President Joe Biden faces new questions over his candidacy in the November election – with his campaign events currently on pause due to a Covid-19 infection.

The top two Democrats in the US Congress, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, are both reported to have met him individually to express concerns over his bid for the White House.

Nancy Pelosi, the former House Speaker, has also privately told him that he cannot beat Donald Trump in November’s election, according to CNN.

Mr Biden’s re-election attempt was already being buffeted by growing dissent among top Democrats after his disastrous debate performance against Donald Trump last month.

Announcing his Covid infection on Wednesday, Mr Biden’s press secretary said the 81-year-old was facing mild symptoms.

He would isolate at his home in Delaware while carrying out “all of his duties fully”, said Karine Jean-Pierre. She added that the president was vaccinated and boosted. He has tested positive for Covid twice before.

Mr Biden was seen earlier in the day visiting supporters in Las Vegas and speaking at an event. He was forced to cancel a speech later in the day at UnidosUS, a Latino civil rights organisation.

It marked a sudden and debilitating end to a trip that was supposed to see Mr Biden hitting the campaign trail again with full force – after the pause sparked by the attempted assassination of his rival Trump.

The president had spent time in Las Vegas trying to revive his appeal among Hispanic voters, with whom his poll lead has slipped since 2020.

Later on Wednesday, he was seen moving slowly and cautiously up the steps to Air Force One. He was not wearing a mask. As he boarded the plane, he was heard to say: “Good, I feel good.”

As the aircraft bounced its way through the hot air above Nevada, Mr Biden’s re-election bid hit even more turbulence than it was already experiencing after last month’s fumbling performance against Trump in the televised debate.

This election campaign feels like it is moving at a chaotic, unpredictable pace.

Mr Biden has faced growing calls to withdraw from the election race in recent weeks.

During their separate private meetings with Mr Biden which took place last week, Mr Schumer and Mr Jeffries expressed concerns that his presence at the top of the November election ticket could hurt their chances for controlling either chamber in Congress, according to multiple reports.

After the reports, White House spokesman Andrew Bates said: “The president told both leaders he is the nominee of the party, he plans to win, and looks forward to working with both of them to pass his 100 days agenda to help working families.”

A spokesman for Mr Jeffries said, “it was a private conversation that will remain private”. Mr Schumer’s office called the reporting “idle speculation” but added the Democratic leader “conveyed the views of his caucus directly to President Biden”.

Ms Pelosi, too, is said by CNN to have told the president in a recent conversation that polling suggested he could harm the Democrats’ chances of winning the House in November.

The president pushed back, at which point Ms Pelosi asked for input on key data from the president’s long-time adviser, according to CNN, which cited four sources briefed on the call.

It is not clear when the conversation took place. Ms Pelosi’s office told CNN she had not been in touch with the president since Friday.

About two dozen Democratic politicians have publicly called for Mr Biden to step aside in recent weeks, including Adam Schiff, a congressman from California who has called on Mr Biden to “pass the torch”.

Mr Schiff said Mr Biden “has been one of the most consequential presidents in our nation’s history”, and he could “secure his legacy of leadership” by allowing another Democrat to step forward.

In an interview with BET, Mr Biden said he did not feel he could pass the mantle with the country so “divided”.

The president also said, for the first time, that he would consider dropping out of the race if any of his doctors said he had a “medical condition”.

Before the announcement of Mr Biden’s infection on Wednesday, reporters on the Las Vegas trip said they had been rushed off the site of a campaign stop at a Mexican restaurant to the city’s airport following the announcement.

The restaurant had been ablaze with colour, with Mexican art and guitars hanging from the walls and banners draped from the ceiling. One wall was adorned with “Biden-Harris” posters.

As ceiling fans swirled on low speed and Latino pop played quietly from the speakers, Mr Biden walked in via the kitchen door – which was flanked by a Secret Service detail – and entered a main dining area.

He shook hands with diners – who had clearly been prepared some time in advance for his arrival – kissed one and had selfies taken with others.

The president seemed somewhat stiffer and appeared slower than the day before, when he had given an energised performance in a speech to a national civil rights group.

Commenting later in the day on his Covid infection, the president’s doctor Kevin O’Connor said Mr Biden had presented with upper respiratory symptoms, including a runny nose and a cough, and had been given his first dose of Paxlovid.

He felt fine during his first event of the day but later tested positive, Dr O’Connor said.

Mr Biden posted on X to thank everyone for “the well wishes” and said he would “work to get the job done for the American people” while in recovery.

In another post on his account, he stated: “I’m sick” before going on to write “… of Elon Musk and his rich buddies trying to buy this election. And if you agree, pitch in here”.

The tweet pointed to a donations portal.

Donald Trump’s vice-presidential pick JD Vance vowed in a primetime speech to fight for working-class Americans that he argued had been “cast aside and forgotten” by the Democrats.

Introducing himself to millions of Americans watching on TV at home, the Ohio senator channelled his humble roots in the Midwest as he assailed “career politicians” like President Joe Biden.

He argued in his address at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, that Trump was the “last best hope” for Americans.

Trump and his running mate will challenge the Democratic White House ticket, currently Mr Biden and his Vice-President, Kamala Harris, in November’s election.

Mr Biden’s account on X, formerly Twitter, hit back at Mr Vance on Wednesday night, over his positions on abortion and Ukraine.

Mr Vance, 39, is hoping to become one of the youngest vice-presidents in US history.

In the speech, he charted his journey from a difficult childhood in small-town Ohio to the US Marines, Yale Law School, and finally the US Senate.

The author of best-selling memoir Hillbilly Elegy, about his impoverished family in Appalachian coal country, said “America’s ruling class” had destroyed communities like his hometown with trade agreements and foreign wars.

“From Iraq to Afghanistan, from the financial crisis to the Great Recession, from open borders to stagnating wages, the people who govern this country have failed and failed again,” he said.

He continued: “Donald Trump represents America’s last best hope to restore what – if lost – may never be found again.

“A country where a working-class boy, born far from the halls of power, can stand on this stage.”

The running mate, who is married to Usha Vance, a lawyer and daughter of Indian immigrants, said the US had traditionally welcomed newcomers, but that it ought not to import foreign labour.

“When we allow newcomers, we allow them on our terms,” he said.

Mr Vance was previously an opponent of Trump, once dismissing the Republican as an “idiot” who could become “America’s Hitler”.

By then a venture capitalist in Silicon Valley, he later mended fences with Trump.

He won the former president’s endorsement and was elected to the Senate in 2022, taking office the following year.

Democrats have seized on some of Mr Vance’s past statements, including that he doesn’t “really care what happens to Ukraine” and support for a nationwide abortion ban.

He has recently moderated his stance on abortion to align with the official Republican platform, which says the issue should be decided by individual states.

He did not mention the war in Ukraine during his speech, or say much at all about foreign policy, which was the theme of the third day of the party conference.

Mr Vance did say that US allies must share in the burden of securing world peace and America would avoid conflict but “punch hard” if provoked under a second Trump presidency.

He began his speech by talking about last Saturday’s assassination attempt on Trump.

“They accused him of being a tyrant,” he said. “They said he must be stopped at all costs. But how did he respond? He called for national unity, for national calm.”

In the immediate aftermath of the attack, Mr Vance blamed it on Mr Biden’s rhetoric and his warnings that his Republican rival poses a threat to democracy.

Most Americans had little knowledge of him until Wednesday night.

A CNN poll conducted last month showed that 13% of registered voters said they had a favourable opinion of Mr Vance and 20% an unfavourable one – nearly two-thirds either had never heard of him or had no opinion.

Some convention-goers on Wednesday said they were still learning about his biography.

Cindy Dore and Jackie Canon, two Republican delegates from Louisiana, said they were excited by Trump’s pick.

“He’s young, vibrant,” Ms Dore said.

She said she appreciated Hillbilly Elegy, but other than that, she didn’t know a lot about Mr Vance.

The speeches began shortly after it was announced that President Biden had been diagnosed with Covid-19 and temporarily suspended campaign activities.

The climax of the Republican convention will be Donald Trump’s speech on Thursday night.

Chris Devine – an associate professor of politics at the University of Dayton and co-author of Do Running Mates Matter? – told the BBC that vice-presidential picks tend to have quite a small effect on the overall race.

“If it’s the case that people look at JD Vance and see him as insufficiently experienced, they will think less of Donald Trump and his judgement,” he says. “Not by a lot, but potentially on the margins.”

But Mr Devine also noted that Mr Vance is an “incredibly talented communicator” despite being a relative political newcomer.

Donald Trump’s would-be assassin was flagged as “suspicious” by the Secret Service up to an hour before he began shooting but was lost in the crowd, lawmakers have been told by law enforcement officials.

In two closed briefings to lawmakers in the House and Senate on Wednesday, law enforcement officials, including the Secret Service, shared limited new information about security and the man who opened fire at a Trump rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday.

Wyoming Senator John Barrasso said the Secret Service told them they had spotted the attacker one hour before the attack, but then lost sight of him.

“He was identified as a character of suspicion because [he had] a rangefinder as well as a backpack. And this was over an hour before the shooting actually occurred,” he told Fox News.

“So, you would think over the course of that hour, you shouldn’t lose sight of the individual.”

A rangefinder is an instrument that can be used to help measure the distance to a target.

It was also revealed during the briefings that the gunman had visited the site of the attack, the Butler County fairgrounds, at least once in the days before the assassination attempt and had previously searched on his phone for symptoms of a depressive disorder, an official familiar with the briefing told CBS News, the BBC’s news partner.

The attacker had also used his phone to search for images of both Donald Trump and President Joe Biden. FBI Director Wray told lawmakers on the call that more than 200 interviews had already been conducted and 14,000 images reviewed.

• What we know about the Trump attacker
• Police were stationed in building Trump gunman shot from
• Tragedy at Trump rally upends election campaign – for now

However, multiple Republican senators criticised the lack of transparency from investigators on their call and expressed outrage that Trump was allowed to take the stage even after a threat was identified.

“I am appalled to learn that the Secret Service knew about a threat prior to President Trump walking on stage,” tweeted Senator Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee.

A law enforcement official involved in the investigation told CBS that a sniper from a local tactical team deployed to assist the Secret Service took a picture of the gunman looking through the rangefinder, and immediately radioed to a command post to report the sighting.

According to ABC News and other US outlets, the 20-year-old gunman was spotted again on the roof of a building 20 minutes before the attack began, officials revealed.

He was killed by Secret Service snipers within 26 seconds of opening fire on Trump.

Multiple senators who participated in the call complained that investigators did not answer their questions and demanded the resignation of Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle.

“The egregious security failures and lack of transparency around the assassination attempt on President Trump demand an immediate change of leadership at the Secret Service,” tweeted Utah Senator Mike Lee.

Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson called the briefing to lawmakers “unbelievably uninformative” and said investigators only took four questions from lawmakers.

Other senior Republicans also called for Ms Cheatle to resign. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said after the call that “the nation deserves answers and accountability” and a change in leadership at Secret Service would be “an important step in that direction”.

House lawmakers similarly were briefed on Wednesday by law enforcement about security and what led up to the Saturday shooting.

Republican Speaker of the House Mike Johnson also called for Ms Cheatle to quit. He said he plans to open an investigation in the House.

“It’ll be comprised of Republicans and Democrats to get down to the bottom of this quickly, so the American people can get the answers that they deserve,” he told Fox News.

FBI Director Chris Wray, who participated in the calls, told lawmakers that no motive has yet been identified for the gunman.

Ms Cheatle, a 27-year veteran of the Secret Service, is due to testify next week to the Republican-controlled House Oversight Committee and House Homeland Security Committee.

She has said the agency relied on local police to secure the building where the gunman climbed to the roof and perched his rifle.

A local officer came face-to-face with the gunman on the roof moments before the attack, Butler Township Manager Tom Knights told CBS.

The officer was searching after reports about a suspicious person. He was hoisted on to the roof by another officer and saw the suspect pointing a rifle directly at him, Mr Knights said.

The officer was in a “defenceless” position and let go, falling to the ground. He then alerted others to the gunman. Moments later, the shooting started.

The attack is being investigated by the Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general, and President Biden said he would direct an independent review be opened.

In 2015 Australia’s multi-billion-dollar greyhound racing industry vowed it would clean up its act.

A damning investigation at the time had exposed the preventable deaths of as many as 17,000 young dogs a year – revelations so shocking the government of the day rushed to implement an ultimately short-lived ban.

Almost a decade later, Greyhound Racing New South Wales (GRNSW) – the epicentre of the sport in the country – is back in the spotlight for alleged abuse, due to the work of one whistleblower.

In an explosive report made public by lawmakers, the organisation’s former chief veterinarian has described the industry as a hotbed of “exploitation and suffering”, claiming that dogs are being raced at “barbaric” rates, euthanised without cause, or left to rot in metal cages when they can no longer compete.

Executive heads are rolling, and an inquiry, which GRNSW says it “welcomes”, has been announced to investigate the accusations, as calls from critics to have greyhound racing outlawed grow louder.

But despite evidence of slipping public support, the state’s premier has said he won’t shut down the sport, prompting a standoff with those calling for that to happen.

“The reality is the greyhound racing industry cannot exist without systemic animal cruelty,” says NSW Animal Justice MP Emma Hurst.

“It will be shut down – it’s just a matter of when.”

Australia has been touted as the world’s largest commercial greyhound racing industry – with roughly 60 tracks in operation. New Zealand, the US, the UK and Ireland are also home to markets, but none operate at the same velocity.

Thanks to online betting, Australia’s industry has seen rising profits in recent years, turning over A$8.3bn ($5.6bn; £4.3bn) in 2023 – with 75% of the money coming from Victoria and New South Wales (NSW), according to the greyhound protection organisation GREY2K.

The spark that ignited the current outcry over the sport’s practices was a “handover” letter, from GRNSW’s Chief Veterinary Officer Alex Brittan to his incoming replacement – his final act in a job that by his own account, had nearly broken him.

The 54-page document contains a litany of accusations – including claims that GRNSW had worked with vets “unaccepting of modern medicine” who were prone to euthanising dogs without cause, and that the company’s leadership was directing staff to treat animal welfare groups “as the enemy”.

Within hours of Mr Brittan’s letter becoming public, the chief of GRNSW Rob Macaulay had resigned and the rest of the company’s board is now fighting for their survival.

NSW’s Gaming and Racing Minister David Harris has announced an inquiry into Mr Brittan’s claims which will be led by the industry’s regulator – something which GRNSW has been quick to embrace.

“We welcome the opportunity for an external examination of our processes and record,” its acting CEO Wayne Billett wrote in a statement. And a spokesperson for GRNSW told the BBC that the organisation takes concerns related to animal welfare “very seriously”.

But Mr Brittan’s account differs.

In his letter he described witnessing “cases of extreme distress” in which competing dogs had “recent pools of blood” around them after ripping off their toenails while “clawing” at their caged doors.

He also called out a flurry of “preventable” on-track deaths, due to greyhounds running into poles with “no padding on them” and questioned the figures GRNSW had put forward concerning how many retired dogs it had found homes for – a practice which gives the sport its social licence to operate.

Mr Brittan says that of the roughly 4,200 dogs entering the industry each year, only 1,600 were making it out and finding owners, with the rest living out their days in “industrial kennels”.

Further – he alleged that a company programme which had been set up to export retired greyhounds to the US, so that they could find homes there, had an alarming lack of oversight.

To prove his point, he told the story of Carey – a dog who died at Sydney airport after confusing its travelling box with a racer’s starter box and running into a fence at full speed when the door opened.

NSW’s premier Chris Minns said he would examine all the allegations put forward by Mr Brittan, but quickly ruled out a blanket ban on greyhound racing in the state.

“We’re not going to shut down the industry, but we do take this report seriously,” he told reporters last week.

And Mr Harris reiterated that the government would make sure the industry was held to “the highest standards of animal welfare and integrity” once the new investigation had concluded.

But given GRNSW has weathered multiple crises – including a government-backed inquiry in 2016 which delivered findings of “systemic animal cruelty” and mass killings – advocates are sceptical another inquiry will yield results.

“The greyhound racing industry was already given a chance to clean up its act eight years ago, and it’s monumentally failed,” Ms Hurst told the BBC.

Mr Brittan has also challenged the impartiality of the current investigation – saying it should be done by an external source, rather than the industry’s own regulator.

And he questioned why an all-out ban had been taken off the table already.

“It could be perceived as concerning that the premier and gaming minister have stated that the outcome of the inquiry is a foregone conclusion and that, irrespective of any findings, all bets are on, and the gambling will continue,” he said, according to the Guardian.

Around the world, the prominence and popularity of dog-racing for sport has been in decline.

In the US for example – which used to be one of the sport’s largest industries – betting on greyhounds has been outlawed in all but a handful of states, and only two active tracks remain, both in West Virginia.

Advocates like Ms Hurst argue that the practice endures in Australia not because of community fanfare, but gambling profits.

The last time the industry was in the spotlight in 2016, over 80% of people polled by the country’s national broadcaster said they wanted to see it shut down.

And in recent years, it has been outlawed in the Australian Capital Territory, while petitions calling for other jurisdictions to follow suit have made their way to several state parliaments.

GRNSW says it has no plans to go anywhere – and that racing, which first came to the nation’s shores in the late 1800s, can be done “sustainably”.

But Ms Hurst, and others calling for an end to the sport, say that the latest spate of allegations present a unique “opportunity” to “listen to the community and ban this cruel industry”.

Speeding along a road in the foothills of the Swiss Alps, Fariba Hashimi rises out of the saddle of her £15,000 bike and works the pedals even harder to close the gap between her and her sister, Yulduz, a few metres up ahead.

Training rides like this are the last steps on a journey that began with the two siblings from rural Afghanistan racing in disguise on borrowed bikes, before having to escape when the Taliban came to power.

Now they’re on their way to the Olympic Games in Paris. And, despite a Taliban ruling banning women from sport, they will compete under their country’s flag.

In a world where many elite athletes take up sport almost as soon as they can walk, Fariba, 21, and Yulduz, 24, came late to cycling.

They grew up in Faryab, one of the most remote and conservative provinces in Afghanistan, where it was practically unheard of to see women on bicycles.

Fariba was 14 and Yulduz 17 when they saw an advert for a local cycle race and decided to take part.

There were two problems; they didn’t have a bike and they didn’t know how to ride.

The sisters borrowed a neighbour’s bike one afternoon. After a few hours, they felt they had got the hang of it.

Their next challenge was to avoid their family finding out what they were doing because of the stigma around women taking part in sport in conservative areas of Afghanistan.

The sisters used false names and covered themselves up, wearing big baggy clothing, large headscarves and sunglasses so people didn’t recognise them.

Race day dawned, and incredibly the sisters came first and second.

“It felt amazing,” says Fariba. “I felt like a bird who could fly.”

They kept on entering races and kept on winning until their parents eventually found out when they saw pictures of them in the local media.

“They were upset at first. They asked me to stop cycling,” Fariba says. “But I didn’t give up. I secretly continued,” she smiles.

It didn’t come without dangers – people tried to hit them with cars or rickshaws as they rode or threw stones at them as they cycled past.

“People were abusive. All I wanted to do was win races,” says Yulduz.

And the situation was about to get worse.

In 2021, four years after the sisters started riding, the Taliban retook control of the country and clamped down on women’s rights, restricting their access to education and limiting how they could travel. They also banned women from taking part in sport.

Yulduz and Fariba had dreamed of one day competing in the Olympics. Now they knew if they wanted to race at all they had to leave Afghanistan.

Using contacts in the cycling community they managed to secure seats on an Italian evacuation flight, along with three teammates.

Once in Italy, the women joined a cycling team and got proper coaching for the first time.

“Back in Afghanistan, we didn’t have professional training,” says Yulduz. “All we used to do was take our bikes and ride.”

But leaving their homeland and family was not easy.

“The biggest thing for me is to be away from my mother,” says Fariba. “I never thought that because of cycling I would be separated from my brothers and sisters.”

“I’ve sacrificed a lot.”

The Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan also threw into doubt whether the country would even be allowed to compete at the Olympics.

National Olympic Committees are supposed to select athletes for the Games without any government interference.

As the Taliban’s ban on women playing sport breaks this rule, by preventing women being chosen for Afghanistan’s team, it led to calls for the country to be banned from the Olympics – as it had been when the militant group was last in power.

But the International Olympic Committee wanted to find a way to allow Afghan women to compete at the Games.

Behind the scenes talks took place between the heads of Afghan sporting bodies, including some now living in exile, about putting together a special team to represent the country in Paris.

As time ticked by, and Paris 2024 got ever closer, it looked as if no Afghan athletes would be at the Games.

Then, in June, International Olympic Committee announced that it had arranged for a special gender-equal team representing Afghanistan to go the Paris Olympics. It would be made up of three women and three men. And both the sisters are among them.

“This was a big surprise for both of us,” says Fariba.

“We always dreamt of taking part in the Olympic Games, this is our dream come true,” Yulduz adds.

“Despite all the rights that were taken from us we can show that we can achieve great success, we will be able to represent 20 million Afghan women.”

The IOC say no Taliban officials will be allowed to attend Paris 2024.

The sisters are preparing for the Olympic road race event while riding for a development team run and funded by the UCI and based at the World Cycling Centre, an ultra-modern facility in the Swiss town of Aigle.

The elite facilities are a world away from the dusty roads in Afghanistan where Yulduz and Fariba first taught themselves to cycle.

But their spirit remains the same.

“We are each other’s strength – I support her and she supports me,” says Yulduz.

“Our achievement belongs to Afghanistan,” adds Fariba. “This belongs to Afghanistan women. I am going to the Olympics because of them.”

Cambodia has welcomed 60 baby Siamese crocodiles – a hatching record for the endangered species in this century, conservationists say.

They have called it a “real sign of hope”, after more than 20 years of efforts to revive the reptile’s numbers in the remote Cardamom Mountains.

The olive green freshwater reptile has a distinct bony crest at the back of its head – by some estimates, it can grow up to 3m or nearly 10ft.

Locals discovered five nests in May and the baby crocs were born at the end of June, conservationists said on Thursday.

Siamese crocodiles were once widespread throughout much of South East Asia.

But decades of hunting and habitat loss have tuned them into what conservations classify as “critically endangered” species. There are just 400 of them left in the world – and most of those are in Cambodia.

Given their dwindling population in the wild, “the hatching of 60 new crocodiles is a tremendous boost,” said Pablo Sinovas, who leads the Cambodia programme of conservation group Fauna & Flora.

He added that this was hugely encouraging for “collaborative conservation efforts” – in this case the efforts have involved conservationists, local NGOs and the Cambodian government.

The crocs were feared to be extinct until they were rediscovered in Cambodia in 2000.

Mr Sinovas says it Fauna & Flora has since worked with local officials to set up a programme to breed them in captivity before releasing them into suitable habitats across the Cardamom Mountains.

Local community wardens patrol crisscross mountains in regular patrols to ensure that the crocodiles are safe after release.

Since 2012, the programme has successfully let 196 Siamaese crocs back into the wild.

In May locals discovered nests in an area where the crocodiles had not been released before, suggesting that the species have been breeding in their natural habitat.

The conservation team then dispatched people to make sure the nests were protected round the clock – until all the eggs hatched, bringing 60 baby Siamese crocs into the world.

Technology stocks around the world have slumped on fears about the global computer chip industry.

The sell-off came after a report that the Biden administration could be set to further tighten restrictions on exports of semiconductor equipment to China.

Comments by former US President Donald Trump that Taiwan, the biggest producer of chips, should pay for its own defence added to the concerns.

In the US, the tech-heavy Nasdaq index closed 2.7% lower on Wednesday, while chip stocks have also tumbled in Europe and Asia.

“Regardless of the outcome of the elections… I think we will see the US increase some of the restrictions” said Bob O’Donnell, chief analyst at TECHnalysis Research.

“How far they will take it, though, is the big question.”

In Asia, chip making giant TSMC lost 2.4% on Thursday, while semiconductor equipment maker Tokyo Electron was down by around 8.8%.

That came after Nvidia closed 6.6% lower in New York on Wednesday, while AMD lost more than 10%.

In Europe, shares in ASML, which makes chip making machines, tumbled by almost 11%.

The falls came after Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday that the US government is preparing to impose its tightest curbs yet on semiconductor making equipment to China if firms like ASML and Tokyo Electron continue to give the country access to their advanced chip technology.

ASML declined to comment when contacted by the BBC. Tokyo Electron did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The BBC has also asked the US Commerce Department for a statement.

The Biden administration has previously taken steps to restrict China’s access to advanced chip technology.

In October, it restricted exports to China of advanced semiconductors used in artificial intelligence (AI) technology.

The remarks on Taiwan by Mr Trump also hinted at possible disruption of global chip supplies.

Taiwan produces most of the world’s advanced chips.

“Investors always react to any remarks from the US but despite these comments, the long term business trend for the semiconductor industry is clearly going up,” said Marco Mezger, Executive Vice President of memory chip technology company Neumonda.

A large dinosaur’s skeleton has fetched $44.6m (£34m) at a Sotheby’s auction in New York City – the most ever paid for a fossil.

The plant-eating stegosaurus – nicknamed Apex – is 11ft (3.4m) tall and 27ft long from nose to tail, and “ranks high among the most complete skeletons ever found”, Sotheby’s said.

It was sold to an anonymous buyer, who said: “Apex was born in America and is going to stay in America” – in what is seen as a hint that it might be loaned to a US institution.

Apex was discovered by chance by a palaeontologist in 2022 near the suitably named town of Dinosaur in the western US state of Colorado.

“The finest stegosaurus to appear at auction, ‘Apex’ has made history today [Wednesday] selling for $44.6 million at Sotheby’s to become the most valuable fossil ever sold at auction,” Sotheby’s said in a statement.

The fossil exceeded its pre-sale estimates by more than 11 times, going “to applause after 15 minutes”, the auction house said.

Seven buyers took part in the bidding process for the largest stegosaurus fossil ever found.

Apex was discovered by Jason Cooper, a professional fossil hunter.

Mr Cooper dubbed it Apex because its formidable dimensions would have made it a dominant animal in its environment.

Apex is believed to have roamed the planet about 150 million years ago during the Late Jurassic Period.

The previous dinosaur fossil sale record was set in 2020, when a Tyrannosaurus Rex – known as Stan – fetched $31.8m.

Seven people have died, including three children, in a fire that broke out in the early hours of Thursday in the southern French city of Nice.

The local prosecutor said officials were investigating the blaze as a potential arson attack.

Flames engulfed the upper floors of an apartment block in the Moulins area of Nice, close to the city’s airport.

Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said three young children were among the victims and that police would “shed light on the circumstances of this terrible tragedy”.

The fire broke out on the seventh floor. Nice prosecutor Damien Martinelli told journalists that in light of initial findings, “I have opened an inquiry into acts of arson as the cause of death.”

Local reports said the seven victims were all part of the same family and the children who died were aged five, seven and 10. Two people are said to have tried to escape through a window – one died and the other is in a critical condition.

One man called Iftahou told the Nice Matin website that he had arrived at the scene while the fire was burning and realised there was no hope for those inside.

The head of the Comorian community in the south of France, Najim Maecha, said he knew the family and that they had lived in Nice since about 2013.

Nice Mayor Christian Estrosi said the human toll of the disaster was extremely high. As well as the seven victims, another 30 people have suffered smoke inhalation.

“I’ve asked the interior minister to deploy security forces to ensure residents’ safety and avoid new incidents after this tragedy that’s being investigated as potential arson,” he said.

Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) decide on Thursday whether to hand Ursula von der Leyen a second term as European Commission president.

Despite Ms von der Leyen’s recent efforts to shore up support, the outcome of the vote – due to take place at the European Parliament in Brussels at 13:00 (11:00 GMT) – is far from certain.

European leaders officially nominated Ms von der Leyen at a summit in Brussels at the end of June.

The decision came despite resistance from Italy’s Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, who abstained from the vote after accusing fellow EU leaders of excluding parties like her own from the conversation.

Ms von der Leyen, who has had the job of Commission president since 2019, will need 361 votes in order to be confirmed for a second term.

Support from her own centre-right European People’s Party (EPP), the Socialists & Democrats and the liberal Renew should give her enough votes.

But what makes things potentially tricky is that the vote is secret – meaning MEPs can cast ballots according to their inclinations rather than the declared party line.

Several Irish MEPs belonging to centrist parties have said they would vote against Ms von der Leyen’s nomination because of her stance on the war in Gaza. Some French MEPs belonging to Ms von der Leyen’s own EPP grouping have also said they won’t support her.

To limit the potential for unwelcome surprises, over the past few weeks Ms von der Leyen has held private meetings with some parliamentary groupings in an attempt to secure their votes.

Her bid has not always been successful. After one such meeting, MEPs belonging to the Left grouping said they had decided not to vote for Ms von der Leyen due to her willingness to increase military and defence spending.

She also met with the Greens and received positive signals – although some MEPs said they would wait to hear Ms von der Leyen’s speech on Thursday before making a final decision.

She reportedly managed to convince some members of the right-wing European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) to back her, although the Romanian, French and Polish delegations have said they would vote against her.

The Italian prime minister, who leads the ECR, is also said to be holding off on making a decision on how she will instruct her 24 Italian MEPs to vote until after Ms von der Leyen’s address.

However, according to Italian media she is leaning towards endorsing Ms von der Leyen in exchange for Italy being offered a senior job in the next Commission – such as the coveted economy or competition portfolios.

Ms Meloni, who heads the far-right Brothers of Italy party, has gained a prominent status among European right-wingers.

The third biggest group in Parliament, the newly formed Patriots for Europe, has refused to back Ms von der Leyen. Formed by Hungary’s Viktor Orban, it includes the leaders of far-right parties in France, Austria and the Netherlands.

If Ms von der Leyen does not pass today’s European Parliament vote, the EU will be back to square one, with leaders having to agree on a new candidate who would then need to be approved by the Parliament.

Although names have been floated, no obvious alternative candidate has emerged so far.

Ms von der Leyen won the job five years ago, when her name was put forward by EU leaders in a last-minute deal after a political stalemate over other contenders.

At the time, she was voted in with only nine votes over the required majority. Thursday’s vote might end up being just as close.

Cyanide has been found in the blood of all six people who died in a luxury hotel suite in Bangkok, say doctors after examining their bodies.

Based on the initial post-mortem examination, they say there is “no other cause” that would explain their deaths “except for cyanide”.

But further tests are being carried out to determine the “intensity” of the deadly chemical and to rule out any other toxins.

Forensic investigators had earlier found traces of cyanide on the teacups used by the victims, all of whom are of Vietnamese origin including two with dual US citizenship. Police suspect that one of the dead was behind the poisoning and was driven by crushing debt – but have not said who.

The victims’ lips and nails had turned dark purple indicating a lack of oxygen, while their internal organs turned “blood red”, which is another sign of cyanide poisoning, said Professor Kornkiat Vongpaisarnsin of the Department of Forensic Medicine at Chulalongkorn University.

Doctor Chanchai Sittipunt, the dean of the Faculty of Medicine, said they still needed to find out how much cyanide was in the blood of the deceased.

“But from what we have detected – from observation, from internal organ check, from finding cyanide in the blood during the screening test – there is no other cause that would be the factor that would cause their deaths, except for cyanide,” he told reporters.

The deceased were found by housekeepers at the Grand Hyatt Erawan hotel in the Thai capital late on Tuesday.

Investigators believe they had been dead for between 12 and 24 hours by then.

The mystery around the shocking discovery made international headlines.

Thailand’s Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin ordered an urgent investigation into the case, stressing that the deaths were the result of a “private matter”, and there was no suggestion of public danger.

Police have since begun to piece together what might have happened.

Two of the six victims had loaned “tens of millions of Thai baht” to another of the deceased for investment purposes, authorities said. Ten million baht is worth nearly $280,000 (£215,000).

Earlier on Wednesday, Deputy Bangkok police chief Gen Noppassin Poonsawat told a press conference the group checked into the hotel separately over the weekend and were assigned five rooms – four on the seventh floor, and one on the fifth.

They had been scheduled to check out on Monday but failed to do so.

Four of the victims are Vietnamese nationals Thi Nguyen Phuong, 46, her husband Hong Pham Thanh, 49, Thi Nguyen Phuong Lan, 47, and Dinh Tran Phu, 37.

The other two are American citizens Sherine Chong, 56, and Dang Hung Van, 55.

The US state department has offered its condolences and said it is “closely monitoring” the situation. The US Federal Bureau of Investigation is assisting Thai authorities in the investigation, Mr Srettha said.

The motive is not clear, but police said two of the six had loaned a substantial amount of money to another person in the group, who had not been paid back.

Police say on Monday afternoon all six victims gathered in the room on the fifth floor.

The group ordered food and tea, which was delivered to the room around 14:00 local time (08:00 BST) and received by Ms Chong – who was the only person in the room at the time.

According to the deputy police chief, a waiter offered to make tea for the guests but Ms Chong refused this. The waiter recalled that she “spoke very little and was visibly under stress”, authorities said.

The waiter later left the room.

The rest of the group then began streaming into the room at various points, between 14:03 and 14:17. No one else is believed to have entered the room apart from the six inside and police have said the door to the room was locked from within.

Police say there were no signs of a struggle, robbery or forced entry. They later found traces of cyanide in all six tea cups.

Pictures released by the police show plates of untouched food left on a table in the room, some of them still covered in cling wrap.

There was a seventh name on the group’s hotel booking, whom police identified as the younger sister of one of the victims. She had left Thailand last week for the Vietnamese coastal city of Da Nang and is not involved in the incident, police said.

Relatives interviewed by the police said Thi Nguyen Phuong and Hong Pham Thanh, a couple, owned a road construction business and had given money to Ms Chong to invest in a hospital building project in Japan.

Police suspect that Mr Tran, a make-up artist based in Da Nang, had also been “duped” into making an investment.

Mr Tran’s mother Tuý told BBC Vietnamese that he had travelled to Thailand on Friday and had called home on Sunday to say he had to extend his stay until Monday. That was the last his family had heard from him. She rang him again on Monday but he did not answer the call.

Ms Chong had hired Mr Tran as her personal make-up artist for the trip, one of his students told BBC Vietnamese. Mr Tran’s father, Phu, told Vietnamese media that his son was hired last week by a Vietnamese woman to travel to Thailand.

The six bodies were discovered one day after Thailand expanded its visa-free entry scheme to travellers from 93 countries and territories to revitalise its tourism industry.

Cyanide is a rapidly-acting, highly toxic chemical that is potentially deadly. Low levels of cyanide occur in nature and in products we eat and use. But in larger doses it is a notorious poison, and has been used as a chemical warfare agent because of its fast-acting and highly lethal properties.

It can occur as a colourless gas or liquid or in crystal form. People can be exposed to cyanide by breathing it in, absorbing it through the skin, or eating food or liquids that contain it.

When consumed in large amounts, cyanide can lead to lung injury, coma and death within seconds, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Even in smaller doses, cyanide is still very harmful, causing chest pain, nausea, shortness of breath and vomiting.

Cyanide can produce a “bitter almond” smell but not everyone can detect this and it doesn’t always give off an odour.