BBC News Briefing

30 June, 2026

Sofia has long brown hair and brown eyes and is wearing a green top.

Sofia Lotto Persio

Hello. The US Supreme Court's long-awaited ruling on birthright citizenship has delivered a blow to the Trump administration. From Thailand, we hear about the efforts to breed snakes to make life-saving anti-venoms. And finally, watch a young eagle's first flight.

TOP OF THE AGENDA

Supreme Court upholds 14th amendment

A group of people stands outside the US Supreme Court building. Among them, a woman and a man raise their arm in celebration. Another man types on his phone. The two men wear a light blue tshirt with the word LULAC written in white across it

Immigration rights advocates celebrated the decision to uphold the 150-year-old policy. Credit: Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA/Shutterstock

The Supreme Court has struck down President Donald Trump's executive order ending automatic citizenship for babies born to parents who are in the US illegally or on temporary visas. Citing the 14th amendment, the 6-3 decision written by Chief Justice John Roberts upholds that those born on US soil are American citizens. In this video, chief North America correspondent Gary O'Donoghue explains why the ruling represents a major defeat for Trump. The president vowed to continue in his pursuit, suggesting legislation could be introduced in Congress. In other decisions released on Tuesday, the court ruled states can ban transgender athletes from women's sports in schools and struck down a ban on how campaign spending is coordinated.

More on the court's ruling

GET UP TO SPEED

Tom Kean Jr in wire framed glasses, a blue suit and pale blue shirt, with a red tie.

US congressman explains four-month absence

Tom Kean Jr, the New Jersey Republican,

has missed more than 140 votes during his time away from Congress.

Read more >

Founder of Asian super-app Gojek sentenced to jail

Nadiem Makarim, who served as education minister, was found guilty of corruption over a controversial laptop deal.

What to know >

A man stands with a torch in a flooded Hitler's bunker in 2007

Row over plans to demolish Nazi bunker

Plans to demolish one of the last remnants of Adolf Hitler's power centre to build flats and offices are facing opposition.

Here's why >

NEWS FROM THE UK

Behaviour policy: A BBC investigation looked into the impact of putting pupils in isolation in secondary schools in England.

New links: Shetland Islands councillors have backed initial plans to replace some ageing ferries with undersea tunnels.

In pictures: Clear night skies in England provided stunning shots of the Strawberry Moon, the first full moon of the summer season.

AT THE SCENE

Bangkok, Thailand

The urgent work to make anti-venoms

a snake handler wearing a face mask holds a venomous black and yellow Mangrove snake

Thailand is home to a renowned anti-venom research centre. Credit: Diego Abuzel/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock

From Our Own Correspondent: Emergency services in the Thai capital are called to deal with a snake roughly every 15 minutes. If the reptile is venomous, it gets dropped off at the city’s snake farm, where scientists have been breeding snakes for over a century to create anti-venoms that can save people’s lives.

Rebecca Root, journalist

“What on earth am I doing?” That’s what runs through my mind, repeatedly, as I spend an evening in Bangkok looking for deadly snakes with reptile enthusiast Daniel Hustad. Every day around the world, someone dies or develops a critical illness from a snakebite - and here I am actively seeking them out.

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Thailand is home to the Queen Saovabha Memorial Institute, the world's second-largest snake farms. So far, the team has created seven different anti-venoms. One of them saved head of the farm, Taksa Vasaruchapong. Sitting in his air conditioned office, which overlooks the snakepits and the snake-handling demonstration happening as we talk, he tells me he's been bitten three times.

Listen now

Snakebite crisis: Around 50,000 people in India are killed by a snake each year, roughly half of all deaths worldwide.

Anti-venom research: A US man has deliberately injected himself with venom for nearly two decades to help create a treatment.