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The EU is investigating Pornhub, Stripchat and two other pornography websites it believes may be falling foul of its online content laws.

The European Commission said the sites, which also include XVideos and XNXX, did not appear to have measures in place to safeguard children and their rights.

It said this included an apparent lack of “appropriate” age verification methods to stop children accessing adult material.

“Online platforms must ensure that the rights and best interests of children are central to the design and functioning of their services,” it said.

Pornhub’s parent company Aylo said it was aware of the investigation and “fully committed to ensuring the safety of minors online”.

“We will always comply with the law, but we hope that governments around the world will implement laws that protect the safety and security of users,” it added.

The BBC has also approached Stripchat for comment.

The Commission said its initial investigations found the four platforms had not put in place “appropriate and proportionate measures to ensure a high level of privacy, safety and security for minors”.

It said the platforms also do not appear to be abiding by requirements for porn sites to use age verification tools to protect children from accessing adult content.

A Commission official said that “click away” pop-ups currently used by some porn sites, asking users if they are over 18, may not be an effective means of doing so.

The platforms were also found not to have put into place “risk assessment and mitigation measures of any negative effects on the rights of the child, the mental and physical well-being of users,” it said.

It comes amid wider scrutiny of online pornography services worldwide, with many regulators looking to crack down on those that do not have age verification in place.

The UK’s online safety regulator Ofcom recently announced two investigations into porn sites that did not appear to have any methods to check the age of users.

It said in early May that Itai Tech Ltd – which operates a so-called “nudifying” site – and Score Internet Group LLC had failed to detail how they were preventing children from accessing their platforms.

Pornhub is the most visited porn site in the world – and the 19th most visited on the entire web, according to data from Similarweb.

But it finds itself under increasing regulatory pressure.

It has blocked access to its site in 16 US states, including Alabama, Florida, Louisiana and Texas, that passed laws requiring it to verify the age of users.

It argues age verification should take place on users’ devices, rather than on individual, age-restricted sites, to create a simpler process for regulators and enhance privacy for users.

The companies subject to the EU’s investigation were designated as very large online platforms under its Digital Services Act (DSA) in 2023.

Under the bloc’s sweeping set of digital content rules, they face tougher requirements to tackle harmful and illegal material on the platforms.

If suspected infringements of the DSA are confirmed, platforms could face further enforcement actions or, ultimately, a fines of up to 6% of their annual turnover.

The Commission said on Tuesday that Stripchat would no longer be designated a so-called VLOP, but its suspected non-compliance with its digital content rules would still be investigated.

Smaller platforms that do not meet the 45m EU user threshold must also abide by the bloc’s digital rules to safeguard children, it said.

Coordinated action by its member states will also seek to enforce requirements for smaller pornography sites.

“Our priority is to protect minors and allow them to navigate safely online,” said Henna Virkkunen, the Commission’s executive vice-president for tech sovereignty, security and democracy.

“Together with the Digital Service Coordinators in the Member States we are determined to tackle any potential harm to young online users.”

The lawsuit claims a report portrayed the Marubo people as “unable to handle” basic internet exposure.

A second-hand Zelda cartridge. A cryptic forum thread. A generation of terrified children. This is the story of Ben Drowned – the internet’s most infamous video game ghost.

There’s a secret side of YouTube, just beyond the guiding hand of the algorithm – and it’s nothing like what you know.

Downdetector, which tracks platforms, showed more than 20,000 people reported Spotify was not working on Wednesday.

The tech billionaire is embroiled in a row with the government over black empowerment legislation.

Copyright 2025 BBC. All rights reserved.  The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott has signed an online child safety bill that requires Apple and Google to ensure that their app stores verify the age of users in the nation’s second most populous state.

Under the new law, minors will need parental approval before they can download apps or make in-app purchases. The bill was opposed by Google and Apple.

“We believe there are better proposals that help keep kids safe without requiring millions of people to turn over their personal information,” an Apple spokesperson said in a statement on Tuesday.

Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the BBC.

Texas follows Utah, another conservative state, which adopted a similar law earlier this year.

At the federal level, US lawmakers have spearheaded the Kids Online Safety Act, known as KOSA, which would require social media companies to make design choices that prevent and mitigate harms to young users.

KOSA was passed by the US Senate last year but stalled in the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of the US Congress.

The proposed bipartisan legislation, which Apple supports, was reintroduced in Congress earlier this month.

In the absence of a federal law, the states have chosen to come up with their own legislation.

Laws that call for age-verification has long pitted app store providers like Apple and Google against social media companies.

Meta, which owns the social media network Facebook and photo sharing app Instagram, has lobbied for Apple and Google to be responsible for verifying the age of users.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Apple chief executive Tim Cook called Governor Abbott earlier this month in a bid to stop the passage of the state’s bill.

An Apple spokesperson said the tech giant shares “the goal of strengthening kids’ online safety” but added it was “deeply concerned” by the threat it believes the law poses to the privacy of all users.

“[I]t requires app marketplaces to collect and keep sensitive personal identifying information for every Texan who wants to download an app, even if it’s an app that simply provides weather updates or sports scores,” the company spokesperson said.

In February, Apple announced a slew of new child safety measures, including a requirement that users select an age range on a new device.

For users under 13, a parent or guardian must provide consent for a child to use the ‌App Store‌ and other features that require the use of its Face ID.

The law is set to take effect on1 January.

Texas has pressured Silicon Valley through legislation before.

In 2021, the state made it illegal for social media platforms to ban users based on their “political viewpoints” after Republican politicians accused Facebook and the company then known as Twitter of censoring their opinions.

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India can’t grow enough apples to meet demand but farmers are struggling to raise production.

The 131cm-high figurine was sold at the Yongle International Auction in Beijing.

The world’s two biggest economies have agreed in principle a framework for de-escalating trade tensions.

The Hollywood studios allege Midjourney’s image generator is a “bottomless pit of plagiarism”.

Asian bakeries are seeing success at home and abroad by bringing global flavours to traditional French pastries.

Copyright 2025 BBC. All rights reserved.  The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking.

Elon Musk’s time in the Trump administration is coming to an end after a tempestuous 129 days in which the world’s richest man took an axe to government spending – stirring ample controversy along the way.

Earlier this week, the South African-born billionaire, on his social media platform, X, thanked President Trump for his time at the Department of Government Efficiency, or Doge.

Trump announced he will host a news conference in the Oval Office on Friday with Musk, writing: “This will be his last day, but not really, because he will, always, be with us, helping all the way.”

While Musk’s time in government lasted little more than four months, his work with Doge upended the federal government and had an impact not just in the halls of power in Washington – but around the world.

Let’s take a look at some of the ways Musk has left a mark.

Musk took a job with the Trump White House with one mission: to cut spending from the government as much as possible.

He began with an initial target of “at least $2 trillion”, which then shifted to $1tn and ultimately $150bn.

To date, Doge claims to have saved $175bn through a combination of asset sales, lease and grant cancellations, “fraud and improper payment deletion”, regulatory savings and a 260,000-person reduction from the 2.3 million-strong federal workforce.

A BBC analysis of those figures, however, found that evidence is sometimes lacking.

This mission has at times caused both chaos and controversy, including some instances in which federal judges halted mass firings and ordered employees reinstated.

In other instances, the administration has been forced to backtrack on firings.

In one notable instance in February, the administration stopped the firing of hundreds of federal employees working at the National Nuclear Security Administration, including some with sensitive jobs related to the US nuclear arsenal.

Musk himself repeatedly acknowledged that mass firings would inevitably include mistakes.

“We will make mistakes,” he said in February, after his department mistook a region of Mozambique for Hamas-controlled Gaza while cutting an aid programme. “But we’ll act quickly to correct any mistakes.”

Doge’s efforts to access data also garnered controversy, particularly the department’s push for access to sensitive treasury department systems that control the private information of millions of Americans.

Polls show that cuts to government spending remain popular with many Americans – even if Musk’s personal popularity has waned.

The presence of Musk – an unelected “special government employee” with companies that count the US government as customers – in Trump’s White House has also raised eyebrows, prompting questions about potential conflicts of interest.

His corporate empire includes large companies that do business with US and foreign governments. SpaceX has $22 billion in US government contracts, according to the company’s chief executive.

Some Democrats also accused Musk of taking advantage of his position to drum up business abroad for his satellite internet services firm, Starlink.

The White House was accused of helping Musk’s businesses by showcasing vehicles made by Tesla – his embattled car company – on the White House lawn in March.

Musk and Trump have both shrugged off any suggestion that his work with the government is conflicted or ethically problematic.

Around the world, Musk’s work with Doge was most felt after the vast majority – over 80% – of the US Agency for International Development’s (USAID’s) programmes were eliminated following a six-week review by Doge. The rest were absorbed by the State Department.

The Musk and Doge-led cuts formed part of a wider effort by the Trump administration to bring overseas spending closer in line with its “America First” approach.

The cuts to the agency – tasked with work such as famine detection, vaccinations and food aid in conflict areas – quickly had an impact on projects including communal kitchens in war-torn Sudan, scholarships for young Afghan women who fled the Taliban and clinics for transgender people in India.

USAID also was a crucial instrument of US “soft power” around the world, leading some detractors pointing to its elimination as a sign of waning American influence on the global stage.

While Musk – and Trump – have for years been accused by detractors of spreading baseless conspiracy theories, Musk’s presence in the White House starkly highlighted how misinformation has crept into discourse at the highest levels of the US government.

For example, Musk spread an unfounded internet theory that US gold reserves had quietly been stolen from Fort Knox in Kentucky. At one point, he floated the idea of livestreaming a visit there to ensure the gold was secured.

More recently, Musk spread widely discredited rumours that the white Afrikaner population of South Africa is facing “genocide” in their home country.

Those rumours found their way into the Oval Office earlier in May, when a meeting aimed at soothing tensions between the US and South Africa took a drastic twist after Trump presented South African President Cyril Ramaphosa with videos and articles he said were evidence of crimes against Afrikaners.

Musk’s work in government also showed that, despite public pledges of unity, there are tensions within the “Trump 2.0” administration.

While Trump publicly – and repeatedly – backed the work of Musk and Doge, Musk’s tenure was marked by reports of tension between him and members of the cabinet who felt Doge cuts were impacting their agencies.

“They have a lot of respect for Elon and that he’s doing this, and some disagree a little bit,” Trump acknowledged in a February cabinet meeting. “If they aren’t, I want them to speak up.”

At one point, he was asked whether any cabinet members had expressed dissatisfaction with Musk and turned to the room to ask them. No one spoke.

The announcement of Musk’s departure also came the same day that CBS – the BBC’s US partner – publicised part of an interview during which Musk said he was “disappointed” by Trump’s “big, beautiful” budget bill. The bill includes multi-trillion dollar tax breaks and a pledge to increase defence spending.

Musk said the bill “undermines” the work of Doge to cut spending – reflecting larger tensions within the Republican Party over the path forward.

People from Haiti, Nicaragua, Cuba and Venezuela who had temporary permission to stay in the country are receiving emails telling them to go.

California senator Alex Padilla was pushed out of the news conference by authorities after he interrupted Noem.

The US defense secretary appeared to acknowledge incidental plans also exist for Panama, but avoided giving direct confirmation.

US Senator Alex Padilla was put in handcuffs after interrupting Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem during a news update on the Los Angeles ICE raids.

The appointees have “committed to demanding definitive safety and efficacy data”, the vaccine sceptic said.

Copyright 2025 BBC. All rights reserved.  The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking.

A second suspect has been arrested for allegedly kidnapping and torturing an Italian tourist in an upmarket Manhattan home for weeks in an effort to steal his cryptocurrency.

William Duplessie, 32, turned himself in to authorities on Tuesday after his alleged accomplice was arrested last week.

Their alleged victim told police he was hung off a roof ledge, shocked with electrical wires and attacked with a chainsaw as his attackers demanded he reveal his Bitcoin wallet password.

Both suspects are charged with kidnapping with intent to collect ransom, assault, unlawful imprisonment and other crimes.

The arrests came after the victim managed to escape a home in SoHo, one of the wealthiest neighbourhoods in New York, where he was allegedly tortured and bound for nearly three weeks.

According to police, Mr Duplessie is the business partner of John Woeltz, 37, who was arrested on Friday.

Mr Woeltz is a crypto investor from Kentucky and has been renting the SoHo home – where the assaults allegedly occurred – for between $30,000 (£22,000) and $40,000 per month, according to the BBC’s US partner CBS News.

Investigators in the case also arrested a woman on Friday, but prosecutors have declined to press charges against her.

The alleged victim, who has not been named publicly, told police he came to New York from Italy on 6 May.

He alleged that upon arriving at the suspect’s house, Mr Woeltz took his passport and held him captive for 17 days.

Police say he had a gun pointed at his head, was struck with the gun, and had threats made against his family as his attackers demanded he reveal his password. He was also allegedly forced to smoke crack cocaine.

The 28-year-old Italian national says he escaped on Friday morning, bloodied and barefoot, after agreeing to give the men his password.

When they went to get his laptop, the alleged victim says he fled the eight-bedroom townhouse.

He reported the attack and was taken to hospital for treatment, say authorities.

A police search of the home found several Polaroid photos of the victim being tied up and tortured, as well as firearms and drugs, police say.

At a hearing before a judge on Tuesday, Mr Duplessie’s lawyer argued that “his involvement is hotly disputed” and said he had shown good faith by turning himself in to authorities.

The lawyer requested that he be allowed to post $1m bail and live with his father in Florida before his trial, but the judge denied that request and ordered him to be held in detention.

Mr Woeltz has also been ordered to remain in jail, after prosecutors argued that he had the means to flee, including a private jet and helicopter.

In a separate case in France, police have arrested more than 20 people following a number of kidnapping plots targeting crypto entrepreneurs and their families.

Authorities said the arrests were in connection with investigations into a recent abduction attempt in Nantes and the attempted kidnapping of a woman and child in Paris in May.

David Seltzer, a criminal defence attorney who specializes in cyber-crime, said such cases are all too common.

“It’s becoming a thing because people think it’s an easy way to get cash,” he told the BBC’s US partner CBS.

“Instead of robbing a bank, they can kidnap someone and get access to their Bitcoin wallet or crypto wallet.”

People from Haiti, Nicaragua, Cuba and Venezuela who had temporary permission to stay in the country are receiving emails telling them to go.

California senator Alex Padilla was pushed out of the news conference by authorities after he interrupted Noem.

The US defense secretary appeared to acknowledge incidental plans also exist for Panama, but avoided giving direct confirmation.

US Senator Alex Padilla was put in handcuffs after interrupting Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem during a news update on the Los Angeles ICE raids.

The appointees have “committed to demanding definitive safety and efficacy data”, the vaccine sceptic said.

Copyright 2025 BBC. All rights reserved.  The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking.

PDD Holdings, the Chinese owner of online shopping platform Temu, has reported a near 50% drop in profit as US President Donald Trump’s trade policies added to its struggles in its home country.

US-listed shares of the e-commerce giant fell by more than 13% on Tuesday, after the firm said its profits for the first three months of the year fell to 14.74bn yuan ($2.05bn , £1.5bn).

Earlier this month, the Trump administration ended the so-called “de minimis” exemption that allowed parcels worth less than $800 (£593) enter the US without being hit with import duties.

In China, PDD has been locked in a long-running price war with rivals like Alibaba and JD.com in the face of weak consumer spending.

PDD Holdings reported a 47% drop in profit for the first quarter of the year. Its chairman, Chen Lei, said this was due to a “radical change in external policy environments such as tariffs”.

Mr Chen said the US-China trade war had also “created significant pressure for our merchants”.

Temu and rival Shein had previously relied on a duty-free treatment which allowed them to sell and ship low-value items directly to the US without having to pay import taxes.

This ended in early May, leaving Chinese e-commerce giants facing hefty US tariffs of 120%.

In response, Temu said it would stop selling goods from China directly to US customers.

But following a thaw in trade tensions between Washington and Beijing, the tariff rate on the small packages was slashed by over half for 90 days.

Temu and its rivals are also facing issues in Europe and the UK.

The EU proposed a two-euro flat fee on billions of small parcels sent directly to people’s homes. Online marketplaces would be expected to pay the new fee.

Last month, UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced that the government planned to review the customs treatment of low-value products entering the country following complaints from retailers.

The move comes as the continent’s exports face the possibility of high tariffs from the US.

The strength of the economy affects things like pay rises and how much tax the government can raise to pay for services.

Taipei has accused Beijing of sabotaging its cables, describing it as a “grey zone” tactic.

Footage shows flames and thick smoke billowing into the sky, as bystanders watch the blaze erupt in southwest China.

Higher prices for some items were offset by declines in other areas, such as petrol, airfares and clothing.

Copyright 2025 BBC. All rights reserved.  The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking.

Nvidia reported a huge boost to its revenues in the first quarter of the year, with sales of its chips rising more than 69% compared to the same period in 2024.

The US company’s sophisticated chips have played a central role in the artificial intelligence (AI) boom.

But Nvidia’s stock, along with share prices of fellow chip-makers, plummeted in April after US President Donald Trump announced a wave of tariffs and tightened export restrictions.

Analysts say its strong set of results have “eased concerns” around tariffs – the future of which are uncertain after they were blocked by a federal court.

Wall Street stocks rose in early trading Thursday after a US court blocked many of President Trump’s tariffs and Nvidia earnings boosted confidence.

Nvidia reported a mammoth $18.8bn (£13.9bn) in quarterly profits, and shares of the artificial intelligence leader climbed 6.4%.

“Global demand for Nvidia’s AI infrastructure is incredibly strong,” said the company’s chief executive Jensen Huang in a press release.

He added that he expected demand for AI computing to “accelerate”.

In April, Washington restricted the sale of Nvidia’s China-specific “H20” chips, which led to a drop in demand.

Nvidia said it had incurred a $4.5bn charge as a result – but its initial forecast for the impact on business was significantly higher at $5.5bn.

Mr Huang said on Wednesday he expected demand for AI computing to “accelerate”.

Analyst Dan Ives said the company’s earnings and guidance were “a very positive result for Nvidia and the tech world after a Twilight Zone tariff battle”.

Nvidia was the last major tech firm to report during a strong earnings season for tech companies whose shares have surged in recent weeks.

Changes in global trade policies also loomed large in the company’s forecast.

New export controls and tariffs have increased the complexity and cost of its supply chain, and may continue to do so, the company said.

Nvidia said it planned to increase manufacturing in the United States to help tackle the issue.

Last week, Mr Huang criticised the US rules blocking exports of advanced computing chips to China.

The controls were put in place following concerns that chip technology with potential military uses could be deployed by companies loyal to China’s communist party.

Mr Huang blasted the policies as a “failure” and said they were backfiring against American companies.

Meanwhile, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday that President Trump was ordering US chip software suppliers to stop selling their products to Chinese chip companies.

The move is intended to make it more difficult for China to develop its own advanced chips that would compete with Nvidia’s, the paper said.

“The China export restrictions underscore the immediate pressure from geopolitical headwinds,” according to Emarketer analyst Jacob Bourne.

Sustaining its dominant position would require Nvidia to navigate “an increasingly complex landscape of geopolitical, competitive, and economic challenges,” he added.

At the same time, Nvidia has benefitted from the emergence of new buyers among governments in the Gulf states.

Earlier this month, Mr Huang travelled with President Trump to the Middle East where the company said it would sell hundreds of thousands of its AI chips in Saudi Arabia.

“Countries around the world are recognizing AI as essential infrastructure – just like electricity and the internet – and Nvidia stands at the center of this profound transformation,” Mr Huang wrote after the earnings announcement.

Sales in Nvidia’s key data centre business grew 73% on an annual basis.

Additional reporting by Liv McMahon and Graham Fraser

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The apps use artificial intelligence to create fake nude images of people without their consent.

The Hollywood studios allege Midjourney’s image generator is a “bottomless pit of plagiarism”.

BBC Verify explains why AI chatbots are wrong about photos emerging from the LA protests

The university will be a “anchor partner” in a government drive to develop talent in the AI sector.

The autonomous cars with no human safety driver at the wheel will be trialled in London next spring.

Copyright 2025 BBC. All rights reserved.  The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking.

AI tools developed by Elon Musk’s xAI are to be incorporated into the messaging service, Telegram.

Announcing the deal, Telegram boss Pavel Durov said it would see his firm distribute the AI assistant, Grok, to Telegram’s “billion+ users and integrate it into its apps”.

Mr Durov said the arrangement – which is due to last a year – would see his company receive $300m (£223m) in cash and equity from xAI, plus 50% of revenue from xAI subscriptions sold via Telegram.

“Together, we win!”, he posted on social media.

It follows Meta incorporating an AI service into its messaging service, WhatsApp – a development it was forced to defend after grumbling from users.

Media analyst Hanna Kahlert at Midia Research told BBC News the move followed the pattern of “social and AI trying to absorb each other”.

She said it was not, however, necessarily what customers actually wanted.

“Users primarily still use social platforms to talk to their friends, and see their friends’ updates,” she added.

“Adding AI into direct messaging inherently supplants that – it reduces trust between users and distracts from the current USP.”

This tie-up brings together two of the most colourful and sometimes controversial figures in tech.

Mr Durov was arrested in France in August 2024, after being accused of failing to properly moderate his app to reduce criminality.

Critics had branded the platform the “dark web in your pocket” because of what they said was the amount of criminal activity being discussed on the platform.

However, Mr Durov has denied failing to cooperate with law enforcement over drug trafficking, child sexual abuse content and fraud.

The platform has also rejected accusations that its moderation policies are not sufficiently robust.

Mr Musk has an incredibly broad range of tech interests, ranging from brain implant start-up Neuralink to his rocket manufacturing firm, SpaceX.

He also has a prominent role in the administration of US President Donald Trump, and campaigned heavily to get him elected – something that analysts say is contributing to slumping sales at his best known firm, electric car maker Tesla.

The world’s richest man has also invested heavily in AI.

He was a co-founder of the world’s best known AI firm, OpenAI, the company which makes ChatGPT.

He subsequently left and became involved in a long-running row with OpenAI’s boss, Sam Altman, over its future direction.

Earlier this year, Mr Musk spearheaded a failed attempt to buy it.

He has also been seeking to develop xAI as a rival to OpenAI and other industry leaders.

In March, he announced it had purchased X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, in a deal which valued xAI at $80bn (£61.8bn).

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Copyright 2025 BBC. All rights reserved.  The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking.

Elon Musk has said he is leaving the Trump administration after helping lead a tumultuous drive to shrink the size of US government that saw thousands of federal jobs axed.

In a post on his social media platform X, the world’s richest man thanked Trump for the opportunity to help run the Department of Government Efficiency, known as Doge.

The White House began “offboarding” Musk as a special government employee on Wednesday night, the BBC understands.

His role was temporary and his exit is not unexpected, but it comes a day after Musk criticised the legislative centrepiece of Trump’s agenda.

“As my scheduled time as a Special Government Employee comes to an end, I would like to thank President @realDonaldTrump for the opportunity to reduce wasteful spending,” Musk wrote on X.

“The @DOGE mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government.”

The South African-born tech tycoon had been designated as a “special government employee” – allowing him to work a federal job for 130 days each year.

Measured from Trump’s inauguration on 20 January, he would hit that limit towards the end of May.

But his departure comes a day after he said he was “disappointed” with Trump’s budget bill, which proposes multi-trillion dollar tax breaks and a boost to defence spending.

The SpaceX and Tesla boss said in an interview with BBC’s US partner CBS that the “big, beautiful bill”, as Trump calls it, would increase the federal deficit.

Musk also said he thought it “undermines the work” of Doge.

“I think a bill can be big or it could be beautiful,” Musk said. “But I don’t know if it could be both.”

Musk, who had clashed in private with some Trump cabinet-level officials, initially pledged to cut “at least $2 trillion” from the federal government budget, before halving this target, then reducing it to $150bn.

An estimated 260,000 out of the 2.3 million-strong federal civilian workforce have had their jobs cut or accepted redundancy deals as a result of Doge.

In some cases, federal judges blocked the mass firings and ordered terminated employees to be reinstated.

The rapid-fire approach to cutting the federal workforce occasionally led to some workers mistakenly being let go, including staff at the US nuclear programme.

Musk announced in late April that he would step back to run his companies again after becoming a lightning rod for criticism of Trump’s efforts to shake up Washington.

“Doge is just becoming the whipping boy for everything,” Musk told the Washington Post in Texas on Tuesday ahead of a Space X launch.

“Something bad would happen anywhere, and we would get blamed for it even if we had nothing to do with it.”

Musk’s time in government overlapped with a significant decline in sales at his electric car company.

Tesla sales dropped by 13% in the first three months of this year, the largest drop in deliveries in its history.

The company’s stock price also tumbled by as much as 45%, but has mostly rebounded and is only down 10%.

Tesla recently warned investors that the financial pain could continue, declining to offer a growth forecast while saying “changing political sentiment” could meaningfully hurt demand for the vehicles.

Musk told investors on an earnings call last month that the time he allocates to Doge “will drop significantly” and that he would be “allocating far more of my time to Tesla”.

Activists have called for Tesla boycotts, staging protests outside Tesla dealerships, and vandalising the vehicles and charging stations.

The Tesla blowback became so violent and widespread that US Attorney General Pam Bondi warned her office would treat acts of vandalism as “domestic terrorism”.

Speaking at an economic forum in Doha, Qatar, on Tuesday, Musk said he was committed to being the leader of Tesla for the next five years.

He said earlier this month he would cut back his political donations after spending nearly $300m to back Trump’s presidential campaign and other Republicans last year.

Follow the twists and turns of Trump’s second term with North America correspondent Anthony Zurcher’s weekly US Politics Unspun newsletter. Readers in the UK can sign up here. Those outside the UK can sign up here.

People from Haiti, Nicaragua, Cuba and Venezuela who had temporary permission to stay in the country are receiving emails telling them to go.

California senator Alex Padilla was pushed out of the news conference by authorities after he interrupted Noem.

The US defense secretary appeared to acknowledge incidental plans also exist for Panama, but avoided giving direct confirmation.

US Senator Alex Padilla was put in handcuffs after interrupting Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem during a news update on the Los Angeles ICE raids.

The appointees have “committed to demanding definitive safety and efficacy data”, the vaccine sceptic said.

Copyright 2025 BBC. All rights reserved.  The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking.

Lingerie firm Victoria’s Secret has taken down its US website and says it has halted some in-store services following what it has described as a “security incident”.

The normal site has been replaced by a customer notice which says it is “working around the clock to fully restore operations”.

It says its stores – and those of its spin-off, PINK – are still open for business.

The company’s UK website is unaffected.

In a statement, the company detailed the action it has been taking.

“We immediately enacted our response protocols, third-party experts are engaged, and we took down our website and some in-store services as a precaution,” it said.

It has not given any further details about the nature of the incident or confirmed when it began.

The company which is based in Ohio, in the US, operates around 1,350 retail stores across 70 countries.

Its share price fell by approximately 7% on Wednesday, when it first issued a media statement about the incident.

Some customers have taken to social media to complain about the impact it is having on them.

“How can I check my order status when your page has been down for 2 days?!? And no one answers the phone either!”, wrote one on X.

The incident at Victoria’s Secret comes after a number of major UK retailers have been hit by major cyber attacks.

M&S says it expects the hack it has been affected by will cost it around £300m, with disruption continuing until July.

The Co-op experienced empty shelves and disrupted payments after it was hacked.

Customer data has been stolen from both firms.

The cyber criminals who say they were responsible told the BBC that they targeted the firms with ransomware, which involves scrambling IT systems and telling companies they will only be restored in exchange for payment.

The police told BBC News that the crime gang Scattered Spider – some of whom are thought to be teenagers – are among the suspects.

Vonny Gamot, from online protection company McAfee, recommended any affected customers should take immediate action such as changing passwords and enabling two-factor authentication on accounts that support it.

She also said people should not wait to find out if they had been directly caught up in the cyber attacks.

“Even if you haven’t received notification from the brand or retailer which has been impacted, assume your information may have been compromised if you’ve been a customer,” she said.

“Companies often take weeks to identify all affected individuals.”

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Kenyans have expressed outrage over the detention of a software developer who created a tool to help people oppose the government’s annual finance bill because of fears that it will raise the cost of living.

Rose Njeri was detained on Friday after police raided her home in the capital, Nairobi, and seized electronic devises, activists said.

Police and the government have not yet commented on the detention of the mother of two.

Mass protests broke out last year after the government proposed tax hikes, forcing President William Ruto to withdraw the 2024 finance bill.

The bill outlines how the government intends to raise income.

At least 50 people were killed and dozens were abducted in a security force crackdown to end the protests that broke out last year.

Law Society of Kenya (LSK) president Faith Odhiambo told the BBC Newsday radio programme that Ms Njeri’s detention was a “recurrence of dictatorship”.

On Sunday, a group of activists gathered outside a police station in Nairobi, where the software developer is being held, to demand her release.

Ms Odhiambo said that Ms Njeri – whom activists visited in prison – was “crestfallen” because with Monday being a public holiday, she had not yet been brought to court.

Attempts to get her released on bail had failed, she added.

“This has always been a government way of oppressing, intimidating and suppressing citizens because they know the courts don’t sit over the weekend – and now we have a public holiday,” Ms Odhiambo said.

Boniface Mwangi, one of the activists who had visited Ms Njeri in custody, said she told them that police had ransacked her house and taken her phone, laptop and hard drives.

He said she was worried about her two children.

“Imagine having to tell her children that she’s in jail for developing a website that eases public participation for Kenyans who want to submit their proposals on the 2025 budget,” he said on X.

Ms Njeri was detained after sharing a link to a site that flagged clauses in the bill that she said would lead to the cost of living escalating. It also allowed people to email parliament, calling for the bill to be withdrawn.

She also raised concern that a proposal to amend tax procedures, allowing the tax authority to access personal data without a court order, could undermine privacy rights.

The new finance bill replaces the zero-rated tax provision on essential commodities with tax-exempt status.

Zero-rated goods are taxed at 0%, and suppliers do not charge value-added tax (VAT) to customers but can still claim input VAT on the materials used in producing these goods.

Tax-exempted goods are also not subject to VAT but suppliers cannot claim back input VAT, leading to higher prices for consumers or reduced profit margins for businesses, economists and activists say.

Finance minister John Mbadi recently admitted that tax-exempt goods may be “slightly more expensive” but explained that the move was necessary to close tax loopholes.

He said the government had determined that traders do not pass the zero-rating benefit to consumers, while some make “fictitious and fake” claims for refunds.

Mbadi is scheduled to present the government’s spending and tax proposals in parliament next week.

Last week, Ruto apologised to Kenyan youth for “any misstep” in dealing with them since he took office in 2022.

Last month, he said that all the people who had been abducted after last year’s protests against tax hikes had been “returned to their families”.

Go to BBCAfrica.com for more news from the African continent.

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Edgar Lungu’s family says he left instructions that President Hichilema should not come near his body.

The move comes as the continent’s exports face the possibility of high tariffs from the US.

At least 49 people have been killed in the floods, including several children who were on a bus.

Clashing ideas over how Edgar Lungu should be honoured have led to a political standoff.

Copyright 2025 BBC. All rights reserved.  The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking.