Israeli forces to move to Lebanon border

Hello. Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has indicated some of the country's forces would move to its border with Lebanon. As tensions are mounting between Hezbollah and Israel, Lucy Williamson reports from both sides of the border. I have some uplifting medical news as the trial of a device implanted in an epileptic boy's skull shows promising results. The end of your newsletter takes us from Hollywood to Wales and from Seoul to Paris.

QUESTIONS ANSWERED

World first epilepsy device fitted in a skull

Oran Knowlson's device can be charged thanks to wireless headphones. Credit: Justine Knowlson

A 13-year-old British boy with severe epilepsy has become the first patient in the world to try a new device fitted in their skull to control seizures.

What is Oran suffering from?

He has Lennox-Gastaut syndrome, an external, a treatment-resistant form of epilepsy which he developed at the age of three. Since then he has suffered dozens of daily seizures, including some where he fell to the ground, shook violently, and lost consciousness.

How does the device work?

Epilepsy seizures are triggered by abnormal bursts of electrical activity in the brain. The device, which emits a constant pulse of current, aims to block or disrupt the abnormal signals. The neurosurgery team inserted two electrodes deep into Oran’s brain until they reached the thalamus, a key relay station for neuronal information. The neurostimulator was then screwed into the surrounding skull, to anchor it in place.

How have things changed for Oran?

We visited Oran and his family seven months post-op to see how they were getting on. His mother Justine told us there had been a massive improvement in Oran's epilepsy: "He is more alert and with no drop seizures during the day." His night-time seizures are also "shorter and less severe". "I'm definitely getting him back slowly," she said.

THE BIG PICTURE

The Hollywood star and the whistleblower

The actor Michael Sheen described what he discovered as "extraordinary". Credit: Getty Images

It was a line in a Wikipedia article that prompted stage and screen star Michael Sheen to record Douglas Gowan, a fellow Welshman who had discovered dangerously high levels of a toxic chemical escaping a landfill in South Wales. Now Mr Gowan's final testimony is part of a "true-crime" podcast exploring a dark environmental secret.

And finally... in France

What better way to celebrate 100 years of French fashion than to turn Paris's historic Place Vendôme into a catwalk? The square, home to many of the city's high-end fashion houses, was the venue for fashion magazine Vogue World's event, which nodded to the forthcoming Olympic Games by using a different sport as a backdrop for each decade of fashion from the 1920s onwards. And tennis great Serena Williams was among 188 athletes who joined more than 150 models, singers and celebrities - including Sabrina Carpenter, Gigi Hadid and Kendall Jenner - for the event. See the best of the looks.