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"Dignity and dishonour," is theSunday Expressheadline. "As the nation remembers our war dead, extremists from the left and right march for hate," the paper writes. It goes on to say that the two "short" minutes of silence, "in honour of our fallen war heroes", was "a brief respite in a day which saw trouble flare, even before the bugler had signalled the start of the sombre tribute".
TheSun On Sundaylambasts what it calls the "despicable" behaviour of "vile" marchers wearing Hamas-style headbands and the "disgrace" of the violence by "English Defence League yobs" in Whitehall. "Remembrance weekend shame," is how the paper describes clashes, which saw 126 arrests and nine police officers hurt.
TheMail On Sundaysays there were "terrifying scenes as extremists from all sides" that tarnished Armistice Day. It also shows a photo of Michael Gove being protected by police, after the paper says the levelling up secretary was "jostled and abused by baying pro-Palestinian protesters" at London Victoria railway station, on his way home.
"Hate, intolerance and arrests as thugs hijack Armistice Day," is how TheSunday Timessums up what took place on Saturday. The paper reports that the prime minister will meet the Metropolitan Police Commissioner again in the "coming days", after demanding that all criminality during the protests be met with "the full and swift force of the law". It reports thatprime minister Rishi Sunak, who condemned the violence,also repeated his "threat" to Sir Mark Rowley - to hold him to account for his decision to approve the pro-Palestinian demonstration on Armistice Day.
TheSunday Telegraphleads with the prime minister's condemnation of what it calls the "disrespect of our heroes" by "far right thugs and Hamas sympathisers".
However, in acomment piece in the paper, Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer, is critical of statements by both Rishi Sunak and the home secretary, Suella Braverman, in the run-up to this weekend. Ms Braverman - who has been accused of stoking tensions - has set "her face against the very values that Britain has fought for", says the Labour leader.
He insists that protesters inciting violence should be dealt with firmly by the law. But, Sir Keir says that "blanket calls" - for those "speaking up peacefully" for the people of Gaza - to be cancelled, or silenced - or to describe what they are doing in the language of "hate" - "are wrong".
TheSunday Peoplealso scolds Ms Braverman with the headline: "look what you've done", alongside a picture of the home secretary. The Sunday Mirror takes a similar line alongside the same picture of Mrs Braverman. "Sack her now", the paper urges Mr Sunak, as it reports on "pressure mounting" on the prime minister to get rid of his home secretary following what it describes as "shameful" scenes in the capital.
TheObserversays calls are growing for Israel to "hold fire in Gaza", as marchers from across the UK thronged London on Saturday, to protest against the continued bombardment. The paper suggests the attendance of hundreds of thousands of people, at the pro-Palestinian rally, will "add to political pressure" on both the prime minister and the Labour leader to back calls for a ceasefire in the conflict.
Sign up for our morning newsletterand get BBC News in your inbox. | The protests on Armistice Day dominate the front pages, with pictures of police being confronted by far-right demonstrators near the Cenotaph, as well as the separate pro-Palestinian march in central London. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-the-papers-67394611?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA |
Megan Thee Stallion has opened up about her mental health in her first solo song since Tory Lanez was jailed for shooting her.
In new release Cobra, the rapper says she hit "rock bottom" and cried every night after the 2020 shooting in which she was shot in the foot.
In August, Canadian rapper Tory was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
The song is Megan's first release as an independent artist after a legal dispute with former record label.
Referring tothe shooting, Megan raps: "Every night I cried, I almost died. And nobody close tried to stop me...
"At night, I'm sittin' in a dark room thinkin'.
"Probably why I always end up drinkin'
"Yes, I'm very depressed."
Her lyrics also touch on missing her deceased parents, struggling with anxiety and infidelity.
Fans on the internet have suggested Megan had been reflecting on her relationship with ex-boyfriend Pardison Fontaine in the song.
In the accompanying scaley video, Megan emerges from a large snake shedding its skins, before she too sheds her skin - a metaphor for shedding her "past", she says.
Explaining the theme in an Instagram post, she said cobras "exemplify courage and self-reliance".
In April, Megan said she hadfallen into depression after the shooting, but was now excited to get back into music after the "rebirth of a happier and healthier" her.
The song heralds a new start for Megan who said she is be self-funding her next album.
Cobra is the first track released by Megan's Hot Girl Productions, following her goingindependent after severing ties and settling a lawsuitwith 501 Certified Entertainment over her contract.
If you're affected by any of the issues in this article you can find details of organisations who can helpvia the BBC Action Line. | This news story deals with issues of mental health and depression | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-67308120?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA |
All photos subject to copyright | A selection of powerful news photographs taken around the world this week. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/in-pictures-67308202?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA |
The service, which randomly placed users in online chats with strangers, grew in popularity with children and young people during the Covid pandemic.
But the site has been mentioned in more than 50 cases against paedophiles in the last couple of years.
Founder Leif Brookssaidthat operating the website was "no longer sustainable, financially nor psychologically".
"There can be no honest accounting of Omegle without acknowledging that some people misused it, including to commit unspeakably heinous crimes," he said.
"As much as I wish circumstances were different, the stress and expense of this fight - coupled with the existing stress and expense of operating Omegle, and fighting its misuse - are simply too much.
"Frankly, I don't want to have a heart attack in my 30s."
Omegle's closure announcement included an image of its logo on a gravestone.
Mr Brooks launched Omegle in 2009 at the age of 18. He described it as "the idea of 'meeting new people' distilled down to almost its platonic ideal", and built on what he saw as "the intrinsic safety benefits of the internet, users were anonymous to each other by default".
The website had around 73 million visitors a month, according to analysts at website watchers Semrush, mostly from India, the US, the UK, Mexico and Australia.
For some teenagers it was seen as a rite of passage to be matched with a stranger in a live video chat where anything could happen.
Indeed, as news of its closure spread, young people who have grown up with Omegle being a wild part of the internet have been sharing stories and memories of the site on social media.
However, Omegle has also been the subject of controversy, and many are also posting horrible stories of the sorts of sexual and predatory behaviour they experienced on the platform.
In a landmark casea young American is suing the website,accusing it of randomly pairing her with a paedophile.
The account user was a minor when the incident took place and the lawsuit against Omegle was filed 10 years later in November 2021.
Omegle's legal team argued in court that the website was not to blame for what happened, and denied that it was a haven for predators.
The case is ongoing.
Reclusive owner Mr Brooks and his fans argue that the shutdown of Omegle is a symptom of internet freedoms being taken away and the end of an era.
But in many ways Omegle was a strange relic of a former way the internet worked.
The site itself was glitchy and ugly, with an offensive joke about the Chinese president on its landing page.
Moderation was extremely light-touch at a time when politicians and society are asking for more from internet companies.
For instance, this week, in the UK Ofcom issued its first guidance for tech platforms to comply with theOnline Safety Actand the communications regulator singled out online grooming.
Two people with knowledge of the inner workings of Omegle say that there wasn't any human moderation despite Mr Brooks' claims.
The entire company was seemingly run solely by him, with no other registered employees.
It was operated from his lakeside house in Florida and when he was asleep or offline, no complaints were acted upon.
Earlier this year, the BBC found thatOmegle has been mentioned in dozens of cases against paedophilesin countries including the UK, US and Australia.
Video-sharing platform TikTok banned sharing links to Omegle, after a BBC investigation in 2021 foundwhat appeared to be children exposing themselves to strangers on the website.
Mr Brooks never publicly answered his critics or posted to social media, despite the trend of tech bosses being held to account in parliamentary hearings.
Other sites like it will no doubt rise to fill the void, but the demise of Omegle shows that times have changed since the 18-year-old programmer launched his experimental social platform.
Imagery of young children carrying out sexual acts on camera has risen more than tenfold since the pandemic lockdowns, according to the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF).
In 2022, the IWF logged more than 63,000 webpages showing the material compared to 5,000 before the pandemic.
Cyber reporter Joe Tidy speaks exclusively with child abuse survivor "Alice" and her legal team, as they prepare a case that could have major consequences for social media companies. Then he tracks down Omegle's elusive creator, Leif Brooks.
Watch: Omegle - Matched With My Abuser on the BBC iPlayer (UK only) | Popular live video chat website Omegle is shutting down after 14 years following user claims of abuse. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-67364634?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA |
It is unclear whether the ministry's statement refers to the LGBT community as a whole or specific organisations.
It said the movement had shown signs of "extremist activity", including inciting "social and religious strife".
The ban could leave any LGBT activist vulnerable to criminal prosecution.
The extremist label has been used in the past by Russian authorities against rights organisations and opposition groups such as Alexei Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation.
The top court will examine the motion on 30 November.
The ban would make it impossible for LGBT organisations to operate and put activists and employees at risk of criminal prosecution, the Moscow Times quoted one of the few LGBT activists still inside Russia as saying.
"Essentially, it would entail criminal prosecution based solely on one's orientation or identity."
Analysts suggest the move is a populist measure designed to win votes ahead of next year's presidential election.
Vladimir Putin is widely expected to stand for a fifth term as president, though he has not yet openly declared his candidacy.
Russia under Mr Putin has cracked down on LGBT activism, which he sees as part of an attack by the West on "traditional Russian values".
This campaign was accelerated following the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Legislation passed last Decemberbanned "propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations"among all age groups. This was an expansion of a 2013 law aimed at minors.
The law categorises any positive depictions of same-sex relationships in mass media or advertising under the same umbrella as distributing pornography, the promotion of violence, or stoking racial, ethnic and religious tensions.
This year saw a crackdown on transgender rights, withlegislation in July banning gender reassignment surgery.
Officials insist that "non-traditional sexual relations" are not banned in Russia.
Deputy Justice Minister Andrey Loginov said on Monday at a UN review of Russia's human rights record that LGBT rights were enshrined in law, and that discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity was banned.
But the latest move is likely to cause deep concern in an already threatened community.
"Activists face pressure from the state, as well as from homophobic and transphobic groups, often enduring physical attacks," the unnamed campaigner added.
LGBT charity boss Dilya Gafurova, who has left Russia, told AFP news agency that authorities were not just trying to "erase us from the public field: they want to ban us as a social group".
"We'll continue our fight," she said. | Russia's justice ministry has filed a motion with the country's Supreme Court to ban the activities of what it calls the "international LGBT public movement" as extremist. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-67454386?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA |
Paul Mosley was jailed along with Mick and Mairead Philpott for the manslaughter of six children in a house fire in Derby in 2012.
He was released in May 2021 after serving half of his sentence, but was returned to prison in 2022 after breaching the terms of his parole.
The Parole Board confirmed the decision on Wednesday.
A spokesperson said: "We can confirm that a panel of the Parole Board has directed the release of Paul Mosley following an oral hearing.
"Parole Board decisions are solely focused on what risk a prisoner could represent to the public if released and whether that risk is manageable in the community.
"A panel will carefully examine a huge range of evidence, including details of the original crime, and any evidence of behaviour change, as well as explore the harm done and the impact the crime has had on the victims."
The parole hearing took place on 24 October.
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: "This was a horrific crime and our thoughts remain with the victims and their families.
"Paul Mosley will be under the close supervision of the Probation Service and can be recalled to prison if he breaches the strict conditions of his release."
Mosley was sentenced to 17 years in prison after a trial heard how he helped the Philpotts start the fire at their home in Victory Road.
The couple's children Jade, 10, and brothers John, nine, Jack, seven, Jesse, six, and Jayden, five, died on the morning of the blaze on 11 May 2012.
Dwayne, who was 13, died in hospital three days later.
Mosley and the Philpotts were jailed in 2013.
Mairead Philpott was sentenced to 17 years in prison and was released on licence in 2020.
Mick Philpott was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 15 years.
Follow BBC East Midlands onFacebook, onX, or onInstagram. Send your story ideas [email protected]. | A man convicted of killing six children in a deliberate fire can be released from prison following a parole hearing. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-derbyshire-67427340?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA |
National Security spokesman John Kirby said the group stored arms there and were prepared for an Israeli attack.
This is the first time the US has independently backed claims by close ally Israel that Hamas uses hospitals to hide its bases. Hamas denies this.
The statement came as Israel faced mounting global pressure to protect civilians trapped in the hospitals.
US President Joe Biden said that Al-Shifa hospital "must be protected" from intense fighting around the complex, and UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said Israel must act within international law.
The area around Al-Shifa, Gaza's biggest hospital, has become the focus of fighting in recent days. Thousands of people are believed to be sheltering there.
Mr Kirby said the US had its own intelligence, which had come from a variety of sources, suggesting that Hamas and Islamic Jihad used hospitals in the Gaza Strip and tunnels underneath them to conceal military operations and hold hostages.
Previously the US administration had only cited open-source intelligence and would not confirm that it had its own sources for this.
"Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad members operate a command and control node from Al-Shifa in Gaza City," he said.
"They have stored weapons there and they are prepared to respond to an Israeli military operation against that facility."
Mr Kirby said this showed how challenging the Israeli operation was as "Hamas has deeply embedded itself within the civilian population".
"To be clear, we do not support striking a hospital from the air and we do not want to see a firefight in the hospital where innocent people, helpless people, sick people are simply trying to get the medical care that they deserve, not to be caught in a crossfire. Hospitals and patients must be protected," he said.
"As we have been clear on multiple occasions, Hamas's actions do not lessen Israel's responsibility to protect civilians in Gaza, and this is obviously something we're going to have an active conversation with our counterparts about."
Responding to the White House's remarks on Tuesday, Hamas said in a statement reported by the AFP news agency that Israel would use Washington's assessment to give it a "green light" to commit "brutal massacres" against medical facilities, "destroying Gaza's healthcare system and displacing Palestinians".
Doctors inside Al-Shifa say that dozens of people, including at least three premature babies, have died due to a lack of fuel, medicine and power.
They have told the BBC that more than 100 bodies lay unburied in courtyards, and anyone trying to leave the complex - or even move between buildings - risks death due to the violence in the area.
Israel maintains that it has not fired directly on hospitals in Gaza despite what it says is Hamas's presence in them. The Israeli military has vowed to destroy Hamas, a designated terror group in the US, UK and EU, in the Gaza Strip.
On Monday Israel released video of what it said was a Hamas hideout under the Rantisi children's hospital in northern Gaza City.
In asix-minute video marked as "raw footage", the IDF's chief spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari is seen saying he is at a tunnel 200 metres away from Rantisi.
In the video, Hagari points to the tunnel entrance, which he says he believes is "connected" to the hospital, and electrical wiring he says proved solar panels had been powering a bunker.
No further evidence is provided for the existence of a command centre but the IDF spokesman said investigations were continuing.
The footage then cuts to basement rooms he says are inside Rantisi hospital. He points to a cache of weapons, including explosive belts and grenades, and a motorcycle with what he says is bullet damage.
Rear Adm Hagari says there are signs that hostages kidnapped by Hamas during the group's attack on Israel had been held in the basement.
A shot shows a chair with what appears to be rope ties, below a control panel marked "World Health Organization" with a child's feeding bottle resting on top.
In another room, he points to a calendar on the wall counting the days in Arabic from 7 October - the date of Hamas's attack into southern Israel.
Rear Adm Hagari claims the calendar shows the "terrorists' shifts" as they guarded the room. He says names were written alongside shift times.
The top of this document mentions the "al-Aqsa flood" - Hamas's codename for the 7 October attacks. However, the Arabic words translate to the days of the week, not names.
He separately states that the room is decorated with curtains like a video studio. Of the hostage videos released by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, none have shown a matching pattern in the background.
The IDF escorted CNN journalists around the site and the hospital, which was evacuated on Friday. BBC News has not visited the site and is not able to independently verify any of the allegations made by Hagari.
However, the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza responded in detail to the Israeli claims, describing them as a "theatrical farce".
It said the underground space shown in the video was used for administration and storage, and as a shelter from air strikes.
It described the display of weapons as staged, and said there were thousands of similar motorcycles in Gaza.
The ministry says that more than 11,000 people have been killed in Israel's operations against Hamas, since the group killed 1,200 people in Israel on 7 October and took about 240 people hostage.
Additional reporting by BBC Verify's Paul Brown. | The US says it has intelligence that Hamas has a command centre under Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-67414091?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA |
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said 65-year-old Yehudit Weiss was discovered in a house near Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City.
It said that her family had been informed, and her body would be returned to Israel.
Ms Weiss was kidnapped from her home in Be'eri near the Gaza border.
She had been recovering from breast cancer when Hamas launched its deadly attack on 7 October, but was without her medication when she was taken, according to the Bring Them Home Now group.
Ms Weiss worked in her kibbutz's kindergartens, managed the dining room and specialised in nursing before she retired, the group said.
She was a "loving full-time grandmother", it said, adding she had a love for culture, sports, travelling and baking.
Her husband, Shmulik, a rabbi, was killed in the Hamas assault.
In a statement, the IDF said that Kalashnikov rifles and rocket-propelled grenades were among the weapons discovered where her body was located.
"Unfortunately, Yehudit was murdered by terrorists in Gaza and we did not get to her in time," IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari said in a news briefing on Thursday evening.
He did not give further details on how she was killed.
So far only four of the 240 hostages who were abducted by Hamas last month have been freed.
Israeli officials say that at least 1,200 people were killed in Hamas's cross-border attack on 7 October by hundreds of gunmen.
Since Israel started its counter-attack, Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry has said 11,400 people have been killed in the territory.
Al-Shifa, Gaza City's largest hospital, became the focus of fighting at the start of the week, and was raided by the Israeli military on Wednesday morning.
The IDF says Hamas has been using the hospital as a command centre, and has spent two days searching the complex for evidence of this. Hamas denies operating there and the BBC cannot independently verify claims by either side.
Currently more than 650 patients, 500 medical staff and over 5,000 displaced people are taking shelter in the hospital.
Its director Muhammad Abu Salmiya saidconditions were "tragic" at the site, and the hospital has run out of oxygen and water. | Israel's military says its soldiers have found the body of an Israeli hostage taken into Gaza by Hamas in its attack last month. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-67442048?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA |
A military spokesman said one of them - a soldier - was murdered there.
Cpl Noa Marciano, 19, was killed after being taken into al-Shifa hospital with minor injuries, he said.
Israel said a tunnel had been found at the site which it claims was a Hamas command centre. Hamas denies that.
The BBC has not been able to verify the video which was presented at a news briefing by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on Sunday.
"This morning we updated Noa's family that according to our findings, she was kidnapped to a safe house near Shifa," Rear Adm Daniel Hagari, IDF chief spokesperson told reporters.
"During IDF air strikes in the area, the Hamas terrorist who was holding Noa was killed and she was wounded in the air strike, but not a life-threatening injury. Noa was taken inside Shifa hospital, where she was murdered by another Hamas terrorist."
Hamas has previously claimed Ms Marciano was killed in an Israeli air strike, which the IDF said occurred on 9 November.
Rear Adm Hagari then played CCTV footage which he said was from the morning of 7 October - the day Hamas launched its surprise attack on southern Israel in which 1,200 Israelis were killed and more than 240 taken hostage.
The video showed two hostages being brought into the hospital, Gaza's largest and most modern.
Armed men can be seen in the CCTV video which is date-stamped 7 October. One of the hostages appears to be resisting - the other is shown on a stretcher.
The IDF has been under pressure to substantiate its claim that Hamas operated an expansive command centre underneath the vast medical complex in the north of the territory.
Responding to the video released by Israel, the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said it was not able to confirm the authenticity of the footage.
The ministry also said it was Israel which bore full responsibility for the deterioration and collapse of health services in Gaza.
Earlier, the IDF released a video that it said showed a tunnel 10m (33ft) below ground that runs for 55m up to a closed and reinforced door.
It said this was now part of the evidence that "clearly proves" numerous buildings in the hospital's complex have been "used by Hamas as cover for terrorist infrastructure and activities".
The latest video is not yet the evidence that's been promised of the sort of vast and intricate operation depicted in a computer simulation which the IDF previously released showing what it believes any Hamas base underground at al-Shifa could look like.
The US has said it also has intelligence that Hamas has used hospitals in the Gaza Strip, including al-Shifa, as command centres and weapons stores.
Israel has cited US intelligence to substantiate their claim of the existence of a major headquarters at the complex but the Americans' use of the term "node" may suggest a smaller operation.
Israel believes it is building a credible case and is keen to present evidence as and when it finds it.
While Israel's allies have supported its military campaign of retaliation, which it says is aimed at eliminating Hamas, they have expressed a lot of unease at the toll that the offensive is having on civilians.
The Hamas-run health ministry says the death toll in Gaza since then has reached 12,300. More than 2,000 people are feared to be buried under rubble.
The government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is also under pressure from families of the hostages. They want him to do more to free those held by Hamas.
On Saturday, protesters calling on the Israeli government to prioritise securing the release of hostages walked from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem before holding a demonstration outside Mr Netanyahu's residence.
The prime minister, however, appears undeterred in his mission.
He says his first goal of the war is to destroy Hamas; the second to return the hostages; and the third to eliminate the threat from Gaza. | The Israeli military has released footage which it says shows hostages being taken into Gaza's largest hospital after the deadly Hamas attacks of 7 October. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-67469591?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA |
It sets out the government's tax and spending plans for the year ahead, affecting the take-home pay and household budgets of millions of people, as well as the funding for key public services.
Here is a summary of the main measures.
Are you a small business owner or self-employed with a young family? How will the Autumn Statement affect you? 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. | Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has unveiled the contents of his Autumn Statement in the House of Commons. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-67276717?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA |
The 15-year-old girl was killed while on her way to school in Croydon.
Hundreds of people in colourful T-shirts lined the route of the funeral procession on Saturday morning.
The family service at the New Life Christian Centre was live streamed for the community.
A white coach pulled by white horses with pink head plumes took Elianne on her last journey through Croydon, which included a short "act of remembrance" outside Old Palace School, where Elianne was a student.
Sobs were heard from the crowd who had come to stand along the route. Some wore T-shirts with Elianne's smile beaming from the centre, with "shine bright Elianne" on the back.
The large congregation was invited to watch the live stream of the funeral inside a Salvation Army building across the road which was opened especially to accommodate the people who could not fit into the New Life Christian Centre.
Elianne was described as a "remarkable and multifaceted individual" with an "infectious enthusiasm for all things good and beautiful," in a eulogy read by her aunt Sylvia.
She spoke of the 15-year-old's love for music, friends, fashion, gymnastics, drawing, cooking and singing, adding that she had a "charismatic and vivacious" personality.
"As we say goodbye to Elianne, we take comfort in the knowledge that she is at peace, with her faith realised," she said.
"Her memory will forever be cherished in our hearts. We look forward to the day when we will meet again in eternity.
"Rest in peace, rest in power, long live justice, long live Elianne".
A 17-year-old boy is charged with Elianne's murder and is due to appear in court on 19 December. | Mourners have paid their respects at a funeral for "remarkable" Elianne Andam, who was fatally stabbed in south London in September. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-67389309?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA |
The celebrity chef, 57, strongly suggested that Jesse James Ramsay would be his last child, posting on social media: "3 boys, 3 girls.... Done."
Cookery book author Tana, 49, married Ramsay in 1996.
Ramsay posted pictures of Jesse and Tana in hospital on Saturday night.
The baby boy, wearing a pink hat, can be seen in his mother's arms in three images, one of which shows his father kissing him on the head.
Ramsay, who celebrated his birthday on Wednesday, wrote on Instagram: "What an amazing birthday present, please welcome Jesse James Ramsay, 7lbs 10oz whopper!!
"One more bundle of love to the Ramsay brigade!! 3 boys, 3 girls.... Done."
It is unclear exactly when Jesse was born.
The couple are already parents to Megan, the eldest, who is now in her mid-20s; twins Jack and Holly, Matilda "Tilly" and Oscar.
In 2016, before the birth of Oscar,Ramsay announced that Tana had had a miscarriage.
In response to his post about the birth of Jesse, Ramsay received a string of congratulatory messages from celebrity friends, including Hollywood star Jeremy Renner, TV chefs James Martin and Gino D'Acampo, Top Gear star Paddy McGuinness and Strictly Come Dancing professional Amy Dowden.
Former Chelsea FC manager and ex-England footballer Frank Lampard wrote: "Congratulations mate!" | Gordon Ramsay has announced the birth of his sixth child, as he and his wife Tana welcome a 7lbs 10oz "whopper" to the family. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-67395138?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA |
A US State Department official says around 140,000 litres of fuel will be allowed in every two days.
Most of that is intended for trucks delivering aid, as well as supporting the UN in providing water and sanitation, the official said.
The rest is for mobile phone and internet services, which had been cut off due to a lack of fuel.
On Friday, the company which provides Gaza's communications said that its services were returning after receiving some fuel via Unrwa, the UN's agency for Palestinian refugees.
The US official said Washington exerted considerable pressure on Israel to push this fuel agreement through.
The deal had been agreed in principle weeks ago, the official added, but was delayed by Israel for two reasons. Israeli officials told the US that fuel had not actually run out in southern Gaza, and they also wanted to wait and see if they could negotiate a hostage deal first.
The head of Unrwa warned on Thursday that the agency may have to suspend all of its activities due to the lack of fuel.
In its latest situation report, the agency said it required "160,000 litres of fuel every day for basic humanitarian operations" - more than double what has been agreed.
Earlier, an Israeli official said the new fuel allowance would be brought in through the Rafah crossing to the civilian population in the southern Gaza Strip via the UN, provided that it does not reach Hamas.
The Israeli official said the fuel would give "minimal" support to water, sewage and sanitation systems, in order to prevent the outbreak of epidemics that could spread in the area.
International organisations have repeatedly expressed grave concerns over the humanitarian situation unfolding in the Gaza Strip.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has previously warned of "worrying trends" in the spread of disease in Gaza, where the lack of fuel and Israeli bombardment have severely disrupted the healthcare system and sanitation facilities.
On Friday, Richard Peeperkorn, the WHO's representative in the Palestinian Territories, said that more than 70,000 cases of acute respiratory infections and over 44,000 cases of diarrhoea had been recorded, according to Reuters - figures significantly higher than expected.
Fuel is needed in Gaza to run the enclave's desalination plant, to provide electricity to homes and hospitals, and for sanitation, transport, and communications infrastructure.
It is also crucial for the delivery of aid around the territory.
Israel has been blocking fuel from entering Gaza, arguing that it could be stolen by Hamas and used for military purposes.
Before the latest war Israel provided the majority of Gaza's electricity, and some was produced by the enclave's sole power plant which is no longer functioning.
On Saturday in Gaza's south, the director of Nasser hospital in Khan Younis said it had received the bodies of 26 people, and 23 others with serious injuries, after an air strike on a residential building in Hamad city.
The Israeli military has not yet commented on the report.
Meanwhile, the Red Crescent said at least five Palestinians were killed in an Israeli air strike on a building in the Balata refugee camp in the West Bank city of Nablus.
The Israeli army said it was checking on the reports.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has told Israel to take "urgent" action to "de-escalate tensions in the West Bank, including by confronting rising levels of settler extremist violence".
The strike happened a day after Israeli military said it killed at least seven militants in two separate confrontations in the West Bank.
Israel's latest siege and military operation began following Hamas's brutal 7 October attack, when the group - which is banned as a terrorist organisation by the UK, US and other powers - killed around 1,200 people and took more than 230 people hostage, according to Israeli authorities.
At least 12,000 people have been killed in the territory since Israel began its retaliatory strikes, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in the Palestinian enclave. | Israel says it will allow two fuel trucks a day to enter the Gaza Strip, after pressure to do so from the US. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-67455962?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA |
Dozens of severely injured Palestinians were taken in ambulances and hundreds of foreign passport holders made the crossing on Wednesday.
Egypt said it would initially allow in more than 80 injured and more than 500 foreign and dual nationals in total, in a deal said to have been brokered by Qatar.
This is the first such evacuation since the conflict began more than three weeks ago. It is not clear how long the border will stay open.
It has already been open for more than 10 days to allow aid into Gaza. So far, more than 200 trucks have crossed the border, but much more is needed.
It's the southernmost post of exit from Gaza and borders Egypt's Sinai peninsula.
There are only two other border crossings from and into the Gaza Strip - Erez, a crossing into Israel in northern Gaza, which is for people, and Kerem Shalom, a solely commercial goods junction with Israel in southern Gaza. Both are shut.
Gunmen from the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which governs Gaza, attacked the Erez crossing on 7 October during an unprecedented assault on southern Israel which killed more than 1,300 people.
Days later, Israel declared Erez and Kerem Shalom closed until further notice, leaving the Rafah border as the only way into and out of the Strip for people.
Rafah is now also the only crossing point for humanitarian aid.
Hamas and Egypt exercise control over who can pass through, but operations have been disrupted since Israel began conducting waves of air strikes on Gaza in retaliation for Hamas's assault.
Egyptian media said the crossing was shut down following three Israeli strikes on 9 and 10 October, which it said left injuries on the Egyptian and Palestinian sides of the border.
On 12 October, the Egyptian government asked Israel to halt strikes near the Rafah border crossing so it could serve as a "support lifeline" for people in Gaza, and made it clear that it would not open the passage until there were guarantees for the safety of its staff.
Three weeks later, people are gathering at the border following reports that Qatar has mediated an agreement to allow some people out of Gaza.
Reuters news agency says the Gulf state has been holding talks between Egypt, Israel and Hamas, in coordination with the US.
It is this deal that is allowing some critically injured people and foreign passport holders out of the Gaza Strip.
Qatar is home to the political leadership of Hamas - which has had an office in the capital, Doha, since 2012.
Israel and Egypt have restricted the movement of goods and people in and out of Gaza since Hamas took control of the territory in 2007. The two countries say their blockade is needed for security reasons.
As part of its response to Hamas's deadly attack, Israel's defence minister ordered a "complete siege" of Gaza on 9 October, adding: "There will be no electricity, no food, no fuel, everything is closed."
Meanwhile Egypt fears a massive influx of Palestinian refugees fleeing the war.
Egypt's president warned on 12 October that an exodus from Gaza risked "liquidating" the Palestinian cause and called on Palestinians to "remain steadfast on their land".
It is also concerned about the possibility of Islamist militants coming into the country, having faced a jihadist insurgency in Sinai for almost a decade.
It is not easy for Palestinians to leave Gaza via Rafah. Palestinians wishing to use the crossing must register with the local Palestinian authorities two to four weeks in advance and may be rejected by either the Palestinian or Egyptian authorities with little warning or explanation.
According to the UN, in August 2023, the Egyptian authorities allowed 19,608 exits from Gaza and denied entry to 314 people. | The first civilians from the Gaza Strip have crossed the Rafah border into Egypt since the Israel-Gaza war started. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-67121372?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA |
Jess Phillips, Afzal Khan and Yasmin Qureshi were among shadow ministers who quit their roles toback the motion from the SNP.
Ten of the party's frontbenchers have left their jobs over the vote, including eight shadow minsters.
Sir Keir has instead backed pauses in the conflict to deliver aid.
Announcing she was quitting her role as shadow domestic violence minister, Ms Phillips said she was voting with "my constituents, my head, and my heart".
"I can see no route where the current military action does anything but put at risk the hope of peace and security for anyone in the region now and in the future," she added.
Ms Phillips, Mr Khan and Ms Qureshi, along with Paula Barker, announced they would be leaving shadow ministerial positions in the run-up to the vote.
Sir Keir had signalled before the vote that MPs holding such a role would be sacked if they backed the ceasefire call.
Other frontbenchers Sarah Owen, Rachel Hopkins, Naz Shah and Andy Slaughter have also left their roles after voting for the motion. Dan Carden and Mary Foy left posts as parliamentary aides.
In a statement after the vote, Sir Keir said he regretted the vote of some of his party.
"I regret that some colleagues felt unable to support the position tonight. But I wanted to be clear about where I stood, and where I will stand".
He said Israel had suffered "its worst terrorist attack in a single day" at the hands of Hamas on 7 October.
"No government would allow the capability and intent to repeat such an attack to go unchallenged," he added.
The vote was on an SNP amendment to a government motion on its plans for the year ahead, presented in the King's Speech last week.
It called for an end to the "collective punishment of the Palestinian people" and urged "all parties to agree to an immediate ceasefire".
It was defeated by 125 votes to 294, with the 56 Labour rebels joining other opposition parties to demand a ceasefire, against the Conservatives who opposed it.
There are 29 Labour MPs in the shadow cabinet, but around half of the party's 198 MPs hold some kind of frontbench position, including party whips.
Among the Labour MPs voting in favour of a ceasefire was Stella Creasy, who told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that, while she respected Sir Keir's position, she defied party instruction as a matter of principle.
"Nobody is under any illusions that a single vote in the UK parliament is going to change the situation on the ground," she said, but "advocating for a ceasefire is far better than the alternative of being silent."
SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn said it was "shameful that a majority of Tory and Labour MPs blocked calls for a ceasefire - and have condoned the continued bombardment of Gaza".
The voting took place amid demonstrations from pro-Palestinian supporters, who chanted "ceasefire now" outside Parliament.
The UK has seen a series of protest marches demanding a ceasefire in recent weeks, with an estimated 300,000 people taking part in arally over the weekend, the biggest in the UK since the war began.
In a bid to defuse the ongoing row over the party's position, the Labour leader had tabled his own amendment spelling out his position, which was defeated - but garnered 160 Labour votes.
It supported Israel's right to self-defence after Hamas's "horrific terrorist attack" on 7 October, in which 1,200 people were killed, and called for the release of more than 200 people taken hostage.
But it also said there had been "far too many deaths of innocent civilians and children" since Israel began striking Gaza in response.
The Hamas-run health ministry says more than 11,000 people have been killed in Gaza since then - of whom more than 4,500 were children.
The amendment also called for longer humanitarian pauses to allow aid, calling this a "necessary step to an enduring cessation of fighting as soon as possible".
Sir Keir has argued that a ceasefire would not be appropriate, because it would freeze the conflict and embolden Hamas.
Labour, like the Conservative government, the United States and the European Union, is calling for "humanitarian pauses" to help aid reach Gaza.
Compared with a formal ceasefire, these pauses tend to last for short periods of time, sometimes just a few hours.
They are implemented with the aim of providing humanitarian support only, as opposed to achieving long-term political solutions.
Last week, the US said Israel would begin to implementdaily four-hour military pausesin areas of northern Gaza.
There had been intense efforts to minimise frontbench resignations by strengthening criticism of Israel's conduct of the campaign in Labour's own motion.
There will be relief in Labour leader's office that no one who sits round the very top shadow cabinet table broke ranks to support the SNP's ceasefire motion- though they are now looking for eight more junior shadow ministers and two parliamentary aides.
While the rebellion stretched beyond Labour's left wing, the party leadership believe the scale of disunity won't be replicated in other policy areas.
The assessment is that the passion and pressures relating to the Middle East are unique.
Insiders say that Sir Keir's call for a pause not a ceasefire keeps him in lock-step with the EU and US.
But some of his closest allies frankly recognise that calls for a ceasefire from an opposition Labour leader will have no effect on Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, never mind Hamas in Gaza.
So in that sense, there's little logic to calling for it.
But it means politically, he will have to face down continued pressure domestically to change position. | Sir Keir Starmer has suffered a major rebellion over his stance on the Israel-Gaza war, with 56 of his MPs voting for an immediate ceasefire. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-67432393?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA |
On Monday Mr Trump's defence team will begin presenting their side, calling the former president's oldest son back to the stand as their first witness. But legal analysts told the BBC that after two damaging weeks of testimony from members of the Trump family, salvaging their case now will be a herculean task.
"It's been a disaster from a legal perspective," said Neama Rahmani, a former federal prosecutor and president of West Coast Trial Lawyers.
He believes that Mr Trump is "going to lose this case, and lose badly".
In a worst-case scenario for Mr Trump, Judge Arthur Engoron could bar him and his fellow defendants from doing business in New York, and issue fines of at least $250m (£204m) in penalties.
Perhaps the most harmful of all the testimony came from Mr Trump himself. When hetook the stand on Monday,he called New York Attorney General Letitia James a "political hack", declared the case "a disgrace" and personally attacked Judge Engoron.
At several points, Judge Engoron demanded Mr Trump's lawyers rein in his behaviour, and answer the questions posed to him. If they did not, the judge pledged to "draw every negative inference that I can".
"If Donald Trump was anybody other than a person with Secret Service protection, he would have been jailed for contempt of court," said Mitchell Epner, an attorney who handles commercial litigation.
When he did directly respond to prosecutors' questions, Mr Trump did perhaps even more damage to his cause.
At the heart of the attorney general's lawsuit are documents known as statements of financial condition, the balance sheets that the Trump Organization used to demonstrate the value of its properties and Mr Trump's net worth so they could obtain loans and insurance rates.
The attorney general's office alleges those documents were fraudulently inflated to obtain deals they could not have received based on their true financials.
The judge had already ruled those documents were false. He is now weighing whether there was an intent to defraud, whether the defendants did so for personal gain, and other charges. The judge will also determine whether to issue penalties and if so, how severe.
On the stand, Mr Trump boasted that his properties like Mar-a-Lago and 40 Wall Street were in fact worth more than their value on paper, but acknowledged he believed at least one of his properties may have been overvalued.
At another point, a prosecutor questioned him about the size of his Trump Tower penthouse, which the company had claimed was over 30,000sq ft but really took up just over 10,000. Mr Trump first acknowledged he had believed the claimed square footage was "high" - but then began to throw around larger estimates of its size.
Over the course of his testimony, Mr Trump admitted he had given his input, and that some of those values on paper were wrong.
But he insisted that even if he did offer this input, he did not direct his accountants or employees on what valuations to use.
Mr Trump denies any wrongdoing and has accused the New York attorney general of waging a campaign of political persecution against him.
Speaking to reporters after Mr Trump testified, his attorney Alina Habba said he had "built a great company, it's worth a ton more than that statement of financial condition."
She added that Ms James, the attorney general, "doesn't know how to get out of it because her politics won't allow her."
His children, Donald Trump Jr, Eric Trump and Ivanka Trump, were all more composed in their testimony and took a different approach to that of their father. But they did not necessarily help the family's case.
Each one, in their own way, attempted to deflect the responsibility for the false documents onto the company's accountants and lawyers.
Mr Trump Jr said he was unfamiliar with the standard accounting guidelines to which companies like his must adhere. Eric Trump testified he was not involved with the creation of the statements of financial condition. Both are executive vice-presidents at the Trump Organization.
They stuck to this defence even as they were presented with various emails they sent or were copied on, or documents they signed, that contained information based on the false financial statements.
Ms Trump, who was not a defendant, tried to give prosecutors as little to work with as possible, repeatedly saying she could not recall documents they presented to her.
When confronted with emails that showed her discussing the terms of a loan Deutsche Bank was about to grant her father for a real estate project, Ms Trump stated she could not recall the exchanges.
Her declarations were unlikely to help, Mr Rahmani said. Mr Trump Jr and Eric Trump were "still liable for some of the claims like financial fraud, even if they didn't have intent", he observed.
And, he added, the Trump Organization was liable for the actions of Donald Trump and his sons in the course of their employment.
Legal experts agreed Mr Trump's defence team, led by veteran attorney Chris Kise, will be starting on the back foot next week.
They could attempt to introduce reams of new evidence or continue to prod andgoad Judge Engoron to give them grounds for an appeal.
The lawyers spent the last few weeks attacking the judge over his alleged lack of impartiality. Other accusations of bias launched against Judge Engoron's clerk led to angry reprimands from the bench and a gag order on the attorneys themselves.
"I'm sure the judge will rule against me, because he always rules against me," Mr Trump said at one point on Monday.
Despite the aggressive attacks, experts told the BBC that Mr Trump's legal team had failed to undermine the state's case.
"The defence needs someone to get up there and justify these valuations," Mr Rahmani said. "Accountants, CPAs, real estate experts, appraisers. And they just haven't done that yet."
At this point, they face an uphill battle in salvaging their case, analysts told the BBC.
"The reason that they are in such a bad situation is that the judge has already found that the most important documents in this case were all false," Mr Epner said. "As of now, the judge has also been given an enormous amount of evidence to show that they were knowingly false, and provided with the intent to defraud."
"Since they don't have the ability to get into a Back to the Future DeLorean and turn back time," Mr Epner said of the defence team, "I can't imagine what they can do to turn around this case." | This week marked the end of the most dramatic phase of Donald Trump's New York business fraud trial, which saw high-profile members of his family make the journey to Lower Manhattan one by one to answer probing questions from prosecutors. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-67366022?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA |
About two million workers aged 23 and over benefit from the living wage, currently worth £10.42 an hour, and from April it will also apply to over-21s for the first time.
The minimum wage -known officially as the National Living Wage- varies according to the age of the employee, and is updated every April.
From 1 April 2024, the rates will rise to:
The apprentice rate applies to people aged under 19, or people over 19 in the first year of their apprenticeship.
The minimum wage is the same across all parts of the UK.
Speaking at the Tory party conference in Manchester in October, the chancellorconfirmed the minimum wage would rise to at least £11 an hourfrom April 2024.
But ahead of his Autumn Statement, Mr Hunt announced the increases for all age groups.
The retail, care and hospitality sectors account for a large number of minimum-wage jobs, although they are found in many other parts of the economy too.
Any employer not paying the minimum wage can be fined by the UK tax authority, HMRC.
If you think you should be getting the minimum wage and aren't, you cancomplain via the HMRC website.
You can also get advice from theAcas websiteor by calling its helpline on 0300 123 1100.
In June, the government confirmedmore than 200 firms had been fined nearly £7m and told to reimburse 63,000 workers for breaches dating back over a decade.
Companies involved include WH Smith, Marks & Spencer, Argos and Lloyds Pharmacy.
WH Smith was the worst offender, having failed to pay more than £1m to more than 17,600 workers.
The rates are decided each year by government, based on the advice of an independent advisory group,the Low Pay Commission.
Its recommendations reflect how many people are in work, what's happening to earnings and how much people are having to pay for essentials such as food and housing.
People who don't qualify include:
Those with disabilities or in long-term unemployment who take part in government work programmes are paid fixed amounts at different stages of the scheme, which are less than the minimum wage.
Work done by prisoners is paid at a minimum of £4 a week, while students on work placements of less than a year as a required part of their studies are not entitled to be paid anything.
The law to introduce the minimum wage was passed in 1998 by the Labour government and it came into force the following year.
It started at £3.60 for those 22 and older, and £3 for 18-21 year olds.
Before the minimum wage was introduced, the lowest-paid people consistently saw the slowest growth in their wages.
Before the minimum wage was introduced, there was concern that it would cost jobs, because it was thought employers would compensate for their higher wage bill by hiring fewer people.
But this didn't turn out to be the case.
There's no evidence of an overall loss of jobs linked to the minimum wage, and only weak evidence of negative impacts on some groups of workers.
More than 430,000 workers across the UK benefit from the voluntary "Real Living Wage", which is set by theLiving Wage Foundationcharity.
It's above the level of the legal minimum wage, reflecting what the charity thinks people need to earn to cover everyday needs.
It is currently £13.15 an hour in London, and£12 an hour elsewhere in the UK.
There are more than 13,000 Living Wage-accredited employers, including Google, Ikea, Aviva, Nationwide and Burberry. | The national living wage is to rise to £11.44 an hour in April 2024, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has confirmed. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-48445674?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA |
More than 3,000 volunteers completed yearly questionnaires and online cognitive tests to measure changes in memory, and other faculties, as the pandemic unfolded.
The results revealed a decline, irrespective of Covid infection.
Stress, loneliness and alcohol consumption may explain some of the findings, experts say.
Coping with Covid fears, worries and uncertainties and disruption to routines may have had a "real, lasting impact" on brain health, they say.
The rate of the drop in cognitive function was accelerated during the first year of the pandemic, when lockdowns occurred, the study found.
For memory issues, the decline continued into the second year.
People who already had some mild memory problems before the pandemic began had the worst overall decline.
The study, called PROTECT - published in The Lancet Healthy Longevity - was set up to help understand how healthy brains age and why some people develop dementia.
It uses brain-training games to check memory skills and reasoning, while the questionnaire looks for possible risk factors that could harm brain health.
The plan is to keep the study running in the future to see how participants fare, and what lessons can be learned to help others.
Based on the current findings, lead investigator Prof Anne Corbett, from the University of Exeter and previously King's College London, says pandemic conditions may have hastened brain decline.
"Our findings suggest that lockdowns and other restrictions we experienced during the pandemic have had a real, lasting impact on brain health in people aged 50 or over, even after the lockdowns ended.
"This raises the important question of whether people are at a potentially higher risk of cognitive decline which can lead to dementia.
"It is now more important than ever to make sure we are supporting people with early cognitive decline, especially because there are things they can do to reduce their risk of dementia later on.
"So if you are concerned about your memory, the best thing to do is to make an appointment with your GP and get an assessment."
Dr Dorina Cadar, a dementia expert from Brighton and Sussex Medical School, said the effect of the pandemic on the general population had been "catastrophic".
"Many of the long-term consequences of Covid-19, or the restriction measures implemented around the world, remain unknown,"
She recommended more research, and said although the findings could not prove cause and effect, there is mounting evidence that some of the factors described, such as social isolation, can negatively impact brain health.
Dr Susan Mitchell from Alzheimer's Research UK said: "While our genetics play an important role in the health of our brains as we age, we know that a range of health and lifestyle factors can impact our brain health.
"Sadly, there's no sure-fire way to prevent dementia yet, but meanwhile, taking care of our brains can at least help stack the odds in our favour. It's never too early or too late to think about adopting healthy habits, which includes looking after your heart health, keeping connected and staying sharp." | The Covid pandemic may have impacted brain health in people in the UK aged 50 and over, according to a new study. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-67272152?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA |
Since receiving her diagnosis, mother-of-two Wendy Clarke has been working to raise awareness of cervical cancer.
Kylie, who has had cancer herself, said she was "so proud" of Wendy for everything she was doing.
Wendy, from Fairfield, Stockton, spoke with the singer for a BBC local radio Christmas special.
"She's such a lovely lady," Wendy said.
"She's not just beautiful to look at, she's a beautiful lady in every sense of the word.
"For her to spare her time for me, it's amazing."
Kylie, 55, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2005 andgiven the all-clear the following year.
She told Wendy: "You're achieving amazing things. I'm so proud of you.
"To be handling the information and the diagnosis and just getting through day by day - I can appreciate that, I share some of your story.
"But to be translating that into empowering other people and doing such amazing things, I could only just say thank you for these acts of bravery and selflessness and really finding the spirit within yourself and allowing others around you to reaffirm life in this moment, it's just incredible."
Back in January,Wendy received the news that her cancer was terminaland was given a year to live if she had treatment.
She is using that time to encourage other women to get a smear test and raise money for charity.
"I'm aware there's one or two people out there who have gone and got their test based on me nagging them," the 46-year-old said.
She also received a Bravery Awardat the BBC Radio Tees Make A Difference Awards in September and was chosen to take part in the BBC local radio Christmas special featuring Kylie.
During their conversation, Wendy asked the singer if she would consider making a return to Doctor Who, where Kylie appeared as Astrid Peth in a one-off performance.
Kylie replied: "It was such an amazing experience.
"I would be totally up for that."
There are about 3,200 new cervical cancer cases in the UK every year, according to Cancer Research UK.
The majority of cases are preventable and thegovernment has pledged to eliminate the disease by 2040.
Wendy has told the BBC she did not get tested "out of fear", and has urged other women to go for their smear test.
"The fear of the smear test is nothing compared to the fear of cancer, of what I'm going through now," she said.
"I absolutely regret not going for my smear test."
"Do it, because it's worth it. You can't put a price on your life."
Follow BBC Tees onFacebook,X (formerly Twitter),andInstagram. Send your story ideas [email protected]. | Pop star Kylie Minogue has thanked a terminally-ill woman for her "acts of bravery and selflessness". | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tees-67415667?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA |
The younger Mr Trump made the case for the Trump Organization that the ex-president was a "genius".
He was the first defence witness in the trial, in which he is a co-defendant along with his father and brother Eric.
A loss in court threatens the Trump real estate empire, which could be banned from doing business in New York.
A judge has already ruled Trump significantly inflated the value of his properties by more than $2bn (£1.65bn) in order to secure favourable loans, and the trial focuses on charges of falsification of business records, insurance fraud and conspiracy.
In the courtroom on Monday, Mr Trump Jr continued the charm offensive seen in his first appearance two weeks ago for the prosecution, appearing relaxed, cheerful and confident.
Much of the testimony was largely unrelated to the claims at the heart of the case.
Soon after being sworn in, he drew laughs by saying New York Attorney General Letitia James - the prosecutor bringing the case - might sue him for perjury if he said "it's good to be here".
And, nodding to his past complaints about the courtroom sketch art, he said he "already had a talk" with the artist depicting the day's proceedings and joked that he wanted a version of himself with a strong jawline and broad shoulders to be drawn.
He even made Judge Arthur Engoron laugh when he said: "I'm, like, the nongolfer of the family, which has relegated me to the children's table in perpetuity."
He spoke of going from bartending in Colorado to starting as a project manager at the Trump Organization, and then ultimately becoming an executive.
The company dealt with "world class assets" but was like a "mom and pop" business, he said, adding that it operated as a "meritocracy".
Defence lawyers put on a lengthy presentation to introduce evidence of "the Trump story" and recount the company's history.
Mr Trump Jr expounded on various Trump properties, from 40 Wall Street to Seven Springs, to Trump Tower which was the breakthrough project that launched his father's career and "the first time he changed the skyline".
"It would be one of the first great examples of ultra-luxury real estate emerging in Manhattan - the project by which all future high-end residential condominiums would have been judged," he said.
The Mar-a-Lago resort in West Palm Beach, Florida, was "one of the few sort of American castles", with a "virtually unheard of" location that placed it by the lake and also by the ocean.
"You couldn't build that atrium for $18m today," he said, challenging appraisers' assessments of the property's worth. "You need to understand it and see it to actually fully grasp the spectacular nature of this property."
He described his father, who was not present in court, as someone who was on the leading edge of creating value in properties and could turn "eyesores" into "jewels".
"He see the things that other people don't see," Mr Trump Jr said. "He sees the thing that other people would never envision. He plays the long game."
At the heart of the lawsuit are documents known as statements of financial condition, the balance sheets that the Trump Organization used to demonstrate the value of its properties and Mr Trump's net worth so they could obtain loans and insurance rates.
When Mr Trump Jr was on the stand last week, he said he did not work on the financial statements at the centre of the case.
The trial could see Mr Trump barred, along with his fellow defendants, from doing business in New York, and fined at least $250m (£204m) in penalties.
After two damaging weeks of testimony already from the Trump family,legal experts told the BBC the case may be beyond salvaging at this point.
The Trump lawyers have alreadyfloated filing for a mistrial, accusing the judge and his clerk of bias.
On Monday, the judge indicated he was willing to listen to how the defence's case plays out.
As prosecutors tried to object at various points that the presentation was irrelevant, he said: "There's no jury - I don't see any prejudice to this."
Later, after an objection to a document offered by defence lawyers, he asked prosecutors: "Do you want to risk a reversal over this one stupid document?"
The state had focused heavily on financial statements and spreadsheets, but Mr Trump Jr's encore set the tone for a defence case that may last into mid-December. | Returning to the stand in his family's civil fraud trial in New York, Donald Trump Jr described his father as "an artist with real estate". | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-67408894?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA |
How is it, foreign ministers said to me, that the West slams Russia for killing civilians in Ukraine, yet, in their words, it "gives a green light to Israel to do the same in Gaza"?
In the luxurious surroundings of Riyadh's Ritz-Carlton hotel, amid giant floral bouquets and glittering chandeliers, and a world away from the shattered landscape of Gaza, princes, presidents and prime ministers met for the Joint Arab Islamic Extraordinary Summit.
Blame for the war and the destruction of lives and property was heaped unilaterally on Israel and its supporters. No-one criticised Hamas for its 7 October raid into southern Israel that killed 1,200 people and saw some 240 taken hostage, triggering the massive military retaliation. Israel, said the secretary general of the Arab League, had committed criminal acts.
"We warn of the disastrous repercussions of the retaliatory aggression by Israel against the Gaza Strip, which amounts to a war crime," said the final communique. "We warn of the real danger of the expansion of the war as a result of Israel's refusal to stop its aggression and of the inability of the [UN] Security Council to enforce international law to end this aggression."
Few people I spoke to at the summit expected Israel to take much notice. Instead, it was clear that this summit and its intended message of unity was aimed at Israel's biggest backer - the United States. Leaders want the Biden administration and the West in general to exert sufficient pressure on Israel to stop the war altogether.
But what they could not agree on was how to achieve that. The summit pulled together some strange bedfellows - an indication of just how worried the region is at events in Gaza spiralling beyond their control.
Iran - Israel's main adversary - attended, with President Ebrahim Raisi striding across the carpeted halls in his black, cleric's robes, flanked by his scowling security men in dark suits and collarless shirts. This in itself was a surprising sight.
Until they patched over their differences in March this year, Saudi Arabia and Iran were arch rivals exchanging venomous mutual accusations. They still have competing agendas, with Iran backing what many call its "proxy militias" - Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen.
The Saudis, together with their conservative Arab allies like Egypt and Jordan, see these movements as dangerous destabilisers.
As he departed Tehran airport for Riyadh, President Raisi said that now was the time for action over Gaza, not words.
But anyone expecting concrete, punitive actions against the US or the UK was left disappointed. The United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, which only recently opened full diplomatic, trade and security ties with Israel under the Abraham Accords, resisted calls to break them off.
Syria's President Bashar al-Assad was also at the summit. Until very recently he was a pariah in the Arab world for the repressive actions of his regime in Syria's civil war. He told the summit it would achieve little without concrete measures, but suggestions of an oil embargo or the expulsion of US bases from Arab countries were quietly batted away.
Yet there is no denying that the 7 October Hamas raid and the ensuing war has changed the whole paradigm in the Middle East.
Up until that murderous morning in southern Israel the tectonic plates of regional politics were shifting away from the interests of Iran and its militant allies. Six Arab nations had already established full ties with Israel; Saudi Arabia was well on the way to being next. The Israeli tourism minister visited Riyadh just days before the Hamas raid. Dubai has been luring Israeli tourists in large numbers and there has been a huge Arab appetite for Israel's expertise in technology, surveillance, bio-tech and other sectors.
With the exception of Qatar, which hosts the exiled political leaders of Hamas, Gulf Arab rulers had grown tired of what they saw as the corruption, inefficiency and infighting of Palestinian leadership. While sympathetic to the plight of ordinary Palestinians, still without a state after 75 years, they largely took the view that Israel was too important a nation to ignore, and that it was time to move on and normalise ties with it. The question of a future Palestinian state, while still featuring in speeches, was getting little practical attention.
Today, those Arab-Israeli ties, while not yet broken, are certainly fraying at the edges.
"We are really worried about the radicalisation of our youth," one Arab foreign minister told me on background. "They watch what is happening in Gaza on TV and they are increasingly angry."
Time and again I heard delegates complain that the actions of the Netanyahu government have gone far beyond self-defence and are now dragging the region down a dangerous path. There are concerns that extremist narratives are gaining popularity online.
Arab and Muslim leaders are frustrated that the UN Security Council has failed in their eyes to exercise any restraint on Israel's military in Gaza. America's opposition to a ceasefire has deeply embarrassed those countries it calls allies in the region.
Washington's strategic alliance with the oil-rich Gulf Arab states dates back to 1945 and a wartime meeting on a US warship in the Red Sea between President Roosevelt and the founder of modern Saudi Arabia, King Abdulaziz. Today, the US still provides the bulk of Saudi and Gulf Arab defence and security needs.
But below the surface things are changing. Ever since the Obama administration's "pivot to Asia" there has been a fear here in the Gulf that the US is losing interest in the region, that it cannot be relied upon as a loyal partner. At the same time, the influences of Moscow and Beijing are in the ascendant. China recently brokered the rapprochement between Iran and Saudi Arabia. President Putin has impressed Arab leaders with his unstinting support for Syria's President Assad. They compare this with how quickly Washington abandoned Egypt's President Mubarak in 2011 when the crowds came out on Cairo's Tahrir Square.
None of this means the West has lost the friends it had in the Middle East. Those Arab allies are clearly reluctant to go beyond angry words with Washington. But they do want to be heard and for the violence in Gaza to stop now, before events in the region and in their own countries risk deteriorating far beyond their control. | Hypocrisy, double standards and a failure to understand the region. These are the charges being levelled at the West, primarily the US, by leaders of 57 Arab and Muslim countries who convened at the weekend in the Saudi capital Riyadh. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-67417570?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA |
Covid will, for some, feel like a distant memory. For others, it will bring back painful recollections of isolation and lost loved ones.
Part of the Covid Inquiry's job is to find out how key decisions were made.
The evidence we have seen at the hearings this week has been remarkable.
Sitting in the press room at the inquiry in London - there was at times an overwhelming list of claims about what was going on at the heart of government, as we all grappled with the virus.
To recap a few: "Downing Street was in chaos"; "There was no plan for a Coronavirus response", and "It took too long for the first lockdown to be introduced".
Others include: Mr Johnson was "weak and indecisive" and "often changed his mind"; the prime minister apparently questioned shutting down the economy to save people who were going to "die anyway"; and "Health Secretary Matt Hancock said things which turned out to be untrue".
The list goes on.
It was claimed the atmosphere in No 10 was 'toxic and sexist'. Dominic Cummings, the PM's most powerful adviser, used the most vulgar language to refer to his colleagues and government ministers.
These are claims from key individuals. Some - like Mr Cummings - have made it clear how much they despise Mr Johnson. Others will give evidence before the end of the year and they may well have different recollections.
But we are learning a lot about what Downing Street was like at the time in the eyes of people working there. And the picture isn't pretty.
WhatsApp messages make it clear that the key players were bitterly divided and arguing with itself. Mr Cummings was scathing about some of the people who worked in Whitehall and furious about what was going on behind the scenes. Partly in response, senior civil servants were concerned that the environment was "macho" and "sexist". They were raising fears about a misogynist culture, and concerns that women were being ignored.
That tells us about the culture in the most powerful building in the country. But it also paints a picture of senior advisers who didn't trust each other, didn't agree and sometimes didn't even talk - just as the biggest crisis in decades was unfolding. When the machinery of government needed to be pulling together to respond to Covid - it was perhaps as divided as it has ever been.
What impact did that have?
It's suggested that themacho culture led to overconfidence in the early stages of the pandemic- which senior civil servant Helen MacNamara describes as a "de facto" assumption that "we were going to be great".
She also argued forcefully that the interests of key groups like women, ethnic minorities and disadvantaged people were being ignored because they weren't represented in high-level discussions.
None of this gives the impression of a government working effectively. But the problems appear to go deeper.
Did the government have a proper plan for responding to the pandemic? We've known for a while that the UK's planning had been based on a flu-like viral outbreak, rather than other illnesses such as Covid.
Different aides have said Mr Hancock insisted there was a plan. But many have also concluded that there wasn't. Ms MacNamara delivered a damning conclusion when she agreed that the former health secretary would often say things which turned out to be untrue. Mr Hancock will have his chance to defend himself against those claims in a few weeks.
The actions of the prime minister were of course crucial too. We've heard multiple key aides claim Mr Johnson was indecisive, took too long to make decisions and often veered between very different positions.
We've seen notes saying the chief scientific adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance, believed Mr Johnson agreed with MPs who thought Covid was nature's way of dealing with older people.
Sir Patrick, whose job it was to advise Johnson on matters of life and death, found him to be "weak and indecisive".
Incredibly, Mr Cummings told the inquiry he didn't think it was worth including the prime minister in discussions about Covid in February 2020 - because he would just get in the way.
For Mr Johnson's critics - this will confirm some of their worst fears; that he was the wrong man for the job. At the very least, it tells us that senior people around him had serious concerns.
Mr Johnson will deliver his defence before Christmas. But we've seen snippets of his witness statement,in which he argues any responsible leader would debate the pros and cons of lockdown. "We simply had no good choices, and it was necessary at all times to weigh up the harms that any choice would cause", he argues.
Stand back from it all a bit.
We've heard some of these stories before. It's not a surprise that Mr Cummings didn't rate senior ministers and civil servants - he isn't shy about saying so. The divisions and tensions in No 10 were widely reported at the time. Many have consistently argued that Mr Johnson was the wrong man at the wrong time.
But the stark picture painted at this week's hearings - of a dysfunctional, divided and chaotic No 10 - is a timely reminder of the events of 2020.
The detailed and contemporaneous communications, foul-mouthed WhatsApp messages, diaries of concerned scientists and scribbled recordings of meetings involving cabinet ministers will bring back memories of those surreal, grim days of crisis - and help us discover a little more about what was going on in Downing Street.
It may be the only time we see such unfiltered communications revealed in full - many in Westminster have turned on the "disappearing messages" function on WhatsApp in recent months.
That doesn't mean there won't be a lot more to come before next year, however, with senior ministers getting set to give their version of events in the coming weeks. | Three years ago on Sunday, the government brought in a second lockdown in England. People were told again to stay at home to protect the health service and save lives. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-67316473?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA |
For the first time ever, a major demonstration being attended by representatives of the major political parties includes the far right - but not the far left.
On Sunday afternoon thousands of people heeded a call from the Speakers of the two houses of parliament to show their support for French "Republican" values and their rejection of antisemitism - this in the face of a steep rise in antisemitic actions since 7 October.
Among the first to announce their presence were Marine Le Pen, three-time presidential candidate for the National Rally (formerly the National Front), and the party's young president, Jordan Bardella.
Almost simultaneously came a rejoinder from their counterpart on the far left, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, irascible leader of France Unbowed (LFI). His party would not be attending, he tweeted, because the march was a "rendezvous for unconditional supporters of the massacre [of Gazans]".
It is hard to overestimate the symbolic significance of this switch-over.
For decades French politics erected a bulwark against the far right, whose views - not least on Jews - were deemed "anti-Republican". The old National Front under Marine's father Jean-Marie Le Pen was seen as beyond the pale, and it was shunned.
The far left meanwhile - the Communists, the Trotskyists and the new formations like Mr Mélenchon's LFI - were certainly attacked for their views, but they were never excluded. They were part of the broad political family, in a way that the Le Pen franchise clearly wasn't.
A few years ago, for a far-left party not to have been part of a march against antisemitism would have been unthinkable. For a far-right party to have been there instead would have been unconscionable.
Such is the shake-up in the political order, which of course long predates the Gaza war and is mirrored in varying ways across other European countries.
Today's far right, rebranded "hard right" or "national right" has - in France at least - forgotten its obsession with Jews and its claims of a "Jewish lobby". Its primary focus now is the three I's - immigration, insecurity and Islamism - issues on which it finds common cause with many Jews.
Meanwhile the far left in France, analysing Gaza through the anti-colonial lens, sees an oppressed people hammered by a superpower proxy and shouts "Solidarity!" Having lost the support of the old working class, many of whom vote National Rally, it has a new natural base among politicised immigrants.
Thus we arrive at the novel situation where a party whose founder once called the Holocaust a "detail of history" openly embraces the cause of French Jews; and at the other end of the spectrum, a party built on ideas of human rights and equality stands accused of antisemitism for failing to call Hamas "terrorist".
Maybe this should all be nuanced. After all, many people still think that at heart the far right, by virtue of its French-first ethos, cannot help but be anti-Jewish. They note that Jordan Bardella this week refused to explicitly call Jean-Marie Le Pen antisemitic - a faux-pas to which enemies of the National Rally (RN) have reacted with glee.
And on the far left there are signs of division around Jean-Luc Mélenchon, whose prickly personality and autocratic methods are driving some colleagues to exasperation. This week one senior lieutenant, Raquel Garrido, was given a four-month suspension as party spokeswoman for challenging the leader's line - not least on Hamas.
But the fundamental point remains: the RN under Marine Le Pen is manoeuvring itself very successfully into the mainstream, while Mr Mélenchon's LFI is manoeuvring itself out.
Opinion polls bear it out: according to IFOP last week, Marine Le Pen would trounce the opposition in the first round of a presidential election today, with up to 33% of the vote. Mr Mélenchon, at 22% in the 2022 election, is down to 14%.
This week one of the historic figures in the fight against antisemitism in France gave his views on these ironies of history and politics.
Serge Klarsfeld and his wife Beate helped bring Nazi war criminals to justice, and documented the deportations and deaths of 80,000 Jews from France exterminated in the Holocaust.
Speaking to Le Figaro newspaper, Mr Klarsfeld, now 88, said: "For me the DNA of the far right is antisemitism. So when I see a big party of the far right abandon antisemitism and negationism and move towards our Republican values, naturally I rejoice."
"The far left for its part has always had its own antisemitic tradition. So just as I am relieved to see the RN⦠take a stand for Jews, so I am sad to see the far left abandon its actions to combat antisemitism." | Something unprecedented is happening this weekend in Paris, brought about by the war between Israel and Hamas and its spill-over in Europe. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-67378893?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA |
The plane was headed to Belgium from New York but did a U-turn roughly 90 minutes after its departure when the animal got loose.
Air traffic control audio recorded the pilot saying: "We have a live animal, a horse, on board the airplane. The horse managed to escape."
"We cannot get the horse back secured."
The pilot flying Air Atlanta Icelandic flight 4592 told air traffic control the plane was fine but that the horse on the loose was the concern.
He then requested a veterinarian meet the aircraft once it landed back at John F Kennedy International Airport.
As the plane made its way back during the incident last Thursday, the pilot said he needed to dump 20 tonnes of fuel, "east of Nantucket", a popular enclave for the rich near Massachusetts.
The plane had to dump the fuel due to the plane's weight.
It remains unclear how the horse Houdini-ed its way out, but it was unrestrained when the plane landed at the airport.
"Do you require assistance?" air traffic control asked the pilot after the plane arrived.
"On the ground, negative" the pilot replied. "On the ramp, yes. We have a horse in problem, in difficulty."
The flight took off later in the same day and successfully arrived at Liege Airport on Friday morning, according to FlightRadar24.
Air Atlanta Icelandic did not immediately respond to the BBC's request for comment.
Why the horse was being transported also remains unknown.
One of the more common reasons is the transportation of race horses, according to experts.
"You have a first class, a business class, and the economy," one source told CNN, referring to the different size container options available for the animals.
This latest incident was not the first time an animal escaped its cargo stall while onboard an airplane.
In August, a bear freed itself from its crate on an Iraqi Airways flight headed from Dubai to Baghdad, the Associated Press reported. | A Boeing 747 cargo jet has been forced to turn around, after a horse escaped from its stall and caused chaos as the plane cruised at 30,000ft (9,144m). | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-67406779?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA |
Pupils were among hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters at events around the UK on Friday, amid a row over whether they should miss class.
The number of youngsters on strike is unclear but turnout appears fairly low.
Demonstrations took place in various cities, with some signs reading "stop killing children".
Education Secretary Gillian Keegan posted on X, previously Twitter, on Friday afternoon: "I'm deeply concerned that some children are attending political protests during the school day."
She added that "missing school for activism is unacceptable."
Protests listed by the Stop the War coalition included events on Friday in Harrow and Redbridge in London, Manchester, Glasgow, Bristol and Burton, Staffordshire.
Many children, ranging in ages from the very young through to sixth formers, attended with their parents.
Bristolian school pupils handed in a petition calling for a ceasefire to representatives at the city council on Friday morning.
The Green Party's co-leader, Carla Denyer, who is also a local councillor, collected the petition during the event and told the crowd: "[Hamas'] atrocities do not in any way justify the level of bombardment of civilians, including many Gazan children, that has shocked the world."
Hamas gunmen launched an unprecedented assault on Israel from the Gaza Strip on 7 October, killing about 1,200 people and taking more than 200 hostages.
Israel responded with air strikes on Gaza and has launched a ground offensive. More than 12,000 people have been killed, including more than 4,500 children, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
A pro-Israel demonstration last month in central London called for the safe return of hostages from Gaza, with protesters in Trafalgar Square holding up photographs of those missing.
Among the pro-Palestinian demonstrators in Burton Upon Trent on Friday were Zubia and her son Yahya.
The 10-year-old said: "I'm here because innocent people are dying. Most of them are children and we need to support them to raise awareness."
Stop the War said it was "providing support" to school students and parents, who it said were "self-organising" the strikes with help from the School Strike For Palestine organisation.
Videos have shown demonstrators in Luton, while students gathered in Tower Hamlets, London, on Thursday in an event Stop the War claims attracted around 400 school children and another 100 adults.
A Department for Education spokesperson told the BBC: "Children should be in school.
"While we recognise these young people should be able to peacefully express their views, we do not condone them missing out on their education."
The Metropolitan Police was unable to say how many people attended demonstrations in London on Friday.
But a spokeswoman told the BBC: "Strikes and protests by pupils are primarily a matter for school staff, but where they take place it is likely that local officers will be sent to ensure the safety and security of those involved.
"Their priority in these situations is safety but in the event that any offences occur they will respond appropriately."
School strikes are rare - but four years ago, they regularly took place around the UK and the globe to highlight concerns about global warming. Those protests, partly inspired by Greta Thunberg, have continued but often in lower numbers, aftermillions of children took part in one event in September 2019.
Additional reporting by David Lumb and Aileen Clarke | The education secretary has said she is "deeply concerned" about children skipping lessons to attend protests calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-67454274?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA |
A platform is being prepared to place the drilling machine at the site in the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand.
Another bid to reach the workers will also be made from the mouth of the tunnel. Three attempts to drill through the debris there have failed so far.
Part of the tunnel under construction caved in after a landslide last Sunday.
Contact with the men has been established and they are being provided oxygen and food.
Explaining the latest rescue attempt on Saturday, Uttarkashi's District Forest Officer DP Baluni said: "A spot right above the tunnel has been identified and marked. A hole will be drilled from there."
A digger has been brought to build a flat surface for the drilling machinery.
The commander leading federal rescue teams, Maj Naman Narula, said he hoped to have the platform built by Sunday. The depth of the hole is expected to be between 300 and 350 feet (90-105m), he added.
Officials say that if everything goes to plan, the rescue could another take four or five days.
Also on Saturday. there was an angry confrontation between rescue officials and colleagues and friends of the trapped workers.
Tensions ran high as officials were challenged about the lack of progress. One man cried out: "It's been seven days and my brother is trapped in there."
Rescuers responded by saying they were spending sleepless nights to reach the workers. One official said the boys in the tunnel were like his own children: "I go to my bunk at night and cry as well. I can't cry in front of you otherwise you will lose hope."
The Silkyara tunnel in Uttarkashi district is part of the federal government's ambitious highway project to improve links with famous pilgrimage spots in Uttarakhand.
The mountainous state, where several Himalayan peaks and glaciers are located, is home to some of the holiest sites for Hindus.
A nearby landslide caused heavy debris to fall on the tunnel, leading to the collapse of a section about 200m from the entrance.
A water pipeline set up for construction work is now being used to supply oxygen, food and water to those still inside. | Efforts to rescue 40 workers trapped inside a collapsed tunnel in northern India have been expanded to include drilling down from the mountain top. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-67461090?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA |
He said he ran up the charges during a trip to Morocco while completing constituency work.
The charges were said to be due to an outdated sim card.
Mr Matheson said the decision to pay back the money was "the right one in all circumstances".
In a statement released on Friday, he said: "I have contacted the Scottish Parliament authorities this afternoon to make arrangements to reimburse the full cost of the £10,935.74 incurred in roaming charges on my parliament iPad.
"While the parliament agreed to pay the bulk of this sum as a legitimate expense, with the rest being met from my office allowance, I have reflected long and hard and accept that the sim card on this device should have been replaced at an earlier stage."
Mr Matheson, who as the cabinet secretary for health and social care receives receives a yearlysalary of £118,511, had already paid £3,000 towards the bill from his expenses budget.
Opposition MSPs had called on the minister to cover the costs himself.
First Minister Humza Yousaf had said Mr Matheson did not need to pay back the sum as it was a "legitimate expense".
This was really the only way this was ever going to end.
After it emerged Mr Matheson had been warned by IT officials about the need to change his sim card almost a year in advance, questions were mounting.
He may have concluded that it is considerably cheaper for him to pay out £11,000 now, rather than risk losing his ministerial salary in a deepening expenses row.
The MSP will also have been acutely aware that as the health secretary, heading into a typically challenging winter period, the last thing he needed was being dogged by reporters about something else.
And there is the question of personal integrity. Mr Matheson has been at Holyrood since 1999, and is widely regarded as a fairly straight shooter.
He has concluded that this is the right thing to do. That may well be the case not just personally, but politically too.
The bill grew to £11,000 due to an outdated sim card still being used in the device. Mr Matheson had said he was not aware that it needed updated.
The parliament's previous mobile contract with EE came to an end in December 2021, and members were told to switch their devices across to the new contract with Vodafone.
Mr Matheson was emailed by officials in February 2022, and it is thought highly likely that he would have also been spoken to by IT staff when he had the sim card in his mobile phone changed later that year.
Roaming charges are incurred when a mobile device connects to a local network outside of the UK rather than to wifi.
Scottish Conservative chairman Craig Hoy said there were still unanswered questions surrounding the "scandal".
He said: "We still need to hear a personal statement from the health secretary in parliament and I call on him to publish the original roaming charges statement from the network provider.
"This also calls into question the judgment of Humza Yousaf who, just 24 hours ago, claimed that this was a legitimate expenses claim and that his health secretary shouldn't repay a penny."
A Scottish Parliament spokesman previously said that, following an investigation, senior officials had accepted assurances that all costs incurred were for parliamentary purposes.
The spokesperson said the incident had led to a review mobile data usage and a new mobile phone contract is set to be awarded to "ensure there is no repeat of these substantial data charges".
The £11,000 bill is more than the total of all MSPs' mobile phone, business line, tablet and staff phone bill expenses claimed in 2022/23 combined. The total for all phone-related expenseslast year was £9,507. | Scotland's Health Secretary Michael Matheson has said he will pay back the full cost of an £11,000 data roaming bill he incurred while using a parliamentary iPad on holiday. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-67382388?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA |
Since 2007, Gaza has been under the control of Hamas, an Islamist group committed to the destruction of Israel.
In response to Hamas's attacks on Israel on 7 October, Israel launched airstrikes on Gazan cities and towns and sent tanks and troops into Gaza. The UN says more than a million people have been forced to leave their homes and hundreds of thousands are struggling to find enough food and water to survive.
More than 1,200 Israelis and foreign nationals were killed during the Hamas attacks on 7 October. More than 14,800 Palestinians - including about 6,000 children - have been killed in Israeli airstrikes and operations since then, according to Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry. It isdifficult for the BBC to verifyexact numbers, but the UN's World Health Organization (WHO) have said they have no reason to believe the figures are inaccurate.
A pause in the fighting to allow the release of some Hamas-held hostages and Palestinian prisoners has also enabled aid convoys to enter Gaza.
The military action on the ground followed three weeks of airstrikes accompanied by a "complete siege" of Gaza by Israel, with electricity, food and fuel supplies cut.
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) moved into Gaza from the north west along the coast, the north east near Beit Hanoun and across the middle, south of Gaza City. Armoured bulldozers created routes for tanks and troops, as the Israeli forces tried to clear the area of Hamas fighters based in northern Gaza.
Having cut Gaza in two, the Israelis pushed further into Gaza City, where they faced some resistance from Hamas.
An image released by the IDF shows tanks and armoured bulldozers on the beach near Gaza City. Where there are now armoured vehicles, banks of sand and piles of debris were once food stands, parasols and children splashing in the sea. A photo from last summer shows people making the most of the beach during a hot day in Gaza.
Short pauses in the fighting, for four or five hours each day, allowed civilians to evacuate northern Gaza along the main road to the south.
Before the truce, there were hundreds of Israeli airstrikes each day across Gaza, with Israel claiming to have used more than 10,000 bombs and missiles, causing extensive damage to buildings and infrastructure.
Gazan officials say more than 50% of housing units in Gaza have been destroyed, left uninhabitable or damaged since the start of the conflict.
The map below - using analysis of satellite data by Corey Scher of CUNY Graduate Center and Jamon Van Den Hoek of Oregon State University - shows which urban areas have sustained concentrated damage since the start of the conflict.
They say up to 90,000 buildings across the whole Gaza Strip have suffered damage. But North Gaza and Gaza City have borne the brunt of it - both before Israeli tanks and bulldozers moved in, and since their push into Gaza City. Around half the buildings in the two northern regions are believed to have been damaged.
Despite warning Palestinians to head south of the Wadi Gaza for their own safety, Israel has continued strikes against what it says are Hamas targets in southern Gaza.
Analysis of the damage data from 18-22 November also shows an increase in damage in Deir el Balah and Khan Younis - which residents have been told to evacuate.
Analysis of damage outside urban areas, suggests dozens of agricultural greenhouses have been damaged or destroyed and fields peppered with visible impact craters, affecting Gaza's ability to grow its own food.
Before the truce, Israel had allowed some humanitarian aid into Gaza, although aid agencies said it was nowhere near enough.
The UN estimates about 100 lorries carrying aid are required each day just to supply the essential needs of those in Gaza but less than half of that has been allowed in. Even before the current conflict, about 80% of the population was already in need of humanitarian aid.
Despite the increase in food aid being brought in through the Rafah crossing, many people still lack food and fuel to cook.
Israel says it will now allow 70,000 litres of fuel a day to be brought in from Egypt. The fuel will be used for food distribution, generators at hospitals, water and sanitation facilities, shelters, and other critical services. But the UN says it is well below the minimum needed for essential humanitarian operations.
Staple foods such as flour, eggs, dairy products and bottled water are now unavailable in most shops and markets and cooking basic food is difficult because of the lack of fuel. The UN said people are said to be resorting to eating unconventional combinations such as raw onion and uncooked aubergine.
The UN reports no bakeries are open in the north of Gaza because they have either been damaged or lack fuel, flour and clean water.
Israel cut off much of its supply of clean water to Gaza after the Hamas attacks on 7 October, and there are increasing concerns over dehydration and waterborne disease from polluted sources and lack of sanitation services.
Supplies of drinking water via two pipelines from Israel have been restored and fuel deliveries mean some desalination plants to provide fresh water and sewage pumping stations have started operating again.
The WHO sets the minimum requirement for daily water needs at 100 litres per person - to cover drinking, washing, cooking and bathing. Before the conflict, the average consumption in Gaza was about 84 litres, with only 27 litres of that considered suitable for human use.
Currently, the WHO estimates the average water consumption in Gaza is just three litres per person.
Healthcare facilities have been damaged across Gaza and left unable to function as a result of bomb damage or lack of fuel. Major institutions, like hospitals, have back-up generators, but the blockade means no fuel to run them once existing supplies run out.
The BBC's Rushdi Abualouf says patients died at Gaza City's largest hospital, al-Shifa, because there was no electricity, no water and not enough medicine. He said there was no fuel for generators to power vital equipment, including incubators.
The UN's OCHA agency says the small hospitals that are still operational in northern Gaza are under immense pressure and urgently need supplies and staff.
Israeli authorities have called for the evacuation of all hospitals in northern Gaza but the WHO says this would be a "death sentence" to patients, given that the entire medical system is collapsing and hospitals in southern Gaza cannot admit more patients.
Gaza's power grid was left without electricity after its sole power plant closed and supplies from Israel were suspended.
As of 21 October, about 80% of buildings, schools and health facilities in Gaza were likely to have been without power. The only buildings with electricity were those with generators, such as hospitals and UN shelters, and fuel for many of those has run out.
These satellite images show the difference - with about 90% night-time loss of light in some areas. Most of the bright spots still visible on 21 October were hospitals.
The Gaza power plant, in Deir al-Balah just south of the evacuation area, shut down on 11 October after running out of fuel.
According to the UN, just over 75% of Gaza's population - some 1.7 million people - were already registered refugees before Israel warned Palestinians to leave northern Gaza.
Palestinian refugees are defined by the UN as people whose "place of residence was Palestine during the period 1 June 1946 to 15 May 1948, and who lost both home and means of livelihood as a result of the 1948 War". The children of Palestinian refugees are also able to apply for refugee status.
More than 500,000 of those refugees were already in eight crowded camps located across the Strip.
As two of those camps, Jabalia and Shati, are in the evacuation zone, this has put the other six under increased pressure.
Following Israel's warning to evacuate the north, the number of displaced people has risen rapidly and there are now 1.7 million who have fled their homes since 7 October, according to the United Nations.
On 13 October, Israel warned civilians to evacuate the area of Gaza north of the Wadi Gaza riverbed, ahead of an invasion by the Israeli military.
The evacuation area included Gaza City - which was the most densely populated area of the Gaza Strip. The Erez border crossing into Israel is closed, so those living in the evacuation zone had no choice but to head towards the southern districts.
Before the truce, the IDF had paused fighting for up to five hours each day to allow more civilians to use the evacuation route to the south.
With 2.2 million people in a relatively small strip of land, Gaza has one of the highest population densities in the world.
The largest urban area in the south is Khan Younis, but thousands of people who have fled the fighting are already sheltering there in schools, hospitals and tents.
The IDF recently warned Palestinians that even Khan Younis was not safe and they should move further west to a so-called"safe area" at al-Mawasi, a thin strip of mainly agricultural land along the Mediterranean coast, close to the Egyptian border.
On average, there are more than 5,700 people per sq km in Gaza - very similar to the average density in London - but that figure was more than 9,000 in Gaza City, the most heavily populated area.
The UN warns that overcrowding has become a major concern in its emergency shelters in central and southern Gaza, with some housing at four times its capacity. The Khan Younis Training Centre is the most crowded shelter, with about 22,100 people - 10 times what it should be able to host.
Many of these emergency shelters are schools and in some there are dozens of people living in a single classroom. Men and older boys are having to sleep outside at night.
The repeated conflicts between Palestinian militants and Israel have left many people in Gaza without adequate housing.
Extended families live in overcrowded, low-quality, insecure buildings, with the Norwegian Refugee Council estimating that more than 120,000 were living in homes that had no windows, safe roofs or doors.
Palestinian officials say the current Israeli air strikes have destroyed more than 40,000 homes - adding to 2,200 yet to be rebuilt from previous conflicts since 2014.
Another 72,000 which were damaged but not destroyed in 2014 had not received any financial help with repairs.
The loss of those homes compounds the ongoing shortage of housing in Gaza. The Global Shelter Cluster estimated that, even before the current destruction, 120,000 units needed to be built in Gaza to provide everyone with shelter.
Civilians have little hope of being able to leave Gaza to escape the conflict, with only a limited evacuation of foreign nationals permitted via Egypt.
Before the attack by Hamas, there were only two crossings allowing travel into and out of Gaza - with most former border points having been closed for years.
Palestinians are banned from leaving Gaza via Israel unless they obtain an Israeli-issued exit permit. The permits were limited to day labourers, businesspeople, medical patients and their companions, and aid workers.
The entire 60km-long border with Israel is guarded by a perimeter fence with "no-go" areas extending up to 100m (330ft) from the fence itself and only farm workers are allowed within 300m.
Those wanting to leave Gaza into Egypt via the Rafah crossing had to register with the Palestinian authorities several weeks in advance and apply to Egypt, which imposes limits on numbers and severe security controls.
Now, Israel has indefinitely shut the Erez crossing, while the Egyptian-controlled Rafah border crossing in the south has been closed due to Israeli airstrikes near the gate on the Palestinian side.
The latter had prevented humanitarian aid, including food, water and medicines, crossing from Egypt into Gaza.
During the last two decades, to try to get round the blockade, Hamas has built a network of tunnels which it uses to bring goods into the Strip from Egypt and also as an underground command centre.
Israel says the tunnels are also used by to smuggle weapons and move around out of sight. It frequently targets them with airstrikes.
During a conflict in 2021, the IDF said it had destroyed more than 100km of tunnels in air strikes. In response, Hamas claimed the tunnel system stretched for 500km and that only 5% had been hit.
Gaza has one of the world's youngest populations, with almost 60% of the population under 25 years old, according to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics.
That compares with just over 20% in London, where according to data from the 2021 census, more than 65% of people are aged between 25 and 64.
More than 80% of the population lives in poverty in Gaza, where unemployment levels are among the highest in the world, reaching 45% in 2022.
Are you personally affected by the issues raised in this story? If it is safe to do so, please get in touch 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. | Home to 2.2 million people, the Gaza Strip is a densely populated enclave, 41km (25 miles) long and 10km wide, bounded by the Mediterranean Sea on one side and fenced off from Israel and Egypt at its borders. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-20415675?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA |
"The boys told me that they heard gunshots outside, and I started reassuring them that it was the army coming to save them," she said of Yagel, 12, and Or, 16.
It was not Israeli soldiers outside the home, however, but Hamas gunmen, who killed 1,400 people, mainly civilians, and took more than 200 people hostage in those attacks.
A few hours into the attacks, Ms Jacob said Yagel whispered down the phone to her that people had broken into the house.
"They were terrified," she said.
"The last thing I heard my youngest boy saying to me a month ago⦠he was begging for them not to take him. He said 'I'm too young. Please don't take me. I'm too young'.
"But they took him."
She has not heard from her two children since.
Yagel and Or are believed to be among the 242 people the Israeli military said Hamas is holding hostage in the Gaza Strip.
The World Health Organization (WHO) says it is "gravely concerned" about their conditions - especially those who are children, elderly or in poor health - and has called for their immediate release.
Ms Jacob was speaking to the BBC's The Context, in an emotional interview alongside two other Israeli mothers - Batsheva Yahalomi and Hadas Kalderon - whose children have also been kidnapped by Hamas.
The trio travelled from Israel to the UK to raise awareness about the issue, conducting media interviews and meeting with the Qatari ambassador to the UK. The Gulf state is acting as a mediator between Israel and Hamas - proscribed as a terrorist organisation in the UK - to try and free the hostages.
Ms Jacob said the ambassador has "given us the impression that Qatar is doing whatever they can to help, and I do believe him".
Ms Yahalomi also underwent a terrifying ordeal when gunmen entered her family's home on 7 October. She managed to escape with her two daughters - including a baby - after Israeli soldiers intercepted their would-be kidnappers near the Gaza border.
Her husband Ohad - who she said was shot by Hamas "terrorists" - and her 12-year-old son, Eitan, were taken into Gaza on motorbikes, and she has not heard from them since.
"This was the last time I saw my son⦠[I've] not had any contact, any news from him," she said.
Ms Kalderon had five members of her family - including her two children Erez, 12, and Sahar, 16, as well as their father, Ofer - taken hostage.
Her elderly mother and niece were killed by Hamas.
"I don't even have time to grieve. I didn't even go to the funeral because I have to fight for those that are still alive," she said, adding that the release of hostages must be the "main priority".
"We know nothing about them. They've been held in tunnels, deep underground. They can't see the sky, and the sun, and I'm sure they're terrified," she said.
Ms Jacob said 32 children are being held by Hamas, and called for their immediate release.
Israel has been launching near-constant air strikes on the Gaza Strip since the 7 October attacks.
The Hamas-run health ministry there says more than 10,300 people have been killed, including more than 4,100 children.
Some politicians have questioned the accuracy of those figures, but the WHO says it believes them to be reliable.
Ms Jacob called for a "pause" to ensure that children in Gaza can also make it out safely.
"There's so much violence going on. But my heart goes out to every child and every mother who becomes a victim of this."
So let us just pause and have a children's time-out - get our children out and get the Gaza children out," she said.
As well as international criticism for the bombing campaign his government is overseeing, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has also faced anger at home, notably about the security failure that allowed Hamas to breach the border wall and kill thousands, as well as the lack of progress on freeing hostages.
So far just five hostages are known to have been freed.
Mark Regev, a senior adviser to Mr Netanyahu, also appeared on The Context and acknowledged a "terrible failure" in the security response ahead of Hamas' attacks. He was also asked about an apparent lack of communication with the families of those held hostage and said a "special directorate" has been established.
"We can only feel their pain and their suffering, and we're making a maximum effort to get out their loved ones," he said.
For their part, Ms Jacob, Ms Yahalomi and Ms Kalderon are focusing their energy on ensuring their loved ones are released as soon as possible.
"They disappeared from our life. We don't know when we're going to see them again," Ms Kalderon said. | Renana Jacob was not at home when Hamas's deadly attack on 7 October reached her kibbutz in southern Israel, but she quickly managed to reach her two sons by phone. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-67353034?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA |
This is the school run with a difference.
For six weeks, a handful of students have been unable to take the bus to Lochgilphead High School after a landslide cut off the community of Ardfern during the wettest two-day period ever recorded in Scotland.
A trip by sea is, for now, their commute.
We have become used to seeing the fight against climate change fought by the young. Greta Thunberg has become the voice of a generation demanding action, and action now.
Here in Argyll we can see the effects sudden and violent weather events can have. It is daily life for the kids on these boats.
One of them, Morven, puts it gently: "We should definitely try to be active in climate change to stop stuff like that happening," she says.
Is this what living with the effects of climate change looks like?
"Quite possibly," says Jim Smith, head of roads and infrastructure at Argyll and Bute Council. He is standing on a hill above the A816 near Ardfern. Below, a yellow digger is shifting great piles of mud.
Jim says a month's worth of rain fell in 36 hours on 6 and 7 October. His teams had to cope with landslides, damaged roads and destroyed bridges at 20 locations. The situation was unprecedented.
"In living memory, there's been no significant movement on this hillside," he says, pointing to the scarred slope above the A816.
Several sheep were killed by rockfall, and motorists had a lucky escape when debris missed them by seconds.
"There were vehicles trapped in the flow of material. Fortunately, everybody got out."
There is a clear consensus among climate scientists about what is causing this.
They calculatethat "due to human-induced climate change," every one degree of warming creates around seven per cent more moisture in the air. And that means more frequent and more powerful rain storms.
The Met Office says while rainfall is highly variable in the UK, intense downpours have become more common between October and December.
That has a massive effect. The clear up after October's storms has been arduous and the effects painful.
"From a business point of view, obviously it's been crippling," says Andrew Stanton, owner of the Galley of Lorne Inn in Ardfern.
At first the village was completely cut off. The road north to Oban is now open but the route south to Lochgilphead remains blocked.
To avoid a two-and-a-half-hour round trip to visit the doctor, get to work, or go to school, Argyll and Bute Council has chartered the boats, which link up with a bus at Crinan.
"The most important thing to me, and everyone else in this community, is getting back to some kind of normality and being able to get to the towns and the villages we rely upon," Andrew says.
The council hopes to open an emergency road bypassing the dangerous cliff face by mid-December, which in time will probably become a permanent diversion.
A fortnight after Argyll was battered, it was the turn of Angus and Aberdeenshire to break rainfall records as Storm Babet left three people dead and hundreds of homes flooded.
"This has really punched us straight in the face," says Graeme Dailly, director of infrastructure and environment at Angus Council, surveying the damage to the flood defence scheme in Brechin.
"We are facing a climate change emergency," he adds.
Here too, yellow machines are clanking, beeping and juddering as they scoop up debris from the worst flood anyone in the town can remember.
The torrent which swept down the River South Esk was so severe that it is still not clear exactly how high the water reached.
The town's flood protection scheme, which opened in 2016, was designed to cope with levels up to 3.8m above normal - described as a one in 200 probability.
But in the early hours of Friday 20 October, a measuring gauge was overwhelmed at 4.4m.
Now council engineers are trying to establish the true peak so they can recalculate the probability of the defences being breached again.
That process may well lead to difficult discussions about the long-term viability of 335 vulnerable properties in Brechin as well as an additional 87 households in the nearby villages of Tannadice and Finavon.
When the flood defences were formally opened in October 2016, Roseanna Cunningham, then environment secretary,spoke about "the effect of climate change"leading to "sudden and much sharper" rainfall and flooding events.
She said locals should feel assured that "their homes, businesses and roads are safe from hereon in."
Angus Council now insists the scheme was never intended to take climate change into account.
"In 2011, when it was designed, there wasn't a climate change allowance included in there", says Graeme Dailly.
For Dr Sarah Halliday, head of environmental science at Dundee University, building higher and higher flood barriers misses the point.
As the world warms, she says, we should prepare for more flooding in autumn and winter but also for periods of drought during hotter summers, forcing us to reconsider where we can safely live.
"When we're building in the floodplain we are restricting the natural ability of that river to cope with extreme events and so we do need to think critically about where it is appropriate to build," she says.
Human history is partly the history of how we re-shape landscapes to suit our needs.
In the 19th century, farmers straightened the Rottal Burn, a tributary of the River South Esk above Brechin.
Ten years ago, concerned that the straightened burn was making flooding worse, Angus Council and partners decided to 're-wiggle' it to slow the river flow. Dr Halliday says more such projects are going to be needed in future.
We can't stop the climate becoming more extreme, she says, but we can try to make ourselves more resilient.
But re-routing rivers and roads, rebuilding bridges and chartering boats doesn't come cheap, and local authorities say they will need more financial help from the Scottish government.
Ministers say they have provided additional funding for those affected by the impact of Storm Babet.
They say this is on top of annual funding of £42m, and an additional £150m for flood risk management over the course of the current parliament.
As the work continues to clean up these two storm-struck corners of the country, the message from Storm Babet is simple, according to Graeme Dailly: "Climate change is real and this is what it looks like here at home in Scotland." | It is dawn on the rugged shores of Loch Craignish and two little boats are setting off into the sunrise. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-67438057?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA |
The Liverpool striker and his father cried as they hugged each other for the first time after the kidnapping ordeal.
Luis Manuel DÃaz's abduction by the National Liberation Army (ELN) caused outrage in Colombia and abroad.
The ELN said it had kidnapped the 58-year-old and his wife for ransom.
The group quickly released his wife, Cilenis Marulanda, as police closed in but led the amateur football coach into the nearby mountains at gunpoint.
The ELN leader described the abduction of the popular coach as a "mistake" but has insisted that kidnappings for ransom are not a breach of the ceasefire it signed earlier this year.
The guerrilla group released Luis Manuel DÃaz last Thursday to United Nations and Catholic Church officials.
Later that day he was reunited with his wife and other family members, but it was not until now that he was able to embrace his footballer star son.
Luis DÃaz has flown to Colombia to train with the national team ahead of its World Cup qualifier against Brazil on Thursday evening in Colombia.
The player missed two of Liverpool's matches while his father was being held by the rebels but came off the bench during the English Premier League game against Luton on 5 November.
After scoring a goal in stoppage time, he pulled up his Liverpool shirt to show a T-shirt underneath bearing the message "freedom for papa". | Colombian football star Luis DÃaz has been reunited with his father Luis Manuel DÃaz who was released by rebels after holding him hostage for 12 days. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-67413977?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA |
The victim said Matthew White told him in the 2015 attack there had been no consequences for killing "Stephen".
White was jailed for four months but did not face charges for attempting to harm the guard or racially abusing him.
The Metropolitan Police says it apologises "if this was not investigated as it should have been".
The BBC has also spoken to an ex-prisoner who spent time with White in jail after the 2015 incident. This man said White told him that police "failed to properly investigate him" and that he admitted being part of the attack on Stephen.
White - a heroin user who was shoplifting from Lidl in Eltham, south-east London - attempted to stab his victim with the needle of a used syringe, while using racial slurs. The former security guard said White told him: "I will kill you, I've done it before, nothing will happen."
At the time, the Met was still actively investigating the 1993 stabbing of Stephen Lawrence. Two of the killers had been jailed in 2012, but police had consistently said there were six attackers. Despite the ongoing inquiries, the security guard was never contacted by officers on the murder case.
In June, a BBC investigation publicly named White for the first time as a suspect in the murder of Stephen andexposed a series of police failings relating to him. White died in 2021, aged 50.
Stephen was stabbed to death aged 18 by a gang of young white men as he waited for a bus in Eltham. It is the UK's most notorious racist killing.
The disastrous initial Met Police investigation failed to bring anyone to justice and a landmark public inquiry concluded the force was institutionally racist.
The BBC investigation into Matthew White revealed that independent witnesses said he admitted being present during the attack on Stephen, and that in 1993 White looked like the unidentified fair-haired lead attacker described by eyewitnesses.
Traced by the BBC, the victim of White's 2015 assault, named Bethel Ikpeze, said he did not know about his attacker's link to the Stephen Lawrence case. But Mr Ikpeze's account further implicates White in the murder.
Mr Ikpeze was working as a security officer in Lidl when he spotted White stuff meat into a bag and try to leave without paying.
The former security guard said he challenged him and White responded with swearing and a stream of racist slurs, including the N-word.
Mr Ikpeze said that he pulled White behind him into the store and then, out of instinct, glanced around to see White's raised hand, holding a visibly bloody needle.
White was about to stab him in the back of his head and neck, Mr Ikpeze said. He said he grabbed White's arm and forced him to the ground, with White still attempting to twist the syringe into him.
If he had not reacted immediately, "I would have been maybe a dead man or a man with serious body injuries because the needle was very close", the former security guard said.
He said White clearly "knows his target" because he was aiming at a vulnerable part of the body.
White was restrained until police arrived. During this time, Mr Ikpeze said White continued to abuse him with extreme racist language.
"I asked him, 'Do you want to kill me? Do you want to stab me?' He said, 'Yes, I will kill you.'"
Mr Ikpeze said he told White that, if he did so, he would be imprisoned. The former security guard said White replied that he and others had "done it before and nothing happened".
He said White made multiple references to having killed before, saying "I've done it before" and "we have done it before".
The former security guard said White told him that "they've done it in the bus stop there to a fellow like me in the past".
"I said OK, if you have done it before, I don't know who you did it to." Mr Ikpeze said that was when White made several references to "Stephen".
He said White was "referring to me as the same kind of human being they've dealt with before".
Mr Ikpeze, who was born in Nigeria, said he made no connection to Stephen Lawrence. He had heard of the case but was unfamiliar with it.
The former security guard said he gave a full account to the uniformed Met officers who came to the supermarket.
"I've done my job and I wanted the police to arrest him and hear what he's telling me," he said.
"I told them that he even said that they've killed before. He mentioned a name of Stephen."
He recalled officers saying they would "run a check" and, when he asked if White was a murderer, being told "that [the information] is not there".
Mr Ikpeze said he also gave police a description of someone outside the shop who had been with White, but the officers seemed uninterested. That person also shouted racist abuse after Mr Ikpeze first stopped White, but then made off.
When interviewed by police, White denied using the syringe aggressively. He pleaded not guilty to possessing it at his first court hearing.
At a later hearing White changed his plea to guilty and was sentenced to four months in prison, but only after his legal team were given CCTV of the whole incident. The BBC obtained a transcript of the hearing at Woolwich Crown Court.
During the hearing, the prosecutor said White "carried out a stabbing motion" with the syringe. White's barrister described telling his client it was a "good idea" to change his plea in relation to the syringe "because the CCTV clearly puts you there holding this up and it is not, you know, in a jovial manner or trying to warn them not to get too close".
White was not charged with trying to harm Mr Ikpeze, but simply with having the syringe in a "public place". The other charges he admitted were stealing meat and using threatening, abusive, or insulting words or behaviour towards Mr Ikpeze.
Stephen Lawrence: The Sixth Suspect
New evidence about the murder of Stephen Lawrence, uncovered by BBC investigative reporter, Daniel De Simone.
Watch now on BBC iPlayer (UK Only)
In a statement to the BBC, the Met Police said it understood that Mr Ikpeze had told local officers "that White had shouted racial abuse and made threats to kill" in 2015.
"We aim to take all reports of racial abuse seriously and we apologise if this was not investigated as it should have been."
The Crown Prosecution Service told us the attack on Mr Ikpeze had been "a horrible crime" but there had been "no mention of racial abuse" based on the evidence provided by the police.
Mr Ikpeze was not told White had been charged in relation to the incident, or that he admitted charges in court.
He only heard about the details from the BBC recently - more than eight years later. He was shocked to learn that White had not been charged with attempting to stab him with the syringe, and that the racism had not been reflected in the charges.
In June, the BBC revealed that White had attacked another black shop worker in Eltham in 2020, saying he would be "Stephen Lawrenced". Again, this victim first heard that White had been convicted from the BBC.
Mr Ikpeze said White's repeated racist abuse made him "feel less human" and was "so damaging".
The BBC traced Mr Ikpeze after new sources came forward with information when the investigation into White was published in June.
One man said he was in prison with White during his sentence for the 2015 supermarket incident, and that White admitted during a jail cell conversation to being part of the attack on Stephen Lawrence. The man, who asked to remain anonymous, said White was in prison for aggravated shoplifting.
The BBC corroborated key information from the man's account that was not in the public domain. It included White's changed appearance by 2015, that White was in the relevant prison at that time, and that he had been jailed for three offences stemming from a shoplifting incident, including using threatening words to a named victim - Mr Ikpeze.
The ex-prisoner said he spent several weeks talking with White in prison, who described his life of drug use and crime. White eventually discussed his connection to the Stephen Lawrence case, the man said.
"What he said was that if I could see the papers about the whole case, if I ever did, that he's referred to quite a lot in the paperwork, that he was the blond-haired figure that is referred to throughout the paperwork, and that he was involved in the incident," the ex-prisoner said.
"He went as far as to say that he'd been at the initial part of the incident where there was a fracas."
The ex-prisoner said that White "distanced himself from the actual stabbing, but he did openly say that he was at the incident, and that he was referred to as 'the blonde figure'".
This is likely to have been a reference to eyewitness descriptions of a "fair-haired attacker", also known as the "blonde attacker", which the BBC revealed White resembled at the time of the murder.
He said that White described the prelude to the attack as involving "words exchanged across the road".
Stephen's friend Duwayne Brooks, who was with him when the attack happened, has always said he and Stephen were calling to one another about buses when the fair-haired member of the attacking group shouted a racist slur - the N-word - back across the road, as if in response.
The man who knew White in prison said: "I'm pretty sure he said [Stephen Lawrence] had it coming or something like that, that he was mouthing off and he deserved to be attacked, and that Matt had been one of the attackers in the initial incident."
Although it is not true that Stephen provoked the attackers, the claim that he in some way deserved what happened is a consistent theme of accounts from people who spoke to White about the case.
The ex-prisoner said White had denied being present when Stephen was stabbed.
This claim is not consistent with eyewitness accounts of the attack, which was too brief for one of the attackers to have fled the scene by the time Stephen was stabbed.
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Matt Ward told the BBC the Met remained "satisfied that all relevant enquiries related to Matthew White were fully considered by the investigation team prior to his death in August 2021".
But the ex-prisoner said White belittled the Met investigation into Stephen's murder: "He said that, yeah, they'd completely mishandled it."
He told us how White thought "they hadn't really spoken to him in any sort of significant depth".
He said White believed the Met Police "had not done their jobs properly".
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Sign up for our morning newsletterand get BBC News in your inbox. | The sixth suspect in the racist murder of Stephen Lawrence tried to stab a black security guard while saying he had killed before, the BBC can reveal. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-67227760?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA |
So what can those struggling to make repayments do - and what support should they get from their provider?
There are different types of mortgages, all of which have become more expensive in recent months.
Mortgage rates have risen, and the 1.6 million people on tracker or variable deals are paying much more than a year ago.
Nearly 2.5 million homeowners have fixed deals that will expire by the end of 2024, and face a significant increase in monthly payments.
It is hard to say. The sector has seen considerable upheaval in the past year, after many years of ultra-low rates.
The typical interest charged on fixed rates for new borrowers shot up after last autumn's mini-budget, then calmed somewhat,but subsequently rose to a 15-year high.
There have been some signs of reductions recently, but rates are still comparatively high.
That's because wages and prices are rising faster and for longer than expected, and meaningthe Bank of England may raise the base rate higher.
The Bank has warned thatmore than two million households will pay between £200 and £499 more a month on new deals from the end of this year and the end of 2026.
A further one million mortgage holders will see their monthly payments rise by at least £500 over the next two and a half years.
If the base rate does rise again, anyone on tracker deals will also face higher repayments.
House prices have also started to fall as higher interest rates put off buyers.
The government's official forecaster, the Office for Budget Responsibility, suggests that UK house prices will fall by 10% by 2024 compared with last year's peak.
There are still likely to be plenty of options, depending on your circumstances. The bigger question is whether people can afford higher repayments.
An agreement between lenders, the Treasury and regulators means people can switch to a new fixed-rate mortgage without a new affordability test when their current deal ends, as long as their payments are up-to-date.
If you have savings, you could consider paying down some of the total amount borrowed.
Savings could also be put intoa linked offset savings account, where you only pay interest on the mortgage balance, minus the amount you've saved.
You may want to extend the length of the mortgage term, although that would mean paying more in total.
A broker can guide you through the different options.
Owing two or more months' repayments means you are officially in arrears.
But the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), which regulates mortgage firms,says lenders must treat customers fairly.
It says borrowers must contact their lender as soon as they realise they will struggle to make repayments - the earlier the better. Trained and experienced staff must offer help.
Within 15 working days of falling into arrears, your lender must:
Your lender must consider any reasonable request to resolve the arrears. This could include reducing your monthly payment by extending the term of the mortgage, or switching to an interest-only payment for a certain period.
Missing monthly payments - or arranging to pay less than you owe - will be reflected on your credit file, which could affect your ability to borrow money in the future.
A mortgage payment holiday lets borrowers delay repayments for a short time.
Lenders may offer this option, depending on individual circumstances, although probably not to those already in arrears.
The level of support offered to customers during the Covid pandemic has been reduced.
Again, a payment holiday will show on your credit file.
Some people may decide to sell their home and - in extreme circumstances - the lender could take court action to repossess it.
Repossessions are far rarer than they used to be.
There are several stages before a lender can do this, and the whole process takes about two years.
But if you think your home is at risk, it is well worth gettingfree, independent debt adviceabout your options.
Governments tend not to get directly involved in support when people face higher mortgage repayments, but many lenders have signed up tothe government's mortgage charterwhich ensures they are clear about the options available.
For people on qualifying benefits,Support for Mortgage Interestis available across the UK. The government pays some of your mortgage interest payments, but in the form of a loan (which must be repaid, with interest).
Borrowers tend to pay off the loan when they sell the property, or when they die.
There are variousconditions and requirementsthat need to be considered before signing up.
Governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland also run some mortgage support schemes, but the rules are complicated, and they tend to focus on people at risk of homelessness.
There is more information onthe government-backed Moneyhelper website. | The average interest rate charged by mortgage lenders recently hit a 15-year high. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-63486782?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA |
The Met Police said 145 people were arrested - the "vast majority" of whom were counter-protesters - and nine officers were injured on Saturday.
It condemned violence from right-wing counter-protesters who it says set out to confront the pro-Palestinian march.
Investigations into other offences - including antisemitic hate crimes - continue, police said.
The pro-Palestinian demonstration - which coincided with Armistice Day - saw some300,000 people march through central Londoncalling for a Gaza ceasefire.
It was the biggest UK rally since the war between Israel and Hamas began on 7 October.
Police added while the march itself did not see such physical violence, other serious offences were being investigated.
The seven men, aged between 23 and 75, have been charged over offences including possession of weapons, public order, possession of drugs and assault on an emergency worker.
Two of those charged live in London, with the others coming from across the UK, including Norfolk, Flintshire, Kent, Manchester and West Lothian.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said those involved in crimes must face the full force of the law, with the "despicable actions of a minority of people" undermining "those who have chosen to express their views peacefully".
He added that "EDL [English Defence League] thugs attacking police and trespassing on the Cenotaph" war memorial had disrespected the honour of the UK's armed forces.
On Saturday, the Met's Assistant Commissioner Matt Twist said the violence directed towards officers was "extraordinary and deeply concerning", with nine injured after counter-protesters clashed with police.
"They arrived early, stating they were there to protect monuments, but some were already intoxicated, aggressive and clearly looking for confrontation," he said.
Home Secretary Suella Braverman said on Sunday it was "an outrage" that several officers had been injured, thanking them for "their professionalism in the face of violence and aggression from protesters and counter-protesters".
She is currently under pressure after criticising police ahead of the march and there have been calls for her to be sacked, with someministers distancing themselvesfrom her comments.
Mr Twist said the pro-Palestinian march "did not see the sort of physical violence carried out by the right wing", but "a number of serious offences identified in relation to hate crime and possible support for proscribed organisations" during the protest were being investigated.
Police issued five photos of six individuals suspected of hate crimes.
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Laurence Taylor, who led Saturday's policing operation, said: "We urge anyone who has information about the identity of suspects, or who has footage or photos of further potential offences, to get in touch so we can take the appropriate action."
The force hasissued an appeal for informationregarding videos filmed in Waterloo and Victoria stations showing "unacceptable abuse including antisemitic language, as well as threatening behaviour".
Footage shared on social media showed Michael Gove ushered through London's Victoria Station by police officers, as crowds waving Palestinian flags shouted: "Shame on you."
On Sunday, the Levelling Up Secretaryaddressed the incident on X,formerly Twitter, thanking police for their "exemplary work in getting me home safely yesterday".
On the pro-Palestinian march, chants of "free Palestine" and "ceasefire now" could be heard as crowds began marching from London's Hyde Park.
At one point the march, organised by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, extended from the Hilton Hotel in Park Lane to the US Embassy in Nine Elms - a distance of roughly 2.5 miles.
The Remembrance Sunday service at the Cenotaph, led by the King,passed without incident. | Seven men have been charged over disorder on Armistice Day for offences including inciting racial hatred. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-67398933?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA |
Juwayriya Ahmed married her cousin in 1988. The 52-year-old teacher says her children once asked her how she and their father met.
"I was laughing at them. I said I didn't really meet him. My parents took me to Pakistan and my dad said you're going to marry this person. And I sort of knew who he was, but the first time I met him properly was at the wedding," she says.
"My kids said that was disgusting. And then they told me, 'Don't you dare make us do anything like this.'"
Ten years ago researchers studying the health of more than 30,000 people in Bradford found that about 60% of babies in the Pakistani community had parents who were first or second cousins, but a new follow-up study of mothers in three inner-city wards finds the figure has dropped to 46%.
The original research also demonstrated that cousin marriage roughly doubled the risk of birth defects, though they remained rare, affecting 6% of children born to cousins.
"In just under a decade we've had a significant shift from cousin marriage being, in a sense, a majority activity to now being just about a minority activity," said Dr John Wright, chief investigator of the Born in Bradford research project.
"The effect will be fewer children with congenital anomalies."
Cousin marriage is widespread in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, where many Bradford families originate.
Sometimes a young person in Bradford is married to a cousin in Pakistan, who then comes to live in the UK. But members of the community say there have been inter-generational tensions over this tradition, with some young people firmly rejecting the idea of arranged marriage - and cousin marriage in particular.
"Our generation really fought for it," says one young woman.
"Ten years ago my mum was adamant we would all have cousin marriages but now she doesn't focus on that. I think families realised they couldn't control it. They knew that being in Britain, and being exposed to so many different viewpoints, it is going to change."
TheBorn in Bradford studyoriginally recruited 12,453 pregnant women without regard to ethnicity between 2007 and 2010, whose children all joined the project when they were born. Their health has been tracked ever since.
Another 2,378 mothers from three inner-city wards were then recruited for a follow-up study between 2016 and 2019. The new research compares them with the 2,317 participants from the same wards in the original cohort.
In both cases, mothers of Pakistani heritage made up between 60% and 65% of the total, and while 62% of these women in the original group were married to a first or second cousin, the figure fell to 46% in the later group.
The fall was even steeper in the fast-growing sub-group of mothers who were born in the UK - from 60% to 36%.
For those educated beyond A-level, the proportion who married a cousin was already lower than average in the first study, at 46%, and has now fallen to 38%.
Although the women included in the latest study are all from less affluent inner-city wards, the researchers say they are still representative of Pakistani-heritage mothers in Bradford as a whole.
Professor of health research, Neil Small, who has been involved with Born in Bradford from the start, says a number of possible explanations for the rapid fall in cousin marriage are now being explored in consultation with the community:
One person affected by new immigration rules was Bradford-born Ayesha, who married her first cousin in Pakistan eight years ago and gave birth to their first child the following year.
Her husband was unable to move to the UK until the baby was two. Meanwhile Ayesha had to work long hours as a home care worker to reach a salary threshold introduced in 2012 for anyone wanting to bring a spouse from outside Europe to live in the country.
She thinks cousin marriage is a valuable tradition though, and regrets that it appears to be in decline.
"I don't think my children will marry cousins. They will lose that connection with Pakistan and I feel sad about that," she says.
In fact, two of Ayesha's younger sisters, both in their 20s, have rejected the idea of cousin marriage. One, Salina, recently married a man of her own choice, with her parents' consent.
"I'm outgoing and I want to work and do things with my life. Someone from Pakistan wouldn't accept this at all," she says. "They would never let me live like this. We wouldn't agree on how to raise kids and how to teach them values."
The other sister, Malika, is also planning one day to choose her own husband.
"Before, even if you had an education, you wouldn't be expected to carry on with it, you would have been thinking of marriage," she says. "Now that's changed and the mindset is so different."
She adds that young people today have more opportunities to meet potential partners than their parents ever did, and that social media has helped provide "contact with people outside our parents' eyes".
The Born in Bradford team has made efforts to explain to the community how congenital anomalies come about.
They occur when both parents carry a particular defective gene, which may happen when the parents are unrelated, but is more likely when they are cousins. Anomalies can affect the heart, the nervous system, limbs, the skin or other parts of the body. They are sometimes untreatable and can be fatal.
Dr Aamra Darr, a medical sociologist with the University of Bradford's Faculty of Health Studies, says cousin marriage is a risk factor, but not a cause of congenital anomalies.
She points out that the 2013 Born in Bradford study showed that the risk of married cousins having a baby with a congenital anomaly was similar to that of a white British woman aged 35 or over having a baby with an anomaly, including Down's Syndrome.
However, she says health workers have sometimes told parents of a sick child in the Pakistani community: "It's because you married your cousin."
"It's culture blaming," she says. "You're talking about the politics of race and health - the minority being judged by the majority population."
Listen toBorn in Bradford on BBC Sounds
She says that cousin marriage was once common among the white British population too, citing the case of Charles Darwin, who married his first cousin Emma Wedgwood.
According to Prof Small, about one billion of the world's eight billion people live in societies where cousin marriage is commonplace.
However, it is now rare in the UK.
In the Born in Bradford study of 4,384 white British respondents, only two people were first cousins of their partner, and three were more distantly related.
If a group of teenagers interviewed for BBC Radio 4's Born in Bradford programme is anything to go by, the next generation in the city may be even less open to marrying a cousin.
One 18-year-old said they didn't see it as a "very normal thing" and were "grossed out by it". "I don't think I'd be willing to marry a cousin from back home," they added.
Zaara, who's also 18, says that circumstances have changed. "It's easier to meet new people nowadays. Say you were from a village in Pakistan, it was easier to meet someone there. But now in Bradford you can meet so many different people, and you can still marry your people, but not someone you're related to."
Eesa, 17, says more people are now aware of the increased risk of congenital anomalies and it makes them less likely to want to marry a relative.
"It's more of a person's preference," he says - adding that he thinks cousin marriage cases have gone down as there is "no longer a cultural reason" for them, such as conserving land ownership within a family.
Emari, 17, says different things are accepted in different cultures. "However, we don't see cousin marriages happening that often in the UK any more.
"I think I'd let [my parents] find me someone - but not a cousin," she says.
"[They] know me and they know my type, so they would find me someone nice!"
Additional reporting by Stephen Mulvey
Listen to Born in Bradfordon BBC Sounds
Sue Mitchell ison X, formerly Twitter | The number of people in Bradford's Pakistani community who have married a cousin has fallen sharply in the past 10 years, a study suggests. Higher educational attainment, new family dynamics and changes in immigration rules are thought to be possible reasons. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-67422918?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA |
The alarm was raised when Roman Butchaski failed to return to his camping ground on Sunday.
Some of his belongings have since been found near a river on Queensland's remote Cape York Peninsula.
Mr Butchaski, known as Butch, is an avid angler and a former host of Sydney radio station 2GB's fishing show.
His former co-host Gavin Pitchford told 2GB that his friend - though a Sydney local - regularly visited the spot on the Olive River, about 600km (370 miles) north of Cairns.
"I'm devastated. Butchy walks the banks up there regularly. He's been fishing there forever," a statement read out on air said.
Mr Pitchford also said he feared Mr Butchaski, who is in his 60s and has diabetes, may have suffered a medical episode.
On Tuesday, police announced more officers would travel to the area to assist the search.
Rescue helicopters and crews on the ground have been combing the region since they were alerted on Sunday night.
Police say the car Mr Butchaski had was found at the river. Local media report some fishing gear was discovered as well.
Queensland Police Senior Sgt Duane Amos told reporters the region is a well-known crocodile habitat, but added that Mr Butchaski is familiar with the area.
"He was well-prepared for a normal expedition that he has undertaken before," the policeman said on Monday.
Crocodiles are plentiful in Australia's tropical north, and while crocodile attacks in the country are uncommon, there have been several this year.
In February, rangers shot a 4.2m crocodile that attacked a man and ate his dog at a remote boat ramp north of Cairns.
And in May, the remains of 65-year-old fisherman Kevin Darmody were found inside a 4.1m crocodile on the nearby Kennedy River - the 13th fatal attack in Queensland since record-keeping began in 1985. | A search is under way in northern Australia after a former radio host went missing while on a solo fishing trip in crocodile-infested waters. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-67376812?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA |
Being dyslexic, she admits that using it might help improve the clarity of her communication with customers on her website. But ultimately she says that she just doesn't trust it.
Ms Kelsall, who is based in Cambridge, says that when she experimented with ChatGPT this year, she noticed errors. She tested it by quizzing it about the crown worn by King Charles III in his coronation back in May, the St Edward's Crown.
"I asked ChatGPT to tell me some information about the crown, just to see what it would say," she says. "I know quite a bit about gemstones in the royal crowns, and I noticed there were large chunks within the text about it which were about the wrong crown."
Ms Kelsall adds that she is also concerned about people "passing off what ChatGPT tells them as independent thought, and plagiarising".
What is AI? A simple guide to help you understand artificial intelligence
While ChatGPT has become hugely popular since its launch a year ago, Ms Kelsall's reluctance to use it appears to be significantly more common among women than men. While 54% of men now use AI in either their professional or personal lives, this falls to just 35% of women,according to a surveyearlier this year.
What are the reasons for this apparent AI gender gap, and should it be a concern?
Michelle Leivars, a London-based business coach, says she doesn't use AI to write for her, because she wants to retain her own voice and personality.
"Clients have said they booked sessions with me because the copy on my website didn't feel cookie cutter, and that I was speaking directly to them," she says. "People who know me have gone onto the website, and said that they can hear me saying the words and they could tell it was me straight away."
Meanwhile, Hayley Bystram, also based in London, has not been tempted to save time by using AI. Ms Bystram is the founder of matchmaking agency, Bowes-Lyon Partnership, and meets her clients face-to-face to hand pair them with like-minded others, with no algorithm involved.
"The place where we could use something such as ChatGPT is in our carefully crafted member profiles. which can take up to half a day to create," she says. "But for me it would take the soul and the personalisation out of the process, and it feels like it's cheating, so we carry on doing it the long-winded way."
For Alexandra Coward, a business strategist based in Paisley, Scotland, using AI for content generation is just "heavy photoshopping".
She is also particularly concerned about the growing trend of people using AI to create images "that make them look the slimmest, youngest and hippest versions of themselves".
Ms Coward adds: "We're moving towards a space where not only will your clients not recognise you in person, you won't recognise you in person."
While all these seem valid reasons to give AI a wide berth, AI expert Jodie Cook says there are deeper, more ingrained reasons why women are not embracing the technology as much as men.
"Stem fields [science, technology, engineering, and mathematics] have traditionally been dominated by males," says Ms Cook, who is the founder of Coachvox.ai, an app that allows business leaders to create AI clones of themselves.
"The current trend in the adoption of AI tools appears to mirror this disparity, as the skills required for AI are rooted in Stem disciplines."
Read additional stories on artificial intelligence
In the UK, just 24% of the workforce across the Stem sectorsare female,and as a consequence "women may feel less confident using AI tools", adds Ms Cook. "Even though many tools don't require technical proficiency, if more women don't view themselves as technically skilled, they might not experiment with them.
"And AI also still feels like science fiction. In the media and popular culture, science fiction tends to be marketed at men."
Ms Cook says that moving forward she wants to see more women both use AI and work in the sector. "As the industry grows, we definitely don't want to see a widening gap between the genders."
Yet psychologist Lee Chambers says that typically female thinking and behaviour may be holding some women back from embracing AI.
"It's the confidence gap - women tend to want to have a high level of competence in something before they start using it, " he says. "Whereas men tend to be happy to go into something without much competence."
Mr Chambers also says that women may fear having their ability questioned, if they use AI tools.
"Women are more likely to be accused of not being competent, so they have to emphasise their credentials more to demonstrate their subject matter expertise in a particular field," he says. "There could be this feeling that if people know that you, as a woman, use AI, it's suggesting that you might not be as qualified as you are.
"Women are already discredited, and have their ideas taken by men and passed off as their own, so having people knowing that you use an AI might also play into that narrative that you're not qualified enough. It's just another thing that's debasing your skills, your competence, your value."
Or as Harriet Kelsall puts it: "I value authenticity and human creativity." | Popular artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot ChatGPT now has more than 180 million users, but jeweller Harriet Kelsall says it isn't for her. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-67217915?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA |
She is one of more than 160 people who have approached the BBC with allegationsafter our investigation.
They include claims of sexual assault, harassment, racism and bullying.
McDonald's said it was "determined" to root out behaviour that falls below the high standards it expects of staff.
It comes as a group of ex-McDonald's workers told the BBC they planned to take legal action against the firm, accusing it of failing to protect them.
MPs will now question the UK boss of McDonald's over the claims of sexual abuse uncovered by the BBC.
Alistair Macrow will be quizzed by the Business and Trade Committee on 14 November.
Warning - this article contains distressing content
The BBC spoke to more than 100 current and recent McDonald's workers across the UK over a five-month period. The workers - some as young as 17 - said they werebeing groped and harassed almost routinely.
Since we published our investigation in July, another 160 people have approached the BBC with stories of abuse.
The UK equality watchdog said some 200 people had contacted its email hotline, which it set up in the wake of the BBC's story.
It said it was "concerned" by the latest allegations of harassment and that it was considering "a number of options" on how to proceed with its existing legal agreement with McDonald's.
McDonald's is one of the UK's largest private-sector employers with more than 170,000 people working in 1,450 restaurants.
It also has one of the UK's youngest workforces, with three quarters of staff aged 16 to 25. For many, it is their first job.
Most workers are not directly employed by the company as McDonald's uses a franchise system, which means individual operators are licensed to run the outlets and employ the staff.
However, the corporation does exercise some control over franchisees. The company requires them to ensure "uniformity and commitment" to the McDonald's brand, so that customers can expect the same experience in every restaurant.
To achieve this uniformity, corporate headquarters imposes strict rules on how these companies operate. There are inspections to make sure that each store is complying.
Izzy told the BBC that male staff openly talked about their sex lives in front of 16-year-old crew members.
"It's not just the language," she said. "It's just, it's unacceptable."
She said that since publication of the BBC report none of the senior management had talked to the crew about how they are.
Her sister Liv worked at the same store in the East of England but decided to quit in the summer.
Izzy said: "It's exactly the same. The behaviour is still as she left, exactly the same. It hasn't changed."
Liv told us she had left after experiencing a sexist and bullying culture. She said one of the senior managers was openly racist about a new employee, who was Sikh. She said he made a comment about how "it was her type of people that bomb us".
"Hearing something like that disgusted me, because I don't get how you can just supposed to be almost setting an example for people, but you're openly and freely saying stuff like this," Liv said.
Following the BBC's investigation, law firm Leigh Day said it had been contacted by McDonald's crew members who instructed it to start legal action on their behalf.
It could be the first ever MeToo group action taken in the UK.
One client, Ed, was just 16 when he started working at a McDonald's branch in the South of England at the start of this year.
He said a senior manager made sexual innuendos and repeatedly asked him for sex.
Ed told the BBC. "It's gross, it's disgusting. And it's horrifying that someone with that much power in the workplace could say something like that to a 16-year old such as myself."
Ed said he told a senior manager about what had been happening, but he said the manager warned him that if he raised it again, he would face "severe consequences" and would not be eligible for promotion.
He said the harassment went on for several months, and it impacted his mental health and college attendance. Eventually, in April, he quit.
Rachel was 17 when she got her first job at a branch of McDonald's in the North West where she said a manager groped her bottom.
Rachel said the environment was "toxic" and that other male colleagues would make inappropriate comments. She said she emailed the company's staff support service to report the manager who had groped her, but said she never received a response. She left in March 2021.
"McDonald's needs to be doing more to tackle the issue," she said.
She said she had joined the group planning legal action "so that people who are thinking of applying to work at McDonald's are aware before they go into the job".
Kiran Daurka, a partner at Leigh Day, said the stories of sexual abuse and harassment at McDonald's were "disturbing".
"It is our view that they have recourse to legal action, and we are investigating those legal claims."
Alistair Macrow, chief executive of McDonald's UK and Ireland said that following the BBC's investigation in July, he "immediately ordered measures to address critical areas".
"I initiated a company-wide programme of independent investigations, auditing of our complaints processes, reviews of our codes of conduct and, in a number of cases, full disciplinary hearings," he said.
"At the same time as introducing these new processes, we appointed external employment experts to independently evaluate and report on the effectiveness of our employment practices, safeguarding and disciplinary procedures. This process is underway, and we plan to implement new steps identified by this review as appropriate.
"While we are confident in the first steps we have taken, I am determined to understand what more we can do, and our efforts will need to be far reaching and constantly evolving," he added.
"I am personally committed to ensuring all cases brought to our attention are investigated quickly and thoroughly. Where our standards have been breached, or where our processes fall short, I will drive change. I know it takes a great deal of personal courage to speak up and it is my top priority to ensure we act swiftly and decisively on what we hear."
If you have been affected by any of the issues in this story, information and support is available via theBBC Action Line.
Some of the names in this story have been changed to protect identities.
Have you been affected by issues covered in this story? You can share your experiences by [email protected].
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Sign up for our morning newsletterand get BBC News in your inbox. | Izzy, who is 18 and works at McDonald's, says she is still witnessing "disgusting behaviour", months after the BBC revealed sexual abuse claims at the fast food chain. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-67093982?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA |
Over the past month, Hezbollah has frequently targeted Israeli armour and military positions from across the border in Lebanon.
Hezbollah is a Shia Muslim organisation which is politically influential and in control of the most powerful armed force in Lebanon.
It was established in the early 1980s by the region's most dominant Shia power, Iran, to oppose Israel. At the time, Israel's forces had occupied southern Lebanon, during the country's civil war.
Hezbollah has participated in national elections since 1992 and has become a major political presence.
Its armed wing has carried out deadly attacks on Israeli and US forces in Lebanon. When Israel withdrew from Lebanon in 2000, Hezbollah took credit for pushing them out.
Since then, Hezbollah has maintained thousands of fighters and a huge missile arsenal in southern Lebanon. It continues to oppose Israel's presence in disputed border areas.
It is designated a terrorist organisation by Western states, Israel, Gulf Arab countries and the Arab League.
In 2006, a full-blown war broke out between Hezbollah and Israel, triggered when Hezbollah carried out a deadly cross-border raid.
Israeli troops invaded southern Lebanon to try to eliminate the threat from Hezbollah. However, it survived and has since increased its number of fighters and obtained new and better weapons.
Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah is a Shia cleric who has led Hezbollah since 1992.
He played a key role in turning it into a political, as a well as a military, force.
He has close links with Iran and its Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
These date from 1981, when Iran's first Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, appointed him his personal representative in Lebanon.
Nasrallah has not appeared in public for years, purportedly for fear of being assassinated by Israel.
However, he remains revered by Hezbollah, and delivers televised speeches every week.
More on Israel-Gaza war
Hezbollah is one of the most heavily-armed, non-state military forces in the world. It is funded and equipped by Iran.
Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah has claimed that it has 100,000 fighters, although independent estimates vary between 20,000 and 50,000.
Many are well trained and battle hardened, andfought in the Syrian civil war.
It has an estimated 130,000 rockets and missiles,according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank.
Most of its arsenal is made up of small, unguided surface-to-surface artillery rockets.
But it also thought to have anti-aircraft and anti-ship missiles, as well as guided missiles capable of striking deep inside Israel.
This is much more sophisticated than what Hamas, in the Gaza Strip, has at its disposal.
Since the Hamas attack on 7 October, Hezbollah has been attacking military positions in northern Israel.
It has launched rockets at Israeli positions, fired anti-tank missiles at armoured vehicles and attacked military targets with explosive drones.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have retaliated, using air strikes, tank and artillery fire against Hezbollah positions in Lebanon.
Israeli soldiers and Hezbollah fighters have been killed, and Israel has evacuated thousands of civilians from the area.
IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari said its forces were on "very high alert" along Israel's northern border.
The Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has promised a response of "unimaginable" magnitude if Hezbollah opens a second front in the conflict. | Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of the Islamist group Hezbollah, has praised the Hamas attacks on Israel in his first speech about the war. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-67307858?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA |
Some of the criticism of his appointment has been political in nature, such as questions about his role inthe Greensill lobbying controversy, or objections to the fact he will not have to answer questions in the House of Commons.
It is also fair to say Eurosceptic Tory MPs are not exactly dancing for joy either.
But more pertinently, Lord Cameron's foreign policy record from his time in No 10 is also coming under scrutiny.
After all, he is the man whoheld the referendum that led to Britain leaving the European Union, andpushed for a "golden era"of closer relations between Britain and China, a policy now long abandoned.
As prime minister, hebacked military action in Libyawhich brought down Muammar Gaddafi - but left a near failed state in its wake.
And in 2013 hecalled and lost a Commons vote on whether to bomb Syrian forcesafter they used chemical weapons, a political failure that many believe opened the way for Russia to play a bigger role in the Middle East.
That said, Lord Cameron does bring political heft to the Foreign Office.
He may be the fourth foreign secretary in as many years - and the eighth in total since 2010 when the Tories took power - but Lord Cameron is well known on the international stage.
Lord Cameron has relationships with key leaders that can be leveraged to Britain's gain, and may be seen by allies as a political grown up they can do business with.
Many Foreign Office staff were enthusiastic about his arrival. One senior official told me: "To bring someone of that firepower and experience to head up our diplomacy and development work can only aid the impact we want.
"Most counterparts will be pleased and impressed to see someone of his calibre across the table."
While European leaders will remember Lord Cameron opened the door to Brexit, they also know he campaigned against it, and European nations are increasingly looking to rebuild bridges with the UK.
China hawks will worry about Lord Cameron being too close to Beijing - financially and politically - but the government's policy of "protect, align and engage" with China is pretty settled and laid down in the "integrated review refresh" of UK foreign policy published earlier this year.
Even so, there is much for Lord Cameron's opponents at home and abroad to get their teeth into.
Since leaving Downing Street - and aside from time spent cloistered in his shepherd's hut at home writing his memoirs - Lord Cameron's business activities have been global and controversial.
They include his stint as the vice-chairman of a failed attempt to build a £1bn China-UK investment fund, which raised concerns about his close links with Beijing.
He has also given speeches supporting investment in a new port in Sri Lanka that has been heavily backed by China.
Lord Cameron was photographed taking tea with Lex Greensill in Saudi Arabia on a trip where it was reported they met Mohamed Bin Salman, the country's de facto leader who was shunned by many over human rights concerns.
Amid these various business endeavours, charity work, teaching and lucrative speaking engagements, the former prime minister never found a substantive role after No 10 - until, perhaps, now.
The next question will be whether Lord Cameron will seek to use his undoubted political heft to shift UK foreign policy.
He has long been a friend of Israel but has in the past been willing to be candid and critical too.
As prime minister, he was willing to urge Israel to restrain its military operations and do more to protect civilians, and once called Gaza a "giant open prison".
He has strong views on international development, and legislated to ensure the UK always gave 0.7% of its national income on foreign aid - a commitment Rishi Sunak cut to 0.5%.
In his statement on Monday, Lord Cameron pointedly chose to praise the UK's "aid and development capabilities as some of the finest assets of their kind anywhere in the world".
A first test will come next week when the Foreign Office is expected to publish a White Paper setting out its development policy for the next seven years.
Lord Cameron's appointment is not without historical and constitutional precedent.
Alec Douglas-Home and Arthur Balfour both became foreign secretary after their time as prime minister - and Margaret Thatcher also had a foreign secretary drawn from the House of Lords.
But despite the potential benefits, Lord Cameron's return to government also comes with risks.
One of his predecessors in Downing Street, Lord Rosebery, once said having a former prime minister in cabinet was "a fleeting and dangerous luxury".
Mr Sunak, the Conservative Party and the rest of the country are about to find out if that is true. | David Cameron is not the first former prime minister to take over at the Foreign Office - but he comes to the role with some baggage. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-67406036?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA |
Cox, who played his on-screen wife Monica, shared a clip of her with Perry's character Chandler on Instagram and said she was "so grateful for every moment" they worked together.
Matt Le Blanc, who played room-mate Joey, posted his first tribute earlier.
"It was an honour to call you my friend," he wrote.
Le Blanc, 56, said: "It is with a heavy heart I say goodbye. I'll never forget you."
Perry was found dead at his Los Angeles home last month at the age of 54, sparking an outpouring of grief from fans across the world.
In ajoint statement last month, Cox and Le Blanc were joined by their fellow cast members Jennifer Aniston, Lisa Kudrow and David Schwimmer in describing Perry's death as an "unfathomable loss".
"We are all so utterly devastated by the loss of Matthew," the statement said. "We will always cherish the joy, the light, the blinding intelligence he brought to every moment - not just to his work, but in life as well.
"He was always the funniest person in the room. More than that, he was the sweetest, with a giving and selfless heart."
LeBlanc became the first to post an individual tribute, sharing pictures of him on set with Perry, as he said on Instagram: "The times we had together are honestly among the favourite times of my life.
"It was an honour to share the stage with you and to call you my friend.
"I will always smile when I think of you and I'll never forget you. Never.
"Spread your wings and fly brother you're finally free."
Within hours, Cox added her tribute on Instagram, writing alongside her chosen clip: "When you work with someone as closely as I did with Matthew, there are thousands of moments I wish I could share. For now here's one of my favourites."
She also revealed a behind-the-scenes story as she said: "Chandler and Monica were supposed to have a one-night fling in London. But because of the audience's reaction, it became the beginning of their love story.
"In this scene, before we started rolling, he whispered a funny line for me to say. He often did things like that. He was funny and he was kind."
Perry'sfuneral took place earlier this monthwith his Friends co-stars reportedly in attendance. Authorities arestill investigating the cause of his death.
Anew foundation has been set up in his namepromising to continue his commitment to "helping others struggling with the disease of addiction" following his public battles with alcohol and drugs. | Friends stars Courteney Cox and Matt Le Blanc have both paid their first individual tributes to co-star Mathew Perry, following his death last month. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-67413627?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA |
The Macallan 1926 single malt is one of the world's most sought-after bottles of Scotch whisky.
It was sold by Sotheby's on Saturday, at more than double its estimated price.
The auction house's head of whisky said he had been allowed to taste "a tiny drop" of it beforehand.
"It's very rich, it's got a lot of dried fruit as you would expect, a lot of spice, a lot of wood," Jonny Fowle told the AFP news agency.
The whisky spent 60 years maturing in dark oak sherry casks before becoming one of just 40 bottled in 1986.
The 40 bottles were reportedly not made available for purchase - instead, some were offered to The Macallan's top clients.
And whenever any of the bottles have been auctioned over the years there have been extraordinary results - a similar bottle was sold in 2019 for £1.5m.
Speaking last month in the run-up to the auction, Mr Fowle said The Macallan 1926 "is the one whisky that every auctioneer wants to sell and every collector wants to own".
Sotheby's said the 40 bottles from the 1926 cask had been labelled in different ways.
Two bottles had no labels at all, a maximum of 14 were decorated with the iconic Fine and Rare labels and 12 were labelled by pop artist Sir Peter Blake.
A further 12 bottles - including the record-breaking one sold on Saturday - were designed by Italian painter Valerio Adami.
It is not known how many of the 12 bottles of The Macallan Adami 1926 still exist.
One is said to have been destroyed in an earthquake in Japan in 2011, and it is believed at least one other has been opened and consumed. | A rare bottle of whisky has been sold for $2.7m (£2.1m) - breaking the record for the most expensive wine or spirit sold at auction. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-67466202?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA |
GB News currently employs four serving Conservative MPs as well as the former prime minister, Boris Johnson.
This has raised questions about whether GB News is abiding by Ofcom rules and if Ofcom is doing its job properly.
Lord Grade said rules around impartiality, fairness and accuracy are the same for GB News as for other broadcasters, including the BBC.
Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg, the Conservative deputy chairman Lee Anderson, Esther McVey and Philip Davies all host their own shows on GB News.
Sir Jacob has not revealed his salary, but Mr Anderson has recorded a £100,000 salary from GB News.
Former cabinet minister, Ms McVey, received £58,650 for her show in 2022. Husband and co-host, Mr Davies, received £46,203.
Mr Johnson announced he was joining the channel last month, it is not known how much he is being paid.
Lord Grade toldBBC One's Sunday with Laura Kuenssbergthat Ofcom did not "want to be in the business of telling broadcasters, licensees, who they can employ, who they can't employ".
"There are rules about elections and politicians at election time, there are very strong, clear rules, but that's not our job," he added.
"Our job is to ensure, within the rules of due impartiality, that there is plenty of choice and freedom of expression on the airwaves."
"That means some people will always be offended by stuff, but there's no rule that says you can't be offended."
Lord Grade also said he had to "be careful" when speaking about GB News as Ofcom has 14 investigations open into the channel.
Among the current probes is a look into remarks made by actor-turned-politician Laurence Fox on the Dan Wootton Tonight programme in September.
In a series of personal comments about the political correspondent Ava Evans, Laurence Fox asked: "Who would want to shag that?"
Fox and host Wootton apologised, and the former, who also hosted a programme on the channel, was sacked.
An internal investigation into Wootton, who was suspended, was announced by GB News in September.
An interview by married presenters and serving MPs Esther McVey and Philip Davies, with chancellor Jeremy Hunt, was found to have breached impartiality rules.
Sir Jacob's show is under investigation for allegedly twice breaching the "politicians as presenters" rule which means "no politician may be used as a newsreader, interviewer or reporter in any news programmes unless, exceptionally, it is editorially justified".
GB News is not the only broadcaster to employ serving politicians.
The former culture secretary Nadine Dorries began hosting a programme on TalkTV before she quit as an MP.
Labour's shadow foreign secretary David Lammy also hosts a show on LBC. | The chairman of media watchdog Ofcom, Lord Grade, has said it is not his job to tell broadcasters who to hire. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-67396474?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA |
All photos subject to copyright | A selection of powerful news photographs taken around the world this week. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/in-pictures-67449995?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA |
Britney Spears' sister Jamie Lynn and This Morning presenter Josie Gibson are also in the jungle on this year's show.
Hosts Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly are cheering on the celebrities as they battle it out to be crowned King or Queen of the Jungle.
The ITV programme returned on Sunday, 19 November.
Here is the full list of contestants:
Former world boxing champion Tony Bellew retired from a successful career in 2018, and now works as an analyst and pundit.
While he was still boxing in 2016 he also played a world champion boxer in the films Creed and Creed III, starring Michael B Jordan.
He now alsodevotes time to Weapons Down Gloves Up, an initiative offering boxing coaching, education and a guaranteed job interview to those who sign up.
Grace Dent may find the food in camp below her usual standards, as a MasterChef guest judge and restaurant critic for the Guardian.
Dentwrote in 2012that I'm a Celebrity was a "puerile venture into starvation, televised constipation and animal cruelty" but admitted that "invariably, I do watch".
The food critic, who has also written books and hosts her own podcast, says she is worried about what she will be given to eat in the camp, and is "especially dreading being really hungry" as she is used to eating four or five meals out a week.
Jockey Frankie Dettori retired in October, after more than 4,000 wins in a career that started in the 1980s.
Headmitted he would find leaving the sport hardafter securing his 500th win at Newmarket in October.
Dettori said at the time: "I felt sad today, nauseous, realising this is my last few days."
He went on to announce he wasselling items from his careerincluding trophies and racing silks.
The former Ukip and Brexit Party leader will follow in the footsteps of last year's political campmate, former health secretary Matt Hancock, who the public voted for to take part in numerous Bushtucker trials.
Farage recently confirmed he was considering an offer for the show, commenting that it was "quite a big decision and quite an unconventional thing for me to do".
Speaking ahead of his appearance, he said he wanted to show people he was not "mean-spirited, small-minded, nasty".
He said: "I am hoping those who hate me might hate me a little bit less afterwards. But it's a gamble."
Josie Gibson is best known for being one of the hosts of ITV's daytime show This Morning, and is a familiar face with fans of the programme.
She appearedalongside former presenter Holly Willoughbyon Willoughby's first show following the departure of her co-host Phillip Schofield.
Gibson first found fame as the winner of Big Brother in 2010, where she proved popular with the show's viewers.
Asked whether she would like to be crowned Queen of the Jungle, Josie said her main goal was to push herself to win as many stars as possible for her campmates.
Former EastEnders actress Danielle Harold is known for playing Lola Pearce-Brown, a character who died following a brain tumour. Harold received huge plaudits for her performance, and went on to win the award for serial drama performance at this year's National Television Awards.
The actress has revealed she is a relative newcomer to camping - and that her first time "didn't go very well". She is also hoping her former EastEnders stars won't vote for her to do any trials.
"They are going to love it when they find out I'm doing this," she said.
Marvin Humes started his career on talent show The X Factor in 2008, finishing second as part of the boyband JLS.
The group went on to have big chart success, with five hit number one singles including Beat Again. The band are currently on a greatest hits tour.
Humes has acted in Holby City, and presented on ITV's This Morning andBBC One's The Hit Listwith his wife Rochelle, who used to be in girl band The Saturdays.
He said I'm A Celeb has been on his bucket list for years and he jumped at the chance of appearing on the programme when producers approached him this year.
Actor Nick Pickard has played Tony Hutchinson in Channel 4 soap Hollyoakssince the programme's launch25 years ago.
The actor said he was determined "to embrace everything" about I'm A Celeb - and has even been following a strict health regime in preparation.
"I have not had a drink for five weeks," he said. "I was doing the stop October drinking challenge anyway, and I have stuck to it since. It is going to be hard on the food front though."
Social media influencer Nella Rose has a million followers on TikTok, plus 900,000 on Instagram and nearly 800,000 on YouTube.
The show's producers will be hoping she can help engage younger audiences.
Rosewon best media personality at last year's Mobo Awards, and previously hosted Catfish UK on MTV.
The YouTuber has promised to run a Zumba class in the camp every morning and says her role "is going to be to keep morale and humour high".
Fred Sirieix is best known as themaitre d' at Channel 4's First Dates restaurant.
His other TV work has included ITV programme Gordon, Gino and Fred's Great Christmas Roast, with Gordon Ramsay and Gino D'Acampo, and Channel 4's Gogglebox.
On his training regime, Sirieix said: "I go to the gym, I go to boxing, I train like a machine - that's my way to cope with doing I'm A Celebrity. This isn't a 100m race. You are going in for the long haul."
Actress Jamie Lynn Spears is the sister of singer Britney, and has appeared in shows including Netflix drama Sweet Magnolias.
Britney, whoreleased a memoir in October,was subject to a controversial conservatorship managed by the sisters' father, Jamie.
The Zoey 101 actress is apprehensive about facing her fears on the show.
She said: "Everything I have seen I have been afraid of. Absolutely every one of these trials I am dreading.
"I haven't looked at any of them and thought, 'Oh cool, I could do that one'. This is going to be terrifying."
Sam Thompson is a former cast member from E4 reality show Made In Chelsea, which he starred on for nearly a decade until 2021.
He also featured inChannel 4 documentary Sam Thompson: Is This ADHD?, is a presenter on Hits Radio and co-hosts Love Island podcast The Morning After.
The TV star has said he can't wait to meet his idols, Ant & Dec. | Politician Nigel Farage and social media sensation Nella Rose are among this year's I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here campmates. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-67410716?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA |
When we last spoke in 2021, Latham said her debut album had to be handed in âby the end of the yearâ. But here we are in 2023 and itâs only just arrived. So what happened?âI wrote a scuzzy â90s rock album that is never gonna see the light of day,â she admits.âSo that was one reason. But ultimately, it just took a really long time to have enough great music to choose from.âThe delay had one major benefit: In 2022, Latham found a whole new audience when her music featured prominently in the hit Netflix drama Heartstopper.Based on Alice Osemanâs graphic novels, the series charts the blossoming romance between high school students Charlie (Joe Locke) and Nick (Kit Connor), and Baby Queen formed the soundtrack to their courtship.Latham didnât even know about it until the first series was finished - but Oseman had played her debut EP while writing the scripts âand it became intertwined with the story she was tellingâ.When the series launched, sales of songs like Want Me and Dover Beach surged by up to 500 per cent. Latham went on to write two song specifically for the show; and made her acting debut at the end of the second series."I got my first IMDb credit as 'prom singer!ââ she laughs.
Aside from the profile boost, the series left a big impact on the singer - who grew up in the conservative South African city of Durban, âwhere no-one drank and no-one had sex before 18â.Latham was attracted to both men and women from a young age but often felt ashamed of her feelings.âI really could have done with a show like Heartstopper,â she says.âIn my youth, queerness was never romanticised. It was a desire, an urge that couldn't be romantic. Youâd think, âNo-one can ever know about this. I'll take it to my grave.ââAnd what's so beautiful about Heartstopper is that it's just a simple, happy, normal story.âItâs not about the âqueer best friendâ or the âtough lesbian rock chickâ. The purpose of the show is to represent people that have felt invisible for so long.âAs an 18-year-old, Latham fled the restrictive culture of Durban and flew to London with a suitcase of demo CDs.Turned down by every record label, she invented Baby Queen as a sort of rebellious, sardonic best friend, who had all the confidence Latham lacked.The character allowed her to write more confrontational lyrics, dismantling Instagram culture onInternet Religion,external(sample lyric: âI'm done saving the world, so take a look at these cool shoes!â) and documenting her damaging lifestyle decisions on These Drugs.
On her debut album, Quarter Life Crisis, Latham is still rudderless but sheâs being kinder to herself.The opening song, We Can Be Anything, is a glistening rejection of the nihilism that characterised her early songs. And by the end of the record, sheâs writing a heartfelt letter to her 17-year-old self, telling her to stop worrying.âYouâll end up somewhere people donât really care you kiss girls.âThat realisation is key.The first time Latham wrote about same-sex attraction - on the single Dream Girl - she had âheart palpitationsâ about coming out in public. But she neednât have worried.âBella, I am so proud of you,â wrote one fan under the YouTube video. âI knew Baby Queen wouldn't disappoint us on Pride Month,â added another.Even her family approved.âMy mum heard Dream Girl for the first time a year-and-a-half ago and it's actually her favourite song on the album,â says Latham.âWeâve worked through so much when it comes to my sexuality. She's seen how difficult it's been for me, which is something I never opened up to her about before, and we're just in a completely different placeâ¦âBut I still think she likes it better when I'm with a guy!âSelf-acceptance is new territory for the singer but, elsewhere, Quarter Life Crisis revisits familiar themes of wasted potential and arrested development.âWhen Iâm tying my laces / I still make two bunny ears,â she sings on 23.
The stand-out track is I Canât Get My S*** Together - a pulsing pop anthem where Lathamâs angels and demons engage in a clever back-and-forth.âIâmnotfinelostmydamnmindâsgoneallwrongright.â (Try reading it with and without the text in italics.)âIâm so glad you picked that song out!â she beams. âThat call and response was so difficult to write, as was creating a sonic difference between the two parts.âIn the end, we had a whiteboard with all these, like, complex maths equations on it, but I love that song.âPart of the problem was that, having established Baby Queenâs unique world view, it was tough live up to her own standards.âI feel like I've written myself into a corner, sometimes,â she admits.âThe obsession with lyrics has gotten worse. Sometimes I just sit there and want to smash my skull against the wall trying to think of the words.âBut I made my bed - and now I have to sound like a genius every time I open my mouth!â
Sheâs joking, but Quarter Life Crisis contains some of the smartest pop lyrics youâll hear in 2023.Better still, sheâs dialled down the cynicism and opened her heart.On Obvious, Latham even confronts her decision to leave South Africa - and how, in the process, she lost someone close âbefore I said goodbyeâ.âI get this awful feeling, late at night, that she held on for one more day in case I came home again,â she sings, her voice racked with guilt.When she finished the album, Latham returned home for the first time in five years - but the journey raised conflicting emotions.âYou can reject where you came from, but as soon as your feet hit the tarmac, there's something about the foliage and the air that you can't deny,â she says.âBut ultimately that trip cemented the fact that there was nothing there for me; and that, as much as all these things hurt, my family is still there for me.âSo I hadn't lost as much as I thought.âThese days, her music is played on the radio in Durban, an unthinkable achievement when she was growing up. But in Lathamâs mind, thereâs still work to be done.âQuarter Life Crisis isnât my dream album and it's not my best album,â she says with a characteristic lack of filter.âThe one thing that I felt after finishing it was, 'Let me just make my next one. I know what to do now'.âFans in the court of the Baby Queen are already waiting. | One of Baby Queenâs guitars is missing.If youâve ever seen her on stage, the pop star plays a custom-made hot pink Fender Telecaster.But when she joins the BBC on Zoom from her flat in London, thereâs a blank space on the wall where the guitar would normally be.âIâm not allowed to have it at home,â the 26-year-old confesses. âI'm hugely prone to forgetfulness and if I turned up to a gig without it, itâd be a disaster. So itâs in a lock-up in Wembley.âItâs not just the guitar.Her tour manager has confiscated her in-ear headphones because the last time she brought them back from a show, she woke up the next morning to find them âsmashed to smithereensâ.âI was like, 'How the hell did that happen?' And it was only a few years later that I found out from my friend in America that I was on FaceTime with her and I ate them.âI actually chewed them up like a toffee. So, no, I'm not allowed to keep those either.âFans of Baby Queenâs music probably wonât be surprised.Her grunge-coated bubblegum pop is fermented with candid tales of growing up, coming out and going overboard.Early anthemBuzzkill,externaldescribed her tendency to ruin parties by getting drunk and bursting into tears, whileMedicine,externaltook a wry look at life on antidepressants: "My heart can't break / because my medication confiscated sexâ.Those songs earned the singer, real name Bella Latham, an underground following, and a fan club of like-minded musicians.Courtney Love described her as âa confident lady without one bad songâ and Olivia Rodrigo whisked her around Europe as a support act on her Sour tour. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c518g2lg02yo?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA |
The US confectionery giant will pay £534m for the firm that Angus Thirlwell and Peter Harris set up in 1993.
Hotel Chocolat said the deal would allow the brand to "grow further and faster", including overseas.
The company has had mixed success with expanding internationally and last year had to shut down its five shops in the US.
"We know our brand resonates with consumers overseas, but operational supply chain challenges have held us back," said chief executive Mr Thirlwell.
The company is mostly based in the UK with around 124 shops, but has some overseas.
Mr Thirlwell said: "By partnering with Mars, we can grow our international presence much more quickly using their skills, expertise and capabilities."
Mr Thirlwell and Mr Harris each have a 27% stake in Hotel Chocolat. Mr Thirlwell, who will stay on as chief executive, said that he would invest 80% of the £144m he will make back into the company.
He added that Mr Harris, who will retire, would also invest some of his windfall in Hotel Chocolat under Mars' ownership but did not say how much.
Hotel Chocolat started by selling its upmarket confectionery online and opened its first shop, in north London, in 2004.
Commenting on whether Mars intended to change Hotel Chocolat's recipes following the takeover, Andrew Clarke, global president of Mars snacking, said there were "absolutely no plans" to do that.
"We've got a real track record here of nurturing, protecting and accelerating brands and actually keeping that entrepreneurial nature at what that brand stands for," he said.
There are also no plans to start selling Mars confectionery in Hotel Chocolat shops.
Hotel Chocolat's overseas expansion has been costly and problematic.
In September last year, it announced the closure of its five shops in the US at a cost of £3.5m, but it continues to sell online, focusing on its Velvetiser hot chocolate-maker.
Earlier this year, it announced a joint venture in Japan with Tokyo's Eat Creator Corporation to set up 21 Hotel Chocolat shops after its first deal fell apart.
It previously had a partnership with Chris Horobin, the former boss of QVC Japan, to open stores in the country. However, that deal ended and resulted in Hotel Chocolat writing off nearly £22m.
The company now holds a 20% stake in the joint venture with Eat Creator and will receive royalties from the deal.
Commenting on its past difficulties with expanding internationally, Mr Thirlwell said: "Building a brand overseas is not a short-term fix."
He said there was "huge appeal" for Hotel Chocolat and its products overseas.
But he went on: "What we found more difficult and what was going to require more capital and more work was the operational elements of the business, so that includes manufacturing in country, distribution and the behind-the-scenes element that customers don't really see.
"This tie-up with Mars is actually all about solving that for Hotel Chocolat."
The company also owns an estate in St Lucia, which has a 140-acre farm that produces organic cacao and is where the company operates the Rabot Hotel.
In its most recent results, Hotel Chocolat disclosed impairment charges on the estate because of "continued Covid-19 disruption where visitor numbers to the island have not recovered to pre-pandemic levels".
The company also has shops in Ireland and Gibraltar. | The co-founders of Hotel Chocolat will each get £144m after agreeing to sell the British business to Mars. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-67436228?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA |
Telecom firms Paltel and Jawwal said all energy sources sustaining their networks were depleted, and an internet monitor confirmed a major outage.
Israel has blocked all but one delivery of fuel to Gaza since the start of its war with Hamas five weeks ago.
The UN said a blackout could jeopardise civil order and undermine aid efforts.
"We regret to announce that all telecom services in Gaza Strip have gone out of service as all energy sources sustaining the network have been depleted, and fuel was not allowed in," Paltel said in a statement on Thursday afternoon.
At the same time, internet observatory NetBlocks said live metrics showed Gaza was "in the midst of a major internet outage", with telecom services likely to be unavailable to most residents.
Israel launched a major military campaign in the Gaza Strip to destroy Hamas, which it considers a terrorist group, in retaliation for the 7 October cross-border attack by hundreds of gunmen. At least 1,200 people were killed in Hamas's assault on Israel and about 240 others were taken hostage.
Since Israel started its counterattack, Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry has said 11,400 people have been killed in the territory and the United Nations has warned of a "humanitarian disaster".
The Israeli government has defended blocking fuel deliveries during its campaign, saying it is concerned that Hamas could steal fuel and use it for military purposes.
One tanker carrying 23,000 litres of diesel crossed from Egypt on Wednesday, but Israel restricted its use only for the refuelling of UN aid lorries.
Other key services have already had to shut down because of similar issues. This includes hospitals, water pumps, desalination plants, sewage treatment facilities and bakeries.
The BBC's Rushdi Abu Alouf, who is in the southern city of Khan Younis, confirmed that all communications were down across Gaza on Thursday night.
He said it would now be extremely difficult to get any information about what was happening on the ground elsewhere, particularly in places like Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, where Israeli forces were carrying out an operation for a second consecutive day.
Before the start of the blackout, a journalist trapped inside the complex had told him by phone that troops were storming all of the hospital's departments and "shooting in all directions". Our correspondent has been unable to re-establish contact since then.
The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Unrwa - which runs the largest humanitarian operation in Gaza - said he feared the blackout could cause a further breakdown of civil order.
"These are signs of a situation when you have a blackout and you cannot communicate with anyone anymore... that triggers and fuels even more the anxiety and the panic," Philippe Lazzarini, the UN leader, told a news conference in Geneva.
"This can provoke or accelerate the last remaining civil order that we have in the Gaza Strip. And if this completely breaks down, we will have difficulties to operate in an environment where you do not have a minimum of order."
Human Rights Watch said on Wednesday that a prolonged communications blackout could "provide cover for atrocities and breed impunity while further undermining humanitarian efforts and putting lives at risk".
Mr Lazzarini also said that he believed there was a "deliberate attempt to strangle" Unrwa's work in Gaza, warning that the agency might have to entirely suspend its operations if its fuel supplies ran out.
Unrwa, which is hosting 813,000 displaced people in its facilities, says it needs at least 160,000 litres of fuel every day to maintain its basic operations.
"If the fuel does not come in, people will start to die because of the lack of fuel," Mr Lazzarini warned.
"Exactly as from when, I don't know. But it will be sooner rather than later."
The head of the UN World Food Programme meanwhile said that supplies of food and water were "practically non-existent" and that "only a fraction of what is needed is arriving through the borders".
"With winter fast approaching, unsafe and overcrowded shelters, and the lack of clean water, civilians are facing the immediate possibility of starvation," Cindy McCain warned.
But a spokesman for the Israeli defence ministry body overseeing policy for the Palestinian territories, Cogat, told the BBC: "As far as I know, there is no lack of food and no lack of water in Gaza."
Col Moshe Tetro said Israel was fulfilling its obligations to facilitate the delivery of aid and that the number of lorries crossing from Egypt was increasing every day. The UN says 1,139 aid lorries have entered since 21 October, compared to about 500 each day on average before the war.
Col Tetro also stressed that Israel was doing everything it could to reduce civilian casualties, including by telling residents in the north of Gaza to flee southwards for their own safety as it focuses its air and ground assault on what it sees as Hamas's stronghold.
Many of the 1.5 million displaced people have fled to Khan Younis, where the pre-war population of 300,000 has tripled.
On Thursday, there were reports that Israeli forces had dropped leaflets urging people to evacuate four towns east of the city - Bani Shuhaila, Khuzaa, Abasan and Qarara - where tens of thousands of people have been sheltering.
An Unrwa spokeswoman said the south had "not been safe at all", and an expansion of Israel's ground assault into the region would be bad news. | Mobile phone and internet services have gone down across the Gaza Strip due to a lack of fuel for back-up generators, Palestinian telecoms companies say. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-67441025?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA |
Rio de Janeiro recorded 42.5C on Sunday - a record for November - and high humidity on Tuesday meant that it felt like 58.5C, municipal authorities said.
More than a hundred million people have been affected by the heat, which is expected to last until at least Friday.
Officials have attributed it to the El Niño phenomenon and climate change.
The city of São Paulo saw average temperatures of 37.3C on Tuesday afternoon, the National Institute of Meteorology (Inmet) reported.
"I'm exhausted, it's hard," Riquelme da Silva, 22, told AFP news agency on the streets there.
"When I get home, it's cold water, otherwise I can't even get up because I'm so tired. It's even hard to sleep."
Dora, a 60-year-old street vendor, described the heat as "unbearable" for those who worked outside.
Inmet has issued red alerts for a large part of the country. These indicate that temperatures may be 5C above average for longer than five days and could pose a serious danger to health.
The heatwave, which comes more than a month before the beginning of summer in the southern hemisphere, has seen Brazil's energy consumption soar to record levels as people try to keep themselves cool.
Inmet research released last weekshowed that the average temperature in the country had been above the historical average from July to October.
Extreme weather is becoming more frequent and more intense in many places around the world because of climate change.
According to scientists,heatwaves are becoming longer and more intensein many places and this is expected to continue whilst humans keep releasing planet-warming greenhouse gases.
Meanwhile, the Earth is currently in anEl Niño weather phase, during which time global temperatures typically increase. | Red alerts have been issued for almost 3,000 towns and cities across Brazil, which have been experiencing an unprecedented heatwave. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-67422663?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA |
In a Times article, Suella Braverman called protesters "hate marchers" and accused police of a "double standard".
Mr Shapps said it was "proper" for the home secretary to debate the issue, but he "wouldn't use that set of words".
Labour's Yvette Cooper said she "shouldn't carry on in her job".
She also suggested Ms Braverman's remarks had madedisorder during Saturday's demonstrations worse.
On Sunday, the home secretary thanked police for "their professionalism in the face of violence and aggression from protesters and counter-protesters".
She criticised chants and placards from the march, saying: "This can't go on. Week by week, the streets of London are being polluted by hate, violence, and antisemitism... Jewish people in particular feel threatened - further action is necessary."
Her earlier claims that police were "biased" prompted widespread criticism and calls for the prime minister to sack her.
Pressure has increased on the home secretary after the Metropolitan Police made more than 100 arrests on Saturday and saidofficers faced "aggression" from counter-protesters.
On Saturday, Assistant Commissioner Matt Twist said the march had taken place against a backdrop of conflict in the Middle East, remembrance events and a "week of intense debate" about protest and policing, which "all combined to increase community tensions".
Speaking on Sunday, the defence secretary refused to say whether Ms Braverman would still be in her role in a week's time.
"A week is a long time in politics," Mr Shapps told Sky News's Trevor Phillips adding the make-up of the cabinet is "entirely a matter for the prime minister".
Downing Street is currently investigating how the article was published without edits they had wanted to be made - for now Prime MinisterRishi Sunak has backed his home secretary.
In her article in the Times, Ms Braverman claimed aggressive right-wing protesters were "rightly met with a stern response", while "pro-Palestinian mobs" were "largely ignored".
She went on to say police were applying "double standards" and "played favourites when it comes to demonstrators".
On Friday, while Downing Street gave its backing to Ms Braverman, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said her comments were"not words that I myself would have used".
Mr Shapps told BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg he also would not endorse Mrs Braverman's choice of language.
He added: "I think there have been concerns sometimes that people have felt at liberty, perhaps because they haven't seen swift enough action to carry on going out carrying these banners, singing these chants and breaking laws which were in place to prevent racial hatred.
"On the other hand, I wouldn't put it in those particular set of words, because I recognise the police have a very difficult job to do in managing marches which contain large numbers of people - a lot of that work has to be done afterwards."
Scotland's First Minister Humza Yousaf hascalled for the home secretary to resign, as has the Welsh First Minister Mark Drakeford, who said Ms Braverman's comments "put other people in harms way".
Downing Street had, in effect, hit pause on deciding the home secretary's political future on Thursday as it turned its focus to the weekend's events.
With Remembrance commemorations passed and a clearer picture of what happened at protests and counter protests on Saturday, pressure will resume on Rishi Sunak to send a clear message on his home secretary.
He could, as the opposition are calling for, sack her.
That would almost certainly mean carrying out a bigger reshuffle, which has been rumoured to be on the cards for months.
The downside would be that it would anger her supporters, who are predominantly on the right of the party.
That could trigger letters of no confidence and other public displays of division.
One Tory MP told the BBC efforts were already under way to lobby to keep her in the job.
Mrs Braverman has also never hidden her ambitions to one day be the party leader and sacked ministers have been known to be a thorn in the side of their former bosses.
On the other hand, Rishi Sunak could decide keeping her on outweighs the controversies and he could choose to back her.
In order to avoid claims of weakness though, he'd have to find a convincing reason for why she went ahead and published a newspaper opinion piece that hadn't been cleared by Downing Street.
He would also frustrate those Tory MPs who have tired of her knack for attracting controversy and are starting to use phrases like "unhelpful" and "brand damage" in relation to the home secretary.
Her continued presence in the Cabinet would also provide an ongoing target for Labour.
Now, of course, Mrs Braverman has one big option of her own: she could choose to resign.
That would free her from the constraints of having to stick to the government line.
But it would also mean leaving a job that carries huge influence and gives her a platform to push her particular agenda on issues such as immigration.
Just to complicate matters, this all comes days before the Supreme Court gives a ruling on the government's Rwanda plan, with which Mrs Braverman has become closely associated. | Grant Shapps is the latest cabinet minister to distance himself from the home secretary's choice of words, after she criticised police ahead of Saturday's pro-Palestinian rally. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-67397030?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA |
Stress and exhaustion are visible on her face. Being a first-time mother is hard anywhere in the world, but Kefaia had to do it under unimaginable trauma.
Originally from northern Gaza, the 24-year-old fled her home with her family after the Israeli military warned civilians to move to the south of the Strip for their safety.
Kefaia was heavily pregnant.
"I had to run and flee from one place to another. I was utterly exhausted. Initially we went to the Nuseirat Camp. But there was a bombing close to us. I saw bodies that had been ripped apart. It was extremely difficult," she tells a freelance journalist working in Gaza for the BBC.
Kefaia and her family are among the hundreds of thousands who have fled northern Gaza and, like many others, she had to walk for miles, all the while worried about being bombed.
"It was so dangerous for my unborn child. I was scared all the time," she says.
The family finally reached the Kuwaiti Hospital in Rafah city but its maternity ward had been closed down. Kefaia was then moved to the nearby Emirati Hospital.
"It was very hard because the number of women giving birth was huge," she says. "They were coming from all parts of Gaza, from the north to the south and everywhere in between."
"There was a shortage of painkillers," she adds. "So they only administered it if the pain became really unbearable and only to those most in need."
She gave birth with no painkillers.
The World Health Organization (WHO) says more than half the hospitals in Gaza are not functioning due to lack of fuel, damage, attacks and insecurity. The UN estimates that around 50,000 pregnant women have been caught up in the conflict, and despite the state of hospitals, roughly 180 deliveries are expected to take place each day.
Many pregnant women have been cut off from safe delivery services as hospitals are overwhelmed with casualties, out of fuel for generators, and lacking medicines and basic supplies - including for the management of obstetric emergencies.
Ola Abu Oali was one of them.
"My baby is two weeks old. He was born during the war, right here in this school," she tells Majdi Fathi, a freelance journalist working for the BBC in Gaza.
Ola has another young son. They are all currently living in a different overcrowded UN school shelter in Rafah.
"Both my children are getting sick. Their stomachs are bloating and they have severe diarrhoea. Every time I breastfeed my baby, he vomits. I've had to take my other child to the hospital three times to put him on a drip, but his condition has not changed," she says.
Access to clean water is one of the biggest challenges for the displaced in Gaza. The UN says each person has access to only three litres of water a day for all their needs.
"We don't have any water. There is no milk for my baby. And the condition of the toilets is unbearable. There is a stench and we have to wait our turn to use it," Ola says.
Wafaa Yousef Fakhry Ahmed is sheltering in the same school as Ola.
"I'm pregnant. I fear for my child's life. I'm approaching my due date and I'm worried about the environment I'm living in, about getting diseases. We don't have water for basic cleanliness, " she says.
Wafaa is from Beit Hanoun, near Gaza's northern border, and has also moved from place to place in search of safety.
"First, we went to a school in the Al-Muaskar area. We were asked to leave there too, so we came further south. We used carts and donkeys on some part of the way. But most of it, we walked, " she says. "We had no water with us to drink, so the only option we had was to drink from the sea. My husband was trying so hard to get one bottle for us to drink from."
The WHO says maternal deaths are expected to increase in Gaza given the lack of access to adequate care. It says the hostilities have direct and deadly consequences for pregnancies, with a rise in stress-induced miscarriages, stillbirths and premature births.
Asma is from Gaza City but is now living with her three young children in a tent in the compound of the Al Aqsa Hospital in Deir Al-Balah, central Gaza.
She's pregnant and before she was forced to flee her home, she had gone to the Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City for a check-up.
"Due to the constant sound of bombings, many women suffered miscarriages at Al-Shifa. The situation is unbearable, especially for pregnant mothers. I'm really worried about my baby and about having a miscarriage," Asma says. "Waking up with aching bones has become a daily reality. We're exposed to unsanitary conditions. And we've repeatedly witnessed distressing sights of dead bodies."
Asma says she's exhausted and wants the fighting to stop.
"I plead for a ceasefire. What is the fault of the children that they have to suffer this much? What is the fault of my baby who hasn't come to life yet?"
Additional reporting by Majdi Fathi in Gaza and Haneen Abdeen in Jerusalem. | "My child doesn't have a name yet because of the war. She's four days old," says Kefaia Abu Asser. Sitting on a straw mat in a corner of a school shelter run by the UN in Rafah, in southern Gaza, Kefaia cradles her baby daughter, who is wrapped in a red blanket. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-67398743?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA |
Four of the big unions have called the action in an escalating row over pay.
It has led to classroom assistants, bus drivers, catering staff, cleaners and other support workers walking out at hundreds of schools.
A representative from one union said up to 20,000 are expected to take part.
The Department of Education (DE) said it could not afford to increase wages on its current budget.
Officials said they would need extra funding to do so and were working with the Education Authority (EA) to try to resolve the matter.
The authority said it expected significant disruption on Thursday, as members of three unions - Unison, United and GMB - walked out for the full day.
Nipsa union members are striking for two hours after the start of their shifts.
At St John the Baptist Primary in west Belfast, classroom assistants Eamon McQuillan and Maria Rogan have been taking part in the strike.
Mr McQuillan said he is working two other jobs, one in a youth club and the other at the SSE Arena in Belfast, in order to pay his bills.
He said he needs this extra income to pay for "day-to-day costs" such as helping his parents with bills, paying his for his mobile phone and food.
"That's why we are out here, on strike, looking for better pay," he said.
"We are also out here because a school doesn't run without a classroom assistant, a child's education doesn't run without a classroom assistant, especially in terms of one-to-one."
Meanwhile, Ms Rogan said she was taking the action as she felt she deserved better pay for the work she did.
"They need the help and support from us, if we weren't here they wouldn't have it," she said.
"For them to get the education, we need to be there, to see them succeed in different areas just means the work pays off."
Parent Lynsey O'Donnell, who has two children who receive support at St John the Baptist, said she fully supports the strike.
Ms O'Donnell praised the work of the assistants, who she said were vital in keeping her children in school.
"I had one child in particular that last year was a real, real struggle. We couldn't get him to school, he couldn't stay at school, he was on a reduced timetable," she said.
"He was out of school more than he was in school but this year he has an assistant and he has been in school every single day."
St John the Baptist's principal Chris Donnelly said those in the school community were appreciative of non-teaching staff and "fully behind" the action they have taken.
"We cannot deliver on our mission of educating all children, in developing them academically, socially, emotionally and physically without classroom assistants and without our non-teaching staff," he added.
Anne Taggart, a cook at Holy Child Primary School in west Belfast, said her wage has not changed in 21 years in the job.
She said the cost-of-living crisis was impacting her "ten-fold" and it has got to the situation of "eat or heat".
Ms Taggart added that cooks and catering assistants are leaving in their droves as they "cannot afford to exist".
In Londonderry, staff members outside Ardnashee Special School and College said they felt they had no choice but to strike.
Sharon Thompson, a classroom assistant, said: "We love and idolise these children and we want to be in work today but we have no option but to take a stand for the greater good."
Fellow classroom assistant Kyle Doherty said they needed to be recognised for the work they do with children who have very complex needs.
"I'm here because the job, role and responsibilities that we fulfil everyday are not reflected in our wages," he said.
"We don't want to be here but we feel we have no choice and we need to make a point. People don't actually realise what we do. The demands of the job have changed so much at times you feel like you have to be a teacher, carer and a nurse."
Raymond McFeeters, the principal at Ardnashee, said his staff have the school's support.
He said classroom assistants did "an amazing job" but had been made to feel "undervalued".
Despite the responsibility and often complex work their job entails, many are paid little more than minimum wage, he added.
"One of the big problems is they can earn more money by going to other jobs with much less responsibility and which are much less challenging," he said.
"If we don't support our staff in taking this action, we may lose a lot of staff and then we won't be able to function at all."
At Holy Trinity Primary School in Enniskillen, senior clerical officer Stephanie Hamilton said a pay rise was long overdue.
"We all work very hard, we love our jobs but we're finding it more and more difficult in a cost-of-living crisis to survive," she said.
"So we just want fair pay and to be treated well, and the regrading is really important to us."
Ms Hamilton said she has been encouraged by the support from teaching staff, parents and the public.
"Today we can tell that by standing on the side of the road, them tooting their horns and waving, you can hear them now," she said.
"We hope that it works. We've got to do something and we hope that we get the support that we deserve."
The Department of Education said a pay proposal put forward by the Education Authority and trade unions would have a significant cost.
The initial annual implementation cost for the EA would be £39m, with the subsequent recurring cost rising to £71m after three years, according to the department.
"However, there is currently no budget available to implement this without further funding being made available." | Thousands of non-teaching staff have gone on strike from Northern Ireland schools with one classroom assistant saying he has to work three jobs to pay his bills. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-67431064?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA |
Hampshire, 42, told her Instagram followers she was "sorry and ashamed".
In a now-deleted post, Hampshire was seen styled as Depp, with drawn-on facial hair and tattoos, while her friend screwed up her face in mock distress as the actor's ex-wife.
Former couple Depp and Heard both accused each other of domestic abuse.
Hampshire, who played Stevie Budd in sitcom Schitt's Creek, described the costume as "one of the most thoughtless, insensitive, and ignorant things" she had ever done.
In the original post, the Canadian actress was seen wearing a pin-striped suit, with her hair slicked back. She was also holding a wine bottle - an apparent reference todetails from the couple's televised court caselast year.
Hampshire went on to write that she was ashamed at having put "something that awful out into the universe" and said "domestic abuse is never, ever funny".
Last year, Depp and Heard's relationship was in the spotlight due to a US court case in which Depp accused his ex-wife of defamation over an article she wrote for the Washington Post.
In the 2018 opinion piece, Heard said she had lost work and received death threats after accusing her ex-husband of domestic abuse, and had "felt the full force of our culture's wrath for women who speak out".
Depp said the article implied he was violent towards Heard, and won the seven-week case against her.
Two years previously, Depplost a similar case in the UKagainst the Sun newspaper, after the High Court said the content of an article which called him a "wife-beater" was "substantially true". | Schitt's Creek actress Emily Hampshire has apologised for dressing up as Johnny Depp and Amber Heard with a friend for Halloween. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-67296157?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA |
The UN has said the situation at Al-Shifa Hospital is dire, with constant gunfire and bombings in the area.
Doctors there have said newborn babies have died after power for incubators was cut off due to a lack of fuel.
When challenged by the BBC's Laura Kuenssberg about those reports, Mr Herzog rejected them as "spin by Hamas" and insisted there was electricity.
The president also showed what he said was a copy of Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf was found on the body of a Hamas fighter in Gaza.
He said a copy translated into Arabic was found "just a few days ago" in a children's room that had been "turned into a military operation base of Hamas".
The Nazi leader's antisemitic manifesto was first printed in 1925.
Finding a copy of it in northern Gaza, Mr Herzog said, showed that some in Hamas "learned again and again Adolf Hitler's ideology of hating the Jews".
On Sunday morning, the World Health Organization (WHO) said it had lost communication with its contacts at Al-Shifa, with staff and patients trapped by fighting outside.
It warned that the hospital had been reportedly attacked multiple times over the previous two days, leaving several people dead and many others wounded. The intensive care unit had suffered damage, as had areas where displaced people were sheltering, it added.
It also said there were reports that some people who fled the hospital were shot at.
WHO chief Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus later said that contact has been restored but warned of "dire" conditions inside. He repeated calls for a ceasefire and said the hospital has been without electricity and water for three days.
Doctors and the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza have said a lack of fuel for Al-Shifa's generators there means patients cannot be operated on and incubators for premature babies cannot run. But the president disputed this.
"We deny this at all, there is a lot of spin by Hamas... but there's electricity in Shifa, everything is operating," Mr Herzog told the BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme.
Israel has said that Hamas has a base underneath the hospital building - a claim denied by Hamas.
Asked whether Israel has gone too far in its response to Hamas's 7 October attack, in which 1,200 people in Israel were killed and some 240 taken hostage back to Gaza, Mr Herzog said: "We work exactly according to the rules of international humanitarian law. We alert each and every civilian, because their homes have become terror bases".
He added: "Unfortunately, there are tragedies. We don't shy away from them. But truly many of the tragedies are done by Hamas, like they bombed [Al-]Shifa hospital yesterday, not Israel."
Surgeon Marwan Abu Saada told the BBC on Saturday that the hospital had run out of water, food and electricity.
He said the sounds of shooting and bombardments echoed through the hospital "every second".
Israeli military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said Israel would help evacuate babies from Al-Shifa following a request from the hospital administration. Dr Abu Saada said on Sunday night that three newborn babies had already died.
The Israeli military also released a video of soldiers leaving 15 jerry cans of fuel on the side of a street for the hospital on Sunday but claimed Hamas stopped them being picked up.
However, doctors said the amount would not bring enough power for an hour, while any evacuation of the babies needed specialised mobile incubators.
Asked whether it was time to listen to calls from Israel's allies,including from France's President Macron, for a ceasefire and measures to reduce civilian casualties, Mr Herzog asserted Israel's right to defend itself after the October attacks.
"We of course listen to our allies, but first and foremost, we defend ourselves," he said.
He acknowledged that there had been civilian deaths in Gaza but blamed Hamas for many of the tragedies.
Mr Herzog said his country's operations in Gaza were carried out "according to the rules of international humanitarian law", with Israel alerting civilians with phone calls and text messages, and urging them to evacuate from northern Gaza and "go down [to southern Gaza]".
"We give them humanitarian pauses so that they can go down [south]," Mr Herzog said.
He accused Hamas of stopping civilians from fleeing northern Gaza when asked about the pictures from Gaza showing many still sheltering in the area and reports that they were unable to leave.
More than 11,000 people have been killed in Gaza since the start of the war, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. More than 1.5m people are also displaced, according to the United Nations' agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa).
Fighting has been fierce in the northern part of the 41km (25 miles) long and 10km wide enclave, but blasts have also hitthe southern cities of Rafah and Khan Younis. | Israeli President Isaac Herzog has denied that Israel is striking the largest hospital in the Gaza Strip. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-67397963?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA |
It was August 2000. The first film was in pre-production at a former Rolls-Royce engine factory converted into movie studios. And the filmmakers were still trying to decide how to convincingly bring some of the magic of JK Rowling's best sellers to the cinema screen.
"My first day's work was being the world's first Quidditch player," he recalls with a proud smile.
"We put a broomstick on the back of a truck and drove it down the runway at Leavesden Studios, with [director] Chris Columbus looking down a camera lens whooping and hollering, and saying 'Yes, I think this is how we're gonna do Quidditch.'"
Holmes, a talented young gymnast from Essex still in his late teens, was asked to become the main double for Daniel Radcliffe's Harry, performing stunts that were deemed too risky for the film's 11-year-old star. The pair quickly forged a friendship that endures until today.
"Dave, still, is one of the most important people in my life. As he has been for the last 20 years," says Radcliffe.
"He was somebody that was so incredibly fun to hang out with when I was young.
"But then as I grew up he became a real guide to me, and kind of a mentor and someone who really looked out for me, and that really has just continued as we've grown."
"He was like my little brother on the films, and then grew to be one of my best friends," agrees Holmes. "He's always been there for me."
It's a powerful statement that's backed up by devastating experience.
During the run-up to filming of the seventh story, The Deathly Hallows Part 1, in January 2009, Holmes was badly injured. Rehearsing a stunt where he was rapidly jerked back on a harness, he broke his neck.
The resulting spinal injury meant he was in hospital for several months. He's permanently paralysed from the chest downwards and now uses a wheelchair.
Nearly 15 years later, he's the subject of a documentary. David Holmes: The Boy Who Lived details his experiences and the way his close friendships with people including Radcliffe have been an important part of his life following the accident.
Holmes says that reflecting on his experiences for the documentary has been cathartic.
"Some of it is not the easiest of things to digest," he says. "I just want to be honest. And honestly living with a broken neck is hard.
"I've said before, breaking my neck made a man of me.
"And looking back. I'm very grateful that I've managed to retain my sense of self, which is probably my biggest achievement."
Holmes's sense of positivity is a constant theme throughout the 90-minute film. Something that's attributed to both his strong personality, and the close group of friends that surround him.
It feels more like a story of character and friendship than anything else.
"Yeah," he agrees. "I'm very fortunate to have a lot of love in my life. And you know that message 'it takes a village to raise a child'. Well, it takes a village to survive a spinal injury as well. And I have a large village of a lot of love so I'm very thankful for that."
It's a village that's made up of the people he's closest to, many of whom appear in the documentary. The group includes his friend and care assistant Tommy, fellow stunt performers Marc and Tolga, whom he worked with on the Potter series. As well as Radcliffe.
"Anyone that worked on that franchise for the whole lot is part of a giant family," Holmes explains. "Just the amount of time we spent together, and the life experiences we've shared together."
The production shows footage ranging from archive of them all joking around on the film set, to sitting by his bedside following the accident, to laughing with him in the present day as they all eat together at David's home.
It also demonstrates the way he constantly wants to be looking forward, rather than reflecting too much on what has happened to him.
"Dave is, and has always been, an extraordinary person, before and after the accident," says Daniel Radcliffe, who serves as an executive producer on the project.
"I want people to get to know my friend, because he's so much fun, he's so funny, he's so smart, he's so kind, and so generous.
"And just an amazing person to be around. That's why I have wanted to share Dave with the world for so long."
One example of David's attitude towards life is the way he's helped to raise tens of thousands of pounds for people in need of medical treatment.
"Wonderful thing, right," he says with justifiable pride. "Like a silver lining on a very dark cloud. And to give back has always been important to me.
"To highlight the heroes that work in the NHS is something that we have been able to do on this project and I'm really proud of that. And so not just giving back financially, but giving back in awareness is really important to me."
He's also hopeful that the documentary will help him with his hopes of passing his skills and experience on to younger generations. His dream is a stunt school for young performers.
"I think unless you're investing in youth, you're not really investing in the whole human experience. The only thing that has real value in this world is opening doors for other people.
"I was fortunate enough to have a lot of doors open for me. And if I can do the same for other people whether they're disabled or able bodied whether that's in the film industry or in other aspects in life. I think giving back is the best of what we are as human."
There's little evidence of self pity in the documentary. And he is insistent that he wants those watching to take a hopeful message from it.
"In life you're either a victim or a survivor, right. I choose to be a survivor, and if that has a knock-on effect for other people that are living with any hardships in life then that's got to be a positive thing.
"It's OK to be vulnerable. It's OK to show that life's not easy and ultimately not kind to you sometimes. But how you deal with it is a reflection on who you are. It's important to rise above all the challenges, and just to embrace all of what life throws at you. The good and the bad."
David Holmes: The Boy Who Lived will be available on Sky Documentaries from Saturday 18 Nov. | David Holmes vividly remembers the day he joined the Harry Potter stunt crew. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-67350355?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA |
On Sunday came military veterans, lots of them, in blazers and berets, well-shined shoes and crisply-creased trousers, with nods to old comrades and regimental rivals.
Here were families making sure their loved ones were remembered and here were people who had come to see the spectacle, but also to pay their respects.
The crowd that lines Whitehall on these Remembrance Sundays does not all dress up for the occasion. But this is a Britain with Sunday-best manners, polite and orderly, this is a day of unity in divided times.
The hinge of this day is the eleventh hour - that time on 11 November 1918 when four terrible years of slaughter came to end.
The two minutes' silence that falls after Big Ben sounds sees faces long with memory and grief, none more so than the King, a single poppy blazing out from the blue-grey lapel of his greatcoat.
A command is barked into the thick cold air: "Stand at ease, stand easy." The troops settle a little.
And then begins the beating heart of the day, the parade of veterans, in berets and bowler hats, sometimes in wheelchairs and sometimes led by guide dogs.
Their march not quite as steady as it once was, but their pride shining out like the medals across their chests.
As they pass the Cenotaph - Whitehall's 103-year-old war memorial - heads swing left in unison, some give a sharp salute.
And, as they pass, they yield up their ring of poppies, which is taken to the base of the Cenotaph and laid gently down, the ring of red around the simple monument gradually becoming a long carpet of remembrance.
Read the latest from our royal correspondent Sean Coughlan -sign up here. | For one day a year the hustle and bustle of London's Whitehall - gawking tourists, chanting protestors and hooting taxis - is swept away and in its place a very different slice of Britain descends. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-67397244?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA |
The pair, a man and a woman in their early 20s, were picked up after a series of raids on houses in Diepenbeek and Ostend, prosecutors said.
One house contained large quantities of Nazi memorabilia and flags, they added.
The allegations against the two include "recruiting people with the aim of committing terrorist crimes".
They are also suspected of "preparing for the commission of terrorist acts".
The Belgian raids were part of a Europe-wide operation against right-wing terrorism that also included raids in Croatia, Germany, Lithuania, Romania and Italy, according to the EU's crime agency Europol.
In all,five people were apprehended and seven others interrogatedacross the different countries, it said.
The two people taken into custody by Belgian police have been identified as Daan C, born in 2000, and Kayley W, born in 2002.
Daan C was arrested pending further investigation, while Kayley W was released after questioning.
"Both persons are suspected of participating in the activities of a terrorist group, with Daan C also as a leader," said a statement from the federal prosecutor.
"There are indications that the suspects were active on several encrypted extreme-right platforms, urging people to commit terrorist acts, recruiting new members and sharing information on how to use 3D-printed firearms," the statement went on.
"They were also found in possession of materials that could be used to produce home-made bombs and petrol bombs."
In addition, prosecutors said some members of the online groups had written a manifesto and there were indications they had weapons at their disposal.
"Despite the young age of some of the suspects, indicators showed that there was an increased risk that some of them would take action soon," Europol said. | Anti-terrorism police in Belgium have detained two suspected members of a far-right group accused of plotting bomb attacks and inciting violence. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-67381829?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA |
A 32-year-old man was detained over the apparent protests on Wednesday evening, West Midlands Police said.
Videos on social media show the rodents being released in branches in Star City, Perry Barr and Small Heath.
Police are also looking for Billal Hussain, 30, in connection with the incidents.
The force said a number of warrants had been executed in efforts to arrest Mr Hussain, suspected of being involved in the "unacceptable" and "distressing" incidents.
A video on social media showed mice dyed in the colours of the Palestinian flag being released into the Star City restaurant on Monday.
A second clip also showed mice in a box in the Perry Barr branch on Tuesday.
The incidents were being treated as public nuisance offences, police confirmed.
Both restaurants were temporarily closed for a full clean and visits from pest control officers, a McDonald's spokesperson said
A video of a reported third incident of a similar nature was also shared on social media on Wednesday, where a group of masked people appeared to empty a box of mice in a branch in Small Heath.
West Midlands Police said it was investigating the third incident but it was unclear if it was connected.
Follow BBC West Midlands onFacebook,XandInstagram. Send your story ideas to:[email protected] | A man has been arrested after boxes of live mice were released into McDonald's restaurants in Birmingham. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-67289660?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA |
They feature lyrics from Christmas carols including Silent Night and Away in a Manger, and a barcode that you can scan to get a special Christmas message from Shaun the Sheep.
They've been made with an art technique called woodblock printing, which involves using carved wooden blocks to print ink or paint onto paper.
They are also the first Christmas stamps to feature King Charles's silhouette.
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The stamps show lots of different scenes from the Christian story about the birth of Jesus.
This includes pictures of Mary, an angel singing, and baby Jesus in a stable. Each stamp has its own line from a famous Christmas carol.
Royal Mail stamps always have a silhouette of the monarch on them, andKing Charles's face replaced the previous monarch, Queen Elizabeth, in April this year.
The tradition of Christmas-themed stamps goes back to December 1966.
The UK's Postmaster General created an art competition for kids to enter, with the hope of having their art featured on a stamp.
ThePostmaster Generalused to be a role in the government, given to an MP. They used to be in charge of the Royal Mail andtelegraphs.
Telegraphs were machines that people used to use to send messages over long distances using electric signals.
These Christmas stamps also feature a barcode that you can use on an app to view a special Christmas message from Shaun the Sheep.
It features Shaun sending some festive cheer to the farmer's dog.
Do you write Christmas cards, maybe to give to your family and friends? Let us know what you think in the comments! | This year's Christmas stamps have been revealed by Royal Mail. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/67295693?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA |
During filming for the rom-com Arthur in July 2010 the comedian is alleged to have exposed himself to the anonymous woman before following her into a bathroom and sexually assaulting her.
Brand is facingaccusations of rape, sexual assaults and emotional abuseafter reports in the British media.
He denies the allegations and says his relationships were "always consensual".
Brand has yet to respond to the lawsuit.
British police have said they are investigating a number of claims made against Brand, but the case, filed with New York State Supreme Court on Friday, marks the first time any such accusations have been made in a lawsuit.
In an affidavit, the woman - referred to as Jane Doe - claims the actor had "appeared intoxicated, smelled of alcohol, and was carrying a bottle of vodka on set" before the assault on 7 July 2010.
He then exposed himself to his accuser in full view of the cast and crew, the papers say.
Later the same day the plaintiff says Brand entered the bathroom after her and assaulted her as "a member of production crew guarded the door from outside".
Film studio Warner Bros Pictures and other companies involved in the production are also named as defendants.
The woman says as a result of the alleged abuse she suffers from extreme embarrassment, shame and fear as well as finding it difficult to trust others.
She says she has professional concerns about being named in association with the case as she still works as an actor and fears she could be "blacklisted in the industry".
She is reported to be seeking unspecified damages from the British actor.
The document says she was initially booked for three days but after the assault was not brought back for the following days and paid only for one.
She also fears harassment from his followers should her identity be revealed, the papers say.
The case has been filed under the Adult Survivor's Act, New York legislation which allows alleged victims of sexual offences for which the statute of limitations has passed to file civil suits for a one-year period between 24 November 2022 and 24 November 2023.
Allegations from four women towards Brand werefirst made in a joint investigationby the Sunday Times, Times and Channel 4's Dispatches.
They claimed the actor had sexually assaulted them in the UK and Los Angeles during a seven-year period, between 2006 and 2013, when he held high-profile jobs at BBC Radio 2, Channel 4 and as a Hollywood actor.
Since then the Metropolitan Police said it wasinvestigating allegations of sexual offencesmade following media reports about Brand, while Thames Valley Police is also looking intoreports of harassment and stalking.
A day before the media investigation into Brand was published online, the comedian shared a video on social media where he denied the allegations.
In it, he denied "serious criminal allegations" he said were to be made against him, and said his relationships "were absolutely, always consensual". | Russell Brand has been accused of sexually assaulting an extra on a film set in a civil lawsuit filed in the US. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-67318813?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA |
In an interview with CBS News, Benjamin Netanyahu said Hamas was firing at Palestinians trying to get safety.
Hamas "don't give a hoot about the Palestinians", he said.
More than 11,500 people have been killed in Gaza, Hamas's health ministry says, since Israel went to war after Hamas's deadly attack on 7 October.
Some 1,200 people were killed and about 240 were taken back to Gaza as hostages when Hamas gunmen burst through the border and attacked Israeli communities and military bases.
Several of the missing people have since been confirmed dead, with Hamas blaming Israeli air strikes, although the claim cannot be independently verified.
Mr Netanyahu told the BBC's US partner CBS that Israel would "try to finish the job" of wiping out Hamas in Gaza with minimal civilian casualties.
He said: "That's what we're trying to do: minimal civilian casualties. But unfortunately, we're not successful."
Mr Netanyahu said the Israeli military dropped leaflets urging people to leave certain areas and called civilians on their mobile phones warning them to leave but claimed Hamas was preventing this "at gun point".
"Any civilian death is a tragedy. And we shouldn't have any because we're doing everything we can to get the civilians out of harm's way, while Hamas is doing everything to keep them in harm's way," he said.
He added Hamas had "fired at the safe corridors that we provided for the Palestinians".
Addressing Israel's military raids on Al-Shifa hospital - the biggest medical facility in Gaza - Mr Netanyahu said there were "strong indications" that Israeli hostages were being held there and this was "one of the reasons we entered".
He said there were no hostages at the hospital when forces entered the hospital on Wednesday, claiming: "If there were [hostages], they were taken out."
Israel said it has further intelligence about those being held, but Mr Netanyahu said "the less I say about it, the better".
Israel has repeatedly accused Hamas of housing a major base underneath Al-Shifa - something which Hamas and hospital authorities have always denied.
Mr Netanyahu did not elaborate on what information Israel had to suggest that hostages had been held at Al-Shifa.
But he said Israel had "concrete evidence" that there were "terrorist chieftains and terrorists" in the hospital who he said had fled as Israel's forces entered.
"Hamas was using the patients in that hospital as a human shield," he said.
Mr Netanyahu said Israel had warned the hospital authorities it was going to enter the facility and to move patients out of the way, adding they were "doing this very gingerly" because they were trying to "do the moral thing".
Israel's military said its soldiers had found the bodies of two hostages -65-year-old Yehudit Weissand 19-year-old soldier Noa Marciano - in the vicinity of the hospital. | Israel's prime minister has said it is trying to minimise civilian casualties in the war in Gaza but has been "not successful", blaming this on Hamas. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-67449383?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA |
Incendiary because it is a direct, unflinching assault not just on the prime minister's political capabilities - or lack of them, as she claims - but on his integrity.
Her language drips with derision.
Betrayal. Equivocation. Disregard. Wishful thinking. Uncertain. Weak.
She claims to have presented Rishi Sunak with a document outlining her conditions for serving as his home secretary.
Those close to Suella Braverman claim Mr Sunak read and agreed the document the letter refers to, say he took a copy and there were witnesses.
Tonight, I have asked to see that document and was told it was "not for today".
That suggests she intends to drip feed her pungent critique - in an attempt to maximise the damage it might cause the government.
Downing Street's response to Mrs Braverman's letter hints at a frostiness, to put it gently - "the Prime Minister believes in actions not words", a spokesman noted acidly.
It is to those actions, or lack of them, that attention turns here tomorrow, with the Supreme Court's decision on the government's plan to send some migrants to Rwanda.
Expect to hear more from Mrs Braverman after we've heard from the judges.
The former home secretary isn't going quietly and she isn't finished yet. | This letter is incendiary. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-67420397?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA |
The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) said soldiers were engaged in close quarters combat with Hamas fighters staging hit-and-run attacks from tunnels.
The UN said four of its schools being used as shelters had been damaged and warned water shortages were worsening.
The Hamas-run health ministry says over 9,000 Palestinians have been killed.
On Thursday the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) said four of its schools being used as shelters had been damaged in less than 24 hours.
At least 20 people were reportedly killed at a school in the Jabalia refugee camp, UNRWA said, while a child was reportedly killed at a school-turned-shelter in the Beach refugee camp.
The BBC has verified two videos from the schools.
One extremely graphic video, filmed at an elementary school in the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza, shows the aftermath, first outside the main gate of the school and then in the main courtyard.
At least 20 people, either dead or injured, can be seen on the ground, including men, women and children.
The second video, filmed at the main courtyard of a primary school in Beach refugee camp, also in northern Gaza but near the Mediterranean coast, shows a plume of smoke rising from behind the main building of the school.
Several people, including children, run for safety in the courtyard, while some residents of the camp watch from the windows above. A series of explosions can be heard in the background of the video. The last one, the loudest, causes the crowd in the courtyard to flee in panic.
Hamas authorities in Gaza blamed Israeli air strikes. The IDF has not yet commented.
UN-appointed experts have called for a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza, saying time was running out for Palestinian people there who find themselves at "grave risk of genocide".
"The situation in Gaza has reached a catastrophic tipping point," they said, warning that a ban on fuel entering Gaza and disruption to water supplies meant people had little access to safe drinking water.
"Water is essential to human life and today, two million Gazans are struggling to find drinking water," they said.
The Israeli mission to the UN in Geneva called the comments "deplorable and deeply concerning" and blamed Hamas for civilian deaths.
Earlier on Thursday the IDF said it had killed about 130 Hamas fighters.
Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu said troops were at "the height of battle".
"We've had impressive successes and have passed the outskirts of Gaza City. We are advancing," he said in a statement.
A number of foreign nationals were able to leave Gaza after the Rafah crossing with Egypt opened for a second day. President Biden says more than 70 Americans were among them.
But medical aid organisation Doctors Without Borders says more than 20,000 wounded people remained trapped in the territory.
Meanwhile, the Lebanese movement Hezbollah said it had attacked 19 targets in Israel simultaneously, in what would be its most intense assault on Israel so far.
The Israeli military said it was striking a series of Hezbollah targets in Lebanon in response.
It comes a day before a much-anticipated speech by the leader of Hezbollah Hassan Nasrallah, his first public address since the conflict broke out last month. | Israeli forces have encircled the Hamas stronghold of Gaza City, Israel's military says, as it continues its assault on the Gaza Strip. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-67302206?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA |
Vivian Silver, 74, lived close to Israel's border with Gaza in kibbutz Be'eri - which was attacked by Hamas during the 7 October attacks.
Remains had been found earlier at her house, but they were only formally identified as hers five weeks later.
Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly described Ms Silver as a "lifelong advocate for peace".
"Canada mourns her loss," she wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Ms Silver, born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, was one of Israel's best known advocates for peace with the Palestinians. Her movement, Women Wage Peace, was established to pressure Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government to reach a peace agreement to end the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Her son Yonatan Zeigen told the BBC she stayed busy in her retirement, continuing her life's work as an activist, holding meetings just days before the Hamas attacks.
Her family had believed she had been kidnapped by Hamas and held in Gaza for the past five weeks.
Speaking to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation last week, Mr Zeigen said that while they knew Ms Silver's house had been burned to the ground during Hamas's attack, and that a body had been found at that time, there was "no evidence there of a struggle or bullets", leading the family to believe she had been kidnapped.
In an interview with the BBC in the days after the attack, Mr Zeigen recounted his final communications with her as she hid in a cupboard while armed men were moving through the kibbutz.
He said his mother told him that she loved him, and said "'they're inside the house, it's time to stop joking and say goodbye.'"
"I wrote back that 'I love you, Mum. I have no words, I'm with you,'" he said.
"Then she writes, 'I feel you.' And then that was it, that's the last message."
Asked what his mother would have said about everything that has happened, Mr Yonatan said: "That this is the outcome of war. Of not striving for peace, and this is what happens."
"It's very overwhelming but not completely surprising. It's not sustainable to live in a state of war for so long and now it bursts. It bursts."
Gershon Baskin, a friend of Silver's, remembered her as a "happy, optimistic person".
"She was a person who lit up a room whenever she came in," he toldCBC. "She had a moral compass that led the direction of many people who followed her."
More than 100 members of Ms Silver's kibbutz were killed in the attack.
There have beengrowing calls for a humanitarian pauseto allow aid into Gaza, and to help get out some of the 240 hostages taken by Hamas.
Israel's Prime Minister Netanyahu has said all hostages must be released before any temporary truce can be agreed.
Israel began striking Gaza after Hamas's surprise attacks, in which 1,200 people were killed. The Hamas-run health ministry says more than 11,000 people have been killed in Gaza since. | An Israeli-Canadian peace advocate, feared to have been taken hostage in Gaza, has been confirmed killed. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-67413993?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA |
Here in this town on Australia's northern edge, laksa is the meal of choice for breakfast, lunch and dinner, weekday or weekend, a staple everywhere from food courts and cafes to snazzy restaurants.
The sour and spicy noodle broth, traditionally topped with meat or seafood, is the love child of Malaysian, Indonesian and Singaporean cuisine, though each tries to claim it.
If you ask Darwin though, they'll say it's theirs now.
Such is the love for laksa in this multicultural city that it's inspired weekly rituals, sparked rivalries that have divided households, and turned humble chefs into local celebrities.
"As a dish, it really does help sum up not just the community, but where we are and what we are," says demographer Andrew Taylor.
"You've got a population here that's just different and laksa too is different to everything else."
Nowhere is the city's infatuation more obvious than at its local markets.
The mercury in Darwin rarely dips below 20C and the air is often so thick with humidity that walking to the letterbox leaves you needing a shower.
And yet, every Saturday like clockwork, sweaty crowds form lines between stalls at the Parap Markets, craving a fix. A tangy scent and a choir of electric fans greet the faithful, many armed with containers to take home a few ladlefuls of the beloved soup.
Everyone has their favourite.
"It's very controversial which laksa you go to," local Elly says. "It's properly a debate in our household. There's two people that love Yati's, there's two people that love Purple Lady, and one undecided."
Kirsty's family is firmly on team Mary - a stalwart of the Parap Markets who has been dishing up steaming bowls of brothy goodness for two decades.
"We're a military family and we're actually coming to the end of our two years [here], so we're trying to get our Mary fix as much as we can," Kirsty says.
In October, the mania kicks into another gear for the month-long laksa festival.
A giant shrine to laksa is erected in the city's mall, the streets are decked out with banners promoting the event, and the most outlandish and tasty dishes become excited water cooler-buzz and fodder for group chats.
On offer are traditional laksas of every ilk - thick and soupy, or thin and light; topped with wontons or adorned with prawns; chicken or pork or vegetarian.
But there's also the more adventurous oddities - laksa ice-cream, laksa pies, laksa smoothies, even vegan laksa-gna and laksa crocodile dumplings.
No one is sure exactly when, or exactly how, this laksa obsession began in Darwin.
"I grew up in Darwin and laksa just has always been a thing that people love," says Jo Smallacombe, who organises the government-backed festival.
But the answer likely lies in the city's long and rich multicultural history.
It is far closer to Asia than it is to every other Australian capital. From the Japanese pearl divers and Chinese gold rushers who came in the late 1800s to now, Darwin has been a hotspot for travel. There's even evidence the Top End's First Nations people were trading with their neighbours before the country was colonised.
And today the Northern Territory is one of Australia's most culturally diverse places - more than half of the population was born overseas, or has a parent who was.
"Everyone's just contracted this laksa fever," Jason Chin tells the BBC, grinning. Stopping to greet at least four people, the 42-year-old explains how he accidentally became the city's laksa king and the festival's most decorated chef.
His mum Loretta bought a modest food court joint called Chok's Place from a friend 30 years ago. He spent years helping out after school and raiding the drinks fridge, before having an epiphany.
"I actually woke up one day and said 'Mama, I'd like to start doing what you're doing."
Fast forward to 2019 and Mr Chin - who had by then bought the business from his mum and quietly built on her legacy and her recipes - became a last-minute entry to the city's first-ever laksa festival.
Vendors compete for the coveted Golden Bowl, the winner of which is determined with a blind tasting.
When judgement day came, Mr Chin plated up his laksa then, without a fuss, went straight back to work. "I didn't wait around because it was a Saturday and we have a skeleton staff on," he says with a shrug.
He only found out he'd won when the festival organisers called the next day to ask where he'd gone.
Almost overnight, business exploded. Chok's Place went from sometimes selling only six laksas a day, to almost 100. Now Mr Chin caps the number of dishes at 50 to ensure quality, making it even more of a commodity.
He took himself out of Golden Bowl contention this year to share the love, but was inducted in the Laksa Festival Hall of Fame.
Alongside the more traditional offerings, there are also scores of vendors who vie for the title of best laksa-inspired dish.
Among the most controversial is a Basque burnt cheesecake at Kopi Stop. Its Singaporean creator Jules Mou has strong laksa credentials; her traditional bowl is an undeniable hit and this year, it won People's Choice, but she also wanted to plate up something unique.
The top is innocent enough - sweet and fluffy - before it gives way to a thick slab of laksa paste, in place of a biscuit base.
"I was thinking laksa coffee, 'Mmm, I really want to try it, but I really don't'," Ms Mou said with a laugh: "[But] one day, it just came to me like, 'Oh, maybe we can try a cheesecake'."
When word got around that One Mile Brewery would be making an alcoholic Laksa Seltzer, customers were similarly sceptical.
"People were very much like, 'Really?' And some people were just like, 'Why?'" brewer Stuart Brown said.
He and business partner Bardy Bayram briefly tossed up working noodles and coconut milk into the drink somehow, but decided floaties and a creamy flavour would probably be a bridge too far.
They landed on a brew which, by their own admission, smells "pungent". But it is surprisingly palatable - fruity, with notes of lime, coriander and chilli, and a slight salty aftertaste.
"You look at it and you think: it's chunky, it's full, and it's not the right colour. But if you close your eyes, block out your nose and have a sipâ¦" Mr Bayram says.
"I've said to people, try it without breathing if you can," Mr Brown adds.
Some laksa-inspired dishes are cult favourites though - one local says she has to buy and deep-freeze laksa sausages for her mum to take home when she visits from interstate.
And even the dishes that don't work, that are borderline offensive, are a fun celebration of the things that make Darwin extraordinary, locals say.
"It's something different, it's exciting, everybody's trying to be innovative - it's great!" Ms Mou says. "It represents who we are."
That includes laksa chocolate, which is dividing opinion in Darwin.
Getting a whiff of "curry" before biting, brave taste-testing volunteer Tim's face shifts from concern to relief as he chews.
"Oh my god, it does taste like laksa⦠then a caramel, sweeter taste at the end," he says.
Would he buy it for himself? That's a polite but resounding no. | Darwin is a city obsessed. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-67259696?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA |
Nottinghamshire Police was called to the Hickling Court area of Mansfield shortly after 23:00 GMT on Friday, following reports a large dog had attacked people and was on the loose.
Police believe the woman fell from the window of a flat where the attack began.
A 38-year-old man and 24-year-old woman have been arrested, officers added.
The pair have been held on suspicion of allowing a dog to be dangerously out of control.
The dog, thought to be a bully XL type, was seized from a nearby property and taken to secure kennels.
Police said the injuries sustained were not thought to be life-threatening, adding an investigation is ongoing to establish the full circumstances.
The American bully XL isbeing added to the listof banned dogs in England and Wales.
From 1 February next year, it will be illegal to own one, unless the owner has successfully applied for it to be exempt.
Follow BBC East Midlands onFacebook, onX, or onInstagram. Send your story ideas [email protected]. | A man and woman have been taken to hospital with serious injuries after a suspected American bully XL attack. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-67320107?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA |
Mr DÃaz said he was made to walk "too much" with little sleep, while he was kept in a mountainous area.
"I would not want anyone to be in that mountain in the situation I was in," he told reporters in a tearful interview.
Mr DÃaz was abducted on 28 October in his family's hometown of Barrancas in Colombia.
In a news conference on Friday, the 58-year-old said those days had been a "very difficult" time for him.
Colombian police say four people have been arrested for being "allegedly responsible for Luis Manuel DÃaz's kidnapping", according to local media.
Police saythat after a co-ordinated effort between Colombian and British authorities, a criminal group called "los primos" was dismantled.
Mr DÃaz was held hostage until 9 November,when members of the National Liberation Army (ELN) handed him over to United Nations and Catholic Church officials.
Police had originally said that a criminal gang was most likely to blame for the kidnapping.
But a government delegation later said it had "official knowledge" that the kidnapping had been carried out by "a unit belonging to the ELN".
The ELN is Colombia's main remaining active guerrilla group. It has been fighting the state since 1964 and has an estimated 2,500 members.
It is most active in the border region with Venezuela, where Luis Manuel DÃaz and his wife live.
The Liverpool footballer's mother Cilenis Marulanda, who was kidnapped at gunpoint alongside Mr DÃaz, was released within hours.
While his father was held by the ELN, the Colombian-born Liverpool footballer repeatedly called for his release.
Days before his father's release on Thursday, DÃaz scored a goal against Luton and lifted his shirt to reveal the words in Spanish "freedom for papa".
His family's plight captured Colombia, as residents of the town of Barrancas held a candle-lit march to demand Mr DÃaz's release.
It all comes amid ongoing peace negotiations between the Colombian government led by President Gustavo Petro and the ELN.
Mr Petro has come under strong criticism from the opposition over the negotiations, with former Colombian president Ãlvaro Uribe saying "with kidnappings there can be no peace". | Luis Manuel DÃaz, the father of Liverpool striker Luis Diaz, has spoken publicly for the first time since being freed by a Colombian guerrilla group. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-67390367?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA |
The advice - the first update in almost a decade - says cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) can help with hot flushes, and sleep and mood changes.
Health watchdog The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) says this will give women more choice.
But critics called it "disappointing".
NICE says the evidence on HRT has become clearer since its last guidance on menopause in 2015. Its new one lists the pros and cons of different formulations that are available.
But it makes no new mention of testosterone therapy, which some menopausal women have been seeking from private clinics.
NICE says women should pick which treatments from its guidelines work best for them, weighing the risks and benefits with the help of their doctor.
And if they opt for HRT, use the lowest effective dose.
Some might want to use individual or group talking therapy sessions, either in person or online, the draft says.
According to some studies, coping skills taught by CBT can help sleep problems related to menopause, including how long it takes to nod off.
As women approach the menopause - when their periods permanently stop - their levels of the hormone oestrogen fluctuate and drop. It is these fluctuating hormone levels which can cause problematic symptoms.
HRT can be used to add back oestrogen and sometimes other hormones too, such as progesterone, and can ease symptoms some women experience as they go through menopause and help keep bones stronger.
There are lots of different formulations of HRT and ways of giving it, including oral tablets, skin patches and gels.
But, like any treatment, there can be side effects or increased risks.
Ones to think about include:
The risks may be very small and depend on individual factors, including age and existing health, as well as family history of these conditions.
For example, women who have had a hysterectomy, and so do not have a womb, will not need to take "protective" progesterone alongside oestrogen in their HRT because they cannot get womb cancer.
In terms of ovarian cancer, on average, for every 1,000 women taking oestrogen-only HRT for a decade there might be three extra cases, says NICE.
For 1,000 on combined oestrogen and progesterone HRT there might be one extra case.
Combined HRT does not increase the risk of stroke when the oestrogen component is taken as a skin patch or gel, but does slightly increase the risk if taken as a tablet, says NICE.
It might also marginally increase the risk of dementia if started over the age of 65, the guidance says.
Although it is a male hormone, women make testosterone in their bodies too and levels can decline with the menopause.
Some women say taking testosterone helps a number of menopausal symptoms, including brain fog. Currently, NICE says it can be considered for low sexual desire if HRT alone is not effective, but does not recommend it for anything else, saying the evidence is not yet there.
Prof Gillian Baird, who helped make the guidance, said: "This update includes important evidence based-information to help both women and healthcare practitioners during their discussions about the best treatment to manage their symptoms.
"This gives women more choice and enables them to make informed decisions for their personal circumstances."
The draft guidance is open to public consultation until 5 January 2024.
GP and menopause specialist Dr Louise Newson told journalists the document was "a disappointing draft update".
"CBT may have a place when taking a holistic approach to managing the perimenopause, but it won't improve every menopause symptom and won't treat the underlying hormone deficiency."
She said some of the potentially positive effects of HRT on conditions such as heart disease and clinical depression were missing from the document.
"Women deserve to have a choice, and those who want to take HRT should be able to have it prescribed, and frustratingly it is often more common for women to be prescribed antidepressants than HRT," she added.
The British Menopause Society said the addition of CBT was to be welcomed: "Greater emphasis on the importance and effectiveness of CBT is well-placed, along with clear balancing of benefits and risks of HRT."
Have you been affected by issues covered in this story? You can 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. | Women should be offered talking therapy instead of, or as well as, hormone replacement therapy (HRT) for problematic menopause symptoms,new draft guidancefor the NHS says. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-67438995?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA |
Security forces have been deployed to help rescue efforts in the rugged districts of Jajarkot and West Rukum, 500km (310 miles) west of Kathmandu.
Strong tremors were felt far away in the Nepalese capital and in cities in neighbouring India, including Delhi.
The government said about 375 people had been injured. Jajarkot's hospital is packed with the wounded.
Some people have had to be airlifted as far as Kathmandu, but officials are worried about getting others out after nightfall.
One survivor, Geethakumari Bista, told the BBC that rescuers saved her elder daughter, but she lost her younger daughter.
"We three were in the same room on the top floor. Everything happened so suddenly. We couldn't understand what was happening," she recalled.
After their house collapsed, they were buried in the rubble.
"People shouted around. The armed police came and I shouted: 'I am alive, too'... First, they rescued my elder daughter by carrying her out and taking her downstairs. Unfortunately, they couldn't save my younger one. She was 14 years old."
Three more tremors were felt within an hour of the quake. Local authorities urged people to stay outside for at least 24 hours as minor aftershocks are being reported in the areas.
Video footage on local media showed crumbled facades of multi-storied brick houses. People were pictured digging through rubble in the dark to pull survivors from the remains of collapsed buildings in posts on social media.
Unicef Nepal said that they were assessing the damage and the toll of the disaster on children and families.
Nepal's Prime Minister, Pushpa Kamal Dahal, arrived in the affected region on Saturday, afterexpressing his "deep sorrow"at the loss of life and property wrought by the quake, on social media platform X. He said he had ordered security agencies to immediately launch rescue and relief operations.
A cabinet meeting on Sunday is expected to decide whether to accept foreign assistance for relief and rescue. Officials said many countries, including Nepal's neighbours China and India, had offered humanitarian help.
Search and rescue operations are being hampered by roads becoming blocked by landslides that were triggered by the quake.
"Houses have collapsed. People rushed out of their homes. I am out in the crowd of terrified residents," said a police official from the region, Santosh Rokka, who spoke to Reuters immediately after the earthquake.
"We were sleeping. We felt like dying," says Laxman Pun, an earthquake survivor. Their house has been damaged and they could survive "with much difficulty", he told BBC Nepali. "We don't know where we will be able to stay. We will probably need tents."
"Our house shook back and forth like a swing. As we rushed outside, there were houses falling and dust everywhere. We couldn't see anything and so we again moved inside. We came out after the tremors stopped," said Siddha Bohora, a bank manager from Jajarkot.
In Athaviskot municipality, one of the areas worst affected by the earthquake, three people who had critical injuries were sent to hospitals in Surkhet by an army helicopter for further treatment.
Municipality chief Ravi KC warned that because of the cold weather, the victims who lost their houses will "suffer more". The municipality has a population of about 35,000 and hundreds of houses were completely damaged, according to KC.
Local government officials, police and army have been deployed for rescue operations, as there are still bodies left to be recovered from the rubble.
The earthquake was recorded at 23:47 local time (18:02 GMT), according to Nepal's Monitoring and Research Centre.
The US Geological Survey measured the earthquake at a magnitude of 5.6 and said it was a shallow earthquake, meaning it happened closer to the earth's surface.
Nepal is situated along the Himalayas, where there is a lot of seismic activity.
Last month, a 6.3-magnitude earthquake was registered in the western district of Bajhang, resulting in injuries.
In 2015, the country suffered two devastating earthquakes in which 9,000 people were killed and 22,309 injured.
The first, on 25 April 2015, was a 7.8-magnitude quake which caused most of the damage and loss of life. A large number of aftershocks followed, including one that measured 7.3 in May of that year.
The quakes destroyed or damaged more than 800,000 houses mainly in the western and central districts, according to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).
Government buildings, some stretches of roads and Kathmandu Valley's famous historic monuments - Unesco world heritage sites - were destroyed or damaged, with many villages north of Kathmandu flattened.
With additional reporting from BBC Nepali | More than 150 people have been killed after an earthquake struck remote western Nepal on Friday. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-67317442?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA |
Bernard Cowan, from Scotland, was killed by Hamas gunmen in his home on a kibbutz in Southern Israel during the 7 October attack.
The 57-year-old left his family in Glasgow when he was just 19 to move to Israel.
His brother Colin says he "is filled with dread" as a Jew living in Britain.
He told BBC News how his brother loved the kibbutz way of life, working and living communally among the mango and banana trees.
Bernard helped tend the gardens and lived happily with his wife, three children and two grandchildren, with one born just a few months ago.
But Hamas gunmen ended the life he had built when they killed him on Kibbutz Sufa on 7 October, along with more than 1,200 other people.
In his home in Glasgow, his brother Colin Cowan remembers a man who loved diving, travelling, whisky and his family.
"Bernard loved to live," he said. "He was a free spirit and all he wanted to do was see the world. He was loved throughout the world.
"I think if you were to look at Bernard as a soul who wanted to do nothing but good for the world, and for his country, and to love his family, that would be the perfect epitaph."
Bernard was at his home with his wife on Kibbutz Sufa when Hamas gunmen arrived, armed with machine guns and missile launchers.
They shot the tyres of an ambulance, killed a dog, then moved onto those living on the kibbutz who were hiding in their safe rooms.
"Bernard was claustrophobic," said Mr Cowan. "There are no windows in the safe room for obvious reasons. He went out into his kitchen and two terrorists walked by and saw him there and shot him dead. Our world just fell apart."
Bernard's wife had to stay in the safe room for many more hours knowing her husband was lying dead just outside the room.
Despite living so far away, Bernard remained close with his family in Scotland and visited regularly.
Mr Cowan said: "We break down thinking: 'Why is he not here?' It was recently my birthday and I always got a message from him saying 'happy 21st.'
"That was Bernard, he was always joking. And it never came this year. So yes, it's been a tough time."
But Colin doesn't just mourn his brother - the grief is mixed with deep anxiety for the safety of his own community in the UK.
"Hamas want us off the face of the earth," said Mr Cowan. "How can we live in this society today knowing that there are terrorist organisations out there who only want to murder and eradicate Jews from the world?"
While many British Jews feel enormous concern and pain about the situation their relatives and friends in Israel are facing, Mr Cowan says that in Israel they worry about their relatives in the UK.
"My nephew, my brother's son, asked me if I would come and live in Israel because of the antisemitism in the UK," he said.
"As Jews we are worried. I'm not a fearful person but it does fill me with dread where we are at the moment and where we could end up. Britain was meant to be safe but maybe it's not."
He added: "When I walk down the street I'm thinking: 'What would they do if they knew I was Jewish?' And that's a horrendous thought. I ask, are we any different to where Jews were in Germany in 1938?"
Some pro-Palestinian protests, where a minority have carried antisemitic banners and chanted slogans perceived as antisemitic, have left many Jews scared.
"People have a right to protest as we have freedom of speech in the UK," he said. "The problem with the protest is there's that element which isn't just about the humanitarian side.
"There's an element within these protests, which is about Hamas and supporting that organisation and that's where the fear comes."
It is why Mr Cowan says he feels unnerved by the demonstrations and particularly by the use of slogans like "from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free," referring to the River Jordan and the Mediterranean Sea.
The chant has drawn criticism from some, including ex- Home Secretary Suella Braverman who said it was an "expression of a violent desire to see Israel erased from the world". Israel and most Jewish groups agree.
The interpretation is disputed by some pro-Palestinian activists who say that most people chanting it are calling for an end to Israel's occupation of the West Bank and blockade of Gaza, not the destruction of Israel itself.
Mr Cowan said: "There is only one meaning to that and that means to eradicate all Jews from the earth."
He also highlighted the ripping down of posters showing the faces of the 239 hostages, including dozens of children, held by Hamas.
"If we're putting up pictures of hostages and then they're getting ripped down, then no wonder we are in fear for our lives," he said.
"Because if they're willing to do that then they're willing to support Hamas, because they're not willing to accept that the hostages have to be released."
The Cowan family has received support from Scotland's First Minister Humza Yousaf,whose in-laws were recently trapped in Gaza.
Last month, after the attack in Israel, the first minister attended a solidarity event at a synagogue in Glasgow and hugged Bernard Cowan's mother as she mourned outliving her son.
"You could feel his empathy... but a lot of people don't believe what he believes," added Mr Cowan.
Asked if he remembers feeling this fearful in the UK as a Jew, he said: "Never, never in my whole life. There's not a Jewish person who I've spoken to who's not fearful of the situation we're in at the moment." | The brother of a British-Israeli man murdered by Hamas has told the BBC he has never been more fearful of antisemitism in the UK. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-67404606?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA |
The thousands of civilian casualties and desperate humanitarian conditions have alarmed Arab allies, but also stirred an extraordinary level of criticism from within his own administration.
"I'm stunned by the intensity," said Aaron David Miller, who worked as an adviser on Arab-Israeli relations during a 25 year tenure at the US State Department.
"I've never seen anything quite like this."
Several internal memos have been sent to Secretary of State Antony Blinken through a channel, established after the Vietnam war, which allows employees to register disapproval of policy.
An open letter is also said to be circulating at the Agency for International Development (USAID). Another has been dispatched to the White House by political appointees and staff members representing dozens of government agencies. Another to members of Congress by staffers on Capitol Hill.
Much of this dissent is private, and the signatures are often anonymous out of concerns the protest might affect jobs, so the full scale of it is not clear. But according to leaks cited by multiple reports, hundreds of people have signed on to the wave of opposition.
An administration official has told the BBC that these concerns are very real and there are active discussions about them.
At a minimum, the letters are asking that President Biden demand an immediate ceasefire, and push Israel much harder to allow for more humanitarian aid to enter Gaza.
In some cases, the language is stronger, echoing the rhetoric of young political activists and apparently reflecting to some degree a generational divide that is more critical of Israel and sympathetic to Palestinians.
The letters condemn the atrocities carried out by Hamas during its surprise 7 October attack that killed around 1,200 people, mostly Israeli civilians.
More than 12,000 have been killed in Gaza by Israel since that attack, according to the latest figure from the territory's Hamas-run health ministry. Israel has said it is trying to minimise civilian casualties in the war in Gaza but has not been successful, blaming this on Hamas.
The high number of Palestinian deaths is a "font of the dismay" in the administration, according to Gina Abercrombie-Winstanley, a former US diplomat who is now president of the Middle East Policy Council.
The administration's support for the Israeli military operation appears for many "far too much of a one-sided position for the US government", she said.
Ms Abercrombie-Winstanley signed dissent cables during her career and has been consulted by current employees about whether they should do so now. These memos feel like they have a "broader reach" than others, she said, drawing in people who are not necessarily working on the specific issue at hand.
Ms Abercrombie-Winstanley believes the chorus of dismay has contributed to significant shifts in US language and approach, since the days immediately after the Hamas attack when President Biden pledged unwavering support for Israel in an emotional address.
Propelled by the destruction in Gaza and growing anger in the Arab world, the administration's rhetoric on protecting civilians has become more insistent. "Far too many Palestinians have been killed" in Gaza, Mr Blinken said recently.
He and other senior officials are now treating humanitarian assistance as not only a moral imperative, but a strategic one too.
This is something Mr Blinken highlights when meeting frustrated employees in listening sessions, according to State Department Spokesman Matthew Miller. He makes clear that "it is the United States of America, not any other country, that was able to secure an agreement to get humanitarian assistance into Gaza" and "to get humanitarian pauses".
The secretary of state is aware of the disquiet simmering in his building and has made a point of addressing it.
"We're listening," he wrote after returning from his recent trip to the Middle East, in an email obtained by the BBC. "What you share is informing our policy and our messages."
But it has not changed core policy approaches, nor appeared to have had significant influence on Israel's military campaign.
The Biden administration has become more open about airing its growing divergences with Israel. Mr Blinken has deliberately set out principles of Palestinian governance and statehood for the "day after" in Gaza, that Israel's right-wing government rejects.
The president is frequently on the phone to the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and senior officials keep up a steady drumbeat of visits to the region, pressing Israel to follow the laws of war.
But there's no suggestion the Biden administration is considering using its main leverage, putting conditions on its massive military assistance to Israel, which was ramped up even further after the Hamas attack.
And Biden signalled this week that the US had not given Israel a deadline for its military campaign to end.
It will end when Hamas "no longer maintains the capacity to murder, abuse and just do horrific things" to Israel, the president said.
The bottom line is that the US and Israel have the same goal, according to Mr Miller, the former adviser at the State Department. Both want to destroy Hamas's capacity as a military organisation so it can never mount a 7 October-style attack again.
With that aim in mind, he said, a full ceasefire that ends hostilities in pursuit of peace does not make operational or political sense.
It only delays war, Mr Miller said, "because you're not going to get a negotiated ending to this... The tactics may differ, but the objective remains the same".
So what exactly would force President Biden to change course?
Most likely not his internal opposition. For all its ferment, the dissent in the administration is not yet a revolt. Only one State Department official has publicly resigned.
Mr Miller suggests it would more likely take an external event, such as the unconditional release of all the hostages held by Hamas, or a single Israeli operation that results in mass Palestinian casualties, although the bar has been set quite high.
There are also political risks for Mr Biden. His solidarity with Israel is shared by Republicans and centrist Democrats, but concerns within the younger and more left-wing elements of the Democratic Party are growing.
His former election campaign staffers have sent their own letter to the president calling for a ceasefire.
Gwen Schroeder, who worked on Mr Biden's digital team during the 2020 election, was one of the signatories.
She said Israel's "disproportionate response" in Gaza showed that Palestinian lives "mean less than those of our Israeli allies".
"I'm not ashamed of getting Biden elected," she said, but added: "I grapple with this every day, you know, is this the administration that I fought so hard for?"
It is too early to say how these sentiments might affect Mr Biden's bid for re-election next year, but it does underline the tightrope that he is walking.
He has been telling Israeli leaders that the way they fight this war will determine what is possible after it ends. How much he is able to influence that is important, because he will be linked with whatever the outcome. | US President Joe Biden is under growing pressure to rein in Israel's military campaign against Hamas in Gaza. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-67453674?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA |
Attenborough's long-beaked echidna - scientifically known as Zaglossus attenboroughi - was thought to be extinct - until it was spotted on camera-trap footage by Oxford University researchers.
Sir David is said to be "absolutely delighted".
While the elusive egg-laying mammal may be rare, it is part of a long line of extraordinary species bearing the Attenborough name.
From several types of frogs and a Madagascan dragonfly, to a ghost shrimp and prehistoric sea creature, the list is impressive.
Among the best is this long-extinct plesiosaur - Attenborosaurus conybeari. The five-metre long marine reptile lived in the Early Jurassic period some 200 million years ago. The scientist who dedicated the species to Sir David did so to honour his love of fossil collecting.
And how about having this brightly coloured snail - also known as a semi-slug - to share your name? Sir David Attenborough appears here at the Australian Museum with a photo of the Attenborougharion rubicundus - which is around 35-45mm long and found only in Tasmania.
The ocellated velvet gecko (known as Oedura attenboroughi for a while - but now Oedura monilis), is one of the first examples of a species being named after Sir David. The nocturnal gecko, found in Australia, has large eyes and beautiful spots and bars down its back.
And it's not just animals - there are plenty of plants on the list, including this giant carnivorous pitcher plant (Nepenthes attenboroughii). Discovered in the highlands of the central Philippines and reaching up to 1.5m tall, it has even been known to trap rats in its pitchers.
This is a 3D model of atiny 430-million-year-old crustacean, found preserved in ancient volcanic rock. When researchers dedicated it to Sir David, he said: "The biggest compliment that a biologist or palaeontologist can pay to another one is to name a fossil in his honour, and I take this as a very great compliment."
All pictures subject to copyright | A long-lost species of echidna, named after British naturalist Sir David Attenborough, has been rediscovered in the thick jungles of Indonesia after more than 60 years. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-67382235?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA |
Researchers from the University of Essex studied the dialects of a group of 18 to 33-year-olds in the region.
They identified three voices, estuary English, southern British English and multicultural London English.
Project leader Dr Amanda Cole said the latter was "a really innovative and interesting accent".
"Multicultural London English is a relatively more recent accent, it is thought to have be around since the 80s, it has a lot in common with the cockney and South Eastern dialects," she said.
"But it also has linguistic features that have come from other languages and other dialects of English."
Young people with a multicultural London English accent made up 25% of the 193 people who took part in the study, she said.
People with this accent tend to say vowels in their words like "bate" and "boat" with the tongue starting at a point higher up in the mouth compared to people with the standard southern British English, Dr Cole added.
This means they will sound like "beht" and "boht".
People with this accent tended to be Asian British or Black British from London and across the South-East England, she said.
In recent years, Cockney and the King's English were spoken by people of all ages, but now 49% of the participants spoke in a standard southern British English accent, which the study said was a modern, updated version of received pronunciation.
People with this accent tended to say words like "goose" with the tongue further forward in the mouth (sounding a bit more like "geese") than received pronunciation.
Researchers said this change even happened in the accent of the late Queen Elizabeth II over her lifetime.
Around 26% of the participants spoke estuary English, which had similarities with Cockney but was closer to received pronunciation.
Participants with this accent pronounced words like "house" like "hahs" but the study said it was not as extreme as Cockney.
Estuary English is spoken across the South-East, particularly in parts of Essex, and is similar to how TV personality Stacey Dooley, singers Olly Murs and Adele or The Repair Shop's Jay Blades talk.
The study said: "This occurs as a result of the increased movement of people resulting in greater contact between dialects, the growth of universal education and literacy, and people buying into the idea that there is a 'correct' or 'standard' way of speaking."
Find BBC News: East of England onFacebook,InstagramandX. If you have a story suggestion [email protected] | The King's English and Cockney are no longer common dialects among young people in the South East of England, according to a new study. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-67289519?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA |
Sources tellthe Guardianthat Lord Cameron's return was facilitated by the former Conservative leader, William Hague. Under a headline describing the cabinet changes as "high-stakes", the paper says they represent a shift towards securing the Tory base in southern seats, known as the "blue wall", even if this costs votes in the "red wall" of former Labour seats. The paper says it is probably a "last throw of the dice" for Mr Sunak.
"Rishi's big throw of the dice," is theDaily Mail'sheadline. The paper says the prime minister has "gambled" on the reshuffle to restore his political fortunes. It also features a photo of Esther McVey, who it says has been appointed to the Cabinet as a new minister for "common sense", in charge of rooting out "woke" culture in Whitehall and the public sector.
The Economistconsiders what David Cameron's return says about the current political landscape and concludes that it is "peculiar" - given his record. In British politics, it says, "the appearance of competence is more important than the evidence of it. Aesthetics trump achievement. Nothing demonstrates this more than the renaissance of Mr Cameron".
The Timescarries a picture of a smiling Lord Cameron, with a headline saying he is "back from the wilderness". Andthe Sunrefers to the fact that he used to ask people to address him as "Dave".
Away from the reshuffle,the Mailreports that losing ninety minutes of sleep at night can increase the risk of type two diabetes in women. The findings are from a study in the US - and experts say they suggest a lack of sleep puts stress on insulin-producing cells causing them to fail - which can raise the risk of blood sugar levels being too high. The effects - the paper says - were most marked in women who had gone through the menopause.
And theDaily Mirrorfeatures the line up of the impending ITV series - I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here - complete with odds on who might win. Among the favourites are TV presenters - Josie Gibson, and Fred Sirieix - and the former Brexit Party leader, Nigel Farage, who the bookies have placed at 10-1.
Sign up for our morning newsletterand get BBC News in your inbox. | "Cameron's Return Sparks Brexiteer Backlash," is the headline onthe front page of the Daily Telegraph. The paper says the reshuffle has "triggered a new row" between the prime minister and the right of the Conservative Party. It also reports that Rishi Sunak offered David Cameron the job in a face-to-face meeting last Tuesday, before the row about Suella Braverman's article, in which she accused the police of being biased. Downing Street "insiders" tell the Telegraph that the reshuffle was brought forward by her comments. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-the-papers-67410952?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA |
The Bank rate, set by the Monetary Policy Committee,is unchanged at 5.25%.
Another hold may bring some relief to homeowners who have seen mortgage rates rise and potentially the end of better news for savers.
The Bank rate is currently at its highest level for 15 years.
The theory is that raising interest rates makes it more expensive to borrow money, meaning people have less to spend, reducing demand and inflation.
Rates had risen 14 times in a row since December 2021 as the Bank tries to bring inflation closer to its target of 2%.
Pricesrose by 6.7% in the year to September, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). This was the same as the year to August, but down from the peak of 11.1% in October 2022.
Although that is still more than three times the Bank's target, falls have influenced the decision to pause the run of Bank rate rises. That most recent decision was split, with six of the nine-member committee voting for a pause.
Policymakers will be keeping a close eye on the "core inflation" rate - a measure which strips out volatile factors such as food and energy.
The chances of rates actually starting to fall again look slim at the moment.
At one point, UK rates were expected to rise above 6%, but that peak is now expected to be lower, even if there is a rise at a later date.
The Bank has to balance the risk of damaging the economy, which has shown little sign of growth, with the need to slow price rises.
Its Monetary Policy Committeemeets eight times a year to decide rates.
Mortgages
Just under a third of households have a mortgage, according tothe government's English Housing Survey.
When interest rates rise or fall, more than 1.4 million people on tracker and standard variable rate (SVR) deals usually see an immediate change in their monthly payments.
Despite the pause in rises, compared with December 2021, those on a tracker mortgage are still paying £540 more a month, and those on an SVR are paying £299 more a month.
Around three-quarters of mortgage customers hold fixed-rate deals. Lenders may now have some confidence to lower mortgage rates, although they are still much higher than much of the last 10 years.
Comparatively high interest rates mean house buyers and those remortgaging will have to pay a lot more than if they had taken out the same mortgage a year or more ago.
As people roll off cheap fixed-rate deals on to products with much higher rates, monthly repayments can soar by hundreds of pounds. Banking trade body UK Finance says there are about 800,000 fixed-rate deals ending in the second half of 2023, and about 1.6 million deals expiring next year.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies, a politically independent think tank, has warned that rising interest ratescould mean 1.4 million mortgage holders see their disposable income fall by more than 20%.
You can see how your mortgage may be affected by using our calculator:
Credit cards and loans
Bank of England interest rates also influence the amount charged on credit cards, bank loans and car loans.
Bank statistics show that in September,the average annual interest rate was 22.49% on bank overdrafts and 20.89% on credit cards. The average rate for personal loans was 8.73%, down slightly on the previous month.
Lenders could decide to put their rates up, if they expect higher interest rates from the Bank of England in the future.
Savings
Individual banks and building societies have been under pressure to pass on higher interest rate rises to customers.
There are some good deals on the market already, so analysts say that customers should shop around, as many will be on accounts paying little or nothing.
The UK's financial watchdoghas warned that banks will face "robust action" if they offer unjustifiably low savings rates to their customers.
Although many savings accounts are paying more, even the best interest rates aren't keeping up with inflation.
This means the value of cash savings - its buying power - is falling in real terms.
Inflation has been relatively high worldwide, after Covid restrictions eased and consumers spent more.
Many firms experienced problems getting enough goods to sell. Oil and gas costs were also higher than they had been - a problem made worse by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Although many elements of inflation are global, there are also domestic factors at play in the UK, including rising wages.
Interest rates have been increasing across the world in recent months.
The UK has had one of the highest rates in the G7 - a group of the world's seven largest so-called "advanced" economies.
It is higher than the Euro area and the US. | The Bank of England has held interest rates for a second time in a row following a run of 14 consecutive increases. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-57764601?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA |
Iceland has declared a state of emergency after a series of earthquakes.
Authorities have ordered thousands of people living in the southwestern town of GrindavÃk to leave as a precaution.
The Icelandic Meteorological Office (IMO) said there was a considerable risk of an eruption.
The probability of an eruption on or just off the Reykjanes peninsula has increased since the morning, IMO says.
An eruption could start at any time in the next few days, according to the statement.
Thor Thordason, professor of volcanology at the University of Iceland, said a 15km-long (nine mile) river of magma running under the peninsula was still active.
"That's why we're talking about an imminent eruption unfortunately. The most likely eruption side appears to be within the boundary of the town of GrindavÃk," he told the BBC.
Thousands of tremors have been recorded around the nearby Fagradalsfjall volcano in recent weeks.
They have been concentrated in Iceland's Reykjanes Peninsula, which had remained dormant to volcanic activity for 800 years before a 2021 eruption.
In a statement on Saturday the agency said a tunnel of magma, or molten rock, that extends northeast across GrindavÃk and some 10km further inland, was estimated at a depth of less than 800 metres, compared with 1,500 metres earlier in the day.
On Thursday, the increased seismic activity in the areaprompted the closure of the nearby Blue Lagoon landmark.
More than 20,000 tremors have been recorded in southwest Iceland since late October.
Iceland's Civil Protection Agency said the decision to evacuate came after the IMO could not rule out a "magma tunnel that is currently forming could reach GrindavÃk".
And on Friday, the agency said people must leave the town, but also emphasised it was not an "emergency evacuation" - calling on them to "remain calm, because we have a good amount of time to react".
"There is no immediate danger imminent, the evacuation is primarily preventive with the safety of all GrindavÃk residents as the principal aim," it added.
All roads into the town of around 4,000 people are closed other than for emergencies, to ensure traffic can get in and out.
Alda Sigmundsdottir, a journalist in Reykjavik, said that people were going back into the town "to get their absolute bare necessities" and pets.
"We are just currently waiting for the eruption to start," she told the BBC's Newshour.
Iceland is one of the most geologically active regions in the world, with around 30 active volcanic sites.
Volcanic eruptions occur when magma, which is lighter than the solid rock around it, rises to the earth's surface from deep below it.
In July, Litli-Hrutur, or Little Ram, erupted in the Fagradalsfjall area, drawing tourists to the site of the "world's newest baby volcano".
The site was dormant for eight centuries until eruptions in 2021, 2022 and 2023. | The chance of a volcanic eruption in Iceland is rising, posing a threat to a now-evacuated town, experts say. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-67387827?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA |
Expectations were high as India had reached the final after nearly two decades. But the match ended in tears for Indians as the Australians completely outplayed them.
In 2007, Dravid got another crack at the coveted trophy - this time, he was leading the team.
Once again, the ODI tournament ended in misery for Indians as they failed to qualify for the knockouts.
Almost 20 years later, the stylish batter is back in business as the head coach of the Indian team which will take on Australia in the World Cup final on Sunday in Ahmedabad.
Whether he gets to hold the prestigious trophy or not, Dravid's place as one of the coaching greats is almost cemented.
But how did he transform himself from a legendary batter to a coach who stays in the background, making his presence felt through his team's dominant performances?
The answer lies in his illustrious career.
Dravid was known to toil hard throughout his glorious days as a player. He rarely gave away his wicket easily, earning him nicknames like "The Wall" and "Mr Dependable".
His class as a batter was on full display when he stitched an unforgettable 376-run partnership with VVS Laxman in 2001 to overturn an almost certain defeat in a Test match against Australia.
His 12-hour innings in a 2004 Test match against Pakistan is still regarded as a great example of sporting stubbornness.
During India's disastrous tour of England in 2011, Dravid stood tall among his peers. He scored 602 runs despite the hosts handing India a 4-0 humiliation.
His signature attitude of not giving up until it's really over is very visible in his coaching style as well.
But look closer and you will see that this stint hasn't come easy for him. Much like his days as a player, Dravid has worked hard as a coach - often ignoring criticism and sticking to his famed process.
His success hasn't come in a vacuum. He started at the very base that supplies India's senior team talents who are ready to perform at the international level.
He became the head coach of India's under-19 and A (junior national side) teams in 2016 - a job far removed from the glitz and glamour of the national side.
But he thrived in it, taking his team to the finals of the under-19 World Cup in 2016. After nurturing talent at the junior level for more than three years, he was appointed as the director of the National Cricket Academy (NCA).
The NCA is a premium centre where players stay to improve their fitness or recuperate from injuries.
While he was there, Indian cricket was going through a tumultuous period. The country's wait for an International Cricket Council (ICC) trophy was getting longer. It had last won an ICC event in 2013.
India suffered a heartbreaking loss at the hands of New Zealand in the semi-finals of the 2019 World Cup.
It was against that backdrop that Dravid was given charge of the team in 2021.
Many of the players in the senior team were coached or mentored by him at the junior level. So it all looked set and easy for Dravid - except it wasn't. The team was plagued by constant changes and the problems came to the fore whenVirat Kohli quit as captain in 2022.
Dravid turned to his familiar method - he shut out the noise and told his team to believe in the process and not be too bothered by defeats.
His eye was on the World Cup to be held in India in 2023. He had to experiment with different combinations - even if they came at the cost of losses.
He backed his players. When critics questioned KL Rahul's inclusion in the team, he supported the batter.
Today, Rahul is the backbone of the team not only because of his batting but also because of his wicketkeeping skills.
That is just so Dravid, the player who selflessly kept wicket in the 2003 edition so his side could play an extra batter or a bowler.
Rahul was not a frontline wicketkeeper, but he is doing as good a job as others in the tournament. Many also questioned Shreyas Iyer's place in the side but he is now one of the best number four batters to have played for India.
Dravid also invested heavily in his bowlers, especially the pace squad, which includes Mohammed Siraj, Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah.
His process included ensuring that he had the right combination before heading into the marquee tournament and the team peaked at the right time.
He also formed a trusted bond with captain Rohit Sharma, who has been a revelation in this tournament with his tactical decision-making and selfless batting.
Dravid's timing in fine-tuning the side couldn't have been more perfect. India won the Asia Cup - handing heavy defeats to Pakistan and Sri Lanka - before heading into the World Cup.
And so far, they have remained undefeated in the tournament. Now just one hurdle stands between this legend of the game and an ambition that remained painfully out of his grasp as a player.
He would be desperate to hold the trophy but one can be assured that he will show no signs of eagerness ahead of the match, and most probably after it is over as well.
That's just vintage Rahul Dravid, who likes to get on with the job quietly.
BBC News India is now on YouTube.Click hereto subscribe and watch our documentaries, explainers and features. | In 2003, Rahul Dravid and his team-mates walked into the New Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg to take on mighty Australia in the Cricket World Cup final. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-67447215?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA |
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For Whitney Wolfe Herd, that meant taking a difficult exit from online dating app firm Tinder - which she sued for sexual harassment - and setting up Bumble, her own rival company with a focus very much on women.
Nearly a decade and a billion dollar fortune later, Ms Wolfe Herd announced this week that she isstepping down as Bumble's boss.
But it is a bittersweet moment. In an interview with the BBC before she made her announcement, Ms Wolfe Herd lamented that, as a group of young women who came up in tech in the 2010s, not many are left.
"It is disappointing to see just how little women have advanced," she said."I've watched the fall of what people call 'the girl boss era'. That's tragic."
However, Bumble will still be led by a woman - Lidiane Jones, the former boss of Slack, will take over as chief executive while Ms Wolfe Herd will stay on as executive chair.
When she launched Bumble in 2014, unlike other apps at the time, it was focused on female empowerment in the dating scene - where women who date men would have to make the de facto "first move" to message a new match.
"The gender dynamics of dating and romance still seemed so outdated. I thought, what if I could flip that on its head?" Ms Wolfe Herd wrote in a 2020blog postof the app's conception.
Less than seven years later, Ms Wolfe Herd would become the world's youngest female self-made billionaire.
A 2017 Bumble ad campaign encouraged women to "be the CEO your parents always wanted you to marry (then find someone you actually like)".
Ms Wolfe Herd chaired panel talks, created networking events and promoted women in business.
Her Instagram shows her taking her young sons into Bumble HQ, appearing on magazine covers and hanging out with the likes of Hollywood A-lister Reese Witherspoon.
"I don't really look at my life as a division of work and personal. I blend it," she recently told the BBC.
"And maybe that works for me. And maybe it doesn't work for someone else. But I will tell you, it is hard."
Ms Wolfe Herd has said that in the past her life has "been pretty dark".
She haspreviously saidthat her ambition "comes from abusive relationships", referring to a boyfriend she had as a teenager (her ex-boyfriend has denied all the claims).
Shortly after exiting her role at Tinder she launcheda legal caseaccusing another of the co-founders, whom she had been in a relationship with, of sexual harassment.
Tinder's parent company, Match Group, denied the claims butpaid around $1mto settle the dispute.
"I was super depressed, I was paranoid," she said of that time,telling the Diary of a CEO podcastthat she didn't leave the house for three weeks and was "drinking too much".
She says she was pulled through by her now-husband, Texas oil heir Michael Herd.
She was also supported by Russian entrepreneur Andrey Andreev, founder of dating app Badoo.
Ms Wolfe Herd did not plan on making another dating app, but it was Mr Andreev who convinced her.
They flew to Mykonos in the summer of 2014 with some ex-Tinder employees and worked on the idea.
Within a few months of her leaving Tinder, Ms Wolfe Herd had launched Bumble.
She was 25 years old. By the age of 31, she would - for a few months at least - be a billionaire.
The majority of the company's staff in the early days were women - a rare sight in the tech world - and its brand was based around female empowerment.
Bumble's defining feature was that after a match, women would be the first to message.
It was designed like this to give women more control in the online dating space, but over time has sought to become more gender inclusive - allowing anyone to message first in same-gender matches or those between two non-binary people.
The app bans users who body shame others, and similar to other dating apps, it uses AI to detect nude photos sent in private chats and lets the recipient choose to view or block the images.
It backed women's safety campaigns, such as calling for cyber-flashing to be made illegal in the UK and EU. The UK did make it a criminal offence under theOnline Safety Act 2023after calls from multiple campaigners.
But it wasn't all plain sailing.
In 2019, Andrey Andreev sold his majority stake in Bumble's parent company and left the business afterForbes investigated allegationsof a toxic and misogynistic workplace in the London office.
Mr Andreev denied the allegations against him. Ms Wolfe Herd said at the time that she never saw any toxic behaviour in the office, adding: "Andrey has never been anything but kind and respectful to me."
The app's user base grew, and by 2021 it had over 40 million profiles on it. It created apps for friendship - Bumble BFF - and business networking.
Badoo was later incorporated into its parent company, Bumble Inc, and when Bumble Inc went public in February 2021, Ms Wolfe Herd became abillionaire overnight.
She held her young son as she rang the Nasdaq bell and yellow ticker tape cascaded around her.
Shares traded for about $75 back then.
But by November of that year, they were worth less than half of that and Forbesreportedthat she had lost her billionaire status.
Now, despitegrowing revenueand an increase in users who pay for extra features, the share price is under $14.
Match Group, Bumble's rival that owns Tinder and Hinge, has also seen its share price drop in that time.
Perhaps it's a sign of the inherent difficulty in the online dating business.
If the apps work well, people get together and stop being customers.
If they do not work well, users may become disillusioned and eventually delete them.
Bumble already uses AI to filter out pictures or messages that violate its policies.
But Ms Wolfe Herd says they will be taking it to the next level in the future.
The focus is to facilitate better interactions on the app - "coaching people" as she puts it - through suggesting better photos, bios or even chats with other people.
She wants to use AI to help "teach people and show them and guide them, how to behave better" and to "instil confidence in all of our daters".
She adds: "How can generative AI actually get you into a healthy, empowering, productive conversation, cut through the noise, cut through the friction? And then get you offline?"
It's also a recognition that what people want is face-to-face meet-ups - whether through the dating app or through the friendship or business apps.
However from January, it will be Ms Wolfe Herd's successor, Lidiane Jones, who has to deal with these issues on a day-to-day basis. | Out of adversity comes opportunity, so the saying goes. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-67359823?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA |
All tickets for the 2024 event were bought just before 10:00 GMT.
In a post on X, formerly Twitter, the festival said: "Our thanks to everyone who bought one and we're sorry to those of you who missed out, on a morning when demand greatly exceeded supply."
There will be a re-sale of any cancelled or returned tickets in spring 2024.
Organiser Emily Eavis has hinted that a "really big American artist" will be among the headliners, and Madonna has been rumoured to be one of the performers being lined up.
Eavis, who faced criticism for 2023's all-male headliners, also hinted that two female headliners could perform at the Pyramid Stage next year, with another booked for the legend's slot.
In an Instagram post, she thanked everyone who tried to get a ticket on Sunday.
"We're blown away that so many people want to come (we all still remember the years when they didn't!) and I'm sorry that many of you missed out," she said.
"Demand far exceeds supply and with many millions of devices trying at once, it means the system can only work at certain speed."
The festival line-up will be revealed early next year.
On Sunday, Glastonbury hopefuls gathered around phones, tablets and laptops in an attempt to secure tickets.
Festival enthusiasts experienced contrasting emotions as tickets sold out in rapid time
Sam Keaveney, 30, a student nurse from Stockton-on-Tees, will attend the festival next summer for the second time.
He described it as "one of the best feelings" and said he just feels "so relieved and buzzing to go to the best place on Earth."
Asked who he was hoping to see at the festival, Mr Keaveney said: "It really doesn't matter who's playing as it's just that big and so much to see, there's always something and someone to see."
However, huge numbers were left disappointed, with some claiming they have been unsuccessful for many years.
Homeless recovery worker Katie Cowdrey, 43, from Gosport in Hampshire, said she had attended with her late friend Katrina in the 1990s, but has been unable to buy a ticket since 2011 despite trying every year.
She said she just wanted to visit the festival one last time, adding: "I'm 44 next month and have arthritis in my knees, so not as mobile as I once was, so I know the clock is ticking for such things that involve walking about."
Last year, about two-and-a-half million people sought tickets for the event at Worthy Farm in Somerset, with just 210,000 available.
Festival organisers said the demand for the 2024 festival outstripped supply and festival ticket and coach packages sold out in 25 minutes on 16 November.
This year's ticket sale waspostponed by two weeks"out of fairness" to customers who did not realise their registration had expired.
Tickets for 2024 cost £355 (plus a £5 booking fee), up from £335 for 2023's event.
Festival-goers will pay a £75 as a deposit and the balance is due by the first week of April.
The event, which hosts more than 3,000 acts, will take place from 26-30 June.
Follow BBC West onFacebook,XandInstagram. Send your story ideas to:[email protected] | Tickets for next year's Glastonbury Festival have sold out in just under an hour. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-67454066?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA |
Michigan Democrat Rashida Tlaib was rebuked for her defence of the chant "from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free".
The resolution formally condemned her for "calling for the destruction of the state of Israel".
The measure passed by 234 to 188 votes. Twenty-two Democrats voted to censure.
Ms Tlaibposted a videoto Twitter on Friday that included a clip of protestors using the chant, which critics say calls for Palestinian control of all land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, including Israel.
The video also accused President Joe Biden of supporting genocide in Gaza and called for a ceasefire.
The Anti-Defamation Leagueand Jewish groups say the slogan, used at protests around the world, is a call for the destruction of Israel.
Pro-Palestinian activists argue that most people using it are calling for an end to Israel's occupation of the West Bank and blockade of Gaza, not the elimination of Israel itself.
Ms Tlaib later defended her use of the slogan, calling it "an aspirational call for freedom, human rights and peaceful coexistence, not death, destruction, or hate."
The comment stirred up cross-party condemnation and criticism from allies in her own state, prompting two separate measures seeking to censure her.
Republican Representative Rich McCormick, who represents Georgia, introduced a resolution on Monday, accusing Ms Tlaib of "calling for the destruction of the state of Israel and dangerously promoting false narratives" about Hamas's attack on Israel.
Twenty-two Democrats joined the vast majority of Republicans voting for Ms Tlaib's censure.
After the vote, Ms Tlaib told the house that her comments were directed at the Israeli government.
"I can't believe I have to say this, but Palestinian people are not disposable. We are human beings, just like anyone else," she said.
More than 1,400 Israelis were killed in the 7 October attack by Hamas.
The Hamas-run health ministry says that more than 10,300 Palestinians have since been killed in Israeli attacks.
The Biden administration has dismissed calls for a ceasefire in favour of a humanitarian pause to allow aid, food and water into Gaza. | The US Congress has voted to censure its only Palestinian-American member over comments she made on the Israel-Gaza war. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-67354706?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA |
He was immediately condemned by conservative opponents for dragging Spain towards "humiliation".
Although the conservative Popular Party won July elections they were unable to form a majority.
The amnesty deal would give the Socialists the numbers they need.
However, right-wing protesters have taken to the streets in Madrid and other cities in recent days, angered by the prospect of a law granting amnesty to hundreds of Catalan politicians and activists "directly or indirectly" related to a failed bid to secede from Spain in 2017.
Popular Party (PP) figures have accused the acting prime minister of writing a "blank cheque for the independence movement". Madrid regional leader Isabel DÃaz Ayuso said the Socialists were "selling a nation with centuries of history" with an attack on Spain's rule of law.
Judges and prosecutors associations also expressed "profound concern" about the agreement.
Amid the febrile atmosphere surrounding the deal, a former leader of the PP in Catalonia and founder of far-right Vox was shot in the head and wounded on a street in Madrid. His attacker was said to have fled the scene on a motorbike.
Alejo Vidal-Quadras, 78, had earlier condemned the "infamous pact", warning that it would make Spain a "totalitarian tyranny". However, Spanish reports suggested the attack may have been linked to his work defending Iran's exiled opposition.
Mr Vidal-Quadras was said to be in a stable condition.
Before Thursday's agreement, Pedro Sánchez had already sealed a deal with one pro-independence party. The Catalan Republican Left (ERC) is in power in Spain's north-eastern region.
His negotiators then clinched an agreement with the more radical Together for Catalonia (JxCat). It is led by Carles Puigdemont, who led the breakaway independence vote but fled to Brussels to avoid being sent to jail.
ERC and JxCat hold seven seats each in the 350-seat parliament.
While Mr Puigdemont went into exile in 2017, nine other Catalan leaders were jailed for sedition before being pardoned by Mr Sánchez in 2021. The crime of sedition has since been removed from the penal code but Mr Puigdemont is still accused of disobedience and embezzling public funds, and many others have faced similar allegations.
Under the agreement of just over three pages, the draft amnesty covers charges arising from the start of the Catalan push for independence in 2012 to 2023 but it does not refer to any named individuals.
It says JxCat will propose holding a "self-determination referendum on the political future of Catalonia" within the terms of the Spanish constitution while the Socialist party says it will defend the "broad development" of Catalonia's autonomy by judicial means.
The text also refers to "lawfare", a word used by JxCat to refer to judicial cases it claims were used to persecute pro-independence figures politically.
Mr Puigdemont said the deal marked a step towards resolving "the historic conflict between Catalonia and Spain".
Santos Cerdán, the Socialist party negotiator, said it gave a historic opportunity for tackling what "can and should only be dealt with politically".
"It's necessary to form a progressive government as soon as possible, that gives stability to Spain and that fulfils the mandate of the people in last elections."
The leader of the conservative PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, spoke of a day that would go down "in the dark history of our country". Calling for further protests, he said the acting prime minister had formed an alliance for personal convenience and had utterly surrendered to the "blackmail of the independence movement".
Party colleague Isabel DÃaz Ayuso told Spanish TV that the Socialists had betrayed all their principles. Accusing the acting prime minister of deciding to stay in office despite losing the election, she said his party was guilty of sneaking "a dictatorship through the back door".
Four judicial groups signed a joint statement objecting to the deal's claims of "lawfare" waged against pro-independence activists. They warned against interference in the independence of the judiciary and said expressions reflecting "distrust" were unacceptable.
The controversial amnesty law will be put before parliament in the coming days and, assuming it passes, the next step will be for an investiture debate and a vote around Thursday next week.
The European Commission said it had written to the caretaker government in Spain for information about the draft law. A spokesman said it had been contacted "by a large number of citizens and stakeholders who had concerns about [the amnesty]". | Spain's Socialist acting prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, has agreed a controversial amnesty deal with a Catalan separatist party, bringing him closer to four more years in office. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-67368314?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA |
Michael Matheson ran up the charges on his parliamentary iPad during a holiday to Morocco which he says was caused by an "outdated sim card".
He said he was not aware it was due to be replaced and the cost built up as a result.
Humza Yousaf said Mr Matheson should not have to pay it back.
It is understood the health secretary had been using the iPad during a family holiday for constituency work when the charges occurred.
Speaking in the Scottish Parliament after First Minister's Questions, Mr Matheson said: "It has been caused by an outdated sim card that was in an iPad that I had for constituency purposes, which was a parliamentary iPad."
Roaming charges are an expense incurred when using mobile devices abroad.
It is understood Mr Matheson was using an old sim card from the parliament's previous provider EE. Its current contract is with Vodafone.
Before each recess, Holyrood contacts MSPs to remind them they could incur "expensive out of tariff charges" if travelling outside Europe without a roaming bundle from IT.
The health secretary said he was unaware the sim card needed to be replaced.
Mr Matheson added: "As the parliament has also stated very clearly, the network provider didn't provide information around the costs that were being incurred as well.
"So it was something that was unknown to me, and as the parliament have also confirmed, the parliamentary equipment was used for constituency and parliamentary purposes."
Michael Matheson came back from Morocco with a very unwelcome souvenir - a hefty data roaming bill.
He spoke - very briefly - with journalists in Holyrood this afternoon, insisting this was all down to an old sim card that he was not aware had to be replaced
The health secretary was swift to depart, refusing to take any of the many questions journalists wanted to put to him.
We don't have the complete picture of what Michael Matheson used his iPad for in Morocco.
Why didn't he ensure it was on Wi-Fi? How did the bill get so high? And is it right that the taxpayer picks up the bill?
Humza Yousaf defended his health secretary this afternoon, saying he shouldn't have to pay back the money.
But it feels like the next time Mr Matheson is in front of the microphones, he'll still be facing questions over this Morocco trip.
Mr Matheson, who as the cabinet secretary for health and social care receives receives a yearly salary of£118,511, has agreed to pay £3,000 towards the bill from hisexpenses budget.
Mr Matheson did not respond when questioned on whether he should make a contribution to the bill out of his own pocket.
He also did not respond when asked why taxpayers should foot the bill.
The £11,000 bill is more than the total of all MSPs' mobile phone, business line, tablet and staff phone bill expenses claimed in 2022/23 combined. The total for all phone-related expenses last year was£9,507.
Craig Hoy, chairman of the Scottish Conservatives has called on Mr Matheson to cover the costs himself.
He said: "Michael Matheson offered only a cursory explanation - and no apology - for racking up this enormous bill. His sense of entitlement is breathtaking.
"The first minister is wrong to say this was a legitimate expense.
"Michael Matheson must belatedly do the right thing and pay back this £11,000 in full - no ifs, no buts."
A Scottish Parliament spokesman said that, following an investigation, senior officials "accepted Mr Matheson's assurances that all costs incurred were for parliamentary purposes".
They added: "Following the close of the financial year, it was agreed by parliament's senior management, in September 2023, that the events of this incident should lead to a policy review of mobile data usage.
"In addition to reviewing the policy, the parliament will shortly award a new mobile contract that will enhance technical controls to ensure there is no repeat of these substantial data charges."
Roaming charges are the higher prices that mobile networks charge for your device use when abroad.
It has always been more expensive the moment you leave Europe, with some providers charging £7 a megabyte for data and nearly £4 a minute to make or receive a phone call, according to personal finance siteMoneySavingExpert.
The costs for using your device overseas can vary wildly depending on the contract.
Some companies offer daily charges. For instance, you can pay £5 a day for worldwide use and you will be able to use your phone or tablet just as you do at home.
The advice from personal finance writers is always the same: If in doubt, play it safe and turn roaming off. | An £11,000 iPad roaming bill racked up by Scotland's health secretary was a "legitimate parliamentary expense", according to the first minister. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-67370793?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA |
Suella Braverman's plan would introduce new penalties in England and Wales for homeless people who authorities believe have rejected offers of help.
The plan was to stop "those who cause nuisance... by pitching tents in public spaces," she said.
Housing charity Shelter said: "Nobody should be punished for being homeless".
The plan is expected to be included in the King's speech on Tuesday, which sets out the government's legislative agenda and is expected to focus heavily on law and order.
Writing on X, formerly known as Twitter, Ms Braverman said: "Nobody in Britain should be living in a tent on our streets. There are options for people who don't want to be sleeping rough."
She said the government would always support those who are genuinely homeless, but added: "We cannot allow our streets to be taken over by rows of tents occupied by people, many of them from abroad, living on the streets as a lifestyle choice."
She added: "What I want to stop, and what the law-abiding majority wants us to stop, is those who cause nuisance and distress to other people by pitching tents in public spaces, aggressively begging, stealing, taking drugs, littering and blighting our communities."
Unless action is taken, she said, "British cities will go the way of places in the US like San Francisco and Los Angeles, where weak policies have led to an explosion of crime, drug taking and squalor."
According to the Financial Times,the proposals are designed to replace elements of the 1824 Vagrancy Act.
The paper reported that sources had said the plans being considered were for two clauses to be inserted in the new criminal justice bill, which applies to England and Wales. This would target tents that cause a nuisance - such as by obstructing shop doorways.
According to the report, the proposals include creating a civil offence whereby charities could be fined for handing out tents if they were deemed to have caused a nuisance.
Polly Neate, chief executive of Shelter said: "Living on the streets is not a lifestyle choice."
She added: "Homelessness happens when housing policy fails and boils down to people not being able to afford to live anywhere.
"Private rents are at an all-time high, evictions are rising and the cost of living crisis continues."
Labour's deputy leader, Angela Rayner added that the government should take responsibility for the housing crisis, rather than blame homeless people.
"A toxic mix of rising rents and a failure to end no-fault evictions are hitting vulnerable people, yet after years of delay the Tories still haven't kept their promises to act," she said.
The Liberal Democrats' home affairs spokesman, Alistair Carmichael, said it was "grim politics" to "criminalise homeless charities for simply trying to keep vulnerable people warm and dry in winter".
He added: "This policy will do nothing to stop rough sleeping and will leave vulnerable people to face the harsh weather conditions without any shelter whatsoever."
London mayor Sadiq Khan described the proposal as "deeply depressing".
"The government should be investing more in social housing, uplifting housing benefit rates and banning no-fault evictions," he wrote on X. | The home secretary is proposing new laws to restrict the use of tents by homeless people, arguing that many of them see it as a "lifestyle choice". | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-67321319?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA |
The role of home secretary is one of the biggest jobs in government, with responsibility for the police, immigration, and national security.
Asked if he wanted to distance himself from the rhetoric of his predecessor, Suella Braverman, he said: "I intend to do this job in the way that I feel best protects the British people and our interests."
The new home secretary has a bulging in-tray.
Top of the pile will be the legacy of the row over pro-Palestinian protests. Downing Street is understood to want him immediately to review police powers to make it easier to ban marches and prosecute those glorifying terrorism.
But this won't be straightforward. Lowering the bar to ban protests would almost certainly lead to a legal challenge that such a change breaches the right to freedom of assembly and association as set out in the European Convention of Human Rights, and enshrined in UK law.
Prohibiting a protest march is only lawful "in the interests of national security" or to prevent "serious public disorder". Senior officers policing major protests would argue that the decision on when and where to arrest individuals is an operational matter.
There is the risk that using snatch squads to arrest marchers for hate crimes could make public disorder more likely.
Less than two days into the job, Mr Cleverly will have to deal with whateverdecision the Supreme Court makes on the lawfulness of the government's Rwanda policy.
That judgement will be issued on Wednesday morning and were the Home Office to lose, the new home secretary would face an immediate crisis.
Even if the government win, the policy is likely to see further legal challenges from individual asylum seekers attempting to avoid being sent to Rwanda.
Mr Cleverly has said the prime minister had made it clear to him that "he wants to deliver on promises, to stop the boats, to protect the British people, make sure everyone feels secure in their lives."
More than 26,000 migrants have crossed the Channel so far this year, significantly lower than at this point last year, but the government believes the threat of being sent to East Africa is the best way to stop the smuggling gangs.
The new home secretary also inherits an asylum system in meltdown with 175,000 people waiting for an initial decision on their claim and tens of thousands still in hotels, costing around £8m a day.
One immediate dilemma for him is that the Home Office plan to move people out of hotels and into other accommodation includes a proposal to house 1,700 single male migrants at a former RAF base at Wethersfield near Braintree in Essex.
That is in Mr Cleverly's constituency and he has previously expressed opposition to using the site.
James Cleverly's style is very different to Suella Braverman. At the Foreign Office he came across as measured and diplomatic. It was a job he loved. When it was suggested he might become defence secretary in a previous reshuffle, he said that if removed, "you will see nail marks on the parquet floor in my office".
He will need a different approach to reflect the government's determination to look tough on crime and punishment in the run up to the next election. | James Cleverly arrived at the Home Office pledging to run the department in his own style. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-67404782?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA |
An investigation by the Sunday Times, the Times and Channel 4's Dispatches revealed allegations of rape, sexual assaults and emotional abuse against the British comedian and actor.
Brand has previously denied the claims.
The Met has confirmed that a man in his 40s attended a police station in south London on 16 November,as first reported by the Times newspaper.
The force said he was interviewed under caution by detectives in relation to allegations of "three non-recent sexual offences".
It said inquiries were continuing.
The Met said in September that it would investigate allegations of "non-recent" sexual offences, after receiving a number of allegations.
At the time, it said it was encouraging anyone who believed they may have been a victim of a sexual offence to contact them, "no matter how long ago it was".
Earlier that month, the Times, Sunday Times and Channel 4's Dispatches programme said four women had accused Brand, 48, of sexual offences, including a rape, alleged to have taken place between 2006 and 2013.
The investigation claimed he had also behaved inappropriately at work, and displayed predatory and controlling behaviour.
During that time, Brand held several jobs, including at Channel 4 and BBC Radio 2.
The BBC has approached Mr Brand for comment but has not yet heard back.
He has previously denied those claims and said his relationships have "always" been consensual.
The day before the investigation was published online in September, Brand shared a video on social media.
In it, he denied "serious criminal allegations" he said were to be made against him, and said his relationships "were absolutely, always consensual".
Following the allegations of "non-recent" sexual offences reported to the Met later that month, Brand put out another video in which he was critical of the mainstream media but did not directly address the claims against him. | Russell Brand has been questioned by the Metropolitan Police in relation to allegations of historical sex offences. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-67469301?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA |
Last week, as the Indian capital battled days of toxic air, the city's environment minister said that his government was considering cloud seeding - a rain-making technique - to bring down pollution levels.
The plan's fruition will depend on getting approval from India's Supreme Court, and possibly a number of federal ministries. If that happens, the scheme may be implemented later this month, depending on weather conditions.
This isn't the first time that cloud seeding has been suggested as a possible solution for air pollution in Delhi. But some experts say it is a complicated, expensive exercise whose efficacy in battling pollution is not completely proven, and that more research is needed to understand its long-term environmental impact.
But as Delhi's pollution keeps choking its people and making global headlines, political leaders seem desperate for a solution.
Over the past two weeks, the city's Air Quality Index (AQI) - which measures the level of PM 2.5 or fine particulate matter in the air - has consistently crossed the 450 mark, nearly 10 times the acceptable limit. And after a brief bout of (natural) rain brought down pollution over the weekend, air qualityturned hazardousagain on Monday as people burst firecrackers to celebrate the Diwali festival.
Pollution is a year-round problem in Delhi due to factors including high vehicular and industrial emissions and dust. But the city's air turns especially toxic in winter as farmers in neighbouring states burn crop remnants and low wind speeds lead to higher concentration of pollutants.
The Delhi government hasannounced school winter breaks earlyand banned construction activity. And it hopes that the Supreme Court, which is hearing petitions related to Delhi's toxic air, will give it the go-ahead for cloud seeding.
Cloud seeding is a technique that speeds up the condensation of moisture in clouds to create rain.
It is done by spraying particles of salt - like silver iodide or chloride - on clouds using planes or dispersion devices on the ground.
The salt granules act as ice-nucleating particles, which enable ice crystals to form in the clouds. The moisture in the clouds then latches on to these ice crystals and condenses into rain.
But the process doesn't always work.
Atmospheric conditions have to be exactly right, says Polash Mukerjee, an independent researcher on air quality and health.
"There should be the right amount of moisture and humidity in the clouds to allow for ice nuclei to form," he says, adding that secondary factors like wind speeds are also important - and they can be quite dynamic in Delhi at this time of the year.
The salt particles also have to be sprayed into a specific type of cloud that grows vertically as opposed to horizontally, JR Kulkarni, a weather scientist,toldDown to Earth magazine in 2018.
This rain-making process has been around for decades. In fact,climatologist SK Banerji, the first Indian director general of the country's meteorological department, experimented with it in 1952.
In the 1960s, the US military controversially used the technique to extend the monsoon over certain areas in Vietnam to disrupt Vietnamese military supplies during the war.
Countries such as China and the UAE, and some Indian states have also experimented with the process to boost rainfall or deal with drought-like situations.
The plan for the project has been submitted by researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur, a top engineering college.
As per the plan, the project will be carried out in two phases, with the first phase covering about 300sq km (116sq miles). Experts have suggested that the project be implemented on 20 and 21 November as meteorological conditions will be ideal at the time.
Manindra Agrawal, the scientist leading the project, toldReutersthat while they didn't expect enough clouds to cover Delhi fully on those days, "a few hundred kilometres would be good".
The rationale is that rainfall may help wash away particulate matter in the atmosphere, making the air cleaner and more breathable.
Delhi experienced this first-hand last week after brief spells of rain on Friday and Saturday brought down pollution levels.
But experts say it's not clear how helpful artificial rain will be.
Mr Mukerjee says that cloud seeding has been used for air quality management and dust suppression in other countries, but these have been "episodic at best".
"If you look at the impact of rainfall on air quality, it immediately brings down pollution levels, but the levels stabilise and bounce back within 48-72 hours. Cloud seeding is expensive and diverting scarce resources towards an activity that does not have definite or lasting effects is a band-aid solution," he says.
He adds that it must be a matter of deliberated and discussed policy. "It cannot be an ad-hoc decision. You must have a series of protocols in place and a multi-disciplinary team making them, including meteorologists, air quality policy experts, epidemiologists, etc."
Some experts are also concerned about what we don't know yet about the process.
"Right now, there is no substantial empirical evidence on how much the AQI is going to come down by cloud seeding," says Abinash Mohanty, a climate change and sustainability expert.
"We also don't know what its [cloud seeding] effects are because in the end you're trying to alter natural processes and that's bound to have limitations," he adds.
According to him, pollution can't be solved just by using "meteorological variables like rainfall and windspeed".
"We need to make more concerted efforts to curb air pollution than scattered trial-and-error experiments."
Additional reporting by Zoya Mateen
BBC News India is now on YouTube. Clickhereto subscribe and watch our documentaries, explainers and features. | Could the answer to Delhi's pollution problem lie in the clouds? | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-67364941?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA |
A resident protested after noticing no apostrophe on a replacement sign for St Mary's Terrace in Twyford, Hampshire.
Winchester City Council found the old sign and reinstalled it more than a year later.
Councillor Susan Cook said it was "a small thing but important to people".
The issue was first raised with the council by Twyford resident Oliver Gray in September 2022.
News of his successful campaign has been carried by newspapers and broadcasters around the world.
Councillor Cook, who represents Twyford, said she collected the old sign from the council's maintenance department and had it remounted.
She said: "Oliver is a former teacher and he knows his grammar. If you want to change a sign, do it right.
"If it has an apostrophe, it's supposed to have an apostrophe, then it will have an apostrophe."
Follow BBC South onFacebook,X, orInstagram. Send your story ideas to [email protected]. | Villagers are "extremely pleased" that a missing piece of punctuation has returned to a village road sign after a year-long wait, a councillor has said. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-67457675?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA |
Flowers in hand, he and his son walk up to Li's childhood home on Hongxing road in the city of Hefei. The footpaths are covered in a sea of flowers. Crowds of mourners have been gathering sincethe 68-year-old suddenly died in Shanghaiof a heart attack.
"He visited our textile factory and it left a deep impression," says the man. Li was from the same province as him, Anhui, he added: "It's too sad. I can't accept it."
China's Communist Party has had no choice but to allow this remembrance of Li, who had been the number two leader before he retired earlier this year. But even in death, he remains a challenge to China's current leader, Xi Jinping.
Publicly criticising Xi, or the Communist Party, would be dangerous. But Li's passing has provided a window to acknowledge his vision for the country and his seemingly more open and moderate approach to politics - which many see as a sharp contrast to Xi's hard-line style.
"My best friend and I took a day off to come here and place flowers," says a well-dressed middle-aged woman, wearing a pearl necklace and earrings. "He was always looking out for ordinary people. He always had us in his heart."
However, she is soon interrupted by officials telling her, and the BBC crew, to move on.
Officers in plain clothes keep gathering in greater numbers around those speaking to the BBC, listening in to what they say. Along Hongxing road, there are hundreds of them, and many more Communist Party volunteers. They are there to maintain order, and journalists are pushed out of the area, with interviews prevented.
Two young women in their 20s can barely be heard over the shouts telling them to leave, as they try to explain the gratitude and love they wanted to express towards Li.
Two other women emerge from Hongxing road, and one of them is pushing their mother in a wheelchair. "We took our mother to visit our former premier," one of them says.
"I saw him and paid my respects," her elderly mother chimes in, clasping her hands as if to pray. "He was a really good manâ¦" she continues, but then a woman appears next to her and starts pushing the wheelchair away, urging them to leave and stop talking to the media.
Nearby, a man wearing a backpack is watching. He says he has come to Anhui province from Shanghai to honour Li, "a leader who ordinary people believe spoke the truth".
"When we had difficulties or hardships, he visited to try to understand the situation." Then, referring to the man who has replaced him as premier, he adds "not like Li Qiang", who he describes as a sycophant.
When asked to clarify if he thought Li Keqiang was better than Li Qiang, he says: "I don't need to say it. You can ask anyone in Shanghai."
By now, people are gathering to listen. "Chinese officials are not used to speaking the truth," he says. "When we heard about his death, we felt surprised because Chinese leaders normally have good health and live to a long age."
An official interrupts the interview, and starts pushing him down the street. She keeps telling him that he's not a local, implying that it is not his place to come to Hefei and start speaking to reporters. He turns to the BBC crew and says, "I can't stay here". The official physically manoeuvres him into a taxi and orders him to leave.
About an hour's drive out of Hefei, another house where Li used to live has become a place of remembrance. Like in Hefei, the regional capital, the home of Li's ancestors in the village of Jiuzi is surrounded by thousands of flowers, bunched together in black plastic for the occasion.
Police have cleared a pathway for mourners to enter and leave. Chickens and birds can be heard above the shuffle of feet and quiet words as people bow in front of the thatch-roofed, mud-walled house where Li spent time as a child.
His modest background has endeared him to ordinary Chinese, especially after he famously referred to the high proportion of them who still live on a meagre income. Two women who've brought their small daughters to place flowers acknowledge this - one of them describes him as "considerate" towards the country's poor and its millions of migrant labourers.
"He was always thinking of ordinary folk, so we brought our daughters here to send him off," she adds. Another woman walks past and stops to say: "He was really down to earth. He's the son of a farmer. He didn't behave like an official."
Then an 80-year-old woman arrives with her family. She is wearing a red medal around her neck with a hammer and sickle, the symbols of the Communist Party. She holds it up, declaring proudly that she's been in the Party for 60 years.
Asked if Li was one of the best leaders China has had, she says, "Yes, yes, yes". Her much younger companion adds: "He was actually the best."
Clutching her medal, the older woman says: "Premier Li won people's hearts." | "He was a great leader who has remained in our hearts," says a man who has come to pay his respects to Li Keqiang, China's popular former premier who died last week. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-67294136?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA |
Nottingham Panthers player Adam Johnson was pronounced dead in hospital after sustaining the injury from a skate worn by Sheffield Steelers player Matt Petgrave on Saturday evening.
An inquest into the 29-year-old's death will open at the Medico-Legal Centre in Sheffield.
The Nottingham Panthers have described his death as a "freak accident".
South Yorkshire Police said officers had been studying footage of the incident and added the investigation "is likely to take some time".
Fans have been invited by the Panthers to attend a memorial event at their home stadium on Saturday.
The Motorpoint Arena will be open from 17:30 GMT for a gathering to remember the player, the club said.
A two-minute silence in memory of Johnson, who studied at Loughborough Business School, will take place at 20:20 GMT.
The club launched an official fundraising page on Tuesday evening "with the permission of Adam's family".
A commemorative ice hockey puck created in the player's memory was unveiled on Wednesday.
Money raised by the sale of the puck and the fundraising page will support charitable activities in Johnson's home city of Hibbing, Minnesota.
He previously played in North America's National Hockey League, playing 13 games for the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Johnson moved to the Swedish Hockey League for the 2020-21 season before spells with the Ontario Reign and the Lehigh Valley Phantoms in the American Hockey League.
He played for the Augsburger Panther in Germany before joining the Nottingham Panthers in August.
BBC Sport understands Johnson was not wearing a neck guard.
Former player and Sky Sports commentator Nick Rothwell, said he believed more players would wear neck guards following Johnson's death.
"I think a lot of guys will wear one to honour Adam," he said.
"They will feel like they have lost a brother, so what can they do?
"They can wear a neck guard and it is nothing to be ashamed of."
The Canadian, who played for the Sheffield Steelers, said he thought the clubs who were the fiercest rivals in UK ice hockey might now come together.
"I think this will unite them in a way they never thought before," he said.
Follow BBC East Midlands onFacebook, onX, or onInstagram. Send your story ideas [email protected]. | An inquest into the death of an ice hockey player whose neck was fatally cut is due to open on Friday. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-67297775?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA |
Bidding for a place in history as the woman who made Paris green, she has promised another city referendum.
The vote next February will be on whether to increase parking fees for so-called sports utility vehicles.
If last April's e-scooter referendum is anything to go by, the mayor should be confident of another easy victory.
On that occasion only a fraction of the electorate turned out, and they were in their vast majority people who actively hated e-scooters.
For SUVs, Ms Hidalgo has promised that residents of Paris proper will not be affected. In any case, ownership of SUVs - and of cars in general - is relatively low inside the capital's 20arrondissementsor districts. So opposition will be minimal.
Rather, the people most inconvenienced by higher parking fees are suburbanites who drive SUVs into Paris for work or pleasure. Handily, they won't be voting.
The 64-year-old Socialist had been promising a new initiative to build on the e-scooter ban.
But the timing has raised suspicions that she's using it to divert attention from her own SUV - as inStartlingly Unnecessary Voyage.
Opposition council members in Paris City Hall scent blood over a two-week trip taken by Anne Hidalgo to New Caledonia and French Polynesia in the South Pacific in October.
The first half of the visit was supposedly on official business, but from 21 October she stayed on in order to visit her daughter living on the Polynesian island of Raiatea.
It did not help that her absence coincided with the aftermath of the 7 October attacks in Israel, when back in Paris there were serious worries about the Middle East conflict spilling on to the streets.
The mayor's office has issued a strongly worded denial that there was anything untoward about the trip. It says that extending official visits for personal reasons is an accepted practice, and that Ms Hidalgo paid for the second part of her sojourn as well as the return air-fare.
Officially the aim of the visit was first to pay respects at a cemetery in New Caledonia, where deportees from the Paris 1871 commune are buried. The cemetery is paid for by the city of Paris.
Then in French Polynesia the mayor and her party held a number of meetings with local elected officials, before viewing the famous surf spot at Teahupo'o which will be used in next year's Paris Olympics.
Except that that culminating moment of the visit never took place, because of local protests over the environmental cost of a new Olympic viewing platform.
Back in Paris, the reaction from right-wing members of the Paris Assembly has been anything but pacific.
"I'll give you savings - â¬60,000 of savings," said right-wing councillor David Alphand in a debate Tuesday on the city's heavily indebted budget. The mayor's visit cost just under â¬60,000 (£52,300).
"Who can honestly say that this trip to the other end of the world was in any way appropriate? Only Madame Hidalgo herself cannot see there is a problem."
For the opposition, there was no justification for Ms Hidalgo going to see the Olympic site, because the minister of sport and the head of the Olympics committee - people who are far more involved in actually organising the Games - had already been there.
The environmental cost of the trip did not go unnoticed either.
"There's something seriously indecent about pointing the finger at a nurse or a builder who has to use their car to come into Paris, when at the same time you're explaining how it was absolutely essential to fly 30,000km in an airplane," said opposition councillor Nelly Garnier. | Flush from this year's victory over banning rental electric scooters, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo has a new on-street target in her sights: SUVs. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-67424678?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA |
Not only is a brand new party among the front-runners, but the Netherlands could be about to welcome its first female prime minister too.
Mark Rutte's 13-year era ended when his fourth government collapsed, and this election has been fought on a cluster of domestic crises - from the high cost of living and a shortage of housing, to healthcare and migration.
It has been only two years since the last vote, but many of the leaders standing are new, includingDilan Yesilgöz,the woman tipped to lead the country and the new head of Mr Rutte's liberal-conservative VVD.
Of the 26 parties taking part, four are leading the race for the Dutch parliament. Apart from the VVD, the other three feature a centrist party formed only three months ago byPieter Omtzigt, 49, an anti-Islam populist,Geert Wilders, and a left-wing alliance under ex-EU commissionerFrans Timmermans.
What makes this election highly unpredictable is that as many as 70% of voters were yet to decide, according to pollsters this week. And for the first time in Dutch history it is possible no party will win 30 seats in the 150-seat parliament.
The threshold is so low that as many as 17 parties could enter parliament. The last coalition took nine months to form and lasted less than two years.
Dilan Yesilgöz:She is the daughter of Turkish refugees and was once dubbed a "pitbull in high heels" because of her no-nonsense politics,
She has run a slick campaign as new VVD leader. A promo video shared on social media shows her sparring with heavyweight kickboxing champion Rico Verhoeven.
As justice minister, she was seen as a tough negotiator and a strong communicator, and her gender has played no part in the election campaign. "I think she's avoiding these issues because the party has an over-representation of male voters in its electorate," says Sarah de Lange, professor of Political Pluralism at the University of Amsterdam.
She appeals to voters under the slogan "On your side", promising renewal despite her party being in power for more than a decade, while still sticking to a liberal-conservative message that plays well with Dutch voters.
She came to the Netherlands as a seven-year-old Turkish-Kurdish refugee, but has adopted a hard line on immigration, vowing to introduce a two-tier asylum system, cancel permanent residence permits and take better control over all forms of migration.
Unlike her predecessor as head of the VVD, Ms Yesilgöz has not ruled out working with anti-immigration populist leader Geert Wilders, whose Freedom Party (PVV) is surging in the polls. But she stresses their "differences are enormous", citing his positions on Russia, Islam and "Nexit" - leaving the EU.
Frans Timmermans:The only left-wing candidate among the front-runners, he resigned as EU climate commissioner to lead the joint campaign by the Labour (PvdA) and GreenLeft parties.
One poll put the Labour-Green leader as favourite for the role of prime minister among 18-34 year-olds. But the man who spearheaded the EU's green deal had to drop a party pledge to halve emissions of nitrogen pollutants such as nitrogen oxides and ammonia by 2030 after talking to young farmers.
He has promised to raise taxes on the wealthy: "It's not nice for millionaires, but it does make for a fairer Netherlands."
He has no obvious coalition partners among the other three front-runners, but has not ruled out working with Pieter Omtzigt or Dilan Yesilgöz.
Geert Wilders:His Freedom Party (PVV) has long called for a ban on mosques, the Koran and Islamic schools.
But Mr Wilders now says "there are obviously more important priorities" and he has spoken of putting some of his policies on "hold", indicating that he is keen to play a part in government.
He is a veteran of Dutch politics after 25 years as an MP and has performed well in almost daily leaders' debate on Dutch TV.
Pieter Omtzigt: An unlikely leader for a new party, New Social Contract (NSC), he is enjoying a wave of popularity in Dutch politics, having played a prominent role in 2019 in exposing awelfare scandalthat left more than 20,000 families wrongly labelled as fraudsters and deprived of child benefit.
The scandal eventually brought down the third Rutte-led government in 2021. Months later Mr Omtzigt left the Christian Democrats and took several months off work for exhaustion.
His two big themes have become unlikely buzzwords in the campaign: improving socio-economic security -bestaanszekerheid- of Dutch households and changing the management culture of politics -bestuurscultuur.
He would make an unlikely prime minister, not least because he has made it clear it would be his "strong preference to stay in parliament" and lead his party there.
Under repeated pressure to say whether he would take the top job, he said he would be open to it if the cabinet was made up of "expert ministers".
It was a moment seized upon by his rivals. "Leading this country is an honour, not something you do because you have to," fired back Dilan Yesilgöz. "If you don't want to be prime minister, fine, but just say so."
Pieter Omtzigt has made clear he will not go into government with populist leader Geert Wilders, because "as a party you can only form a government that sticks to classic fundamental rights".
Caroline van der Plas:In March, her right-wing populist BBB Farmer-Citizen Movement stormed to victory in provincial elections and became the biggest party in the Dutch upper house of parliament, the senate.
That momentum has fallen away but the BBB could feature in the next government. Their big focus is on fighting stricter climate measures and imposing a refugee quota but Ms van der Plas has ruled out being prime minister as she is scared of flying and would rather be talking to the public than doing politics in Brussels.
Housing shortage:It has become so serious that the price of an average home has climbed above â¬400,000 (£350,000), because there about nine times as many home-hunters as flats or houses for sale.
Asja has spent seven months actively searching for a home for herself and two young children. "On a teacher's salary it's impossible to get an â¬800 [monthly] mortgage," she told the BBC.
State-subsidised social housing is in high demand and short supply, while private rents in major cities have rocketed. Students struggle to find accommodation and earlier this year more than 100,000 people signed a petition calling for more affordable housing.
Cost of living:Rising prices in the shops, energy and housing have left an estimated 830,000 people below the poverty line, but polls suggest a majority of Dutch people - even on middle incomes - say they're concerned about the future.
Even those who manage to find somewhere to live are facing record high energy bills. Trainee teacher Laurie Schram says she and her daughter depend on onesies and electric blankets to manage.
All the parties agree there is a crisis and Leonie de Jonge of the University of Groningen says the issue "has almost become depoliticised". Among 18-34 year olds, money worries are the decisive issue in determining who to vote for.
Migration:The previous government collapsed in July because ofdifferences over asylum restrictionsand almost two-thirds of Dutch people want a reduction in the number of claimants.
Net migration in 2022 was 223,000, more than double the previous year and with a big influx of Ukrainian refugees.
Part of the problem lies in a lack of accommodation. Three of the front-runners say they plan to tighten asylum rules and Pieter Omtzigt has directly linked migrant rights to the housing shortage.
Healthcare:Care costs are rising everywhere, and five million Dutch citizens describe themselves as unofficial carers.
The Dutch have been paying for health insurance since 2006, on average more than â¬141 a month for basic care - but 61% worry they won't be able afford it. That might be why many voters want healthcare nationalised again.
Climate change:Ten days before the election, tens of thousands of marchers in Amsterdam called for immediate action on the climate crisis. The Labour-Green alliance has put the issue high in its campaign, but Pieter Omtzigt has suggested that recent climate policy has focused on "an elite who can pay for it". | There really is a sense of a new era beginning in Dutch politics in Wednesday's snap parliamentary election. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-67399766?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA |
The country called for a ceasefire and said it would be supplying the blockaded Gaza Strip with aid.
An Israeli official said the move was "a surrender to terrorism".
Lior Haiat accused the Bolivian government of "aligning itself with the Hamas terrorist organization".
Bolivia's Deputy Foreign Minister Freddy Mamani said that the government had taken the decision to cut ties "in repudiation and condemnation of the aggressive and disproportionate Israeli military offensive taking place in the Gaza Strip".
He added that the country wanted an end to Israel's blockade that was preventing "the entry of food, water and other essential elements for life".
Gaza has been under an Israeli siege for weeks, with essential aid only reaching people through Egypt's Rafah crossing sporadically.
"Israel condemns Bolivia's support of terrorism and its submission to the Iranian regime, which attest to the values the government of Bolivia represents," Mr Haiat said in response.
Iran has been accused of providing support for Hamas to carry out the 7 October attacks. While Iran's leaders have celebrated and praised the violence, they have denied involvement.
Bolivia is not the only Latin American country to have begun taking diplomatic steps against Israel.
Chile's President Gabriel Boric said on Tuesday he was recalling the country's ambassador in Tel Aviv for consultations "given the unacceptable violations of International Humanitarian Law that Israel has incurred in the Gaza Strip."
"Chile strongly condemns and observes with great concern that these military operations - which at this point in their development entail collective punishment of the Palestinian civilian population in Gaza," he wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro made a similar announcement on social media.
"I have decided to call our ambassador in Israel for consultation," Mr Petro said, adding that "if Israel does not stop the massacre of the Palestinian people we cannot be there."
Brazil's President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva urged a ceasefire. Following reports of a new Israeli air strike in Gaza,Lula said on X: "We are seeing, for the first time, a war in which the majority of those killed are children... Stop! For the love of God, stop!"
The majority of the 8,500 war deaths reported by the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza are of adults but they include 3,500 children.
Israel has been bombing Gaza since the Hamas attack of 7 October that killed 1,400 people and saw at least 239 people taken hostage.
The US said on Tuesday that 66 trucks had been able to deliver aid inside Gaza, but charities warn that it will not be enough.
United Nations Relief and Works Agency (Unrwa) commissioner-general, Philippe Lazzarini said that prior to the war, about 500 trucks would enter Gaza each day.
Bolivia only restored diplomatic relations with Israel in 2019. It had previously cut ties with the country in 2009 under President Evo Morales, again to protest against Israel's actions in Gaza.
On Monday, Bolivia's President Luis Arce described Israel's actions in Gaza as "war crimes"on Xafter meeting with the Palestinian ambassador to Bolivia, Mahmoud Elalwani. | Bolivia has become the first Latin American country to cut diplomatic ties with Israel over what it describes as "aggressive and disproportionate" military actions in Gaza. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-67281584?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA |
In autumn 2017, there were estimated to be 48 people sleeping rough on a single night in Milton Keynes. That number has now fallen to just 16, according to the local council.
The city appears to be bucking the national trend,with the total number of people estimated to be rough sleeping across England on the rise again, after a drop during the Covid pandemic.
The issue hit the headlines this week, when Home Secretary Suella Braverman's claim that some people were living on the streets as a "lifestyle choice" provoked a backlash from homelessness charities, as well as some Conservatives.
She has proposed restricting the use of tents by rough sleepers, for example by issuing fines to those who refuse to move from shop doorways or charities that supply tents to people identified by police as having caused a nuisance.
Emily Darlington, a Labour councillor in Milton Keynes and the cabinet member for housing, says "tents are just the symptom, they're not the cause".
"There's no point in just dealing with the symptom, it's like you just want to hide away the problem."
She argues people that sleep in tents think they have no other option "because public services or the voluntary sector have failed them".
In Milton Keynes, Ms Darlington says the key to preventing people falling through the cracks has been bringing emergency beds and other support services under one roof.
During the pandemic, councils across England received government funding to help get people off the streets and into emergency accommodation including then-empty hotels, as part of the Everyone In scheme.
The initiative was widely praised butcharities were also concerned many people were not found permanent homes.
Ms Darlington, who is also Labour's parliamentary candidate for Milton Keynes Central at the next general election, says putting people in hotels was only "a sticking plaster" and the council wanted to keep people off the streets for good.
In April 2022 the council opened its own shelter for rough sleepers at the city's old bus station, providing emergency beds for up to 19 people every night.
Crucially, on the ground floor of the building there is also access to GP, mental health and addiction services. Meanwhile, charities provide help setting up bank accounts, accessing benefits and finding housing, as well as hot meals, a hairdresser and laundry facilities.
"So it's not asking people to run around the city, try and make appointments, when they already lead super chaotic lives," Ms Darlington explains.
At the shelter, those signing in for the night have faced issues including addiction, relationship breakdown and eviction, which contributed to them ending up on the streets.
Joseph, a recovering drug addict, says he became homeless when he was evicted after complaining about the condition of his housing.
Since then the 35-year-old has been sleeping rough on and off for several months.
So what does he make of the home secretary's comment that sleeping on the streets is a "lifestyle choice" for some?
"Wow," he says. "My reaction to that would be try and live one day like that."
Pausing for a moment he reflects that perhaps some people do have other options, but adds: "I had no choice. I had to."
As a rough sleeper, he has had to contend with not only the cold but also violence.
"Yesterday a guy came over and stamped on my head. It's constant," he says. "And it's like you don't even sleep. It is rest but you're literally just lying there."
He also developed problems with alcohol "because it's the only thing that keeps you warm outside".
Joseph says the system hasn't been perfect for him and he's struggled to access intensive support for his addictions.
But he still thinks the help offered by the shelter is crucial.
"If this place weren't here, people would die, literally."
Since the shelter opened, 145 people who have stayed there have been helped to move into long-term accommodation.
Ms Darlington recognises the problem is not solved and there are still some people sleeping rough in Milton Keynes. She says many of these individuals face significant challenges with addiction or mental health issues and continue to be visited daily by outreach workers.
"Some people aren't ready to face their issues, they're not ready to face their addictions... If we force them to participate in things before they're ready, we are just setting them up to fail," she says.
"I don't want to pretend like in Milton Keynes it's all easy and everyone's problems are sorted overnight - they're not. But it's the persistence of working over time with individuals, getting to know them."
Johnny Luk, who is the Conservative parliamentary candidate for Milton Keynes Central, said at a council level there was cross-party support for the work being done to tackle rough sleeping locally.
However, he said government funding had been "pivotal" in enabling progress, with more than £10m given to the council to address homelessness since 2019.
Mr Luk said he would not describe sleeping on the streets as a "lifestyle choice".
"I prefer we positively support homeless people, who are members of our community and deserve empathy and support under complex circumstances, rather than create a new offence or give fines," he added.
Downing Street has said no-one should be criminalised for having nowhere to live and it wants to ensure vulnerable people get support, whilst cracking down on anti-social and intimidating behaviour.
Emma Johnson is the general manager of local homelessness charity UnityMK, which runs support services on the ground floor below the council shelter, alongside other agencies like the NHS.
She says strong partnerships between voluntary organisations and the council have been key to tackling rough sleeping in Milton Keynes.
However, Ms Johnson is concerned the charity is seeing an increase in demand from rough sleepers, as well as others in temporary accommodation or facing homelessness.
She says this includes some people who are working but end up on the streets due to family breakdown, mental health crises and the high cost of renting.
Official figures suggesta slight increase in rough sleeping in Milton Keynes after the end of the pandemic-era Everyone In scheme, but the council says numbers have now fallen again.
Meanwhile, the number of people living in temporary accommodation in the city is amongst the highest in England,according to research by charity Shelter.
"I think there is just not enough social housing to be able to move people on," Ms Johnson says. "Social housing has to become a priority for whoever's going to be in government."
An independent commissionhas said the government will not meet its own target to end rough sleeping by 2024, with a severe shortage of affordable housing, a lack of support services and the cost-of-living crisis pushing more people into homelessness.
"I think there will always be people that find themselves homeless," says Ms Johnson. "So it's about trying to create a pathway to pick people up as quickly as possible." | Milton Keynes was created in the 1960s as a way of easing housing shortages in London. But five decades later it was facing a housing crisis of its own, dubbed "tent city" in the media because of the encampments of rough sleepers dotted around the centre. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-67370571?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA |
And when Hassan Nasrallah spoke, what he did not say was as important as what he said.
There was no declaration of all-out war on Israel. At least, not now.
Few in Lebanon had expected one.
Nasrallah knows there is little appetite in this country for another war with its powerful neighbour. The last one was in 2006.
Lebanese have troubles enough, with a shattered economy and a bankrupt political system.
That is a powerful deterrent, along with the two American aircraft carriers recently deployed to the eastern Mediterranean.
Hassan Nasrallah addressed the segregated rally - thousands strong - by video link from an undisclosed location.
It was not just his supporters who were hanging on his every word. His speech was required listening in Tel Aviv and in Washington. What Hezbollah does - or does not do - could be crucial now.
The Hezbollah leader declared that "all options are open," adding that "the situation could escalate militarily at any time".
That would depend, he said, on Israel's actions in Gaza, and its approach towards Lebanon.
Hezbollah is already stepping up the pressure on Israel with an escalation in cross-border attacks, which has forced the Israeli army to divert troops to the area.
But Hamas wants more from its ally.
At times, the fiery cleric sounded almost defensive about what his fighters have done so far.
"What's taking place on our front is very important and significant," he said.
"Those who claim that Hezbollah should engage swiftly in an all-out war with the enemy might see what is taking place on the border as minimal. But if look objectively, we will find it sizeable."
He said 57 Hezbollah fighters had been killed in recent weeks.
Predictably, he left the door open for a further escalation.
"I assure you this will not be the end," he said, "this will not be sufficient."
Hassan Nasrallah insisted that the 7 October attacks by Hamas were a "100% Palestinian operation", carried out in great secrecy, concealed even from Hamas's allies.
"It has no relation to any regional or international issues," he said, in effect claiming he did not know and neither did Iran.
Crowds chanted, "We are with you Nasrallah" as they waited under a hot sun at a rally in southern suburbs of Beirut.
On a rooftop overlooking the gathering, a masked man kept watch, with a bulky jamming device to block drones.
This is Hezbollah heartland, where many are devoted to the Islamist group, which - like Hamas - is classed as a terrorist organisation by the UK and the US, and many other governments.
"I don't think he [Nasrallah] is going to bring war to the whole country," said Fatima, a 17-year-old journalism student with gold rimmed glasses, "but whatever he decides, I am fine with it. If it is war, I am not afraid. I don't think there is anything better than dying for a good cause. We are standing with our Palestinian brothers and sisters."
The indications are that Hezbollah plans to leave the war in Gaza to Hamas, for now.
But that calculus could change quickly if Hamas comes close to defeat.
If Israel achieves a victory in Gaza, the cost could be a much bigger war - with Hezbollah. | The Hezbollah leader took his time to respond to the past month of bloodletting which has turned the Middle East into a tinder box. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-67317454?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA |
The 19 interpreters wrote to the German government on 7 August asking for protection as the jihadist groups that operate in northern Mali regard those who work with the UN as traitors.
"The terrorists have been openly saying that any person working for international forces is considered an enemy," a translator for the UN's German military contingent, whose name has been withheld for safety reasons, told the BBC.
A few weeks after the translators sent their letter, photos appeared online of their friend Hachimi Dicko being killed by gunmen from the Islamic State (IS) group.
The 32-year-old Malian had worked for a sub-contractor at Camp Castor, the base that is operated by German UN soldiers in Gao, northern Mali's most populous city.
All the translators knew Mr Dicko well. He had been a laundry supervisor at the camp, working for Ecolog - although a source close to his family says when he was captured by IS gunmen in June his contract had come to an end.
He had started a job as a clothing courier and had been travelling on a lorry from Niamey, the capital of neighbouring Niger, to Gao when it was ambushed.
Those travelling with him say he was singled out by the gunmen because of the military-style boots he was wearing. They initially demanded a ransom. The lorry driver got in contact with the family at the militants' request.
But as negotiations were happening by the side of the road, the IS gunmen started going through Mr Dicko's phone and found photos of him standing next to German UN soldiers.
Those pictures sealed his fate. The jihadists said they were no longer interested in a ransom. They abducted him, calling him a spy and an enemy accomplice. It is not clear when he was killed, but the images of his brutal murder were circulated online two months later.
The BBC has asked Ecolog to confirm that Mr Dicko was an employee but has not received a response.
The translators say Mr Dicko's murder shows the real danger they are in as they are known across the vast desert region.
"When we go to the field, our job is to go out to collect information for the forces. I have gone to many villages, and they call me 'kufur' (infidel). They tell me to my face that any person who works for infidels is also an infidel," said the translator who has worked for the UN for seven years.
He says even if he recites the shahada - a declaration of a Muslim's faith - some despise him for "taking the infidel's money".
"They know who we are, our faces are out there, they are just waiting for the international forces to leave the country for them to attack," he says.
"We work with the military, everywhere they go, we are there because we are their mouth, and a lot of bad people consider us spies.
"I've told my bosses, [about the threats] but they've done nothing. Now Germany is leaving soon but they haven't planned anything for us," he says.
In the translators' letter they state: "Your departure will create a great security void, especially for the interpreters who have played a very sensitive role since the start of the mission... We fear the risk of reprisals after the withdrawal of this mission."
A spokesperson for the German foreign ministry told the BBC that there are protective measures to ensure the safety of local staff should a crisis happen, including financial and logistical support to move them to safer areas or countries within the region.
Yet the German Defence Joint Forces Operations Command in Mali says it is continuously assessing the security situation and can find no reliable evidence of a systematic or individual threat to local employees.
"It became clear that all of the concerns and fears raised by local employees remained unspecific, vague and abstract. In particular, even when asked, the local employees were unable to provide any evidence of a risk due to their work," it said in a statement to the BBC.
German soldiers have not yet withdrawn from Camp Castor, but must do so by 31 December when the UN mission's mandate officially ends - at the request of the military government that took power in a coup in 2020.
Since some UN contingents began pulling out a few months ago, there has been an upsurge in violence in the north.
According to areport by the UN Security Council, armed groups are capitalising on the security vacuum and IS has almost doubled the areas it controls in less than a year.
The UN mission, known as Minusma, has operated in Mali since 2013 - deploying a year after Islamist groups and their Tuareg rebel allies seized the north of the country. Together with French troops, they regained control of the main cities but the jihadists have continued their insurgency from desert outposts.
Minusma is made up of military personnel from nearly 60 countries, with Germany, along with Bangladesh, Chad, Egypt and Senegal, among the main contributors.
UN agreements with these nations do not offer protection to Malians employed by them on temporary contracts - something that the group Interpreters in Conflict Zones at the International Association of Conference Interpreters (AIIC) has been campaigning to change since 2009.
About 900 Malians have been employed to work with Minusma as translators, drivers and other support roles across the 12 UN bases nationwide.
"We are worried that with the withdrawal of troops in Mali, the same thing will happen in Mali as it did in Afghanistan," Linda Fitchett, AIIC's project leader, told the BBC.
"If we cannot get the UN to adopt a protective text, who is going to protect these interpreters?"
After the withdrawal of US forces in Afghanistan in 2021, thousands of translators were left behind. Some have been executed by the Taliban and many more are in hiding.
Last year, AIIC, together with 21 other organisations, wrote to German ministers calling for the extraction of the Malian translators and their families "prior to full withdrawal".
Another translator for the Germans, who requested anonymity, told the BBC: "We saw what happened in Afghanistan after the departure of the Americans and it can happen here."
He questioned what further evidence German officials needed to understand their danger when he had opted to live inside the camp since starting work for them seven years ago.
"Do they want one of us to be kidnapped and killed? If there were no security concerns, would we be sleeping in the German camp?"
When taking part in a German mission that involved seizing weapons from jihadist groups, he said one person warned him: "I know who you are."
Even moving to the south of the country, which is considered safer, would not be enough, he warned.
"The jihadists are everywhere. We are OK to go to another African country, they don't have to take us to Germany."
More on Mali's insurgency: | Translators who work for German peacekeepers in Mali have told the BBC they fear for their lives as the UN mission winds up its mission in the West African country. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-67378497?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA |
Luis Manuel DÃaz was handed over to United Nations and Catholic church officials by members of the National Liberation Army (ELN).
He was abducted on 28 October in the family's hometown, Barrancas.
The footballer's mother was also seized, but was freed within hours.
Local media said Mr DÃaz had travelled by military helicopter to the city of Valledupar, where he would undergo a medical examination before being returned to his family.
They also quoted authorities as saying that he was in a good state of health, with no signs of mistreatment.
According to El Tiempo newspaper, there were tearful scenes in the neighbourhood where the couple lived, with family members taking to their cars to drive through the streets in celebration.
Most of them were dressed in Liverpool team shirts bearing the number 23 and Luis DÃaz's name.
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp told TNT Sports that the footballer was "really happy".
"We are delighted by the news of [Luis DÃaz's] father's safe return and we thank all those involved in securing his release," the club said on Twitter.
Luis Alfonso DÃaz, a cousin of the footballer's father, told Caracol Radio that it was "emotional" to learn that he had been freed "after so many days of sadness".
"We feel a great satisfaction, we are glad that it's come to an end," he added.
President Gustavo Petro reacted on X, formerly Twitter, with the message: "Long live Freedom and Peace."
The Colombian Football Federation issued a statement thanking all those responsible for Luis Manuel DÃaz's release, including the government, the military and the police.
It added: "Football is passion in peace. Let no-one ever think of attacking that reality again."
On the day of the kidnap attack, the couple was accosted by the gunmen as they had stopped at a petrol station in Barrancas, in the northern province of La Guajira.
The kidnappers later abandoned Luis DÃaz's mother, Cilenis Marulanda, in a car as police closed in, but dragged away his father.
Police originally said that a criminal gang was most likely to blame.
But a government delegation - which is currently engaged in peace talks with the rebel group - later said that it had "official knowledge" that the kidnapping had been carried out by "a unit belonging to the ELN".
The ELN is Colombia's main remaining active guerrilla group. It has been fighting the state since 1964 and has an estimated 2,500 members.
It is most active in the border region with Venezuela, where Luis Manuel DÃaz and his wife live.
The kidnapping caused outrage in Colombia, where Luis DÃaz - who is part of Colombia's national team - is immensely popular.
His Liverpool team has also shown its unwavering support. DÃaz scored a goal against Luton Town on Sunday, lifting his shirt to reveal the words in Spanish "freedom for papa".
"Every second, every minute our anxiety grows," DÃaz, 26, said in a statement released shortly after the match in England's Premier League. | Colombian-born Liverpool footballer Luis DÃaz's father has been released by the left-wing guerrillas who kidnapped him 13 days ago, police sources and local media say. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-67372903?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA |
When Ditza's daughter called her on 7 October, Hamas answered the phone.
"They were shouting 'It's Hamas, it's Hamas'," another daughter, Neta Heiman Mina, told the BBC.
"My sister was terrified, she hung up. I didn't think they had taken her. I thought they had killed her."
Ditza Heiman is being held hostage in Gaza.
She was taken from Kibbutz Nir Oz when Hamas staged its deadly attack on Israel, killing 1,400 people and taking more than 240 hostage.
Neta says she was in touch with her mother in the morning. Ditza was in her safe room and didn't know what was happening outside.
"I don't think she realised, or we realised, that the terrorists were at the kibbutz," Neta said.
The last message she got from her mother was a few minutes before 10:00 local time. After that she didn't answer her phone.
Neta later spoke to one of her mother's neighbours, who told her that Ditza had been calling for help. He went out to see what was happening and saw her being taken away by Hamas gunmen.
"There were too many terrorists outside, they started shooting. He crawled back into his shelter. He was lucky," Neta said.
On a Hamas Facebook page, Neta and her sister found a video that showed her mother. "They took her. They put her in a car. When we found the video, we knew she was alive."
Ditza Heiman had lived all her adult life in Nir Oz. A social worker who had only stopped working a few years ago, she has 12 grandchildren, five great-grandchildren and "so many more children who grew up with her and consider her to be family".
Neta's voice is unwavering as she talks about her mother. She lived on her own, she cooked for herself, she walked places.
"But she walked slowly. I don't think she could walk for many kilometres, like Yocheved," Neta said, referring to 85-year-old Yocheved Lifschitz who was freed last month and who has spoken of having to walk in the tunnels.
Ms Lifschitz described being taken into a "spider's web" of tunnels underneath Gaza.
Neta is very worried about the ground offensive in Gaza. She doesn't know what it means for the hostages, and she is also concerned for the young soldiers.
"They are all friends of my children, they are children of my friends. I don't think it will bring the hostages back," she said.
She wants Israel's government to "talk directly to Hamas".
A long-time activist with Women Wage Peace, the largest Israeli grassroots peace movement made up of Jewish and Arab women, she has long campaigned for an agreement-based resolution to the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.
She also blames Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government for what has happened.
"In the last nine months they did everything to escalate the situation, especially in the West Bank," she said.
She says that Hamas attacked at a time when many Israeli troops had been stationed in the occupied West Bank.
"The army was there [in the West Bank], to protect the Sukkah [a shelter put up as part of a Jewish festival]." she says, referring to tensions in the flashpoint town of Huwara.
"They were there and they didn't protect my mother. And now they need to do everything to bring them [the hostages] back." | Nearly four weeks have passed since Hamas kidnapped about 240 people into Gaza - among them is 84-year-old Ditza Heiman. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-67304340?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA |
The group stormed a jail in the capital, Conakry, early on Saturday morning - taking Capt Camara and three others.
Those taken are currently on trial for their alleged roles in deaths of more than 150 people in a 2009 protest.
Besides Capt Camara, two other prisoners have also been found.
It is unclear if they were kidnapped or freed by their supporters.
Capt Camara's lawyer earlier told the BBC the former leader was taken against his will and that he would never try to escape prison, as he had confidence in the Guinean judicial system.
The country's borders were closed as the authorities hunted for him and the others that were taken.
Guinea's Justice Minister, Charles Alphonse Wright, announced the escape on local radio.
"We will find them. And those responsible will be held accountable," he said.
Gunshots were heard in Conakry, starting before dawn. The city centre was cordoned off and military vehicles were also seen on the streets.
Among the others reported to have escaped were Col Claude Pivi, a former government minister who is accused of also being involved in the murder of people at Conakry stadium on 28 September 2009.
At least 157 people died when troops attacked people protesting against military rule. Scores of women were raped.
Col Pivi, Capt Camara and nine other former officials who have been charged over the massacre have all denied the allegations against them.
Capt Camara is charged with having command responsibility over the soldiers who carried out the alleged crimes.
He seized power in 2008 when long-time President Lansana Conté died, but he was ousted and fled the country not long after the Conakry killings and following an assassination attempt.
The 59-year-old had been living in Burkina Faso before returning to Guinea in September 2022 to face justice.
Guinea is currently under military rule, one of several former French colonies in West and Central Africa that have staged coups in the past three years.
The most recent happened in 2021, when former French soldier Col Mamady Doumbouya led a rebellion against President Alpha Condé. Col Doumbouya was later sworn in as president. | Guinea's former military ruler, Moussa Dadis Camara, is back in jail after being taken from prison by armed men, according to his lawyer. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-67320519?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA |
Prince William was in Manchester's Moss Side to learn about how the Manchester Peace Together Alliance is trying to tackle youth violence.
Amir Hassan, 11, made the prince laugh with his financial inquiry during the visit to the Hideaway Youth Project.
The boy said afterwards the future king had quipped he did not know the answer.
The prince was joined by Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham after the prince's Royal Foundation and the politician's office donated £50,000 each to bolster the work of the Manchester Peace Together Alliance.
The funding will be used to create an employment, skills and training programme for young people at risk of violence.
Prince William met some mothers who had lost children to violence, including Audrey Preston, 57, whose 21-year-old son was killed three years ago.
She said: "I think it's important he came into Moss Side to listen to our stories. When I was told he was coming I thought 'wow, why would he want to come and listen to me?'.
"Lots of kids get murdered in this area and nobody cares really about the families, we're just left to our own devices, so it's good he came, good for the community."
The prince also visited Jessie's Wall, a memorial built intribute of Jessie James, a teenager who was shot dead in 2006 in a park in Moss Side.
Later, he visited the Moss Side Millennium Powerhouse, a community hub with sports facilities and a library.
He brought with him his own donation to the food bank, a basket of food of cultural importance to Jamaicans, but sometimes hard to buy in the UK, including okra, yams and dragon fruit.
Why not follow BBC North West onFacebook,XandInstagram? You can also send story ideas [email protected] | The Prince of Wales has been put on the spot when visiting a youth project in a city when a boy asked him how much was in his bank account. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-67440515?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA |