A High Security Alert has been issued for the whole of Bangladesh, as violent clashes between students and police continue.

The capital Dhaka is in the midst of a near-total internet blackout, with phone lines also down.

On Thursday evening, several thousand protestors stormed the state broadcaster BTV, vandalising furniture, smashing windows and lights and setting parts of it on fire.

Bangladesh’s information minister told the BBC that broadcasts had been stopped and most employees had left the building in the capital.

A post on BTV’s official Facebook page had earlier warned “many” were trapped inside the building, and appealed for help from the fire service to put the blaze out.

A senior BTV journalist, who didn’t want to be named, told the BBC: “The situation was so bad we didn’t have any other option but to leave the place. Some of our colleagues were trapped inside. I don’t know what happened to them.”

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina appeared on the network on Wednesday night, appealing for calm after days of violent protests which have left at least 19 people dead, possibly many more, and hundreds injured.

Students have been holding rallies demanding change to a system which reserves a third of public sector jobs for the relatives of veterans of the country’s war for independence from Pakistan in 1971.

The students are arguing that the system is discriminatory, asking for recruitment based on merit.

The government has been trying to quell the protests, on Thursday switching off the country’s mobile internet in an attempt to slow the students.

Instead, it became the deadliest day so far, according to news agency AFP. According to its count citing hospitals, a total of 32 people have died during the protests.

The BBC’s Bengali service has confirmed 19 deaths so far – 13 of them on Thursday. Among the dead was a 32-year-old journalist for the Dhaka Times.

Sheikh Hasina had condemned protesters’ deaths as “murder” in her Wednesday television appearance, but her words were largely dismissed by protest organisers, who rejected government offers of talks.

“The government has killed so many people in a day that we cannot join any discussions in the current circumstances,” said Nahid Iqbal, a leader of the anti-quota protest.

Another student, Aleem Khan, 22, told the BBC: “The Prime Minister is asking for an end to the violence with one hand whilst, with the other hand, attacking students using pro-ruling party groups and the police.”

Thursday saw tear gas and rubber bullets deployed by officers, as students created human blockades in the streets.

The students who stormed BTV had earlier “torched” a police station, according to an official at the network.

“They chased the police officers when they took refuge at the BTV office,” the official told AFP. “Angry protesters then caused mayhem here.”

Elsewhere, BBC Bengali spoke to a group of medical students who were taking shelter inside a medical college compound after they were attacked by pro-ruling party groups.

One of the students, Sumi, told the BBC: “I am here to protest against discrimination within the civil service and now that so many students have been killed by the police, I am also protesting against that.

“Our protest is peaceful, but the way in which we were attacked made me feel like we were going to be killed by pro-ruling party groups.”

The southern Indian state of Karnataka has paused a bill that mandated quotas for locals in private sector jobs after pushback from tech companies.

The state cabinet had approved the bill on Monday, triggering protests from top industrialists and opposition leaders.

The bill requires firms to reserve 70% of non-management and 50% of management jobs for locals.

On Wednesday, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said the bill would be reviewed in the next cabinet meeting before any decision was made.

The announcement came a day after he posted on X (formerly Twitter) that the bill would reserve “100%” of jobs for Kannadigas (natives who speak Karnataka’s local language Kannada).

The post was widely shared on X and sparked criticism from business leaders.

Mr Siddaramaiah deleted his post after the state’s Labour Minister Santosh S Lad clarified that jobs could be “outsourced” if skill sets were not available locally.

“But the government is trying to bring in a law to give preference to locally available skills,” he said.

In India, for a bill passed by a state to become a law, it has to be approved by the state’s assembly and receive the governor’s assent.

The new quota bill is is still some way away from these steps – and might even go back to the drawing board – but it has already triggered widespread outrage.

Bengaluru (formerly Bangalore) city – which is the state’s capital – is home to several top global information-technology (IT) firms like Google and Infosys, as well as start-ups.

It also has many top IT and engineering colleges, making it the preferred destination for people looking to study or work in the tech sector.

Job seekers from all over India migrate to the city for work, making it one of the most cosmopolitan ones in India. But this has drawn outrage from some sections of the local population, who say that migrants are taking away their jobs.

However, industrialists fear that the new bill will dent the secular image of the city and rob it of talent.

India’s top technology association, the National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom), expressed its disappointment over the bill.

It said in a statement that the new bill would hamper the growth of the tech industry, force companies to relocate and stifle the growth of start-ups. It also sought an urgent meeting with the state’s authorities to discuss its concerns.

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, who heads one of India’s top pharmaceutical companies – Biocon – which has its office in Bengaluru, also criticised the bill.

“As a tech hub we need skilled talent and whilst the aim is to provide jobs for locals, we must not affect our leading position in technology by this move,” she posted on X and called for “caveats that exempt highly skilled recruitment from this policy”.

This isn’t the first time that laws seeking to benefit locals while targeting outsiders have faced criticism in the state.

After years of protests calling for preference to be given to Kannada language in business establishments, the government in February passed a law mandating that 60% of text on all signboards in the state should be in the local language.

But after criticism from various sections, including businesses in Bengaluru where many people are fluent in English and don’t speak the local language, the Karnataka High Court ordered the government not to take coercive action against establishments that didn’t implement the rule.

American stand-up comedy legend Bob Newhart, whose deadpan delivery style earned him numerous awards, has died at the age of 94.

The star of TV series The Bob Newhart Show, Newhart passed away at home after a series of short illnesses, his publicist said in a statement provided to the BBC on Thursday.

Newhart became a stand-up comic after starting his career as an accountant in Chicago. He went on to guest-host Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show 87 times.

More recently, he starred in classic Christmas film Elf and The Big Bang Theory.

The son of a plumber in a suburb of Chicago, Newhart graduated with a business degree from Loyola University in 1952.

He served in the Army for two years during the Korean War then enrolled in a graduate law school before dropping out.

He and a friend began recording improvised comedy routines shortly after. In 1959, he was discovered by a local DJ who recommended him to the newly formed Warner Bros Records.

His live recording from a Houston comedy club, The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart, went on to become the first comedy album to top the charts.

Seven more albums were released after that, with millions of copies sold.

His longtime publicist, Jerry Digney, wrote in a statement announcing his death that Newhart began his career “toiling in Chicago as an accountant by day and moonlighting at night as a comedy performer and writer”.

Newhart was known as a pioneer of stand-up routines involving long stories, with a series of funny statements throughout, rather one single punchline joke at the end.

“There was a (comedy) sea change taking place,” he said, according to his publicist.

Newhart separated himself from other comedians of his generation with his modern outlook and observational delivery, never raising his voice and almost stammering at times.

When he took to the stage for stand-up, his only prop was a telephone, which he used to pretend to hold a conversation with someone on the other end of the line.

Newhart, who loved an audience, never really retired, and was still a fixture on Hollywood sets and stages through his 80s.

Comedy film director Judd Apatow was among those paying tribute on X, formerly known as Twitter.

“Bob Newhart was the kindest most hilarious man,” he posted, adding: “His brilliant comedy and gentle spirit made everyone he encountered so happy.”

Actress Kaley Cuoco, who worked with Newhart on The Big Bang Theory, posted on Instagram: “What a dream it was to witness the genius that was Bob Newhart.

“He was classy, kind, generous and absolutely hilarious.”

Director and actor Paul Feig posted on X: “A brilliant standup & comedic actor, he was truly one of a kind.”

“God, he was funny! Bob Newhart. You will be missed!” actress Jamie Lee Curtis posted on Instagram.

Newhart is survived by his four children and numerous grandchildren.

His wife of 60 years, Virginia “Ginnie” Newhart, passed away in 2023.

Joe Biden’s campaign faced further pressure on Thursday amid reported concerns from Barack Obama about the presidential election, a darkening mood among Democrats and polls suggesting Donald Trump was pulling ahead.

Some Democrats painted a bleak picture. One senior party official told the BBC that many in the party felt Mr Biden’s stepping down was “inevitable”.

Polling on Thursday by the BBC’s US partner, CBS News, showed him five points behind Trump – the widest margin recorded this campaign.

But Mr Biden’s campaign batted away reports of high-level Democratic concern as “baseless”, insisting he would remain the nominee.

Mr Obama was reported by the Washington Post to have privately stated Mr Biden’s chances were greatly diminished. Spokespeople for the former president have declined to comment.

The polls and report on Mr Obama come after US media reported that former house speaker Nancy Pelosi and the two most senior Democrats in Congress, Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer, had advised Mr Biden to consider his candidacy for the good of the party. All have rejected the reports.

One Democratic source told BBC News that the mood in Washington was grim: “We are all waiting for the inevitable decision.”

Adam Smith, a Democratic congressman for Washington state, painted a similarly grim picture. Asked by BBC Radio 4’s The World Tonight whether the party was “coming to the end” of Mr Biden’s candidacy, he said: “That is my sense. I mean, I don’t know. But without question, I think that is the direction that this is heading right now.”

Mr Biden has faced a torrid few weeks since his poor showing in the first presidential debate late last month. He is currently in isolation in Delaware while he recovers from a Covid infection.

By contrast, Donald Trump will give the headline speech at the Republican national convention in Milwaukee on Thursday evening, his first speech since surviving an assassination attempt. Delegates and supporters here have been in a jubliant mood all week.

Mr Biden has so far struck a defiant tone in response to Democratic pressure for him to step aside as the party’s candidate. He continues to enjoy the public support of many lawmakers, including members of the powerful Congressional black caucus.

But there are signs the Democratic leadership has begun to apply more pressure.

Mr Schumer, the Senate Majority Leader and Mr Jeffries, the ranking Democrat in the House of Representatives, are reported to have told Mr Biden last week that their colleagues in Congress were “concerned” that his troubles would hit their own chances of re-election.

Mr Schumer said the reports were “idle speculation”, while Mr Jeffries said his was “a private conversation that will remain private”.

CNN meanwhile reported that Mrs Pelosi had told Mr Biden that polls show he cannot win. She later slammed the reporting as a “feeding frenzy”, but did not deny that a conversation with Mr Biden had taken place.

On Thursday, the Post reported that Mr Obama told several allies that Mr Biden, his former vice-president, must seriously consider if his candidacy remains viable.

Jamie Raskin, a congressman from Maryland, was meanwhile reported by The New York Times to have written to Mr Biden, comparing him to a baseball pitcher at the end of his career – saying there was “no shame” in retiring “to the overflowing appreciation of the crowd when your arm is tired out”.

TJ Ducklo, a Biden campaign senior adviser, slammed reports of grandee concern as “baseless conjecture from anonymous sources”.

“Joe Biden is his party’s nominee,” he wrote on X. “He’s running for re-election.”

Deputy campaign manager Quentin Fulks said Mr Biden was “not wavering on anything. The president has made his decision. I don’t want to be rude, but I don’t know how many more times we can answer that.”

Mr Biden has mild upper respiratory symptoms associated with Covid but does not have a fever, presidential doctor Kevin O’Connor said on Thursday,

The White House said he was expected to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after he arrives in the US on Wednesday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says working with Donald Trump if he is re-elected as US president will be “hard work, but we are hard workers”.

In an exclusive interview with the BBC in London, Mr Zelensky said he was willing to work with anyone who in power in the US.

Just days ago, Trump announced Ohio Senator JD Vance as his running mate in November’s vote. The 39-year-old has in the past said “he doesn’t care what happens to Ukraine one way or the other”.

The nomination has renewed fears that US commitment to Ukraine could fall away if Trump is returned to the White House in November’s election.

“Maybe he really doesn’t understand what goes on in Ukraine, so we have to work with the United States,” Mr Zelensky told the BBC.

The Ukrainian leader is in the UK to attend a meeting of the European Political Community (EPC), where he delivered a speech on Thursday afternoon.

The EPC, which includes the 27 members of the European Union as well as 20 non-members like the UK, is a more informal forum for co-operation.

Mr Zelensky earlier met UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who has vowed to stand with Ukraine for “as long as it takes” and has committed to spending £3bn on aid for the country.

He said he hoped Mr Starmer’s term in Downing Street would mark a “special” era in British foreign policy.

“I don’t think Britain’s position would change,” Mr Zelensky told the BBC. “But I would like for Prime Minister Starmer to become special – speaking about international politics, about defending world security, about the war in Ukraine.”

He added that Ukraine “doesn’t just need a new page, we need power to turn this leaf”.

On Friday morning, President Zelensky will address a meeting of the UK cabinet in person – the first foreign leader to do so since US President Bill Clinton in 1997.

He is expected to brief ministers about the situation in Ukraine and the need to ramp up Europe’s defence industrial base.

The two leaders will also sign a £3.5bn defence export finance deal.

Ukraine’s troops have faced a tough spring and earlier this week it was confirmed that they had withdrawn from the village of Krynky on the occupied eastern bank of the Dnipro river.

In recent months, the Ukrainian army has had to try and hold back Russian troops along a very long front line in the east of the country. The city of Kharkiv and the surrounding areas have sustained continued attacks as Russian forces attempt to make gains in the region.

Ukraine had hoped that its military efforts would be boosted by the arrival of F-16 planes promised by allies this summer. But Mr Zelensky confirmed that Ukraine had yet to see them.

“It’s been 18 months and the planes have not reached us,” he said, saying that he was thankful for what Ukraine had been given.

But he emphasised that new fighters were essential to help Ukrainians push back against Russia’s aerial dominance and “unblock the skies”.

With the war continuing for more than two years without an end in sight, questions have been raised as to whether there could be a negotiated solution.

Last month, Switzerland hosted a Ukraine peace summit but Russia was not invited. Mr Zelensky has since said that Russia should attend a second peace summit penned for November.

He told the BBC that the whole world will need to put pressure on Russia in order to persuade it to sit down and consider ending the war.

“It doesn’t mean that all territories are won back by force. I think the power of diplomacy can help,” he said, adding that a weaker Russia on the battlefield would put Ukraine in a stronger position on the negotiating table.

“By putting pressure on Russia, I think it is possible to agree to a diplomatic settlement.”

Mr Zelensky has been Ukraine’s leader since 2019 and throughout Russia’s full-scale invasion. While elections were due this year, Ukraine’s constitution rules out a ballot during the time of martial law.

The president told the BBC that he did envisage a time when he would step down as president.

“But not until the war is over,” he said.

An Indian preacher who led an overcrowded gathering in which 121 people were crushed to death has said he was “deeply disturbed” by the tragedy but that no-one could change destiny.

Bhole Baba’s comments to local journalists weeks after the crush in Hathras district in Uttar Pradesh state have caused outrage in India.

“Who can change the inevitable? Everyone who enters this world has to leave one day. Only the time is uncertain,” he said.

The crush took place in early July at a satsang – a Hindu religious gathering. Most of the victims were women.

The police have arrested some of the organisers of the event, including a man they claim is a key aide of the preacher. But Bhole Baba, a self-styled godman, has not been named in the police case or questioned yet.

He has also not been blamed in a report submitted by a special investigation team to the Uttar Pradesh government – the report holds the event organisers responsible and points out negligence by the police and local administration.

• What we know about the India crush that killed 121
• Grief and anger after India crush kills 121

Authorities said they had given permission for 80,000 people to gather but around 250,000 people attended the event. The police report said the crush took place when chaos broke out after a crowd rushed to gather dust touched by Bhole Baba’s feet as he was leaving.

But while speaking to reporters on Wednesday, the preacher denied this and repeated unproven allegations made by his lawyer that a “poisonous gas had been sprayed at the gathering” and that there was a “conspiracy to tarnish” his reputation.

The preacher’s lawyer had told the BBC earlier that allegations about his client being responsible for the tragedy were “false” and that the crush occurred “due to some anti-social elements”.

However, families of the people who died in the crush have blamed the preacher and demanded his arrest.

Many social media users have also expressed anger over his recent comments, with some calling for his arrest.

“Bhole Baba might be right in a way, but who caused the death[s],” one user asked on X (formerly Twitter).

Another user pointed out that the police hadn’t registered a case against the guru nor had questioned him about the incident.

“100% scot-free. Will likely do another satsang soon,” another user said.

Bhole Baba’s original name is Suraj Pal but he reportedly re-christened himself Narayan Sakar Vishwa Hari.

Details about his life are sketchy but he is believed to have been a former constable in the Uttar Pradesh police force who transformed himself into a religious preacher after leaving his job.

He has amassed hundreds of thousands of followers in Hathras and neighbouring districts. But his life and assets have come under scrutiny after the crush.

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.

The US Commerce Department, ASML, and Tokyo Electron declined to comment when contacted by BBC News.

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 counter sniper flagged a suspicious man using a rangefinder to the US Secret Service some 20 minutes before a gunman opened fire at a Donald Trump rally, according to members of Congress briefed by law enforcement.

A clearer timeline of the events leading up to the assassination attempt has begun to emerge after closed briefings to lawmakers on Wednesday.

Local police had initially spotted the gunman, who was acting strangely, at Saturday’s Pennsylvania rally about an hour before the shooting, according to the briefings.

They lost him in the crowd before he was spotted again by the counter sniper.

The new information has raised more questions about why Trump’s would-be assassin was not stopped sooner and why the former president was allowed to appear on the rally stage.

Thomas Matthew Crooks, the 20-year-old suspected gunman, was reportedly spotted early by local police, who flagged him as a skinny young man who was behaving in a suspicious manner.

They notified other police agencies, including the Secret Service, via radio. At the time, Crooks did not appear to have a weapon. They then lost track 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,” Wyoming Senator John Barrasso, who was present at the briefings, told Fox News.

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

Later, around 17:45 local time, Crooks was spotted again, this time by a counter sniper officer around the Agr International building – the one the gunman later scaled up to aim at Trump.

The officer reportedly took a picture of the gunman looking through the rangefinder, according to CBS News, the BBC’s news partner, and immediately radioed to a command post to report the sighting.

By 17:52 – 19 minutes before the shooting – the Secret Service was made aware that Crooks was spotted with a rangefinder, and disseminated that information to other officers on site, CBS reported.

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.

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

Crooks fired at Trump shortly after he began speaking at the rally at 18:11. One rallygoer was killed in the shooting and two others were injured. Trump was wounded in the ear.

Crooks was killed by Secret Service snipers within 26 seconds of opening fire.

In the briefing with law enforcement agencies, multiple Republican senators criticised the lack of transparency from investigators 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.

Some senators who participated in the call 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.

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 also gave a private, in-person briefing on Tuesday to Trump in Milwaukee regarding the assassination attempt, CBS reported, citing a person familiar with the meeting.

Ms Cheatle had previously said that the agency relied on local police to secure the building where the gunman climbed to the roof with his firearm.

Local law enforcement, however, had told Secret Service that they did not have enough resources to secure that building, according to Richard Goldinger, the district attorney in Butler County, where the rally took place.

A local officer did come 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 weapon 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.

Jason Russell, a former Secret Service agent who has worked at campaigned rallies, said the disaster at last week’s rally likely resulted from a miscommunication about different officials’ responsibilities.

“It seems to me like there was just a miscommunication, but the reality is, if it’s a Secret Service event, anything that happens is our fault,” he told the BBC.

Mr Russell added he would have at least placed an obstacle between the building from where the gunman fired and where Trump was delivering his speech to block the line of sight.

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.

• Around 17:11: local officers spot Crooks and notify other law enforcement but then lose track of him, according to briefings between police and lawmakers
• 17:45: A counter sniper officer calls in with a report and a photo of a man – who turned out to be Crooks – acting suspiciously around a building near the rally, according to local media reports
• 17:52: US Secret Service become aware of a suspicious person with a rangefinder on the ground, according to sources familiar with the briefing to lawmakers
• 18:03: Trump begins speaking at the rally
• Around 18:09: Rallygoers spot Crooks on the roof and attempt to tell law enforcement
• 18:11: Crooks opens fire. He is fatally shot by Secret Service counter snipers 26 seconds later

US citizen Michael Travis Leake has been sentenced to 13 years in a Russian prison for “attempted drug smuggling”, Moscow’s court service said.

According to the prosecutor’s office, Mr Leake, a former paratrooper and musician, tried to sell drugs he had obtained from an accomplice between January and June 2023.

It was not clear how Mr Leake, who is one of about a dozen Americans currently held in Russian detention, pleaded.

Washington has urged its citizens to leave Russia immediately, citing the threat of arrest amid the highest tensions between the two countries since the Cold War.

Mr Leake was accused of packaging the drugs for sale before giving them to another defendant in the case, a Russian woman named Veronika Grabanchuk.

Citing the investigation, Russian news agency Interfax reported that both Mr Leake and Ms Grabanchuk made four attempts to sell over 40g of mephedrone.

“In addition, Leake stored more than 1.6g of mephedrone and 0.54g of pills containing the narcotic drug MDMA at his apartment on Zaporozhskaya Street without the intention of selling them. The drugs were found and seized during operational activities,” the report added.

In June, Russian state television broadcast footage from Mr Leake’s trial that showed him locked in a metal cage.

In a separate video shared online, he said he “didn’t know” why he was detained.

Appearing confused, he said he did not believe he had done what he was accused of, because he did not know what the charges were.

In Russia, only 0.25% of all cases referred to court in 2018 ended with not-guilty verdicts. By comparison, the rate from 2017 to 2018 in UK magistrates’ courts was approximately 15%, rising to 20% at Crown Court level.

Mr Leake is at least the third American detained in Russia in recent years amid heightened tensions between Washington and Moscow.

A musician and music producer in his early 50’s, Mr Leake was a member of Lovi Noch, meaning catch the night, an “American fronted rock band” based in Moscow. He is reported to have lived in Russia for many years.

US media outlet CNN reported that he appeared on the travel show Parts Unknown – hosted by the late chef Anthony Bourdain – for an episode in 2014 that was filmed in Moscow and St Petersburg.

Darya Tarasova, who produced the episode, told CNN that Mr Leake was a “showman” who was “very articulate” and who “loved Russia”. He often worked with local rock bands, Ms Tarasova said.

Russian local media had earlier reported his arrest at his flat in Moscow.

US officials have previously accused Russia of deliberately targeting American citizens for arrest.

In March, Russian authorities arrested US journalist Evan Gershkovich, a correspondent for the Wall Street Journal, on espionage charges. He remains in pre-trial detention.

Mr Gershkovich’s trial started in June and closing arguments are scheduled for Friday.

Late last year, American basketball player Brittney Griner, who was jailed in Russia on drugs charges, was released in a prisoner swap for the Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.

US marine Paul Whelan is serving a 16-year prison sentence on “spying” charges – he was sentenced before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which has weakened relations between US and Russia.

The president of Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) will take the stage on Thursday night before Donald Trump – days after an assassination attempt – officially accepts the Republican presidential nomination.

Trump has embraced Dana White, one of his most outspoken supporters outside of politics, and the hugely popular combat sports franchise he manages, gracing several of its live events over the past year while grappling with court battles.

With an unfiltered and unorthodox style similar to Trump’s, the UFC boss will now act as frontman, introducing his long-time friend as the finale of the Republican National Convention.

Their friendship dates back to at least 2001.

Back then, Mr White – an Irish-American college dropout turned boxercise instructor – had gone from managing two mixed martial arts (MMA) champions to becoming UFC president.

MMA had been facing a downturn. After then-US Senator John McCain labelled it “human cockfighting” and led a campaign to ban the UFC, its events were consigned to small markets.

“This brand was so bad, venues didn’t even want us. Arenas didn’t want us,” Mr White said in 2022.

But after New Jersey legalised the sport in 2000, he continued, “Trump literally called us. He said ‘Come to my place, do the event here. We’ll have you at the Trump Taj Mahal’.”

The now-defunct casino and hotel in Atlantic City went on to host the UFC 31 and UFC 32 MMA events, with Trump showing up for the first fight and staying until the last on both occasions, according to Mr White.

Both events boosted the company’s profile and helped it secure larger venues for future events. Now the largest MMA promotion in the world, the UFC is currently valued at $12.3bn (£9.5bn).

And Mr White has stayed loyal to Trump through his evolution from business to politics.

Stumping for his friend at the RNC in 2016, he praised him in a short but fiery speech as “a hard worker” with “great business instincts”.

“I know fighters,” he said. “Donald Trump is a fighter, and I know he will fight for this country.”

Endorsing him again at the 2020 RNC, he championed Trump’s record in office and said it was “critically important to re-elect” him.

Brash and uncensored in both language and manner, the UFC chief has said he “does not give a [expletive]” about mixing business and politics.

No stranger to controversy himself, he admitted last year to slapping his wife after a drunken altercation at a New Year’s Eve party was caught on video. He has since apologised.

As Trump faced criminal, civil and other legal challenges in his post-presidency, he has been Mr White’s guest at multiple special events.

In the past year, Trump has attended at least four such events, often making fighter-style entrances with background music and an entourage.

His last scheduled appearance was scuttled this past Saturday by the attempt on his life at a Pennsylvania rally.

The UFC is replete with fighters who speak out in support of traditionally conservative values, including several self-described “pro-American patriots”.

Although it includes female fighters, the sport represents a hyper-masculinity that is arguably a good fit for the image generated by the Trump campaign.

Each time Trump has been received with thunderous ovations from clearly partisan crowds and taken VIP seats close to the octagon, or main fighting ring.

But he likely cannot replicate this growing love affair in other sports arenas, including those with Trump friendly audiences like Nascar and the PGA Tour, and the previously Trump-friendly WWE.

The failed assassination attempt on Trump has meanwhile reinforced his friend’s support for his re-election.

“Everybody wants to act like the tough guy. But when the [expletive] goes down, you find out who the tough guys are and who the tough guys are not,” Mr White told The Pat McAfee Show this week.

“This guy is the legitimate, ultimate, American badass of all time.”

Media reports indicate that Trump has rewritten Thursday’s nomination speech following Saturday’s shooting to make an explicit call for unity.

But if Mr White’s previous convention speeches are any indication, his introduction to the main event may not strike the same conciliatory tone.

The convention will also hear from controversial pro-wrestling legend Hulk Hogan.

And, as one Trump surrogate put it, the former president’s walk onto the stage is going to be like “Hogan at Wrestlemania”.

The walls appear to be closing in on Joe Biden.

Nancy Pelosi, Hakeem Jeffries, Chuck Schumer and Adam Schiff are about as influential as you can get within the Democratic party.

According to multiple reports in US media, all of them have advised the president that he should end his bid for re-election.

There are also reports that Barack Obama, the former president and party grandee, has told allies that Mr Biden’s path to victory is greatly diminished, and that he needed to seriously consider his candidacy.

While not all of the names above have publicly called for Mr Biden to step down, it is notable that neither have they directly denied the claims made in the US media.

Ms Pelosi in particular is a battle-scarred politician who plays a good game of 3D chess.

She doesn’t want to be accused of disloyalty to the president she admires but equally doesn’t want to be seen as complicit if Democrats suffer huge losses under Mr Biden in November’s election.

The New York Times reported that Mr Schumer was shown data from a top Democratic fundraising committee that alarmed him – the president is trailing behind in the must-win states of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin.

Many analysts believe Mr Biden’s path to victory lies through this area of the country. There’s also some evidence that Nevada, Georgia and Arizona could be slipping away.

President Biden himself has revised his view on what it would take for him to bow to the growing pressure.

He has gone from stating “only the Lord Almighty” could make him stand down, to telling BET (Black Entertainment Television) that he would re-evaluate his campaign if his doctor diagnosed him with a medical condition.

Then he announced he had Covid.

While he’s had the illness before, the latest infection has exacerbated the ongoing concerns about his age, health and fragility.

To now get “general malaise”, as the doctors put it, is not a great look for a leader many Americans already worry is past it.

The attempted assassination of Donald Trump appeared to have quelled the Democratic rebellion a week ago, but perhaps the reality is it’s compounded it.

Politics isn’t just about the strength of policies. It’s about projecting physical strength as a leader.

Many Republicans here at the RNC said to me they are happy for Mr Biden to stay in the race because they believe he is no competition for Trump. And polls aside, their confidence is not unfounded.

Contrast yesterday’s video of a fragile President Biden walking slowly down Air Force One with images of a death-defying Trump pumping his fist shouting “Fight! Fight! Fight!”.

Ultimately, the decision to stand down has to come from Mr Biden. He is dismissive of polls, pointing to Trump’s election 2016 victory, his own in 2020 and most recent midterm elections that were supposed to be a disaster for his party.

There are also Democrats who are still fully behind the president and consider him to still be sharp.

But with the Democratic National Convention a month away when the nomination is sealed, it feels as if the clock has again reset and is ticking.

POLICIES: Where Biden and Trump stand on key issues

AMERICAST: Listen to latest episode on Biden’s Covid and Vance’s speech

GLOBAL: What Moscow and Beijing think of rematch

ANALYSIS: Could US economy be doing too well?

ALTERNATIVES: Who else is running for president in 2024?

VOTERS: US workers in debt to buy groceries

Donald Trump will deliver his curtain-closing speech at the climax of the Republican National Convention on Thursday night.

The presidential nominee will be watched by former First Lady Melania Trump, making a rare public appearance.

Tens of thousands of people have been attending the four-day jamboree this week in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, as the party makes its case to voters ahead of November’s general election.

Trump is expected to deliver “a deep message of unity” and share his vision of “a new golden age for America” in a speech lasting about an hour, according to campaign and party officials.

He is due to take the stage, for what will be his third consecutive Republican nomination, at around 21:00 local time (02:00 GMT) after a performance by Kid Rock.

Trump told the Washington Examiner he completely rewrote the speech to make it less combative after he narrowly survived an assassination attempt last Saturday in Pennsylvania.

Scheduled to speak earlier on Thursday are World Wrestling Entertainment legend Hulk Hogan, Eric Trump, former Trump Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Trump lawyer Alina Habba, and the head of Trump Golf International.

Dana White, head of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, and former Fox News host Tucker Carlson are also expected to take to the podium.

The former first lady is scheduled to walk out to the family box to watch her husband’s speech in her first appearance at the 2024 convention since it began on Monday.

Trump’s daughter Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner are also expected to join the former first lady. Barron Trump is not currently expected to appear.

The family members are expected to join Trump on stage after his address for the balloon drop that is all part of the razzmatazz of a US party political conference.

Once every four years each of the two main US parties hosts a convention to formally select their respective White House standard-bearer and prepare for the final stretch of campaigning.

During the convention, the delegates from each state pledge their support to the candidate of their choice and approve a platform.

It was merely a formality for Trump as the party’s presumptive nominee because he won 2,265 delegates in the primaries, enough for the nomination.

The Democrats hold their convention next month in Chicago.

Thursday’s theme is “Make America Great Once Again”. Monday’s was “Make America Wealthy Once Again”, Tuesday was “Make America Safe Again”, and Wednesday “Make America Strong Again”.

The streamlined party platform this year is 16 pages, and firmly bears the nominee’s endorsement, softening the language on abortion and avoiding a definition of marriage as between a man and a woman.

It’s considerably shorter than the last two RNC platforms in 2016 and 2020, which spanned about 66 pages and included some policies Trump himself had not approved.

You can follow the latest news, including live pages, at bbc.com/news.

The BBC News TV channel will broadcast Trump’s speech live on Thursday and bring you reaction and analysis afterwards.

And you can also watch on the RNC website.

You don’t expect to meet an anti-Trump Republican at a Trump rally.

When 67-year-old US Army veteran Thomas Gleason arrived at former President Donald Trump’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, he came looking for conversation.

A registered Republican who is opposed to Trump, Mr Gleason was wearing a placard proclaiming the former president a “threat to the Constitution” and challenging the former president’s supporters to a friendly debate.

“I had very civil discussions with a lot of people,” he recalled, “that was a pleasant surprise”.

Soon after, however, the jovial atmosphere of the rally turned to chaos, confusion and rage as shots rang out from a nearby rooftop.

“I immediately knew what it was. I recognised it as gunfire,” the former paratrooper told the BBC several days after the shooting. “Some people screamed, and a lot of people fell to the ground.”

The shooting grazed Trump’s ear and 50-year-old volunteer fire chief Corey Comperatore was left dead. Two others were seriously injured.

In the days after the shooting, rallygoers who were in attendance say that their initial feelings of shock have given way to anger, sadness, and fears for what the future may bring.

Many of those who attended the rally have directed their anger at the US Secret Service, which they see as having been responsible for security at the event – and, by extension, their own safety.

The Secret Service has said that local police were responsible for the outer cordons of security at the rally and had officers inside the building from where he was shooting.

But that does little to soothe the concerns of witnesses such as 66-year-old Kathleen O’ Shea, who laid the blame explicitly on the Secret Service’s embattled director, Kimberly Cheatle.

Two days after the shooting, Ms O’Shea told the BBC she was “furious” that an “epic failure” left a man dead and Trump – who she says she would “take a bullet for” – with a narrow escape.

“All I want to hear from her [Ms Cheatle] is that she resigns. She got a good, innocent American killed,” she added.

“She should offer her heartfelt condolences and apologies, and if she means it, she will resign.”

Jean Vincent, a Butler woman who attended the rally alongside her sister Suzanne, said that – no matter who was responsible for what part of security – the Secret Service “definitely dropped the ball” on 13 July.

“I get so emotional. I’m so upset someone could have killed us. Could have killed my children,” she said, adding that her son shielded her body during the shooting. “Someone has to be held responsible. They’ve got to learn.”

Ms Vincent said that when she heard the shooting her thoughts immediately went to the 2017 Las Vegas shooting, when dozens of people were killed by a gunman firing from the roof of a hotel.

“There could have been 200, 300 people killed,” she said. “It’s surreal. Nobody who was there can understand the security breach.”

Former Marine Teresa Wilson – an employee of a local police department elsewhere in Pennsylvania – was at the rally with a group of family members, including her elderly mother and teenage nephew.

She said she remains “infuriated” by a security set-up that she said left them “like sitting ducks”.

“It was a huge and embarrassing failure on their part,” she said. “It took two days for me to feel normal again. I was plagued by anxiety over the what-ifs.”

“Once I heard… early on about explosives being present, I struggled to shake the feeling of insecurity even though I was home and away from danger,” she added.

“My heart goes out to the families of the victims. If I had such a difficult time, I can’t imagine what they are going through.”

Residents of Butler and its surrounding county describe the largely rural area as friendly and neighbourly, a quiet place. The kind of town in which people know and help each other despite political differences.

Now, some residents fear that their town will forever be known for the events of 13 July.

Among them are partly retired psychiatrist Warren Goodrich and his wife Debbie.

The BBC first encountered them at the site of the rally, where they stood near Trump when he spoke.

When the shooting began, they took cover near a young girl who was pleading for her life, a sight that Mrs Goodrich said broke her heart.

“It’s been really hard on us emotionally,” Mrs Goodrich remarked a few days later. “It really hurts. It’s starting to hit us…. I’m just glad we’re alive.”

Over the course of more than 20 years in the town, the Goodrichs say they often tell people elsewhere that they are from Pittsburgh, knowing that few people will know where it is.

Looking to the future, Mr Goodrich said he is worried that Butler will have earned international notoriety and become a “shunned city”.

“It’s such a significant piece of history. But it’s irrational to blame the whole city,” he said. “It’s very, very sad.”

Echoing a sentiment heard several times by the BBC in Butler, Suzanne Vincent, Jean’s sister, said that she believes the town will “unfortunately be on the map” at a national level, comparing it to small towns like Uvalde, Texas, which have been marked by tragedies.

“That is so unfair,” she added. “But it’s changed this community, and it’s changed America.”

For now, the motive for the shooting remains unclear, and there has been so far no evidence that proves or even suggests that suspect Matthew Thomas Crooks was motivated by politics.

But some of those who witnessed the bloodshed in Butler said they feared that the attempted assassination of a presidential candidate could raise tensions and push people to extremes.

“It’s not just violence against people like Trump and Biden that I’m concerned about,” said Mr Gleason, the army veteran. “I’m also worried about violence against people who hold opposing views.”

Jean Vincent said that she believes the US has entered a “very, very scary” time in which tensions are running particularly high ahead of the November election.

“I fear that this country is sliding into chaos and is out of control. I just can’t believe everyone is acting so crazy,” she said. “There’s all this division. What happens in the upcoming election if people are not happy with the outcome?”

Others described the aftermath of the shooting with a feeling of disgust.

“It’s unacceptable, anywhere,” said Greg Smith, whose business is immediately adjacent to the rally area, hours after it took place.

“I don’t care what candidate you like, or what your philosophy is.

“No matter the political climate… there is no room for this, anywhere.”

Millions of lives are at risk unless urgent and radical action is taken to stop drug-resistant malaria spreading in Africa, scientists warn.

Malaria parasites that can shrug off the effects of the critical drug artemisinin are now well-established in East Africa.

Resistance levels have soared in some areas from fewer than 1% to more than 20% of cases in the space of three years.

The last time resistance to an antimalarial spread in Africa it led to a tripling in the number of children dying.

Twenty-eight leading malaria scientists from 10 countries have made the call to action in the journal Science.

Artemisinin kills the malaria parasite and is the cornerstone of treatment.

Parasites that could resist artemisinin evolved for the first time in Africa in Rwanda, and then separately in Uganda and Eritrea.

These resistant parasites have spread within their countries and across borders.

Now, more than 10% of malaria cases are caused by resistant parasites in Ethiopia, Eritrea, Rwanda, Uganda and Tanzania.

“Now is the time to act before millions of people die due to increasingly ineffective antimalarial treatments,” said Prof Olugbenga Mokuolu, from the department of paediatrics at the University of Ilorin in Nigeria.

In 2016, resistant strains were hardly being detected in northern Uganda. By 2019, more than 20% of parasites tested were resistant in several regions.

The group of scientists say the further spread of these resistant parasites is “inexorable”.

Dr Mehul Dhorda, from the Mahidol Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit in Thailand, told me it was still uncertain how quickly that would happen.

However, something similar has already played out in South East Asia, where artemisinin-based treatments started to fail.

“The time from first detection to when it was overwhelmingly prevalent was 10 to 15 years,” he said.

A similar story has happened before. The parasite became resistant to a previous drug – chloroquine – in East Africa in the 1970s, and resistance reached the west coast by the 1980s.

Malaria deaths on the continent trebled from about 493,000 in 1980 to 1.6 million by 2004.

“I’m hoping this is not something we will see in Africa,” Dr Dhorda told me.

“If artemisinin combination therapy starts failing, then cases and deaths will go up.”

The authors have made a series of recommendations targeting both the parasite and the mosquitoes that spread the disease.

They suggest adding a third drug to the artemisinin combination therapy to make it harder for the parasite to evolve resistance to therapy.

Dr Dhorda says this will cost money but: “We might spend a little more now, but if not we’ll be spending a lot more to control the fire rather than putting it out before it became widespread.”

They also call for:

• Expanded coverage of insecticide-treated bed nets and long-acting insecticides that are sprayed in people’s homes
• Target the newly developed malaria vaccines to people of all ages (rather than just children) in areas with artemisinin-resistant malaria
• Supporting community health workers, so treatment is available close to everyone’s home
• Ensuring data on the spread of resistant strains is shared rapidly, because at the moment there can be long delays

“We ask funders, specifically the Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria and the US government’s President’s Malaria Initiative, to be visionary and to step up funding for malaria control and elimination programmes to contain the spread of artemisinin resistance in Africa,” said Ntuli Kapologwe, director of preventive services at the Ministry of Health in Tanzania.

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”.

From causing seismic activity at Harry Styles concerts to Swifties boosting the UK economy during the Eras Tour, the power of teenage female pop fans shouldn’t be underestimated.

For playwright Yve Blake, the danger of dismissing these youngsters is the inspiration behind her new comedy musical Fangirls.

Following the life of 14-year-old Edna, who is obsessed with a boy band resembling One Direction, Fangirls explores “what it means to love something without apology”.

The idea came to Blake in 2015 after she witnessed a pivotal moment in the lives of thousands of teenage girls – Zayn Malik left One Direction.

Despondent and heartbroken fans across the world were shown weeping inconsolably – but for Blake, something even more interesting caught her eye.

“People started calling these young girls crazy, hysterical and psycho,” the writer explains. “I asked myself the question – would the same words be used to describe male football fans?

“The girls screaming at the top of their lungs at Taylor Swift concerts are cringe, but men running around with their tops off and fist pumping the air because England scored a goal are just supporting their country.

“It seems like there’s definitely a double standard there.”

But the musical doesn’t just praise fangirls.

“It’s a lot more nuanced than that,” Blake explains. “We look at the dark side of worshipping celebrities as well as praising the decision for girls to make an empowered choice to love something free of judgement.

“I’d describe it as a glittery trojan horse.”

The hit musical premiered in 2019 in Blake’s home country, Australia, and has been met with critical acclaim across three runs.

Its stint at the Sydney Opera House was awarded five stars by Time Out, which said “it deals with the exquisite pain of being a teenager, of having little agency and lesser respect from the world around you”.

In a four-star review, the Guardian called it “witty and agile” and said it “balances serious social reflections with a loving twinkle in its eye”.

Blake says the show “retains its fearlessness, cheekiness and naughtiness from Australia, but the screws have really been tightened”.

She is both excited and nervous about bringing the show to the Lyric theatre in Hammersmith, west London.

“Brits are definitely a lot more repressed than Aussies, so I don’t know if they can match the energy of previous runs,” Blake says.

At one point in the show, the stage is transformed into a concert venue and audience participation is encouraged.

“Theatre is so polite normally, but Fangirls is about unleashing your feral excitement and screaming like you’re 14 again.”

In Australia, Blake had no problem getting the audience involved – she tells the BBC that an older lady in the front row accidentally flashed the actors because she “was so in the moment and excitedly dancing”.

Playing the lead role of Edna is Jasmine Elcock, who got a golden buzzer on Britain’s Got Talent in 2016.

The singer was 14 when she reached the talent show final, and this is her first major acting role.

“I’m excited for people to be able to see the world through the eyes of a young girl,” Elcock says.

As a self-proclaimed fangirl, Elcock can relate to the feelings and emotions that the play delves into.

“I am a mega fangirl and at the moment I am absolutely obsessed with Little Simz. I can spend hours in my bedroom dancing and singing along to her,” she says.

In comparison, writer Blake explains she was a “victim of my own cringe growing up”.

“I was socially embarrassed to be a fangirl so I definitely repressed it as a teenager,” she says.

“As an adult that’s what made me interested in exploring this topic – I woke up to the fact that my cringe was a symptom of internalised misogyny because it’s only the things that teenage girls like that are ever called cringeworthy.”

It seems that for Blake, this play is a way for her to tell her younger self, and all teenage girls out that, that it’s OK to let lose and embrace being a fangirl.

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.”

I’m flying a Typhoon fighter over the Irish Sea and I’ve got a big problem.

There’s a hostile jet on my tail, and no matter how I push the joystick, or play with the throttle, this enemy is still there.

The threat is represented by a black triangle on the computer screen ahead of me that also displays a Typhoon cockpit. I’m in a series of three dogfights on a simulator and the results are not good.

That annoying little image won’t leave my six o’clock position, and I lose 3-0 to the ominous black triangle.

The ace I’m up against is an AI dogfighter developed by Turkish aerospace engineers commissioned by defence giant BAE Systems.

They’ve been working on an AI co-pilot that could save a real life aviator in a dogfight, and will find its way into sophisticated warfighting simulators.

One of the engineers, Emre Saldiran, is studying at Cranfield University in the UK, which has strong aerospace links. He describes how the AI co-pilot picked up fighting tactics by a process of trial and error. “We reinforce the AI’s learning with more and more data put into the dogfight simulator.”

One of his objectives is to address the information overload fighter pilots endure. His colleague Mevlϋt Uzun assures me that AI takes a lot of learning to beat humans. “The AI made millions of mistakes. Teaching it is like guiding a child.”

But once trained the AI can offer valuable advice, according to Mr Uzun.

“The AI can tell a pilot to slow down or speed up. And it can evaluate an emerging dogfight and warn of a 70% probability the pilot will lose if they get into that fight.”

So the AI warns pilots of situations likely to end in their jet being shot down and it takes that decision in milliseconds. But the design team aren’t making any big claims about it replacing a pilot.

“It’s just a piece of code, you could run it on your phone,” says Mr Uzun. Today their program is running off a normal laptop PC.

The US Air Force revealed its own, rather more elaborate, AI dogfighter in 2023. It was demonstrated flying an F-16 jet in combat manoeuvres.

This flight was the culmination of years of work aimed at creating an AI that could beat a living pilot.

Eight US AI companies went head to head in 2020 during a three-day competition known as the AlphaDogfight Trials Event. This involved simulated online dogfights between the competing AI programs and an experienced USAF fighter pilot.

The winning program beat the pilot repeatedly, and Brett Darcy of US defence shop Shield AI was on the three-strong team that built it.

He remembers the AlphaDogfight event vividly. “The competitors ranged from the big boys like [defence giant] Lockheed Martin down to us.”

They started out by pitching their AI pilot against a target flying straight and level, “a sitting duck” says Mr Darcy.

They progressed to fighting other AI pilots, getting the AI to think about tactics. Certain rules, such as the length of each dogfight (usually five minutes) and the maximum speed they could attain were set.

But there was no requirement to abide by USAF doctrine. “Our AI used a head-on merge with the target as an opportunity to fire guns,” he says.

This novel tactic went against accepted air fighting doctrine. The AI had learned to reject rules when it could spot a better move.

Points were awarded with each combat, the AI evolving to match successful outcomes. Multiple copies of the AI were generated by this evolution as the competing AI pilots measured up to each other’s changing tactics.

These heats left Mr Darcy’s group to oppose an experienced USAF fighter pilot wearing a VR headset that put him in the cockpit of an F-16.

Thanks to victories scored against that human pilot, Mr Darcy’s small team was invited into the government’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa), which develops technology for the US Department of Defense.

Specifically, they joined Darpa’s Air Combat Evolution (ACE) project.

When Darpa’s AI-driven F-16 took to the air it was controlled during combat by a distant descendant of the software Mr Darcy’s team wrote in 2020.

AI evolves at a startling pace. Mr Darcy says this was “a many times removed grandson of the AlphaDogfighter AI.”

Despite a bewildering rate of development AI has a long way to go. The ACE jet has a safety pilot on board for take-off and landing who can switch off the AI at any time.

For an AI pilot to be effective it has to win a lot of trust and be able to integrate into wider forces around it.

Intriguingly Mr Darcy says a big question is how an AI pilot can “explain itself on the ground”, debriefing human controllers on its actions and motives.

The UK AI dogfighter is very thrifty compared to its US cousin. “They are teaching the AI to fly an aircraft” says Dr Uzun. “We don’t need to do that.”

Paring the project down by concentrating on combat moves alone meant the Cranfield team worked fast. “What they took weeks to do we did in two days.”

One man whose career spans the rise of digital defence tools is Michael Hull. Now a principal technologist at BAE Systems in Warton, Lancashire, he joined the business as an apprentice electronics engineer in 1990.

Dramatic changes he has witnessed, include the way innovations that once emerged from inside defence companies now travel in the other direction. “We pull technology like AI into defence from the public domain.”

So, the AI dogfighter’s frugal heritage includes air-to-air combat tactics downloaded from Wikipedia, leaving classified information well out of the picture and contributing to the pace of the project.

How did the quick assembly British AI dogfighter fare against a real Top Gun?

Ben Westoby-Brooks flew Typhoons for the RAF and works for BAE Systems. He went up against the AI dogfighter and defeated it.

The AI dogfighter is no substitute for thousands of hours flying fast jets in very demanding circumstances. But it feeds into realistic online combat exercises and could reduce pilot overload in a genuine cockpit.

I’m at the Sverdlovsk Regional Courthouse in Yekaterinburg, just metres away from Courtroom 5A where US journalist Evan Gershkovich is on trial.

The Wall Street Journal reporter, who’s 32, is facing espionage charges, rejected by him, his employers and the White House.

He’s the first Western journalist on trial for spying since the Cold War.

But I’ll be honest with you: I have little sense of what’s happening inside that room. Evan’s trial is being held behind closed doors.

That means no media, no friends and family, no diplomats, no members of the public allowed in.

The journalists here are having to rely on snippets through the day from the court press secretary:

“The court’s taking a 15-minute break.”

“The hearing has resumed.”

“The hearing is over for the day.”

When the hearing ends, the press secretary announces that proceedings will resume tomorrow, Friday, with closing arguments.

It feels like the end of this trial is near.

Evan Gershkovich’s employer has denounced this as a “sham trial”.

“This bogus accusation of espionage will inevitably lead to a bogus conviction for an innocent man who would then face up to 20 years in prison for simply doing his job,” The Wall Street Journal’s editor-in-chief Emma Tucker wrote last month.

Russian security services claim that Mr Gershkovich was gathering classified information about a Russian defence plant near Yekaterinburg and spying for the CIA.

Evan, his newspaper and the US government fiercely reject the accusation. The WSJ has accused Russia of “stockpiling Americans” to trade them for Russians jailed abroad.

Referring to American citizens arrested in Russia, this week the US ambassador to the United Nations accused President Vladimir Putin of “treating human beings as bargaining chips”.

Evan Gershkovich’s trial began last month. Thursday’s hearing, the second, had been scheduled for 13 August.

Suddenly everything’s speeded up. In an unexpected move, the court brought the hearing forward to Thursday.

We’ve been allowed inside the courthouse and are close to the courtroom.

Not too close, though, The corridor leading to 5A has been cordoned off and a masked police officer is on guard to make sure we don’t get any nearer. A court official has instructed us to stay right here.

At one point we, the BBC, become the centre of attention.

“May I take a photo of you for my news outlet?” a local journalist asks me.

“If it’s OK with you I’d rather you didn’t,” I reply, “but thank you for checking first”.

“No problem,” he replies, before proceeding to take lots of photos of me and posting online. Within minutes local and national news sites are reporting that the BBC is here at the courthouse.

We sit waiting for news from 5A. Every so often, Mr Gershkovich’s defence lawyer exits the courtroom and walks past. But she won’t take questions.

More waiting. Suddenly a local lawmaker strides down the corridor and heads for the exit. This is the man who had told Russian state media that he had met Evan Gershkovich during the journalist’s reporting trip to Yekaterinburg.

So, after just two court hearings, it feels as if we’re nearing the end.

And then what?

If, as expected, the judge declares Mr Gershkovich guilty, the maximum possible sentence is 20 years in a penal colony.

But Moscow has indicated it may be open to doing a deal with the Americans to release him.

The Russians barely hide the fact that they view a jailed American as currency, as a bargaining chip, as an opportunity to extract one of their own from a foreign jail.

Moscow knows that America is prepared to undertake prisoner swaps in order to release its own citizens.

We know Russia and America have been discussing the possibility. We also know that Donald Trump has boasted that he’s the man to secure Mr Gershkovich’s release.

So, have Moscow and Washington done some kind of deal to bring Evan home?

Watch this space.

A selection of the week’s best photos from across the African continent:

The daughter of Dubai’s ruler appears to have announced her divorce on social media.

A post from the verified Instagram account of Sheikha Mahra bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum said she was ending her marriage, and reads: “I hereby declare our divorce.”

The BBC has reached out to officials in the country to seek clarity on the matter.

There has been no public comment from Sheikha Mahra’s husband, Sheikh Mana bin Mohammed bin Rashid bin Mana Al Maktoum, or her father.

The post, which begins “Dear Husband”, concluded – “I divorce you, I divorce you, and I divorce you,” seemingly using the Islamic practice known as triple talaq.

The practice has been banned in many countries, but usually allows husbands to swiftly divorce their wives by saying “I divorce you” three times.

“Take care. Your ex-wife,” the post on Instagram added.

All images of Sheikha Mahra’s husband appear to have been deleted from her account. Sheikh Mana’s account likewise seems stripped of pictures of his wife.

The couple married in April 2023 in a lavish ceremony, and their first child was born two months ago.

Some comments from Instagram users have speculated that Sheikha Mahra’s account could have been hacked. There has been no official indication of this. At time of publication, the post declaring her divorce was listed as one day old.

Dubai’s government and the UAE Embassy in London did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Despite being Hollywood’s hottest new star, Glen Powell has said he will finish studying for his degree while shooting his next movie.

The actor – who recently starred in Top Gun: Maverick, Anyone But You and Twisters – plans to complete his Spanish and early American history degree at the University of Texas.

Powell, 35, is from Austin, Texas, and has recently moved back to his home state to be closer to his family, after living in Hollywood.

Speaking to IndieWire, Powell said he plans to attend Zoom classes while he’s working on his next film, a remake of 1987 sci-fi film The Running Man, in the UK.

“So I’m going to be in London, but I am going to be going back for proctored [supervised] exams,” he said.

“They’re letting me figure it out [with] distance learning.

“And I’m obviously going to be coming in, Zooming in for classes and whatnot, but I have to be back for the proctored exams.”

He will have to return to Texas “two or three times a semester”, and said The Running Man director Edgar Wright had been understanding.

“Edgar has been very nice about letting me finish my degree in the middle of his massive movie.”

In May, Powell was the cover star on a Hollywood Reporter issue about “the new A-list”.

He told the magazine he felt he was able to return to Texas because “getting to this point in Hollywood [means] that I can now leave Hollywood”.

He added that he felt “like I’ve earned the ability to go back to my family”, and was given the advice to move by fellow Texan actor Matthew McConaughey.

Powell also told the publication it was an “emotional thing” to finish the degree, which he started before he reached this level of fame.

“I think it’s really important to my mom and it’s more of an emotional thing for me,” he said.

The actor is incredibly close to his parents, who regularly attend press events with him, and two sisters.

In the interview with IndieWire, Powell clarified that he has “nothing against Hollywood” – but he would be happier spending time in Austin between projects.

“I love being around people who love entertainment, and I love what [Hollywood] represents.

“Coming here for little chunks of time and doing all the stuff I need to do here, it’s great.

“And I have nothing against Hollywood.

“I just realised, in terms of filling up the pieces of me that need to be refuelled between projects and doing stuff like that, that’s all Austin for me.”

A drug has increased the lifespans of laboratory animals by nearly 25%, in a discovery scientists hope can slow human ageing too.

The treated mice were known as “supermodel grannies” in the lab because of their youthful appearance.

They were healthier, stronger and developed fewer cancers than their unmedicated peers.

The drug is already being tested in people, but whether it would have the same anti-ageing effect is unknown.

The quest for a longer life is woven through human history.

However, scientists have long known the ageing process is malleable – laboratory animals live longer if you significantly cut the amount of food they eat.

Now the field of ageing-research is booming as researchers try to uncover – and manipulate – the molecular processes of ageing.

The team at the MRC Laboratory of Medical Science, Imperial College London and Duke-NUS Medical School in Singapore were investigating a protein called interleukin-11.

Levels of it increase in the human body as we get older, it contributes to higher levels of inflammation, and the researchers say it flips several biological switches that control the pace of ageing.

The researchers performed two experiments.

• The first genetically engineered mice so they were unable to produce interleukin-11
• The second waited until mice were 75 weeks old (roughly equivalent to a 55-year-old person) and then regularly gave them a drug to purge interleukin-11 from their bodies

The results, published in the journal Nature, showed lifespans were increased by 20-25% depending on the experiment and sex of the mice.

Old laboratory mice often die from cancer, however, the mice lacking interleukin-11 had far lower levels of the disease.

And they showed improved muscle function, were leaner, had healthier fur and scored better on many measures of frailty.

I asked one of the researchers, Prof Stuart Cook, whether the data was too good to be believed.

He told me: “I try not to get too excited, for the reasons you say, is it too good to be true?

“There’s lots of snake oil out there, so I try to stick to the data and they are the strongest out there.”

He said he “definitely” thought it was worth trialling in human ageing, arguing that the impact “would be transformative” if it worked and was prepared to take it himself.

The big unanswered questions are could the same effect be achieved in people, and whether any side effects would be tolerable.

Interleukin-11 does have a role in the human body during early development.

People are, very rarely, born unable to make it. This alters how the bones in their skull fuse together, affects their joints, which can need surgery to correct, and how their teeth emerge. It also has a role in scarring.

The researchers think that later in life, interleukin-11 is playing the bad role of driving ageing.

The drug, a manufactured antibody that attacks interleukin-11, is being trialled in patients with lung fibrosis. This is where the lungs become scarred, making it harder to breathe.

Prof Cook said the trials had not been completed, however, the data suggested the drug was safe to take.

This is just the latest approach to “treating” ageing with drugs. The type-2 diabetes drug metformin and rapamycin, which is taken to prevent an organ transplant being rejected, are both actively being researched for their anti-ageing qualities.

Prof Cook thinks a drug is likely to be easier for people than calorie restriction.

“Would you want to live from the age of 40, half-starved, have a completely unpleasant life, if you’re going to live another five years at the end? I wouldn’t,” he said.

Prof Anissa Widjaja, from Duke-NUS Medical School, said: “Although our work was done in mice, we hope that these findings will be highly relevant to human health, given that we have seen similar effects in studies of human cells and tissues.

“This research is an important step toward better understanding ageing and we have demonstrated, in mice, a therapy that could potentially extend healthy ageing.”

Ilaria Bellantuono, professor of musculoskeletal ageing at the University of Sheffield, said: “Overall, the data seems solid, this is another potential therapy targeting a mechanism of ageing, which may benefit frailty.”

However, he said there were still problems, including the lack of evidence in patients and the cost of making such drugs and “it is unthinkable to treat every 50-year-old for the rest of their life”.

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.

There has been outrage in Italy after a female tourist in Florence was pictured miming a lewd act on a statue of Bacchus, the Roman god of wine and excess.

In the photos – which were shared online by the social media account Welcome To Florence – the woman can also be seen kissing the life-size statue at night-time.

The Bacchus stands on a plinth on a street corner near the famous Ponte Vecchio bridge and is a modern replica of the 16th Century work by sculptor Giambologna. The original is kept in the nearby Bargello museum.

The photos sparked angry reactions from social media users, some of whom called for the woman’s arrest.

“This is the result of years of attempts at turning Florence into Disneyland,” said another.

Patrizia Asproni, the president of Confcultura, an association that promotes Italy’s cultural heritage, told Italian media that these “repeated shows of rudeness and barbarity” take place “because everyone feels entitled to do whatever they want with impunity”.

Ms Asproni called for the application of the “Singapore model” with “tight checks, sky-high fines and zero tolerance” for bad behaviour.

Antonella Rinaldi, Florence’s archaeology and fine arts superintendent, said: “Tourists are welcome here but they need to respect our artworks, be they originals or replicas.”

“Although I doubt this lady – whom I condemn – even knows the difference,” she added.

Florence is one of the world’s foremost tourist destinations.

In 2023, around 1.5 million people visited the city – which has a population of just 382,000 – between June and September.

Local residents have long struggled with the huge influx of tourists, which in the summer months turns Florence’s narrow streets into steady streams of people.

The so-called “overtourism” phenomenon has prompted several cities around the world to make changes to the way they welcome tourists.

Last month, the mayor of Barcelona pledged to eliminate short-term tourist lets in the city within five years, while several hotspots – like Venice or Japan’s Mount Fuji – have started to introduce daily charges to try to limit numbers.

United Airlines has apologised to NFL Hall of Fame legend Terrell Davis after the two-time Super Bowl champion said he was “wrongly handcuffed” on a flight to California.

Mr Davis said he was removed from a United Airlines aircraft last Saturday after a flight attendant accused the former Denver Broncos star of hitting him.

The 51-year-old, who was flying with his family from Denver, spoke about his ordeal on social media. He said the claim was false and described feeling “traumatised” by it.

United Airlines told the BBC it had removed the flight attendant from duty while it investigates the matters and reviews its policies.

Posting on his Instagram, Mr Davis released a statement explaining that during the flight’s beverage service his son had asked for a cup of ice.

In an effort to get his son the ice, Mr Davis said he “lightly tapped” the flight attendant on the arm to get his attention, only to hear him respond, “Don’t hit me!”

The flight attendant then left the cart and went to the front of the plane, according to the Instagram account.

“I was confused, as were the passengers in front of me who witnessed the exchange, Mr Davis wrote. “I thought nothing of it other than this particular employee was incredibly rude and blatantly wrong in his accusations of me hitting him.”

Mr Davis said that when the plane arrived at Orange County’s John Wayne Airport, he and other passengers were told to remain seated. FBI agents and local authorities then boarded the plane, placed him in handcuffs in front of his wife and three children and then removed him from the flight.

He said the “entire flight of passengers watched in silence”.

A United Airlines spokeswoman told the BBC the company has apologised to Mr Davis and continues to discuss the incident with him.

“This is clearly not the kind of travel experience we strive to provide,” she said.

“We have removed the flight attendant from duty while we closely look into this matter and we are reviewing our policies around incidents like this.”

Mr Davis was a star running back for the Denver Broncos, playing for them from 1995 to 2001.

He helped Denver win Super Bowls XXXII and XXXIII, remains the team’s all-time leading rusher and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2017.

Joe Biden’s campaign faced further pressure on Thursday amid reported concerns from Barack Obama about the presidential election, a darkening mood among Democrats and polls suggesting Donald Trump was pulling ahead.

Some Democrats painted a bleak picture. One senior party official told the BBC that many in the party felt Mr Biden’s stepping down was “inevitable”.

Polling on Thursday by the BBC’s US partner, CBS News, showed him five points behind Trump – the widest margin recorded this campaign.

But Mr Biden’s campaign batted away reports of high-level Democratic concern as “baseless”, insisting he would remain the nominee.

Mr Obama was reported by the Washington Post to have privately stated Mr Biden’s chances were greatly diminished. Spokespeople for the former president have declined to comment.

The polls and report on Mr Obama come after US media reported that former house speaker Nancy Pelosi and the two most senior Democrats in Congress, Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer, had advised Mr Biden to consider his candidacy for the good of the party. All have rejected the reports.

One Democratic source told BBC News that the mood in Washington was grim: “We are all waiting for the inevitable decision.”

Adam Smith, a Democratic congressman for Washington state, painted a similarly grim picture. Asked by BBC Radio 4’s The World Tonight whether the party was “coming to the end” of Mr Biden’s candidacy, he said: “That is my sense. I mean, I don’t know. But without question, I think that is the direction that this is heading right now.”

Mr Biden has faced a torrid few weeks since his poor showing in the first presidential debate late last month. He is currently in isolation in Delaware while he recovers from a Covid infection.

By contrast, Donald Trump will give the headline speech at the Republican national convention in Milwaukee on Thursday evening, his first speech since surviving an assassination attempt. Delegates and supporters here have been in a jubliant mood all week.

Mr Biden has so far struck a defiant tone in response to Democratic pressure for him to step aside as the party’s candidate. He continues to enjoy the public support of many lawmakers, including members of the powerful Congressional black caucus.

But there are signs the Democratic leadership has begun to apply more pressure.

Mr Schumer, the Senate Majority Leader and Mr Jeffries, the ranking Democrat in the House of Representatives, are reported to have told Mr Biden last week that their colleagues in Congress were “concerned” that his troubles would hit their own chances of re-election.

Mr Schumer said the reports were “idle speculation”, while Mr Jeffries said his was “a private conversation that will remain private”.

CNN meanwhile reported that Mrs Pelosi had told Mr Biden that polls show he cannot win. She later slammed the reporting as a “feeding frenzy”, but did not deny that a conversation with Mr Biden had taken place.

On Thursday, the Post reported that Mr Obama told several allies that Mr Biden, his former vice-president, must seriously consider if his candidacy remains viable.

Jamie Raskin, a congressman from Maryland, was meanwhile reported by The New York Times to have written to Mr Biden, comparing him to a baseball pitcher at the end of his career – saying there was “no shame” in retiring “to the overflowing appreciation of the crowd when your arm is tired out”.

TJ Ducklo, a Biden campaign senior adviser, slammed reports of grandee concern as “baseless conjecture from anonymous sources”.

“Joe Biden is his party’s nominee,” he wrote on X. “He’s running for re-election.”

Deputy campaign manager Quentin Fulks said Mr Biden was “not wavering on anything. The president has made his decision. I don’t want to be rude, but I don’t know how many more times we can answer that.”

Mr Biden has mild upper respiratory symptoms associated with Covid but does not have a fever, presidential doctor Kevin O’Connor said on Thursday,

The White House said he was expected to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after he arrives in the US on Wednesday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says working with Donald Trump if he is re-elected as US president will be “hard work, but we are hard workers”.

In an exclusive interview with the BBC in London, Mr Zelensky said he was willing to work with anyone who in power in the US.

Just days ago, Trump announced Ohio Senator JD Vance as his running mate in November’s vote. The 39-year-old has in the past said “he doesn’t care what happens to Ukraine one way or the other”.

The nomination has renewed fears that US commitment to Ukraine could fall away if Trump is returned to the White House in November’s election.

“Maybe he really doesn’t understand what goes on in Ukraine, so we have to work with the United States,” Mr Zelensky told the BBC.

The Ukrainian leader is in the UK to attend a meeting of the European Political Community (EPC), where he delivered a speech on Thursday afternoon.

The EPC, which includes the 27 members of the European Union as well as 20 non-members like the UK, is a more informal forum for co-operation.

Mr Zelensky earlier met UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who has vowed to stand with Ukraine for “as long as it takes” and has committed to spending £3bn on aid for the country.

He said he hoped Mr Starmer’s term in Downing Street would mark a “special” era in British foreign policy.

“I don’t think Britain’s position would change,” Mr Zelensky told the BBC. “But I would like for Prime Minister Starmer to become special – speaking about international politics, about defending world security, about the war in Ukraine.”

He added that Ukraine “doesn’t just need a new page, we need power to turn this leaf”.

On Friday morning, President Zelensky will address a meeting of the UK cabinet in person – the first foreign leader to do so since US President Bill Clinton in 1997.

He is expected to brief ministers about the situation in Ukraine and the need to ramp up Europe’s defence industrial base.

The two leaders will also sign a £3.5bn defence export finance deal.

Ukraine’s troops have faced a tough spring and earlier this week it was confirmed that they had withdrawn from the village of Krynky on the occupied eastern bank of the Dnipro river.

In recent months, the Ukrainian army has had to try and hold back Russian troops along a very long front line in the east of the country. The city of Kharkiv and the surrounding areas have sustained continued attacks as Russian forces attempt to make gains in the region.

Ukraine had hoped that its military efforts would be boosted by the arrival of F-16 planes promised by allies this summer. But Mr Zelensky confirmed that Ukraine had yet to see them.

“It’s been 18 months and the planes have not reached us,” he said, saying that he was thankful for what Ukraine had been given.

But he emphasised that new fighters were essential to help Ukrainians push back against Russia’s aerial dominance and “unblock the skies”.

With the war continuing for more than two years without an end in sight, questions have been raised as to whether there could be a negotiated solution.

Last month, Switzerland hosted a Ukraine peace summit but Russia was not invited. Mr Zelensky has since said that Russia should attend a second peace summit penned for November.

He told the BBC that the whole world will need to put pressure on Russia in order to persuade it to sit down and consider ending the war.

“It doesn’t mean that all territories are won back by force. I think the power of diplomacy can help,” he said, adding that a weaker Russia on the battlefield would put Ukraine in a stronger position on the negotiating table.

“By putting pressure on Russia, I think it is possible to agree to a diplomatic settlement.”

Mr Zelensky has been Ukraine’s leader since 2019 and throughout Russia’s full-scale invasion. While elections were due this year, Ukraine’s constitution rules out a ballot during the time of martial law.

The president told the BBC that he did envisage a time when he would step down as president.

“But not until the war is over,” he said.

American stand-up comedy legend Bob Newhart, whose deadpan delivery style earned him numerous awards, has died at the age of 94.

The star of TV series The Bob Newhart Show, Newhart passed away at home after a series of short illnesses, his publicist said in a statement provided to the BBC on Thursday.

Newhart became a stand-up comic after starting his career as an accountant in Chicago. He went on to guest-host Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show 87 times.

More recently, he starred in classic Christmas film Elf and The Big Bang Theory.

The son of a plumber in a suburb of Chicago, Newhart graduated with a business degree from Loyola University in 1952.

He served in the Army for two years during the Korean War then enrolled in a graduate law school before dropping out.

He and a friend began recording improvised comedy routines shortly after. In 1959, he was discovered by a local DJ who recommended him to the newly formed Warner Bros Records.

His live recording from a Houston comedy club, The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart, went on to become the first comedy album to top the charts.

Seven more albums were released after that, with millions of copies sold.

His longtime publicist, Jerry Digney, wrote in a statement announcing his death that Newhart began his career “toiling in Chicago as an accountant by day and moonlighting at night as a comedy performer and writer”.

Newhart was known as a pioneer of stand-up routines involving long stories, with a series of funny statements throughout, rather one single punchline joke at the end.

“There was a (comedy) sea change taking place,” he said, according to his publicist.

Newhart separated himself from other comedians of his generation with his modern outlook and observational delivery, never raising his voice and almost stammering at times.

When he took to the stage for stand-up, his only prop was a telephone, which he used to pretend to hold a conversation with someone on the other end of the line.

Newhart, who loved an audience, never really retired, and was still a fixture on Hollywood sets and stages through his 80s.

Comedy film director Judd Apatow was among those paying tribute on X, formerly known as Twitter.

“Bob Newhart was the kindest most hilarious man,” he posted, adding: “His brilliant comedy and gentle spirit made everyone he encountered so happy.”

Actress Kaley Cuoco, who worked with Newhart on The Big Bang Theory, posted on Instagram: “What a dream it was to witness the genius that was Bob Newhart.

“He was classy, kind, generous and absolutely hilarious.”

Director and actor Paul Feig posted on X: “A brilliant standup & comedic actor, he was truly one of a kind.”

“God, he was funny! Bob Newhart. You will be missed!” actress Jamie Lee Curtis posted on Instagram.

Newhart is survived by his four children and numerous grandchildren.

His wife of 60 years, Virginia “Ginnie” Newhart, passed away in 2023.

In the moments after an assassination attempt on Donald Trump’s life, BBC Senior North America Correspondent Gary O’Donoghue spoke to an eyewitness who claimed he had seen a gunman on a roof.

The interview went viral, mostly because what the man had seen was so significant – but in part because he was such a compelling character.

Talking to the BBC’s Media Show, O’Donoghue shares a behind-the-scenes account of the interview. He reveals his initial disbelief and his process of verifying the eyewitness’ story.

A police car was flipped over and a bus set alight after disorder broke out in Harehills in Leeds.

West Yorkshire Police said officers were initially called to reports of a disturbance at an address in Luxor Street at about 17:00 BST, but that further “pockets of disorder” had broken out.

Social media footage showed large crowds of people on the streets, a bus on fire and a police car coming under attack before being flipped over.

Home Secretary and West Yorkshire MP Yvette Cooper said she was “appalled at the shocking scenes”.

Hundreds of people were still gathered on the streets at about midnight, with no police in attendance at that time, according to a BBC reporter at the scene.

Video of the scene shows a bus completely burnt out near the Compton Centre.

In a statement put out earlier, police said no injuries had been reported.

A number of roads have been closed and people have been advised to avoid the area.

Police said that on arrival officers found “an ongoing disturbance which involved some agency workers and some children”.

A spokesperson said: “More people started to attend the location and a decision was made to remove the agency workers and the children to a safe place.

“A crowd started to gather and more officers were requested to attend the area, where some pockets of disorder were occurring.

“More officers have been deployed to the area to assist with the management of this incident.”

Ms Cooper said: “I am appalled at the shocking scenes and attacks on police vehicles and public transport in Leeds tonight. Disorder of this nature has no place in our society.”

Footage shared on social media showed the police car coming under attack with its windows being smashed in. One person uses a scooter to hit it, while stones and other debris are also thrown.

BBC reporters, near the scene on Harehills Road, described hundreds of people gathered on the streets, with rubbish and debris strewn across the road.

The road is currently open and no police are currently at the scene, though many police vehicles are gathered about a mile away.

Posting on X, Gipton and Harehills Councillor Salma Arif appeared alongside a police inspector, with a message urging people to stay at home.

Ms Arif said: “There’s an ongoing situation currently in Harehills.

“We are asking everybody in the area please stay at home at this moment in time.”

Insp Nicholls, from the East Leeds Neighbourhood Policing Team, said: “If you could just stay where you are, stay in your houses while we manage this incident.

“If you are in the crowd I would ask you to go home please so we can keep everybody safe.”

Richard Burgon, MP for Leeds East, said on X: “I am on my way back to Leeds from Parliament and am in touch with the police and concerned residents about the on-going incident in Harehills.

“The police say no injuries have been reported but are advising people to avoid the area at the moment if possible.”

Tracy Brabin, the mayor of West Yorkshire, said she had been “reassured no one has been seriously injured but suggest those who are using this to inflame community tensions to think again”.

A collection of 3,404 eggs have been seized in Australia after a European operation into the illegal bird trade.

Investigators discovered the haul – believed to be worth A$400,000 to A$500,000 (£207,000 – £259,000) – at a property in Granton, Tasmania on 9 July.

The eggs had been blown – or hollowed out – meaning they only had ornamental value.

A 62-year-old man was being investigated but no arrests had been made, according to officials.

Environmental and wildlife crime has become one of the world’s largest and most profitable crime sectors and continues to grow as it pushes many species to the brink of extinction.

It is expected that the Australian suspect will appear in court at a later date for offences in contravention of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Act 1999.

“[The man] is alleged to have been involved in the collection and harvesting of bird eggs from the wild and trading of both Australian native and CITES-listed bird eggs with people overseas,” a spokesperson from the federal Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW) said.

CITES-listed means a species is listed in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), an international agreement between governments that aims to protect endangered plants and animals from international trade.

Analysis of the eggs is now underway to confirm what species they belong to, but they are believed to include rare and threatened species facing a high extinction risk.

Investigators believe they include eggs from the forty-spotted pardalote, which is found only on Tasmania’s Bruny Island, the swift parrot and the shy albatross.

The eggs in this collection were all blown or hollowed eggs, meaning the egg white and yolk had been removed.

In 2023, European authorities launched an investigation in relation to the illegal harvesting, collecting, trading, buying and selling of bird eggs within Europe and internationally.

A number of search warrants were undertaken resulting in the seizure of over 56,000 eggs.

CITES estimates international wildlife trade is worth billions of dollars – ranging from live animals, to products derived from them.

More than 40,000 species are covered by the agreement, with more than 180 countries agreeing, including Australia.

Tasmanian ecologist Dr Sally Bryant told ABC News that egg collecting “was probably happening more than any of us realise”.

She said: “We are well aware of these sorts of activities, but they’re very, very outdated — they are morally, ethically, legally corrupt.”

Collections of this size were put together by “skilled operators” over “many years”, she added.

The interference of threatened and migratory birds can carry a penalty of seven years imprisonment, a fine of A$138,600 or both.

The export of Australian native specimens, including eggs, and the export or import of specimens, including eggs, on the CITES list has a maximum penalty of 10 years’ imprisonment, a fine A$330,000, or both.

The possession of CITES-listed specimens, including eggs, can carry a penalty of five years imprisonment, a fine of A$330,000 or both.

Tanya Plibersek, Minister for the Environment and Water, said: “Illegal trafficking and wildlife crime is fast becoming a threat for many of our species that are already at risk of extinction.

“We have to stamp out this terrible trade which sees our native animals captured in the Aussie bush and sent overseas to be sold.”

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.

A High Security Alert has been issued for the whole of Bangladesh, as violent clashes between students and police continue.

The capital Dhaka is in the midst of a near-total internet blackout, with phone lines also down.

On Thursday evening, several thousand protestors stormed the state broadcaster BTV, vandalising furniture, smashing windows and lights and setting parts of it on fire.

Bangladesh’s information minister told the BBC that broadcasts had been stopped and most employees had left the building in the capital.

A post on BTV’s official Facebook page had earlier warned “many” were trapped inside the building, and appealed for help from the fire service to put the blaze out.

A senior BTV journalist, who didn’t want to be named, told the BBC: “The situation was so bad we didn’t have any other option but to leave the place. Some of our colleagues were trapped inside. I don’t know what happened to them.”

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina appeared on the network on Wednesday night, appealing for calm after days of violent protests which have left at least 19 people dead, possibly many more, and hundreds injured.

Students have been holding rallies demanding change to a system which reserves a third of public sector jobs for the relatives of veterans of the country’s war for independence from Pakistan in 1971.

The students are arguing that the system is discriminatory, asking for recruitment based on merit.

The government has been trying to quell the protests, on Thursday switching off the country’s mobile internet in an attempt to slow the students.

Instead, it became the deadliest day so far, according to news agency AFP. According to its count citing hospitals, a total of 32 people have died during the protests.

The BBC’s Bengali service has confirmed 19 deaths so far – 13 of them on Thursday. Among the dead was a 32-year-old journalist for the Dhaka Times.

Sheikh Hasina had condemned protesters’ deaths as “murder” in her Wednesday television appearance, but her words were largely dismissed by protest organisers, who rejected government offers of talks.

“The government has killed so many people in a day that we cannot join any discussions in the current circumstances,” said Nahid Iqbal, a leader of the anti-quota protest.

Another student, Aleem Khan, 22, told the BBC: “The Prime Minister is asking for an end to the violence with one hand whilst, with the other hand, attacking students using pro-ruling party groups and the police.”

Thursday saw tear gas and rubber bullets deployed by officers, as students created human blockades in the streets.

The students who stormed BTV had earlier “torched” a police station, according to an official at the network.

“They chased the police officers when they took refuge at the BTV office,” the official told AFP. “Angry protesters then caused mayhem here.”

Elsewhere, BBC Bengali spoke to a group of medical students who were taking shelter inside a medical college compound after they were attacked by pro-ruling party groups.

One of the students, Sumi, told the BBC: “I am here to protest against discrimination within the civil service and now that so many students have been killed by the police, I am also protesting against that.

“Our protest is peaceful, but the way in which we were attacked made me feel like we were going to be killed by pro-ruling party groups.”