BBC News Briefing

9 July, 2026

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

Alex Binley

Hello. As the war grinds on, my colleagues take a look at one of the latest ways Ukraine is attempting to choke off Russia's fuel supplies. In Bangladesh, measles cases are soaring. And find out why scientists think bees may be more complex than previously thought.

TOP OF THE AGENDA

Ukraine attacks on Russian fuel supplies escalate

A still image of an oil tanker under attack from a drone in a black and while nighttime image

Footage of an attack captured by a Ukrainian drone camera. Credit: Magyar/social media

Ukraine's military has intensified its attacks on maritime supply routes to Russia-annexed Crimea, and claims to have hit and set fire to at least 25 ships in the Sea of Azov - the body of water bordered by Ukraine and Russia - in the last four days. The attacks appear to mark the latest phase of Ukraine's campaign to cut off supplies to the peninsula, following earlier strikes on Russia's land corridor connecting it to the region. Kyiv is also targeting oil refineries in Russia, causing widespread fuel shortages across the country in what President Volodymyr Zelensky has said is a response to the Kremlin's strikes on Ukraine. My colleagues have analysed Ukrainian military footage, satellite images and Russian pro-war Telegram channels in a bid to assess Ukraine's latest claims.

What they found

GET UP TO SPEED

A crowd of people are seen. They hold up a sign made of newspaper pages which has an outline of a girl with her fist raised in the air painted on it, and the words 'justice for Baruipur' in red

Tensions erupt in India after girl, 11, raped and murdered

The incident has triggered days of violent protests, a mob lynching of an innocent man and the police killing of one of the suspects.

What happened >

US-backed Hormuz route sees fall in ships after strikes

Just 23 tankers and cargo ships crossed the critical Gulf waterway on Wednesday, down from 47 a week before, data shows.

What Verify found >

A very round, brown grog is seen sitting on sand next to a brown flower.

Viral squeaky frog now at risk of extinction

The desert rain frog is found only in a narrow strip of sand dunes in southern Africa, where it burrows.

Why it's threatened >

A blurry imae shows a grey plane on a runway with flames and smoke billowing from it. Two people are stodd a distance away, watching it.

Greek fighter jet crash-lands at busy Zakynthos airport

The plane reportedly landed without deploying its landing gear and burst into flames.

Read more >

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Prince Harry: The Duke of Sussex got his UK trip back on track with a hospital visit, following a bumpy start, our royal correspondent writes.

Baby names: The most popular names for babies born England and Wales last year have been revealed. These are the top 10 for boys and girls.

AT THE SCENE

Mymensingh, Bangladesh

Bangladesh made huge progress on measles but now cases are soaring

A close-up image of a baby's face. The baby has big brown eyes and is looking upwards. The baby has an oxygen tube taped to its nose and its nose cannot be seen. It is blowing some bubbles from its mouth.

Nearly 750 people, including baby Arafat pictured here, have died from measles in Bangladesh in the past four months.

Until March this year, Bangladesh had made "substantial progress" towards eliminating measles, according to the World Health Organization, with vaccination rates higher than 90%. But that progress quickly came undone due to a "perfect storm" of several factors. Since then, almost 750 people, the majority of them children, have died from the highly contagious disease, and around 1,000 new cases are being recorded each day.

Azadeh has long brown hair and is standing outside. It is dusk and the sky behind her is darkening. She is wearing a white shirt with a red scarf around her shoulders.

Azadeh Moshiri, South Asia correspondent and Aakriti Thapar, senior journalist

Four-month-old Arafat is one of the many new cases. His nose is too small for oxygen tubes to sit comfortably so doctors on the overcrowded ward have taped them into place. "We have been in the hospital for 15 days, but my baby isn't getting any better," his father, Mohammad Alam Mia, tells us. Arafat is writhing in the heat and struggling to breathe.

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Days after our visit to the measles ward, we hear news that Arafat has died. He is now one of the hundreds of children claimed by this preventable disease. On the phone, his father is in tears. "I spent all my money, took loans, and tried my best to save my son. But everything is gone now."

Keep reading

Immunisations: Every four years, Bangladesh holds a vaccination drive, but there hasn't been one since 2020 due to a number of issues.

Jabs unavailable: Al Amin took his daughter to get vaccinated four times but didn't manage to. She later got measles and died.