup against the government, in Cotonou, December 9, 2025 [Charles Placide Tossou/Reuters]

Is a new ECOWAS on the horizon?

Benin’s military victory was an astonishing turnaround for an ECOWAS that has been cast as a dead weight in the region since 2020, when a coup in Mali spurred an astonishing series of military takeovers across the region in quick succession.

Between 2020 and 2025, nine coup attempts toppled five democratic governments and two military ones. The latest successful coup, in Guinea-Bissau, happened on November 28. Bissau-Guineans had voted in the presidential election some days before and were waiting for the results to be announced when the military seized the national television station, detained incumbent President Umaro Sissoco Embalo, and announced a new military leader.

ECOWAS, whose high-level delegation was in Bissau to monitor the electoral process when the coup happened, appeared on the back foot, unable to do much more than issue condemnatory statements. Those statements sounded similar to those it issued after the coups in Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, and Guinea. The bloc appeared a far cry from the institution that, between 1990 and 2003, successfully intervened to stop the civil wars in Liberia and Sierra Leone, and later in the Ivory Coast. The last ECOWAS military intervention, in 2017, halted Gambian dictator Yahya Jammeh’s attempt to overturn the election results.

Indeed, ECOWAS’s success in its heyday hinged on the health of its members. Nigeria, arguably ECOWAS’s backbone, whose troops led the interventions in Liberia and Sierra Leone, has been mired in insecurity and economic crises of its own lately. In July 2023, when Nigeria’s President Bola Ahmed Tinubu was the ECOWAS chair, he threatened to invade Niger after the coup there.

It was disastrous timing. Faced with livelihood-eroding inflation and incessant attacks by armed groups at home, Nigerians were some of the loudest voices resisting an invasion. Many believed Tinubu, sworn in just months earlier, had misplaced his priorities. By the time ECOWAS had finished debating what to do weeks later, the military government in Niger had consolidated support throughout the armed forces and Nigeriens themselves had decided they wanted to back the military. ECOWAS and Tinubu backed off, defeated.

Niger left the alliance altogether in January this year, forming the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) with fellow military governments in Mali and Burkina Faso. All three share cultural and geographic affinities, but are also linked by their collective dislike for France, the former colonial power, which they blame for interfering in their countries. Even as they battle rampaging armed groups like Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), the three governments have cut ties with French forces formerly stationed there and welcomed Russian fighters whose effectiveness, security experts say, fluctuates.

Sierra Leone’s President Julius Maada Bio, who chairs ECOWAS, walks with Guinea-Bissau’s transitional president, Major-General Horta Inta-A, during a meeting in Bissau, Guinea-Bissau, on December 1, 2025 [Delcyo Sanca/Reuters]

But Benin was different, and ECOWAS appeared wide awake. Aside from the fact that it was one coup too far, Cummings said, the country’s proximity to Nigeria, and two grave mistakes the putschists made, gave ECOWAS a fighting chance.

The first mistake was that the rebels had failed to take Talon hostage, as is the modus operandi with putschists in the region. That allowed the president to directly send an SOS to his counterparts following the first failed attacks on the presidential palace at dawn.

The second mistake was perhaps even graver.

“Not all the armed forces were on board,” Cummings said, noting that the small group of about 100 rebel soldiers had likely assumed other units would fall in line but had underestimated how loyal other factions were to the president. That was a miscalculation in a country where military rule ended in 1990 and where 73 percent of Beninese believe that democracy is better than any other form of government, according to poll site Afrobarometer. Many take particular pride in their country being hailed as the region’s most stable democracy.

“There was division within the army, and that was the window of opportunity that allowed ECOWAS to deploy because there wasn’t going to be a case of ‘If we deploy, we will be targeted by the army’. I dare say that if there were no countercoup, there was no way ECOWAS would have gotten involved because it would have been a conventional war,” Cummings added.

Quickly reading the room, Benin’s neighbours reacted swiftly. For the first time in nearly a decade, the bloc deployed its standby ground forces from Nigeria, Ghana, the Ivory Coast, and Sierra Leone. Abuja authorised air attacks on rebel soldiers who were effectively cornered in a military base in Cotonou and at the national TV building, but who were putting up a last-ditch attempt at resistance. France also supported the mission by providing intelligence. By nightfall, the rebels had been completely dislodged by Nigerian jets. The battle for Cotonou was over.

At least 14 people have since been arrested. Several casualties were reported on both sides, with one civilian, the wife of a high-ranking officer marked for assassination, among the dead. On Wednesday, Beninese authorities revealed that the coup leader, Colonel Pascal Tigri, was hiding in neighbouring Togo.

At stake for ECOWAS was the risk of losing yet another member, possibly to the landlocked AES, said Kabiru Adamu, founder of Abuja-based Beacon Security intelligence firm. “I am 90 percent sure Benin would have joined the AES because they desperately need a littoral state,” he said, referring to Benin’s Cotonou port, which would have expanded AES export capabilities.

Nigeria could also not afford a military government mismanaging the deteriorating security situation in northern Benin, as has been witnessed in the AES countries, Cummings said. Armed group JNIM launched its first attack on Nigerian soil in October, adding to Abuja’s pressures as it continues to face Boko Haram in the northeast and armed bandit groups in the northwest. Abuja has also come under diplomatic fire from the US, which falsely alleges a “Christian genocide” in the country.

“We know that this insecurity is the stick with which Tinubu is being beaten, and we already know his nose is bloodied,” Cummings said.

Revelling in the glory of the Benin mission last Sunday, Tinubu praised Nigeria’s forces in a statement, saying the “Nigerian armed forces stood gallantly as a defender and protector of constitutional order”. A group of Nigerian governors also hailed the president’s action, and said it reinforced Nigeria’s regional power status and would deter further coup plotters.

Nigerian ECOWAS Ceasefire Monitoring Group (ECOMOG) soldiers guard a corner in downtown Monrovia during fighting between militias loyal to Charles Taylor and Roosevelt Johnson in Liberia in 1996. Between 1990-2003, ECOWAS successfully intervened to help stop the Liberian civil war [File: Reuters]

Not yet out of the woods

If there is a perception that ECOWAS has reawakened and future putschists will be discouraged, the reality may not be so positive, analysts say. The bloc still has much to do before it can be taken seriously again, particularly in upholding democracy and calling out sham elections before governments become vulnerable to mass uprisings or coups, Beacon Security’s Adamu said.

In Benin, for example, ECOWAS did not react as President Talon, in power since 2016, grew increasingly autocratic, barring opposition groups in two previous presidential elections. His government has again barred the main opposition challenger, Renaud Agbodjo, from elections scheduled for next April, while Talon’s pick, former finance minister Romuald Wadagni, is the obvious favourite.

“It’s clear that the elections have been engineered already,” Adamu said. “In the entire subregion, it’s difficult to point to any single country where the rule of law has not been jettisoned and where the voice of the people is heard without fear.”

ECOWAS, Adamu added, needs to proactively re-educate member states on democratic principles, hold them accountable when there are lapses, as in the Benin case, and then intervene when threats emerge.

The bloc appears to be taking heed. On December 9, two days after the failed Benin coup, ECOWAS declared a state of emergency.

“Events of the last few weeks have shown the imperative of serious introspection on the future of our democracy and the urgent need to invest in the security of our community,” Omar Touray, ECOWAS Commission president, said at a meeting in the Abuja headquarters. Touray cited situations that constitute coup risks, such as the erosion of electoral integrity and mounting geopolitical tensions, as the bloc splits along foreign influences. Currently, ECOWAS member states have stayed close to Western allies like France, while the AES is firmly pro-Russia.

Another challenge the bloc faces is managing potential fallout with the AES states amid France’s increasing closeness with Abuja. As Paris faces hostility in Francophone West Africa, it has drawn closer to Nigeria, where it does not have the same negative colonial reputation, and which it perceives as useful for protecting French business interests in the region, Cummings said. At the same time, ECOWAS is still hoping to woo the three rogue ex-members back into its fold, and countries like Ghana have already established bilateral ties with the military governments.

“The challenge with that is that the AES would see the intervention [in Benin] as an act not from ECOWAS itself but something engineered by France,” Adamu said. Seeing France instigating an intervention which could have benefitted AES reinforces their earlier complaints that Paris pokes its nose into the region’s affairs, and could push them further away, he said.

“So now we have a situation where they feel like France did it, and the sad thing is that we haven’t seen ECOWAS dispel that notion, so the ECOWAS standby force has [re]started on a contentious step,” Adamu added.

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New European body to assess claims for reparations on Ukraine to be set up

Top European officials meet on Tuesday to set up an international body to decide on tens of billions of euros of eventual reparations to compensate Ukraine over Russia’s invasion, AFP reported.

The International Claims Commission for Ukraine will assess and decide on claims for reparations, including any amount to be paid out.

The body was expected to be agreed at a high-level summit Tuesday in The Hague attended by Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky and EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas.

The commission’s establishment follows the setting up of a so-called “Register of Damages”, which has already received more than 80,000 claims for reparations from individuals or organisations.

The reparations mechanism is being coordinated via the Strasbourg-based Council of Europe, the 46-nation group protecting human rights on the continent, AFP noted.

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Morning opening: What are you saying, Russia?

Jakub Krupa

After positive comments from European, Ukrainian and US leaders taking part in Berlin talks, the focus now shifts to Russia as we wait for Moscow’s first reaction to some of the proposals for ending the war in Ukraine discussed last night.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy and US presidential envoy Steve Witkoff attend a family picture at the Chancellery in Berlin, Germany. Photograph: Action Press/Shutterstock

Deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov said this morning that Moscow had no understanding of the discussions just yet, as it awaits a debrief from the US negotiators. He also ruled out any territorial concessions by Russia.

Given the notably very positive tone of the US comments – from both the US officials involved and the US president, Donald Trump – about “tremendous support” from Europe, the Europeans will be feeling that the pressure is now on Moscow to, even reluctantly and begrudgingly, take a step closer towards the proposed plan.

But, crucially, they will be thinking that even if Moscow says niet, as it has so many times before, it will be hard for the US to blame Europe and Ukraine for that, which could be crucial in tense and delicate relations with Washington.

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy continues his Europe tour ahead of this week’s crucial European Council meeting on the use of frozen Russian assets. He will be in the Netherlands today, addressing the Dutch parliament, and meeting with the country’s prime minister, Dick Schoof, among others.

Other EU leaders will also be busy. Finland’s prime minister, Petteri Orpo, hosts the first Eastern Flank Summit in Helsinki, bringing together leaders from the Nordics, the Baltics, Bulgaria, Poland, and Romania.

I will bring you all the key updates throughout the day.

It’s Tuesday, 16 December 2025, it’s Jakub Krupa here, and this is Europe Live.

Good morning.

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When US President Donald Trump recently announced the rollback of vehicle fuel efficiency regulations, he called it the end of the “green new scam.”

He was referring to efforts to electrify transportation in the US by the outgoing Biden administration, which gave incentives for automakers to phase-out internal combustion engine cars in favor of low emission, climate-friendly electric vehicles (EVs). 

Since coming to power in January, the Trump administration has already repealed a range of incentives aimed at getting fossil-fuel powered cars off the road. These include revoking a Biden executive order stipulating that 50% of cars sold in the US by 2030 should be electric; freezing billions in funding for charging infrastructure, and eliminating a $7,500 (€6,444) tax credit on EV purchases. Trump has concurrently defunded green energy programs in favor of oil and gas.

Arguing that the “absurd tailpipe emissions standards” were “killing” the automobile industry, Trump confirmed to a retinue of car company executives gathered in the Oval Office that fuel efficiency regulations also made cars too expensive. 

Industry experts claim the EV incentives were spurring greater investment in electric cars and charging infrastructure, as well as creating new jobs. But Trump has now promised to forgo an electrified future in favor of 19th century technology. 

Chinese ports overflow with EVs headed for overseas markets as the US rejects climate-friendly cars Image: AFP/Getty Images

Will petrol cars really be cheaper than EVs?

As a result of the rollbacks, US vehicles will only require a fuel economy of around 35 miles (56 kilometers), as opposed to 50 miles per gallon under Biden’s updated fuel economy standards for 2022-2031 model passenger cars and light trucks. 

Both the climate and consumers will lose out due to the roll backs, say critics. 

California Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat whose state is a renewable energy and EV powerhouse, said Trump was “handing his Big Oil donors exactly what they want: weaker protections for consumers and bigger profits for polluters.” 

Confirming US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimates, Newsom said that national fuel consumption would have been reduced by 70 billion gallons (265 billion litres) a year under the outgoing efficiency standards.

Steven Higashide, Director of the Clean Transportation Program at the US nonprofit advocacy group, the Union of Concerned Scientists, says weakened fuel economy rules will ultimately raise the price of gas. 

“US vehicle pollution and reliance on oil have dropped and drivers can save money by choosing more efficient vehicles,” he said in a statement.

Fifty years of increasing fuel efficiency standards have helped shield drivers from oil market shocks, given them cleaner air, and ultimately saved them over $5 trillion (€4.26 trillion), said Higashide.

California’s Newsom takes center stage at COP30

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China set to consolidate its clean car dominance

Trump’s move to rollback auto efficiency standards is “a clear win” for the US oil industry, noted Ben Scott, Head of Energy Demand at UK-based climate think tank, Carbon Tracker. “But it’s an even bigger victory for China, as it pushes the US further behind in the EV transition,” he added. 

Some 20% of cars sold worldwide were electric in 2024 — a massive 25% increase from 2023. Of the 17 million sold, 11 million were in China – as opposed to about 1.6 million in the US. Near half of China’s domestic car sales were electric in 2024, compared to 10% in the US.  

And China, in direct contrast to the US, is dominating the global EV market through massive state incentives that have also helped to drive down costs, making low emission cars cheaper than most petrol models within the country. 

Trump’s EV rollbacks will worsen this divide as they tie US domestic automakers to outdated internal combustion engine technology “instead of committing fully to the future,” said Scott.

US auto giant Ford announced this week it was retreating from plans to electrify larger vehicles, in part due to regulatory changes, and will shift focus to gas-powered and hybrid trucks. 

China’s BYD electric car brand overtook Tesla as the biggest EV seller in the world in 2024Image: PEDRO PARDO/AFP via Getty Images

Though China now has an EV oversupply problem, in part due to US and European Union tariffs that are limiting exports, Scott believes these cheaper cars will make their way to price-sensitive markets across the Global South. 

“The shift to electric vehicles is inevitable everywhere,” he said.

Refueling petrol car market a major setback to climate  

Moving people and goods around in the US contributes to 29% of planet-heating carbon emissions, the largest share by sector in the economy. 

But the latest fuel economy standards were preventing more than 710 million metric tons of climate pollution from getting into the atmosphere, according to NTSHA.

Electric cars that generate one third of the emissions of petrol cars were set to hasten the decarbonisation of US roads as EV sales broke records throughout the first nine months of 2025. 

But this progress is set to stall.

“Clearly the unpredictable nature of US policy related to fuel economy standards and EV incentives will slow the decarbonization of US vehicle fleets,” said Ben Scott.

This will ultimately lead to the “slowing of climate progress,” he added.   

US struggles with bumpy road to e-mobility

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Despite concerns that EV batteries too expend a lot of energy and resources, “robust battery recycling can significantly reduce the amount of newly mined materials required,” said Ellen Kennedy, clean transportation expert at the Rocky Mountain Institute, a US energy think tank.  

More than 90% of lithium and 95% of nickel and cobalt can be recycled from batteries, she notes.

“Battery mineral recycling and recovery is continuing to improve, whereas fossil fuels are limited in supply and can only be used once,” she told DW.

In contrast to the one-time consumption of 2,150 million tons of oil in 2024 for global on-road transportation, some 125 million tons of minerals can create an inexhaustible circular economy for batteries through reuse and recycling, Kennedy explained. 

“This is a self-sustaining extraction that can keep EVs on the road into the future,” she said.

Edited by: Tamsin Walker

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Michelle Obama has revealed that she and her husband Barack were due to see Rob Reiner on the night of his death.

On Sunday (14 December), the legendary Hollywood director and his wife, Michele Singer Reiner, were found stabbed to death at their Los Angeles home. Nick Reiner, the couple’s son, has been arrested on suspicion of murder.

Appearing on Jimmy Kimmel Live on Monday (15 December), the former first lady said that she was supposed to see the couple, whom she has “known for many years”.

She added: “Unlike some people, Rob and Michelle are some of the most decent and courageous people you ever want to know. They are not deranged or crazy; they are passionate people.”

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NEED TO KNOW

• A man on Reddit married his late best friend’s girlfriend years after the friend died in a car accident
• He helped raise his friend’s daughter from infancy and was called “dad” for years
• The teen later accused him and her mother of cheating and rejected the parental bond

A man sought support from the Reddit community following a painful family conflict that left him questioning choices he believed were made out of love and loyalty.

The father shared his story in an emotional post, asking whether he and his wife were wrong for marrying after tragedy bonded them together.

“Seventeen years ago my best friend died in a car crash with his entire family,” he wrote, explaining that they were all just 20 years old at the time. His friend’s girlfriend was six months pregnant and had been cut off by her religious family, leaving her “completely alone.”

The Reddit poster explained that he stepped in to help however he could while still a college student. “Eventually a couple of years later because I was helping her with babysitting and stuff we just fell for each other,” he wrote, emphasizing that their relationship developed slowly.

Stock photo of a sad groom.

Getty

They married when the child, Emily, was 5 years old, and the bond between them felt natural and loving. “She started calling me dad which was so nice,” he shared, describing how meaningful that moment was to him.

Over time, they welcomed three more children together, but Emily remained just as cherished. “Emily is still our baby girl and there has never been any difference in treatment between her and the others,” he wrote, adding, “I love her very much.”

That sense of security was shaken when Emily, now a teenager, suddenly stopped calling him dad. “A couple of months ago she stopped calling me dad and started calling me by my name,” he wrote, admitting he initially thought it was a phase.

The issue came to a head on his 37th birthday when he asked her directly why she had changed. “She told me because I’m not her dad and just her stepdad,” he recalled, stunned by the blunt response.

Emily then made an accusation that cut even deeper, claiming her parents had betrayed her biological father. “She accused me and her mom of cheating on my late friend,” he wrote, firmly stating that “there was nothing between us prior to that.”

Confused and hurt, the father struggled to understand where the idea came from. “She’s known about how her dad was because I wanted to keep his memory alive,” he explained, adding that the timing made no sense to him. Now he’s wondering if he was wrong for marrying his late best friend’s girlfriend.

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Reddit commenters quickly rallied around him, suggesting an outside influence may be at play. One person wrote, “Someone on her dad’s side has told her this,” adding that grief can cause people to place blame unfairly.

“Is she only mad at you, or her mom also? If she’s still okay with her mom, perhaps mom should be the one to have a talk with her and reassure her about the true story,” another wrote. “Maybe your wife can also find out where she got this version of things. I think you need to know the source.”

Others encouraged patience and open communication rather than defensiveness. “Talk to her,” another commenter advised, suggesting family therapy and reassurance that her feelings mattered.

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Suffering bouts of nervousness or struggling to concentrate in mid-life could be an early warning sign of dementia, experts claim.

British scientists who tracked more than 5,000 adults over the age of 55 for more than two decades found that people showing clusters of specific depressive symptoms were significantly more likely to develop the condition later in life.

Those most at risk had five or more out of six warning signs, including worsening anxiety, difficulty concentrating, an inability to face up to problems, a lack of warmth or affection towards others, and a loss of self-confidence.

Another red flag was dissatisfaction with how everyday tasks were carried out.

Researchers said the findings, published in The Lancet Psychiatry, could give doctors a way to spot people at risk of dementia years before memory loss and confusion set in.

Almost one million people in the UK are currently living with dementia – a figure expected to soar as the population ages.

The condition has no cure, but experts say identifying those at risk as early as possible could allow doctors to encourage lifestyle changes that may help slow its progression.

Depression has long been known to be common in people with dementia, but the researchers said this was one of the first studies to track specific mental health symptoms over decades to see how they relate to the disease later in life.

Scientists, who tracked more than 5,000 over 55s, found that those who had five or more of six specific symptoms of depression, were at higher risk of developing the condition later on

Dr Philipp Frank – a research fellow in the mental health of older people at University College London and the study’s lead author – said the findings suggest dementia risk is linked to specific depressive symptoms, rather than depression as a whole.

‘Our findings show that dementia risk is linked to a handful of depressive symptoms rather than depression as a whole,’ he said.

‘This symptom-level approach gives us a much clearer picture of who may be more vulnerable decades before dementia develops.

‘Everyday symptoms that many people experience in midlife appear to carry important information about long-term brain health.

Everyone experiences dementia differently. Use this checklist to help you make a note of your symptoms before you talk to your GP.

‘Paying attention to these patterns could open new opportunities for early prevention.’

In the study, researchers analysed health data from 5,811 adults aged between 45 and 69, with an average age of 55.

Participants were asked detailed questions about their mental health, covering 30 common depressive symptoms. Over a follow-up period of 23 years, 586 people went on to develop dementia.

Those who reported five or more of the six key depressive symptoms were found to have a 27 per cent higher risk of developing the condition compared with people who did not report low mood.

In particular, volunteers who reported that they had lost confidence in themselves in midlife appeared to carry a 51 per cent increased risk of dementia in later life.

People who said they were ‘not able to face up to their problems’ had a 49 per cent increased risk.

Reporting ‘not feeling warmth and affection for others’ had a 44 per cent raised risk while feeling nervous and ‘strung up’ held a 34 per cent rise of a third in risk of dementia later in life.

Those who were not satisfied with the way tasks are carried out had a 33 per cent increased risk of dementia more than 20 years later, while those who reported difficulties concentrating had a 29 per cent elevated risk.

Writing in The Lancet Psychiatry, the scientists said: ‘A distinct set of midlife depressive symptoms was associated with an increased risk of dementia, suggesting that these symptoms might be early markers of underlying neurodegenerative processes.’ 

Commenting on the paper, Dr Richard Oakley, associate director of research and innovation at Alzheimer’s Society, said: ‘The connection between dementia and depression is complicated. 

‘It’s encouraging to see this new observational study begin to unpick how dementia and depression are interlinked.

‘However, more research is needed to confirm whether these six symptoms also apply to women and ethnic minorities.

‘It’s important to note that not everyone who has depression will go on to develop dementia, and people with dementia won’t necessarily develop depression.’

Dementia claims 76,000 lives each year and is the UK’s biggest killer — usually from problems arising from a weakened immune system, such as pneumonia or difficulty swallowing.

Costs to the UK economy, including that of the round-the-clock care many need as dementia takes hold, is an eye-watering £42 billion a year, according to the charity Alzheimer’s Society. 

That figure will double by 2040, it warns.

Earlier this month, the Daily Mail launched its Defeating Dementia campaign, in association with Alzheimer’s Society, to raise awareness of the disease, increase early diagnosis, boost research and improve care.

Scientists now believe around 45 per cent of all cases of dementia may be preventable or — at the very least — that the symptoms can be delayed, in some cases for many years, allowing everyone to live longer, healthier lives.

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Keir Starmer previously said he believes ‘the principle of an independent trusted BBC is really important and should be defended’ amid legal threats from Donald Trump

Donald Trump has filed a multibillion pound defamation lawsuit against the BBC (Image: Getty Images)

Keir Starmer is under pressure to stand up for the BBC against Donald Trump’s “outrageous legal threat”.

The Prime Minister last month said he believes “the principle of an independent trusted BBC is really important and should be defended”.

But he is being urged to take a stronger stance against the US President, who overnight filed a multibillion pound defamation lawsuit against the BBC for selectively editing one of his speeches in an episode of Panorama.

The BBC said documents filed at a court in Florida asked for five billion dollars (£3.7 billion) in damages for defamation, as well as the same amount for a claim of violating trade practices.

READ MORE: Donald Trump sues BBC $5 billion for Panorama speech edit: ‘They put words in my mouth’Keir Starmer is under pressure to stand up for the BBC(Image: PRU/AFP via Getty Images)

Last month, the broadcaster apologised to Mr Trump over the edit of the Panorama episode, which led to the resignations of the BBC’s director general, Tim Davie, and its head of news, Deborah Turness. But the BBC rejected the Republican politician’s demands for compensation and said there was no “basis for a defamation claim”.

According to the Associated Press, the 33-page lawsuit accuses the organisation of broadcasting a “false, defamatory, deceptive, disparaging, inflammatory, and malicious depiction of President Trump”, calling it “a brazen attempt to interfere in and influence” the 2024 US presidential election.

It also accused the BBC of “splicing together two entirely separate parts of President Trump’s speech on January 6, 2021” in order to “intentionally misrepresent the meaning of what President Trump said”.

Lib Dem Leader Ed Davey hit out at Donald Trump’s White House(Image: PA)

Lib Dem Leader Ed Davey accused Mr Trump’s White House of wanting to “interfere in our democracy” and called on Mr Starmer to take action. He said: “Keir Starmer needs to stand up for the BBC against Trump’s outrageous legal threat and protect licence fee payers from being hit in the pocket.

“The Trump administration has clearly set out they want to interfere in our democracy, which includes undermining our national broadcaster. The Prime Minister needs to make clear this is unacceptable.”

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Health minister Stephen Kinnock said the BBC is right to “stand firm” in the face of Mr Trump’s defamation lawsuit.

Mr Kinnock told Sky News: “I think they have apologised for one or two of the mistakes that were made in that Panorama programme, but they’ve also been very clear that there is no case to answer in terms of Mr Trump’s accusations on the broader point about libel or defamation.

“So, you know, I think it’s right that the BBC stands firm on that point. Yes, there were some mistakes made in that particular piece of film, but I think the broader argument that they were making; they’re right to stick by their guns on that and I hope that they will continue to do so.”

He said the Labour Party would “always stand up for the BBC as a vitally important institution”.

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Published On 16 Dec 202516 Dec 2025

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Search and rescue operations were continuing in the Moroccan town of Safi after flash floods killed at least 37 people.

Drought-hit Morocco often experiences severe weather, but Sunday’s flooding in the coastal town is the deadliest such disaster in at least a decade.

A muddy torrent swept cars and bins from the streets of Safi, which lies roughly 300km (190 miles) south of the capital, Rabat.

The General Directorate of Meteorology (DGM), Morocco’s national weather forecaster, has warned that further thunderstorms are likely over the next three days in several regions, including Safi.

Survivors are still receiving treatment at the town’s Mohammed V Hospital, with two remaining in intensive care, according to local officials.

Schools have been closed as mud and debris continue to clog the streets.

Safi is known as a centre for arts and crafts, particularly terracotta pottery, and its streets were left strewn with shattered bowls and tajines.

The Moroccan prosecutor’s office has opened an investigation to determine whether anyone bears responsibility for the scale of the damage, according to the official news agency MAP.

Addressing parliament, Prime Minister Aziz Akhannouch said: “Thirty-seven millimetres (1.5 inches) of rain fell in a short period, hitting the historic Bab Chabaa district of Safi, which is crossed by a river, and causing the deaths of numerous merchants and workers.”

As the waters receded, a landscape of mud and overturned cars was revealed. Civil Protection units and residents soon started clearing the debris.

Morocco is enduring its seventh consecutive year of severe drought, and last year was the North African kingdom’s hottest on record.

Climate change has made storms more intense, as a warmer atmosphere holds more moisture and warmer seas can spur weather systems.

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The rate of UK unemployment rose to a four-year high of 5.1% in the three months to October, as the labour market showed signs of further weakening before last month’s budget.

Wage growth excluding bonuses fell to 4.6% in October, from 4.7% the previous month.

The latest figures estimated the number of employees on payrolls plunged by 38,000 during November to 30.3 million in further evidence of a weakened jobs market.

The number of people receiving unemployment benefits also increased, indicating lay-offs by employers were also a factor in the latest figures.

Economists polled by Reuters had anticipated the rise in the unemployment rate to 5.1% in October, up from 5% in the previous month.

The jobless rate is the highest since the first quarter of 2021 – but with the pandemic era stripped out, it is the highest since early 2016.

The ONS said younger workers in particular were struggling in the difficult hiring climate.

Liz McKeown, the ONS director of economic statistics, said: “The overall picture continues to be of a weakening labour market.

“The number of employees on payroll has fallen again, reflecting subdued hiring activity, while firms told us there were fewer jobs in the latest period.”

The work and pensions secretary, Pat McFadden, said: “There are over 350,000 more people in work this year and the rate of inactivity is at its joint lowest in over five years, but today’s figures underline the scale of the challenge we’ve inherited.”

Unemployment has been rising steadily since late 2023. In the three months to December 2023 the unemployment rate was 3.9%. By the time of the general election in July 2024 it was 4.2%, before rising to 5% in the three months to September 2025.

A recent study by the Resolution Foundation found that young people had borne the brunt of rising joblessness, with an extra 415,000 people under the age of 26 swelling the unemployment figures from October 2020 to September 2025.

Wages have remained higher than inflation for much of the past two years, although much of the extra disposable income, especially at the top half of the income scale, has been saved rather than spent.

Inflation has increased from below 2% last year to 3.8% in the summer before falling back to 3.6% in the latest figures covering October.

The fall in inflation, coupled with weak growth, is expected to persuade the Bank of England to cut interest rates when policymakers meet on Thursday. A fall in the cost of borrowing from 4% to 3.75% would ease the pressure on indebted households and businesses, potentially limiting further increases in unemployment during 2026.

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US Southern Command

The US military says it has carried out strikes on three boats it has accused of trafficking drugs in the Pacific Ocean, killing eight people.

The US Southern Command posted footage of the strikes on social media and said the vessels were “transiting along known narco-trafficking routes… and were engaged in narco-trafficking”.

More than 20 vessels in the Pacific and the Caribbean have been targeted in recent months, killing at least 90 people, as part of President Donald Trump’s escalating campaign against gangs he accuses of transporting drugs in the region.

Some experts say the strikes could violate laws governing armed conflict.

The Trump administration has accused Venezuela of funnelling narcotics into the US and has intensified its efforts to isolate President Nicolas Maduro in recent months.

Thousands of troops and the USS Gerald Ford have been positioned within striking distance of Venezuela.

On 10 December, US forces seized an oil tanker off the Venezuelan coast, which it claimed was being used to transport sanctioned oil from Venezuela and Iran in an “illicit oil shipping network supporting foreign terrorist organisations”.

Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yvan Gil called the seizure “international piracy” and has claimed Trump wants Venezuela’s energy resources.

The South American nation – home to some of the world’s largest proven oil reserves – also accuses Washington of seeking to steal its resources.

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