This video can not be played Watch: PM says there is 'clear' evidence of Russian interference in 2016 Brexit campaign Andy Burnham has said Russia did interfere with the Brexit referendum and warned that similar activities were taking place in France and Germany. The prime minister told The Rest is Politics podcast , external that upon arriving in No 10, he had asked about possible Russian interference in the 2016 vote, adding: "I've had the clear answer that, yes, there was." "I think we've been too much on the back foot on that actually and we haven't informed people sufficiently about the extent to which people are seeking to disrupt the political process from overseas," he added. Burnham did not provide further details about the type or extent of Moscow's activity during the Brexit referendum. Britain Unbound, a pro-Brexit campaign group, said Burnham's comments were "another crude attempt to undermine the legitimacy of the decision that the British people made in 2016". It said that foreign interference in UK elections was "obviously unacceptable" but added: "There is no good reason to believe that Russian intervention influenced the outcome of the referendum in 2016. "It is also insulting to suggest that voters were so easily duped." In his interview, due to be released on Monday, Burnham said he had discussed the problem of Russian interference with Chancellor Friedrich Merz during his visit to Germany earlier this week. "There is certainly misinformation, disinformation that is emanating from Russia into German politics," he said. He continued: "These things are important now to put clearly on the record and I believe help voters in Germany and France understand that some of this politics is instigated via our enemies, namely Russia." It is the first time a UK prime minister has said Russia sought to sway the 2016 Brexit poll but there have long been warnings about efforts by the Kremlin to exert influence on UK politics. In 2020, Parliament's Intelligence and Security Committee published a report into Russian interventions in UK elections and referendums. It did not provide a definitive conclusion on whether Russia had attempted to influence the results of the EU referendum but did criticise successive governments for failing to fully assess or counter the threat. In response, the Russian foreign minister dismissed the report out of hand and called it "Russophobia". And a Kremlin spokesman said Russia did not meddle in other countries' elections. In the same year, however, the then-Conservative government said it was "almost certain that Russian actors sought to interfere" in the 2019 general election. BBC Verify has tracked Russian-linked disinformation campaigns including using AI to create fake videos which impersonate journalists and news organisations reporting on Ukraine. One fake news website falsely claimed that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had bought a mansion owned by King Charles at a discounted price. Earlier this year, Vijay Rangarajan, head of the UK Electoral Commission, told MPs that Russian deepfake videos had been "used extensively in elections around the world". "There is no reason to assume Britain would be an exception," he added. Last month, during his speech to the United Nations, Burnham accused Russian agencies of using "every means at their disposal to spread lies and disinformation and prey on people's fears". He announced that the UK would set up a new centre to "stem the poisonous tide" of disinformation. A Downing Street spokesperson said: "We are focused on ensuring our citizens and our institutions are protected from foreign powers and their proxies seeking to threaten lives and undermine our democratic values. "We are doing this by strengthening our powers through the National Security Act, strengthening the resilience of our institutions and critical national infrastructure, strengthening our borders, and strengthening our police and intelligence agencies." The AI videos supercharging Russia's online disinformation campaigns Is Burnham right to blame Russia for spreading online disinformation? UK to fight Russian disinformation and push new global AI standards, Burnham says Sign up for our Politics Essential newsletter to keep up with the inner workings of Westminster and beyond.

Across high-throughput industrial hubs - from automotive corridors in western India to logistics corridors and mining infrastructure spanning East Africa - a quiet technological shift is transforming perimeter and facility management. For decades, thousands of enterprise CCTV cameras captured endless hours of passive footage, primarily consulted in retrospect after an incident occurred. Today, enterprise leaders are swapping passive monitors for active, real-time computer vision networks that alert teams within milliseconds. The pivot comes at a critical intersection of regulatory compliance, operational safety, and cybersecurity. As industrial facilities face stricter worker safety mandates (such as automated PPE and restricted-zone compliance) alongside operational throughput challenges, relying purely on manual security observation has proven increasingly insufficient. However, bringing artificial intelligence into heavy facilities has historically introduced a significant dilemma: network bandwidth and data sovereign privacy. Streaming dozens or hundreds of high-definition camera feeds to central public cloud environments creates severe latency bottlenecks and raises sensitive data-leak liabilities for large enterprise estates. This infrastructure challenge has fueled the rapid rise of specialized edge-native architectures. In markets like India, emerging deep-tech ventures like Toplens AI Solutions Pvt Ltd are pioneering a model that keeps video streams entirely on-premises through air-gapped edge computing. Rather than transmitting raw operational footage across external networks, their computer vision models run localized inference with sub-10-millisecond latency - evaluating perimeter risks, equipment hazards, and worker safety protocols right on client hardware. Industry observers note that this architecture is striking a resonant chord with large multinational organizations, particularly those scaling operations across emerging industrial powerhouses. With significant deployments spanning enterprise facilities in India as well as expanding cross-border footprints in African markets, companies operating in rigorous manufacturing, supply chain logistics, and resource management are increasingly leaning into hybrid and local edge deployments. "The fundamental benchmark for enterprise AI surveillance in large-scale plants is no longer just algorithmic accuracy on paper - it is whether the system can function without cloud dependency during critical operational hours," notes a senior systems infrastructure consultant. "When an enterprise can overlay advanced computer vision directly onto legacy camera assets without rewiring the facility or leaking telemetry, the economics of industrial security fundamentally change." As competitive global supply chains demand zero-downtime safety standards and airtight perimeter defenses, India's enterprise computer vision sector is positioning itself as a key supplier of edge intelligence. With industrial corridors modernizing across South Asia and Africa, real-time, privacy-first computer vision platforms are swiftly transitioning from optional facility upgrades into foundational operational infrastructure.

Australia are still in command of the first Test against South Africa, leading by 139 runs despite the early finishes It is one of cricket's oldest and most frustrating problems: bad light. A fascinating passage of play halted when things get too gloomy. The issue has reared its head again this week in the fascinating first Test between South Africa and Australia in Durban, wiping out more than 60 overs across the first three days. The fact a solution was added to cricket's rules just last week, an option so far unused around the world, only adds to the frustration. Australia veterans shine against South Africa Play is already starting early, at 09:30 local time in Durban, given this is the first October Test at Kingsmead, a setting where the sun sets shortly after 18:00 at this time of year on South Africa's eastern coast. Still, on day one, play was halted at 15:23 local time after clouds built. Only 65.2 of the scheduled 90 overs had been bowled and the players were unable to return. Day two was slightly better with play continuing until 16:25, but that finish was still 35 minutes earlier than it could have been. Day three's end came at 16:31. On each occasion, the first two sessions have been played in hot, sunny conditions, only for clouds to build in the afternoon - a familiar weather pattern in Durban. "Very quickly in the morning, as temperatures have risen inland as the sun heats the ground, a sea breeze has formed with winds coming from the sea into Durban," said BBC weather presenter Chris Fawkes. "This has increased humidity levels through the morning and brought some cloud in. As temperatures have started to fall again towards the evening, this has increased the relative humidity with the air getting increasingly saturated. "That has caused the cloud to get thicker and lower." Play is suspended Test cricket if the umpires decide light conditions are "dangerous or unreasonable" for the players Following a trial earlier in the year , the International Cricket Council amended its playing conditions to allow the pink ball to be used in Tests. It was supposed to help in these exact scenarios. Crucially, it does not allow a red ball to be switched for pink when the light becomes poor - something previously suggested by former England captain Michael Vaughan . Instead, if problems with the light are expected, it allows teams to agree before a Test starts to use the pink ball throughout. No such discussions were held between the Proteas and Australia before the Durban Test, however. The pink ball has been a fixture of day-night Tests because it is easier to see than the darker red in night-time conditions. Former South Africa bowler Shaun Pollock was part of the ICC committee which recommended the change and he believes there is a "stigma" around the pink ball in the game. "They say it moves too much," Pollock said. "If Australia were 124-6 [as they were on day one] and we were using the pink ball, everyone would have said it was the pink ball's fault. "If Australia were 124-6 and got to 390 [as they did in their first innings] everyone in South Africa would have said it was the pink ball's fault, that it got soft. "The pink ball would have meant we played 45 more overs of Test cricket and that is why I am keen to introduce it, and not just for day-night games." One narrative exists that the pink ball moves more under floodlights, though that is not backed up by ball tracking data. Instead, various batters have spoken about the pink ball being more difficult to see. Batting averages are lowest in the evening of day-night matches. Australia have also played in 15 of Test cricket's day-nighters - 10 more than anyone else. Unsurprisingly, the four leading wicket-takers in day-night matches are all Australians. Left-armer Mitchell Starc's haul of 89 wickets in 15 Tests has positioned him as the undisputed pink-ball king. You would not blame teams if they would rather face Australia with the red ball. Former South Africa bowler Vernon Philander said he prefers the idea of switching balls during the match if conditions require it, but that would raise questions over the Test's integrity. Is the potential injustice of one team having to face a pink ball outweighed by the need to get more action of the field? "They have to take it out of the hands of the players completed and enforce it from the umpires' point of view that the pink ball will become in play when the light has faded enough," Philander said. "You are always going to have the argument of who is ahead of the game. "I would like to see the ICC enforce it on to the officials to make that call." Get cricket news sent straight to your phone

This video can not be played Watch: The documents that were falsified to allow Roman Abramovich to evade tax The world's biggest accountancy firm helped in falsifying documents to hide Roman Abramovich's wealth and evade tax, BBC Panorama has found. Accounts signed off by Deloitte in Cyprus meant assets such as superyachts, mansions and private jets worth $672m (£508m) vanished from Abramovich's company accounts. Deloitte also appears to have advised on a scheme to evade a huge tax bill on the oligarch's wealth through the falsification of documents. Barrister Andrew Mitchell KC, an expert in financial services law, said Panorama's evidence showed the scheme was "straightforward" tax evasion and "it couldn't be more blatant". Roman Abramovich's lawyers said he denies that he evaded tax or concealed his fortune. They said Panorama provided no evidence he knew about, authorised or directed the falsification of any document and said it was legitimate to rely on advice from professionals. Deloitte Cyprus said it "acts in compliance with applicable laws". The findings are being revealed following a joint investigation between BBC Panorama and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism. For nearly two decades, Roman Abramovich was the most famous Russian oligarch in the UK, welcomed in London where he bought Chelsea Football Club in 2003 and bankrolled the club's most successful period. But after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, he was sanctioned by the UK government as an associate of President Vladimir Putin and forced to sell the club. Abramovich has been reported to be living in Turkey, a safe haven for him because it did not apply sanctions. In the Channel Island of Jersey, £5.4bn of his assets remain frozen and a criminal investigation has been going on for four years. The oligarch's lawyers told the BBC he denies the allegations in the Jersey investigation and says it was "undertaken for political purposes". Our investigation has uncovered new evidence about the way Abramovich's business empire has been run. It also raises serious questions about the integrity of some of his professional advisers. Chateau de la Croe (top left) in the south of France, Fyning Hill in Sussex and two superyachts vanished from company accounts The evidence is contained in a leak that includes thousands of documents about the oligarch's finances and the operations of a network of offshore companies administered from Cyprus - which used to be a tax haven popular with Russians - between 1995 and 2022. The BBC and media partners including the Guardian, Paper Trail Media, the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, and the Cyprus Investigative Reporting Network - as well as the Bureau of Investigative Journalism , external - have been reporting on the leaked files since 2023 as part of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists' Cyprus Confidential , external investigation. In 2022, Panorama also reported on how Abramovich had made his fortune from a corrupt deal to buy a Russian state-owned oil company in the 1990s, selling it back to the government a decade later for billions in profit. He has previously said allegations of corruption in the deal are false. The profits from Abramovich's oil deals in Russia were funnelled into a web of offshore companies. They were administered from Cyprus by a corporate services firm called MeritServus, in Limassol, the island's second-largest city. Until 2005, Deloitte - now the biggest of the "big four" firms which dominate the accounting industry - owned MeritServus. After they split, the two companies worked closely together with Abramovich's associates to manage his global fortune. The leaked documents from MeritServus reveal some of their practices. Panorama - Roman Abramovich: How He Hid His Fortune He was the Russian oligarch who brought his wealth to the UK. But what’s the truth about Roman Abramovich’s fortune? Panorama investigates the documents that were falsified to hide his wealth and evade tax. Watch now on BBC iPlayer or on BBC One at 20:00 BST on Monday 12 October. Our first example of backdated paperwork comes in 2006, after a new law in Cyprus meant that company accounts had to be made public. The new transparency law threatened to expose the secrets of Abramovich's vast wealth. Deloitte Cyprus had prepared draft accounts for 2003 - but had not yet finalised them - for his Cypriot company Amiscan Investments. The accounts detailed $672m of luxury property. A mansion in West Sussex, a luxury flat in London and an estate in the south of France were all included - plus helicopters, private jets and a small fleet of boats the oligarch owned at the time, including the $147.5m Pelorus. Deloitte in Cyprus appears to have advised Abramovich's company on a scheme to evade tax To keep them secret, Abramovich's associates and Meritservus decided to rewrite history. They drew up a plan to circumvent the transparency law by transferring the assets to Amiscan's parent company in the British Virgin Islands (BVI), where they could be kept hidden. And they backdated the change by three years to make it look like the asset transfer had happened in 2003. Deloitte Cyprus reviewed the backdated documents and said they were "adequate" to allow them to remove the assets from Amiscan's accounts. When the 2003 accounts were signed off by Deloitte in 2006, the homes, planes and yachts disappeared at the stroke of a pen. Only $75,000 of assets remained. Deloitte signed off the accounts even though the leaked documents show it knew they were completely misleading. Lord Sikka, professor of accounting at the University of Sheffield, said it was a "violation of a statutory duty" and "pretty scandalous" to misrepresent transaction dates and not to publish true and fair accounts. Panorama also found evidence that backdated documents had been used in a tax evasion scheme. This involved another one of Abramovich's Cypriot companies, Kravin Investments, which had almost $2bn in the bank in 2003. It had been earning large amounts in interest, so Roman Abramovich's company should have been paying tax on that interest to the Cypriot authorities. But his advisers had another idea to rewrite history. An email from MeritServus in August 2005 to Abramovich's Russian associates said a plan had been devised after a meeting with Deloitte. "If you agree, it will be necessary to change the financial statements and the accounting records accordingly for 2003 and 2004," the email read. MeritServus informed the oligarch's Russian associates, that Kravin's "Provisional Tax Assessments for 2005" would be filed showing the company earning no income from the money. A month later, an associate in Russia emailed in response, "I agree". MeritServus then created a series of backdated documents which falsely purported to show that Kravin was only holding and investing the funds on behalf of its parent company in the BVI. This made it look like Kravin did not actually own the money, so it would not be liable for tax in Cyprus. Deloitte wrote in a September 2005 email that "certain changes will have to be made to the accounts (bank account balances, interest income, profit and loss account)" because of the backdated changes to Kravin's assets. So Deloitte was apparently advising on the falsification of financial records. The evidence suggests it allowed Abramovich's company to evade millions in tax. Andrew Mitchell KC told us the scheme was "straightforward" tax evasion. "If it happened in England and it was in the millions, His Majesty's Revenue and Customs would be thinking about a prosecution," he said. Cypriot MP Christos Christofides said that if tax had been evaded, then "we have to see how we can get our money back and how, if some people are guilty, they have to pay the price according to our law." In addition to the documents which Deloitte helped to backdate, Abramovich's advisers at MeritServus falsified a third set of records. This involved the oligarch's huge business fortune - more than $10bn - held by a company called Electus Investments in Cyprus. MeritServus backdated documents to make it look like Electus did not own the fortune. It used another Abramovich company with exactly the same name of Electus Investments, but this time based in the more secretive BVI, where accounts did not have to be made public. Emails show that in 2006, MeritServus acknowledged that the fortune was owned by Electus Cyprus. But again it proposed to rewrite the past, this time "to transfer the beneficial ownership to Electus Investments in the BVI" and make it look as though the change had happened three years earlier. MeritServus signed and backdated documents which falsely purported to show the BVI company had owned the $10bn fortune since 20 November 2003. So when the accounts of the Cypriot company with the same name were made public, it appeared to have assets worth just $145,000. Roman Abramovich's billions had been made to disappear. Andrew Mitchell KC told Panorama: "What you take away from it is there are professionals who are prepared to bend and break the rules of their profession and therefore the law. And it looks that they will stop literally at nothing in terms of creating documents." Vladimir Milov, Russia's deputy minister of energy as Abramovich built his empire and now a critic of the Russian government, said: "For each Russian oligarch or Middle Eastern or African corrupt oligarch, there's an army of Western financial and legal services and PR services providers, who is easily taking money for whitewashing their reputation and making them look normal." Denying any wrongdoing by the oligarch, Roman Abramovich's lawyers said that he was "not involved in the day-to-day operation of those companies" and that where arrangements were proposed by professional advisers, "reliance on that advice was entirely proper and legitimate". Deloitte Cyprus said it could not comment on the specific allegations because the documents were more than 20 years old and no longer accessible. MeritServus closed following the Cyprus Confidential leak.