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In a post on Instagram, the interior design expert said the upcoming eighth season of the makeover show would be his last. He explained it had "not been an easy decision" but a "necessary one". The 42-year-old has been on the show since its reboot on Netflix in 2018. The Queer Eye cast said Bobby would "forever" be part of the Fab Five. Reacting to the announcement, fellow Queer Eye presenter Jonathan Van Ness said: "One of a kind and such a star. Love you Bobby." Speaking of Bobby, the show's food and wine expert Antoni Porowski said: "#Foreverthefab5 indeed, and don't forget it." "I'm about to be at Netflix's door and e-mails telling them you can't leave! Who is coming with me? I love you!" said co-host Karamo Brown. Announcing his departure from the Emmy Award-winning showon social media on Monday, Bobby said: "Although my journey with Queer Eye is over, my journey with you is not. You will be seeing more of me very soon." Thanking the show's fans, he added they had "embraced me and accepted me for who I am". Fans on social media have reacted with surprise to the announcement. "Woken up to find out that Bobby Berk is leaving Queer Eye. What is this?!", tweeted one fan. "I am officially in a state of mourning pls don't contact me for the next 7-10 working days," said another. "So do they just like replace Bobby with someone new on Queer Eye," asked one fan. Netflix has not provided information on whether there will be a replacement for Bobby in the ninth season of the show. Bobby has not given an explicit reason for his decision to leave. His announcement comes three months after he announced his father's death in August. The designer found fame after a troubled childhood. He has previously spoken about how, at the age of 15, he left home because he did not feel able to come out as gay in his religious family and community in Missouri. He ended up living in his car and with friends, before later becoming the creative director of a furnishing company and then launching his own interior design business.

Queer Eye co-host Bobby Berk has announced he is leaving the Netflix show with a "heavy heart".

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-67413623?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA

Speaking after the UK's first AI safety summit, the prime minister said the technology would improve the economy in the long term. He added that new tools should be seen as a "co-pilot" to help people at work, rather than replacing them. The government's job should be to improve training, he told reporters. Mr Sunak said he recognised there was "anxiety" about the impact new AI tools could have on the workplace, but said it would enhance productivity over time. "We should look at AI much more as a co-pilot than something which is necessary going to replace someone's job. AI is a tool that can help almost anybody do their jobs better, faster, quicker. "My job, the government's job, is to make sure we have a world-class education system," he added. "That is my answer in a nutshell, that's why I don't want people to be worried, because we are building a world-class education system." Mr Sunak cited his recently-announced plan to introduce anew qualificationfor all school leavers in England, including some English and maths to 18. He also suggested efforts to improve technical training, and plans to boost adult education, would ensure that the UK could "reap the benefits of AI economically". His comments came at a press conference following a two-day summit on artificial intelligence safety attended by 28 countries, including the US and China, alongside tech bosses and academics. Trade unions, which have complained about not being represented at the event, have called for stronger measures to ensure jobs are protected as AI technology evolves. At the summit, hosted at Bletchley Park in Buckinghamshire, several leading technology companies agreed to allow governments to safety-test their next generation of AI models before they are deployed. The voluntary document was signed by 10 countries and the EU, including the UK, US, Singapore and Canada. China was not a signatory. In a statement, the UK government said it would work with the Alan Turing Institute, a research body, to assess possible risks such as the potential for bias and misinformation. Mr Sunak said the testing regime would provide some "independent assurance" - adding that the firms developing new models cannot be expected to "make their own homework". His government has so far declined to announce legislation to regulate AI, arguing that existing regulators are best placed to mitigate the risks whilst the technology evolves. Mr Sunak told reporters that binding rules would "likely be necessary," but stressed that the technology was still evolving and it was necessary to ensure it is done in "the right way". Before the summit, various unions and campaign groups warned the event would prove a "missed opportunity". In an open letter, they argued the event should have focused more on topics such as the impact of AI on employment law and smaller businesses, as well as policing and identity profiling. The summit has seen countries sign adeclarationpledging more co-operation on research, to ensure the technology develops in a way that is "human-centric, trustworthy and responsible". Mr Sunak said he hoped the event would become the first in a series, with Korea and France also expressing a willingness to host further summits next year. Some had criticised the inclusion of China at the event at a time of tense relations with West, despite the country being a key player in AI technology. Mr Sunak defended the decision to invite the country, adding it "wasn't an easy decision" but that it was the "right long-term decision". "Any serious conversation about AI safety has to engage the leading AI nations," he added. On Wednesday, US Vice-President Kamala Harris announced the creation of the US AI Safety Institute, which the White House said would work alongside its UK counterpart. Ms Harris had called for a focus on the "everyday threats" of AI, such as discrimination and disinformation, as well as "existential" fears. Earlier in the week, US President Joe Biden also signed an executive order, seeking to ensure "America leads the way in seizing the promise and managing the risks of artificial intelligence". Some commentators had suggested the US's moves threatened to overshadow the UK's summit. However, Mr Sunak welcomed the US executive order, calling it "a deep and comprehensive demonstration of the potential of AI".

People should not be worried about the impact of AI on jobs because education reforms will boost skills, Rishi Sunak has said.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-67296825?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA

The warning, from NHS Providers, which represents managers, came after the Treasury rejected pleas for an extra £1bn to cover the cost of strikes. Recruitment to plug gaps in the workforce was also having to be put on hold, NHS Providers said. But the government said winter planning was on track. It pointed out the goal to open 10,000 "virtual" hospitals beds had been met. This is where doctors remotely monitor patients with conditions such as respiratory and heart problems who would otherwise have to be in hospital. Progress was also being made on opening 5,000 new permanent hospital beds - a 5% increase in numbers, the government said. "We recognise the challenges the NHS faces over the coming months, which is why we started preparing for winter earlier than ever," a Department of Health and Social Care spokesman added. But NHS Providers said the steps being taken may be insufficient. Every winter, to cope with surges in demand, hospitals open extra escalation beds for short periods. But this year, hospital bosses say, these beds are at risk. And so is staff recruitment - currently one in 10 posts is vacant. Industrial action is estimated to have cost the health service £1bn this year. But last week, it was confirmed the Treasury would be giving the NHS only an extra £100m to cover the cost of strikes. The NHS has been told to find the remaining £900m through savings in others areas such as information technology (IT) and maintenance as well as using £200m of winter money. Bosses at just over half of trusts responded to an NHS Providers' survey. Three-quarters said they were facing a worse financial situation than last year, putting patients' safety at risk. There was "palpable frustration" at the Treasury's unwillingness to provide extra funding, NHS Providers Chief Executive Sir Julian Hartley said. And it would be "really difficult" to reduce the number of people waiting for treatment, which the government has made a key priority. Figures published last week showed a record 7.8 million people on the waiting list. There was a "sense of dread" doctors would call further strikes as winter hit, Sir Julian said, with last year having seen record waits for ambulances and in accident-and-emergency departments. Preliminary talks between the British Medical Association and Steve Barclay had begun, before he was replaced as health secretary, by Victoria Atkins, on Monday. Are you affected by the issues raised in this story? Share your experiences by [email protected]. Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways: If you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of theBBC websiteto submit your question or comment or you can email us [email protected]. Please include your name, age and location with any submission. Sign up for our morning newsletterand get BBC News in your inbox.

Hospital bosses in England are warning a lack of funds means they are having to scale back on plans to open extra beds to cope with winter.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-67408446?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA

"Corrupt" Natalie Mottram admitted misconduct in public office, perverting the course of justice and unauthorised access to computer material. The 25-year-old was caught when the National Crime Agency (NCA) suspected she was responsible for a leak and put her under surveillance. Mottram was jailed for three years and nine months at Liverpool Crown Court. The court heard she was employed by Cheshire Police but was on secondment and working as an intelligence analyst at the North West Regional Organised Crime Unit when she was arrested on 12 June 2020. She was held as part of Operation Venetic, a nationwide investigation tackling communication devices used by criminals. Mottram, of Vermont Close, Great Sankey, Warrington, told Jonathan Kay, 38, about a covert investigation and that officers had intelligence on him. On 24 April 2020, a friend of Kay's messaged another user to say he had learned that day about law enforcement infiltrating the EncroChat messaging platform. And he messaged a second contact: "I no [sic] a lady who works for the police. This is not hearsay. Direct to me. They can access Encro software. And are using to intercept forearms [sic] only at the moment. There [sic] software runs 48 hours behind real time. So have ur burns one day max. And try to avoid giving postcodes over it." "Burns" refers to the delete-time on messages. He added: "Her words was are you on Encro, I said no why, I only sell a bit of bud. She said cool just giving you a heads up. Because NCA now have access. But she wouldn't lie." By 12 June 2020, NCA investigators suspected Mottram was responsible for the leak. On that day, her bosses asked her to analyse an intelligence log referring to Kay, who was the partner of Mottram's close friend, Leah Bennett, 38. But the log was bogus and Mottram was under surveillance. Mottram left work that afternoon and drove to Kay and Bennett's house on Newark Drive in Great Sankey. At 17:15, Kay - who has convictions for driving offences and being drunk and disorderly - arrived home in his car with Bennett arriving seven minutes later in hers. The prosecution say this is when Mottram corruptly informed Kay and Bennett about the intelligence log concerning him. Mottram, Kay, Bennett and another man were all arrested later that day and £200,000 in cash was recovered from Kay and Bennett's house. Kay, who admitted perverting the course of justice at an earlier hearing, was sentenced to two years and six months in jail. A charge of perverting the course of justice against Bennett was dropped by prosecutors. John McKeon, head of the NCA's anti-corruption unit, said: "Natalie Mottram betrayed her job, her colleagues and the public she was paid to protect. "Her corrupt actions had the potential to hugely damage the overarching investigation by alerting offenders of the need to abandon EncroChat and cover their tracks. "Her actions were disgraceful. The evidence against her was overwhelming. "She was left with no option but to finally plead guilty." Why not follow BBC North West onFacebook,XandInstagram? You can also send story ideas [email protected]

A police employee who tipped off a criminal friend about a covert investigation has been jailed.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-67310315?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA

"Justice was was served here," Mr Bickle said soon after, outside the Toronto courthouse. "We are dealing with a systemic monster who used his business talents for evil, to prey on others." The six-week trial had been the first time Mr Bickle had seen his father since a dinner party in 2019, where he says he saw Nygard inappropriately touch a girl. "That's where Kai Nygard kind of died," said Mr Bickle, who has since assumed his mother's last name. The alleged incident was a shock to Mr Bickle, who said he had loved his father. "I knew a different man," he told reporters. "Since then, it's been a massive effort to seek justice." A lawyer for Nygard did not immediately respond to a BBC request for comment regarding his son's accusation. He has previously denied all allegations against him. Nygard's stunning fall from grace - ending a decades-long career at the helm of a global fashion empire - has been publicly supported by Mr Bickle, who has spent the past four years cooperating with authorities and assisting those who say they were victims of his father's abuse. After the 2019 dinner party, Mr Bickle said he reported his father to an executive at Nygard's company, but was rebuffed and ridiculed, told by his father he was "mentally unwell". "I got a taste of what it was like to blow the whistle against a monster or a powerful predator," he said. Behind the scenes, Mr Bickle made contact with lawyers involved in a civil case against his father, he said, volunteering information to them and to investigators. And at Nygard's company, Mr Bickle said he slowed efforts to liquidate the corporation's assets, waging business battles to delay Nygard from moving them offshore. "I blew the whistle in September of 2020, calling him out as a flight risk," Mr Bickle said, a move that finally revealed to his father that he was not on his side. "That's when I was shut out from every point of contact." "It's not a good association to be the son of the monster," he said. "But I couldn't bear the thought of another person being harmed." His father's Toronto trial centred mostly on the testimony of five women, who testified they were lured by Nygard to a private luxury bedroom in his firm's Toronto headquarters and sexually assaulted. The complainants were between the ages of 16 and 28 during the attacks, which they said occurred between the 1980s and 2005. But Nygard - who was once estimated to be worth at least $700m (£570m) - has been accused of abuse by dozens of other women. He is still facing another trial in Montreal next year, and assault and confinement charges in Winnipeg. Once his criminal cases in Canada are completed, he is set to be extradited to the US, where authorities claim he engaged in a "decades-long pattern of criminal conduct" involving at least a dozen victims across the globe. He is currently fighting that extradition. And two of Mr Bickle's younger brothers have also launched lawsuits against Nygard, accusing their father of hiring a "known sex worker" when they were teens. Through representatives, Nygard has repeatedly denied all wrongdoing. "There are so many survivors out there, this is their day," Mr Bickle said. A sentencing hearing will be set on 21 November.

In a downtown Toronto courtroom on Sunday, as a jury found disgraced fashion mogul Peter Nygard, 82, guilty on four counts of sexual assault, his son Kai Zen Bickle sat in the front row.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-67408881?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA

The first is burned in the memory of any athletics fan who witnessed it in 2004. Wide-open eyes betraying her disbelief, wide-open mouth indicating her cautious hope and toned arms in the air ready to celebrate the moment when she finally became 800m Olympic champion in Athens. It crowned a career blighted by injury battles, depression and gutsy near-misses for a national hero who had combined the early years of her track career with a job in the Army. Watch the race againand you can understand why Holmes, then a 34-year-old track veteran, did her famous double-take. She had been seventh at the halfway point and only took the lead in final few metres ahead of dominant three-time world champion Maria Mutola. Days later, the Kent-born runner doubled up with victory in the 1,500m final. But a second picture that she values is not from that second race, the many awards that followed or even the moment she was appointed Dame Kelly Holmes as Team GB's first female double Olympic-winning athlete. Instead, it came this year when she stepped on the red carpet for an awards event and was joined by her girlfriend - ending a much longer 34-year journey of self-doubt. Just a year ago, Dame Kelly came out as gay in an ITV documentary, which ended the years of avoiding talking about her personal life. Now she has written the third version of her autobiography and that book, Unique, is the first in which she says she is honest about her sexuality. Speaking in anemotional interview for BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour,she opened up about why it had taken her so long to go from an 18-year-old who first realised she was gay as a young Army recruit to a 52-year-old woman who was able to deliver seminars on motivational speaking but was nervous about being true to herself. "I was suppressing who I was as a person," she said. "When you're looking behind your back, when you're worried what people might say, when you think you might get judged or get caught out, you're just holding that back and that caused me a life of mental health problems and years of living in fear." The reason she kept it secret early in her public life was an obvious one. Until 2000, homosexuality in the armed forces was illegal and Dame Kelly recalled: "I was fearful of losing my career and I loved my career." She became a full-time athlete in 1997, enjoyed international success and then, after her retirement in 2006, gradually built a third career as a motivational speaker, occasional reality show contestant and regular panellist on ITV's Loose Women. But not once did she let loose on the very personal subject of her love life. But, as for so many people, the Covid lockdown brought many chances for reflection. She was still grieving the 2017 death of her mother when she was laid low for three weeks with Covid. While ill, she envisioned friends and family speaking about her after her death and sympathetically saying it was a shame she never felt confident enough to "live her life". One morning, after returning to work, she suffered a moment of anxiety just minutes before she was due to speak via her laptop to a waiting online audience of 500 people. She took 10 months off and decided that she needed to change her life. Remembering the words of her late mother, Pam Norman, who always knew that Dame Kelly was gay, was a big influence in that. Recalling her grief, Dame Kelly said: "It literally destroyed me, tore a piece of my heart that has never been fixed. I remember her always wanting me to be me, [saying] 'just live your life'." Having made her announcement, Dame Kelly said she had a new zeal for life. "That change has allowed me to talk authentically and openly, to hopefully not be scared of what people think of me any more," she said. "It's your problem, not mine, if you judge me. If you cheered me on running around that track with two gold medals for Great Britain, standing on that rostrum with the national anthem playing and I made you proud, then me telling you I'm gay shouldn't change that." So that is why she is so proud to now pose on the red carpet along with her girlfriend Louise Cullen, first at the Diva Awards in April and then at the European Diversity Awards last Friday. She said: "I've been to many red carpet events but this time it was nice to be able to take my partner and to not feel embarrassed or worried. "For her to actually be in a photo… was a nice moment." There are now no regrets about her decision a year ago. "It was the fear of the unknown and I can definitely say that the fear I had for 34 years was not worth it. "The day I was able to publicly get the words out of my mouth and say I was gay, the relief was enormous. What it allows you to do is to live your life and be you and everyone deserves to be that." You can hear Dame Kelly's full interview onWoman's Hour via BBC Sounds.

Two dazzling images define truly golden moments in former athlete Kelly Holmes's life.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-67419586?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA

In the 12 months to October 2023the figure was 4.6%. That means things costing £1 in October 2022 cost almost £1.05 the same time the following year. Our personal inflation calculator, built by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) in collaboration with the BBC, shows you what the inflation rate is for your household, and identifies the items in your household budget that have gone up the most in price over the past year. Note: in the calculator, the ONS compares your personal inflation rate with CPIH, a measure of inflation that includes housing costs for those who own their home, rather than the more widely-reported measure called CPI. In October 2023 this was 4.7%. If you can't see the calculator, click here.

Every month there's a new figure for inflation - it estimates how much prices are rising across all the goods and services in the economy.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-62558817?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA

The club have released details of the commemorations for the Red Devils legend, who died on 21 October. It said his cortege would pass Old Trafford before arriving at Manchester Cathedral at 14:00 GMT on Monday. A representative said fans were invited to "pay their respects" along the way. Sir Bobby died after anaccidental fallat The Willows nursing home in Knutsford, an inquest at Cheshire Coroner's Court concluded. A key member of England's 1966 World Cup-winning team, he played 106 times for his country, scoring 49 goals. He also made more than 600 appearances for United, winning league, cup and European honours and scoring almost 200 goals between 1956 and 1973. A club representative said the cortege was expected to pass the United Trinity statue, which depicts Sir Bobby alongside fellow greats Denis Law and George Best, at about 13:30 before journeying to the cathedral in the city centre. They said fans and members of the public were "invited to pay their respects along the route". They said the service at the cathedral, which will be led by Canon Nigel Ashworth and include eulogies by family members and the club, would "remain private and will not be broadcast or filmed". "It is expected that up to 1,000 guests will attend the cathedral to pay their respects to Sir Bobby and celebrate his incredible life as a husband, father, grandfather and, of course, as one of the finest footballers this country has ever produced," they said. They added that the star's family and the club wanted to "thank everyone for the outpouring of love and respect towards Sir Bobby" and had requested "no flowers", asking people to donate instead to the Children's Adventure Farm Trust, Alzheimer's Society, Alzheimer's UK or Sir Bobby Charlton Foundation. Why not follow BBC North West onFacebook,XandInstagram? You can also send story ideas [email protected]

Sir Bobby Charlton's funeral will be a celebration of his "incredible life" as a family man and "one of the finest footballers this country has ever produced", Manchester United have said.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-67370106?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA

Lord Cameron reiterated the UK's support for Ukraine, promising moral, diplomatic and "above all military support for... however long it takes". Mr Zelensky congratulated Mr Cameron on his new post and thanked him for the UK's continued backing. Lord Cameron became foreign secretary in a cabinet shuffle on Monday. "This is very important, especially now, when the world is paying attention not only to the situation on the battlefield in Ukraine, and dividing the focus really does not help," the Ukrainian president said, alluding to the Middle East. "We are grateful for the unwavering support of Ukraine from the United Kingdom. We are grateful for the warm welcome of Ukrainian citizens in the UK. And we are glad that you came to Ukraine," he said. Mr Zelensky posted a short clip of the meeting to social media, during which Lord Cameron can be heard saying "I wanted this to be my first visit." "What I want to say by being here is that we will continue to give you the moral support, the diplomatic support and the economic support and above all the military support that you need not just this year and next year but however long as it takes," Lord Cameron said. The former UK prime minister added: "I've had some disagreements with Boris Johnson, we've known each other for 40 years, but his support for you was the finest thing he and his government did." Ukraine's foreign ministry said the pair discussed weapons, arms production, and security in the Black Sea. In a statement following the meeting, Lord Cameron said: "As winter approaches, we continue to stand with the Ukrainian people as they resist Putin's illegal invasion. In the last three months, they have pushed Russia back in the Black Sea and are opening vital sea trade routes for the Ukrainian economy and global food supplies." Lord Cameron left Ukraine on Thursday afternoon. The UK has provided Ukraine with billions of pounds in military aid since Russia launched its invasion in February 2022. Military hardware donations have included a number of Challenger 2 tanks and long-range missiles, and tens of thousands of Ukrainian recruits have been trained by the British military on UK soil. Lord Cameron's visit comes after Ukrainian forcessucceeded in establishing positions across the Dnipro river in southern Ukraine, a potentially significant advance. Local Russian-installed officials acknowledged on Wednesday that Ukrainian forces were present in the village of Krynky, on the Russian-occupied left (east) bank. The river has separated Ukrainian and Russian forces since Moscow's troops withdrew from Kherson a year ago. The news has heartened Ukrainians, whose four-month-old counter-offensive has failed to regain significant occupied territory from Russia. Lord Cameron's new post marks his return to the cabinet table for the first time in more than seven years. He has replaced James Cleverly, who was moved to be home secretary to take over from Suella Braverman in a dramatical overhaul of Rishi Sunak's cabinet on Monday. Lord Cameron was prime minister from 2010 to 2016, resigning after the UK voted to leave the EU as he had backed the Remain campaign. In the time since, Lord Cameron has occupied himself with various business endeavours, charity work, teaching and speaking engagements. There has been some controversy about Lord Cameron's return to the cabinet, since he is no longer an elected MP and will sit as a peer rather than in the Commons. Opposition parties and Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle have raised concerns about how MPs will be able to hold Lord Cameron to account, given he will not be in the Commons chamber to take questions during the regular departmental scrutiny sessions. Instead, those questions will be fielded by the ministers below him at the Foreign Office, including Andrew Mitchell and Anne-Marie Trevelyan. It is not uncommon for deputies to answer for the department, although this normally occurs if the foreign secretary is on diplomatic visits around the world.

New Foreign Secretary David Cameron has made his first working visit to Ukraine, meeting President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-67436126?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA

Tom Kelsey, 26, from Lincoln, started a YouTube channel dedicated to the popular game while he was a student at Nottingham Trent University. He now posts about three videos a week on average and runs his channel from his bedroom at his parents' house. "It's the freedom that I get from it, that's what I love," he said. Football Manager, which puts the player in charge of running a football club, first grabbed the attention of gamers in 2004. The series, developed by Sports Interactive, has continued to grow ever since, with the latest edition - Football Manager 2024 - recently released. "As [the channel] got more popular and more people started watching it, you start to earn money from the adverts that you see," he Mr Kelsey said. "Suddenly this became an idea - that I could do this as a job one day." Mr Kelsey left his job as a business support assistant at Lincolnshire County Council in August 2022 to devote more time to pursuing his ambition. "In terms of the money I make now, it's double what I was earning in my full-time job before I did YouTube," he said. "For me to be able to earn that money whilst also being my own boss and having my own choices and not work for someone else is the best part of it." His online channel has 118,000 subscribers and gets around one million views per month. "I can easily spend 50 to 60 hours a week playing Football Manager, which may sound like it would drive some people crazy but it's a dream for me," he said. Hetold the BBChis family and friends were very supportive about his career as a virtual Pep Guardiola or Jurgen Klopp. "It's a very unusual career path when you say you're going to play video games for my job," he said. "It keeps growing year on year, month on month, so I'll try and do this for as long as I can." Follow BBC East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire onFacebook,X (formerly Twitter), andInstagram. Send your story ideas [email protected]

A YouTuber who left his council job to play the hit computer game Football Manager full time says he has doubled his salary since ditching his post.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lincolnshire-67406590?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA

Lily, not her real name, said she was in her final year at Cardiff University when she was raped in March 2021. She described having to relive her traumatic experiences to the finance team as they chased her for £9,000. Vice-chancellor Wendy Larner said she wanted to discuss the concerns with students affected by sexual violence. Four students have expressed concern over a lack of information on support, saying they feel like they were "failed" by staff at the institution. Lily, 23, said she felt "let down" and believes the university added "unnecessary stress" to her situation, adding: "If the university does offer support, it is not advertised well." She called for stickers on toilet cubicles explaining help available, saying: "You need to be spoon fed. When you've just been sexually assaulted, your brain is like a puddle of mush". Lily reported the man to the police and said he was interviewed, but not charged because of a lack of evidence. After two of her lecturers helped her with coursework extensions, Lily took an interruption of study. This meant resitting six exams the following year, and a fixed fee of £150 per exam was agreed. However, when she returned in 2022, she was told she owed £9,000 for the entire academic year. She said: "I was getting letters saying 'we're going to kick you off your course if you don't pay'. "It was probably the worst time of my life and instead of getting any kind of support from uni, I was just getting more and more harassment about paying fees." After months of emails, Lily said she had to go into detail about her traumatic experience to the finance team. She never received an apology, or support - the finance team just stopped sending her emails. Lily and other students affected said they had not heard of the Disclosure Response Team (DRT), which is responsible for student support and signposting. The team received 691 reports of sexual misconduct between the 2017 and 2021 academic years, according to FOI responses. However, the university also said it does not hold data on sexual violence reports before 2017, and could not provide any for allegations after 2021. The university said these disclosures were "not always perpetrated by a member of the university community". "There is a proportion where the perpetrator is unidentified, that cannot be followed up," it said, adding: "There is also a proportion where the perpetrator is not known to the victim." When asked about the number of expulsions as a result of sexual violence each year between 2017 and 2023, it said there were "less than five" each year. Lily called the number of reports "staggering", especially as "we know reporting is in the minority". "You feel like you're the only person this has ever happened to you because no one talks about it," she said. "But those numbers show you're not alone." Hannah Norman, 21, a third year student at the university, waived her right to anonymity. She said she was raped in the summer before starting university and said "for the first and second years of uni, I felt like there was nowhere for me to go". Hannah only found out about the DRT when she started a support group society called Stronger Together for survivors of sexual assault or abuse. She said she thinks sexual violence is "rife" in universities. The 21-year-old recalled living in Talybont student halls whena student carried another drunk studentback to the accommodation where he then raped her. Hannah "was in the same halls" at the time but only found out about the crime in the news. "We have the right for the uni to report to us if something's happened in our facility," she said. "It makes you feel unsafe and you're just like 'who am I living around?'" Fourth year student Eleanor, 21, not her real name, said she was raped by another student in her second year in June 2022. Eleanor did not want to report this because she had "heard from other people who've experienced similar things that they are not going to do anything about it". She said "there was literally no point going to them" because she "didn't have any evidence". "It would be my word against his," she said. The 21-year-old searched for support but "struggled" to find anything. "It's just been one disappointment after another," she said. Emily Carr, 22, was the women's officer of Cardiff Students' Union and vice-president of the feminist society in 2022-23. During her time she saw "a dismissal of rape culture that continues to fester throughout the university". Last year there was an "epidemic" of "spiking" and "sexual harassment", she said. "We had people disclose information to us, and there was a storm of it on social media," Emily added. She said reports of this type of behaviour were "flat out denied" by "senior members of the student union" and not taken seriously. However, Emily said the society committee members were "overwhelmed" with "traumatising" student experiences. Emily, who waived her right to anonymity, said she was also "failed" by the university. She told several staff members about her experience, but was "completely dismissed by a senior member of staff". "When people speak out, we are not doing it for revenge," she said. "We are not raising this issue because we are bitter - we do this because we want better for students and staff. "The bottom line is, we as survivors should never have had to be put up in a position where we are having to speak about this." Cardiff University said DRT staff were "trained in responding to disclosures of violence and abuse". The university said advisors "are not therapists or counsellors" but have a "relevant first degree in a health related or social science discipline" or experience "working with victims of domestic or sexual violence". The university has a "zero-tolerance approach to violence against women". The university said it was "concerned by these testimonies" and "disappointed" that "for a variety of perfectly valid reasons these current and former students have chosen not to access or reach out to the specialist services we have available". Vice-chancellor Prof Larner said she wanted to "meet these individuals to discuss their concerns" and find ways to "improve". The university said it will also carry out a DRT promotion review. It said it works with Women's Aid, South Wales Police, New Pathways as well as local specialist medical and forensic services. Cardiff University Students' Union said "student wellbeing is a central priority" and it "heavily invests in safety measures that go above industry best practices". However it said it "wholeheartedly agreed" there "is more to be done to understand why students do not report serious incidents".

A student has said she received no support from her university after she was raped, and was instead hassled to pay tuition fees after taking time out.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-67240860?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA

It comes after X owner Elon Musk amplified an antisemitic trope on the platform formerly known as Twitter. The boycott has also been picking up steam in the wake of an investigation by a US group which flagged ads appearing next to pro-Nazi posts on X. Mr Musk has denied his post was antisemitic and has threatened to sue over the advertising investigation. Left-leaning pressure group Media Matters for America said it had identified ads bought by high-profile firms next to posts including Hitler quotes, praise of Nazis and Holocaust denial. A spokesperson for X told the BBC that the company does not intentionally place brands "next to this kind of content" and the platform is dedicated to combatting antisemitism. Mr Musk said on Saturday that X would file a "thermonuclear lawsuit" against Media Matters "the split second court opens on Monday". He said the group's report had "misrepresented the real user experience of X" in order to "undermine freedom of speech and mislead advertisers". On Wednesday, Mr Musk replied to a post sharing a conspiracy theory which accused Jewish communities of pushing hatred against white people,calling it "actual truth". The billionaire Tesla and SpaceX entrepreneur later said his comments referred not to all Jewish people but to groups like the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and other unspecified groups. The White House denounced Mr Musk's endorsement of the post. "We condemn this abhorrent promotion of antisemitic and racist hate in the strongest terms," said spokesperson Andrew Bates. On Thursday, IBM became the first company to pull its advertising from the site following the Media Matters investigation, saying the juxtaposition of its ads with Nazi content was "completely unacceptable". The European Commission, Comcast, TV network Paramount and movie studio Lionsgate have also pulled ad dollars from X. On Friday, as controversy over the pro-Nazi posts mounted, Mr Musk announced new steps to combat what he described as "calls for extreme violence" against Israel. In a post on X, he said anyone using such phrases as "from the river to the sea" - which the ADL considers to be a coded call for Israel's destruction - would be suspended from the platform. The ADL, one of the most vocal critics of how X moderates incendiary content, offered rare praise for Mr Musk. Its chief executive Jonathan Greenblatt said the announcement was "an important and welcome move". X chief executive Linda Yaccarino posted on Friday evening that the platform had been "extremely clear about our efforts to combat antisemitism and discrimination. There's absolutely no place for it anywhere in the world". The platform argues it has stronger brand safety controls than other social networks and that hate speech and extremism have fallen on the platform despite large cuts to the company's safety team. Several outside groups disagree with that assessment and say that such content has increased under Mr Musk's leadership. It is unclear how much of X's revenue currently comes from ads, because it's now a private company and no longer publishes quarterly reports. But before Mr Musk took over the firm, advertising made up about 90% of Twitter revenue. Mr Musk has attempted to change its reliance on ad dollars by trying to create a paid-membership tier. If you pay a monthly fee, you can have a blue tick by your name and your content will be boosted. Yet that still makes up a tiny fraction of revenue. In an interview with the BBC in April, Mr Musk said "almost all of them [advertisers] have either come back or they're going to come back". Three months later he acknowledged in a post on X that ad revenue had fallen by 50%. His appointment of Ms Yaccarino, a former ad executive, was widely seen as an attempt to smooth relations with advertisers. But building those kinds of relationships is difficult when the company's owner himself is the one making the controversial posts. It is also hard to square advertisers' fears that the platform does not moderate content enough with Mr Musk's commitment to free speech. The BBC interviewed Twitter investor Ross Gerber last month and he said advertisers were worried about Nazi content not being removed. "I do not want my ads anywhere near Nazis and I would say that 99% of brands would agree with that," he said. "To lose advertisers over Nazi voices is the dumbest policy you could imagine." Although Mr Musk is the world's richest man, he borrowed billions to buy Twitter and has to pay interest on those loans. Unless he is able to staunch the flow of ad dollars from the platform, it could become an increasing financial burden. (Additional reporting by Kayla Epstein, Matt Murphy and Mike Wendling)

Firms including Apple, Disney and IBM have paused advertising on X amid an antisemitism storm on the site.

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The ethereal Los Angeles-born singer-songwriter is heavily influenced by the counterculture movements of the 1960s and 70s, of which her parents were a part. But at the same time, the 35-year-old - real name Natalie Mering - believes the obsession with "the good old days" has become "really toxic" for people her own age trying to make it in the "exponentially" changing modern world. "I do think it's a little harder to have the life that our parents had, and to potentially give that life to children that we may have," she explains, as she prepares to bring her Holy Flux tour to the UK. "So that changes a lot of things; like when you could buy a house, and this idea of the college degree meaningthis[job or opportunity will follow]. "And I'm so American about it, too," she adds. "I talk about the good old days because I have such an interesting relationship with the past, being simultaneously like a pagan time travel tourist and also very aware of how toxic the kind of nostalgia we deal with, politically, can be." While the singer's soothing, timeless folk-rock/baroque-pop sound and aesthetic has been compared to the likes of Karen Carpenter and Joni Mitchell - an artist her mum loves and her dad (both musicians) once went on a date with - the lyrical content of her music is focused firmly on the issues of today. Songs like It's Not Just Me, It's Everybody, taken from her sumptuously melodic and lusciously layered lockdown album And In the Darkness, Hearts Aglow, find her ruminating on urgent concerns for the planet, the march of machines into human relationships and loneliness. "Living in the wake of overwhelming changes,"she sings."We've all become strangers / Even to ourselves." The Times made it its album of 2022, placing Weyes Blood - who has also collaborated with Lana Del Rey, the Killers and John Cale - above artists like Kendrick Lamar, the Arctic Monkeys, Harry Styles and Taylor Swift. The newspaper described the record as "a set of gorgeous, sweeping, cinematic ballads that delve into love and loss, but end up with buoyant hope". The Observercalled her recent work "torch songs for the end of time", whilethe Telegraphlabelled the star "the most sophisticated and complex singer-songwriter of her generation". On the track Children of the Empire, she sweetly urges: "We don't have time any more to be afraid." Another chronicler of these confusing times, documentary director Adam Curtis, helped to provide the suitably disorientating visuals for third single, God Turn Me Into a Flower. All in all, the LP constitutes a more personal response to some of the collective traumas laid out in her 2019 breakthrough, Titanic Rising. "I think with this last record, I was definitely trying to have a little bit more empathy about the position we're all in, versus the kind of anger at our inability to figure out some kind of actionable change," she says. "Because I think it's such a gridlocked system, it's like we're so locked in to the technology, and I think it's really difficult to feel like you can really make a change in the world." The lo-fi world of her parents had been that of the "crazy hippies and punks", but they ultimately raised their children as born-again Christians. So church music figured prominently in her upbringing. The "pendulum swinging" that way for her family, and many other baby boomers in the more conservative 1980s, is something the singer finds "fascinating" to this day. Having moved with her family from California to Pennsylvania, where she attended high school, Weyes Blood rejected her religious upbringing and set about chasing her own artistic vision across the country - studying, squatting and playing music in Portland and Baltimore. Early incarnations saw her play bass, keys and sing in noise-rock and punk bands. With one group, she would mix bananas with fake blood, put it on her shirt and rip it open on stage. It's a far cry from the Laurel Canyon vibes of her best known, recent work, although her metamorphosis into a solo performer did see her produce some spooky ambient drone material. Nevertheless, it was an important step on her musical journey back to the future. "There's been a lot of chapters," notes Mering. "I feel like I've lived a million lives. It starts to get weird, the neuroplasticity a little too wild. "I miss the DIY scene," she adds. "It's changed so much because of smartphone culture and the internet but there was a time when it was so innocent and naïve that you felt like you were in the centre of the world. "It was like the focus was just there, in the moment, and people weren't thinking as much about what they looked like or what it would look like on social media or any of that. So in some ways, it created this weird safe space for crude, raw music and expression." The arrival of internet culture, she believes, brought with it a "weird qualitative judgement: what is the value of this?, versus just experiencing and enjoying it at face value." Lately, though, she's been seeing signs of younger people "focusing on a life of creative inspiration" over likes, follows and money. "I still believe that there are communities and people that feel the same way I do. I think that kids are smart and I have a lot of faith in them. "I've been noticing at my shows that there's young kids, high school age, and they are so unique. "I say so much about going back in time [but] the kids seem to be very unhinged and free and loose and seeking new forms of community outside of their phones, for sure." While she may have missed Woodstock festival by a mere half a century, the cosmic pop star did get to play Glastonbury this year, not once but twice. First, she performed on a candlelit Park Stage, before joining compatriot Caroline Polachek for a duet. The event, she says, has "one of the best vibes of any festival". "I feel like America probably had a similar vibe with Woodstock, but we just couldn't keep it going for as long as Glastonbury." Now, after walking the catwalk in Proenza Schouler's New York Fashion Week show, she'll return to the UK to bring her "well-oiled" concerts to Glasgow, Leeds, London and Nottingham from 11 November. Her show is like a secular communion, with added jokes between the modern hymns to lighten the apocalyptic mood - a marriage of heavenly sounds and hellish visions. "It's a pretty wild journey," she nods. "It's kind of a light show, kind of a dance situation. But it's also just a place of catharsis. "I say my music is like a transportation device. And I would hope that people extract and get different things from it."

Weyes Blood is - to quote US author Kurt Vonnegut - unstuck in time.

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Well, you can get a clue from this glorious new image acquired by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). Towards the centre of this object, called HH212, is a star coming into existence that is probably no more than 50,000 years old. The scene would have looked much the same when our Sun was a similar age. You can't actually see the glow from the protostar itself because it's hidden within a dense, spinning disc of gas and dust. All you get are the pinky-red jets that it's shooting out in polar opposite directions. HH212 is sited in Orion, close to the three brilliant stars that make up the "belt" of the mythical hunter that gives the constellation its name. The distance from Earth is about 1,300 light-years. Physics suggests those dramatic outflows of gas are the means by which the nascent star regulates its birthing. "As the blobby ball of gas at the centre compacts down, it rotates. But if it rotates too fast, it will fly apart, so something has to get rid of the angular momentum," explained Prof Mark McCaughrean. "We think it's jets and outflows. We think that as all the material shrinks down, magnetic fields are pulled together and then some of the material coming in through the disc gets captured on magnetic fields and is thrown out through the poles. That's why we call these structures bi-polar," the European Space Agency senior scientific advisor told BBC News. The pinky-red colour denotes the presence of molecular hydrogen. That's two hydrogen atoms bonded together (rather like the "HH" in the protostar's name). Shockwaves are moving through the outflows, energising them and making them glow brightly in this Webb picture, which was captured predominantly at the infrared wavelength of 2.12 microns (that's the second part of the protostar's name!). The image of HH212 was acquired by JWST's Near Infrared Camera (NIRCam). You can't see the protostar itself because it's obscured by a dense, infalling disc of gas and dust. There are a few mature stars in the field of view, but most of the points of light are far-distant galaxies. In the annotated picture above, look closely at the left and right jets, and trace the knots of brightness in each of them. Count the bowshocks - where faster material has crashed into slower material just ahead of it. The structures are remarkably symmetric... except there appears to be an additional, albeit very messy bowshock on the right. In fact, there's probably a complementary bowshock on the other side. There are certainly pinky hints of it in a wider version of this Webb image. It's just that the density of gas and dust in space in that direction is thinner and so there's less material to excite and so the shock structure appears much more diffuse. Astronomers have been studying HH212 for 30 years, taking pictures every now and then to see how it's changed. As you might expect from the Webb super telescope, its new view is 10 times sharper than anything we've had before and will enable scientists to delve deeper into the processes that drive star formation. A nice feature is to run together the entire image history to make a movie, to see how elements in the jet structures change over time. Repeat observations mean you can also gauge the speed at which those elements are moving - at 100km per second and more. I've kind of suggested the HH stands for molecular hydrogen, and it's a neat fit. But it really stands for Herbig-Haro, after George Herbig and Guillermo Haro, who did the pioneering work on this type of object in the 1940s and 50s. They would no doubt be amazed by the capabilities of JWST. It's not just the sharpness of image that Webb can achieve with its 6.5m primary mirror, it's also the breadth of colour its instruments can now detect that makes the telescope so special. "As we said, the main wavelength for looking at these things - for looking at shocked molecular hydrogen - is 2.12 microns, or roughly four times longer than the mid-visible. But for the first time, we now have a good colour image of this particular object because we're able to observe it at other wavelengths that you just couldn't see from ground telescopes. And that will help us get into what's really happening in the jets," said Prof McCaughrean. Webb was intended to be transformative in many fields of astronomy, and the study of Herbig-Haro objects has definitely benefitted. Look below and you can marvel at HH212's cousin, called HH211. This object, located in the Perseus constellation, is even younger, again measured in mere thousands of years. To think our Sun started out like this. JWST is a joint venture between the US, European and Canadian space agencies.

Imagine you could go back in time 4.6 billion years and take a picture of our Sun just as it was being born. What would it look like?

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Two of his fellow Tanzanians - Joshua Loitu Mollel and Clemence Felix Mtenga - were among more than 230 people taken as hostages to the Gaza Strip, which is under the control of Hamas, proscribed as a terrorist group in the UK and some other countries. The three students had landed in Israel in September, excited to start their work as agricultural interns for the next 11 months. Since their arrival, Ezekiel Kitiku and Mr Mtenga had been living on Kibbutz Nir Oz and working at a dairy farm in the afternoons. Their friend Mr Mollel was staying and working about 30km (18 miles) away at Kibbutz Nahal Oz. Both kibbutzes have a population of several hundred people and are very near Gaza. "That week the new timetable was prepared and my name was mentioned to work on the nightshifts, but Clemence remained on afternoon shifts," Mr Kitiku told the BBC. Mr Mollel was on day shifts at a different farm. At around 01:00 on 7 October, Mr Kitiku says he set off in the dark on his bike and rode five minutes to the farm to start his shift. He spent the early hours of that morning milking cows and carrying out veterinary duties. By 06:00, as the sun started to rise, he was tending to cattle inside a shed. Thirty minutes later he heard a huge explosion. This was when Hamas began to fire rockets from Gaza. "When I heard the noise, I remembered that we had been told that if we hear the sound of shooting or bombs we should go to the shelter, so that's what I did. "I was so scared. It was my first time to hear a noise like this." As he headed to the shelter, he noticed thick smoke and orange flames billowing from near his kibbutz, so he immediately contacted both of his friends. "They told me that there were so many rockets coming from Gaza - and that they were going to the shelters too." Unknown to him, however, Hamas gunmen had already begun raiding the two kibbutzes where his friends were. A couple of hours later, he noticed that his WhatsApp and text messages were no longer being delivered to their phones. "I thought maybe their phones were out of charge. The last message I sent to them was - 'Are you safe?'" Neither replied. This was at around 10:00. He has not heard from them since. As rockets hammered down throughout the day, Mr Kitiku was forced to remain at the farm, trying to sleep inside the shelter. The following morning when things seemed a little calmer and desperate to find out what had happened to his friends, he begged his manager to take him back to his kibbutz. There he could see that troops from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) had been deployed. "At the gate of the kibbutz there were so many IDF soldiers. They refused me entry and told me I would have to go back to stay at the farm because it was safer." He remained in the shelter at the farm with two others for another two days - with barely any food - and another night on his own. In the end the IDF said he would not be able to return to his kibbutz and soldiers escorted him to another location around 30km north of Gaza. As he left the farm, he was shocked by what he saw outside the gates. "The water systems had been bombed, and water was flowing everywhere. I saw dead bodies on the street. "The fear of what had happened to my friends started to grow." The three men had met in Tanzania's economic hub of Dar es Salaam through their agriculture studies a few months before they travelled to Israel. It was not until three weeks after the Hamas attack that Mr Kitiku finally found out what had happened to his friends. The Israeli foreign affairs ministryannounced in a statement on Sundaythat they were being held hostage in Gaza. He says he is grateful to learn that they are both alive, but remains concerned about their conditions. He also knows other students on their programme who have been taken hostage, including one from Thailand. In addition to those they took hostage, Hamas gunmen killed about 1,400 people on 7 October, many of whom were living on kibbutzes. Since then, Israel has carried out air strikes on the Gaza Strip. The Hamas-run health ministry says some 9,000 people have been killed. Mr Kitiku says he is extremely worried about the safety of his friends being held in the Gaza Strip. "There is so much bombing and people have few social services. I try to put myself in their shoes, but I cannot imagine what they are going through." He says the realisation of how close he came to being caught up in the attack lies heavy on his mind. "The first few days, psychologically I was not stable. I am trying to force myself to cope with the situation. "If I was not on the farm that morning, I would be one of the missing." He is now working at a different farm. "The authorities in Israel told us we are safe and we can continue our internship here," he says. He and other Tanzanian students - there are an estimated 260 in Israel - have been offered assistance by their embassy to return home should they wish to, he says. "But how can I think about going home when I don't know the situation and the condition of my two friends in Gaza?"

"If I was not on the farm that morning, I would be one of the missing," Ezekiel Kitiku told the BBC from southern Israel.

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Singers Ian Brown and Rowetta were among those sharing tributes, with the latter calling her a "beautiful friend". Ms Mounfield, who had twin sons, was diagnosed with bowel cancer three years ago. Alongside her husband, she raised funds for charity by organising auctions of items from David Beckham and Oasis. She told the BBC: "I just don't want to be sat thinking about cancer and illness all the time, because it is all-consuming. "And this was just a way to balance that out - to give myself something else to think about but something positive." "Sometimes I have bad days and demon days and I'll have side effects. And other times people haven't got a clue that I'm ill because I try and carry on as best as I can." Her husband Mani previously said: "This is a girl from Blackley - people from that side of town, they don't take things lightly." After her diagnosis,he told the BBChe underwent a "whole spectrum of emotions - one day you can be paranoid and flapping and very, very fearful about stuff and then the next day you can see she's putting in the effort, there's a pride in the fight of the lady". "It really puts you through the wringer… it's an old juggling balancing act of keeping your own emotions in check while also trying to offer a bit of support." Primal Scream bassist Simone Marie described Mounfield as "a beautiful soul, a huge heart, cutting humour, the strongest spirit, a mother, a wife, a wonderful human". "My heart breaks for the immediate family and everyone who knew and loved her." Why not follow BBC North West onFacebook,XandInstagram? You can also send story ideas [email protected]

Tributes have been paid to Imelda Mounfield, the wife of Stone Roses bassist Mani, who has died from cancer.

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That is despitea vote among RMT union members to accept an offerfrom rail operating companies, including a backdated pay rise. Both Aslef and the RMT, which represents other rail workers, have taken repeated industrial action over the past 18 months. Aslef members will stage a "rolling programme" of walk outs between Saturday 2 December and Friday 8 December with different train companies affected on each day. Drivers are also refusing to work any overtime from Friday 1 to Saturday 9 December as part of the industrial action. Many of the affected operators are expected to run no services at all on strike days. Travelling on the day before or after strike days might also be affected. On overtime ban days, there are likely to be some last-minute cancellations or timetable reductions. Passengers are advised to check before they travel. For the latest information, passengers should checkNational Railor individual operators' websites. Rail workers in the RMT union havevoted to accept an offerfrom 14 train companies. That lifts the threat of RMT strikes until at least the spring. However, there could be more strike action later next year as the agreement does not cover future pay deals and the government and rail operating companies still want to push through changes to the way the industry works. Strike action by thousands of RMT members who work in Tube stationswas suspendedin October following "significant progress" in talks between the union and London Underground. Passengers with advance tickets can be refunded fee-free if the train that they are booked on is cancelled, delayed or rescheduled.   If passengers have a return ticket they may also be entitled to a fee-free refund if any part of the journey is cancelled due to strikes. Season ticket holders (flexi, monthly or longer) who cannot travel can claim 100% compensation for strike dates through the Delay Repay scheme. Unions say they want a pay offer reflecting the rising cost of living. But the rail industry is under pressure to save money, after the pandemic left a hole in its finances. The industry says changes to ways of working need to be agreed in order for pay to go up. The average salary of rail workers in 2022 was £45,919,according to the Office for National Statistics(ONS). If drivers are excluded (because they tend to be members of the Aslef union, not RMT) its estimate is £39,518. However, the RMT union said that figure was too high because it does not include rail cleaning staff. The ONS says median pay for "train and tram drivers" is just under £59,000. The Rail Delivery Group (RDG), which represents train companies, made an offer backdating a pay rise of 5% for 2022-23. It also includes some job security guarantees. After voting to accept the deal, the RMT said it would continue to negotiate with individual operators over reforms to working practices and a second year's pay rise. The Aslef union rejected a two-year offer which would see drivers get a backdated pay rise of 4% for 2022 and a 4% increase this year. Aslef general secretary Mick Whelan has said it had been forced into taking industrial action because the train companies "refuse to sit down and talk to us and have not made a fair and sensible pay offer". The Department for Transport has said: "The government has met the rail unions, listened to them and facilitated improved offers on pay and reform." Separately,a revised offer from Network Rail was accepted by RMT members on 20 March, ending a dispute with signal workers and maintenance staff. The union said the offer amounted to an uplift on salaries of between 14.4% for the lowest paid grades to 9.2% for the highest paid. Unions are obliged to give at least 14 days' notice of any strike action. Sign up for our morning newsletterand get BBC News in your inbox.

There will be more disruption to rail services between 1 and 9 December, as train drivers in the Aslef union hold further industrial action.

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The renowned writer, whose full name was Antonia Susan Byatt, won the Booker Prize for her 1990 novel Possession. In a statement,Penguin Random House saidthey were "deeply saddened" to announce her death. They described her as "one of the most significant writers and critics of our time". The author was appointed CBE 1990 and was made a dame nine years later. In 2018 she received the Hans Christian Andersen Literature Award. Dame Antonia's work was translated into 38 languages. Penguin said: "She died peacefully at home surrounded by close family. A girl from Sheffield with a strong European sensibility, Antonia had a remarkable mind which produced a unique creative vision." Dame Antonia was also known for writing 2009's the Children's Book, which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. Her most recent publication was a collection of short stories - 2021's Medusa's Ankles: Selected Stories (2021). "Antonia's Quaker schooling encouraged a clear independence of thought, and throughout her career she had an unerring ability to ask direct and searching questions," Penguin said in their statement. "Her novels showed a profound engagement with history and historical consciousness - and an understanding of the traditions in which she wrote - whether folktale or novel. "And if her fiction offered an imaginative realm of ideas, it was also warm and engaging, and filled with unforgettable characters." Time-jumping story Possession tells the story of the love between two Victorian poets that is uncovered by scholars in the modern age. The book was adapted for a 2002 romance mystery movie of the same name starring Gwyneth Paltrow, Aaron Eckhart, Toby Stephens and Tom Hollander. Last year, her 1995 short story The Djinn In The Nightingale's Eye inspired a fantasy drama film directed and co-written by Mad Max creator George Miller. Idris Elba and Tilda Swinton starred opposite each other in 2022's Three Thousand Years Of Longing, which features a conversation between a genie and an academic in a hotel room in Istanbul. The writer was also known for works such as Angels and Insects and The Frederica Quartet, which consisted of The Virgin in the Garden, Still Life, Babel Tower and A Whistling Woman. Dame Antonia was born in 1936 and grew up in Sheffield and York. She studied English at Newnham College, Cambridge, Bryn Mawr College in Philadelphia and at Oxford. She began teaching at University College London in 1962, and published her first novel, Shadows of a Sun, two years later. Her younger sister is the novelist and biographer Dame Margaret Drabble. The pair's relationship reportedly came under strain due to autobiographical elements in each of their books, and Dame Antoniaoften declined to discuss their relationshipwith interviewers. Dame Antonia has three daughters. Her only son died in 1972 in a car accident aged 11. A poem she later wrote, Dead Boys, described how a child is perpetually present after their death, at every age, to their mother. Tracy Chevalier, author of books including Girl With a Pearl Earring, was among those paying tribute,writing on social media:"RIP AS Byatt, your books have given us all such pleasure." Fellow author Catriona Ward added:"So sad to hear of AS Byatt's death. what a richness of work she left us."

Novelist, critic and poet Dame AS Byatt has died at the age of 87, her publisher has announced.

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Linda Dwan, from Mousehole in west Cornwall, said: "There was a rumbling, like thunder and the house shook for about two or three seconds."It felt like an explosion or an avalanche."My glass ornaments were shaking in the window."Dr David Hawthorn, a seismologist with the British Geological Survey, said: "We have 2-300 quakes a year, but about 30 are felt and this was at the lower end of those quakes."This was quite small by global standards."In the UK, we have a phenomenally complicated geology and that's particularly true in Cornwall."Sooner or later that stress weakens and we get an earthquake."He appealed foranyone affected to get in touch.,external"We are still getting data in, so please give us a description because we want to know how much it shakes the ground in any given location," he said. Did you experience the earthquake in Cornwall? Tell us your story by emailing:[email protected],externalPlease include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways:WhatsApp: +44 7756 165803Tweet:@BBC_HaveYourSay,externalUpload your photos/videos herePlease read ourterms & conditionsandprivacy policy Follow BBC News South West onX (formerly Twitter),external,Facebook,externalandInstagram,external. Send your story ideas [email protected],external.

An earthquake has shaken parts of Cornwall, with people saying it felt like an explosion or avalanche.Seismologists at the British Geological Survey recorded the 2.7 magnitude quake at 00:50 GMT.Its epicentre was in the Mounts Bay area, near Penzance in west Cornwall, with people woken up by a loud bang from St Just in the west of the county to Redruth about 20 miles (32km) north-east from the point of origin.Experts said the tremor was within what was expected for the area and was among hundreds in the UK every year.

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Jeremy Hunt has said tax cuts are "virtually impossible" and instead warned of "frankly very difficult decisions". But are his hands really tied? Is he being forced to be Scrooge rather than Santa? Or is it a matter of choice? Does it boil down to what the chancellor - any chancellor in the same circumstances - decides? After all, he and the prime minister set the boundaries and their political priorities. Here are some things to contemplate when judging any chancellor's claims: Almost all rich countries have a set of rules, to maintain credibility with financial markets, but it's the government which sets its own rules. The financial markets - or the bond markets to be more precise - help fund the government's plans. But if they aren't convinced of a government's creditworthiness, or if they are concerned its plans are risky, the interest rate they charge for that funding will go up. So governments want to convince them to lend at affordable rates. To do that the UK government sets some rules for themselves called fiscal rules. These rules currently include getting the annual deficit down to less than the equivalent of 3% of national income (or GDP) within five years.And secondly making sure that by then, the total debt amassed over the years is falling when measured as a proportion of GDP. Breaching such rules can be costly: the big giveaway in Kwasi Kwarteng's mini-Budget of September 2022 led to a surge in borrowing rates (which also swelled mortgage rates). That's because of market concerns about the implications for inflation and the amount the government would have to borrow. The fiscal rules are self-imposed, but it's the independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) that assesses if the government is meeting those rules. It produces two forecasts a year of how the economy might perform, based on technical models and assumptions about what will happen to things like energy prices for example. Those models are used to predict what will happen to government finances. Forecasts are a best stab at what might happen in, what has of late been a particularly, uncertain world. They'll differ from other economists' forecasts - but it's the OBR's ones that matter when it comes to assessing the government's projected finances in relation to the rules. A projected shortfall is often referred to as a black hole, any wiggle room is called headroom. As Jeremy Hunt says higher interest rates have been deployed by the Bank of England to fight the recent stubborn bout of inflation. And that has vastly bumped up the government's borrowing costs. But higher inflation has also delivered the chancellor a boost in revenues from things like VAT and income tax. VAT is a percentage of an item's value, so when things go up in price, the government gets more tax. Also as prices rise, there's pressure to put up wages, then workers get dragged into higher tax brackets - known as fiscal drag - which means the government collects more income tax. So economists reckon the chancellor could have over £10bn of headroom. But what matters is what the OBR thinks - and even headroom of this size would mean this chancellor has far less to "play" with then many of his predecessors in relation to his rules. Whether and how the government meets its rules, how it uses headroom, depends on its policy choices, the tax and spending plans aligned with its political priorities, as well as on how the economy is performing. Those choices mean there are trade-offs, winners and losers. So it's not a case of the chancellor unable to "afford" to do something or that he "must" adopt a particular policy. For example, if he wanted to extend the freeze in fuel duty that would cost £4bn (as the OBR is obliged to assume that duty rises annually). If he didn't have headroom, he could offset that by raising taxes elsewhere or squeezing spending. Even if the OBR agrees the chancellor has several billions of pounds of headroom, he may not opt to splash it right now. There is after all, a general election looming - and likely a spring Budget beforehand. It might be considered more politically advantageous to dole out sweeteners to voters then. Moreover, if the economy suffers an unexpectedly sharp downturn in the meantime, that could wipe out some of that headroom - potentially leaving the chancellor in the embarrassing position of having to claw back cash to meet his rules. Or, come the spring, there could actually be more headroom; which he may well choose to use up rather than leave as a generous gift to whoever is chancellor following the election. So instead, this Autumn Statement may focus on the key terms and longer-term measures, such as levelling up, boosting the supply of workers, tackling growth, that the government wants to use to frame its election strategy. So a pre-Christmas spree seems unlikely, regardless of your wishlist. That's not to say Mr Hunt won't be tempted to offer around a little platter of canapés, a taster of what could come in the spring. But don't get too distracted by any nibbles served up. Remember, whatever a chancellor says in this or any such speech, tax cuts aren't "impossible" - they've just chosen not to put them on the menu this time.

The nights are drawing in, money for many households is tight - but the chancellor has told people not to expect treats in his Autumn Statement.

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The fabric lies bright against the grey rubble. Khalil Khader picks up the dusty and tattered child's pyjamas and is instantly overtaken by memories. The toddler in her pyjamas. Rosa, his daughter, 18 months old, the baby of the family. Khalil shows a video on his phone. Rosa wears the same blue nightwear and is holding the hands of two older cousins. The three of them dance in a circle. The video was filmed in slow motion, so it seems as if the children are swaying in a gentle breeze. They are smiling. It is playtime and their lives have not yet been overtaken by war. Khalil is a quiet spoken man, aged 36, a computer engineer at Al-Najjar hospital in Rafah, and the father of four young children: Ibrahim, aged nine; Amal, aged five; Kinan, two-and-a-half, and Rosa the last born. Khalil steps carefully across the rubble. The house is only a few minutes walk from the hospital. There is now a mound of masonry and metal, household objects and some children's toys. A small drum. A toy piano. On the night the missile struck - October 20 - Khalil was working at the hospital. "A massive bomb exploded," he told one of my BBC colleagues who went with him to the scene of the attack. "My neighbours were coming to the hospital. So I asked, 'Where was the bombing?' And they told me, 'It was around your house.' I had to run to the location to check on the family. I tried calling but no one was answering. And as you can see… the whole house was bombed." Eleven members of his family were killed. They included his four children, his two sisters, his 70-year-old father, his brother and his sister-in-law, and their two daughters. They were wrapped in white shrouds in a courtyard of the hospital. His wife was badly wounded. She is being treated for burns and other injuries sustained when the house collapsed. Khalil had known war before in Gaza. The small strip of land - with a total land area of just 141 sq miles (365 sq km) - has seen relentless conflict over decades. Such was the legacy of conflict that he worried about raising a family there. "I remember in the 2014 war, my wife was pregnant," he recalls, "and our neighbours were bombed. She was in her seventh month and almost fell down the stairs from the blast. And I was thinking, how can I bring children into this life?" But he imagined that a better life might be possible for them. "I had a dream for each of my kids. Ibrahim was first in his school and I dreamed about seeing him as a doctor one day. Amal was very creative, she loved drawing. And she used to show me her drawings, and sometimes I would draw with her. "Kinan was very playful - everyone loved him. And he used to take care of his little sister. He was always there to protect Rosa, and would say, 'Don't touch her, she's my baby!' And now they are all gone." Khalil is still searching for the body of his sister under the rubble. And he must support his wife in hospital. His children are gone. But as he shows one photograph after another of Ibrahim, Amal, Kenin and Rosa, there is a tenderness in his eyes. He will always be their father. Additional reporting by Mahmoud Bassam in Gaza, and Hanin Abdeen, Alice Doyard, Morgan Gisholt Minard, and John Landy in Jerusalem

There is no mistaking what he sees as he climbs across the rubble.

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We've looked at some of the claims being made. Speaking at prime minister's questions, Mr Sunak was referring toofficial migration figures released on 23 November. They show net migration of 672,000 people for the year to the end of June 2023. That figure was up from 607,000 for the year to the end of June 2022, but down from 745,000 for the whole of 2022. Net migration is the number of people arriving in the UK who plan to stay for at least a year, minus the people leaving for at least a year. The Office for National Statistics, which released the figures, said "while it is too early to say if this is the start of a new downward trend, these more recent estimates indicate a slowing of immigration". The figure is nonetheless at a historically high level - Mr Sunak has described it as "far too high". The Conservatives' manifesto in 2019 promised that "overall numbers will come down". In the year that pledge was made, net migration ended up at 184,000. Rishi Sunak criticised the Labour leader's plan to stop small boats coming to the UK. Keir Starmer hassaid he wouldnegotiate a returns agreement with EU countries to send back some failed asylum seekers - if Labour wins power. Mr Sunak's claim is based on an assumption that Labour would have to take 13% of all asylum seekers arriving in the EU as part of such an agreement. The Conservatives have said this is because the EU has a policy of sharing asylum seekers between countries based on population size. They say this would mean the UK taking over 100,000 of them a year. But although the EU has been discussing for years how to share responsibility for refugees, no deal based on population is in place. Labour has said it would not - and could not - sign up to an EU quota scheme because the UK is not a member state, so any agreement would have to be outside that. The prime minister was talking about small boat crossings. He's made "stopping the boats" one of his five key pledges in government, whichwe've been tracking. As at 13 November, 27,284 people had been detected crossing the English Channel in 2023,according to the Home Office. At the same point in 2022, almost 42,000 people had been detected, so the number crossing is indeed down by a third. Mr Thomas-Symonds - a Labour MP - was speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live after the Supreme Court's judgement on 15 November. He was referring to an EU scheme - Dublin III - which allows member states to return failed asylum seekers to other EU countries, taking into consideration factors such as family reunion and irregular entry. The scheme ended in the UK after Brexit in January 2021. ButHome Office datashows the numbers involved were pretty small and actually more people ended up coming to the UK under this scheme than were removed in the final six years it was operating in the UK. From 2015 to end of 2020, 3,961 people were transferred to the UK and only 1,763 were removed under the scheme. Mr Rees-Mogg defended the government's Rwanda scheme on BBC Question Time on 23 November. He said that the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) processes refugees in Rwanda. He argued the government's plan was "not that outrageous a thing to do, otherwise the UNHCR,which doesn't want the UK to do it, wouldn't be doing it itself". It is true that the UNHCR,with financial support from the EU, has transferred refugees from Libya to Rwanda under a scheme called theEmergency Transit Mechanism (ETM). However, the ETM is voluntary, not compulsory, like the UK's plan. The ETM offers vulnerable refugees, taken into detention by the Libyan authorities, a choice to have their application processed in Rwanda. Libya - a major transit route for those hoping to reach Europe -is not considered a safe country for refugees. People moved from Libya to Rwanda by the UNHCR are given assistance to resettle elsewhere should they choose to do so. It says that "as of March 2023, 932 refugees from the ETM centre have been resettled to Canada, Sweden, Norway, Finland, France, Belgium, the Netherlands and USA". The prime minister was talking about the number of people who have been returned to other countries from the UK. Mr Sunak did not make clear what type of return he was referring to, but the combination of voluntary and enforced returns this year does add up to about 20,000. Thelatest datashows that 5,095 people were forcibly removed from the UK between January and October 2023. A further 15,204 left the country voluntarily in the same period. About a fifth of the 20,299 people returned so far in 2023 were Albanians. Not all of the 20,000 people returned were failed asylum seekers - some of them were foreign national offenders. What do you want BBC Verify to investigate?

The government has been defending its immigration policies after the release of high migration figures and the Supreme Court's ruling against its plan to send some asylum seekers to Rwanda.

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Alexandra Gregory, 25, from Redditch, sent Daniel Smith fake pregnancy scans and photos of a baby in intensive care. She pleaded guilty to sending malicious communications between August 2020 and February 2021. Chairman of the bench Kevin Lloyd-Wright said Gregory had committed a "prolonged campaign against Mr Smith". "It was planned, sustained and relentless," he said during sentencing at Worcester Magistrates' Court on Thursday. The court heard the pair had had a short relationship between February and July 2020, which ended amicably. However, a month later Mr Smith received a photo of a positive pregnancy test, which was followed by a photo of her with a small bump. The pair met up to discuss the situation where they agreed Gregory would have an abortion. But in October, she sent him a message saying she had changed her mind. After that, Gregory bombarded Mr Smith with messages, including faked baby scans and photos of her in her Birmingham's Women's and Children's Hospital nurse's uniform seemingly with a pregnancy bump. She also sent child maintenance forms and told him that she had been bleeding heavily. The court was told Mr Smith had questioned the legitimacy of the scans, and at one point requested a DNA test, but felt too guilty to confront her. On 2 January 2021 alone, she sent more than 300 messages to him. That month she told Mr Smith she had given birth to a girl called Aria, but added she was "born blue" and sent him photos of a baby in a hospital unit. "Our daughter is in intensive care," she told him. The court heard that the truth finally came to light a month later, when Gregory's father told Mr Smith's aunt that there was no baby. West Mercia Police said Gregory had since gone on to have a baby with another partner and had refused to answer questions during interviews. Prosecuting, Tom Wickstead told the court that the experience had left Mr Smith feeling "like a shadow of himself" while the judge later acknowledged he had suffered "continuous anxiety". Gregory's defence team said she had indeed become pregnant, but the court was told she had suffered a miscarriage at some point before she messaged Mr Smith in October. Her solicitor said she had become distressed with the situation as well as her work as a paediatric nurse during lockdown. He added that the defendant "fully accepted" that she had lied about having Mr Smith's baby and that there was "no sensible explanation for what she did". "She doesn't understand why she did it," he told the court and added that she had been off work in January 2021 due to her mental health. Gregory was sentenced to a four-month prison sentence, suspended for 18 months, as well as a 12-month mental health treatment plan and 20 days of community service. She was also ordered to pay £500 in compensation to Mr Smith and was given a three-year restraining order against him and his mother. Mr Smith's family said his life had not been the same since and they were glad the truth was finally out. A spokesperson for Birmingham Women's and Children's NHS Foundation Trust said Gregory had been suspended pending the police investigation and that it would now "conclude its own internal investigation". Follow BBC West Midlands onFacebook,XandInstagram. Send your story ideas to:[email protected]

A children's cancer nurse who faked having her ex-partner's baby during lockdown has been given a suspended prison sentence.

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Tian Tian and Yang Guang will go back in December under the terms of a 10-year loan, which was extended by two years due to the Covid pandemic. The exact date of the pandas' return is not being disclosed. But the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS), which runs the zoo, has said it will be restricting access to them from Thursday 30 November. The pair arrived in Scotland in 2011 - with the zoo paying £750,000 a year to China - but have failed to produce offspring. The zoo and veterinarians from China made eight unsuccessful attempts at artificial insemination between the pair. The last attempt was in 2021, after which the giant panda breeding programme was stopped. David Field, RZSS chief executive, said, "With more than a million species at risk of extinction and our natural world in crisis, Yang Guang and Tian Tian have had an incredible impact by inspiring millions of people to care about nature." "That added interest in the panda's departure this year has allowed us to connect many more people with the conservation causes that RZSS is actively involved with, and with nature more generally." He added: "Through scientific research by our expert veterinary and keeper teams, working alongside the University of Edinburgh, we have made a significant contribution to our understanding around giant panda fertility, husbandry, and veterinary care - which has been of real benefit to efforts to protect this amazing species in China. "It is encouraging that in recent years the outlook for giant pandas in the wild has improved, which gives real hope for the future."

Edinburgh Zoo is offering visitors a final chance to see its giant pandas before they return to China.

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Shawn Seesahai was stabbed on playing fields near a school in East Park shortly before 20:30 GMT on Monday. The boys, who appeared at Birmingham Magistrates' Court on Friday and cannot be named due to their age, are also charged with possession of a machete. They have been ordered to appear at Wolverhampton Crown Court on Monday. Each dressed in a casual zip-up jumper and a hoodie, the boys appeared in the dock flanked by security guards during a 10-minute hearing before District Judge Graham Wilkinson. They spoke only to confirm their names, ages and addresses. During their appearance, the boys' lawyers confirmed that they would both deny the charges against them. As the boys were led down the steps of the dock after the hearing, they both briefly waved to relatives sitting in the public gallery. No relatives of Mr Seesahai, who is believed to have come to the UK in April this year, were present for the hearing. Mr Seesahai's mother paid tribute to her son on Thursday, saying he was a "courageous, compassionate and confident young soul". "He was looking forward to accomplish many future plans and ambitions. He cared dearly about his family and friends and he absolutely loved to help people," she said in a statement released by West Midlands Police. "He was a generous person and had a good personality. We will always have him in our hearts." Follow BBC West Midlands onFacebook,XandInstagram. Send your story ideas to:[email protected]

Two 12-year-old boys have been remanded into youth custody after being charged with the murder of a 19-year-old man in Wolverhampton.

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Ahmed and Yuval. Palestinian and Israeli. Both 29 years old. Soft-spoken and intense, two writers who believed in describing things as they saw them. Ahmed lived behind a wall that confined two million people in the Gaza Strip. His friend Yuval lived on the other side in Jerusalem, the son of a middle-class Jewish family. They were brought together by stories. Yuval read Ahmed's accounts of Palestinian lives in Gaza on another website and reached out to him with an idea. What if he could find Israelis to translate the stories into Hebrew? "We talked for an hour and it was very, very interesting," recalls Yuval. "And when that hour ended, he told me, 'I never spoke to an Israeli person in my life.' And he said, 'Is it okay if I ask you some questions?' From the interviewer, I became the interviewee. And we spoke for hours on that first call." Together they founded Across the Wall on Facebook. The title comes from the 37 miles (59.5km) of border barriers, 7m (23ft) high, separating the Palestinians in Gaza from Israeli territory. All movement in and out of Gaza is controlled by Israel. Ahmed encouraged Palestinian writers to share their work. Around two hundred Israelis volunteered to translate into Hebrew. The posts could draw angry responses from Israelis. As both men tell it, "blame Hamas for your problems" was a frequent response. "We have a bigger responsibility, a responsibility towards our families, our people in Gaza, who need a voice, and who need someone to call for justice for them," Ahmed says. The decades long conflict has produced dozens of groups dedicated to creating links between Israelis and Palestinians, from non-governmental organisations campaigning against the construction of settlements on Palestinian land, to womens' groups advocating peace, and organizations forging ties between Palestinian and Israeli children. Through all the years of conflict and political failure there have always been individuals and groups willing to try and stand - metaphorically - in the shoes of others. "I am someone who hates wars," Ahmed says. "I am someone who passionately and wholeheartedly believes in peace, and peaceful resistance. I will never call for wars." In 2019 Ahmed was given the opportunity to study in London. From there he continued writing online about Gaza. Then came the moment that triggered a devastating war. On October 7, Hamas attacked Israel killing 1,400 Israelis, the vast majority of them civilians. More than 200 Israelis were kidnapped and are still being held hostage in Gaza. Israeli society was traumatised. Vowing to destroy Hamas, the IDF (Israeli Defence Forces) launched a campaign of relentless airstrikes. A ground offensive would follow. From London, Ahmed monitored the news, thinking constantly of his family, besieged in Gaza. His relatives had gathered together for safety in the same apartment. Two weeks into the war, on 22 October, a missile hit the building killing 21 members of Ahmed's family. He lists the dead; "My father, two brothers, three sisters, 14 nieces and nephews who are children, who are kids under the age of 13." His mother had died of cancer three years earlier. All of a sudden he was alone. "Unless you have experienced what I have, you cannot understand what I am going through," he says. "I would not wish what has happened to me to happen to anybody, not to my worst enemy." In the photographs taken with his lost family, Ahmed's eyes are bright and happy, particularly with the young nephews and nieces he played games with and to whom he gave treats. These days Ahmed is constantly anxious and restless. He takes pills to try and help him sleep. "This is my life now," he says. When Yuval saw the news about Ahmed's family, at first he struggled to find the words to respond. "And from that moment, I cried." Yuval says."I spent the entire day trying to write him something. I didn't really know what to say. I said how sorry I felt." Several days passed and Yuval began to wonder if he would ever again hear from his friend. Then came a voice message. It was Ahmed, his voice wracked with grief, but still a friend. He thanked Yuval for being in touch and said he respected him even more now. Ahmed said he was able to differentiate between Yuval and the Israeli pilot who dropped the bomb that killed his family. When I meet Yuval in Jerusalem he is careful not to try and speak for his friend. I want to know if they will work together in the future. "I think you have to ask him," Yuval responds. "For me, I will. As I said to him, 'I made a commitment to you. I will not stop'." The stand Yuval takes is not without consequences. He has lost friends because of his advocacy of Palestinian rights. In the current heightened atmosphere of the war he is aware that the threat of violence "feels much closer than it was a month ago." When I put the question to Ahmed - will he write for an Israeli audience again? - he is cautious. "I don't know if I will continue working for Across the Wall or not because right now, I feel a sense of failure. I believe that we failed in Across the Wall… our aim was to prevent these wars from happening, but we have failed. "So right now, I don't know, how will I convince other Palestinians to write for Israelis after the massacres that they have endured, after the loss of lives and house?" But then he tells me that he will keep writing. Ahmed cannot be consoled with vague platitudes about peace and understanding. But the work he does with Yuval provides a glimpse of light in a time filled with pain. "I want us to have a decent human life," he says. "We deserve it." With additional reporting from Haneen Abdeen, Alice Doyard, Morgan Gisholt Minard in Jerusalem

They were the same age and shared a common language. Not Arabic. Not Hebrew. Not English. But something larger than words, a humanity that extended beyond the tongue of any tribe.

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More than 240 hostages were snatched at gunpoint on 7 October from their homes or workplaces next to the Gaza Strip, from military bases and a big outdoor dance party. They included some 30 children, the youngest just nine months old. But since Hamas gunmen spirited them away to Gaza, the fates of most remain unknown. For Israelis reeling from last month's bloody massacres, it is an ongoing trauma. "This is the last photo we have of my aunt. She was taken on a motorcycle by two terrorists," says Eyal Nouri, showing me a picture of Amina Moshe, 72, being driven away from Nir Oz, a kibbutz where she lived for 50 years. "No children, no babies, no older women are meant to be part of any conflict. It's something against humanity to kidnap children." Although this is the biggest, over the years, Israel has endured many hostage crises. During the 1980s, the country showed it was ready to pay high prices for its citizens in prisoner swaps with Palestinian and Lebanese armed groups. Sheikh Ahmad Yassin, who later founded Hamas, was freed in one exchange. Even Israeli soldiers' corpses were traded to give them proper Jewish burials. Then in 2006, Hamas kidnapped a soldier, 19-year-old Gilad Shalit, in a cross-border raid. His father, Noam, led a painful five-year campaign to bring him home, stressing the "unwritten contract" between the state and its conscripts. Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister - then as now - signed off on the biggest ever prisoner exchange for a single soldier. More than a thousand inmates were released including Yahya Sinwar, who went on to lead Hamas in Gaza, and apparently masterminded the 7 October attacks. A key figure involved in the Shalit deal sees major differences between the circumstances then and now which he thinks will prevent any comprehensive deal being done. "We had five years and four months to build trust with Gilad Shalit. [Now], we have days. The future of the hostages will be decided in the coming days," says Gershon Baskin, an Israeli peace activist, who led secret backchannel talks with Hamas. The main complication this time, he says, is the scale of atrocities. "What Hamas did, they crossed the line, where it's inconceivable that they will continue to be in power in Gaza after this war is over," Mr Baskin says. "So, there's some kind of built in contradiction to trying to negotiate with the people that you intend on killing." Early on, Qatar did broker the release of an American Israeli mother and daughter and Egypt helped bring out two older Israeli women hostages. However, no bigger agreement has since taken shape. This week, the military wing of Hamas said it was ready to free up to 70 women and children held in Gaza in exchange for a five-day ceasefire. Speaking to the US network, NBC on Sunday, Mr Netanyahu raised the possibility of a deal. The US President Joe Biden has since said he is engaged in daily discussion to secure the release of the hostages and believes it will happen. However, publicly, Israel has rejected a ceasefire, arguing that Hamas would use it to regroup. It has said it could agree to shorter humanitarian pauses in hostilities. Polls suggest that position is supported by many Israelis. In the latest survey by the Israeli Democracy Institute, the most common response - from 38% of people - was that Israel should negotiate a prisoner deal but continue fighting. Overall, 70% of respondents did not think the war should stop. "In return for the hostages they are ready to give Palestinian prisoners. But the popular view is to say: "don't stop the fighting,"" says Professor Tamar Hartmann who conducted the poll. "It's because the cost of stopping the fighting right now might be greater in terms of people's lives, if we stop and the aims of the war will not be achieved." A persistent small group of those polled - about a fifth - refuse any deal making with Hamas. Many Israelis point out how in the past, prisoners - like Yahya Sinwar - who already had blood on their hands were released and went on to plot further deadly attacks. With the odds against them, families and supporters of the hostages are coming up with creative ways of raising public pressure. A huge art installation filling HaBima Square in Tel Aviv features an empty bed for every adult, child and couple missing in Gaza. Every Friday on the Jewish sabbath, relatives gather in what is now known as Hostages Square outside the Museum of Art. They set up a giant table with places set for every person missing. On Tuesday, a large crowd began a 40 mile (63 km) march from Tel Aviv to the prime minister's office in Jerusalem to urge their government to take action. With each passing day, fears grow for the hostages. Hamas says several dozen have already been killed in Israeli air strikes. Past experience has taught Israelis that deals can be done but now the intensity of the ongoing war brings a new level of urgency.

Their smiling faces look down from the sides of skyscrapers, walls between Tel Aviv's restaurants and bars and a giant video screen at a shopping mall entrance.

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Some mobile users may be experiencing difficulties. If you cannot see the quiz, trythis link. Try last week's quiz viathis linkor have a go at something fromthe archives. Compiled by Ben Fell What information do we collect from this quiz?Privacy notice. Sign up for our morning newsletterand get BBC News in your inbox.

It's the weekly news quiz - how closely have you been paying attention to what's been going on in the world over the past seven days?

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The fire broke out on level three of Terminal Car Park 2 on 10 October and was thought to have started in a diesel car before spreading rapidly. The airport said any cars parked on levels ground to three "are not recoverable". However a process is still "ongoing" to remove around 100 vehicles from the top deck. Neil Thompson, operations director at the airport, said: "Regrettably, I can now confirm that, due to the extent of the structural damage, the car park will need to be fully demolished." The decision was confirmed by a "full structural report". Mr Thompson said removal of around 100 vehicles from the top deck was still under way "to stabilise the structure". "This has been a painstaking task and has taken longer than expected, not least because we have been hampered by periods of bad weather and strong winds," he said. He advised anybody who believed their car was on the top deck to contact their insurance companies, which were working to retrieve those vehicles. "It is reassuring to note that the vast majority of insurance claims have been settled," Mr Thompson added. "Customers who have yet to receive a final settlement are advised to contact their insurance company as soon as possible. "On behalf of everyone at London Luton Airport, I would like to thank all affected customers for their patience and understanding as we have worked through this unprecedented situation." Follow East of England news onFacebook,InstagramandX. Got a story? [email protected] WhatsApp 0800 169 1830

The car park that caught fire at Luton Airport will have to be "fully demolished", the airport confirmed.

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The former Chelsea Football Club owner has been sanctioned by the UK and EU but has previously denied any financial relationship with the Russian leader. Now, leaked documents from Cyprus reveal new evidence linking him to a secret $40m (£26m) deal in 2010. Mr Abramovich has not responded to requests for comment from the BBC. The secret deal transferred shares in a highly profitable Russian advertising company, Video International - for less than they appeared to be worth - from companies ultimately owned by a trust connected with Mr Abramovich, to two members of Putin's inner circle. They in turn received millions of dollars in dividends. BBC Newsnight, BBC Verify and Panorama partnered withthe Bureau of Investigative Journalismto uncover the revelations as part ofCyprus Confidential- a global investigation led by reporters at theInternational Consortium of Investigative Journalists(ICIJ) andPaper Trail Media. Confidential records reveal that one of the men involved in the secret deal was Sergei Roldugin, a close friend of the Russian president. A cellist, Mr Roldugin is the artistic director of the St Petersburg Music House. He has known Vladimir Putin since they were young men in St Petersburg, and is reported to have introduced him to Lyudmila Shkrebneva, whom the future president married in 1983 (they are now divorced). Mr Roldugin is the godfather of their first daughter, Maria. The second man is another close associate of President Putin - Alexander Plekhov, a biochemist-turned-businessman, also from St Petersburg. Mr Roldugin and Mr Plekhov have both been accused of being "wallets" for President Putin - secretly holding money and assets on his behalf. Earlier this year, Swiss prosecutors alleged they were "straw men", and not the real owners of assets in bank accounts set up in connection with the Video International deal. The court did not identify anyone as the true ultimate beneficial owner of the accounts. President Putin's stated salary in 2021 was just over $100,000 (£72,700). However, there are rumours his fortune could be worthanywhere between $125bn (£102bn) and $200bn (£164bn), hidden away in a network of shell companies and the accounts of friends. Mr Plekhov has beensanctioned by the UK government, and Mr Roldugin has also been sanctioned by the UK, the EU and the US, which described him as a "custodian of President Putin's offshore wealth". The Cyprus Confidential investigation is based on 3.6 million confidential corporate records from companies providing offshore services in Cyprus, and has focused on its close financial relationship with Russia and now-sanctioned oligarchs, many of whom have used the island to manage their secret offshore holdings. They include documents from a corporate service provider in Cyprus called MeritServus, originally obtained by the whistleblowing groupDistributed Denial of Secrets. MeritServuswas itself sanctioned by the UK earlier this year, after internal documents revealed it had breached sanctions on behalf of one of its Russian clients. MeritServus also worked with Mr Abramovich's companies in Cyprus. The oligarch's wealth totals more than $9bn (£7.3bn) and he has made numerous public investments in sports, arts andhigh-value properties. He became one of the best-known and influential Russian oligarchs in the UK after buying Chelsea FC in London in 2003. He has downplayed his relationship with President Putin, and challenged suggestions of a close financial relationship or that he has acted on behalf of the Russian leader. In 2010, a spokesperson for Mr Abramovich said he had "no financial relationship of any kind with [then] Prime Minister Putin". And in 2021 he sued journalist Catherine Belton over a passage in her book, Putin's People, referring to evidence alleging that he had purchased Chelsea FC in 2003 at President Putin's behest. The case was settled out of court with an agreement by the publisher "to record the position more accurately" and add "a more detailed explanation of Mr Abramovich's motivations". The UK and EU placed Mr Abramovich under sanctions in March 2022 following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The EU said: "He has had privileged access to the president, and has maintained very good relations with him. This connection with the Russian leader helped him to maintain his considerable wealth." Mr Abramovichchallenged the EU sanctionsin court earlier this year. His lawyer claimed the restrictions were prompted by the Russian businessman's "celebrity" rather than "based on evidence". But the secret deal with Mr Roldugin and Mr Plekhov suggests a close financial relationship between Mr Abramovich and President Putin. "This case obviously puts more information onto the table and further endorses the alleged connection between Putin and Abramovich in a way that becomes increasingly difficult to deflect," says Tom Keatinge, director of the Centre for Financial Crime and Security Studies at the defence think tank RUSI. A complex web of companies in Cyprus and the British Virgin Islands, and a trust, concealed the football tycoon's involvement in the transaction - until now. Leaked documents reveal the former Chelsea boss's relationship with two companies that bought a combined 25% stake in Video International in 2003. The two companies - Finoto Holdings and Grosora Holdings - were created in early 2003. Both were ultimately owned, through a series of shell companies, by the Sara Trust Settlement - a trust of which Mr Abramovich was an ultimate beneficiary. Each company bought a 12.5% stake in the Russian advertising giant in September 2003 for the same price - about $130,000 (£80,000) each. The price paid was "ridiculous", says Vladimir Milov, a former energy minister in President Putin's first term and now a vocal opposition leader. "That stake was clearly worth much more, by many orders of magnitude." At the time of the purchase, Video International enjoyed a dominant position in the domestic TV advertising market, taking a cut of any advertising airtime purchased on Russian channels. The company was "half a step away from the Kremlin administration", according to Mr Milov. Mr Abramovich had a stake in Video International for the next seven years. At one point, the company declared a turnover of "more than $2bn [£1.29bn]". Dividends of $30m (£19.3m) were paid out to Finoto and Grosora over that period. Video International reported revenues of $3bn (£1.9bn) in 2010. However, Finoto and Grosora each sold their investment that year for just $20m (£19.5m), a price that appears to be below its fair market value. Finoto Holdings sold its stake to Med Media Network, a company nominally owned by Sergei Roldugin. On the same day as the Finoto Holdings sale, the other Abramovich-linked company, Grosora Holdings, sold its 12.5% stake to Namiral Trading Ltd, a company later linked to Aleksandr Plekhov. Financial links between President Putin and Mr Rolduginwere uncovered in 2016 as part of the Panama Papers, which involved the leak of millions of confidential documents from the Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca. Mr Roldugin, along with Mr Plekhov, was at the centre of a suspected money-laundering scheme run by Bank Rossiya and some of President Putin's closest associates. Bank Rossiya was sanctioned by the US government in 2014, which described it as "the personal bank for senior officials of the Russian Federation". Mr Roldugintold the New York Timesat that time that he was not a businessman and did not "have millions". However, at least on paper, he appeared to have an offshore fortune of over $100m (£61m). "Rodulgin clearly serves… as a cover-up for Putin's personal beneficial ownership," says Vladimir Milov. "This guy is absolutely clearly 100% a nominal figure because he does not understand anything about business, finance, international transactions and so on." Revelations in the Panama Papers about bank accounts held by Mr Roldugin in Switzerland, led to an investigation andthe trial of four Gazprombank employees earlier this year. The bankers were accused by Swiss prosecutors of failing to properly check accounts opened in the name of Roldugin. They were also said to have failed to identify the Russian president's friend as politically exposed - someone whose position or relationships mean that they may be more exposed to risks of corruption, and require more checks under international finance regulations. According to the indictment, accounts with Gazprombank had been simultaneously established for both Med Media Network and Namiral Trading Ltd with an identical "purpose and structure" to "hold shares and receive dividends" from Video International. The prosecutors said the arrangement represented a direct extension of "assets managed... for the Russian political establishment". Mr Roldugin and Mr Plekhov were "straw men", and not the real beneficiaries of the accounts, the prosecutors alleged. All four bankers were convicted, but are reported to be appealing. The BBC wrote to Mr Plekhov, Mr Roldugin, Bank Rossiya and President Putin for comment but have received no response. Many wealthy Russians have used Cyprus, an EU member state, as part of their network of offshore investments. Through these economic relations, Russia is "worth tens of billions of dollars to the Cyprus economy each year", says Fergus Shiel of the ICIJ. The Cyprus Confidential investigation raises "grave issues" for European institutions and EU member states, he continues. "What we can see in these documents is a European member being a conduit for the secret financial operations of the Kremlin, of Vladimir Putin and his cronies." However, there are signs that Cyprus may be cleaning up its act. Following the invasion of Ukraine in 2022, many Russians considered close to the financial assets of President Putin were sanctioned by the EU. This has had direct consequences for those with Cypriot investments. "The sanctions brought home that Cyprus cannot be used by oligarchs to support the dirty orders of Putin," says Alexandra Attalides, an independent Cypriot MP. Meanwhile,reports suggestMr Abramovich now spends his time between the Russian resort of Sochi, Istanbul and Tel Aviv. He has Russian, Israeli and also Portuguese passports. The oligarch remains the subject of sanctions in the UK and EU, but not in the US, where he is understood to still hold considerable assets. You can see more on this story onNewsnighton BBC Two on Tuesday 14 November at 22:30 GMTor on BBC iPlayer

Leaked documents reveal a money trail linking oligarch Roman Abramovich to two men dubbed "wallets" of President Vladimir Putin.

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Lisa Marie wrote to the film-maker to raise concerns four months before her death in January,Variety reported. The film tells the story of her mother Priscilla, who met Elvis at the age of 14. Priscilla has supported the movie. He is depicted with "sensitivity and complexity", Coppola told Lisa Marie. The film, titled Priscilla, is based on Priscilla's 1985 memoir Elvis and Me. In one email, Lisa Marie reportedly wrote: "My father only comes across as a predator and manipulative. "As his daughter, I don't read this and see any of my father in this character. I don't read this and see my mother's perspective of my father. I read this and see your shockingly vengeful and contemptuous perspective and I don't understand why?" Priscilla is credited as an executive producer on the film, but Lisa Marie threatened to speak out publicly against it and her mother's support for it. "I am worried that my mother isn't seeing the nuance here or realizing the way in which Elvis will be perceived when this movie comes out," she wrote. "I feel protective over my mother who has spent her whole life elevating my father's legacy. I am worried she doesn't understand the intentions behind this film or the outcome it will have." As well as supplying the source material and being an executive producer, Priscilla has given a number of interviews to support the film. She told Piers Morgan's TalkTV show on Thursday that it was an accurate depiction of her and her relationship with the King of Rock 'n' Roll. Coppola, who won an Oscar in 2004 for the screenplay for Lost in Translation, "did some homework", Priscilla said. "She and I, we talked about it." Referring to the start of their relationship in 1959 when she was just 14 and he was 24 and serving in the US Army in Germany, Priscilla told Morgan it was "a different time". Elvis was "unique", she said. "I don't know about grooming me. I didn't take it at that. I'd never heard the word. Obviously it's all new now, but he loved to take me to beautiful stores to buy me an outfit. I didn't have any money. He would take me to the movies every night." She said she understood why people today would think it was inappropriate. "But I was 14 in Germany, and there was always people around," she said. "Our talks were private, but he never ever, ever, ever was aggressive, nor did he ever make love to me [until they got married when she was 21]. I was someone he trusted to talk to and pour his heart out [to]." Coppola's representative gave Variety the message she sent to Lisa Marie in reply to her emails. "I hope that when you see the final film you will feel differently, and understand I'm taking great care in honouring your mother, while also presenting your father with sensitivity and complexity," she wrote. Critics have questioned how modern viewers will feel about watching Priscilla and Elvis's early relationship. "Even considering the time period, it's a creepy sight for 2023 eyes,"wrote USA Today's Brian Truitt. "Some audiences no doubt will bristle at a 14-year-old girl in a sexually adjacent situation,"wrote The Hollywood Reporter's David Rooney."But Coppola handles that aspect nonjudgmentally." Rolling Stone's Marlow Stern said:"Elvis is depicted in the film as being gentlemanly toward his teen paramour, as off-putting as their courtship looks through 21st-Century eyes." In the New York Times, Ben Kenigsberg saidthe power dynamic is "appalling from a contemporary standpoint". He added: "Die-hard Elvis fans will no doubt call some of the characterization in Priscilla slander, but part of the achievement here is that Elvis is not simply a monster." The film was released widely in the US on Friday and stars Cailee Spaeny in the title role, with Jacob Elordi playing Elvis. It will reach cinemas in the UK in January. It comes a year after the film Elvis, in which Austin Butler played the singer and Tom Hanks was his manager Colonel Tom Parker. Lisa Marie died at the age of 54 after a cardiac arrest caused by a "small bowel obstruction" that arose following weight-loss surgery she'd had several years earlier.

Lisa Marie Presley complained to director Sofia Coppola that a new film's script made her father Elvis out to be "a predator and manipulative", according to Hollywood outlet Variety.

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Dame Priti Patel told the Covid inquiry the penalty - introduced ahead of the August bank holiday in 2020 - was not proportionate. She added that, along with her officials at the Home Office, she had pushed back against it at the time. Hundreds of such fines were issued by police during the pandemic. At the time, the government said the penalty - for hosting unlawful gatherings of more than 30 people - would act as a "new deterrent" against rule breaches. It was subsequently criticised in a report by MPs in September 2021, who argued fines of such size should only be imposed by a court. However, evidence heard by the Covid inquiry showed the extent to which the fines were part of the government's strategy for encouraging compliance. A handwritten note from former PM Boris Johnson suggested he wanted them emphasised when restrictions were eased in the summer of 2020. "I agree with the openings, but the OVERRIDING MESSAGE should be about tougher enforcement and BIGGER FINES," it read. The lawyer for the inquiry noted the "crushing irony" of the memo. Mr Johnson was himself handed a £50 fine forbreaking different Covid-era restrictions in April last year. According National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC) datafrom June 2021, 366 fines of £10,000 were issued by police forces in England and Wales. In its 2021 report, MPs on the Commons justice committee said the government should not rely on large spot fines to enforce public health laws, adding police could not take people's financial circumstances into account. Elsewhere in her testimony, Dame Priti said she felt the policing of the2021 vigilto remember murder victim Sarah Everard was "totally inappropriate". The Metropolitan Police was criticised for its handling of the unofficial event, which saw hundreds of people gather on Clapham Common, south London, after a planned event was cancelled. The force was later found to have breached the rights of the organisers - and subsequently apologised and paid damages to two women arrested at the event. A WhatsApp message shown at the inquiry from Lord Frost, then a Cabinet Office minister, suggested there was concern about the regulations within government at the time. "Truth is the rules on outside gatherings are close to unenforceable and are evidently being widely ignored in all kinds of contexts now," his message read. Dame Priti also accepted that the Covid regulations had proved confusing for both the public and police - but said drafting the legislation was "solely the domain" of Matt Hancock's health department. Giving evidence ahead of Dame Priti, former police leader Martin Hewitt said forces had struggled to keep on top of the many rule changes. Mr Hewitt, who was boss of the national police chiefs' council throughout the pandemic, also said officers should have been consulted more often when rules were drafted. He added in one case officers had to delay enforcement of a new Covid regulation, having received only 16 minutes' notice before it legally came into effect. He also said ministers had created "confusion" among the public about the requirements by conflating laws and guidance during media interviews.

On-the-spot fines of £10,000 for breaching Covid laws on large gatherings were too high, the home secretary during the pandemic has said.

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Time for one of the country's finest ceremonial occasions, when a good chunk of all the King's horses and all the King's men trot from the Palace to Parliament before the monarch makes a speech to MPs, members of the House of Lords and all of us. Tuesday's speech will be one of those bizarrely British mashups of arcane tradition (10 points if you know what the Cap of Maintenance is) and modern politics. It's a big moment for a new monarch. And it's the last chance for a government in trouble to introduce a programme of new laws in the hope of shaking them out of the doldrums and grabbing your attention. New laws take a long time to go through Parliament. So while Prime Minister Rishi Sunak still has at least a year to try to turn things around before he must call an election, the speech is, insiders admit privately, more or less the last chance for the Conservatives to transform ideas into reality - if they want to get them on the statute book before we all go to the polls. But all the fancy regal fanfares in the world on Tuesday might be drowned out by bigger realities. Top of the list, the conflict in the Middle East. Whether it is the fraught practicalities of helping Brits get out of Gaza, or the diplomatic efforts to coax Israel to pause hostilities there, the conflict is naturally gobbling up political time and energy - and dominating the headlines. Although it is Labour leader Keir Starmer, not Rishi Sunak,who is facing more political pressure on the matterfrom many within his own ranks. Next,days of evidence at the Covid inquiry are confirming, in ever-more gruesome detail, just how grim the atmosphere was at the top of government during the pandemic. And much more important thanDominic Cummings' habit of inventing ever more vile swear words, evidence this week suggested that in a moment of profound national emergency,our government just could not cope. Memories of those agonising months have been stirred. We have seen in black and white, from messages between senior officials, that the notion of spreading the virus - "herd immunity" like chicken pox - was indeed part of the initial approach that was subsequently denied. And the civil service boss of the Department for Health said, on the record, that the first lockdown was a week too late. Remember just how bitter the political arguments were about the timing of the lockdown, and whether herd immunity had ever been the plan. The Covid evidence this week is important for the simple reason that the inquiry is trying to build a complete record of what happened during those months of emergency. But the daily drip of claims hampers Rishi Sunak's ability to move on. He was the second most senior minister in the government that struggled so badly, described by one of itsmost senior civil servants as a "terrible, tragic, joke". His "Eat Out to Help Out" scheme, it has already emerged, wasbranded "Eat out to help the virus" by government medics. The prime minister consistently tries to present himself to the public as a clean break from several years of chaos. But the inquiry's reminders of the problems of the pandemic, and the political failures, dredge up memories of all that. Even without those two huge blocks in his political path, is Mr Sunak planning to seize Tuesday as a day of radical action anyway? Erm… no. Insiders caution against expecting any shiny new ideas or revolutionary plans. You canread a primer on what might be coming up here. Some cabinet ministers worry it is all a bit "managerial", all a bit "tinkering", not really talking to the problems millions of voters are facing right now. The AI summit, andRishi Sunak's encounter with tech billionaire Elon Musk, complete with dropped consonants and a mid-Atlantic twang, showed that No 10 can generate attention - it can make things happen. But whether that is translated into an energetic and packed actual programme to get things done on Tuesday? Don't be so sure. While a senior source says the King's Speech is a "chance to reset the dynamic", don't expect big surprises to make that happen. You will see laws coming to bring in changes on sentencing that were announced at party conference last month. You will also likely see a new law on oil and gas licences that will try to set a trap for Labour. It is one of those strange things in politics where sometimes a government will introduce a law that isn't necessarily needed, but will just make life awkward for their opponents. There are divisions in the Labour Party over whether or not new licences should be granted for fossil fuel exploration. If the Tories make them vote on it, that could be politically tricky for Keir Starmer. So on Tuesday, the biggest fanfare may be from the real trumpets that will sound in Parliament, not political excitement. The ongoing conflict in the Middle East, and last week's revelations from the Covid inquiry, both make it harder for the government to be heard. But this coming week, a coming reminder of perhaps Rishi Sunak's biggest obstacle. Like any prime minister, he has to deal with "events" beyond his control that can knock any leader off course. The real nightmare though, is how to escape from under the weight of what has gone wrong under Conservative PMs who have gone before. As King, Tuesday will be Charles's first outing in that grandest of ceremonies in Parliament. Without a dramatic turn for Rishi Sunak, this King's Speech could be this PM's last. PS: The "Cap of Maintenance" is a red velvet hat, lined with ermine, that is one of the Royal Family's insignia. It's normally carried by the leader of the House of Lords on these big days as part of the procession. If you got that right, 10 points and your prize, along with everyone else, is to watch the Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden in the studio with me tomorrow morning at 09:00 on BBC One, along with our other guests and a special interview with the Succession star, Sarah Snook. FollowLaura on Twitter

Grab your trumpet! Polish the golden carriage! Dust down the throne! It's nearly time. Time for Charles III to make history, giving the first King's Speech in 70 years.

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The inflation figure gives us an idea of how fast the cost of living is rising in the UK but here are a few things you might not know. According to the Office for National Statistics, UK inflation was4.6% in the year to October, which is much lower than the recent peak of 11.1% seen last year. So does this mean prices are on their way down too? Unfortunately not. Prices are still rising quite sharply compared to a year ago, just at a slower rate than they have been. Prices are still likely to keep going up over the next few months, but not at the rate that has caused such a shock to households and businesses across the country over the past year. The inflation figure is an average - so your own cost of living could be rising at a very different rate to what's reported in the news, depending on what you spend your money on. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) which calculates inflation, bases its numbers on a basket of goods that reflects what most people across the UK are buying. But it doesn't include everything. So if you are buying a lot of unusual or niche items, or you have atypical tastes, you might find the cost of your own bag of shopping is going up more quickly - or more slowly - than the headlines suggest. Food inflation is currently at 10.1%, much higher than the average overall rate of inflation, so people who spend a greater proportion of their outgoings on food will find their personal inflation rate is higher than the 4.6% headline figure. The ONS says energy, food, and drink accounts for around 15% of lower-income households' spending, compared to 10% for high-income groups. The Bank of England tries to control inflation by putting up interest rates which makes it more expensive to borrow money. This encourages people to borrow and spend less, and save more. The Bank is expected to stick with that strategy - of putting up interest rates - throughout this year. So if you have a tracker mortgage or a credit card or loan you could find yourself paying more interest. That's another way your own personal inflation rate could be affected. Occasionally prices will fall very slightly compared to the previous month, but they are much less likely to fall year-on-year. And while this might be difficult to believe right now, falling prices aren't always a good thing - here's why. If people expect that prices are likely to fall, they delay spending with the aim of getting a cheaper deal later on. That means businesses have less money coming in, so they try to find ways to cut costs - most likely by cutting wages or laying off staff. So prices falling can mean people lose their jobs, which in turn makes prices fall further. This is called "deflation", a different kind of economic crisis that brings its own set of problems. That's why the Bank of England aims to have prices consistently rising by 2% - it's better to aim for a bit of inflation than to risk the negative effects of prices falling. It's important to remember that the price rises we've seen recently have been primarily driven by global energy prices. These are expected to come down, but not to as low as they were before, and any fall in energy prices will take time to feed through into the wider economy.

Every month we report the UK's inflation figures, but what does this percentage going up or down actually mean for your money?

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Some of those struggling to pay have been forced on to more expensive prepayment meters, prompting energy regulator Ofgemto strengthen rules to protect consumers. The government launched its Energy Price Guarantee in October 2022. It replaced the previousOfgem energy price cap, and limited a typical dual-fuel household's annual energy bill to £2,500. This remained in place until the end of June 2023, when the Ofgem cap was reinstated, at which pointa typical annual energy bill fell to £2,074. Under the previous price cap,typical annual bills fell to around £1,923 between October and December. The energy regulator has since changed its estimates of the typical amount of gas and electricity used by households, and recalculated the cap to £1,834. That willrise by 5% to £1,928 in January. If you don't agree a payment plan with your supplier, they might try to force you to have prepayment meter installed, or they mayswitch an existing smart meter to prepayment mode. In very rare cases, if you haven't paid a bill after 28 days, you might be threatened with disconnection, but you'll normally be offered a meter first. If you've reached state pension age, your supplier can't disconnect you between 1 October and 31 March if you either: Suppliers can pass your details to a debt collection agency - and you might be charged more to cover the cost of this. Many suppliers also charge extra fees for late payments. Paying by direct debit is normally the cheapest way to pay for electricity and gas. Cancelling a direct debit means future bills are likely to be higher. Non-payment could also damage your credit rating, and make it harder to borrow money. The regulator Ofgem reviewed the use of prepayment meters after aninvestigation by The Timesfound debt agents acting for British Gaswrongly broke into vulnerable people's homes to fit meters. Energy suppliers were subsequently banned from forcing a pre-payment meter on a customer while Ofgem investigated. The regulator has now said companies may resume the practice but must first get its permission and a court warrant. Ofgem believes suppliers should be allowed to retrieve their debts. However, undernew rules, suppliers must give customers more opportunity to clear their debts, contacting them at least 10 times before installing a meter. They also have to conduct a "site welfare visit". Ofgem says no company has yet passed its new stricter tests. The rules state meters cannot be fitted for: Those forced onto a prepayment meter will get £30 initial credit to reduce the risk of them losing supply. The government has said prepayment energy chargeswill be cut, bringing them in line with direct debit rates. Suppliers have also been told to identify households where meters were wrongfully installed, return the customer to their previous tariff and offer compensation. Check your direct debit Your monthly payment is based on your estimated energy use for the year, andyour supplier may reduce your bill if its estimate is higher than the amount you actually use. You can also request a flexible monthly direct debit where you only pay for your actual consumption. This requires a smart meter or regular readings. However, two-thirds of gas usage is during the winter months, so make sure you understand the impact of reducing payments during warmer weather. Pay what you can If the direct debit is fair, but you can't meet it, ask your supplier for an "able to pay plan" based on what you can afford. By paying something every month - even if it's less than the amount due - your arrears grow more slowly, and your supplier may be less worried about your debt. You may be able to get your name added tothe Priority Services Register (PSR), a list of households entitled to extra support. Those eligible include pensioners, pregnant women, parents of young children, and people who are disabled. Ofgem also recommends asking your supplier to add your name to the Network Operator Register, if you rely on your energy supply for medical reasons. If you have different gas and electricity suppliers, you need to contact them both. Being on the PSR doesn't cancel your arrears. But it does show that you are vulnerable, which your supplier should take into account. Claim any relevant benefits Theindependent MoneyHelper websitehas a useful guide to available benefits, whilePolicy in Practiceand the charitiesEntitledtoandTurn2usrun benefits calculators. You may also be able to repay your debt directly from your benefits through the government'sFuel Direct scheme. A number of suppliers and charitiesalso offer hardship grants. Check you're getting extra government help There isa range of government support to help with energy bills, available to households on means-tested benefits, pensioners and people on certain disability benefits. The next payments for some eligible groups should have been made between 31 October and 19 November. Adjust your boiler If you have a combi boiler at home - you don't have a hot water cylinder and there is a (usually white) plastic pipe under the boiler - you may wish to consider turning down the heating flow temperature. On the front - sometimes behind a flap - look for a dial or set of buttons with a radiator icon. Turn the dial to the number three, or the 12 o'clock position. If it has a digital display, select 60C. You may also want to turn off the hot water pre-heat. Many boilers come on every few hours - night and day - to ensure there's always some hot water available. Most homes don't need this, and turning it off saves money.

Annual energy bills will rise in January when households look to keep warm during the coldest time of year.

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Actors' union Sag-Aftra announced some details of its agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and TV Producers (AMPTP) on Friday. It said its national board had voted to back the agreement with 86% approval. It will be sent to the union's 160,000 members for final ratification next week. But actors are able to return to work immediately. The agreement was announced by the union on Wednesday, bringing a likely end to a four-month strike that, combined with a separate writers' strike, severely disrupted film and TV production. On Friday, it gave more detail on its contents and said it included, among other things: "We collectively feel this deal was made at the point it should've been made," chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland said in Los Angeles. "It achieves the absolute best." He said the AI protections "make sure that performers are protected. Their rights to consent are protected. Their rights to fair compensation and their rights to employment are protected". Studios have been experimenting with AI in recent years, and safeguards for actors formed a key part of the negotiations. There were some fears that background actors could be the first to lose their jobs as a result of AI. "No use of a digital replica can be used to evade engagement and payment of a background actor under this contract," Mr Crabtree-Ireland said. The union earlier said it valued the three-year deal, which was welcomed by high-profile stars including Jamie Lee Curtis and Zac Efron, at more than $1bn (£814m). A full summary of the contract is due to be released on Monday. Although Hollywood's star actors earn millions of dollars, many lesser-known performers often struggle to get by, particularly amid rising inflation and industry changes. The 118-day shutdown was the longest in the union's 90-year history. The combination of the actors' and writers' strikes is estimated to have cost the California economy more than $6.5bn, according to Deadline. As well as production delays, actors did not attend events such as premieres while the strike was taking place, as union rules prohibit them from taking any work, including promotion or publicity for projects.

A tentative deal between actors and Hollywood studios includes AI safeguards and requirements for intimacy co-ordinators on set.

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The Department for Education (DfE) should say how many surveys are yet to be carried out and how many temporary classrooms have been ordered, it said. The report comes a month after the last official list confirmed 214 schools and colleges had reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (Raac). The DfE rejected the assessment. A spokeswoman said the government had "taken swift action, responding to new evidence, to identify and support all schools with Raac to ensure the safety of pupils and teachers". Labour's shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson said Education Secretary Gillian Keegan "should come to the House of Commons and explain when she and her Conservative ministers are going to get a grip of this crisis". The Public Accounts Committee, which scrutinises the delivery of public services, warned the list of schools with Raac would grow, and expressed concern that the DfE "does not have a good enough understanding of the risks in schools". Its report set out 10 recommendations for the DfE, calling on it to: Dame Meg Hillier, chair of the committee, said many schools were "still not sure where they stand or whether they'll get the money to sort out the problems that they've got". The report also stressed broader concerns about the state of school buildings, noting that the DfE was yet to establish whether asbestos was present in around 1,000 schools. It warned that the government's School Rebuilding Programme was behind schedule and would not be able to help many schools that ultimately need rebuilding. The condition of schools was worse in the north of England, it added, as well as in rural and coastal areas. A DfE spokeswoman said questionnaire responses had been gathered from all education settings "in affected areas" and most schools did not have Raac. "We have been clear that we will do whatever it takes to remove Raac from the school and college estate. We are working closely with schools with Raac to ensure remediation work is carried out and disruption to learning is minimised," she said. "Our School Rebuilding Programme is continuing to rebuild and refurbish school buildings in the poorest condition, with the first 400 projects selected ahead of schedule." An estimated 700,000 children in England are being taught in unsafe or ageing school buildings that need major repairs, according toa National Audit Office report from June. The presence of Raac was thrust into the spotlight at the end of August when the government told affected schools without safety mitigations to shut days before the start of term. The sudden change in approach leftsome pupils learning from homefor weeks as head teachers scrambled to make alternative arrangements. The DfE spokeswoman said "only a small handful" of schools taught remotely "for a short period". The DfE first published a list of affected schools on 19 September. It had suggested it would update it every fortnight, but so far that has only happened once, on 19 October. It said 202 of the 214 were now offering full-time face-to-face education. For some schools, that may mean things are more or less back to normal. But at others, children are being taught in sports halls, corridors, temporary classrooms including marquees, nearby schools and external buildings. One parent, whose children's school was waiting for asbestos to be cleared so a Raac survey could be carried out last month,told the BBC she felt her children had been forgotten. In September, the DfE suggested 29 schools required temporary classrooms, of which 11 already had them in place, and orders have been made for at least 180 single and 68 double classrooms. This month, the government awarded three contracts worth up to £35m to providers of temporary classrooms. Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said it "appears to be taking an eternity to put in place remedial measures". "We are gravely concerned that when the government eventually gets around to permanent solutions for affected schools it will do so at the expense of other schools that desperately need upgrading," he said. Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the head teachers' union NAHT, said he was "increasingly concerned", especially for exam students in affected schools. "Many schools are still awaiting temporary classrooms and are having to repurpose dining halls, PE facilities, and spaces for after-school provision and wrap-around care," he said. Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the National Education Union, said schools needed "substantial new money to tackle a crisis in school buildings". Are you affected by the issues raised in this story? Share your experiences by [email protected]. Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways: If you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of theBBC websiteto submit your question or comment or you can email us [email protected]. Please include your name, age and location with any submission.

A "lack of basic information" about work to address dangerous concrete in schools in England is "shocking and disappointing", a report by MPs says.

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Victoria Atkins, who is the Louth and Horncastle MP, is married to British Sugar managing director Paul Kenward. Ms Atkins said she would recuse herself from some government business if necessary. The Department of Health and Social Care said Ms Atkins had declared all her outside interests. "Anyone who knows me knows that I am very, very independently minded," Ms Atkins said. "I voted enthusiastically for the sugar tax when that came before Parliament." Before becoming health secretary in the Prime Minister's reshuffle on Monday, Ms Atkins had previously been financial secretary to the Treasury. It is not the first time Ms Atkins has been challenged over her husband's business interests. In 2018, when she was a drugs minister she wasaccused of "hypocrisy"over British Sugar's licence to produce a non-psychoactive variant of the cannabis plant. The Home Office stated the MP had declared the interest and had recused herself voluntarily from "policy or decisions relating to cannabis, including licensing". Ms Atkins said: "I have always been scrupulous in ensuring that those interests are declared and that I recuse myself from any such decisions. "Not because I think I am at risk of being in any way influenced but I am very conscious of the perception of that." The secretary of state said she had a "complicated relationship" with sugar as a type 1 diabetic. "I am focused on ensuring the health of our country," she said. "I want to work with our healthcare professionals both in the NHS and in social care and that is how we are going to tackle some of these very big public health issues." Follow BBC East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire onFacebook,X (formerly Twitter), andInstagram. Send your story ideas [email protected]

The new health secretary has insisted there is no conflict of interest with her husband's senior role in the British sugar industry.

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About 1,200 people were killed, while the Israeli military says more than 200 soldiers and civilians, including women and children, were taken to Gaza as hostages. More than 14,000 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed in air and artillery strikes carried out by the Israeli military in response, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza. Britain took control of the area known as Palestine following the defeat of the Ottoman Empire, which ruled that part of the Middle East, in World War One. The land was inhabited by a Jewish minority and Arab majority, as well as other, smaller ethnic groups. Tensions between the two peoples grew when the international community gave the UK the task of establishing a "national home" in Palestine for Jewish people. This stemmed from the Balfour Declaration of 1917, a pledge made by then Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour to Britain's Jewish community. The declaration was enshrined in the British mandate over Palestine and endorsed by the newly-created League of Nations - forerunner of the United Nations - in 1922. To Jews Palestine was their ancestral home, but Palestinian Arabs also claimed the land and opposed the move. Between the 1920s and 1940s, the number of Jews arriving there grew, with many fleeing from persecution in Europe, especially the Nazi Holocaust in World War Two. Violence between Jews and Arabs, and against British rule, also increased. In 1947, the UN voted for Palestine to be split into separate Jewish and Arab states, with Jerusalem becoming an international city. That plan was accepted by Jewish leaders but rejected by the Arab side and never implemented. In 1948, unable to solve the problem, Britain withdrew and Jewish leaders declared the creation of the State of Israel. It was intended to be a safe haven for Jews fleeing persecution, as well as a national homeland for Jews. Fighting between Jewish and Arab militias had been intensifying for months, and the day after Israel declared statehood, five Arab countries attacked. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled or were forced out of their homes in what they call Al Nakba, orthe "Catastrophe" By the time the fighting ended in a ceasefire the following year, Israel controlled most of the territory. Jordan occupied land which became known as the West Bank, and Egypt occupied Gaza. Jerusalem was divided between Israeli forces in the West, and Jordanian forces in the East. Because there was never a peace agreement there were more wars and fighting in the following decades. In a war in 1967, Israel occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank, as well as most of the Syrian Golan Heights, Gaza and the Egyptian Sinai peninsula. Most Palestinian refugees and their descendants live in Gaza and the West Bank, as well as in neighbouring Jordan, Syria and Lebanon. Neither they nor their descendants have been allowed by Israel to return to their homes - Israel says this would overwhelm the country and threaten its existence as a Jewish state. Israel still occupies the West Bank and claims the whole of Jerusalem as its capital, while the Palestinians claim East Jerusalem as the capital of a hoped-for future Palestinian state. The US is one of only a handful of countries to recognise the city as Israel's capital. In the past 50 years Israel has built settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, where more than 700,000 Jews now live. Settlements are held to be illegal under international law - that is the position of the UN Security Council and the UK government, among others - although Israel rejects this. Gaza is a narrow strip of land sandwiched between Israel and the Mediterranean Sea, but with a short southern border with Egypt. Just 41km (25 miles) long and 10km wide, it has more than two million inhabitants and is one of the most densely populated places on Earth. In the wake of the 1948-49 war, Gaza was occupied by Egypt for 19 years. Israel occupied Gaza in the 1967 war and stayed until 2005, during that time building Jewish settlements. Israel withdrew its troops and settlers in 2005, though it retained control over its airspace, shared border and shoreline. The UN still considers the territory to be occupied by Israel. There are a number of issues which the two sides cannot agree on. These include: Israel-Palestinian peace talks were held on and off between the 1990s and 2010s, interspersed with outbreaks of violence. A negotiated peace did seem possible in the early days. A series of secret talks in Norway became the Oslo peace process, forever symbolised by a ceremony on the White House lawn in 1993 presided over by President Bill Clinton. In a historic moment, the Palestinians recognised the State of Israel and Israel recognised its historical enemy, the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), as the sole representative of the Palestinian people. A self-governing Palestinian Authority was set up. Cracks soon appeared, though, with then opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu calling Oslo a mortal threat to Israel. The Israelis accelerated their project to settle Jews in the occupied Palestinian territories. The recently emerged Palestinian militant group Hamas sent suicide bombers to kill people in Israel and wreck the chances of a deal. The atmosphere in Israel turned ugly, culminating in Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin's assassination by a Jewish extremist on 4 November 1995. In the 2000s attempts were made to revive the peace process - including in 2003 when a roadmap was devised by world powers with the ultimate goal of a two-state solution, but this was never implemented. Peace efforts finally stalled in 2014, when talks failed between the Israelis and Palestinians in Washington. The mostrecent peace plan - prepared by the USwhen Donald Trump was president - was called "the deal of the century" by Prime Minister Netanyahu, but was dismissed by the Palestinians as one-sided and never got off the ground. Gaza is ruled by Hamas, an Islamist group which is committed to the destruction of Israel and is designated as a terrorist group by the UK and many other countries. Hamas won the Palestinians' last elections in 2006, and seized control of Gaza the following year by ousting the rival Fatah movement of West Bank-based President Mahmoud Abbas. Since then, militants in Gaza have fought several wars with Israel, which along with Egypt has maintained a partial blockade on the strip to isolate Hamas and try to stop attacks, particularly the indiscriminate firing of rockets towards Israeli cities. Palestinians in Gaza say Israel's restrictions and its air strikes on heavily populated areas amount to collective punishment. This year has been the deadliest year on record for Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. They also complain of the restrictions and military actions being carried out there in response to deadly attacks on Israelis. These tensions could have been one of the reasons for Hamas's latest attack. But the militants may also have been seeking to boost their popularity among ordinary Palestinians, including by using hostages to pressure Israel to free some of the estimated 4,500 Palestinians held in its prisons. The US, the European Union and other Western countries have all condemned the Hamas attack on Israel. The US, Israel's closest ally, has over the years given the Jewish state more than $260bn in military and economic aid, and has promised additional equipment, air defence missiles, guided bombs and ammunition. It has also sent two aircraft carrier strike groups to the eastern Mediterranean to deter Israel's enemies, particularly Lebanon's Hezbollah movement, from opening a second front in the war. Russia and China have both refused to condemn Hamas, and say they are maintaining contact with both sides in the conflict. Russian President Vladimir Putin has blamed US policy for the absence of peace in the Middle East. Iran, Israel's arch-enemy, is a key supporter of Hamas, as well as Hezbollah, whose militants have been exchanging fire with Israeli forces almost daily since Hamas's attack. Questions have been asked about Iran's role in the Hamas' attack, after reports said it gave the go-ahead days before. Tehran has, however,denied any involvement.

The Palestinian militant group Hamas launched an unprecedented assault on Israel on 7 October, with hundreds of gunmen infiltrating communities near the Gaza Strip.

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In a surprising move, former Prime Minister David Cameron makes his return to frontline politics as foreign secretary - seven years after he left Downing Street. Click hereif you cannot see the Cabinet Guide.

Rishi Sunak has made changes to his cabinet, replacing Suella Braverman as home secretary with James Cleverly.

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Eight million people on means-tested benefits, such as universal credit, were due to get £300directly by 19 November, without the need to make a claim. It is the second of three instalments that will eventually total £900. But an influential committee of MPs has said these payments have been insufficient to tackle the extent of the financial problem many people face. Some groups are receiving payments to help with higher bills, including: All are paid directly into eligible recipients' bank accounts, and people are being warned about scammers using the situation to try to trick people into handing over personal information. The payment, in three instalments of £301, £300 and £299, is available to households who receive the following benefits: The payment reference on a recipient's bank account is their national insurance number, followed by DWP COL. The 1.1 million people who receive only working tax credit or child tax credit, rather than any of the other benefits, are also now being paid the latest sum, with the reference HMRC COLS. People are not eligible for these payments if they receive the new-style employment and support allowance, contributory employment and support allowance, or the new-style jobseeker's allowance - unless they get universal credit. Anyone who thinks they should have received the help but did not should contact the office that pays their benefit or tax credits, orreport it here. To qualify for the latest instalment, people had to have claimed a benefits payment between 18 August and 17 September, or received a payment for an assessment period ending between these dates. Pensioner households may be able to have a new pension credit claim backdated. An estimated 850,000 pensioner householdsdo not claim pension credit, which is a gateway to these extra payments. Othereligibility details are outlined here. None of these cost-of-living payments affect the tax you pay, or the benefits or tax credits you receive. Up to six million people on the following disability benefits received another £150: Those payments were made between 20 June and 4 July. Households that receive the winter fuel payment - which is worth £200-£300 and is paid to nearly all homes with at least one person of pension age - received an extra £300 in November or December 2022, and will get another £300 this coming winter. Lower-income pensioners who claim pension credit get the money in addition to the support provided for those on benefits. Two payments totalling £650 were made in 2022 to more than eight million low-income households. Payments of £300 were also paid to pensioners during last winter, and a £150 payment was also made to those with disabilities. Some people would have received all of those payments, if they were eligible. A £150 rebate, often through people's council tax bill, was made last year. The Household Support Fund, which is distributed by local councils, helped vulnerable people, including giving fuel vouchers to those in need. All household energy bills were cut by at least £400between October 2022 and March 2023. The discount was made automatically by energy suppliers in England, Scotland and Wales. However, there are no plans to repeat this in the coming winter. Separate arrangements were madefor households in Northern Ireland, which has its own energy market. They received a single payment of £600 starting in January, which was more than in the rest of the UK because a higher proportion of households use heating oil. Direct debit customers in Northern Ireland had the money paid into their bank accounts. Other customers were sent a voucher. Following an inquiry, the Commons Work and Pensions Committee published a report in Novemberwhich said payments were not enough for many people, given the scale of the problem. The report said the money only provided a temporary reprieve for some. It said payments were insufficient for those with extra costs associated with their disabilities and there was particular concern for some larger families. Disability charity Scope says some people cannot afford to power vital equipment. The report said the payments have had an important impact, but the system was relatively unsophisticated, meaning some of those in need slipped through the net. Significantly, it argues that, in the future, the government should consider increasing benefits rather than giving ad-hoc payments. The government's response is that cost-of-living payments have provided "a significant financial boost to millions of households" and that the best long-term approach to financial security is to get people into work and boost their skills. The government launchedan Energy Price Guaranteein October 2022, which limited a typical dual-fuel household's annual energy bill to £2,500 throughout last winter. The scheme, which applied to England, Wales and Scotland, is still in place if needed, but has not been required since July. That's because a typical bill fell below this level under regulator Ofgem's energy price cap in the summer, and fell further in October. However, it is set togo up by 5% to £1,928 in January. A government scheme to cut energy bills for businesses finished at the end of March. Under anew scheme that began in April, firms get a discount on wholesale prices rather than costs being capped as under the previous deal. Heavy energy-using sectors, like glass, ceramics and steelmakers, get a larger discount than others. How is the rising cost of living affecting you? Please get in touch by emailing:[email protected]. Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways: If you are reading this page and can't see the form you can email us [email protected]. Please include your name, age and location with any submission.

Millions of low-income households across the UK should now have receivedthe latest instalment of cost-of-living payments.

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Tina Fey's "new twist" on her 2004 hit is a screen adaptation of theMean Girls musical(whose Broadway run was cut short due to the pandemic), and is released on 12 January. Fans have been analysing the first trailer - released last week - in minute detail, with some questioning why it features no hint the new film is a musical (Paramount Pictures has since released a furthershorter clipwith a sprinkling of song). The opening titles make an overt play for Gen Z fans, telling viewers "this is not your mother's Mean Girls". Perhaps unsurprisingly, this move has proved divisive with the millennials who watched the original film as tweens and teens. After all, Mean Girls may be back for a new generation, but it never really went away. Social media is still awash with quotes about making "fetch" happen, wearing pink on Wednesdays and telling people "you can't sit with us". From Ariana Grande's 2019 'thank u, next' parody music video, which featured several of the film's original stars, to a Walmart advert released just this month starring three out of four of the principal cast, the original movie remains woven into the fabric of contemporary pop culture. But while people continue to watch Mean Girls in 2023 - and it still manages to attract new fans - it is widely viewed as a time capsule of the noughties high school experience. To a 2023 viewer, this is the period piece that made household names of Rachel McAdams and Amanda Seyfried. The new trailer, meanwhile, is soundtracked by Olivia Rodrigo, and features Coach Carr (who famously cautioned students not to have sex as they will "get pregnant and die") using TikTok. Indicators that the new film is set in 2024, not 2004, have shocked some fans. "I thought the Mean Girls musical movie would be a period piece set in the early 2000s," writes one Twitter user. "It feels wrong to set it [in the] present day." One fan suggests the concept wouldn't work in 2024 "because of how much society has changed". Another calls the original film a "distinctly millennial story" and says bringing it into the modern day feels "forced". "I fear the contemporary Mean Girls redux will only end in disaster given how firmly rooted the original was in early 2000s culture," warns one 22-year-old woman. Movie posters for the new film feature the strapline "plastic is forever", while Tina Fey and Tim Meadows are set to reprise their original roles as teachers at North Shore High. But a lot has changed since the "Plastics" (the bullying trio portrayed by McAdams, Seyfried and Lacey Chabert) ruled the school in 2004. Diet culture, slut-shaming and female stereotypes are not just one-liners but intrinsic plot points for the 2004 film. Protagonist Cady Heron's big sabotage of queen bee Regina George involves making her gain weight by giving her nutrition bars designed to help malnourished people. The noughties were filled with storylines like this which would now likely attract accusations of sexism and fatphobia. Take 2001 rom-com Shallow Hal, for example, in which Jack Black's lead is shown falling in love with plus-size woman Rosie (Gwyneth Paltrow in a fat suit) only after being hypnotised into seeing inner beauty. While the Mean Girls Broadway show was technically set in 2018 (and incorporates the social media of that time into its telling), its plot, characters and aesthetic remain true to the noughties classic. Being thin, disengaged with academia and having a hot boyfriend are portrayed as the best ways to be liked (or feared) both in the 2004 film and the later musical. But more recent high school stories have started to look at the age-old concept of teenage cliques from fresh angles. In the 2023 series of Netflix's drama Sex Education, the popular group is a progressive gang of socially-aware students who turn the tropes of Mean Girls on their head. Teen Vogue describes the "coven" at Cavendish College as "a fresh Gen Z trope that we see all around us but often struggle to make sense of: The politically aware bully". Similarly, in 2022 comedy film Senior Year, Rebel Wilson's character wakes from a 20-year coma to find the rules of high school have drastically changed. Her competition for queen bee is now a self-described "authentic, socially conscious, body positive, environmentally aware and economically compassionate" influencer. While fans have expressed excitement at having something new in the Mean Girls canon, and many have praised the casting of 23-year-old Reneé Rapp (who starred in the Broadway musical), others have said it's time to let the franchise be. "Mean Girls belongs to the aughts," wrote one fan, who asked: "Would there be a burn book in 2023?"

Twenty years on from the release of Mean Girls, the much-quoted cult classic is coming back to cinemas in musical form.

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While average wages have been increasing, they're still not keeping up with the pace of price rises, which means many people are finding it harder to get by. Recent months have seen waves of strikes, with tens of thousands of workers walking out in disputes over pay, jobs and conditions. Many of these strikes have taken place in the public sector, where workers often do not have the power to negotiate individually. And whether you work in the public or private sector, even if you do have a conversation with your manager there's no guarantee that it will result in a pay rise. However, there are ways to give yourself the best chance of success. We spoke to recruiters, a manager and a workplace psychologist to get five tips on how to best negotiate for more money. Jill Cotton, a career trends experts at jobs site Glassdoor, says scheduling a talk in advance will allow you and your boss time to prepare, and means you're more likely to have a productive conversation. "Don't spring this on your line manager," Ms Cotton says. "Be upfront and say that you want to book in a conversation that is specifically about pay." Rowsonara Begum, who helps her brother run Saffron Indian takeaway in Salisbury, says it also needs to be the right time for the business. The takeaway has five members of staff and occasionally takes on additional workers during busy periods. She says if workers pick a time when the business is doing well, they will have the best chance of successfully negotiating more money. If you're asking for a pay rise, you should have lots of evidence of why you deserve one. "Know what you've achieved either from a work setting or what you've done to develop yourself, maybe to support your team, support your line managers. List all the pros of what you've done," says Shan Saba, a director at Glasgow-based recruitment firm Brightwork. This evidence also helps your manager rationalise why you should be paid more, according to Stephanie Davies, a workplace psychologist. "The brain needs a 'why' - why should I pay you this amount?" she says. However, it's not just about bringing a list of all the things you've done. You should also be clear about what you want to do next, says Mr Saba. "If you have aspirations of moving up through your organisation, have a plan of what you're looking to do over the coming year." When asking your boss for more money, it helps if you're confident and know your worth. That's something Ms Begum has noticed, from her experience of having these talks with staff. "Here in Salisbury, it's quite difficult to get the staff we need," she says. "It's also become harder to recruit from overseas. So workers have negotiating power because they know there's a shortage." Often people don't feel confident because there is a "stigma" around talking about pay, says Glassdoor's Jill Cotton, but it's "an important part of work". Women and people from minority backgrounds can often find it particularly hard to ask for more more, adds psychologist Stephanie Davies. Her advice to them is to ask for a mentor or role model, who can help guide them through those conversations. Most experts agree it's best to have an exact figure in mind before embarking on a conversation about pay. Do your research, advises James Reed, chair of recruitment firm Reed. "You can go online and look at job adverts and see what other comparable jobs are being recruited for and what the salaries are," he says. Ms Cotton warns the figure should be realistic. "We would all love to be paid millions of pounds every single year. But we are being paid to fulfil a role with the skillset we have," she says. If the above steps don't result in a pay rise, try not to be disheartened. "Sometimes these conversations can take a while, even months, but it's important to keep the communication open," says Ms Begum. Pay is also not the be-all and end-all, says Mr Reed. "It's not just necessarily about money. You might be able to get more holiday or more flexibility around working hours," he says, adding you could also negotiate extra training and development. And if you don't feel you're getting what you want from your employer, remember, there are other opportunities out there. "You can always look elsewhere, that's the really big lesson," says Ms Davies.

If you feel like you're not getting paid enough, you're probably not alone.

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All photos subject to copyright

A selection of powerful news photographs taken around the world this week.

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Armed officers stopped a car on the A52 Bingham bypass in Nottinghamshire on Thursday morning. After the car stopped, police found the driver, 46, had a serious head injury and he died at the scene. His death is being linked to an inquiryprompted by the discovery of a man's body in a field in Leicestershire. The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) said a non-police issue firearm was discovered in the car. The watchdog said it had launched an investigation after being notified about the incident by Leicestershire Police. The force said officers gave first aid to the man in the Mazda Tamura but he was pronounced dead at the scene shortly after 00:30 GMT. It came after a man his 40s was found dead in an area off Highgate Lane, Plungar, on Tuesday afternoon. A 56-year-old man from Grantham, Lincolnshire, was arrested on suspicion of murder. He has since been released while investigations continue. A cordon remains in place along the A52 after a 13.6-mile (21.8km) stretch of the road was shut between the A46 in Saxondale and the A1 in Grantham. On Thursday evening, National Highways said the stretch of the A52 remained shut and was "expected to remain closed until at least 12:00" GMT on Friday. The IOPC said the coroner had been informed following the driver's death. A statement added: "We have since declared an independent investigation, and that will consider the circumstances of the police involvement. "Initial accounts have been provided by officers involved and we have also gathered police body worn footage for review." Leicestershire Police has renewed their appeal for witnesses and information in connection with the Plungar murder investigation. Follow BBC East Midlands onFacebook, onX, or onInstagram. Send your story ideas [email protected].

A man has died after the car he was travelling in was pulled over by officers involved in a murder investigation.

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Prosecutors told a Toronto court that Nygard, 82, used his "status" to assault five women in a series of incidents from the late 1980s to 2005. Nygard denied the charges, and his defence team accused the victims of "gold-digging" for financial gain. He was found not guilty on a fifth count of sexual assault and one count of forcible confinement. Nygard appeared to show no emotion as the verdict was handed down on the jurors' fifth day of deliberations. According to prosecutors, Nygard lured the women - aged 16 to 28 at the time - to a private luxury bedroom in his firm's Toronto headquarters. One prosecutor described the room as having "a giant bed...and a bar and doors, doors with no handles and automatic locks controlled by Peter Nygard". Prosecutors alleged that Nygard would assault the women once they were trapped in the room. After Nygard's conviction, his son Kai Zen Bickle told reporters outside the Toronto court that the jury's ruling was "a victory" for all those "who came forward and were denied justice". "One more child won't be affected, one more woman won't be affected, " Mr Bickle said. "(Nygard) has to actually sit down and think about all of these things." Mr Bickle has become an outspoken supporter of his father's alleged victims and described the moment Nygard was found guilty on Sunday as "emotional". "There are so many survivors out there, this is their day," he said. Nygard's lawyer Brian Greenspan said "we will consider the options" when asked by reporters whether Nygard would seek an appeal. A sentencing hearing will be set on 21 November. During closing arguments earlier this week, Crown prosecutors and Nygard's defence team painted dramatically different pictures of the man who once hobnobbed with celebrities and stood at the helm of a lucrative global apparel empire. Mr Greenspan told jurors that the state's case rested on "revisionist history" built on "contradictions and innuendo", Canadian media reported. He also claimed that four of the five women - who are also part of a US class action lawsuit - were motivated by financial gain. Over five days of tense testimony and cross-examination earlier in the trial, Nygard said he could never have acted "in that kind of manner" and that he did not recall four of the five women, according to CBC. Prosecutors relied heavily on the evidence of the women in court. Crown Attorney Neville Golwalla addressed the media on Sunday after the verdict and thanked the women who had come forward. "This is a crime that typically happens in private and profoundly impacts human dignity," Ms Golwalla said. "To stand up and recount those indignities in a public forum such as a courtroom is never easy and takes great courage." Nygard - who was once estimated to be worth at least $700m (£570m) - is still facing another trial in Montreal next year and assault and confinement charges in Winnipeg. Once his criminal cases in Canada are completed, he is set to be extradited to the US, where authorities claim he engaged in a "decades-long pattern of criminal conduct" involving at least a dozen victims across the globe. He is currently fighting that extradition. The guilty verdicts on Sunday cap a stunning fall from grace for Nygard. In February 2020, he stepped down as chairman of his firm, Nygard International, shortly before it filed for bankruptcy after US authorities raided its New York headquarters. He has been jailed since his arrest in December the same year.

A Canadian jury has found the former fashion mogul Peter Nygard guilty of sexual assault after a six-week trial.

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The services, while not formal weddings, will be able to include the wearing of rings, prayers, confetti and a blessing from the priest. The amendment to back the services on a trial basis passed the Church's parliament by one vote. The Church of England's official teaching is that marriage is only between one man and one woman. Earlier this year, bishops refused to back a change in teaching which would have allowed priests to marry same-sex couples, but said theywould allow prayers of blessings for people in gay relationshipsas part of wider services. It had been thought approval for standalone services might not come for well over a year from now. But Wednesday's vote, which passed narrowly in the General Synod, the Church's legislative body, means distinct services of blessing could now be allowed, rather than simply prayers within a normal church service. While there is no set timeframe for temporary trial services to begin, it is understood these could be authorised in the comings weeks with the first services in the new year. The proposal for stand alone services on a trial basis came in an amendment to a motion. The full formal process of authorisation, which will take around two years, will take place while the trial is running. The Bishop of Oxford, the Rt Rev Stephen Croft, who has campaigned for a change in the Church's stance, said he was "delighted". Noting the services would not be official weddings, he added: "I hope there will be a similar joy and affirmation and those that come to receive these prayers will feel fully welcomed into the life of the church." The Church of England's official position on marriage is at odds with its Anglican equivalent in Scotland - The Scottish Episcopal Church - and the Presbyterian Church of Scotland, which both allow same-sex weddings. The Anglican Church in Wales has provided an authorised service of blessing for gay couples but does not allow same-sex weddings in church. Jayne Ozanne, a prominent LGBT campaigner who sits on the Church of England's General Synod, called for the Church to change its position to allow gay couples to marry. "The Church of England remains deeply homophobic, whatever bishops and archbishops may say," she said. "I fear that much of the nation will judge the Church of England as being abusive, hypocritical and unloving - they are, sadly, correct." Meanwhile, conservative clergy described it as a "watershed" moment. Revd Canon John Dunnett, national director of the Church of England Evangelical Council, said he felt "grieved and saddened" by the decision. "It will tear local parish congregations apart, damage the relationship between large numbers of clergy and their bishops and cause churches across the dioceses to feel as though their shepherds have abandoned them," he said.

Gay couples will be able to have special services of blessing in Church of England parishes for the first time.

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Shawn Seesahai died when he was fatally stabbed in Wolverhampton on Monday evening. The boys were arrested a day later. The pair, who cannot be named due to their age, are set to appear before Birmingham Magistrates' Court on Friday. Mr Seesahai's mother has described her son as a "courageous, compassionate and confident young soul". The boys have also been charged with possession of a bladed article. West Midlands Police said the incident happened on open land off Laburnum Road shortly before 20:30 GMT on Monday. The force added patrols in the area were continuing to offer reassurance to the public. In a tribute issued through the police earlier on Thursday, Mr Seesahai's mother, who was not named, said her son was a "generous person" who had a "good personality". "He was looking forward to accomplish many future plans and ambitions," she said. "We will always have him in our hearts." Follow BBC West Midlands onFacebook,XandInstagram. Send your story ideas to:[email protected]

Two boys aged 12 have been charged with murdering a 19-year-old man.

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On Wednesday, Mr Musk replied to a post sharing an antisemitic conspiracy theory, calling it "actual truth". Mr Musk has denied that the post was antisemitic. But a White House spokesman said his endorsement of the post, which drew anger online, was "unacceptable". "We condemn this abhorrent promotion of antisemitic and racist hate in the strongest terms," said White House spokesperson Andrew Bates. He noted that the post Mr Musk was responding to referred to a conspiracy theory that motivated the man whokilled 11 people at a Pittsburgh synagogue in 2018. "It is unacceptable to repeat the hideous lie behind the most fatal act of antisemitism in American history at any time, let alone one month after the deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust," Mr Bates said, referring to the 7 October Hamas assault against Israel. X Chief Executive Linda Yaccarino wrote in an earlier tweet that the company has been "extremely clear about our efforts to combat antisemitism and discrimination. There's no place for it anywhere in the world - it's ugly and wrong". On Wednesday, Mr Musk responded with his "truth" comment to a post that accused Jewish communities of pushing "hatred against whites" and which included anti-immigrant sentiments. It appeared to be an endorsement of a racist and antisemitic conspiracy theory known as "white genocide," which argues that Jewish people systematically plot to encourage immigration of "non-white" people to Western countries in order to "eliminate" the white race. The original post that Mr Musk responded to "is using specific language that has been used in the past to justify violent attacks on synagogues," Zahed Amanullah, senior fellow at the London-based Institute of Strategic Dialogue, told the BBC. The conspiracy theory motivated a mass murderer who entered the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh in 2018 and shot dead 11 worshippers. Mr Musk denies he is antisemitic and later said his comments referred not to all Jewish people but to groups like the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and other unspecified "Jewish communities". ADL Chief Executive Jonathan Greenblatt posted: "At a time when antisemitism is exploding in America and surging around the world, it is indisputably dangerous to use one's influence to validate and promote antisemitic theories." The controversy over antisemitism comes as some organisations have stopped buying ads on X, formerly known as Twitter, citing extremist content on the social network. IBM stopped its ad spending after a report from a left-wing media watchdog saidits content was placed next to posts praising Adolf Hitler and Nazism.Apple later said it too would halt ad buys on the platform, Axios reported. X told the BBC on Thursday that ads are not deliberately placed next to extremist content, that the Nazi-promoting accounts will not earn money from advertising and that specific posts will be labelled "sensitive media". Separately, the European Commission has asked its departments to stop buying ads on X because of concerns over misinformation in relation to the Israel-Hamas war, according to a report by Politico. On the platform on Friday, Mr Musk did not directly address his own statements but criticised Media Matters and responded in support of other posts critical of IBM and "media". The billionaire has on several occasions repeated conspiracy theories and has also lashed out at social media watchdogs - including the ADL and other groups - for criticising his content moderation changes at X. X claims that it has stronger brand safety controls than other social networks and that hate speech and extremism has fallen on the platform despite large cuts to the company's safety team. Several outside groups disagree with the company's assessment and say that extremism and hate speech have increased under Mr Musk's leadership. Earlier this year Mr Musk threatened to sue the ADL, claiming it was "trying to kill this platform by falsely accusing it & me of being anti-Semitic". He blames pressure groups, rather than misinformation and extremist posts, for a sharp drop in advertising revenue since his takeover. While he has not carried through with his threat against the ADL,the company has sued another research and campaign group, the Center for Countering Digital Hate. On Thursday, CCDH filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit under California's anti-SLAPP - "Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation" - law, calling the X suit "an attempt to censor, intimidate, and silence". With reporting by Chris Vallance.

The White House has accused Elon Musk of repeating a "hideous lie" about Jewish people, after the X owner appeared to respond approvingly to an antisemitic post on the platform.

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In a statement on Instagram, the US comedian and actor, 68, said the "terrible tragedy" had happened on Wednesday night, adding: "We will miss him forever." He later posted a picture of himself and Dex working together, saying it had been "a joy". The two had starred in several TV series together. "Dex packed a lot into those 32 years," Carvey wrote, in a joint statement with his wife Paula Zwagerman. "He was extremely talented at so many things - music, art, film making, comedy - and pursued all of them passionately." The couple also have another son, Thomas, aged 30. Carvey said that his eldest son "loved life" and that when you were with him, "you loved life too". "He made everything fun," he wrote. "But most of all, he loved his family, his friends and his girlfriend, Kaylee. "Dex was a beautiful person. His handmade birthday cards are a treasure. We will miss him forever." Carvey ended by saying to anyone struggling with addiction, or who loved someone struggling with addiction, "you are in our hearts and prayers". Fans reacted to the news on social media, with one saying her "heart aches" for the family as they come to terms with their loss. Another wrote: "Love the focus you are putting on telling us about Dex. Such a lovely tribute to your boy." Dex starred alongside his father in a range of shows, including The Funster and Beyond the Comics. He also opened Carvey's TV comedy special titled Straight White Male, 60, in 2016. Carvey is best known for his work on the US sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live, which earned him an Emmy award for outstanding individual performance in 1993.

Wayne's World star Dana Carvey has announced his "beloved son" Dex, 32, died from an accidental drug overdose.

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It was just another lazy, sunny Friday afternoon four years ago when Ahmed al-Naouq snapped this selfie with his family. But he remembers it well, especially now. Under the shade of olive trees by his father's house, his sisters and brothers got together with their children to eat, play and chat. Taking a break from running around, the children were ready to eat when Ahmed captured them together. Now, most of them are dead, he says. They were killed in an air strike which struck the family home on 22 October. In total, 21 people were killed including his father, three sisters, two brothers and 14 of their children. More than 11,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli bombardment, according to Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry. The air strikes began after the 7 October attack by Hamas, in which Israel says about 1,200 people were killed and more than 200 taken hostage. Israel says its strategy in Gaza has been to root out Hamas which it accuses of operating in the heart of civilian communities - and that it takes steps to mitigate civilian casualties. In Ahmed's photo, only seven of the children who were killed appear. Some weren't there that day, some weren't even born. Like many Palestinians, Ahmed's brothers built their family homes above their father's - a tradition which means generations are being wiped out in one fell swoop. His sister Aya had gone there to take shelter with her children after her own apartment was damaged by an air strike. His other sisters, Walaa and Alaa, were there too with their children. The house was in the centre of Gaza in the town of Deir al-Balah, an area that had never been targeted before. They thought it was safe. "I thought it's a scary time for them but they will be OK," Ahmed says, stunned now by his naivety. Ahmed moved to London four years ago to work for an NGO and hasn't been home since. The last time he saw the children together was by video call. He had been given a bonus and, as part of a family tradition, he promised his nieces and nephews a treat. "They all said that they want to go to the beach and rent a chalet and have food and dance together and enjoy," he says. So, he hired one and bought them dinner and snacks. The children called him from the beach that day, fighting over the phone to talk. So many of them are dead now that Ahmed stumbles as he remembers the names and ages of each one. His 13-year-old nephew Eslam was the eldest and the one he knew best. Ahmed was a teenager and living at home when Eslam was born. His mum looked after the baby while his sister was at work, so Ahmed often helped to feed and change him. As Eslam grew older, he said wanted to be like his uncle. He was the top of his class, Ahmed says and working hard at English so that he could also come to the UK. Eslam was killed alongside his little sisters - Dima who was 10, Tala who was nine, Nour who was five and Nasma who was two, as well as his cousins Raghad (aged 13), Bakr (aged 11), girls Eslam and Sarah who were both nine, Mohamed and Basema who were eight and Abdullah and Tamim who were six. After the attack, Ahmed posted pictures of each of the children online to let the world know what had happened to them. Among them was three-year-old Omar. The little boy had been in bed with his mum Shimaa and dad Muhammed - Ahmed's brother - when the bomb fell. Then Ahmed got a call from one of his surviving sisters: Omar was alive. Ahmed's brother Muhammed had been killed but Shimaa and her little boy miraculously survived. "That was the happiest moment in my life, ever," Ahmed says. The only other person pulled from the rubble alive was 11-year-old Malak. She was badly injured, with burns over half of her body. When I met Ahmed, he showed me a picture of Malak in her hospital bed - her body was entirely covered in bandages. At first, I mistook her for a boy because her hair was short. It must have burned in the fire, Ahmed said. Malak's father wasn't in the house when it was hit and he is alive. But his wife and two other children were killed. When Ahmed messaged him to ask how he was doing, he replied: "A body, no soul." A week after the bomb, communications from Gaza were almost entirely cut off as Israel escalated its attack, and Ahmed couldn't contact anyone. When the signal was reconnected two days later, he learned that Malak had died. Medical supplies were dwindling to nothing and the 11-year-old had to be taken off the ICU unit when a more urgent case came in. She was in a lot of pain. "I died a hundred times every day," her father told Ahmed, as he watched the eldest and last of his three children fade away. Just before the communication blackout, Ahmed also found out that his uncle's house had been hit. He's still not sure who was killed there. On Tuesday, he also learned that the home of his close friends Maisara and Laura had been hit. Again several generations were killed - Laura survived but Maisara is still missing underneath the rubble. In all, we spoke to three people in the UK who had each lost more than 20 family members in Gaza. Darwish al-Manaama told the BBC that 44 of his family died. Among them was his niece Salma and her husband, their four adult children and their grandchild who was barely one. Darwish found out his family had died from a list sent to him on WhatsApp. After sharing some details, he was too overwhelmed to talk. Yara Sharif, an architect and academic in London, sent me photos of her aunt's family home which was destroyed in an Israeli strike a week into the war. "It was a very beautiful house," Yara says, "A beautiful mansion with a big courtyard in the middle." Like Ahmed's family, the sons built apartments for their own families on top of their parents. Yara found out that 20 of her relatives had been killed on Facebook - her aunt and uncle, her two cousins and their 10 children, as well as six members of the extended family. Some of their bodies were pulled from the rubble and they appear as numbers on the list of dead released by the Ministry of Health. Yara sent us a screenshot of the list with a rough red mark by each name and, on the right-hand side, their ages. Sama was 16, Omar and Fahmy were 14-year-old twins, Abdulrahman was 13, Fatima 10, Obaida seven, cousins Aleman and Fatima were both five, Youssef was four and Sarah and Anas were three. Yara has two cousins left. They asked not to be named, worried by an unsubstantiated rumour that those who speak to the media are being targeted. The sisters are in different parts of Gaza and can't reach each other to hold a funeral or grieve. And anyway, as Yara's cousin messaged her: "Muhammed's body and Mama's and the two children are still under the rubble." There is not enough fuel to run excavator machines in Gaza and any that are working are needed to rescue those who are alive. On Friday, as I sat with Ahmed al-Naouq watching the news, the list of the dead scrolled down the screen. I asked him if his family were on it. "Only 12 of them," he said. The other nine hadn't yet been recovered. After the bombing, his oldest sister, who was at her own home when it happened, went to visit the ruins. But she told Ahmed she couldn't stay long because she couldn't stand the smell of rotting flesh. Ahmed struggles to keep in touch with his surviving sisters. Often phones aren't working, and he loses touch with them. He struggles to find the words in English to describe what he has been feeling since the bombing, saying it feels as if his heart is no longer in his chest. Crying is pointless, he says, because it changes nothing. "I feel like I can't stand still. I can't sit still. I can't sleep at night," he says. "There's nothing you can do to stop this feeling." Ahmed says his father was the kindest man he had ever known. He worked hard driving a taxi and in construction to build a home for his children and educate them well. He listened obsessively to the news and believed the only solution to this conflict was a one-state solution, where Jews and Palestinians would live alongside each other in peace. But thinking of his only surviving nephew, Ahmed wonders: after this war has taken so many people he loves, what will Omar believe? Additional reporting by Husna Wahid

Whole families have been wiped out in Israel's air strikes on the densely populated streets of Gaza, where many Palestinians live in multi-generational homes. Three Palestinians in the UK told the BBC that more than 20 of their relatives had been killed in one blow - and many were still stuck under the rubble.

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The rising cost of living has meant thousands of businesses have been laying off staff, with many people finding themselves out of work. Unemployment is close to its lowest rate since the 1970s. But there are about8.65 million people out of work. It may feel daunting to try and find a job at first so we spoke to some career experts to give you some tips. There have been a lot of shifts in the workplace in recent years. Hybrid and flexible working means your job search can stretch a bit further, quite literally. Yvonne Smyth, group head of diversity and inclusion at Hays Recruitment says "Proximity isn't as important as used to be, so if you're looking for a job, search far and wide in terms of geography. "Also if you want to work part-time or say four days a week, don't let full-time positions put you off applying," she says. "Businesses are more flexible than you might think and if you're the right candidate that can get the job done in fewer days it makes sense for them to adapt the role." Ms Smyth also says it's important to use key words when you're searching online. "For example if there's a key skill or industry like sales or retail that you're interested in, you want the algorithms on search platforms to pick up on them. "So daily searches on these words are important, so it identifies what you're interested in. "Engagement as well is key and that means clicking on jobs with the job titles or a company that you're keen on so the platform yields more of the same." Not all jobs are made public. It's always worth sending an email or having a chat with a manager at a business that you like the look of, as you never know when an opening might be coming up. Many businesses want to avoid the cost of advertising a job formally and may rely on word of mouth. Miranda Kyte, a career trends expert at Glassdoor says: "Another route is to utilise your network, let friends, ex-colleagues, family know that you're looking for a new position. "They may be able to check internal job boards for open roles at their own companies and refer you or they could know someone else who can help." Lots of places still ask for a CV and a covering letter when you're applying for a job. But now you can advertise yourself rather visibly via social media sites like Linkedin which showcase your skills and experience. Other platforms like Twitter and Instagram can prove useful when touting yourself out to potential employers as well. Yvonne Smyth from Hays says it's important to focus on skills. "Lots of people look at the years required on a job description but actually it's more important that a candidate has the right skills. Try to look for parallels and make that obvious in your application." It can be a little disheartening if the jobs you want require specific very specific qualifications. It may be worth having a look at if there are any ways of picking up the experience or training that you need to land a job while you're on the hunt. Miranda Kyte from Glassdoor says: "Lots of courses these days are free and you can do them online. Volunteering is also a great way of filling gaps on your CV or asking to do some work shadowing in companies you'd like to work for." It's easy to get disheartened if you are knocked back after interviews time and time again, or you don't feel like you're getting through the door in the first place. Our career experts say it's good to review how you're going about your search from time to time and try different approaches. Career influencer, Mehar Sindhu Batra, says it's quite useful to set personal targets, like a tracker of the number of jobs to apply for in a week or a certain number of cold emails. She's a big believer in acknowledging the little wins along the way to keep your spirits up. "Maybe you landed an interview, received positive feedback on your resume or cover letter, or connected with a helpful contact. Celebrating these wins can boost your confidence and keep you motivated".

If you're on the hunt for a job and not sure where to start, or how to pitch yourself you're not alone.

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There have been historically high sea temperatures, worrying lows in Antarctic sea-ice, and extreme weather events hitting every continent - the latest beingan "unbearable" heatwave in Brazil. It's now"virtually certain" that 2023 will be the hottest year on record. That's something that no major climate science body expected at the start of the year. Scientists have long known that temperatures will continue to rise as humans keep releasing record amounts of planet-heating greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide,mainly through burning fossil fuels. This is the main cause of global warming. While they are struggling to fully explain 2023's"gobsmacking" surge in temperatures, here are four additional reasons that could be behind the increases. One key factor is the unusually rapid onset of a natural weather system known as El Niño. During an El Niño, warmer surface waters in the eastern Pacific release additional heat into the atmosphere. This typically leads to a surge in global air temperatures. The graph below shows how a new El Niño is strengthening. It has not yet reached the peak of the last major one in 2016, as you can see, but is expected to intensify in the coming months. The ongoing 2023 El Niño may be releasing even more warmth than previous ones, because the world had previously been in an extended cool phase - an opposite weather system known as La Niña. This kept a lid on global temperatures for an unusually long period, as warmth was less able to escape from the sea surface into the atmosphere. During this time,the oceans continued to absorb record amounts of heat, some of which is now finally being released into the atmosphere. Normally, scientists expect a delay of around three months between maximum El Niño strength and global air temperatures peaking, explains Zeke Hausfather, a climate scientist at Berkeley Earth, a science organisation in the US. But air temperatures have risen much more quickly during this El Niño than with previous ones, and it's not even reached full strength yet. As Dr Hausfather puts it, "this El Niño is weird." Cutting some air pollutants - aimed at cleaning the air that humans breathe - may actually be having an unintended consequence for warming.That's because some small airborne particles known as aerosols, like sulphate or dust, tend to reflect some of the Sun's energy back into space. Generally, this cools the Earth's surface. Regulations introduced in 2020 to encourage cleaner shipping fuels have reduced global emissions of sulphur dioxide (SO2), a harmful air pollutant for humans to breathe,by an estimated 10%. But this appears to have raised temperatures, especially in shipping hotspots like the North Atlantic. "We saw quite rapidly from the satellite data that less sunlight was being reflected and more sunlight was being absorbed by the oceans," explains Leon Simons, a climate researcher at the Club of Rome group. Not all scientists agree on how important aerosols are for explaining 2023's records. "It's hard to make the case that the [new shipping fuel] regulation in 2020 would create a sudden jump in 2023 that we didn't see in 2022," Dr Hausfather argues. In January 2022, there was a huge eruption of theunderwater Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcano. The eruption plume reached an"unheard-of" 55km (35 miles) above the Earth's surfaceand triggeredrecord underwater debris flows. Importantly for the climate, it also released around 150 million tonnes of water vapour into the stratosphere. Water vapour is a greenhouse gas, like carbon dioxide, so may have added to warming. Studies so far suggest the eruption may have only had a limited effect on global air temperatures,perhaps less than 0.05C. But scientists are still working to establish its full impact. The sea-ice surrounding Antarctica iswell below any previous recorded winter level, satellite data showed in September. Arctic sea-ice has long been in decline, but until 2017 Antarctic sea-ice had largely defied predictions and remained relatively stable. This could now be changing, with consequences for global temperatures. Fewer areas of bright, reflective ice mean more of the Sun's energy is absorbed by the darker ocean surface. In turn, this accelerates warming. "The concern is that the Antarctic has started to operate like the Arctic," working "like a radiator rather than a refrigerant" notes Martin Siegert, from the Grantham Institute for Climate Change. It is unclear whether the Antarctic changes are a contributor to 2023 warmth, or a consequence. But it indicates how warming could speed up in future, Prof Siegert says. While therate of warming seems to have sped upin recent decades, this has not yet consistentlyexceeded the range of possible temperaturesthat scientists expected from climate models. This provides some reassurance that the world hasn't yet tipped into a new phase of runaway climate change. However, a group of leading climate scientists recentlywarned that the climate may change more quickly than expected in the future. They suggest that the climate is yet to fully respond to the greenhouse gases already emitted. One reason could be the artificial cooling effect of aerosols. This leaves more warming "in the pipeline" than previously thought, they argue. Not all scientists agree with this view, but thedevastating climate impactscurrently being experienced highlight the challenges the world is already facing. Ahead of the crucialCOP28 climate summit, this "should really spur action to accelerate the phase out of fossil fuels," explains Lili Fuhr from the Centre for International Environmental Law. "It doesn't have to be worse than we expected to be a huge problem that society urgently needs to deal with," says Dr Hausfather. "Climate change is as bad as we expected. And that's bad enough." Graphics by Mark Poynting and Erwan Rivault.

Climate records have tumbled in 2023.

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The revelation came to light in evidence presented by Sir Simon Stevens, the former NHS England chief. In his witness statement, he said Mr Hancock thought he, not doctors or the public, should decide who to prioritise if hospitals became overwhelmed. Sir Simon said: "Fortunately this horrible dilemma never crystallised." He told the inquiry: "The secretary of state for health and social care took the position that in this situation he - rather than, say, the medical profession or the public - should ultimately decide who should live and who should die." He added: "I certainly wanted to discourage the idea that an individual secretary of state, other than in the most exceptional circumstances, should be deciding how care would be provided. "I felt we were well-served by the medical profession, in consultation with patients to the greatest extent possible, in making those decisions." Sir Simon also rejected suggestions by then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson, made in his witness statement which has already been handed to the inquiry, that it was "very frustrating" to be forced into lockdown because the NHS and social care had failed to get to grip with the decades-old problem of delayed discharges. This is where patients have to remain in hospital despite being ready to leave because of the lack of support in the community. Mr Johnson said that about 30% of beds were occupied by such patients. Sir Simon said that would equate to about 30,000 beds, but there could have been 200,000, perhaps even 800,000 patients in the reasonable worst-case scenario, needing a bed. "Even if all of those 30,000 beds were freed up - for every one coronavirus patient who was then admitted, there would be another five who need that care and were not able to get it. "So no, I don't think that is a fair statement in describing the decision calculus for the first wave."

Former health secretary Matt Hancock wanted to decide "who should live and die" if the NHS was overwhelmed, the Covid inquiry has heard.

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Former cricketer Flintoff was injured at Top Gear's test track last December. The BBC has apologised to him, suspended the series andpaid him compensationworth a reported £9m. Harris told BBC Breakfast on Thursday: "I think he's healing. It was a serious incident. I'm not going to say any more than that." The crash happened at Dunsfold Park Aerodrome in Surrey, but few details have been made public. Harris, who was speaking to promote his memoir, continued: "As I've said in the book and in the few interviews I've given, I'm so proud of the fact that team Top Gear kept everything quiet and we were dignified. "There is nothing out there about what happened. There won't be. There's no mole in the organisation. I'm really proud of that." In his book, titled Variable Valve Timings, Harris writes: "I was there that day and the only thing I want to say on the subject is that I'm happy he's still with us." Speaking to the Times, Harris said: "I'm just over the moon that my friend Fred is still with us. "If there is only one good thing that comes out of it, it is that there's been dignity. Fred's been given the time to heal. It's been a tough time. I defy anyone to not care about their friends if they get injured. I do." Flintoff's legal teamtold the Sun newspaperin October that the star was recovering from "life-alteringly significant" injuries. He made his first steps back into the public eye in September when he joined the England coaching set-up on an informal basis for the one-day international series against New Zealand and Ireland. The 45-year-old was pictured with scars on his face, andin a video released by England Crickethe talked about "the hardest times of your life" in reference to his recent experiences. "It's great to see him out and about being passionate about cricket," Harris told BBC Breakfast. "I'm sad I'm not doing Top Gear with him at the moment, but that's life. It's the best thing for him right now." Discussing the impact the crash had on his own life, Harris said the show's abrupt hiatus had left him in a "slightly dark place". "I suddenly had nothing to do," Harris said. "I have got another business, which is an online car platform, which is great. I do stuff there. "But my day job went, and you can imagine, your muscle memory of working life is really important. If that suddenly stops... and suddenly you don't talk to those people, you don't see those people, then yeah, you go into a slightly dark place, I think. I really missed it." Harris has been on the Top Gear line-up since 2016. Flintoff and Paddy McGuinness joined in 2019. The show's future is still uncertain following Flintoff's accident. In March, the BBC said there would be a health and safety review of the programme, undertaken by an independent third party. A spokesperson for the Heath and Safety Executive, the national regulator for workplace safety, said in March it had completed its inquiries into the incident and would not be investigating further.

Top Gear co-host Chris Harris has said Andrew "Freddie" Flintoff is "healing" following his crash while filming for the show almost a year ago.

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All but two of the 28 stores run by the company, which trades in northern England, will have staffed checkouts. The exceptions are Keswick and Windermere, two of its Cumbria shops. The firm, which has 16 stores in Lancashire as well as outlets in Yorkshire and Cheshire, said the policy was driven by customer feedback. Booths is believed to be the first UK supermarket to move away from using self-service tills, which have become increasingly common in recent years. "We believe colleagues serving customers delivers a better customer experience and therefore we have taken the decision to remove self-checkouts in the majority of our stores," the company said. Speaking toBBC Radio Lancashire, Booths managing director Nigel Murray, said: "Our customers have told us this over time, that the self-scan machines that we've got in our stores they can be slow, they can be unreliable, they're obviously impersonal. "We stock quite a lot of loose items - fruit and veg and bakery - and as soon as you go to a self-scan with those you've got to get a visual verification on them, and some customers don't know one different apple versus another for example," he added. "There's all sorts of fussing about with that and then the minute you put any alcohol in your basket somebody's got to come and check that you're of the right age." Do you hate using self-service tills? Get in touch. Mr Murray added: "We are a business that prides ourselves on the high standards and high levels of warm, personal care. "We like to talk to people and we're really proud that we're moving largely to a place where our customers are served by people, by human beings, so rather than artificial intelligence, we're going for actual intelligence." The company, which has been described as a northern Waitrose, said its philosophy since 1847 is to "sell the best goods available, in attractive stores, staffed with first class assistants". "Delighting customers with our warm northern welcome is part of our DNA and we continue to invest in our people to ensure we remain true to that ethos," the firm added. They said: "We will retain self-checkouts in two of our stores in the Lake District in order to meet the needs of our customers during very busy periods." One customer posted on social media that it was a "terrible decision", adding: "That's why you now spend time queueing and waiting." However, Sue from Leyland, told BBC Radio Lancashire: "I think shopping is a boring, mundane thing to do and I think if staff are there chatting to you, it just makes it better." The origin of the self-service checkout began with the invention of the automated teller machine in 1967. A few decades later, the self-service till was invented by David R Humble, inspired by standing in a long grocery checkout line in south Florida in 1984. The tills became popular in the 1990s and by 2013, there were over 200,000 in stores throughout the world and their numbers hit 325,000 by 2021. But many shoppers remain unconvinced, withone petitioncalling on Tesco to "stop the replacement of people by machines", gaining almost 250,000 signatures. Pat McCarthy, who started the petition, previouslytold the BBCshe wanted more cashiers on tills because "you can't speak to a machine". Sue and Paul Mansfield, 70, both from Menston welcomed the move by Booths, Mrs Mansfield said: "They are very good in terms of looking after their customers. "All the way through Covid they responded to the fact that people didn't enjoy using them. "Also they were not particularly reliable, I think they have changed in other places but I am very happy to be able to be served." Mr Mansfield added: "I like to have somebody to talk to and for things to go on the conveyor belt." But Steph Helliwell, 79, from Ilkley told the BBC self-service checkouts were a good option. "In general they are a good idea because you can be so much quicker getting stuff, if there's a big queue," she said. Why not follow BBC North West onFacebook,XandInstagram? You can also send story ideas [email protected]

Supermarket chain Booths is axing almost all self-service tills in its stores in what it says is a response to customer demand.

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Writing in the Telegraph, she said "tinkering with a failed plan" would not achieve the government's aims. She said ministers should ignore human rights laws and obligations in their "entirety" to push it through. But ex-cabinet minister Damian Green called this the "most unconservative proposal I've ever heard". A former First Secretary of State under Theresa May, Mr Green told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that overriding legal constraints was the behaviour of "dictators" like Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin. In a ruling on the government's scheme to fly some asylum seekers to Rwanda, the Supreme Court said there were "substantial grounds" to believe that some of those deported to the country could be sent back to places where they would be unsafe. After the judgement, Rishi Sunak announced he would bring in emergency legislation to certify that Rwanda was a "safe" country, despite the court's decision. The prime minister also said he would sign a new treaty with Rwanda, so that the first flights could begin in the spring. But Mrs Braverman said a new treaty was "magical thinking,"repeating the language of her scathing letterto Mr Sunak after he sacked her. The proposed treaty would not solve "the fundamental issue", that the UK's highest court had found Rwanda unsafe for deporting asylum seekers, she argued. Mrs Braverman,who was sacked as home secretary on Monday, said that unless the prime minister went further than his current proposals, she could not see how the government could deliver on its pledge before running out of Parliamentary time. A general election is expected to be held next year and one must take place by January 2025. "Any new treaty would still require going back through the courts, a process that would likely take at least another year," she said. She added that the process "could culminate in yet another defeat". "That is why the plan outlined by the PM will not yield flights to Rwanda before an election if Plan B is simply a tweaked version of the failed Plan A," she said. Mrs Braverman said the PM's proposed legislation should ignore "the entirety" of the Human Rights Act and the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), as well as other relevant international obligations including the Refugee Convention. Mrs Braverman's arguments have been supported by some of her colleagues. Former cabinet minister Sir Simon Clarke said parliament was "entitled in extremis to say certain sections of the law are disapplied". He argued it was wrong that "our human rights framework" was blocking the government's ability to police the UK's borders. The Rwanda policy is central to Mr Sunak's plan to stop asylum seekers crossing the English Channel in small boats -one of his key pledges- as it is designed to deter people from making the dangerous journey. Transport Secretary Mark Harper told BBC Breakfast that the government was "committed" to getting the Rwanda policy working by the spring. Any new legislation is expected to face strong opposition in the House of Lords, which contains several current and former Supreme Court judges. It would also be likely to face legal challenges in the courts. Sir David Normington, former Home Office permanent secretary, told Today that Mrs Braverman was "right in one way" - that getting a working Rwanda policy "would be very difficult". "We could pull out of all conventions, but that would be a very bad idea," he said, adding that it would always come down to a British court deciding whether Rwanda was safe. "The courts say it is not a safe country. You can't say black is white." Asked if international law was "outdated", Sir David said that "at the core" international agreements were written to protect the vulnerable. "What is true is that the rights of people to not be tortured never goes out of date." It's not immediately clear how Mrs Braverman's plan would legally work quickly. The UK and other countries that are signed up to the European Convention on Human Rights can put to one side only some of its protections in times of war or some other emergency. The key protection at the heart of the Rwanda case - that nobody should be subjected to torture or to inhuman treatment - is not one of the rights that can be swept away in what's known as "derogation". The UK has only derogated from the ECHR eight times in 70 years. Seven of those situations were related to detaining paramilitaries during the conflict in Northern Ireland. The most recent in 2001 concerned holding al-Qaeda suspects without charge - a move that the courts later said was illegal. During Boris Johnson's time as prime minister, the government proposed limiting and replacing some human rights protections in a highly-criticised replacement bill which Rishi Sunak then scrapped. Leaving the ECHR entirely would separately breach the 25-year-old Good Friday Agreement at the heart of Northern Ireland's power-sharing peace deal - and enrage the UK's partners on the other side of the English Channel - potentially making co-operation on stopping boats harder.

The PM's current Rwanda plan will mean no asylum seekers are flown there before the next election, sacked home secretary Suella Braverman has said.

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Several senior opposition leaders were arrested last Sunday, a day after a massive rally against the government turned violent,resulting in the deaths of at least two opposition supporters. The rejuvenated main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has intensified protests calling on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to resign. The BNP and its allies want a neutral interim government ahead of the general elections, arguing that free and fair polls are not possible under Ms Hasina. The government led by her Awami League has rejected this demand. The BNP rally in the capital Dhaka attracted tens of thousands of people - one of the biggest gatherings seen there in a decade. But things soon turned violent. Police fired rubber bullets and tear gas while opposition supporters threw stones and bricks. Some roads in the capital were strewn with exploded sound grenades, tear gas shells and broken glass. Both sides accuse each other of starting the violence. "The opposition supporters attacked police, journalists, hospitals, ambulances and the houses of the chief justice and other judges, creating chaos," Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen told the BBC. The BNP said it was the other way round. "It was a peaceful and non-violent rally, but the government was baffled by the massive turn out. So, they decided to disrupt the meeting," senior party leader Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury told the BBC. "The rally was attacked from two sides. It resembled a war zone. So, we had to stop our public meeting midway." The governing Awami League rejects accusations that their supporters provoked opposition activists taking part in the rally. A three-day nationwide blockade called by the BNP to protest against the police action began on Tuesday. Protesters have set fire to buses and clashed with security forces in several places. Police fired tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse them. Two opposition activists were killed in clashes with police on Tuesday. Most vehicles have stayed off the roads fearing violence. Political unrest is not uncommon in Bangladesh. Over the years parties have taken to the streets to press their demands, resulting in shutdowns, violence and loss of life. But in recent years the political divide has been widening and the bitterness growing, with the Awami League midway through a second decade in office and seeking a fourth straight five-year term. The two main parties are in no mood to compromise and the chances of dialogue ahead of the vote appear slim. The arrested BNP leaders includesecretary-general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgirwho has led the party since its leader, former prime minister Khaleda Zia, was arrested and jailed in a corruption case five years ago. She's now 78 and under effective house arrest. Ms Hasina, 76, and Ms Zia, who have dominated Bangladesh politics for more than three decades, are heirs to political dynasties. Both are bitter rivals - locally described as the "battling Begums". Begum refers to a Muslim woman of high rank. Ms Hasina came to power for a second time in January 2009 and since then her party has won two more elections, although there have been accusations of widespread vote-rigging. The political unrest ahead of the election is happening at a time when the country is facing economic hardship, with most voters struggling to cope with the escalating cost of living, especially rising food prices. Inflation was around 9.6% in September. The country's foreign exchange reserves have also dropped from a record $48bn (£39.49bn) in August 2021 to around $20bn now - not enough for even three months of imports. Bangladesh was forced to reach out to the International Monetary Fund earlier this year for assistance. Although big opposition rallies in Bangladesh are not unusual, analysts say they are attracting particularly large crowds due to widespread discontent over rising food costs. "The economy is on the brink of a disaster and people are suffering. That's why hundreds of thousands of people are joining our rallies despite attempts by the Awami League to stop them by cancelling transport, carrying out arrests and intimidation," Mr Chowdhury told the BBC. But Ms Hasina, the daughter of the country's founding father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, points to the sustained economic growth of the country over the past 15 years under her rule. The arrest of Mr Alamgir, along with hundreds of opposition supporters, after the rally has triggered criticism from rights groups. "The intensified crackdown on opposition party leaders and protesters over the weekend signals an attempt at a complete clampdown of dissent in Bangladesh ahead of the general elections in January,"Amnesty Internationalsaid. TheOffice of the UN Human Rights Commissionerurged the government to show restraint and ensure that human rights were fully upheld for all Bangladeshis. The government has already been accused of carrying out human rights violations on a large scale. The BNP alleges that hundreds of its supporters have become victims of enforced disappearances and extra-judicial killings carried out by the security forces, some of whom have been sanctioned by the US for their actions. The Bangladeshi government has flatly denied charges of abuses and killings - but it also severely restricts visits to foreign journalists who want to investigate these allegations. "Definitely, there is a climate of fear, especially while expressing dissent on any kind of digital forum because the government uses the draconian Digital Security Act [DSA] to imprison people," Shireen Huq, a prominent women's rights activist, told the BBC. Rights groups say the act has been used to silence critics and stifle free expression. They say more than a thousand court cases have been filed against journalists, politicians and activists since it was enacted in 2018. Following widespread opposition, including from the UN, the government recently replaced the DSA with a new Cyber Security Act. But activists say the new law still retains repressive measures. Ms Huq says she has no confidence the government will conduct a free and fair poll in January. The opposition alleges the same, which is why it is demanding a return to installing a neutral caretaker administration ahead of the vote - asafeguard abolished by parliament in 2011. Foreign Minister Momen rejects such calls. "There is no history in any country that the sitting government will step down and allow some non-elected people to run the government. We believe in democracy, therefore that type of demand is not acceptable," he told the BBC. The BNP has threatened to boycott the January poll if their demand is not met. This tactic hasn't worked in their favour in the past however. The party's refusal to take part in the December 2014 election helped the Awami League win another landslide. With hardening positions, Bangladeshis are staring at the possibility of protracted political unrest and possibly more street violence.

Weeks of mounting political tension have erupted into protests and bloodshed in Bangladesh, leaving the country on edge ahead of general elections due in January.

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It said Ray Adams was cleared by a corruption probe which relied on false testimony from a man linked to the family of one of Stephen's killers. The revelation contradicts years of police denial about the role of corrupt officers in the case. Mr Adams says he has asked the Met to investigate the allegations. The Metropolitan Police did not answer the BBC's questions about the report's conclusions regarding Mr Adams. The force said it will review material before deciding whether any further action is required. Imran Khan, solicitor for Stephen's mother Baroness Lawrence, said the report about Mr Adams - a former commander, who was once head of criminal intelligence for the entire Met - was "dramatic, disturbing and shocking". Sir William Macpherson's landmark 1998 public inquiry into the murder did not hear about this link between Mr Adams and the informant. Fourteen years later, the Met said there was no suggestion of any relationship between the two. Stephen, aged 18, was murdered in April 1993 in a racist attack by a gang of young white men in Eltham, south-east London. The failure to bring the killers to justice prompted a national outcry. Two men were eventually convicted in 2012. Other suspects have never been convicted. The initial police investigation, perhaps the most controversial of the past 30 years, has long been a focus of corruption allegations, both at the 1998 public inquiry and in an official review 16 years later. Imran Khan said he wants the Met to "apologise for not telling Baroness Lawrence and her family about what they knew, and I want them to apologise to Sir William Macpherson's inquiry and to admit that they misled that inquiry". Ray Adams, who retired from the force in August 1993, was one of those under scrutiny. In the late 1980s, he had been investigated and cleared by a major internal corruption inquiry. Mr Adams went on to be a senior officer in the south London area of the Met responsible for the Lawrence investigation and was directly involved in the case for a short time. The Macpherson inquiry said it had seen nothing to suggest he was corruptly involved in trying to hold back the murder investigation. The secret report also said there was no evidence that Mr Adams influenced the investigative team in the Lawrence murder inquiry. Now 81, Mr Adams has always denied being corrupt, citing the fact he never faced either disciplinary or criminal proceedings. But the secret Scotland Yard report, now uncovered by the BBC, concluded he was corrupt and detailed how the 1980s investigation against him was manipulated. The report sets out an extraordinary tale involving a crooked antiques dealer, clandestine police operations and one of Britain's most notorious criminals. Marked as secret and prepared in 2000 for the Met's anti-corruption unit, the report was about officers connected to the Lawrence case. It concluded Mr Adams was cleared by the 1980s corruption probe after it received a "totally fictitious" account by a police informant who was connected to the family of David Norris - one of the two men who were convicted of the murder in 2012. The report says the informant must have been "coached" by Mr Adams or another officer, with the informant's lying account discrediting a witness against Mr Adams. This amounted to "flagrant acts of attempting to pervert the course of justice". The informant, also called David Norris, was killed by a hitman in 1991. He was known as "David Norris (deceased)" in the public inquiry into the Lawrence case, to distinguish him from the David Norris who would later be found guilty of killing Stephen. David Norris, Stephen's killer, was from a south London criminal family headed by his gangster father Clifford. The informant was known to have associated with the Norris crime family. In 1989, police stopped the informant David Norris leaving a meeting with a high-ranking drug dealer who was a relative of the Norris family. The informant told officers he was a cousin of Clifford Norris, although an actual familial relationship has never been confirmed. The story of how this informant became involved in a major Scotland Yard corruption investigation and the later Stephen Lawrence murder inquiry, reads more like fiction than fact. It all began in July 1988 after a handler of stolen goods was arrested in Tooting, south London, by detectives from Surrey Police. The arrested man, James "Piggy" Malone, was an antiques dealer who lived in leafy Dorking, but he also ran a network of burglars who stole to order, breaking into houses throughout southern England. Surrey detectives had set up an operation to target Malone. The secret Scotland Yard report says that, on being arrested, Malone uttered a stream of profanities relating to Ray Adams, whom he referred to as "Ken Noye's mate" - meaning the notorious gangster Kenneth Noye. By then, Noye had already stabbed a Met Police officer to death and been involved in the selling the gold from the 1983 Brink's-Mat robbery, a £26m heist that was later dramatised in the BBC TV series The Gold. Malone expressed willingness to make a statement on Mr Adams, but he subsequently refused to co-operate, the report says. The BBC has traced people familiar with the Surrey investigation. They corroborated some details in the Met's secret report, but also added additional information. The Surrey team briefed the Met on their investigation because it regularly strayed into London and they needed to ask for assistance. But after they did, the operation started to go badly, and it appeared Malone and his burglars suddenly had knowledge of what was happening. After the operation began to go wrong, the Surrey team decided on an extraordinary ploy: they announced the investigation had been shut down, but then reopened it in secret - and withheld this information from Scotland Yard. The new operation resulted in the arrest of Malone, who was visibly shocked and blurted out words which the officers took to mean he had paid Mr Adams, according to the report and people familiar with the investigation. The whole matter was therefore referred to the Met's anti-corruption unit. After Malone's arrest, a senior Surrey officer recalled one of their informants had previously stated that "Malone had a high-ranked police officer by the name of Ron or Ray in his pocket", according to the 2000 Met report. But the report says the allegation made by the Surrey informant was "never fully progressed" by the Met. The secret Met document also reveals the information about Ray Adams relying on evidence from the informant David Norris. It says a detective submitted a report "vaguely dated" October 1988, detailing information apparently supplied by an informant he handled, with the alias "John Tracy". In reality, the secret document from 2000 reveals that Tracy was David Norris. Tracy was said to have told the Met detective that Malone was a close associate and had been openly stating that Malone's claims about Mr Adams were "totally malicious and false". Ray Adams had recently transferred to the same branch of the Met which generated the informant Tracy's report. The informant's account had been provided to Mr Adams "for his information" and to share with the Met's anti-corruption unit at the time, "if indeed the matter is being investigated by them". When quoting these words in the 2000 secret report, the author added an exclamation mark afterwards, to indicate astonishment. Mr Adams did not provide the information to anti-corruption officers until the end of January 1989, which the secret report says was an "incredible" delay. When the informant Tracy was interviewed, he is said to have given a "faultless performance", which reinforced the Met team's misgivings about Malone. The 1980s investigation in effect exonerated Adams and portrayed Malone unfavourably. A file was sent to the Crown Prosecution Service, which said there was no case to answer. The investigation concluded that Malone had been referring to an earlier case during which he had been investigated by Ray Adams. The case cost him money and had led to him taking the Met to court. But the secret document from 2000 concludes the 1988-89 report based on testimony from David Norris - aka John Tracy was "totally fictitious" and written to "discredit Malone and prevent his use as a witness against Adams". It says Norris must have been "coached" by Mr Adams or a handler prior to his interview and the story was "accepted with alarming ease" by anti-corruption detectives. The secret report says there was no link between the informant David Norris and Malone. In his testimony, Norris named another man as a close associate of Malone who had heard the antiques dealer making false claims about Ray Adams. The BBC located this man, who said he had known the informant David Norris but he had never seen or met Malone - and the Met had never asked him about the informant's account. Four years later, when Stephen Lawrence was murdered, Ray Adams was a commander in the section of the force responsible for the homicide investigation. His known involvement in the case was limited to signing a letter to the Lawrence family solicitor, Imran Khan. Mr Adams also appeared in a decision log relating to family liaison. He went off sick in May 1993 and did not return to work prior to his retirement in August that year. Imran Khan said the Lawrence family have always regarded his appearance in the case as "suspicious" and that "we now know" a Met report concluded he was corrupt prior to his involvement in the Lawrence murder. He said they now needed to know whether Mr Adams's activities affected in any way the outcome of the murder investigation. The first lead investigator on the case had to leave the role after a few days because he was involved in the trial of those who had murdered the informant David Norris in 1991. It meant Norris's name featured in the public inquiry into Stephen's death, but the inquiry did not hear the extent of the link between him and Ray Adams. At the inquiry, the Lawrence family formally raised suspicions that Mr Adams's role in the case masked his real aim of influencing the investigation to prevent the suspects being arrested quickly. The family argued this was possibly because of his previous contact with Kenneth Noye, who in turn had links to Clifford Norris - the father of one of the suspects. When questioned during an appearance at the inquiry, Mr Adams denied even knowing who Clifford Norris was at the time Stephen Lawrence was murdered. Mr Adams said the suspicions about him were a "Merlin's broth of magic and mirrors and innuendo and nudges". He said: "I defy anybody to produce one ounce of evidence." During the inquiry hearing, Mr Adams expressed discomfort at questions relating to the deceased David Norris, saying "protocol" meant he never answered questions about informants. This was despite it being publicly known the dead man had been an informant, and the inquiry chairman saying the subject could be publicly discussed. The Met itself gave a misleading account of Mr Adams and the deceased David Norris's relationship in a review published in 2012, which said the police commander would have only had "distant oversight" of the informant. "There is no suggestion of any personal relationship between the two," it said. The secret report from 2000, now seen by the BBC, shows the Met knew there was a significant connection between them. New information about the relationship between the Brink's-Mat gangster Kenneth Noye and Ray Adams is also revealed in the Met's secret report. The report states it was "strongly suspected Adams had a long-standing corrupt relationship with Noye" but that further investigation would be needed. No such investigation took place. In 1985, Noye had stabbed to death Det Con John Fordham, a Met surveillance officer, in the garden of his Kent home. He was acquitted of murder at trial after claiming self-defence. Noye went on to carry out the M25 road rage murder of Stephen Cameron in 1996. According to the report, the Met held a photocopy of a pocketbook entry from the 1980s by an officer who escorted Noye to court. The officer had been investigating Noye's role in the conspiracy surrounding the robbery of the Brink's-Mat gold. The pocketbook recorded that, while Noye was in a cell at court one day in 1985, he requested that the officer ask Ray Adams to visit. Noye stated: "We go back a long way and I know I can trust him." The report says: "Noye was adamant that he wanted no-one to know that Adams was going to visit him and suggested that he visit under the guise of Noye's accountant." A later statement by a deputy assistant commissioner said he agreed to meetings between Ray Adams and Noye, who intimated he had been an informant for the detective. Using an exclamation mark to express the author's astonishment, the 2000 Met report said: "Adams met Noye on two occasions, however nothing useful was reported from those meetings!" The 2000 report also considered Mr Adams's alleged links with another criminal family and said "the inescapable conclusion is that there was an unhealthy, corrupt relationship". Even though seven years had passed since his retirement, the report warned Mr Adams continued to pose a threat to the Met Police. It said his "extensive networking" meant he still had access to serving officers "who can continue to provide sensitive intelligence which he can then broker to criminals". But the report said further investigation was needed to assess the risk. Mr Adams told the BBC these were "very serious allegations" against him. "All such allegations are a matter for the police the investigate," he said. He said he had referred the allegations to the Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner of the Met Police and said he had asked them to appoint a senior officer or officers to investigate. There have been investigations into whether corruption affected the Stephen Lawrence murder investigation, including by the police watchdog. They have not found corruption affected the case, and no officers have been disciplined or charged. Update, November 15: A paragraph describing how the BBC checked details of the informant David Norris' testimony has been added to this story. If you have information about that you would like to share with BBC News' Stephen Lawrence investigation please get in touch. [email protected]. You can also get in touch using SecureDrop, a highly anonymous and secure way of whistleblowing to the BBC which uses the TOR network. Or by using the Signal messaging app, an end-to-end encrypted message service designed to protect your data. Please note that the SecureDrop link will only work in a Tor browser. For information on keeping secure and anonymous, here's some advice onhow to use SecureDrop.

A senior officer involved in the Stephen Lawrence murder case was corrupt, according to a secret Met Police report uncovered by the BBC.

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Running a government or a political party is not a business where the aim is to hold hands and sing Kumbaya. The task to is win power. To hold on to it. To get things done. And then win again. Common beliefs, loyalty, and a desire to serve can bind politicians together. But fear is one of the currencies prime ministers can require to succeed. As one senior Conservative told me: "People need to be scared of Number 10." That force can stop ministers doing daft things, or make them do things they don't want to, or just keep them in line. Ultimately, it is the fear of losing their precious jobs, their red box, their ministerial limo, their standing, their reputation, that matters in the fraught day to day of government. Rishi Sunak is never going to cosplay some kind of political hard man. But he faces a political danger right now that every moment longer he keeps his headline-happy home secretary on, that fear falls away. The prime minister is known not just for wanting to find the facts, but wanting to study them before making decisions. We saw that in long running embarrassments over thetax affairs of the former Conservative Party chair, Nadhim Zahawi, andbullying claims about the previous foreign secretary, Dominic Raab. In political terms both of those situations dragged on for aeons before the two ministers were shown the door. But on this occasion there seems little need for a long-winded process or internal investigations into what happened. Home Secretary Suella Braverman and her team were told to tone down her language inan article for The Times. They refused to make all the changes. Either Rishi Sunak reckons that defiance merits a P45 or not. But as I write Downing Street is in the uncomfortable position of having disowned the article, distancing themselves from the home secretary, but then delayed making a further decision. Now they are stuck with almost impossible choreography. "I think it all depends on this weekend," says one senior MP. Mrs Braverman's language related to the policing of protests and Remembrance events. There is a logic therefore in Number 10 getting through the next 48 hours before making a public decision on if she should stay or go. If she had been fired already, and there was trouble on the streets - and there have been clashes between police and counter-protesters - Mrs Braverman would have been able to say a giant "I told you so". But if the weekend's events pass relatively smoothly, then some in government are convinced that on Monday she is out. "I'd put your money on it," one cabinet source told me, suggesting confidently the plan to fire her then has already been hatched, "the position is pretty entrenched". Yet, other sources in government suggest Rishi Sunak's natural caution will see him wait for another big event to pass, Wednesday's Supreme Court ruling on the government's plan to send migrants to Rwanda. Suella Braverman has been the biggest champion of this proposal all along. If the government wins, and can get on with it, that's a victory for her as well as the PM. If she is sacked then - after a positive verdict - there is less of a row to have, the message could be: "Thank you for your marvellous work, now time for a fresh start." But if the government loses, and then she is shown the door, she has more ammunition to make things awkward, more likely to try to push the Tory Party further on immigration, reinvigorating calls to leave the European Convention on Human Rights, which is a source of argument in Conservative ranks. Several ministers reckon therefore Mr Sunak will wait until that's clear. "Next Wednesday is a big day that is finally arriving and I'd be astonished if the PM did anything ahead of that," said one. But there is always a reason politicians can find to wait. Does Number 10 really want to change its cast list a few days before the chancellor's big Autumn Statement the week after? Does the PM really want to carry out a major reshuffle, perhaps the last before a general election campaign, right now? If politicians want to delay, there is, always a reason to wait. The pause while Number 10 has been working out what to do has displayed the other reason for hanging on to Mrs Braverman. The dangling prospect of sacking the home secretary has prompted screams from the Conservative right, and newspaper headlines about the revenge which would surely follow. Trying to keep the right happy was the reason Rishi Sunak hired Suella Braverman in the first place. Remember, she had previously been ditched by Liz Truss when found to have broken ministers' rules. It was obvious from the very start that she would be highly likely to grab headlines and be willing to cause political trouble. When he was trying to get to Number 10 - after the Truss implosion - Mrs Braverman's support was a valuable totem for Team Sunak from the right wing of the party. Since then, while the PM and the home secretary differ hugely in how they use language, there isn't that much variation between the two of them on ideas. And as far as some of Suella Braverman's backers are concerned she has done exactly what she was hired to do. That is, talk to the public with conviction about the government's desire to get on top of immigration, and, in the words of one of her allies, "convince people that we mean it". But there is no question Number 10 is, in the words of one cabinet minister "deeply hacked off" at her recent behaviour. It's not just the fuss over her newspaper article. Multiple sources have said herremarks about tents for homeless peoplehave caused huge political damage. "It's become the Suella show," a minister says. "It's cumulative," another claims. And many Sunak loyalists don't believe the threat Mrs Braverman would present if she is sacked in a giant huff is as significant as her allies, and some headlines, suggest. "There is no army that will rise up behind her," suggests one cabinet minister. Another member of the government says "her support in Parliament is very, very over stated," take away the red box and the car, and she will look like what she was, "an outlier from the start". But even a small group of politicians determined to make a racket can do so. If Mrs Braverman is sacked there will be a backlash of a sort, in parts of the party, and parts of the press. There are warnings, however credible, that a small number of other members of the government might leave alongside her if she is fired or walks. Yet, there seems a growing sense in government that there is less and less to be gained from trying to trying to keep every MP happy. And while Mrs Braverman's backers say time and again that she represents many of the public, she alienates others. One pollster suggests Mrs Braverman's style could "peel back some Reform UK's voters, but the combination of alienating more Cameronite Tories and a total sense of government chaos and disunity far outweighs" that appeal. The political question for Rishi Sunak is not whether the perfect process was followed in agreeing a cabinet minister's newspaper article. But whether he is willing to keep using up political energy to try to preserve the fraying edges of the Conservative Party. Mr Sunak is grappling with an almost impossible choreography, some Conservatives reckon the party is an almost impossible coalition now too. However the prime minister decides to manage his way out of this tangle it has already dented Downing Street's authority. One minister told me: "If you don't think that actions have consequences and you can say what you like, do what you want, it's harmful for Number 10." There are logical reasons why Mr Sunak has not yet made a decision with the protests this weekend, and the court ruling on Wednesday. There are political reasons why it's not a slam dunk, because there is a risk, although perhaps not as great as often billed, of retribution from the right of the Conservative Party that would be hard to manage, and indeed, to predict. But the bigger reality for Downing Street is perhaps that Suella Braverman acted as she did because she didn't fear any consequences. If members of any government ignore what the Number 10 machine says, but they get away with it, even for a few days, the prime minister's authority erodes, discipline disappears. "Nobody is frightened of Downing Street any more," one senior Tory told me. An administration that can't put the frighteners on is an administration in trouble. FollowLaura on X

You won't find a politician saying it loud, but fear matters.

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Buildings were evacuated earlier and people warned to avoid parts of the city due to an "industrial incident", West Yorkshire Police said. The force said the crane had "been made safe without incident" and the cordon was no longer in place. Evacuated residents have returned to their homes and roads closures have been lifted. At the height of the disruption, train services were affected at nearby Leeds Railway Station but have since resumed. Earlier, onlookers were reportedly told by police at the scene there was a danger a white tower crane operating close to Whitehall Road could collapse. One onlooker, Luke Peters, 38, from Chapel Allerton, said the crane had looked "off-kilter" and confirmed the police had told him it could fall over "imminently". He added: "I wouldn't want to be going for a run along the river right now." Access to the Riverside Way area was restricted for pedestrians and road closures put in place. A cordon was also put on a stretch of Whitehall Road, a short distance from Leeds Station, and riverside paths were also closed and guarded by officers. A nearby Premier Inn hotel was among the buildings evacuated. West Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Service said it was called to reports of an unstable structure on Riverside Way at about 13.35pm. It said the crane had been made safe at about 17:30 BST and all crews had now left the scene. The crane was one of two around a half-built tower block between the road and the River Aire. Follow BBC Yorkshire onFacebook,X (formerly Twitter)andInstagram. Send your story ideas [email protected].

A cordon put in place due to concerns about an "unstable" crane in Leeds city centre has been removed.

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The bill was incurred during a family trip to Morocco last year. The expense was initially picked up by the Scottish Parliament, which was told by Mr Matheson that the iPad was only used for work. He has since paid the money back and said he had referred himself to the parliament for further investigation. Mr Matheson - who was visibly emotional during a statement to parliament - told MSPs he was not aware that other family members had used the device until last Thursday, after the first media reports about the charges emerged. He said the iPad itself had not been used by his children but had been used as a hotspot to allow internet access for other devices. The health secretary said he did not mention this in his statement on Friday, in which he announced he would pay the bill himself, because he wanted to protect his children. He apologised unreservedly to the parliament and said the responsibility for the data usage and iPad was his. Mr Matheson went on holiday with his wife and two sons shortly after Christmas last year. "As a parent, I wanted to protect them from being part of the political and media scrutiny associated with this, something I believe any parent would want to do," he told MSPs. He said he was "a father first and foremost", adding that it was wrong not to reference his sons using the iPad data. "That was a mistake and I am sorry," he continued. "I can see now that it just isn't possible to explain the data usage without explaining their role." He added: "The simple truth is they watched football matches." Mr Matheson said he did not watch the football, nor did he know it was being watched by his sons. He told MSPs he had been advised that he could use the iPad as a mobile hotspot and that his son helped to set it up. The Scottish Parliament confirmed that Mr Matheson had contacted officials on 28 December about his phone not working in Morocco, but said its records did not "show any discussion of his iPad". On Monday, the health secretary denied that there had been any personal use of his iPad. In his statement to MSPs on Thursday, he said he would refer himself for investigation to the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body, but would not stand down as health secretary. The minister said when he was initially informed about the bill in January, he could not understand why it was so high. In the absence of a "clear explanation", he said he thought it was appropriate when he agreed in March that he would contribute £3,000 from his office expenses, with the rest to be paid by parliament. The data charges, including more than £7,000 on 2 January - when Celtic were playing Rangers - were incurred for using more than 6GB of data on the parliamentary device between 28 December 2022 and 3 January 2023. A Sim card in the device should have been changed after parliament officials switched a mobile contract from EE to Vodafone in December 2021. But Mr Matheson failed to replace the Sim despite being told to do so almost a year before his holiday. The Scottish Conservatives have called for the health secretary to be sacked, and are expected to call a motion of no confidence. The government would be expected to defeat it due to an SNP-Green majority in parliament. Tory leader Douglas Ross said parliament had been misled by Mr Matheson, who initially told Holyrood officials that his expense claim for the iPad data usage was for legitimate parliamentary work. Mr Ross told BBC Scotland News: "So if it was a legitimate expense, yet he was also saying he didn't know how that data had been accrued, then he misled parliament." He added: "If Michael Matheson is a man of integrity, as he says he is, he will resign." Scottish Labour deputy leader Jackie Baillie said parents of teenagers would understand the scenario, but "what people will not understand is the cover-up". She said Mr Matheson had been "wholly negligent" not to replace his device's Sim card, and not to keep it secure from being used by others. "It is simply unfathomable that Michael Matheson thinks he can keep his job after deceiving the public and parliament over his actions," she added. It was an emotional statement from Michael Matheson revealing that his sons were using his iPad as a hotspot to stream football. That explains how he was able to run up £11,000 in data roaming charges on his family holiday to Morocco over New Year. It does not explain the security arrangements for his Holyrood iPad. Nor does it explain how he convinced himself he could have done that volume of constituency work in order to claim it as a legitimate parliamentary expense. Mr Matheson has told us his family only fessed up last Thursday which is why he offered to pay back the full amount the following day. However, he was still denying there had been "personal" use of the iPad to reporters on Monday. Mr Matheson has made clear he was trying to protect his family - an instinct many of his MSP colleagues will understand. The problem is he has now admitted concealing the truth because he thought that was justified and that could undermine trust in a politician who is supposed to lead the NHS through a difficult winter. At First Minister's Questions earlier on Thursday, Humza Yousaf said he had "absolute confidence" in Mr Matheson, who he described as a man of "honesty and integrity". Mr Yousaf had initially described the £11,000 iPad bill as a"legitimate parliamentary expense"and said Mr Matheson should not have to pay it out of his own pocket. The health secretary cancelled a planned visit to a Glasgow health centre after parliament published a breakdown of the data usage. A spokesperson said it would be rescheduled for a future date. Tory MSPshad pointed outthat the day Mr Matheson was billed £7,346 - on 2 January for using 3.18GB - coincided with an Old Firm football match. A further £1,320 charge was listed as a separate entry for 2 January. It is not yet known if the fee could relate to a previous day due to a lag effect in the billing system but there is no figure listed for 1 January. The next largest fee was on 28 December 2022, when the minster was charged £2,249 for using 1.26GB. A match between Hibernian and Celtic was played that day. According toNetflix, 6GB of data can be used to watch about 36 hours of streaming while on a data-saving mode. On the highest possible streaming quality, 6GB would only provide about 120 minutes of streaming, depending on the device and network speed. The parliament said that after the bill was received earlier in the year, IT officials checked the iPad to see if it was working. They also examined the mobile data usage, but were only presented with a cumulative total and did not see the browsing history. The presiding officer confirmed parliament had ordered a review into its data roaming and mobile devices rules to "ensure the present situation cannot happen again".

Health Secretary Michael Matheson has admitted an £11,000 data roaming charge on his iPad was caused by his sons watching football.

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Sivan took home four awards, including song of the year for Rush and best solo artist, at the ceremony in Sydney. "This has been the most insane week of my life, like ever," he said accepting the award for song of the year. It comes days after the singer received two Grammy nominations for best pop dance recording and best music video. Sivan said: "I try and play it cool like this is all normal, but it's really tripping me out, and it's so exciting. "I've been doing this for like ten, eleven years at this point and so to feel this much energy and love - I'm confused but so happy." The Perth-raised singer, along with his producer Styalz Fuego, also won best engineered release and best produced release. This year the 28-year-old's album Something To Give Each Other was not eligible for album of the year category as it was released after nominations were finalised, making it a potential for the award next year. Minogue won her first Aria award in 21 years beating Sivan to win best pop release for her hit single Padam Padam. "This is just unbelievable, and I am super super happy," she said accepting the award in a video in another location. The award brings Minogue's number of Aria Music awards to seventeen. In February, she will be facing-off against Sivan againafter she also received a Grammy nominationfor best pop dance recording. Earlier in the night, Taylor Swift took home most popular international artist - voted for by fans. The ceremony was also marked by calls for a ceasefire in the Middle East. "There are atrocious things happening in the world right now that I think as a community we should be putting our minds, heart and bodies behind to stop it any junction that we can," said Genesis Owusu who won album of the year and best hip-hop release with Struggler. "Ceasefire now... free Palestine," he added. Nic Cester, frontman of rock band Jet who were honoured with an induction into the Aria Hall of Fame, also touched on the conflict: "It's impossible to turn on the news at the moment and not to be confronted by the destruction being committed through war, racism and politics." The organisers of the Aria Awards bill it as the "premier event" in Australian music.

Troye Sivan won big at the Aria Awards, while Kylie Minogue's Padam Padam won best pop release on Australia's biggest night in music.

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Called Now And Then, it's been 45 years in the making - with the first bars written by John Lennon in 1978 and the song finally completed last year. All four Beatles feature on the track, which will be the last credited to Lennon, McCartney, Harrison and Starr. And in a full-circle moment, it's being issued as a double A-side single with their 1962 debut Love Me Do. The release marks what could be the closing chapter for arguably the greatest band in rock history. In the UK, Now And Then had its first play on BBC Radio 2 and 6 Music shortly after 14:00 GMT. Simultaneously, the song arrived on streaming services like Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon Prime Music. CD, vinyl and cassette copies will be available the following day. And from 10 November, the song will be included on the newly remastered and expanded versions of The Beatles' Red and Blue greatest hits albums. The original demo has circulated as a bootleg for years. An apologetic love song, it's fairly typical of John Lennon's solo output of the 1970s - in a similar vein to Jealous Guy. It was finished in the studio last year by Sir Paul McCartney and Sir Ringo Starr. George Harrison will appear via rhythm guitar parts he recorded in 1995, and producer Giles Martin has added a new string arrangement. "Hearing John and Paul sing the first chorus together, as they lock into the line 'Now and then I miss you' - it's intensely powerful, to say the least,"said Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone magazine. "I cried like a baby when I heard it," added BBC 6 Music's Lauren Laverne. "Just gorgeous." The story begins in 1978, when Lennon recorded a demo with vocals and piano at his home in New York. After his death, his widow Yoko Ono gave the recording to the remaining Beatles on a cassette that also featured demos for Free as a Bird and Real Love. Those two songs were completed and released as singles in 1995 and 96, marking The Beatles' first "new" material for 25 years. The band also attempted to record Now And Then, but the session was quickly abandoned. "It was one day - one afternoon, really - messing with it," producer Jeff Lynne recalled. "The song had a chorus but is almost totally lacking in verses. We did the backing track, a rough go that we really didn't finish." In the end, the quality of the recording was considered too poor to salvage. Harrison reportedly called it "rubbish", but McCartney never let go of the idea. To an extent, yes. During the making of The Beatles' Get Back documentary, director Peter Jackson's film company developed a piece of software that allowed them to "de-mix" muddled recordings of overlapping sounds. The technology was used last year to create a new mix of the band's album Revolver. "It has to learn what the sound of John Lennon's guitar is, for instance, and the more information you can give it, the better it becomes,"Giles Martin told the BBC. For Now And Then, the software was able to "lift" Lennon's voice from the original cassette recording, removing the background hiss and the hum of the mains electricity that had hampered previous attempts to complete the song. In McCartney's words Lennon's voice is "crystal clear" on Now And Then. A15-minute documentarybroadcast on Wednesday's The One Show, offered a startling illustration of what that means: The thin, ghostly voice of the 1970s suddenly sounds like it was recorded in Abbey Road itself. "It was the closest we'll ever come to having him back in the room," said Starr. "Far out." "All those memories came flooding back," added McCartney. "My God, how lucky was I to have those men in my life? "To still be working on Beatles music in 2023? Wow." Critics have been broadly positive about Now And Then, with theGuardiangiving it four stars out of five, and calling it "an affecting tribute to the band's bond". Clashdescribes the track as beatific, sentimental, and "gloriously contagious", whileRolling Stonesays it is "the brilliant final statement the Fab Four - and their fans - deserve". Most critics seem to agree that the track cannot match a traditionally-recorded Beatles song. TheTelegraph, which gave the song three stars, noted that Now And Then "doesn't hit the heights we expect from a great Beatles ballad". Varietycalls the question of whether the song lives up "to the Beatles or their collective solo works' towering legacy" an unfair one. "Of course it doesn't, but it's still an unexpected pleasure," Jem Aswad writes. Sir Paul said the experience of recording Now And Then was "magical". "When we were in the studio, we had John's voice in our ears so you could imagine he was just in the next room in a vocal booth or something and we were just working with him again so it was joyful," he told Radio1's Clara Amfo. "We hadn't experienced that for a long time obviously and then suddenly here we were working with ol' Johnny." Sir Paul described the song as poignant, and said he wanted fans to take a "loving feeling" away from it. "That's often what we were trying to do with our records, we were trying to spread love," he said. "It's John talking about 'I miss you' and stuff like that so, I think emotion, that would be the key word for people to take away from it, 'emotion'." Yes, Jackson has created a new video, which is unveiled at 14:00 GMT on Friday. It will contain previously-unseen footage, including "a few precious seconds" of the earliest known film of The Beatles, provided by original drummer Pete Best and his brother Roag. Roag said he bought the silent footage from a man who used a cine camera to film the band performing St Paul's Presbyterian Church Hall in Birkenhead in February 1962, eight months before their debut single came out. Jackson's team have improved the quality and "it looks absolutely fantastic", Roag told BBC News. It is also the only known footage of the band performing in the leather suits they sported before they became famous. "The lads are rocking backwards and forwards with guitars, mouths to the microphones, singing," Roag said. It is also the only video from before Pete Best was sacked and replaced by Ringo Starr in August 1962 - but he is obscured in the footage, his brother said. "From a family perspective, I went, 'Ah, come on!' One of the guys is actually standing in front of Pete so all you can see is Pete's drum kit and Pete's hands occasionally with the sticks." Jackson has used about six seconds of the footage in the Now And Then video. The original lasts for almost a minute and will go on show at the Liverpool Beatles Museum, which Roag Best owns. In a statement, Jackson said he had found other "unseen outtakes in the vault, where The Beatles are relaxed, funny and rather candid". He added: "We wove the humour into some footage shot in 2023. The result is pretty nutty and provided the video with much needed balance between the sad and the funny."

After a week of build-up, The Beatles have released what's been billed as their "final song".

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The rate has risen rapidly over the past year or so, in response to the high cost of borrowing and high inflation. The soaring rate will not mean graduates have to pay more each month but it could affect how long it will take for many to repay that debt. Some fear they will reach retirement age without fully repaying costs incurred in their teens and 20s. Vonnie Sandlan went to Glasgow Caledonian University in 2002 to study Social Sciences. After graduating she got a job but did a second stint as a student at the University of the West of Scotland. She trained to be an early years school teacher and also became president of the National Union of Students in Scotland. Ms Sandlan took out a series of student loans to fund her studies and living costs. She is now 41, and still has £35,000 in student loan debt. "I earn a decent wage but I'm still not paying enough for my student loan contributions to make an impact on that debt and bring it down," she says. "I just don't think I'll ever be able to pay it off before I finish working. That's the reality of it." Vonnie is a homeowner so she is now paying a mortgage - but the interest on that debt is currently 3.69%. The rate of interest on her student loan debt is 6.25%. "We need to see that interest rate coming down, 6% is just absolutely ridiculous," she says. "The notion I'm still going to be still paying it off at 60 is quite uncomfortable, to be honest." Student loans in Scotland are written off at age 65 or at 30 years after someone became eligible to repay. Scottish students studying in Scotland do not normally pay tuition fees for university, saving them thousands of pounds of debt each year when compared with other UK nations. However, they can pay tuition for some further courses and often take out support loans through SAAS (the Students Awards Agency Scotland). Ms Sandlan says: "I feel very fortunate I've been able to take advantage of university education which supported me to get a good job and pays me well. It allows me to support my family. "But I do think a 6% interest rate on that student debt just feels excessive and unfair. And I hope the government reflects on this." She says the government could make the choice to reduce the interest rates and adjust the terms and conditions of student debt so it is fairer and more equitable. The interest rate on student loans in Scotland is set on the lower of two things. One is the retail price index - the RPI measure of inflation - and the other is the Bank of England base rate, plus 1%. So as the Bank of England base rate has gone up to 5.25% in the last couple of years, students would have seen the interest on their loans increase. Graduates in Scotland begin to pay back their student loans when they earn more than £27,660. They repay 9% of anything they earn over that threshold. The amount comes directly out of their wages - which means it is not dependant on the amount they have borrowed. So if a graduate earns £35,000, they would be eligible to repay 9% of £7,340, which is £660 a year (for maths students, here's the sum: £35,000 - £27,660 = £7,340 x 9% = £660 a year - or £55 a month). But the rate of interest on what they owe is now 6.25% a year. That means it's harder to clear the initial debt. The average student loan debt upon entry to repayment is £15,430. Interest on that amount would accumulate at about £80 a month. Financial author Iona Bain says the higher rate of interest comes at a bad time for current graduates. "The student loan interest rate rise could not come at a more unfortunate time for a generation of graduates who have only ever known low interest rates on their borrowing," she says. "Many graduates coming in to their 30s will be looking to buy property, to settle down, to start families and yet the cost of doing all those things is rising tremendously. "Lots of people will be wishing the rate was back down at those rates of 1% that we saw a few years ago." Ms Bain added: "When the system was devised interest rates had gone down to incredibly low level, for well over a decade graduates were paying low rates." Kate Ogden, senior research economist at the Institute for Fiscal Studies think-tank, said: "The interest rate on student loans in Scotland was less than 2% throughout the 2010s, so this rise to 6.25% may be a shock to Scottish graduates. "What it won't mean though is anybody repaying more each month. "The way loans are repaid means that how much you repay depends on your earnings and not directly on the interest rate - unlike with a mortgage - so this won't be hitting students in the pocket now." Ms Ogden added: "The student loan system's designed to make sure a majority of students will pay back their debt - which protects the Scottish taxpayer - but also that no graduates are faced with unaffordable repayments. "Now, despite the high interest rates, I still think the system will continue to do this." She said she expected the interest rate to fall next year so it would no longer be at its historic high. "If the government is really concerned about protecting students at this point in time and making sure that none of them are put in a difficult financial situation because of these loans, the most effective thing it could do is to think about the earnings threshold, above which students start to make repayments," Ms Ogden says. "Any increase in that threshold would have an immediate impact on the repayments that students make now." A Scottish government spokesperson said: "The Scottish government is taking strong action to help students through the cost of living crisis. "Scotland has the lowest student debt levels in the UK as a result of free tuition for Scottish-domiciled students studying at university here, which ensures they do not incur additional debt of up to £27,750. "The average debt for students in England is now £44,940, which is almost three times the level of Scotland. Scottish borrowers are also charged lower interest rates than most borrowers from the rest of the UK, where interest on student loans is as high as 7.3%. "We have also increased higher education student support packages by £900 for 2023-24. "This raises support for students who may be disadvantaged, including Care Experienced, estranged students and those from the lowest household incomes from £8,100 to £9,000 as the next step in our commitment to providing a package of support equivalent to the living wage."

Scottish graduates are seeing their student loan debt rising at a rate of 6.25% a year. For many, that's a higher rate than they would pay for a mortgage.

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As an executive at the Trump Organization, he was testifying in a multimillion-dollar civil trial that could see his family lose a sizable part of its business empire. His comment set the tone for what was an hour-long charm offensive that saw Mr Trump Jr lightheartedly engaging with the judge while letting his lawyers do the brawling for him. In under two hours of testimony in New York, he said he did not work on the financial statements at the centre of the case. The eldest son of the former president appeared confident and relaxed on the witness stand. He smiled during proceedings, even making the occasional joke and drawing laughter from the courtroom. The stakes, however, were high andthe claims against him serious. The judge has already found the Trump Organization falsified business records. This hearing will resolve other claims and potential penalties, which, in a worst-case scenario for the family, could see Mr Trump Jr, along with his father and brother Eric, essentially lose the ability to do business in New York But Mr Trump Jr did not appear perturbed. Wearing a dark blue suit and flamingo-pink tie, the current Florida resident quipped to the judge that he had "kept the New York pace" after being asked to speak more slowly. At another point, Judge Arthur Engoron noted humorously that Mr Trump Jr could settle a minor pronunciation argument: whether to pronounce "revocable" as "re-VOCK-able" or "re-VOKE-able". Mr Trump Jr laughed and said he did not know. When Colleen Faherty of the attorney general's office then phrased her question with one pronunciation, Mr Trump Jr joked that he only understood the other. On another occasion, Ms Faherty pressed the 45-year-old on his understanding of the guidelines businesses use to ensure financial records are accurately maintained. He drew chuckles as he smiled and responded: "I have no understanding" - part of his broader argument that he was not involved in the minutiae of the company's accounting as prosecutors have claimed. The attorney general's office argues he and his brother Eric were "intimately involved" in the Trump Organization, and said in court filings that they were "aware of the true financial performance of the company". Mr Trump Jr's jovial persona on Wednesday was notably different to the hyper-masculine right-wing influencer he usually portrays. In an appearance on the conservative Newsmax network earlier this week, he called the trial a "sham" and and labelled the chamber a "kangaroo court". But he refrained from airing such bombastic criticism in court. While Judge Engoron appeared in decent spirits, he had earlier fined Mr Trump Jr's father $15,000 (£12,300) for levelling political attacks against court staff. Most of Ms Faherty's questioning focused on establishing Mr Trump Jr's work at the Trump Organization and his involvement in the preparation of various financial documents that had come under the attorney general's scrutiny. Anticipation for this phase of the trial had been building since it began on 2 October. Mr Trump Jr is the first of his siblings to give testimony, with Ivanka and Eric Trump scheduled to do so in the coming days. Donald Trump himself may take the stand next week. And while Mr Trump Jr faced a relatively drama-free day on Wednesday, the tone could change as the attorney general's team resume their questioning on Thursday morning.

"I should have worn make-up," Donald Trump Jr quipped on Wednesday as a group of photographers rushed into court to take his picture.

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The refugees are coming from Gaza's north, fleeing Israel's bombing campaign. They stream down the Salah al-Din road, which connects north to south, many thousands on foot, some with a few possessions but most bearing only their children and the clothes on their backs. Tens of thousands have stopped in Deir al-Balah, a central Gazan city in the supposed safe zone which has been plunged into crisis by the influx. The refugees in Deir al-Balah are crammed into school buildings hastily repurposed as UN shelters, up to 70 people in a single classroom, surrounded by food waste and swarmed by flies. "If you want to speak about space, we sleep on our sides because there is not even enough room to lie on our backs," said Hassan Abu Rashed, a 29-year-old blacksmith who fled with his family from Jabalia in Gaza City. "If you want to speak about food, we hope we will find a few slices of bread per day to eat. If you want to speak about health, the sewage system in the school is broken. If you want to speak about diseases, there is chickenpox, scabies, and lice here. If you want to speak about our condition, we are desperate." At the gate of one school in Deir al-Balah, Khaled Filfel, a 42-year-old father, was alone and stressed over a very specific need. "My 21-year-old daughter is disabled and I cannot get any nappies for her," he said. On top of that, he said, the pair had not been able to find drinking water or food so far that day. There were two saving graces for Filfel, though. The first was that his wife and six other children happened to be out of Gaza when Hamas attacked Israel. The second was that someone had seen his daughter at the school that morning and offered them a room in a family home nearby. "Because of my daughter's condition they offered us shelter," Filfel said. "Some people here are looking out for each other." Before the beginning of this war, the UN's refugee agency, Unwra, had contingency planning in place to house 1,500 displaced people in each school, the agency's Gaza director, Thomas White, told the BBC. The average school-turned-shelter is now housing 6,000 people - a total of 670,000 people across 94 shelters in the south. "We have been overwhelmed by the numbers," White said. "There are people everywhere. The sanitation is overwhelmed, we're averaging about 125 people per toilet, about 700 per shower unit. You can feel the humidity of so many people crammed into these schools, you can smell the mass of humanity." To escape the teeming classrooms and courtyards at the school in Deir al-Balah, some of its new residents take the short walk down to the beach front and spend the daylight hours there. On Saturday morning, a young family was washing themselves and their clothes in the sea, trying to avoid the rubbish floating on the water and strewn on the sand. When they were done, they hung their clothes up under the sun. They had been in Deir al-Balah for three weeks. "You could say that we have gone back to the dark ages," said the father, Mahmoud al-Motawag, 30. "We use the sea for everything," he said. "To wash ourselves, to wash our clothes, to clean our kitchen utensils, and now to drink when we cannot find clean water. We eat just one meal each per day, and we beg the fishermen to give us one or two fishes for the children." Mahmoud, a farm worker from Jabalia, said his family had fled the bombing. He was sitting next to his two children, a boy and girl aged four and two, and his wife Duaa. The family spent all day at the beach, Mahmoud said, partly to wait for their clothes to dry but mostly to avoid for as long as they could returning to the baking hot tent on the school grounds that had become their temporary home along with 50 others. As he spoke, Duaa, aged just 20, rested a hand on her large baby bump. She was due to give birth in a month, she said. With the local hospital already on its knees, she wondered if she might be forced to deliver at the dirty, overcrowded school. "I am afraid," Duaa said. "I am afraid that the birth will take a long time, I am afraid for my baby, I am afraid that there will be no clothes or blankets. Everything was planned for the birth, and then everything changed." For now, there was the daily strain of simply being a refugee while eight months pregnant. "I have this physical and mental fatigue," Duaa said. "My children are small and we have to stand in a queue for the toilets for 15 to 30 minutes. I have pain from washing and sitting for a long time by the sea. It doesn't go away." Even if Duaa could reach the hospital in Deir al-Balah, it would not be a guarantee of a safe and comfortable birth. The Al-Aqsa hospital, like others across the Gaza Strip, is on its knees. As the refugees move south, so has the Israeli bombing, levelling buildings in residential areas of Deir al-Balah and sending dozens of badly wounded there. Khalil al-Duqran, a 55-year-old emergency doctor who has worked at the Al-Aqsa for 20 years, was on the phone to the BBC when the wounded from a strike on Salah al-Din road started to arrive. "They are coming now, hundreds of injured people, dozens have injuries in the head and limbs," he shouted, over sounds of chaos in the background. "This is a massacre of our people." Al-Duqran apologised and hung up. Later, when the chaos had died down, he called back, sounding shattered. "This is the hardest war that I have seen in my 20 years," he said. "Every day the wounded and the dead arrive by the dozens or hundreds. Children come with amputated limbs, upper and lower. They have severe head wounds." Like other hospitals across Gaza, the Al-Aqsa was running low on almost everything it needed to function. "We are making beds from wooden pallets, we are missing nearly 90% of medicines," Al-Duqran said. "Everything from operation room trays to fraction fixing devices have run out, and in the ICU we will lose patients soon because we can simply no longer keep them alive." As Israel's air and land attack on northern Gaza intensifies, people continue to flow down the Salah al-Din road into Deir al-Balah and all cities of central and southern Gaza. But at many of the school shelters, there is no longer room. So refugees are building ramshackle lean-tos against the sides of the buildings, keen to be positioned as close as possible to a UN flag in the hope of protection from an air strike, but open to the elements as the weather worsens. "People are living increasingly out in the open," said Thomas White, the Unrwa Gaza director. "Right now its remarkably warm for November, but by Wednesday we are expecting the cold weather to come through," he said. "People are going to be seriously exposed." Every shop that was providing food to Gazans under a World Food Programme assistance scheme ran out of basic supplies on Friday, WFP spokeswoman Alia Zaki told the BBC. Bakeries have no gas to make bread, she said, and there was a potential wave of malnutrition in the making in Deir al-Balah and across Gaza. "People are not eating enough to be healthy so their immune systems are weakened," Zaki said. "They are queuing for five or six hours for bread and coming back empty handed." At the beach in Deir al-Balah on Saturday, this was the unwelcome prospect facing Mahmoud and Duaa. They were preparing mentally to leave the relative haven of the waterfront to go in search of bread. "We could be waiting many hours, only to find the bakeries are closed again and we will have nothing again for our children," Mahmoud said. "Our ancestors' lives were war and our lives have been war," he said, wearily. "And now the war has caught up with our children, too." Muath al-Khatib contributed to this report.

Washing in polluted seawater, sleeping in packed tents, eating what little bread they can find, or on some days none at all. In southern Gaza, hundreds of thousands of refugees are in the midst of a humanitarian crisis that is deepening by the hour and pushing every possible safety net to the brink.

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Their discussion was not focused on the curtains, but on a political move that left jaws in Westminster on the floor - the return of Mr Cameron to frontline politics after a seven-year hiatus. It has prompted praise from some quarters of the Conservative party, anger from others. Concern about the accountability of an unelected foreign secretary and claims from opposition parties that Rishi Sunak has holed his own pitch as the change candidate beneath the waterline. So, what was the thinking behind it, and how did it come about? Despite speculation, the former foreign secretary William Hague dismissed the suggestion that he'd brokered the arrangement. "No!" he told Times Radio when asked if it was down to him. "I knew about it a few days before and spoke to David Cameron to brief him about my views on foreign affairs and the Foreign Office, but it wasn't my idea. "Sometimes in politics things are simpler than they look - sometimes someone just asks someone round for a chat and says why don't you do this, and they say OK fine, and it doesn't need any intermediary, they just sort it out for themselves and that happened in this case." Rishi Sunak has, according to Downing Street sources, spoken to Lord Cameron from time-to-time since he became prime minister, with Mr Cameron being a "helpful sounding board" on issues. One former aide to Lord Cameron suggested the conversations intensified after Mr Sunak's conference speech, in which he claimed politics had failed for 30 years and announced the cancellation of the northern leg of HS2. That prompted a relatively rare intervention from the then Mr Cameron, who publicly criticised Mr Sunak's decision on HS2. His former aide said: "It was an unusual thing for him to step in and say something, and he wouldn't have done it lightly. "No 10 realised they might have upset somebody who should be an ally, and who is not usually critical. There was a meeting, and discussions came out of that." They said the actions of Suella Braverman - who had increasingly become a thorn in Downing Street's side with public statements that distracted from the government's planned agenda - were the "catalyst" for the move. Though the prospect of a cabinet reshuffle had been in the offing for some time. Last week, Lord Cameron met Mr Sunak in Downing Street and was asked if he would become foreign secretary. On Sunday, when they stood together in the line-up of prime ministers at the Remembrance Day ceremony at the cenotaph, there was no sign that both had already agreed on the political bombshell that would drop the very next day. It is rare that a secret is so well kept in Whitehall. One current government advisor said they were "totally blindsided" by the move - and they are not the only one, suggesting it was kept to a tight circle. Figures in government and beyond have expressed incredulity the news did not leak in advance, as so often happens in Westminster. But if the timing and nature of Lord Cameron's return to frontline politics shocked, his decision to do so did not come entirely out of the blue, according to some who know him. One former advisor, who worked with Lord Cameron in Downing Street, said he was "surprised but not surprised". "He was really acutely aware of not being that ex-prime minister sniping from side-lines" he said. "Any intervention he made was not gratuitous. But the paradox was he did want to come back to public service life. "There was definitely an itch that needed scratching." Allies of Lord Cameron suggest the job of foreign secretary is one that would have particularly appealed, where he can reach into his global contacts book and bring his experience to bear within a complex brief on the world stage. The Sun newspaper even claimed it was an ambition of his as long as five years ago. Not all Conservative MPs are thrilled with the appointment though, with some already expressing concern about what his return signals about the direction of the party. And Labour spot an opportunity. One senior figure pointed out that with both the chancellor and foreign secretary - Jeremy Hunt and Lord Cameron - being figures who were in government way back in 2010 when the Conservatives first came to power - scrutinising the entire period of Tory government since then will seem more legitimate. The prime minister, who only arrived in parliament in 2015, really cannot do the "don't blame me guv routine" anymore, they argue. There is no doubt that when Lord Cameron strolled up Downing Street it was one of the rare moments that sent a genuine shock wave through Westminster. Let's see how it washes up.

Last Tuesday in the flat above Downing Street that used to be his family home, David Cameron met Rishi Sunak.

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It's why the portrayal of such events in the new series of Netflix's The Crown are under so much scrutiny. The first part of series six, which was written by Peter Morgan and released on Thursday,has already divided criticsfor its portrayal of sensitive and private events. Warning: This article contains spoilers. Over the course of four episodes, Princess Diana's post-divorce life is explored - from her role as doting mother to Princes William and Harry, to her charity work on landmines in Bosnia and friendship with Egyptian businessman, Mohamed Al Fayed, and romance with his son Dodi. Episode three focuses on the events leading up to Princess Diana's death, culminating in the car crash that killed her, aged 36 and Dodi, aged 42, in the Pont de l'Alma underpass in Paris. In the fourth episode, which concludes the first release of the sixth series, we see a dramatisation of events preceding Diana and Dodi's deaths, including reactions from the royal family, the public and then-Prime Minister Tony Blair. This portion of the series (the next six episodes are due to be released in mid-December) is dominated by the media attention Princess Diana gets, with paparazzi harassing her wherever she goes, whilst also showing her efforts to try and bargain with them to protect herself and her children. Royal commentator and film critic Richard Fitzwilliams says this depiction "is pretty accurate" and goes as far as saying "she was hunted" by cameras. He tells the BBC: "If you're frank about it, Diana did play with the press and [The Crown] did give some insight into that". Mr Fitzwilliams also said the show's portrayal of the "absolutely terrible" bidding war by newspapers for pictures of the late princess felt true to history, as did the complicated relationship between the press and the royals at that time. The fourth episode also wrestles with the royal reaction to Princess Diana's death, with a storyline based on the Queen's apparent reluctance to make any public statement. Academic and royal specialist Pauline MacLaren says the show's portrayal of the Queen and the public's reaction to the royals at this time "is fairly accurate". She says the Queen's address to the nationtaking place nearly a weekafter Diana's death "was certainly a big criticism" at the time. "One of the crisis points that the Queen had in her reign was the public's reaction to her apparent lack of sympathy for Diana's death," she tells the BBC. MacLaren also says she believes the grieving of Princes William and Harry in the show "is well handled". The young princes, William played by Rufus Kampa and Harry, played by Fflyn Edwards, were 15 and 12 at the time their mother died. In the show, Prince William is seen dealing with his mother's death by disappearing into the grounds of Balmoral Castle, in Scotland, for several hours in the pouring rain. Whilst MacLaren says its not known whether these events are "fact or fiction", she sees this as a "sensitive portrayal of the boys' sorrow at their mother's death". Prince Charles, now King Charles III, features heavily in scenes showing the aftermath of Diana's death in The Crown. In scenes that dramatise his conversations with the Queen, he appears to press for a royal plane to bring back Diana's coffin from Paris, as well as calling on his mother to address the nation after she expresses hesitancy. "I would read those [scenes] as fictionalised," MacLaren says. "People know that the series is not a documentary and I think that has got through to everybody," she adds. Charles appears in the show to have a sensitive side, crying at the Paris hospital where Diana was pronounced dead and comforting his sons. Prince Harrywrote in his 2023 memoir Sparethat "Pa didn't hug me" when he told him his mother had died and that a pat on the knee was the most comfort he received. A young Prince Harry is also seen crying in a church service on the morning he learns of Diana's passing, when Harry says in his book that he didn't cry until he saw his mother's coffin being lowered into the ground. "My body convulsed and my chin fell and I began to sob uncontrollably into my hands," he wrote. "I felt ashamed of violating the family ethos, but I couldn't hold it in any longer. It's ok, I reassured myself, it's ok. There aren't any cameras around." A part of the show which has probably received the most criticism is the appearance of ghosts of Princess and Diana and Dodi Fayed in episode four. Richard Fitzwilliams calls the storyline, in which Diana "haunts" Charles and the Queen "stupid", "ridiculous" and Dodi haunting his father, "somewhat of a caricature". He sees this as a transgression for British writer Peter Morgan, who was also behind Oscar-nominated 2006 film The Queen, which depicts the events following the death of the Diana. "The odd thing is the writing [of the ghost scene] compared to The Queen, which is superb and holds up extremely well". Fitzwilliams also takes issue with some of the speculative scenes throughout series six, including the portrayal of Diana and Dodi's growing romance and conversations with Diana and her sons. In real life, Diana and Dodi had probably known each other for around a month before they died, which is accurately portrayed in the show, but it remains unknown whether Dodi proposed to Diana or not. "There's a 10-minute scene [in episode three] between Dodi and Diana in Paris before they take their fateful journey," Fitzwilliams says. The pair are seen trying to help each other with issues plaguing their lives, with Diana making an admission that she wants to spend more time with her children, and Dodi admitting he wants to break away from his controlling father. "It's bad, it's cliché - they're psychoanalysing each other and Dodi has an imaginary conversation with his father," Fitzwilliams adds. Again, a scene which shows the last telephone conversation between Diana, who is in Paris, and her sons who are with their father at Balmoral, has never been confirmed to have taken place. "I think it would be very deeply hurtful if either of them saw it," Fitzwilliam says. Prince Harry,who makes programmes for Netflixthrough his media company,has admitted to watching The Crown, but is yet to comment on whether he thinks it accurately portrays his family or not. The second half of the final season, which will be released in December, will cover events including the Queen's Golden Jubilee, Prince Charles and Camilla's wedding and the courtship of William and Kate - now the Prince and Princess of Wales - at the University of St Andrews.

Princess Diana's death as a result of a car crash in Paris may have happened more than 25 years ago, but is still fresh in the memories of many.

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Here are five popular tips from drivers - and whether or not they really work. Many motorists consider driving at exactly 56mph to be optimum for fuel efficiency. However, there is no ideal fixed driving speed,according to the RAC motoring group. The 56mph myth, it says, came out of old fuel consumption tests - comparing driving in a built-up area to driving at 56mph and at 75mph. The most efficient of the three was 56mph, which led people to think this was always the best speed. However, depending on the type of car and its size, the RAC says45-50mphis most efficient. If you've ever resisted the urge to reach for the air conditioning on a hot summer's day to save fuel, you were right to do so. Extra energy is needed to power a car's air conditioning system and turning it on can increase your fuel consumption by up to 10% according to the AA. The impact might be more noticeable on shorter trips - that's because the air conditioner has to use more power initially to bring down the inside temperature of your car. Opening your windows might be better, but this creates a separate problem called "drag". This is where your engine has to work harder to compensate for the air resistance created by the open windows. If you're forced to choose between two, the best option will depend on your speed. The air conditioner is probably the better above 50mph because the faster you drive the greater the drag caused by open windows. Coasting is when you drive with the car in neutral, or with the clutch pedal held down. The AA recommends against coasting. Not only could it be unsafe (because you can't accelerate out of a tricky situation), the group also saysit's unlikely to save you any petrol. It says most cars have electric controls which cut the supply of fuel each time you take your foot off the accelerator - so there's nothing to be gained by coasting. Cruise control - a device which keeps your car at a constant speed without having to use the accelerator pedal - is often seen as a sure-fire way to save fuel, as it avoids unnecessary acceleration and harsh braking. However, this may only be true when it comes to motorway driving - due to the constant flat surface. On other road types you are more likely to come across hills and your cruise control will take time to adjust to the change in gradient, using up more fuel in the process. Normally you take your foot off the accelerator as you begin to descend down a hill, but as your cruise control can't see what's in front it spends extra time using power - leading to worse fuel consumption. Underinflated tyres will use up extra petrol. The advice is to check your pressures regularly, especially before heading off on a long journey. The correct pressure will be listed in your car's manual, but you may need to increase it to the recommended maximum if you're carrying several passengers and heavy luggage. However, any extra weight will still use up additional fuel - so leave out anything you don't need.

Making fewer journeys is the most obvious way to save money, but how else can you use less fuel?

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The four-day event - organised jointly by beauty company Lakmé, billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Brands and the Fashion Design Council of India (FDCI) - is one of Indian fashion's biggest highlights. While it had all the essential ingredients - glittering catwalks, clinking wine glasses and fashionistas in the front row - what grabbed eyeballs was a competition encouraging young designers to use eco-friendly materials to create outfits. The event is part of a wider ambition among Indian designers aiming to make sustainability the driving factor of their businesses. Many say they are trying to shrink their brands' environmental footprint - some are completely shifting to reusable materials, experimenting with fabrics made from used carpet or agricultural waste and eco-prints of plants and flowers. But experts say a lot more needs to be done, given the magnitude of the challenge. India's fashion industry is expected to grow at a staggering rate toreach $115-125bnby 2025, making it an important player on the global stage. Like elsewhere, it's the fast fashion market which is blamed for incurring maximum damage but experts say some of the responsibility also lies with the luxury segment. More so since this segment has been growing rapidly in recent years, propelled by an emerging crop of young Indians with higher disposable incomes. "Big designers have fashion shows every year and new collections every season, which means they too are creating clothes at a constant pace," says Pooja Singh, fashion and luxury editor at Mint Lounge newspaper. So increasingly, the industry is facing repeated allegations of hypocrisy - of causing too much damage and doing very little to combat it. Critics say Indian designers sometimes use terms such as sustainability and eco-friendly for marketing campaigns without actually practising what they preach. Some designers reject the accusation, but other industry insiders agree it is a serious challenge. Jaspreet Chandok, group vice-president of Reliance Brands which has invested heavily in the luxury market in recent years, says there's no simple answer to how luxury fashion can tackle climate change because everything is "work in progress". "But what we do bring to the table are innovative materials and technologies to bridge the gap between luxury and sustainability," he says. Implementing these changes, he says, will take time, and the solution cannot be to ask people to stop making or buying new things. "After all, the industry allows people to express themselves and brings so much joy. It also provides employment to millions of workers." While sustainability is often seen as only related to the environment, in the Indian context, it should also include improving the working conditions of artisans who form the backbone of the fashion market. Some of the biggest names on the runways of Paris and Milan quietly rely on these highly-skilled workers to produce their fabulous hand-made outfits and India is one of the largest exporters ofgarments and textiles at $44.4bn. But there have been allegations that they work in exploitative conditions, a trend which critics say has continued under Indian labels. In 2020, The New York Times reported that one of India's best-known designers was facing legal action from workers over unpaid wages. Mr Chandok, however, says that a lot has been done to tackle the problem and workers are receiving better pay and opportunities. But labour unions have said that there is still a long way to go before fair working conditions are achieved. Ms Singh says that making fashion sustainable is a complicated process and there are no straight answers for the best way to achieve it. "The simple solution would be to produce less but in the end, it's a business with jobs of millions tied into it." Using eco-friendly clothing is also not a silver-bullet solution. Fabrics like recycled polyester and those made from wood pulp have a lower carbon footprint, but they too have an environmental cost as their production could lead to deforestation, Ms Singh says. The onus, she says, also lies on consumers to make mindful choices. Things have changed a little after the Covid-19 pandemic with more people becoming mindful of protecting the environment and making sustainable choices, including when it comes to fashion. The industry has already started responding to this changing trend - FDCI chairperson Sunil Sethi says many designers are choosing to focus on one collection a year instead of seasonal ones. Even celebrities are embracing the idea of pre-loved clothing and repeating outfits. The process is slow but, he says, every step is a way forward. Mr Sethi says that designers have also found new ways of defining luxury, where the focus is not on creating more but less. He calls it "slow luxury", or garments that are crafted by hand, slowly and methodically, to create ensembles that outlive seasonal trends, almost like an heirloom that can be handed down from one generation to another. That's exactly the sort of fashion that renowned Indian designers Abraham and Thakore are known for. Called the "quiet revolutionaries" of the fashion world, the designers are credited with reinventing Indian couture by experimenting with eco-friendly fabrics, while staying rooted in traditional textiles and crafts. "It's simple - short-term trend is just not the solution to anything," Mr Thakore told the BBC. "When you create something unique and signature, it automatically becomes non-disposable. And it's not just fashion, it applies to everything." BBC News India is now on YouTube.Click hereto subscribe and watch our documentaries, explainers and features.

At last month's Lakmé Fashion Week in India, conversations about making fashion more sustainable took centre-stage. But are the country's designers ready for this?

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Sasha Skochilenko, 33, an artist from St Petersburg, has been in detention since April last year. She was convicted of spreading "false information" about the Russian army. Her lawyers pleaded for her acquittal, saying that chronic illnesses she suffers from mean she is at risk of dying in prison. Weeks after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Ms Skochilenko protested by replacing supermarket labels in a St Petersburg supermarket with anti-war messages, a small act called for by a feminist collective. The replacement labels read: "The Russian army bombed an art school in Mariupol. Around 400 people were hiding inside," and: "My great grandfather did not fight in WWII for four years so that Russia could become a fascist state and attack Ukraine." Ms Skochilenko admitted the charges. In her closing statement, the artist struck a defiant tone, asking the court: "How little faith does our prosecutor have in our state and society if he thinks that our statehood and public security can be ruined by five small pieces of paper?" "Say what you want - I was wrong, or I was brainwashed," she said. "I will stand by my opinion and my truth." Skochilenko was convicted of "discrediting the Russian army" under repressive laws adopted in the wake of the invasion. The legislation effectively criminalises all anti-war activism. The trial lasted a year and a half, apparently because it was one of the first to be brought under the new laws. "At first, the investigation took a long time. Prosecutors needed to find some evidence somewhere," said her lawyer Yana Nepovinnova. Sasha Skochilenko's sister Anna told the BBC that her sibling was "a symbol of everything the [Russian] authorities hate". "She is artistic, fragile, lesbian, has a Ukrainian surname," Anna Skochilenko said. She said she was terrified that her sister's chronic health conditions meant there was a risk of her dying in prison.Skochilenko has been diagnosed with coeliac diseaseas well as a heart defect that causes her heart to stop beating for two to three seconds. Russian President Vladimir Putin has overseen an unprecedented crackdown on domestic opposition in parallel with the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The laws used to convict Ms Skochilenko have been used to target scores of critics of his rule. Last month,journalist Marina Ovsyannikova, who protested against the invasion of Ukraine live on state TV, was convicted to 8.5 years in jail in absentia. In April,British-Russian opposition activist Vladimir Kara-Murzawas sentenced to 25 years for his criticism of the war.

A Russian anti-war activist has been sentenced to seven years in a penal colony for replacing supermarket pricing labels with anti-war messages.

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Others reacted with disbelief.“Today isn’t April Fools day Snoop,” said one.“Snoop without smoke is like earth without water," added another.Ro Marley, son of reggae legend Bob Marley, commented: "No more BBQ at uncle's... the grill is off for the season."Snoop's cannabis intake has been well-documented in his music and interviews.The rapper, 52, made his debut on Dr Dre's 1992 album The Chronic, whose title is a slang name for high quality marijuana.Over the years, his lyrics have contained multiple references to the habit."We gon' smoke an ounce to this," he rapped on his solo single Gin And Juice. The Dr Dre collaboration The Next Episode - which opened the Super Bowl half-time show in 2022 - carried the observation: "Smoke weed every day."In 2013, speaking to GQ magazine, the artist said he was smoking 80 cannabis joints a day.His founded Leafs By Snoop two years later. The company specialises in making its own cannabis strains, concentrates, flowers, and edibles. What is your reaction to Snoop's decision?You can share your views by emailing: [email protected] include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist.You can also get in touch via:WhatsApp: +44 7756 165803 and X: @BBC_HaveYourSay Some fans suggested the star's apparent decision to quit could have been made on health grounds."I had a pulmonary embolism last year and had to give up smoking as well," wrote one on Instagram."I know how hard this transition is especially for someone like you. Take all the time you need."A second comment added: "I quit few months ago and literally [had] so much clarity since I stopped. Congratulations unc."On X, another fan speculated that Snoop was not giving up the drug altogether."He’s moving to edibles, letting his lungs rest a little. Eat up, champ."Frank, the UK's anti-drug advisory service, notes that overusing marijuana can increase the risk of lung cancer.Long-term users can also develop symptoms including anxiety, paranoia, insomnia, loss of appetite and hallucinations. The drug can also increase your chances of developing schizophrenia.The BBC has contacted Snoop Dogg's representatives for more context on his statement, but has yet to receive a reply.

Snoop Dogg, who has built a public persona around his copious marijuana intake, says he is giving up smoking.The hip-hop star, whose real name is Calvin Broadus, made the surprise announcement on social media."After much consideration & conversation with my family, I’ve decided to give up smoke. Please respect my privacy at this time,” he posted onInstagram,externalandX.,externalHe did not specify what form of smoking he was stopping, or even whether he was serious.Some fans speculated that the post was part of a marketing stunt for his cannabis company Leafs By Snoop.

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BBC analysis of Care Quality Commission (CQC) records showed it deemed two-thirds (67%) of them not to be safe enough, up from 55% last autumn. The "deterioration" followsefforts to improve NHS maternity care,and is blamed partly on a midwife shortage. The government said maternity care was of the "utmost importance". The Department for Heath and Social Care (DHSC) said £165m a year was being invested in boosting the maternity workforce, but said "we know there is more to do". The BBC's analysis also revealed the proportion of maternity units with the poorest safety ranking of "inadequate" - meaning that there is a high risk of avoidable harm to mother or baby - has more than doubled from 7% to 15%since September 2022. The CQC, which also inspects core services such as emergency care and critical care, said the situation was "unacceptable" and "disappointing". "We've seen this deterioration, and action needs to happen now, so that women can have the assurance they need that they're going to get that high-quality care in any maternity setting across England," said Kate Terroni, the CQC's deputy chief executive. The regulator has been conducting focused inspections because of concerns about maternity care. These findings are "the poorest they have been" since it started recording the data in this way in 2018, Ms Terroni said. Rachel Tustain, whose daughter Eve was injured during her birth in 2016, said she believed maternity services were "massively under-resourced, massively underfunded", which was leading to safety issues. Eve suffered a bleed to her brain after "the incorrect application of forceps" during her delivery at Pinderfields Hospital, Wakefield. She died last year, aged five. "We feel short-changed. The life she had was not the life she should have had," Ms Tustain said. "Maternity care needs to be the biggest priority within the NHS, it needs to be funded properly." The Mid Yorkshire Teaching NHS Trust admitted liability and apologised for the poor care Rachel and Eve received. It added that "significant changes" had been made in the trust's maternity services since Eve's birth. Last autumn, BBC News analysed data from the CQC. It showed that 55% of maternity units in England were not always safe enough - with ratings of Requires Improvement or Inadequate for safety. The CQC has now almost finished a national maternity inspection programme, so has a fuller picture. It's got worse - 67% of units are now classed as Inadequate or Requires Improvement for safety. The CQC has changed how it assesses maternity units, so the number it inspects has gone from 137 to 178. The proportion in the lowest category has more than doubled. The decline in safety ratings has happened despite several attempts to transform maternity care, including anNHS programme launched in 2016. This was set up after an inquiry in 2015 into the failures that led to the deaths of babies at theUniversity Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Trust. The scandal at the trust was among several in recent years in which failures were found to have led to the deaths of babies. These cases led to calls for anEngland-wide public inquiryinto maternity care. In 2019, the NHS said it was committed to reducing the number of fatalities by 50% by 2025, although maternal deaths, neonatal deaths and stillbirths had been decreasing over the last decade. However, it is not expected to meet this target. The Royal College of Midwives says the government is not prioritising this enough. It says it's not managed to have a meeting with a Health Secretary about maternity safety since Jeremy Hunt in 2018. The DHSC declined an interview request from the BBC, but the Minister for Women's Health Strategy, Maria Caulfield, said she wanted to "reassure mothers and families that maternity care is of the utmost importance to this government". She added that the government was "working incredibly hard to improve maternity services, focusing on recruitment, training, and the retention of midwives". The NHS's chief midwifery officer, Kate Brintworth, said England was one of the safest places in the world to give birth. "We're not complacent about that because we know it's not this case for everyone." NHS England said it was working closely with trusts to "ensure safer, more personalised and more equitable maternity care for all women, babies and families". Pippa Nightingale, chief executive at Northwick Park Hospital which was previously rated "inadequate" for safety, said it was not possible to "fix a maternity service overnight", but said there had been positive changes at the north-west London trust. The rate of stillbirths there has declined to below the national average, but the CQC still believes the unit "requires improvement". She said she was "determined that we're going to turn things around". "I think in another year, we will be in a very different place in terms of what our CQC rating will look like." Stillbirth and neonatal charity Sands spokeswoman Clea Harmer said on BBC breakfast that the stats were "really frightening". "If we can build a culture where parents are listened to respected and heard, maternity safety will improve. "It's about listening if the worst happens and a baby does die. Listening to a parent, involving them in the review, making sure their voices are central and that will improve maternity safety." The Scottish government says it is committed to delivering high-quality care. In Northern Ireland, a review has called for a new safety strategy. Wales has delayed the second phase of a maternity review, because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

England's healthcare regulator has told BBC News that maternity units currently have the poorest safety ratings of any hospital service it inspects.

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Nick is a consultant surgeon, based in Oxford, who's been travelling to the Gaza Strip and West Bank for more than a decade. Since 2010 he has been to Gaza almost every year, usually leading a group of medics who teach students and junior doctors. In May, he witnessed the conflict first-hand whenat least 15 Palestinians, including three commanders of the militant group Islamic Jihad, were killedin Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip. Gaza locked down, and after four days of "non-stop" bombing Nick was evacuated by the UN. He is now on standby to go and work in operating theatres with the charity Medical Aid for Palestinians, as soon as it becomes safe to do so amidthe conflict between Israel and Hamas. "A huge sense of duty" is motivating him to want to go and do what he can, and he says he is not alone. "I think there is fear, apprehension, not knowing what one would find, but I think the other motives for doing so… are so powerful that they outweigh everything else," he says. "I consider it a huge privilege to be in a position to help these people who need help more than most of us can possibly understand. "It just feels the right thing to do...I've got many friends over there who I'm very close to. I've got Gazan friends staying with us [now]." He shares the story of Enas, a young Gazan doctor he trained who he and his wife have become an "adoptive parent" to. She left Gaza eight years ago after securing a scholarship to study in England but has never been able to return. As part of Israel's blockade of Gaza, Palestinians are prohibited from entering and leaving except in extremely rare cases, including if people need care for life-threatening conditions or if they are on a limited list of merchants. When Enas got married, Nick walked her down the aisle because her family were denied permission to leave Gaza. She has had little contact with them in recent weeks due tocommunications blackouts, and goes days without knowing if they are alive or dead. "They think they'll die," Nick says. "They've all written their names in indelible ink on their arms and their legs so that if they get killed, they'll be identified." The Islamic University of Gaza and Al-Azhar University, where Nick teaches, both sustained "serious damage" in October during bombing, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, which forms part of the Palestinian Authority. The Israel Defense Forces claimed the Islamic University of Gaza "serves as a central training centre for Hamas engineers" and a "training institution for the development and production of weapons", claims Nick is sceptical of. "I've visited these buildings on many, many occasions and, more importantly, people I've known for many years and trust implicitly have spent decades in these buildings and [they] do not believe that happens," he says. "It's inconceivable to me that they could be used as Hamas headquarters without the knowledge of people who work there day in, day out." Countries including Turkey, Jordan, and Egypt have been calling for a ceasefire, as well as theUnited Nations and the leaders of all of its major agencies. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said there would be no ceasefire without the release of Israeli hostages, but that humanitarian pauses might be possible to let aid into the enclave and hostages out. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has also resisted callsfor one, saying it would allow Hamas to "regroup and repeat" its 7 October attacks, in which it killed 1,200 Israelis and kidnapped more than 200 others. Nick insists that in order for Gazan patients to be helped there needs to be a complete ceasefire, "not a temporary pause of 48 hours", as well as the creation of multiple corridors of aid - including from Israel. "There's no way it can all come in through Rafah," he says, referring to the only crossing point for humanitarian aid on Gaza's southern border with Egypt. "The main road up and down Gaza has been destroyed... so to transport patients from the north down to Rafah will, I think, be well nigh impossible. "And many of those patients - if there is still power in the hospitals, which is disappearing - may be on ventilators." More than 11,000 people have been killed in Gaza according to the Hamas-run health ministry, including more than 4,500 children - but Nick believes those numbers could be just the tip of the iceberg. "As a result of the bombings there will be large numbers of deaths due to untreated cancers, untreated diabetes," he says. "Until insulin was invented, diabetes killed everyone. Now, if they haven't got any insulin... diabetes will start killing people. "If they've got no power, they can't give dialysis, so all patients in kidney failure will die, so that the amount of excess deaths will be huge in the next few months absolutely is a really important point." The World Health Organization has said a "public health catastrophe" was imminent in Gaza, due to mass displacement, overcrowding, and damage to water and sanitation infrastructure. These conditions are perfect for the rapid spread of infectious diseases like cholera, Nick adds. "They're drinking dirty, non-sterile water at the moment. The big danger is that infectious diseases just take control and run through the population...and that will lead to many, many thousands of deaths."

With each passing day, groups of volunteer medics in different parts of the world remain on standby to go to Gaza to care for the thousands of injured and sick people who fill hospitals stretched to the extreme. Professor Nick Maynard is one of them.

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John Lewis has become the latest big name brand to beam its festive message into UK homes. The advert, released on Thursday, tells the tale of a little boy and a giant Venus flytrap. Opinion was split on social media, with some calling it "scary" but others saying it offered light relief. One user on X said the advert was "a disappointment", while another asked whether someone in the John Lewis creative department had "basically watched Little Shop Of Horrors" before pitching for this year's ad, referring to the musical about a bloodthirsty plant. However, others were more positive, saying they enjoyed the fact the advert was uplifting at a difficult time. Charlotte Lock, customer director at John Lewis, told the BBC the retailer had "asked for something that moved us on from last year and was different". Retail expert Catherine Shuttleworth said it will "be hoping the theme of family values works". "The overall theme in this year's Christmas adverts is glitz, fame and fun," Ms Shuttleworth added. "John Lewis has opted instead for a vision of a modern family Christmas. Let's see if it works." Set to a track called Festa sung by opera legend Andrea Bocelli, the advert shows a little boy, Alfie, who plants his own Christmas tree - only to find it grows into a carnivorous Venus flytrap called Snapper. But his family eventually embrace the idea of a new tradition, and even enlist the help of Snapper to open their presents on Christmas morning. Whereas last year's ad was toned down to reflect the cost of living crisis, this year's advert focuses on family and evolving traditions. "It's not the tradition itself that matters, it's how it brings together families and loved ones," Ms Lock said. Many other retailers have spent heavily on recruiting famous faces to front their campaigns. Michael Bublé and Rick Astley to Sophie Ellis-Bextor are some of the A-list stars fronting this year's ads. Sascha Darroch-Davies, co-founder of creative music agency DLMDD, said many have gone with celebrities "because they have cultural currency". "There's not a lot of risk-taking at Christmas. Celebrities are a formula that has worked before," he told the BBC. "It's a tough time for retailers. Many are struggling. They know this is usually a safe bet." Marks and Spencer was quick off the mark with its Christmas food advert, which sees the return of Dawn French as a festive fairy. She is joined by Hollywood actors and Wrexham football club co-chairmen Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds, who voice 'the Mittens' in the six-part ad. The trio dance around the house, ending up in the dining room, where a table is seen groaning under the weight of an M&S Christmas feast. M&S's Christmas clothing and home advert also recruits well-known faces including actors Zawe Ashton and Hannah Waddingham, Queer Eye presenter Tan France, and singer Sophie Ellis-Bextor. Whereas John Lewis focuses on changing traditions, M&S's ad suggests people should simply do away with Christmas traditions they no longer love. However,M&S was forced to apologiseafter an outtake from the advert - showing red, green and silver hats burning in a fireplace - was criticised by some who said it resembled the colours of the Palestinian flag. The company removed the photo, which it had posted on Instagram, and said the advert was filmed in August, before the latest Israel-Gaza conflict began. Some might argue that controversies don't matter, and indeed might help a company, by getting its advert talked about. But Sophie Lewis, chief strategy officer at creative company M&C Saatchi, disagrees. "I don't think controversy at Christmas is ever advisable," she told the BBC. "And I do not think for one second that M&S were courting it in the case of the ad they pulled, and then re-edited." Ms Lewis said time would tell whether, and to what extent, the row has affected M&S. Elsewhere, Bublé has been defrosted for Christmas, and is the star of Asda's ad this year. The crooner takes on the role of Asda's chief quality officer, making the big decisions on what food the nation should eat this Christmas. Opinion on social media was mostly positive, with some expressing surprise to see that Bublé can act as well as sing. But others felt the ad fell short after the success of Elf last year. Not to be outdone, Sainsbury's casts 1980s icon Rick Astley alongside real supermarket workers as they explore what Santa's Christmas dinner would be. It concludes a huge year for Astley, who also played Glastonbury Festival for the first time in June, leading a mass sing-a-long to some of his classic hits. The singer achieved internet notoriety through the Rickrolling meme, in which users are pranked when they click on an unrelated link, only to be redirected to his famous song Never Gonna Give You Up. The hashtag #RickAstley has also accumulated more than 716 million views on the TikTok app. "Winning over shoppers' hearts and minds is quite challenging in the cost of living crisis so you've got to really find a way to make a people smile," said Ms Shuttleworth. "Bublé and Rick Astley achieve that. People are wanting to get excited for Christmas, and that's what these ads do." Not all of this year's Christmas adverts have a star line-up. Argos has shunned celebrities in favour of cartoon duo Connie the doll and Trevor the dinosaur. And Lidl has gone for the tried and tested formula of recruiting a furry friend - a favourite for retailers at Christmas. Its advert follows a raccoon that goes out of its way to make one little boy's day extra special. Taken as a whole, advertisers are set to spend a record £9.5bn during this festive season, according to new data by the Advertising Association and World Advertising Research Centre. Whether that will pay off in attracting new customers is "impossible" to tell, says cultural historian Dorothy Hobson. "But companies would not waste the vast sums of money they spend on making the ads and buying the air space if they were not getting a good return on their outlays," she told the BBC. Retailers are treading a fine line, she said. Their Christmas adverts are planned months in advance, so it's important they don't have the wrong ambiance when they hit the reality of the everyday lives of their customers. That's one reason why ads often stick to safe territory, showing empathy and care of others. If they get it right, they can become a major cultural moment. "They have become a cultural genre in their own right, which means that they are fulfilling their function by making us look forward to them and talk about them," Ms Hobson said. "And if they are good, they become part of the history of television." Sign up for our morning newsletterand get BBC News in your inbox.

It's still only November, but the Christmas TV adverts are coming in thick and fast, bringing a sprinkling of festivity to our screens.

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The burglary took place on Monday at an office park in Cape Town's northern suburbs. CCTV footage shows two men entering a room where various team trophies are stored and touching one of them. They leave it behind and instead steal whisky, five signed Springbok jerseys and eight laptops, along with items from other offices. In footagewhich has been shared on Xby South African journalist Yusuf Abramjee, one of the burglars puts his gloved hand on a memorial trophy, lifting it slightly, before moving to the cupboards beneath it. A South Africa Rugby Union spokesperson told the BBC that all its trophies were secure, adding that the World Cup trophies from previous tournaments were in a cabinet, while the Webb Ellis Cup won last month in France was stored in a safe. The room containing all the trophies was not broken into and no arrests have been made. South Africa won the Rugby World Cup on 28 October after beating New Zealand in Paris andbecoming the first nation to win the tournament four times. The country celebrated the winwith a four-day victory tour, where the team travelled to parades across South Africa. President Cyril Ramaphosa, alsodeclared 15 December as a public holidayto mark the success "in celebration of the Springboks' momentous achievement". The break-in happened at around 22:00 local time (20:00 GMT) and Western Cape police were told of concerns that the trophy had been stolen. The police recorded two cases of business burglary after two incidents at the Tygerberg Office Park in Plattekloof. According to local media,police said that two well-dressed men entered the business park in a white Toyota Corolla. They then forced open a window on the ground floor to gain entry to the building and began searching for items. Local media also reported that 60 laptops were taken from another company in the same park. Correction: This article originally reported that CCTV had shown two men touching the Rugby World Cup trophy during a burglary and has been updated to make clear that they had touched another trophy, with a South Africa Rugby Union spokesperson confirming the trophy won last month in France was stored in a safe.

Burglars have broken into South Africa Rugby Union's headquarters, however the World Cup trophy was not taken.

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London Stansted Airport is to host film screenings for charity in its JetParks car park for a week in December. They include Christmas classics Elf and Home Alone, as well as Dirty Dancing, Grease and Top Gun: Maverick. "The screen will be nowhere near the runway and certainly not on the flight path," a spokesman said. He confirmedthe charity event was cleared with authoritiesand was "compliant with regulations". Alex Reed, business operations manager at London Stansted, also offered reassurance for those concerned about noise from planes impacting the experience. "If you are watching Top Gun you could see it as surround sound, I guess. It might help the ambiance of the film," he told BBC Essex. "Where the car park is, it is quite set back from the runway and when you arrive you are going to get a personal speaker. "[It will] go in your car so all the sound will be within your car, so there shouldn't be too much noise from planes. It shouldn't affect the experience too much." Two films per day will be shown during the event, which will be held while the JetParks car park is closed for winter. All proceeds would go to charities Medcare, Magic Breakfast and the Children's Society, the airport said. "We've had the idea for a while but it takes quite a lot of organisation and planning, so this is the first time we have been able to pull it off," Mr Reed said. "We are always trying to think of new and creative ways of raising as much money as we can for charity and this is how the idea was born." Follow East of England news onFacebook,InstagramandX. Got a story? [email protected] WhatsApp 0800 169 1830

Airport bosses have stressed that pilots will not be distracted by a large LED screen at a temporary drive-in cinema at its site in Essex.

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The BBC and one other television crew were the first journalists invited by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to view what Israel says it has found at the site. Any extra light here is risky so we grope our way through the compound, following the heavily armed troops sent to escort us - stepping around makeshift tents, debris and sleeping people. Doctors at the hospital say they have been working without power, food or water for days now - and that critically ill patients have died as a result, including newborn babies. People displaced by the fighting in Gaza have been sheltering in the hospital complex. But Israel says Hamas also runs a network of underground tunnels, including under Al-Shifa hospital. The masked special forces leading us into the building over debris and broken glass are a sign of how tense the situation still is here. Our presence, just a day after Israel took control of the hospital, speaks volumes about Israel's motivation to show the world why they are here. In the brightly lit corridors of the MRI unit, Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus shows us three small stashes of Kalashnikovs, ammunition and bullet-proof vests - he says they have found around 15 guns in all, along with some grenades. Lt Col Conricus also shows us some military booklets and pamphlets, and a map that he says is marked with potential entry and exit routes from the hospital. What it tells us, he says, is that Hamas uses hospitals for military purposes. "[And] we uncovered a lot of computers and other equipment which could really shed light on the current situation, hopefully regarding hostages as well." The laptops, he says, contain photos and videos of hostages, taken after their kidnap to Gaza. There is also recently released footage, shared by Israeli police, of their interrogations of Hamas fighters arrested after the October attacks. The BBC was not shown what was on the laptops. This, Lt Col Conricus said, suggested Hamas were here "within the last few days". "At the end of the day, this is just the tip of the iceberg," he said. "Hamas aren't here because they saw we were coming. This is probably what they were forced to leave behind. Our assessment is that there's much more." Israel's army has spent weeks fighting its way to the gates of the hospital. The streets around have seen some of the fiercest fighting in Gaza in the past few days. Our visit was tightly controlled; we had very limited time on the ground and were not able to speak to doctors or patients there. Our journey in to Gaza, in an armoured personnel carrier sealed tight from the darkness outside, traced the path of Israel's first major ground incursions into Gaza weeks ago. On the screens inside the military vehicle, the agricultural land morphed slowly into distorted streets strewn with large pieces of debris, and the blurred outlines of shattered buildings. Just south of Gaza City, we stopped to change vehicles, clambering out on to undulating mounds of twisted metal and large chunks of rubble and concrete. Small groups of soldiers crouched over tiny campfires, cooking a makeshift dinner beside the rows of tanks. "It's a secret recipe," one winked. Above them, buildings had collapsed in strange shapes. The rolling metal door of a shopfront hung cramped, halfway open. A Star of David was scrawled on a wall in red spray-paint; inside it someone had written "IDF", and above it, the words: "Never Again". The attacks of 7 October changed the calculation for Israel in its conflict with Hamas. It has vowed to end years of uneasy standoff, by destroying both the military and political power of Hamas, designated a terrorist organisation by the UK, US and others. That means going into the heart of Gaza City, including inside Al-Shifa. Israeli forces are still searching for the tunnels beneath the hospital that they believe Hamas fighters may have withdrawn to, perhaps with some of the hostages. This building has become a central focus of Israel's war, described as a key command centre, even potentially the "beating heart" of Hamas operations. And in the brutal information war that tails this conflict, this is Israel's moment of truth. After almost 24 hours securing and searching the hospital, Israel says it has found weapons and other equipment that could help provide information on both Hamas fighters and the hostages. But it has its hands on neither. We leave the hospital, and rumble down the wide avenue that leads to Gaza's coastal road. Gaza City is now ruled by tanks. The ghostly avenues look in places like an earthquake zone, the destruction is so severe. It is clear what it took for Israel to get control of these streets. Additional reporting by Scarlett Barter and Dave Bull, BBC News.

We clamber into the Al-Shifa hospital complex in darkness over a caved-in wall in the perimeter - knocked through with an armoured bulldozer on Tuesday to allow safer access for Israeli forces.

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Fraudsters are thought to have covered a genuine code with one of their own in Thornaby Station's car park. That sent her to a fake website allowing them to redirect payments and card information, resulting in the victim, 71, losing thousands of pounds. Rail firm TransPennine Express removed all QR codes from its station car parks in September following reports of similar scams across the country. The incident in Thornaby, north-east England, is one of about 1,200 QR scams investigated by the UK's national fraud reporting centre in just over three years. In August the victim, who wishes to stay anonymous, used the code and, after a string of fraudulent payments were blocked by her bank, the fraudsters called her posing as bank staff. Referencing genuine transactions, they convinced her they were legitimate and obtained enough information to run up debts of thousands in her name, including a loan of £7,500 they took out in minutes. They also set up online banking and changed her address before asking for new cards to be sent out. After months of a "logistical nightmare", the victim is still waiting for her credit card to be unfrozen. "It was the first time I'd ever used a QR code and I won't be using one again," she said. "When the scammer called, he was so convincing and gave me a sense of security by mentioning transactions from my account that I recognised. "But even while I was on the phone, he was logging into my accounts as me and took out a loan in 20 minutes." The woman has struggled to trust anyone since. "I can't believe I fell for it," she said. "I've had so many sleepless nights and spent hours and hours speaking to my bank and credit card company trying to sort it all. "I was locked out of my accounts. Luckily I had another credit card to survive on, but without that and help from my son, I don't know how I would have coped." VirginMoney told the BBC the loan had been written off and all fraudulent transactions refunded. A spokeswoman said the scammers had managed to get away with £4,700 but their other transactions had been blocked. She said the company had taken steps to protect the woman in the future, including placing enhanced security controls on her accounts. According to figures exclusively obtained by the BBC,Action Fraudreceives hundreds of crime reports every year linked to QR codes. Action Fraud said more than 400 such offences were logged in the first nine months of 2023, compared with 112 in 2020. QR stands for "quick response". The black and white squares work like a two dimensional barcode and can be scanned by a phone or tablet. Businesses often use them to direct people to things such as app downloads, payment platforms, social media accounts, menus and events listings. Banking trade association UK Finance says: The woman reported the scam to police and station staff. A spokeswoman for Cleveland Police said they referred her to Action Fraud. TransPennine Express, which manages Thornaby station, said it has since removed QR codes from payment signs at all of its 14 car parks, covering 1,300 car-parking spaces. Urging customers to avoid using any QR codes in their car parks, managing director Chris Jackson said: "We acted quickly and thoroughly inspected all our car-park signs. "No evidence of fraudulent stickers was found and we had not received any reports in our customer relations system or social media contact." Follow BBC Tees onFacebook,X (formerly Twitter),andInstagram. Send your story ideas [email protected].

A woman fell victim to fraudsters in a £13,000 railway station QR code scam.

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His break into the notoriously exclusive world of fine art has been unconventional - kicking off in a 2010 YouTube video where he created Simon Cowell's portrait using Marmite on toast before starring on ITV's Britain's Got Talent the following year. Research suggests Nathan, the son of a stay-at-home mum and factory worker dad from Ebbw Vale in the south Wales valleys, is an anomaly in the world of art. People who grew up in professional families arefour times more likelyto be in creative work than those who did not, according to the British Sociological Association. So how did Nathan manage to get ahead? "Growing up in the Welsh valleys definitely gave me a determination to want to do well," said Nathan. "I'm very proud to come from Ebbw Vale." Growing up, being an artist did not seem like a realistic prospect. "[My parents] were very concerned that it wasn't really a profession that could bring money in for me," he said. "I had the support there, but there was always a lot of concern of 'how do you make a living out of this?'." Nathan attributes his success partly to his use of social media, bypassing traditional gatekeepers of the art world. "We are living in a slightly different world now where anyone can make something of themselves using social media and the internet and you can quite literally build a career and build a brand for yourself," he said. He said his working-class background and watching his dad "work around the clock" at the factory taught him strong work ethics, and not having money for expensive materials meant he had to be more creative. "I was buying things like a loaf of bread to make a toast artwork instead of a canvas that would have cost £30 and some oil paints that would have cost £100," he said. Nathan is yet to have exhibitions at any of the UK's most prestigious galleries - "not for want of trying" - but is happy to be exhibiting in shopping centres, pubs or the street. "Quite often there's a bit of a fear towards going into art galleries - 'I can't really go in there, I'm not posh enough' or whatever and I've tried to break those barriers down a little bit," he said. He doesn't see being working class as a barrier to building a career in art. "If you put a lot of hard work in you will get somewhere. It is just a slightly trickier start, I guess." International Body of Art, an organisation which promotes equal opportunities for underrepresented artists, said its latest research showed 31% of working-class art professionals have been unable to progress in their careers due to having no connections. Artist Natalie Chapman's work is informed by her difficult childhood where her parents were addicted to drugs and unemployed and the family moved around frequently. For several years the family even lived in a barn with no electricity and used candles for light. "The difficulty is getting seen in the art world if you're not from a sort of better class," said Natalie, from Llannon in Ceredigion. "My friend calls it 'the gatekeepers', which I think is a good analogy - there's a clique and a group and you have to really try to push past that." The experience of taking her ailing dad to one of her gallery openings cemented her sense of being an outsider. "He was on oxygen, he was in a giant onesie that me and my sister had bought him from Primark because it was what we could afford and what we could get on him," she said. She said the atmosphere changed as soon as they entered the room. "People just like to go to these things and have their wine - everybody wanted to talk about the work until they're faced with the reality of what work is about," she said. "That was quite a significant moment for me because it sort of really spurred me on in terms of painting, because I was more eager to tell the story." Natalie said if it had not been for day trips put on by social services she would have grown up with no exposure to art. "Mainly it's people with money who can afford to take the kids to art classes or whatever," she said. For six years Natalie, then a single mum, studied part-time at University of Wales Trinity Saint David in Carmarthen, relying on her best friend to look after her children. "The world opened up while I was there... [but] when you leave there you have to find that stuff for yourself, that's when it get tricky," she said. Since graduating she has often worked free to try to make a name for herself. She also teaches and frames pictures to supplement her earnings from selling art. She wants to see galleries exhibiting work by artists from a more diverse range of backgrounds. "If you only allow well-trained, well-to-do people access to fine art you're going to get the same repetitive story being told," she said. "There's a million kids who go through similar to what I went through... and if the art world is not telling everyone's story then what is the point of it?". Over a 25-year career, abstract painter Elfyn Lewis has won numerous awards, including the Gold Medal for Fine Art in the National Eisteddfod in 2009 and the prestigious Welsh Artist of the Year award in 2010. Elfyn was raised in Porthmadog, Gwynedd, by his mother who worked in a record shop and dad who had various jobs including railway worker, fishmonger and later salesman. Short-sighted and colour blind, a career as an artist was not on the cards for Elfyn but after encouragement from a teacher led him to study art at university it slowly began "falling into place". He said there was nepotism in the art world "as in any walk of life" but the biggest difficulty was keeping the money coming in. "You tend to be having another job or two jobs to fund what you want to be doing," he said. He would like to see people in the arts supported with auniversal basic income. Painter Dan Llywelyn Hall said his working-class background had given him a "steeliness" to succeed. Dan, who has exhibited in prestigious venues such as the Saatchi Gallery, The National Portrait Gallery, National Museum of Wales and Windsor Castle, became the first artist-in-residence at the Cannes Film Festival in 2015. Raised in Barry, Vale of Glamorgan, by his electrician dad and secretary mother, he said he was not exposed to art. Despite this, he attributes much of his success to his background. "I don't think I'd be an artist now if I came from a [middle or upper class] background," he said. "I probably would have listened to much more sensible advice and probably steered more by earning more money and keeping up with the Joneses."

From pop royalty Mariah Carey and Sir Tom Jones to actual royalty the Prince and Princess of Wales, Nathan Wyburn has created artworks of them all.

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For the past nine years, more than 700 plaques have been put up in Russia and elsewhere, commemorating the final residences of people who died in Stalin's purges in the 1930s. Since May, however, dozens have disappeared in several Russian cities, according to Oksana Matievskaya, who is part of the plaque projectPosledniy Adres(last address). Police are not investigating the issue and Ms Matievskaya believes this is no coincidence. "The memory of the Soviet terror challenges the concept of the state always being right and is, therefore, inconvenient for the Russian authorities. Especially following the invasion of Ukraine," she said. Millions of people described as "enemies of the people" were sent to Soviet labour camps, known as the Gulag, and 750,000 were summarily murdered during Stalin's Great Terror in the 1930s. Other memorials are also being targeted. At least 18 monuments to victims of repression as well as foreign soldiers who fought in World War Two have been reported stolen or vandalised since February 2022. Most are dedicated to Polish nationals. In October, a brick memorial to a prominent Polish priest was torn down and destroyed in the city of Vladimir. A concrete cross erected in Komi republic, in memory of Polish prisoners, was also found demolished. Police attributed its destruction to bad weather and declined to initiate criminal proceedings, local media said. Soviet authorities executed hundreds of thousands of Poles after 1939. In 1940, 1.7 million were deported to Gulag camps in Siberia and Kazakhstan. Alexandra Polivanova ofcivil rights group Memorialbelieves the damage was ordered or carried out by authorities because Moscow wants the Soviet Union to be perceived as a powerhouse rather than an oppressive state. She suggests the government doesn't want Russians to know the truth about their tragic past, especially now that Russian soldiers have been accused of war crimes in Ukraine. "The authorities try to erase the memory of the crimes of that empire to cover up or justify the crimes of this one." This is taking place alongside a resurgence in Stalin's popularity. In July, a survey by independent pollster the Levada Centre suggested that 63% of Russians had a favourable attitude towards the Soviet leader - his highest approval rating in 13 years. The explanation behind his rising popularity is not certain but Russian propaganda justifying the war with Ukraine has also glorified its Soviet past. And unlike memorials to his victims, those to Stalin have increased in number. An investigative channel on social media site Telegram called "We can explain" says there are 110 Stalin statues in Russia - 95 erected during President Vladimir Putin's rule and at least four during the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Some Russians want even more. In August the privateRusskiy Vityaz(Russian Knight) Foundationinaugurated an 8m-high statue of Stalinin the town of Velikiye Luki, and is collecting money for more. Its website argues these monuments are crucial given that Russia is fighting "a real Patriotic war". The "Great Patriotic War" is how Russians describe the 1941-1945 war between the USSR and Nazi Germany. The Kremlin regularly compares Russia's invasion of Ukraine to World War Two. Russkiy Vityaz, which is said to have been founded by the Russian Special Forces Veterans Association, has declined to comment on the reasons for its campaign.

Memorials to victims of Stalinist repression in Russia are disappearing or being vandalised amid increasing attempts to rehabilitate the Soviet dictator.

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The star, who came out publicly in 2017, told CNN's Chris Wallace that "the public was not ready for anybody to come out" as gay in the 1970s. "Now being gay is no big deal," he added. "Back in the 70s it would have killed a career." The Brooklyn-born singer has been in a relationship with his manager Garry Kief for 39 years. They married privately in 2014. Asked by Wallace if he had felt pressured to hide who he was, Manilow said he "never thought about it". He described his decision to come out in People magazine six years ago as "a non-event". "I think everybody knew that Garry and I were a couple all those years," he said. At the time, he said his fans' response to the announcement had made it a "beautiful experience". "I didn't know what was going to happen," he told Reuters, "but I should have known better because my fans, and frankly the public, they care about my happiness and I have always known that." Manilow, whose real name is Barry Pincus, is one of the biggest-selling musicians of all time, thanks to slick, orchestrated hits like Mandy, Looks Like We Made It and Copacabana. A born showman, he is still hard at work in his eighth decade, opening a new Broadway musical and starring in a recently-announced Christmas TV special. He is currently in the 14th year of a Las Vegas residency and has concert dates scheduled until December 2024. His star began to rise in the middle of the 1970s - and Manilow credited Kief with saving his life during those whirlwind years. "As my career exploded, it was just crazy. And, you know, going back to an empty hotel room, you can get into a lot of trouble if you, you know, you're alone night after night after night," he explained. "But I met Garry right around when it was exploding. And I didn't have to go back to those empty hotel rooms. I had somebody to cry with or to celebrate with." He added: "It was pretty lonely until I met Garry. And then it was fun." Prior to his relationship with Kief, Manilow had married his childhood sweetheart, Susan Deixler, in 1964. The couple stayed together for one year, and the marriage was annulled in 1966. Reflecting on the relationship, he said he "really did love" his wife, but admitted "the gay thing was pretty, pretty strong". However, he said the marriage ended because of a lack of commitment, rather than his sexuality. "We had a very nice marriage, it was great, but I was away every night making music, as a young musician would be... and it wasn't good for me and it wasn't good for her. "I couldn't be the proper husband. I was just away making music with a band. I wrote an off-Broadway musical called the Drunkard. And I was having a ball. I just couldn't be a husband." Elsewhere in the career-spanning interview, Manilow said his background in writing jingles had helped him in his musical career. "You've got to get a hook in 15 seconds that people will remember for a commercial, and the same goes for a pop song," he said. He also revealed that he came up with the concept for Copacabana while recovering from his "first nervous breakdown" at the Copacabana Hotel in Rio de Janeiro in 1970. When Wallace pressed him for details, Manilow said he was "just kidding" about the breakdown, but admitted that fame had affected his mental health. "Before Mandy and all the big records, I was a happy guy being the background. "I was having a great time until I had to get up there and perform. I wouldn't say nervous breakdown, but it was definitely a problem for me."

Singer-songwriter Barry Manilow says he did not discuss his sexuality for years because it could have ended his career.

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Executives from Takarazuka Revue apologised for "loss of life" but did not announce a compensation package for the 25-year-old's family. Chairman Kenshi Koba also said he was stepping down. There's fierce competition to join the company, one of Japan's most popular. Formed in 1913, it has achieved cult status in Japan for its glitzy interpretations of romantic musicals. The troupe is highly sought after by aspiring young female singers and dancers, who operate in a rigid hierarchy. Often playing male roles, the female performers draw huge audiences. "It is undeniable that a strong psychological burden was placed on [the woman], and we did not sufficiently fulfil our duty of care for her safety," Mr Koba told a news conference at the revue's base in the western city of Takarazuka. Addressing relatives, he said: "We deeply apologise for not being able to protect a precious member of your family." Regarding the family's request for compensation, Mr Koba said: "I want to make sure we apologise and compensate them. "Unfortunately, we have not had the opportunity yet," public broadcaster NHK reported him saying. The chairman and two other executives promised new measures to ensure nothing similar happened in future. It plans to reduce the number of weekly performances from nine to eight. But they said they were not aware of young artists' struggles at the musical troupe. In a statement, they said they had received no complaints and were not aware of any staff shortages. The actress, who had been with the company for six years, is not being named. Her family have chosen to remain anonymous because of the stigma still attached to suicide in Japan. She was found dead in her condominium in Takarazuka on 30 September. Police said she died of suspected suicide. An independent team comprised mainly of lawyers was commissioned by the company to investigate the circumstances surrounding the death. It did not confirm any incidences of bullying or harassment at the news conference. But it found that it was "undeniable that the combination of long hours of activities andpressure from senior members may have placed a psychological burden" on the woman. Her family are suing the company for compensation. The actresstook her own life because the overworking and bullyingby her seniors "compromised her mental and physical health", her family's lawyer said last week. The lawyer said she was under an outsourcing contract with the company and that her overtime exceeded 277 hours a month, which was above the government's criteria for worker compensation. Takarazuka Revue has put the figure at 118 hours a month. The woman's family have also claimed she suffered burns two years ago when a senior member pressed a hair iron against her forehead, an allegation the company denied when it was reported in a weekly magazine this February. The company "turned a blind eye while subjecting [the actress] to abnormal, excessively long working hours, leaving her extremely fatigued," her family said in a statement, demanding that the company, along with those it alleges abused their daughter, acknowledge their responsibility and apologise. Investigators reported "we could not confirm (that it was intentional)" that a senior member of the troupe had burned the 25-year-old's forehead with a hair iron, The Asahi Shimbun reported. If you have been affected by the issues raised in this article,help and support can be found at this BBC Action Line. If you are in Japan, theJapanese Health Ministryhas information and support, or call Yorisoi Hotline at 0120279338.

A prestigious Japanese all-female theatre company has admitted it feels responsible for the death of a young actress whose suspected suicide was reportedly caused by overwork.

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In an exclusive interview at the Élysée Palace, he said there was "no justification" for the bombing, saying a ceasefire would benefit Israel. While recognising Israel's right to protect itself, "we do urge them to stop this bombing" in Gaza, he said. But he also stressed that France "clearly condemns" the "terrorist" actions of Hamas. France - like Israel, the US, the UK, and other Western nations - considers Hamas a terrorist organisation. When asked if he wanted other leaders - including in the US and the UK - to join his calls for a ceasefire, he replied: "I hope they will." After a month of Israeli bombardment and nearly two weeks after Israel launched a major ground offensive into the territory, Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry said on Friday that 11,078 people had been killed, while 1.5 million had fled their homes. Israel says it attacks military targets in line with international law and takes steps to reduce civilian casualties, like issuing warnings ahead of strikes and calling on people to evacuate. Speaking the day after a humanitarian aid conference in Paris about the war in Gaza, Mr Macron said the "clear conclusion" of all governments and agencies present at that summit was "that there is no other solution than first a humanitarian pause, going to a ceasefire, which will allow [us] to protect... all civilians having nothing to do with terrorists". "De facto - today, civilians are bombed - de facto. These babies, these ladies, these old people are bombed and killed. So there is no reason for that and no legitimacy. So we do urge Israel to stop." He said it was not his role to judge whether international law had been broken. Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded quickly to Mr Macron's comments, saying nations should condemn Hamas, not Israel. "The crimes that Hamas [is] committing today in Gaza will be committed tomorrow in Paris, New York and anywhere in the world," a statement from Mr Netanyahu's office read. In a wide-ranging interview at the end of the first day of an annual Paris Peace Forum, President Macron also discussed: Starting by discussing Gaza, Mr Macron said France "clearly condemns" Hamas's attacks on Israel on 7 October which sparked the war. Hamas gunmen killed about 1,200 people and took 240 others hostage in its unprecedented cross-border assault it launched that day. "We do share [Israel's] pain. And we do share their willingness to get rid of terrorism. We know what terrorism means in France." But he said there was "no justification" for the ongoing bombing of civilians in Gaza. "It's extremely important for all of us because of our principles, because we are democracies. It's important for the mid-to-long run as well for the security of Israel itself, to recognise that all lives matter." When asked, he refused to say that Israel had broken international law in Gaza. "I'm not a judge. I'm a head of state," he said, adding it would not be right to criticise Israel in this way - "a partner and a friend" - just a month after it was attacked. But Mr Macron said he disagreed that the best way for Israel to "protect [itself] is having a large bombing of Gaza", saying it was creating "resentment and bad feelings" in the region that would prolong the conflict. Israel has said it will start daily four-hour military pausesin parts of northern Gaza as it continues its offensive. Its defence minister however stressed the pauses would be "localised" and would "not detract from the war fighting". Ahead of a march against antisemitism on Sunday which a large section of France's political class will attend, President Macron called on all French citizens to condemn antisemitic acts "without ambiguity". He said France had probably Europe's biggest Muslim community and a big Jewish community too, and with France and the rest of Europe seeing a big rise in antisemitism, all French citizens had to be united against antisemitism, and had to "share the pain or the compassion of Palestinians". Analysis:Macron condemns rising antisemitism and Israeli bombing of civilians Mr Macron then moved on to other global issues, including Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. He said if Russia were allowed to win its war, "you will have a new imperial power" in Europe, that could threaten other former Soviet states like Georgia and Kazakhstan, as well as the whole continent. "Because, definitely, it's imperialism and colonialism that Russia is doing [in Ukraine]," he said. The French president said it was the "duty" of his country and all countries to support Ukraine in its defence. But he also said the next month would be critical, as it struggles to retake lost land in counteroffensive operations. He said it was "not yet" time for Ukraine to come to the table, and stressed the decision to negotiate was Kyiv's alone. But he added there may come a time to "have fair and good negotiations, and to come back to the table and find a solution with Russia". Mr Macron also discussed online extremism - a key topic at the Paris Peace Forum. He singled out Facebook's parent company Meta and Google, saying the companies "simply don't deliver" on promises they made to moderate hate speech on their platforms. He said many online platforms lacked sufficient moderators for French language content, calling it a "shame", and promising to "push them" on the issue - although he said TikTok had improved the number of moderators for its French language content. And he said that climate change was causing terrorism in parts of the world, specifically mentioning the effects of global warming in lower water levels at Lake Chad in West Africa. "As a consequence of climate change, a lot of families living as fishermen [suffered]... A lot of species just disappeared. And it created politics [that] pushed a lot of people to terrorism." But when asked if he ever felt depressed by the sheer number of issues facing the world, Mr Macron said he saw it as "a chance and an honour to have responsibilities [as head of state]". "We need international cooperation [to tackle global issues]... This is a unique chance."

Israel must stop killing babies and women in Gaza, French President Emmanuel Macron has told the BBC.

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Cornwall Council said it was working with the police, coastguard and the RNLI to co-ordinate the removal of the whale.It said it was "an incredibly challenging and difficult operation requiring specialist machinery".The council said a cordon would remain in place around the whale while it remained on the beach and asked the public to stay away from the area.If it has not been washed away by the tide work to remove it is due to begin on Thursday.The trust said it hoped the whale could be removed from the beach as it could become a shipping hazard if it washed out to sea. Thefin whale,external- known as the "greyhound of the sea" for their speed - is the world's second-largest animal after the blue whale.It is thesecond one to wash up in Cornwall this year.Anthea Hawtrey-Collier, a marine standings data officer at the trust, said the animal was believed to be female, probably a juvenile due to its length, and had been very malnourished."Looking at the animal, you can see it looks quite unhealthy," she said."It's quite a skinny animal and there have been parasites seen on it... which usually indicate poor health."Abby Crosby, also from the trust, said: "It was a shock to wake up to but it does happen."What's really important now is finding out more about the whale and why it died so we can try and learn from it." Ms Crosby asked people to avoid the area "for their own health and safety and so the volunteers and scientists can do their job".Mr Barber, who was the first to discover the whale, toldBBC Radio Cornwallhe was "completely blown away" by its size."It's huge when you get up close to it," he said. Follow BBC News South West onX (formerly Twitter),external,Facebook,externalandInstagram,external. Send your story ideas [email protected],external.

A female fin whale has been found dead on a beach in Cornwall.Surfers from the Newquay Activity Centre made the discovery at Fistral beach at dawn.Rob Barber, from the centre, said the 16m (52ft) whale had been seen swimming in an "uncomfortable state" off Towan Head on Tuesday.A post-mortem examination has begun on the mammal, with the Cornwall Wildlife Trust saying marine experts were working to identify the cause of death.

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In 1943, an advert in the Daily Gleaner newspaper , "Britain needs you," caught the eye of a teenager growing up in Jamaica, Neil Flanigan. "As loyal members of the Empire, we thought that it was good to go and help the mother country at a time when they were in distress," he says. And he sailed across the Atlantic, in a group of ships, to join the Royal Air Force (RAF). "The German U-boats were picking us off, sinking us," Neil says. "We thought nothing about our personal lives." Neil is one of the last surviving members of the generation whose youth was defined by World War Two. Another, Christian Lamb, 102, from London, was in France when war broke out. "I'd gone there to improve my French," she says. "I got a telegram from my father, saying, 'War declared. Return home.'" Back in the UK, Christian joined the Women's Royal Naval Service, known as the Wrens, and was posted to Belfast. She worked as a plotter in a map room, tracking the progress of the North Atlantic shipping convoys as they tried to evade U-boat attacks. One day, Royal Navy destroyer HMS Oribi arrived in Belfast for repairs. "Half a dozen of us went down to have a drink on board - and there I met John Lamb, my future husband," Christian says. Over the course of the Oribi's 10 days in port, John and Christian fell in love and became engaged. But when Lt Lamb's ship left Belfast to join a convoy, Christian wondered whether she would ever see her fiance again. Ahead of the 80th anniversary of the end of World War Two, in 2025, the BBC is trying to gather as many first-hand accounts from surviving veterans as possible, to preserve them for future generations. Working with a number of partners, including the Normandy Memorial Trust and the Royal British Legion, the BBC has already spoken to many men and women who served during the War -you can watch their testimonies here. Growing up in a Jewish family in south London, Mervyn Kersh, now 97, had been following news of Hitler and the growth of Nazi Germany since before the War. "We knew what was happening to Jewish people under the Nazis - that was a big part of why I wanted to join up," he says. Mervyn joined the Royal Army Ordnance Corps - and soon after his basic training, was heading to Normandy alongside an invasion force. Meanwhile, the RAF had trained Neil in avionics - the electronic systems used on aircraft. And he was stationed at bases across England, keeping bomber crews in the air. "The Germans bombed us, day and night," Neil says. "People from the Empire and Commonwealth died - many of my colleagues who had volunteered to be aircrew and rear gunners and engineers "It was ghastly as a young person watching death - but I had a job to do, to get out and maintain my aircraft to make sure they'd fly safely." In Belfast, Christian was tracking her fiance's convoy across the Atlantic, when it came under attack from German U-boats. "They were involved in this terrible battle," she says. "My friends urged me to go home - but I couldn't possibly leave the scene. It was a matter of life and death for me. So I stayed, waiting for information, hoping." Christian learned HMS Oribi had collided with a U-Boat and been damaged. But she knew nothing of the crew's fate - until the ship eventually arrived in Boston and John was able to ring to tell her he was safe. "There was nothing for either of us to say - just, 'Thank goodness, thank goodness, thank goodness,'" Christian says. When Christian was posted back to London, she was given a top-secret role planning the D-Day landings, working from a windowless basement office in Whitehall. "This was going to be the most extraordinary, enormous invasion ever seen in history," she says. "The whole of my office was covered with enormous maps of France. "I didn't realise how important it was. I was sworn to secrecy. It was ingrained in us that we didn't even talk about it after the War - I didn't tell John till about 50 years later." Mervyn crossed the English Channel three days after D-Day. "That was the first time I really realised what I was going into," he says. "The adventure ceased to be an adventure and I became frightened. "I had a prayer book with me, a Book of Psalms, which I did make use of, I must admit." Mervyn took part in the liberation of Europe, as the Allied armies fought through France, Belgium, the Netherlands and into Germany. "That was a marvellous feeling," he says. "Our name was the British Liberation Army, then we suddenly changed to the British Army of the Rhine. We weren't liberators anymore, we were conquerors." Just days after its liberation, Mervyn arrived at the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. "I saw the people who were able to walk out," he says. "I spoke to dozens of them - mostly men in striped clothing. They were as thin as anything, thin faces, the arms just bone. It was very moving. "I gave them my chocolate ration - it was only weeks later that I learned chocolate is the worst thing you can give someone who hasn't eaten." They are a remarkable generation. The courage and sacrifice of their youth bequeathed to those who came later, these veterans shaped the world we grew up in. But few are still alive. The youngest are now in their late 90s, while some - such as Christian - are centenarians. It seems more important than ever to listen to their stories and record their reflections for future generations. After the War, Mervyn spent time as a door-to-door salesman - a job he did not enjoy. Later, he worked for many years as a freelance journalist. Christian married John, wearing a wedding dress bought by her mother from a war-time catalogue. The couple had a family and, in her 80s, Christian began a successful career as an author - writing books on botanical history, as well as a war-time memoir. Neil settled in the UK and raised a family here. He was appointed an MBE in recognition of his service to his community. "I think I made a contribution in some small way," he says, "to make Britain safe and sound today, a country that I still live in and enjoy." Do you or someone you know have memories of World War Two? Please share these experiences by [email protected]. Some of the stories collected may be shared with our partners and used on BBC News platforms. Please include a contact number if willing to speak to a BBC News journalist. You can also contact BBC News in the following ways: If you are reading this page but cannot see the form, visit theBBC website's mobile version to submit a question or comment, or [email protected]. Please include your name, age and location with any submission.

With every passing year, fewer of the men and women who helped defeat Nazi Germany and liberate Europe remain alive to share their stories. Before Remembrance Sunday - when the service and sacrifice of those who defended the country's freedom is commemorated - BBC News's Allan Little spoke to three veterans.

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"We are still in shock as we speak," his management said in an Instagram post. The cause of death is unclear but the post read he "kept his battles within himself" for two years. Oladips was a talented musician who rapped about political issues likethe ENDSars protestsagainst police brutality. He also touched on the subject of mental health and depression in his songs. "His story telling rap was top notch" one fan wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. Big Brother Naija contestant Hermes Iyele expressed his shock over the young rapper's death saying: "May God grant the family the grace to carry this grief." The rapper was due to release his new album titled SUPERHERO ÀDÚGBÒ (The Memoir) on Thursday. His last single was called Die Young. Oladips rose to fame when he won a rap competition called the King is Here hosted by Nigerian music giant DBanj in 2015. Oladips's death comes a few months after another popular musician, Mohbad, died in September,leading to countrywide protests.

Tributes are pouring in for popular Nigerian rapper Oladips, following his death at the age of 28.

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Emad Abuaassi and his wife Stephanie moved to Gaza from Blackpool a year ago, to be closer to his family. After the conflict began they left their flat in the middle of the night. They crossed the border into Egypt on 3 November and flew back to the UK but do not have anywhere permanent to live. Emad Abuassi said their family home in northern Gaza had been completely destroyed and he was worried for the safety of his mother, brothers and sisters in southern Gaza. "This is the saddest moment I have been across in my whole life," he said. "When I left the border I was looking behind me like just measuring who's going to be alive and who's going to have died after all this. "Everybody's life there is in danger. "Could be my mom passed away tomorrow, my brother, my cousin, my neighbour my friend." He and his wife and four children have been housed in emergency hotel accommodation in Cardiff and are waiting to hear about temporary housing. They are anxious for the children to resume schooling, after their education came to an abrupt end on 7 October. They also need medical aid, as Mrs Abuaassi has also been without the medication she needs for 15 days. The couple's 14-year-old son said he was also worried about his relatives in Gaza who were all staying together in one house, but that he was happy to be back in the UK in emergency hotel accommodation. "It's better than being in a flat with 50 people," he said. "I mean it's nice having a bed to sleep on instead of sleeping on the mattress on the floor." He and his two brothers and younger sister are sharing two hotel rooms with their parents as they wait to find out if they can be housed. He said he missed studying and wanted to return to education. "As soon as we get settled, we can start to get into school and that was kind of the most important thing right now to get into school," he said. "So yeah, we need to get a house." Why not follow BBC North West onFacebook,XandInstagram? You can also send story ideas [email protected]

A British family who fled Gaza with only a small suitcase between six of them have said they do not know what the future now holds and they fear for the lives of those left behind.

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"We're in a difficult position," she says. "My partner's very unwell. We are a family business, a small business. Literally everything we make in the shop, we haven't been paid for until someone buys it. So, it has a big impact when someone steals something." "We make everything from scratch. We make all our own gold alloys, in 28 different colours - grey, gold, green-gold, peach." Despite her high-value goods, Ms Day is reluctant to lock her door to customers. "I really want it to be welcoming. I don't want to be a 'buzz people in' kind of jewellery shop," she says. "I just think it stops people coming in to look." In the summer months, tourists come to Dartmouth. This is when Ms Day's shop is at its busiest. "They don't come in to spend money," she says. "They come in to have a look around, and then they're like 'oh, this is so pretty!', and they accidentally spend some money. I don't think those people would come in at all if you had to buzz in." Ms Day keeps her products in cabinets and in the window, with a few items out for people to pick up. Following the first theft, however, they had an alarm system fitted, with a panic button that immediately alerts a security company and the police, and cameras with signs up on the walls to say they have CCTV. "We also put a really ringy bell on the door!" She adds. But the best piece of tech they have invested in, she says, is a simple doorbell style camera that sits on the counter. "It's really high quality footage and records the whole shop," she says. Following the most recent theft of a necklace worth £685, the police identified the thief using footage from the doorbell camera - and made an arrest. In the year to June 2023,the police recorded a 25% increasein shoplifting in England and Wales, and across the UKretail theft costs an estimated £953m- despite over £700m in crime prevention spending by retailers. Meanwhile, in the USretail crime cost the industrymore than $112bn (£92bn) in 2022 - losses which push up retailers' operating costs and consequently increase prices for customers. Retailers are taking all sorts of measures to deter shoplifters, includingfunding a police surveillance project,hiring undercover guardsto patrol shop floors and evenoffering free coffees to police officersto tempt them into their stores. "We've heard examples of businesses using facial recognition to prevent retail crimes," says Tina McKenzie, Policy Chair of the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), "but to many independent shop owners, this may seem like a luxury item - especially with soaring inflation and high interest rates." Small businesses often find themselves in the cross-hairs of business crime, she says, and usually these crimes take "a backseat to other forms of criminal activity". "Many choose not to report to the police because they're not confident that the criminals will be found and successfully prosecuted," she says. "In the long-run, this hurts the wider economy. "A stable and safe environment is necessary for small firms to flourish. We'd like to see organised shoplifting and antisocial behaviour taken more seriously, so that High Street staff and customers feel safe on a day-to-day basis." A recent Co-op led reporton retail crime found authorities failed to respond in more than 70% of serious retail crimes reported. According to the study,criminals have "freedom to loot"in a situation that is "out-of-control". "[The criminals] are not worried about consequence. They're not worried about any response or prosecution," says Steven Logue, the Co-op's head of operations. This lack of repercussions, says Mr Logue, is likely the catalyst for what has been a "staggering" rise in thefts over the past year. "We have a stock loss of about £80m a year," he says, "but we are only reporting a fraction of what has been stolen. The unpalatable truth is that the response really hasn't been good enough in the last few years. So, these numbers are just the tip of the iceberg." This year, the Co-op has already recorded a quarter of a million claims, with a thousand physical assaults, says Mr Logue. This is not a victimless crime. "We see our colleagues trapped within kiosks, while [criminals] help themselves to cigarettes and alcohol," says Mr Logue. "These are people's mothers, daughters, brothers." More technology of business In October,the Home Office announcedthat shoplifting will be treated like organised crime as part of a plan to help police to crack down on theft. "There are encouraging noises now being made by the police and Downing Street," says Mr Logue. "This is the first time the narrative is beginning to change." To deter shoplifting, the Co-op has invested in "risers" at the front of shelves, which make it hard to reach the products, CCTV, remote monitoring, panic buttons, Smartwater, GPS-tracked security cases, body-cams and communication headsets, and covert security guards. They are now looking into installing secure kiosks and digital doors, so customers can't access high-value products without a member of staff unlocking them. The Co-op has also been trialling empty dummy display packaging for higher value products such as coffee, chocolates and washing powder. Shoppers pick up the dummy display case which is exchanged at the checkout for the actual product. However, Mr Logue says dummy packaging can be detrimental to sales. "Our insights tell us it puts the customer off as much as it deters the thief, who just goes to another part of the store," he says. There isn't one solution, says Mr Logue. "I think going back to old-school, physical guarding is best for preventing the more impulsive theft - but this is less effective for habitual repeat offenders." In the past few years, the Co-op has in total invested more than £200m to counter criminal behaviour. In the future, Mr Logue believes AI will have an important role in preventing retail crime. "We are really keen to see how AI might be able to monitor people not scanning through the self-service kiosks, or the concealment of products in the aisles. It might allow us to react quicker in the moment, to trigger a call to the police." Back in Dartmouth, the shoplifter who stole from Ms Day's shop has been given a suspended sentence. "[The offender] had a gambling problem, it turned out," she says. "I feel sorry for him. I'm pleased the police managed to catch him - but I don't feel overjoyed about it. I don't feel like it was a good outcome for anyone really. "I just feel sad about the whole thing really. I wish we lived in a society where I could have my door open, and people could just come and see our beautiful things - and I didn't have to panic about people coming in and stealing from us."

Isabella Day founded her jewellery shop, The Remarkable Goldsmiths, in Dartmouth just two years ago. Since then they've had around £3,000 worth of goods stolen.

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But with a quarter of tenants struggling to pay, what are your rights? Most tenants have a rental agreement called an assured shorthold tenancy. Some of these are "rolling" - which means tenants pay rent weekly or monthly, with no fixed end date. In England, the landlord: Any rent rise must be fair and realistic, in line with local properties. Other renters have a "fixed" agreement, which typically runs for six or 12 months. The landlord: If the fixed term is a year, landlords must give six months' notice. There are some other tenancy agreements with different rules. The housing charity Shelter's online tool canhelp people in England find out what kind of tenancy they have. Housing law and renting rules are different inScotland,WalesandNorthern Ireland. In Englanda holding depositis paid to a landlord to reserve a property. It can't be more than one week's rent. You should get the money back within seven days of signing your tenancy agreement - or it can go towards your rent. But if you decide not to move in, you could lose it. If the landlord doesn't give it back, and you think they should, write to them. If you still don't get a refund, contact one of theletting agent redress schemes. You can also complain in England to Trading Standards through theCitizen's Advice consumer helpline. Such depositsare not legal in Scotland, and rules are different inWalesandNorthern Ireland. Landlords need to followstrict rulesif they want a tenant to leave - if not, the eviction could be illegal, or the landlord could be guilty of harassment. In England the landlordhas to give written notice to the tenant, which could be: Other tenancy contracts havedifferent rules. Once the notice period ends, the landlord canstart eviction proceedings through court. Landlords can apply for a so-called "possession order". If that is granted and you don't leave, landlords can apply for a "warrant for possession". Eviction rules differ inScotland,WalesandNorthern Ireland. Tenants in England have the right to"live in a property that's safe and in a good state of repair". Similar rules are in place inScotland,Wales, andNorthern Ireland. Landlords are not expected to do small jobs like changing light bulbs. However, a rented home could be unfit if, for example,the electrics are unsafe, it's damp, or there's a problem with rats or mice. If so, you can complain to your landlord, or - if that doesn't work -your local council. Your landlordmay try to evict you rather than make repairs, but you might have more protection if you've already complained to the council. Tenants need to pay rent on time, cover the bills they are responsible for, and look after the property. This includes disposing of rubbish, and keeping the property reasonably clean. There are no laws explicitly stopping this, but MPs are considering more protections for renters in England. Under a new law tabled in Parliament, tenants will be given a legal right to request to keep a "well-behaved" pet,which the landlord can only refuse on reasonable grounds- such as the size of the property. However, landlords will be able to charge a higher rent to cover the risk of pet damage. The law is also set to make it illegal for a landlord to refuse tenancies to families with children, or those on benefits. At presentit could be discriminationunder equality law in England if a landlord refuses to rent a property to a woman because she has children. However,BBC News foundalmost a quarter of some 8,000 adverts examined on the property website OpenRent indicated that families were not eligible. More than 300 listings on another property portal, Zoopla, explicitly said children were not wanted, although this was less than 1% of those we looked at. Some 73% of sampled OpenRent listings said tenants with pets were not welcome, compared with 6% on Zoopla. Shelter warned the problem would be even more widespread as sometimes prospective tenants were only told they were not welcome when they applied. Landlords can choose to include bills such as council tax, but don't have to. If a landlord includes utility bills, they cannot charge a tenant more than the amount they pay.

Rents are rising at their fastest rate since records began in 2016.

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"On 17 October we were awakened by the sound of bombing and found ourselves trapped under rubble. Fatima had been in my lap but she managed to get out of it. When I got up to help her, I saw that both her legs had been crushed," she says in an interview filmed for the BBC by freelance journalists in Gaza. Fatima's legs had to be amputated from below the knees. Sitting in her mother's lap in the European Hospital in southern Gaza, Fatima's face is streaked with tears, her legs are wrapped in white bandages, and she cries as if she's in pain. Nehad and her husband had tried for 14 years to have a baby. And then Fatima was born. "I'm truly grateful that she survived. But what is her fault? What has she done wrong? I want her to have a normal life like other children," Nehad says. "Right now we are constantly giving her painkillers. When the effect of one wears off, we give her another. Her life revolves around painkillers. And every other day she undergoes surgery." A month of intense bombardment on Gaza - Israel's retaliation for a devastating attack by Hamas that killed about 1,200 people - has taken a terrible toll on its residents. At least 10,800 people have been killed, including more than 4,400 children, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza. Israel disputes the accuracy of the numbers, but the World Health Organization believes the figures are trustworthy. More than 26,000 people have been hurt, many of them, like Fatima, left with life-changing injuries. In a room next door lies 13-year-old Amira Al-Badawi. She has striking light brown eyes and dark hair. "I was sleeping when we were bombed. I woke up not able to breathe. I could hear people's sounds. There were rocks above and under me," she says. Amira has suffered severe injuries to her spine and it's not clear if she will be able to walk again. The strike killed her mother and seven of her brothers. Her father, Iyad al-Badawi, says they had fled their home in Al-Zaytoun after warnings from the Israeli military, and moved to Rafah in southern Gaza. That's where, he says, they were bombed. Israel has been telling Gazans to move south for their own safety, but it has also continued to bomb central and southern areas of Gaza. It says it will hit Hamas targets wherever they are. "I was taken to hospital, and there one after another I heard about my children and wife being killed. We raised them, educated them, some were married. And now we've ended up losing them," Iyad says. He says he is thankful that his 18-month-old son and three of his daughters had survived. "I ask for peace and security," Amira says. "I want to be treated for my injuries and go back to my normal life, to my home. I want to feel safe again." But there's no home to go back to. And nowhere in Gaza is safe. The hospitals fill up with the dead and wounded, a large number of whom are children. Assef Abu Mazen lived by the beach in Al-Nuseirat. The 11-year-old played football at the neighbourhood club. He started off as a defender but then was made his team's goalkeeper. Assef says he was playing football with his friends when an air strike destroyed his home and permanently changed his life. His right leg had to be amputated below the knee. It's still heavily bandaged. "I'm only 11 years old. I haven't harmed anyone. What's my fault?" Assef says. He had wanted to become a professional footballer but that dream is over. "I was quite good at it, if you want to check you can ask my coach," he says. One Friday morning an opponent hit the ball fiercely at an angle, he recalls: "I made a leap and managed to deflect it back." The family shares a photograph of Assef in his football kit - a light blue jersey, dark blue shorts, green and black shoes. "My kit is buried under the rubble of our home. My socks are gone, my shoes, and the football I owned. They've all turned to dust," Assef says. He is taken around the hospital complex in a wheelchair by volunteers. The complex is full of makeshift tents, temporary shelters for people fleeing fighting in the north. Assef jokes with the volunteers. Laughter might seem out of place, but it's one way of coping with the fear and grief many Gazans are going through. His mother says that behind the brave face he's putting on is a little boy scared for his future. "He asks me if his classmates will call him the boy with a severed leg and if they'll make fun of him," she says. "At night, I often find him crying while looking at old pictures of him running or playing football." Additional reporting by Majdi Fathi and Haneen Abdeen

Nehad Abu Jazar sings softly as she tries to comfort her two-year-old girl Fatima. But it is hard to imagine what will soothe her child when the reality of what has happened is so devastating.

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The decision came as thousands of people were already at the stadium as part of her record-breaking Eras tour. Posting on Instagram, Swift said: "The safety and well-being of my fans, fellow performers and crew has to and always will come first." Brazil is experiencing an unprecedented heatwave, triggering health alerts. Authorities warned of the danger to life as it recorded a heat index, which combines temperature with humidity, of 59.3C (138.7F) on Friday followed by 59.7C (139.5) on Saturday. The US pop star's show on Monday will still go ahead. In a statement on Instagram, the pop star said she was "devastated" over the death of a fan and that her heart was "shattered", adding: "She was so incredibly beautiful and far too young." "I can't believe I'm writing these words but it is with a shattered heart that I say we lost a fan earlier tonight before my show," Swift wrote. "I can't even tell you how devastated I am by this." According to the organisers, 23-year-old Ana Clara Benevides Machado had sought help at the stadium after feeling unwell. She was transferred to hospital but died one hour later. According to Brazilian newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo, the cause of death was given as cardiorespiratory arrest. Taylor Swift, 33, said she would not be able to speak about the incident from the stage because she felt "overwhelmed by grief" whenever she tried to talk about it. "I want to say now I feel this loss deeply and my broken heart goes out to her family and friends." She added that this was "the last thing" she thought would happen when she brought the tour to Brazil. Swift said she had little other information about the death. In videos and pictures circulated on social media, Swift was later seen urging staff at the stadium to give water to fans during the concert. At one point, while singing All Too Well, she was seen throwing a water bottle into the crowd. Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes posted on X (formerly known as Twitter) that what happened was unacceptable and he had asked the show's producers for several changes including extra water distribution points and more emergency services on standby. Brazil's Justice Minister Flávio Dino also posted on X that fans must be allowed to bring in water bottles to the venues. He ordered the company organising the Eras Tour in Brazil, T4F Entertainment, to provide fans with free and easily accessible drinking water. The minister's statement came after concert-goers were banned from bringing in their own water bottles. Swift arrived in Brazil earlier this week for her record-breaking tour, with Rio de Janeiro's Christ the Redeemer statue illuminated to welcome her to the country. The pop star is due to play two more shows in Rio before heading to Sao Paulo. Swift had to cancel previously scheduled performances in the country because of the Covid-19 pandemic. She is coming to the UK in June 2024, where she will play Edinburgh, London, Liverpool and Cardiff. The BBC has approached T4F Entertainment, for a response. Additional reporting by Katy Watson in Sao Paulo and Emily McGarvey in London

Taylor Swift has postponed a concert she was due to perform in Rio de Janeiro on Saturday, after a fan died while attending her show on Friday.

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The dancer posted a snap on Instagram of herself pointing at the large plastic boot she now has to wear. The 33-year-old from Caerphilly, who has been undergoing cancer treatment, last week celebrated her final round of chemotherapy. Amy said she was heartbroken by the injury, adding: "2023 is certainly not my year. Roll on 2024 I say!" "Not the week I was hoping for since finishing chemo,"she wrote on Instagram, after she "unfortunately gained a boot for a fractured foot". "Absolutely gutted and heartbroken, as this means the plans for me to dance in the Strictly ballroom this year are no longer possible," she said. "This is what has kept me going the past few months." Amy discovered a lump in her breast in April, a day before she was due to fly on her honeymoon to the Maldives with her husband Ben. She has been spreading awareness of breast cancer throughout her treatment explaining how she was prompted to check herself ahead of a trek with thebreast cancer charity Coppafeel!

Strictly Come Dancing star Amy Dowden's hopes of returning to the show this year have been dashed by a broken foot.

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The doors then open and a small child steps into the platform light. Hands stretch out to help her down as her mother follows, carefully passing her baby in a tiny pink carrycot to the helpers below. These are Ukraine's newest war refugees. Last week,the authorities ordered the forced evacuation of childrenfrom 31 towns and villages close to the frontline. This train has brought several families from the Donetsk region to relative safety further west. We cannot name the exact location for security reasons. The orders - which are made whenever conditions are considered too dangerous - came after Russia renewed offensives in parts of the Donetsk region and fighting intensified in Kherson region. As volunteers unload bags, boxes and suitcases, others usher the new arrivals, bewildered and exhausted, into the warmth of the station. Here, three teenage girls sit on the benches, faces blank with shock. A loud meow comes from a basket at their feet. "The last time a shell hit our house it was the tenth time," their mother tells us. Liliya Mykhailik says the family then moved to an apartment in the same village but, as strikes knocked out communication and energy links, her daughter's online schooling became impossible. Her husband has stayed behind with his father and her mother, who refused to leave. Liliya says she is uncertain about her family's future: "We travelled here blindly." As the family wait for a bus which will take them to their accommodation, aid workers hand out coffee and state officials hand out cash. In addition to free transport to safety, Ukraine initially gives all forced evacuees money - around £45 per adult, £70 per child or vulnerable adult - and a place to live. The adults will be expected - eventually - to work. No-one says so, but everyone here knows there is a chance they will not see their homes again. And that is why, despite enduring daily danger and discomfort, some did not want to leave. It is up to people like Pavlo Dyachenko to persuade them. He is one of the so-called 'White Angels' special police unit responsible for getting humanitarian aid in - and people out - of Ukraine's most dangerous places. "Everything has to be done really fast," he says. "The danger is always there because Russians do not stop shelling." Getting families with children to safety presents a particular challenge. Every crew carries toys in the car. "Someone has to talk with the children all the time, distract them from the dangers on the road or any other stressful moments," he says. While millions of Ukrainians have fled the war abroad, the Ukrainian government estimates there are nearly five million internally displaced people in the country. Forced evacuees are taken in by communities all over Ukraine. We meet several families who have been placed in an old school. The sound of someone playing the recorder floats down the corridor as Varvara, who is 10 years old, sits in front of a laptop in what was once a classroom. Appropriately enough, she is doing an online lesson with the school she can no longer physically attend. Varvara came here with her mother Iryna and grandmother Svitlana from Kostyantynivka in the Donetsk region where shelling had forced them to live in a basement. They share a bathroom and kitchen with the other residents. "I really like it here," says Iryna and Svitlana agrees. But tears begin to stream down both women's faces. "We want to go home. We want all this to end." Varvara watches as they weep, unsurprised by their pain. Ukraine's refugee children may now be far away from the front line. But their lives continue to be shaped by the conflict. Additional reporting by Hanna Tsyba Sign up for our morning newsletterand get BBC News in your inbox.

It is still dark when an early train pulls into the station in central Ukraine and aid workers crowd expectantly around one of the carriages.

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Ministers have argued placing asylum seekers on sites like RAF Scampton would be cheaper than using hotels. But a Home Office memo written just days before plans were announced found the change only represented "marginal" value for money over three years. The Home Office said the plan "cuts the burden on the taxpayer". A leaked note, written for a senior official on 24 March, estimates total costs of asylum accommodation at Scampton this financial year to be £108.9m, then £97.1m in 2024/5 and £51.9m in 2025/6. The memo, described as "final" advice to the Home Office's accounting officer, acknowledges the estimates were subject to change and based on various assumptions, including 150 beds being available from May 2023, an 85% occupancy rate over the contract period. So far, no overall cost figures attached to the project have been made public. The document goes on to say that the planned two-year holding period of the site "does not represent value for money" as it is not long enough to recoup the initial set-up costs through savings on hotels. It suggests the Scampton proposal would be £2m more expensive over two years but could come to represent "marginal" value for money over three years. This depended on projected hotel usage over the period and whether planned modular units on the site could be connected to mains utilities, something described as a "critical risk". Five days after the note was sent,the Home Office announced plansto house asylum seekers on multiple former military bases including RAF Scampton and MDP Wethersfield. The plan has been fiercely opposed by the local authority, West Lindsey District Council, which says it will also lose out on a £300m investment to redevelop the base, the former home of the Red Arrows and the World War Two squadron. The council's legal challenge to the proposals was heard in the High Court this week. The Conservative MP for Gainsborough, Sir Edward Leigh said the figures showed a "staggering waste of public money" and described the plans in his constituency as a "political gimmick". The site is not yet operational, but the Home Office eventually intends to use the Scampton site to house up to 2,000 men. West Lindsey Council argues the plans are unlawful, claiming the government has misused Class Q emergency planning permission to begin development. The judicial review is also being brought by Braintree District Council and a local resident over similar plans for a military site in Wethersfield, Essex. It emerged ahead of the court hearing this week that the Home Office intends to apply for permission to use the sites for a further three years. "Frankly, I was lied to repeatedly," Sir Edward told the BBC earlier this week. "First of all I was told it was going to be two years, and then it was going to be three years, and then it was going to save money. There's no value for money. Their whole case, I believe, is shot to pieces." One government source close to the project acknowledged there had been high costs associated with developing Scampton, including the legal challenge and also the removal of asbestos. The source argued this development showed assets on the site were being improved. But the source insisted using larger sites to house asylum seekers was a better alternative to hotels. "Hotels are fundamentally a bad form of accommodation - they are economically damaging to communities, they take away a really important resource," the source said. "They are inappropriate and add to a perception of the UK as a soft touch - other governments in Europe don't use hotels for asylum seekers." Latest figures from the Home Office annual accounts published in September showed the daily cost ofaccommodating asylum seekers in hotels had risen to £8m a day. Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick recently announced50 hotels would be closed over the next three months. A Home Office spokesperson said: "Delivering accommodation on surplus military sites provides more orderly, suitable accommodation for those arriving in small boats whilst helping to reduce the use of hotels. "This also cuts the burden on the taxpayer and ensures that every pound of their money is spent in the most effective way. "We are confident in our project, which will house asylum seekers in safe and secure accommodation, while continuing to work closely with local councils to address local community concerns."

The cost of housing asylum seekers in a former RAF base in Lincolnshire could reach £260m by 2026, a leaked government document shows.

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Organisers of the two-day Woodhall Spa 1940s Festival said last weekend the event would not take place next July due to "rising operating costs". They said in a statement on social media they had alerted police to a "possible criminal offence". Lincolnshire Police said the investigation was at an early stage. A police spokesperson said: "Lincolnshire Police is investigating an allegation of fraud. "As the enquiry is in its early stages it would be inappropriate to comment further at this stage and we will keep the public updated as and when we can." The Woodhall Spa Committee issued a statement confirming the investigation on social media today. They said: "Our team is currently liaising with Lincolnshire Police after the committee alerted the authorities regarding a possible criminal offence. "As this is an ongoing investigation, we can make no further comment at this time". The free event, which featured shows and military reenactors, as well as flying displays across the weekend, was first held in 2012 and attracted thousands of visitors. The Woodhall Spa Committee said last weekend "the costs of keeping so many people safe [and] well served... have risen very sharply". As they did not expect costs to come down in future years they believed it was time to "say a fond goodbye". The leader of East Lindsey District Council Craig Leyland, who represents Woodhall Spa, said the festival had been a major contributor to the area's economy over the last decade. "People have put an awful lot of effort into this, the organisers, the businesses that take part and of course the visitors who come to enjoy what we have to offer in Woodhall Spa. "This investigation, the news of it is just incredibly sad news." Follow BBC East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire onFacebook,X (formerly Twitter), andInstagram. Send your story ideas [email protected]

Police have confirmed an investigation into an allegation of fraud connected to a popular wartime-themed festival in Lincolnshire has begun.

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The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has told people - via social media and leaflets - to use the Salah al-Din road between specific times of day. So what is this journey like? BBC Verify has been looking at video, listening to eyewitness testimony and analysing satellite images to try to get a clearer picture. Before the fighting started, northern Gaza was home to over one million people. It has been heavily bombed and Israeli ground forces are now fighting Hamas there, following the group's attack on Israel on 7 October. Salah al-Din is the main road crossing the length of Gaza and the Israeli military has told civilians to use it as an evacuation route. The road runs past Wadi Gaza, a valley the IDF uses to divide northern and southern Gaza. The IDF has said people will be safer in southern Gaza although its air strikes there have continued. On Wednesday Ahmed Zeyadah told a local journalist filming for the BBC about his journey. He had travelled from his home in the district of al-Nasr in the north. Carrying his toddler, he said, "I am so tired. We don't know what to do, we don't know where to go. To whom do we turn? To whom do we say: Come and save us." Mahmoud Ghazzaawi fled his home in al-Zeitoun in northern Gaza because of the number of attacks. He said he left his home at midday and had been walking for five hours. He also said he did not know where to go. "There are martyrs [dead people] thrown on the ground, may God have mercy on them," he said. Most people appear to be walking. According to the UN, the Israeli military reportedly forced evacuees to leave vehicles at the southern edge of Gaza City. Those travelling from the furthest point north walked up to 12 miles (20km). One of the evacuees told UN observers: "I saw a lot of damage on my way, I saw Israeli tanks and soldiers positioned at the eastern side of the road, near Netzarim, and they did not approach us. "I saw a few dead bodies and body parts on the road." In another video, posted on the messaging app Telegram on Tuesday, a woman talked about bodies on the highway. She said she had been looking for her son near the Netzarim junction - named after the former Israeli settlement in Gaza that was located nearby - and described finding his body lying in the road among others as she travelled south. "I saw the Israeli tanks, but I didn't care, I looked around and found my son. I recognised him by his belt, and his phone," she said on the video. The BBC spoke to a local journalist who recognised the woman and said she had visited the Al Aqsa hospital in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza, on Tuesday where she registered the death of her son. He was buried on the same day, he said. The BBC has not found video footage or still images of bodies on the Salah al-Din highway in recent days. We have asked the IDF to comment on the reports of bodies there. The UN estimates up to 15,000 people made the journey on Tuesday, with around 5,000 the day before. On Wednesday the Israeli military said it was opening the road for an extra hour until 15:00 local time because large numbers of people were using it. A military spokesman later claimed as many as 50,000 people had left northern Gaza along Salah al-Din Road on Wednesday. The IDF has published video footage on X showing groups of people walking along the road, some of them waving white flags (to show they are civilians), with an Israeli tank next to the highway and facing them. The BBC has verified the location - by matching distinctive buildings seen in the background of the shot, and it is on the Salah al-Din road about 3km north of Wadi Gaza. Satellite imagery of the highway - posted on 7 November - shows people walking along the same stretch of road and an IDF tank next to it. The image also shows damage to buildings alongside the Salah al-Din road and what appears to be debris on the road. Another satellite image from the same date shows a larger group of people walking along the road around 0.6 miles (1km) north of Wadi Gaza. Israeli tanks have been spotted on this key road before. On 30 October, the BBC verifiedfootage of a tank firing near a car- trying to reverse away - followed by a large explosion. We asked the IDF whether - at the time of this incident - the road has been designated as "safe". It would not comment on this specific incident, but said Salah al-Din "had been an open road throughout the war" and they had been "securing it with ground troops and tanks to encourage safe evacuation". BBC Verify has also analysed satellite imagery of the Salah al-Din Road - as far as Wadi Gaza - to try to assess the level of damage to it during this conflict. Every red dot represents damage of some kind on the road: for example, a crater on the tarmac or a building damaged next to the highway. We have identified about 60 individual examples but we cannot tell exactly when these occurred. The IDF says it makes efforts to avoid harming civilians and will continue evacuation routes. Additional reporting by Benedict Garman and Bassima Kracha.

Civilians fleeing intense fighting in northern Gaza have described seeing decomposing bodies and Israeli tanks along a designated "safe road".

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It is simple, almost rudimentary, technology. But they help the farmers to process excess or lower quality crop - which would ordinarily go to waste - into valuable products that can increase their profit. The dryers have been deployed around 400 villages and are made by India's S4S Technologies, one of five organisations that won the Earthshot Prize this week. The £1m ($1.2m) award was started by Britain's Prince William in 2014 with the aim of finding and scaling up innovative solutions to the world's greatest environmental challenges. "S4S, along with women farmers, are creating a new food ecosystem that reduces wastage and mitigates the increase in greenhouse gas emissions while meeting the world's food needs," co-founder of S4S Technologies Nidhi Pant said in a statement after the award ceremony in Singapore. Indian farmers are contending with the impact of climate change every day, and they are not alone. The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has identified the Asia-Pacific as the region most vulnerable to climate change, with 13 out of 30 countries on the continent facing significant fallout. Home to multiple low-lying coastal cities which are exposed to flood and typhoon risk, the region also faces dramatic increases in heat and humidity; extreme rainfall is forecast in some areas, while drought is anticipated in others. But Asia is also home to a great deal of innovation, actress Cate Blanchett said on the "green" carpet ahead of the Earthshot Prize ceremony. "There are so many people out there of all age groups and demographics, from all cultures, actually doing things within their own communities, in their own regions to tackle issues caused by the very rapidly changing climate," The founders of Hong Kong-based GRST, which won in the "Clean Our Air" category, are anticipating the transition to electric vehicles around the world with their eco-friendly lithium ion battery technology. They plan to use the prize to scale up their operations - GRST produces its batteries in China where it also sells them but plans to expand to Canada, Europe and Singapore. "During the battery production, there's a lot of emissions and toxic chemicals that go into the conventional way of doing it. We've replaced those with water and water-soluble materials, so [it's] very clean and much lower energy usage. But the important point is at the end of life, our batteries are [more] easily recycled than water so we can minimise the need for future mining," they said at the award ceremony. Meaghan Brosnan was in the US Coast Guard for 20 years before joining WildAid, which won in the "Revive our Oceans" category. WildAid is working with communities and governments around the world - including in China, the Philippines and Palau - to combat illegal fishing and protect ecosystems in marine protected areas. "We're also working with some local communities to modify their fishing nets, so that they will not capture and drown sea turtles," Ms Brosnan said. Aadith Moorthy, from the Indian state of Karnataka, is the founder of Boomitra, another Earthshot Prize winner. Mr Moorthy works with farmers to improve their agricultural practices by checking soil health and maximising crop diversity. He was passing through an Indian village in 2017 when he came across the funeral procession for a farmer who had taken his own life because of crop failure. This tragic moment eventually inspired Boomitra, which means "friend of the earth". Noting that Boomitra currently works with about 150,000 farmers and on some five million acres of land around the world, he stressed that "two more zeros" need to be added to these statistics in order to move the needle on climate change. The energy for innovation and solving the planet's problems was palpable amongst participants and trustees on the green carpet. "What we all need in the climate space is both action and hope. And the finalists that we see, they provide both," former New Zealand Prime Minister and Earthshot trustee Jacinda Ardern said ahead of the ceremony. Christina Figueres - who headed UN climate negotiations for six years and played a key role in the talks that led to the Paris Climate Agreement - told the BBC that she wanted to take Earthshot to Asia because the region "leads the world into the future". Noting the rate of growth in the region, as well as the demand for energy both in population as well as in industrial productivity, Ms Figueres praised the "brilliant, disruptive efforts" of people and organisations in the Asia-Pacific to address environmental challenges in a timely fashion. Prince William also expressed hopes that the Earthshot Prize would expand into a global movement, in which governments are more engaged in green sectors so that climate change would be easier to tackle. "Our winners and all our finalists remind us that, no matter where you are on our planet, the spirit of ingenuity, and the ability to inspire change, surrounds us all," he said. Additional reporting by Daniela Relph and Nikhil Inamdar.

In a village in Western India, women collect onions that have been stored in the orange metal dryers that are transforming their lives.

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There were 7.77 million waits for non-emergency care at the end of September - up from 7.75 million in August. But analysis by NHS England has found that includes many people who are waiting for more than one treatment. Most are on two or three waiting lists, but some will be on up to five. Many will be elderly people waiting for a variety of non-emergency treatments, including everything from knee and hip replacements to those who may need drug therapies or physio. The fresh insight has been provided after NHS England drilled down into the figures by using patients' unique NHS numbers. It showed the backlog of 7.77 million waits involved an estimated 6.5 million patients - around 1 million of whom were waiting for more than one treatment. The waiting list is now nearly 3.5 million higher than it was before the pandemic. Royal College of Nursing chief nurse Prof Nicola Ranger said the government "had lost control" of waiting times. "These lists have been growing for years and the shortage of nurses is one of the fundamental causes," she added. Are you on one or more waiting list? Are you having to pay privately for treatment? Get in touch. The backlog has continued rising this year despite the prime minister's pledge to cut down waiting lists. However, progress has been made on tackling the longest waits of more than 18 months. Rishi Sunak has blamed strikes for the lack of progress. The continued industrial action is estimated to have cost the NHS £1bn in this financial year in paying premium rates to staff to cover shifts, and in planning and preparing for walkouts. The ones by doctors have proved to be the most disruptive - and still remain unresolved, although talks are under way between the government and the British Medical Association. The NHS had asked for extra funding to cover the cost of strikes. But this week it emerged its plea had been rejected, with the Treasury only agreeing to an extra £100m. Instead, the NHS has been told it will have to use £200m of winter money and raid other budgets, including those originally earmarked for IT and maintenance, to tackle the backlog. In return, the target for the amount of treatments the NHS is expected to have carried out has been relaxed - a further sign that the government accepts its push to tackle the backlog will take longer than first hoped. Saffron Cordery, of NHS Providers, which represents hospitals, said there was a "deep sense of frustration" about the lack of extra funding. "This will undoubtedly have knock-on consequences for the health service and patient care."

About one million people in England are on more than one waiting list for treatment, it has been revealed for the first time, as the NHS backlog hits a new record high.

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