| | | | | | | Ukraine's counter-offensive has been slow going but we examine claims things could be about to change. In the US, there's finally hope of a route out - and a shower - for thousands of revellers stuck in mud at the Burning Man festival. And scroll down to learn the tricks that make meals look better on a fast-food joint's menu than they do on a plate. | | | |
| | | | Top of the agenda | | Zelensky fires his defence minister |  | | Small units have been clearing a way through minefields, tank traps and trenches to prepare for a larger offensive. Credit: Reuters. | | | Even as there are suggestions Ukraine's painstaking counter-offensive might be poised to gather pace, its defence minister has been sacked, with President Volodymyr Zelensky saying it was time for "new approaches" in the ministry. Oleksii Reznikov was credited with convincing Western powers to supply arms but his department was hit by corruption scandals, as our international correspondent Paul Adams explains, from Kyiv. It's unlikely to lead to a change in battlefield strategy, with generals claiming they have breached Russia's formidable first line of defences in the south. The push has focused on the tiny village of Robotyne, 56km (35 miles) south-east of the city of Zaporizhzhia, where forces are trying to widen the gap so larger units can pass through without coming under fire. | | | | | | |
| | | | | | World headlines | | • | Burning Man: Organisers of the US festival say they're ready for an exodus later, with the ground dry enough to drive out of the Nevada desert site turned into a mudbath by heavy rain. David Willis reports from the site, attended by 72,000 revellers. | | • | Macca's lost bass: It seems to have disappeared shortly after the fractious 1969 Beatles recording sessions captured by the Get Back documentary. Now the search is on for Sir Paul McCartney's original Höfner 500/1 Violin Bass guitar. | | • | Rescue mission: It took two helicopters, a massive icebreaker ship and a "medical retrieval team" but Australia is reporting success in its bid to evacuate a researcher from a remote Antarctic outpost. | | • | Crumbling concrete: A former official says UK ministers cut the schools' repair budget despite warnings of a "critical risk to life" from problem concrete. It happened during PM Rishi Sunak's time in charge of finances - get live updates, as dozens of schools remain shut at the start of term. | | • | Lunar breakthrough? Scientists say they have developed an energy source that could allow astronauts to live on the Moon for long periods. Read more about the nuclear fuel cells, the size of poppy seeds, said to produce the energy needed to sustain life. | | | |
| | | | AT THE SCENE | |  | Lagos, Nigeria | | | Why a lack of traffic jams is bad news | | When Bola Tinubu, president of oil-rich Nigeria, said the country could no longer afford to subsidise petrol which was costing billions of dollars a year, it had a dramatic effect on the city he’s credited with building. | | | | Nduka Orjinmo & Gift Ufuoma, BBC News | | | | The boisterous - often chaotic - energy that drives Nigeria's commercial centre has been subdued by the removal of a fuel subsidy that had kept the price of petrol low for decades in Africa's largest economy. Since June, fuel costs have tripled, leading transport fares to shoot up and forcing many employees to return to the pandemic era by working from home. Many private cars are off the roads. And with fewer passengers to tussle over, some of the yellow, fume-belching buses, pride of the city's eternal hustle spirit, now idle at motor parks. | | | | | | |
| | Beyond the headlines | | Where parents bully the teachers |  | | Kim Jin-seo said her job had caused her to have suicidal thoughts. Credit: BBC/Hosu Lee | | | When a primary school teacher in South Korea took her own life, diary entries and text messages revealed she had been bombarded by complaints. It prompted thousands of teachers to strike, demanding protection from parents who report a telling off as "emotional abuse" or restraint as child abuse, says Seoul correspondent Jean Mackenzie. | | | | | | |
| | | | Something different | | Animals dream too | | The science that suggests humans aren't so special. | | | | | |
| | | | And finally... | | Remember that legal claim - denied by fast food chain Burger King - that Whopper burgers appear larger on menus than in reality? Well, our business reporter Lucy Hooker has been hearing how photographers maximise the appeal of meals. From adding extra mozzarella to pizzas to get the right "cheese pull" effect, to snapping cereal in glue - rather than milk - to stop it getting soggy, read about the tricks of the trade. | | |
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