Israel has launched air strikes on the Houthi-controlled Red Sea port of Hodeidah in Yemen, a day after a drone launched by the group hit Tel Aviv.

Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said his country aimed to send a message to the Houthi movement.

“The fire that is currently burning in Hodeidah, is seen across the Middle East and the significance is clear,” he said.

Houthi-linked news outlets said three people were killed and more than 80 injured in the Israeli strikes.

Houthi official Mohammed Abdulsalam reported a “brutal Israel aggression against Yemen”.

He said the strikes were aimed at pressuring the Houthis to stop supporting the Palestinians in Gaza, something he said would not happen.

It is the first time Israel has responded directly to what it says have been hundreds of Yemeni drone and missile attacks aimed at its territory in recent months.

Footage from Hodeidah showed huge fires raging on Saturday evening. The Houthi-run government in Sanaa said Israel struck oil storage facilities close to the shore, as well as a nearby power plant.

In a statement, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said: “After nine months of continuous aerial attacks by the Houthis in Yemen toward Israel, IAF [Israeli Air Force] fighter jets conducted an extensive operational strike over 1,800km [1,118 miles) away against Houthi terrorist military targets” in the area of the port of Hodeidah.

“The IDF is capable of operating anywhere required and will strike any force that endangers Israelis,” the statement said, adding that Saturday’s operation was codenamed Outstretched Arm.

Mr Gallant said the Israeli jets had struck the group because they had harmed Israelis.

“The Houthis attacked us over 200 times. The first time that they harmed an Israeli citizen, we struck them. And we will do this in any place where it may be required,” he said.

Speaking on Saturday evening after the attacks, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country would defend itself “by all means”.

“Anyone who harms us will pay a very heavy price for their aggression,” he said in a televised address, claiming the port was an entry point for Iranian weapons.

He also said it showed Israel’s enemies there was no place it could not reach.

On Friday a block of flats in Tel Aviv was hit by what an Israeli military official said was an Iranian-made unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), which had been modified to fly long distance.

The Houthis said it carried out that attack, and vowed to stage more.

The attack killed a 50-year-old man who had recently moved to Israel from Belarus and injured eight others.

The Israeli military official said its defence forces had detected the incoming drone but had not tried to shoot it down because of “human error”.

Previously, almost all Houthi missiles and drones fired towards Israel had been intercepted and none were known to have reached Tel Aviv.

The Houthi Supreme Political Council, the movement’s executive body, was quoted by Houthi-run media on Saturday evening saying that there would be an “effective response” to the airstrikes.

Although Israel has not struck the Houthis in Yemen before, the US and UK have been launching air strikes against the group for months to try to stop the Houthis from attacking commercial shipping in the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea.

The Houthis initially said they were attacking ships connected with Israel, or heading to or from there. However, many of the vessels have no connection with Israel and since air strikes began the group has also targeted vessels linked to the UK and US.

Microsoft says it estimates that 8.5m computers around the world were disabled by the global IT outage.

It’s the first time a figure has been put on the incident and suggests it could be the worst cyber event in history.

The glitch came from a security company called CrowdStrike which sent out a corrupted software update to its huge number of customers.

Microsoft, which is helping customers recover said in a blog post: “we currently estimate that CrowdStrike’s update affected 8.5 million Windows devices.”

The post by David Weston, vice-president at the firm, says this number is less than 1% of all Windows machines worldwide, but that “the broad economic and societal impacts reflect the use of CrowdStrike by enterprises that run many critical services”.

The company can be very accurate on how many devices were disabled by the outage as it has performance telemetry to many by their internet connections.

The tech giant – which was keen to point out that this was not an issue with its software – says the incident highlights how important it is for companies such as CrowdStrike to use quality control checks on updates before sending them out.

“It’s also a reminder of how important it is for all of us across the tech ecosystem to prioritize operating with safe deployment and disaster recovery using the mechanisms that exist,” Mr Weston said.

The fall out from the IT glitch has been enormous and was already one of the worst cyber-incidents in history.

The number given by Microsoft means it is probably the largest ever cyber-event, eclipsing all previous hacks and outages.

The closest to this is the WannaCry cyber-attack in 2017 that is estimated to have impacted around 300,000 computers in 150 countries. There was a similar costly and disruptive attack called NotPetya a month later.

There was also a major six-hour outage in 2021 at Meta, which runs Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp. But that was largely contained to the social media giant and some linked partners.

The massive outage has also prompted warnings by cyber-security experts and agencies around the world about a wave of opportunistic hacking attempts linked to the IT outage.

Cyber agencies in the UK and Australia are warning people to be vigilant to fake emails, calls and websites that pretend to be official.

And CrowdStrike head George Kurtz encouraged users to make sure they were speaking to official representatives from the company before downloading fixes.

“We know that adversaries and bad actors will try to exploit events like this,” he said in a blog post.

Whenever there is a major news event, especially one linked to technology, hackers respond by tweaking their existing methods to take into account the fear and uncertainty.

According to researchers at Secureworks, there has already been a sharp rise in CrowdStrike-themed domain registrations – hackers registering new websites made to look official and potentially trick IT managers or members of the public into downloading malicious software or handing over private details.

Cyber security agencies around the world have urged IT responders to only use CrowdStrike’s website to source information and help.

The advice is mainly for IT managers who are the ones being affected by this as they try to get their organisations back online.

But individuals too might be targeted, so experts are warning to be to be hyper vigilante and only act on information from the official CrowdStrike channels.

While most of the world was grappling with the blue screen of death on Friday, one country that managed to escape largely unscathed was China.

The reason is actually quite simple: CrowdStrike is hardly used there.

Very few organisations will buy software from an American firm that, in the past, has been vocal about the cyber-security threat posed by Beijing.

Additionally, China is not as reliant on Microsoft as the rest of the world. Domestic companies such as Alibaba, Tencent and Huawei are the dominant cloud providers.

So reports of outages in China, when they did come, were mainly at foreign firms or organisations. On Chinese social media sites, for example, some users complained they were not able to check into international chain hotels such as Sheraton, Marriott and Hyatt in Chinese cities.

Over recent years, government organisations, businesses and infrastructure operators have increasingly been replacing foreign IT systems with domestic ones. Some analysts like to call this parallel network the “splinternet”.

“It’s a testament to China’s strategic handling of foreign tech operations,” says Josh Kennedy White, a cybersecurity expert based in Singapore.

“Microsoft operates in China through a local partner, 21Vianet, which manages its services independently of its global infrastructure. This setup insulates China’s essential services – like banking and aviation – from global disruptions.”

Beijing sees avoiding reliance on foreign systems as a way of shoring up national security.

It is similar to the way some Western countries banned Chinese tech firm Huawei’s technology in 2019 – or the UK’s move to ban the use of Chinese-owned TikTok on government devices in 2023.

Since then, the US has launched a concerted effort to ban sales of advanced semiconductor chip tech to China, as well as attempts to stop American companies from investing in Chinese technology. The US government says all of these restrictions are on national security grounds.

An editorial published on Saturday in the state-run Global Times newspaper made a thinly veiled reference to these curbs on Chinese technology.

“Some countries constantly talk about security, generalise the concept of security, but ignore the real security, this is ironic,” the editorial said.

The argument here is that the US tries to dictate the terms of who can use global technology and how it is used, yet one of its own companies has caused global chaos through lack of care.

The Global Times also took a jab at the internet giants who “monopolise” the industry: “Relying solely on top companies to lead network security efforts, as some countries advocate, may hinder not just the inclusive sharing of governance outcomes but also introduce new security risks.”

The reference to “sharing” is probably an allusion to the debate over intellectual property insofar as China is often accused of copying or stealing western technology. Beijing insists this is not the case and advocates for an open global technology marketplace – while still keeping tight control over its domestic scene.

Not everything was totally unaffected in China, however. A small numbers of workers expressed thanks to an American software giant for ending their working week early.

“Thank you Microsoft for an early vacation,” was trending on the social media site Weibo on Friday, with users posting pictures of blue error screens.

Bangladesh is in turmoil.

Street protests are not new to this South Asian nation of 170 million people – but the intensity of the demonstrations of the past week has been described as the worst in living memory.

More than 100 people have died in the violence, with more than 50 people killed on Friday alone.

The government has imposed an unprecedented communications blackout, shutting down the internet and restricting phone services.

What started as peaceful protests on university campuses has now transformed into nationwide unrest.

Thousands of university students have been agitating for weeks against a quota system for government jobs.

A third of public sector jobs are reserved for the relatives of veterans from the country’s war for independence from Pakistan in 1971.

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

Protest coordinators say police and the student wing of the governing Awami League – known as the Bangladesh Chhatra League – have been using brutal force against peaceful demonstrators, triggering widespread anger.

The government denies these allegations.

“It’s not students anymore, it seems that people from all walks of life have joined the protest movement,” Dr Samina Luthfa, assistant professor of sociology in the University of Dhaka, tells the BBC.

The protests have been a long time coming. Though Bangladesh is one of the fastest growing economies in the world, experts point out that growth has not translated into jobs for university graduates.

Estimates suggest that around 18 million young Bangladeshis are looking for jobs. University graduates face higher rates of unemployment than their less-educated peers.

Bangladesh has become a powerhouse of ready-to-wear clothing exports. The country exports around $40 billion worth of clothes to the global market.

The sector employs more than four million people, many of them women. But factory jobs are not sufficient for the aspiring younger generation.

Under Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s 15-year rule, Bangladesh has transformed itself by building new roads, bridges, factories and even a metro rail in the capital Dhaka.

Its per-capita income has tripled in the last decade and the World Bank estimates that more than 25 million people have been lifted out of poverty in the last 20 years.

But many say that some of that growth is only helping those close to Ms Hasina’s Awami League.

Dr Luthfa says: “We are witnessing so much corruption. Especially among those close to the ruling party. Corruption has been continuing for a long time without being punished.”

Social media in Bangladesh in recent months has been dominated by discussions about corruption allegations against some of Ms Hasina’s former top officials – including a former army chief, ex-police chief, senior tax officers and state recruitment officials.

Ms Hasina last week said she was taking action against corruption, and that it was a long-standing problem.

During the same press conference in Dhaka, she said she had taken action against a household assistant – or peon – after he allegedly amassed $34 million.

“He can’t move without a helicopter. How has he earned so much money? I took action immediately after knowing this,”

She did not identify the individual.

The reaction of the Bangladeshi media was that this much money could only have been accumulated through lobbying for government contracts, corruption, or bribery.

The anti-corruption commission in Bangladesh has launched an investigation into former police chief Benazir Ahmed – once seen as a close ally of Ms Hasina – for amassing millions of dollars, allegedly through illegal means. He denies the allegations.

This news didn’t escape ordinary people in the country, who are struggling with the escalating cost of living.

In addition to corruption allegations, many rights activists point out that space for democratic activity has shrunk over the past 15 years.

“For three consecutive elections, there has been no credible free and fair polling process,” Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director at Human Rights Watch, told the BBC.

“[Ms Hasina] has perhaps underestimated the level of dissatisfaction people had about being denied the most basic democratic right to choose their own leader,” Ms Ganguly said.

The main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) boycotted elections in 2014 and 2024 saying free and fair elections were not possible under Ms Hasina and that they wanted the polls to be held under a neutral caretaker administration.

Ms Hasina has always rejected this demand.

Rights groups also say more than 80 people, many of them government critics, have disappeared in the past 15 years, and that their families have no information on them.

The government is accused of stifling dissent and the media, amid wider concerns that Sheikh Hasina has grown increasingly autocratic over the years. But ministers deny the charges.

“The anger against the government and the ruling party have been accumulating for a long time,” says Dr Luthfa.

“People are showing their anger now. People resort to protest if they don’t have any recourse left.”

Ms Hasina’s ministers say the government has shown extreme restraint despite what they describe as provocative actions by protesters.

They say demonstrations have been infiltrated by their political opposition and by Islamist parties, who they say initiated the violence.

Law Minister Anisul Huq said the government was open to discussing the issues.

“The government has been reaching out to the student protesters. When there is a reasonable argument, we are willing to listen,” Mr Huq told the BBC earlier this week.

The student protests are probably the biggest challenge that has faced Ms Hasina since January 2009.

How they are resolved will depend on how she handles the unrest and, most importantly, how she addresses the public’s growing anger.

Donald Trump has told a rally in Michigan that he “took a bullet for democracy” when an attempt was made on his life last week.

Attended by thousands, it was Trump’s first rally with new running mate JD Vance – and first since he survived the assassination attempt.

He told a packed arena in Grand Rapids that Democrats have accused him of being “a threat to democracy” and, to huge applause, said he was ready to “take back the White House”.

An investigation is under way into the shooting last weekend, which left Trump with a wounded ear – though the prominent white bandage he wore throughout the Republican National Convention had on Saturday been replaced by a discreet flesh-toned plaster.

Trump was not scheduled to address the crowd until 17:00 EST (21:00 GMT) but by 13:00, a line stretched for about three miles (4.8km) outside the 12,000-person Van Del Arena.

Many of those at the event, in the battleground state of Michigan, told the BBC that the assassination attempt – which killed an audience member and wounded two others – would not stop them from showing support for the Republican presidential nominee.

Some said they came precisely because of the shooting.

Unlike that rally, held in Butler, Pennsylvania, the Grand Rapids event was indoors – allowing security officers to carefully monitor who entered and to cut off threats from outside the rally.

In his speech, Trump thanked the “thousands and thousands” of people who came to see him “almost exactly” a week after the assassination attempt.

“I stand before you only by the grace of almighty God,” he said, repeating his belief that divine intervention saved him from being killed.

Wendy and Steve Upcott of Clarkston, Michigan, were among the thousands who drove from all over the state to see him, many reassured by the increased security.

The couple said their 26-year-old daughter begged them not to attend the event two hours from home, fearing for their safety in the wake of the assassination attempt. But they felt obliged to come after the shooting last weekend.

“The chances of it happening again just one week to the day later is unlikely,” said Ms Upcott.

Them and many others in Grand Rapids were decked out in red Make America Great Again caps, along with cowboy hats, shirts and full outfits resembling the American flag. T-shirts with Trump’s mug shot were also for sale.

Laura Schultz said she thought about her safety on Saturday morning before she decided to come to the event with a friend.

“You can’t let fear stop you,” she said.

Other rally-goers, including several young adults, said the assassination attempt pushed them to attend the Michigan rally.

It was the first Trump campaign event for fellow Donald, a 24 year old from Grand Rapids, who wore a shirt with the viral image of Trump pumping his fist after being shot.

“This is the first event after the attempted assassination. I think it’s probably going to be the most important rally,” he said, declining to share his last name.

Donald said he had no fears for his own safety, because of the hundreds of police officers, including some on horseback.

But others said they remained scared for Trump.

“It should be a concern for most Americans that he is still not safe,” Ms Upcott said.

“He needs to be very careful,” said Ms Schultz.

Other supporters expressed outrage at the US Secret Service over the incident last week.

The agency has faced intense scrutiny after shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks was able to take aim at Trump in Pennsylvania by climbing onto a roof of a building near the rally stage, even after rallygoers pointed him out to police.

Investigators have still yet to name a motive for the 20-year-old gunman who was later killed by Secret Service agents.

Since then, the country has become more attuned to possible threats to both presidential candidates. Police in Jupiter, Florida, on Friday arrested a man for allegedly posting threats to Trump on social media, while a different man from Florida was arrested a few days earlier for allegedly threatening President Joe Biden.

Saturday’s Michigan indoor event space was much easier to secure, with metal detectors and military personnel sweeping the whole building, said former Secret Service agent Jason Russell, who has worked on campaign events at the Grand Rapids arena.

“You’ll have a pretty, pretty significant number of agents on site,” Mr Russell said, adding that they would be able to keep Trump out of view until his entrance.

This was one of several campaign stops the former president has made to the key battleground state, as polls show him in a close race against Mr Biden.

The rally came on the heels of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where Trump officially accepted his party’s presidential nomination and delivered his first public address since the assassination attempt.

It also marked the first time Trump appeared on the campaign trail with his vice-presidential pick, Ohio Sen. JD Vance.

Mr Biden, meanwhile, has had to pause campaign events after testing positive for Covid-19.

He continues to resist growing calls from members of his own party to drop out of the race due to concerns about his age and cognitive abilities.

Trump has for the most part stayed silent about Democrats’ drama, but on Saturday he told the crowd they have a “couple problems”.

“They don’t know who their candidate is, and neither do we,” he said.

On Saturday, the former White House physician, Dr Ronny Jackson, released a statement about his condition after having examined Trump.

The bullet created a 2cm-wide wound on Trump’s ear that extended down to the cartilage, Dr Jackson said, which is beginning to “heal properly.” No stitches had been needed, he added.

Trump’s campaign also announced that it plans to hold its next rally in Charlotte, North Carolina on 24 July at the Bojangles Coliseum.

The gunman who tried to assassinate Donald Trump flew a drone above the site of the shooting ahead of time, law enforcement officials have told US media.

They say it remains unclear whether Thomas Matthew Crooks did this hours or days before the fateful rally in Pennsylvania on 13 July, reports CBS, the BBC’s US media partner.

Trump, now officially the Republican presidential nominee, has said he was saved “by luck or by God” when a bullet pierced his right ear during a campaign speech.

A spectator was killed in the attack, while two others were seriously injured.

Crooks, 20, was shot dead at the scene by Security Service agents, who have come under intense scrutiny over the precautions taken to protect Trump at the rally – held outside in the city of Butler.

Security Service chief Kimberly Cheatle has been summoned to testify before a committee of the US House of Representatives on 22 July.

First reported by the Wall Street Journal, investigators told CBS they were still trying to determine when exactly Crooks flew the drone.

They said they believed it was within days of the rally at the Butler Farm Show site.

Other US outlets, also citing security officials, claimed the device was flown above the area on the day the event took place.

The drone is thought to have been used by the shooter to pick the best line of sight for the podium where Trump was due to speak.

Crooks fired multiple shots from the roof of a building that was little more than 130m (430ft) from Trump.

The drone – later found in the gunman’s vehicle – is now being examined by investigators.

Two explosive devices, a tactical vest, and four magazines full of the same ammunition used in the attack were also discovered in the shooter’s vehicle.

The development comes as US Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas hit back at accusations by “some people” questioning the presence of women in law enforcement.

He praised “highly skilled and trained” women serving at every level “who risk their lives on the front lines for the safety and security of others”.

Several female agents were part of Trump’s security protocol during the shooting in Butler, shielding him after the shots were fired and leading him from the stage to a nearby security vehicle.

A number of social media users – including influential US conservative activists – later suggested that female agents were not best suited for jobs in the Secret Service.

“There should not be any women in the Secret Service,” one such activist, Matt Walsh, wrote on X. “These are supposed to be the very best, and none of the very best at this job are women.”

Some also criticised hiring practices that were focusing too much on diversity, equity and inclusion.

Mr Mayorkas said the Department of Homeland Security would “with great pride, focus and devotion to mission, continue to recruit, retain and elevate women in our law enforcement ranks”.

“Our department will be the better for it, and our country more secure,” he added.

A new exhibition in Delhi showcasing rare artworks by European artists gives insights into how the British ruled the country.

Called Destination India: Foreign Artists in India, 1857-1947, the show focuses on artists who travelled to colonial India from around the world.

The representation of India through the European and British artists has “long been a subject of intrigue and exploration”, writes Indian MP and author Shashi Tharoor, in an introduction to the show.

“The fascination with India’s unique landscapes, grand monuments, vibrant traditions and rich history has drawn many to its shores, seeking to capture the essence of this multifaceted nation.”

Mr Tharoor notes that the show is “refreshing and essential” as it explores the less-explored, yet a compelling period of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, rather than just the early pioneers.

The exhibition showcases artworks, including from British artist William Carpenter, that give glimpses into not only the royal courts, but also daily life in the Empire.

Carpenter usually did watercolour, but this 1857 artwork, pictured above, is wood engraving on paper that depicts the busy back streets of Delhi’s Jama Masjid (mosque).

Many interesting artists visited India from England and other European countries in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. They were mainly conventional artists working in oil and watercolour and various print media.

“They were attracted to the people, and not just to the grandees, but to ordinary people in the streets. If there was still an element of the picturesque, it was a more intimate and animated version of that aesthetic,” says Ashish Anand, managing director of DAG, a leading art firm which has put together the show.

“In their works we find an India – if we can put it this way – that we do not just see, but that we can hear and smell.”

The work above is another watercolour painting of the Jama Masjid by William Simpson in 1864.

Mainly a war artist, Simpson was sent to India in 1859 by a publishing company to illustrate the aftermath of the violent uprising two years earlier. Indian soldiers, known as sepoys, had in 1857 set off a rebellion against the British rule, often referred to as the first war of independence.

Simpson’s project halted when the publishing company went bankrupt. He called it the “biggest disaster of my life”. Nonetheless, he continued travelling and sketching his expeditions across the sub-continent.

This is a 1900 pastel portrait of elderly Indians by Olinto Ghilardi, an Italian artist.

A significant European artist, Ghilardi shaped modern Indian art in the early 20th Century.

He mentored Abanindranath Tagore – nephew of Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore and founder of the Bengal School of Art, which shaped modern Indian painting. Ghilardi encouraged him to experiment with watercolours, gouache, and pastels, which he extensively used later in his work.

Ghilardi also served as the vice principal of the Government School of Art in Calcutta (now Kolkata).

This 1896 painting of a young Indian woman was also made by Ghilardi.

Not much is known about the life of the Italian painter before he arrived in Kolkata. His association with Tagore indicates his acceptance as an artist among Kolkata’s Bengali elite.

Much later, in 1911, Ghilardi became a prominent member of an avant-garde group of Italian artists.

This is British artist Carlton Alfred Smith’s undated watercolour painting of a street scene in India.

Smith lived in India between 1916 and 1923. He often painted landscapes along with portraits of people.

A painter of the late Victorian period from Camden Town in London, Smith began as a lithographer before switching to painting. A member of the Royal Academy of Art, he’s known for drawing interiors of cottages and the English countryside.

This is a 1894 watercolour painting of Kashmir’s Wular Lake by George Strahan, a British army engineer and artist.

A gifted student from Surrey, Strahan joined the army and arrived in India in 1860, working in towns of Roorkee and Haridwar.

Two years later, he joined the Topographical Survey of India and started mapping central India, Rajasthan and the Himalayas.

In 1888, he became superintendent of the Great Trigonometrical Survey, which mapped the Indian subcontinent.

At the Survey, Strahan drew relief maps before colour printing was introduced.

After retirement, he lived in the hills of Dehradun and travelled to Kashmir every summer.

This is an 1887 watercolour of Hyderabad in southern India by German artist Woldemar Friedrich.

A historical painter and illustrator, Friedrich spent much of his career teaching at prestigious German art academies. In the late 1880s, he travelled to India and created a series of landscapes and illustrations, published in the 1893 book “Six Months in India”.

Carpenter’s 1857 wood engraving on paper artwork on Benaras (above) shows Varanasi – one of the world’s oldest cities and and India’s spiritual capital – brimming with life.

Trained at the Royal Academy Schools in London, Carpenter became a renowned 19th-Century portrait and landscape painter.

Arriving in India in 1850, he travelled extensively, painting rulers, street scenes, landscapes, and locals across Bombay (now Mumbai), Rajasthan, Delhi, Punjab, Kashmir, Lahore, Ceylon (Sri Lanka), and Afghanistan.

This is English artist Charles William Bartlett’s 1919 woodblock print on paper rendition of Punjab’s Golden Temple, a sacred shrine for Sikhs.

Dover-born Bartlett was one of the world’s leading Japanese woodblock painters, and later switched to fine art.

In 1913, he travelled to India, Indonesia and China. He designed 38 woodblock prints for his Japanese publisher from 1916 to 1925, including many scenes from his travels in South Asia.

American artist Edwin Lord Weeks painted this colourful oil on canvas of a bullock-cart in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, in 1882.

Born in Boston to a wealthy family, Weeks was among the first American artists to visit India. His business family supported his artistic endeavours.

Weeks first travelled to India between 1882 and 1883, painting places mainly in Rajasthan. He returned in 1886, when he visited at least seven cities. Known for his realist style and attention to detail, Weeks also wrote a travel account of his journeys through Persia (present day Iran) and India in 1896.

There was little to indicate what had happened on the fifth floor of the Grand Hyatt Erawan in Bangkok until police officers opened the door.

No-one was heard to scream, or had rung for help. No-one had even made it to the door.

Even inside, there were apparently no signs of struggle – the untouched late lunch still laid out neatly on the table for the occupants to enjoy.

From outside of Room 502, the only clue to the horror inside the locked room was the fact the group were late checking out of the hotel.

And yet inside were six bodies, alongside tea cups laced with cyanide.

It didn’t take officers long to work out the occupants of the room had drunk the poisoned tea, or to find out who the apparent victims were.

But days after police revealed the grim discovery, big questions remain: why them – and who did it?

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

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

According to investigators, Chong was believed to have borrowed 10 million baht ($280,000; £215,000) from husband and wife Hong Pham Thanh and Thi Nguyen Phuong to invest in a hospital building project in Japan. The couple, who owned a construction business, had apparently tried in vain to get their money back.

In fact, the matter was due to go to court in Japan in a matter of weeks.

On the face of it, this meeting appeared to be an attempt to discuss the issue in advance of the case.

Thi Nguyen Phuong Lan was there because Chong – who US media have said lived in Oakland, California – had asked her to act as her intermediary with the couple regarding the investment.

But how were the other two linked to the case?

Dinh Tran Phu – a successful make-up artist whose clientele includes movie stars, singers and beauty queens in Vietnam – was at the gathering working for Chong.

His father, speaking to BBC Vietnamese, emphasised the fact he had travelled to Thailand with his regular clients, not with strangers.

A close friend, meanwhile, said he knew both Thi Nguyen Phuong and Thi Nguyen Phuong Lan, having introduced them to treatments at a friend’s spa in Da Nang, where he lived.

Dang Hung Van’s participation in the hotel suite meeting was not immediately clear.

Police said there was a seventh name in the hotel reservation, the sister of one of the six. That person returned to Vietnam from Thailand last week and police said she was not involved in the incident.

The group checked into the hotel separately over the weekend and were assigned five rooms – four on the seventh floor, and one on the fifth.

Chong checked into Room 502 on Sunday. The five others visited her in her suite that day, but they headed back to their respective rooms for the night.

Before noon on Monday, Dang Hung Van ordered six cups of tea while Dinh Tran Phu, the make-up artist, ordered fried rice from their respective rooms. They asked that it be delivered to Room 502 at 14:00 local time.

A few minutes before 14:00, Chong started receiving the food orders at Room 502. She was alone in the suite at that time.

Police said she refused the waiter’s offer to brew tea for her party. The waiter also found that she “spoke very little and was visibly under stress”.

The rest of the group started arriving soon after. The couple went in lugging a suitcase.

At 14:17, all six could be seen by the door before it was shut. From then on, there was no sign of movement from inside.

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

Police entered the room at 16:30 on Tuesday and found the six dead on the floor.

The initial investigation found that two appeared to have tried get to the suite’s door, but failed to reach it in time.

All the bodies bore signs of cyanide poisoning, which can – in certain doses – kill within minutes. Their lips and nails had turned dark purple indicating a lack of oxygen, while their internal organs turned “blood red”, which is another sign of cyanide poisoning.

Investigators say there is “no other cause” that would explain their deaths “except for cyanide”.

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

Cyanide starves the body’s cells of oxygen, which can induce heart attacks. Early symptoms include dizziness, shortness of breath and vomiting.

Its use in Thailand is heavily regulated and those found to have unauthorised access face up to two years in jail.

Police suspect that one of the dead was behind the poisoning and was driven by crushing debt – but have not said who.

According to Vietnamese outlet VN Express, investigators said Chong had been sued by all the other five over their failed investments.

The meeting in Bangkok was called to negotiate a settlement, but the attempt failed.

Police have sought a statement from the group’s tour guide in Bangkok, 35-year-old Phan Ngoc Vu.

The guide reportedly said that before she died, Thi Nguyen Phuong Lan, the mediator, had asked someone to buy traditional medicine containing snake blood for her joint pains.

Then there are the two metal beverage containers that did not belong to the hotel found by police in the suite.

The containers were placed beside the cyanide-laced teacups, near the dining table.

What is certain is that officials want the matter resolved quickly.

Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has directed officials in Hanoi to co-ordinate closely with their Thai counterparts on the investigation.

As for Thai authorities, it couldn’t have come at a worse time for Thailand. It had just expanded visa-free entry to 93 countries to revive its tourism industry, a key economic pillar that has yet to fully recover from the pandemic.

Barely a year before, a 14-year-old boy shot dead two people at a luxury shopping mall, also in Bangkok.

Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin was with police on the scene at the Grand Hyatt on Tuesday night. He said there was no danger to public safety and that it was a private matter.

For the families left behind, the shock is palpable.

BBC Vietnamese got hold of the make-up artist’s mother, Tuy, on the phone, but she was sobbing so uncontrollably that she hung up after a short conversation. She said she thought her son was just on a routine work trip.

His father, Tran Dinh Dung, said in a separate interview that he did not notice anything strange with his son the last time he saw him.

Dissent is not tolerated in Vladimir Putin’s Russia.

For years Kremlin critics have faced a host of laws which could be used against them, and since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine that toolbox of measures has swelled in size.

The laws target basic rights such as freedom of speech and freedom of assembly – even though they are enshrined in Russia’s constitution.

The repressive nature of the punishments, often disproportionate to the offence, harks back to the methods of the old Soviet Union.

The law used most widely against critics of the war in Ukraine is the criminal offence of spreading “deliberately false information” about the Russian army.

It was rushed through parliament shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February 2022. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said it was “urgently needed because of the absolutely unprecedented information war waged against our country”.

According to prominent Russian human rights group OVD-Info, more than 300 people have since been charged or convicted under it.

Even though the law mentions “false” information, it has been used against people who highlight crimes that are well-documented but denied by Russia.

Ilya Yashin is one of the most high-profile critics of the war to be convicted under this law. The former head of a Moscow disctrict council was given eight and half years in jail for a live stream on YouTube in which he urged an investigation into the murder of civilians in the Ukrainian town of Bucha.

In April 2023, prominent opposition activist Vladimir Kara-Murza was sentenced to 25 years in jail on charges of treason and spreading “false information” about the Russian army.

His case was partly based on a speech in which he accused Russian troops in Ukraine of committing war crimes by using cluster bombs in residential areas and bombing maternity hospitals and schools.

The law has also been applied to Russians with far smaller public profiles.

Russian-language tutor Raisa Boldova, 61, was handed a suspended one-year community service sentence for posting critical comments about attacks on civilians in Ukraine, including the bombing of the Mariupol maternity hospital.

In an echo of a chilling Soviet practice of confining dissidents to mental hospitals, the court also ordered her to undergo a compulsory psychiatric evaluation.

Another recent law penalises “discrediting” the Russian army, and it has been applied to a broad variety of actions interpreted either as support for Ukraine or criticism of the war.

These include:

• Wearing clothes in the blue-and-yellow colours of the Ukrainian flag
• Writing anti-war slogans on cakes, as did pastry chef Anastasia Chernysheva
• Dyeing one’s hair blue-and-yellow or listening to Ukrainian music
• Displaying anti-war posters with messages ranging from “No War” to eight asterisks – the number of Russian letters that spell “No War” – or even just a blank sheet of paper.

A village priest in Kostroma region was fined for discrediting Russia’s armed forces after praying for peace and mentioning the sixth commandment, “Thou shalt not kill”.

Russia’s “foreign agents” law allows restrictions to be imposed on critics without convicting them of any wrongdoing.

Individuals or organisations that have criticised or scrutinised government policies are targeted if they are deemed to have received money from abroad – even from a relative – or merely to be under “foreign influence”.

The label has to be attached to all public communications, a practice designed to undermine trust in them and one that resembles the Soviet practice of branding dissidents “enemies of the people”.

Among Russia’s “foreign agents” are election monitor Golos, prominent pollster Levada Centre, rights group OVD-Info, a movement of wives of mobilised soldiers called The Way Home and numerous independent news websites and journalists including Nobel Peace Prize winner Dmitry Muratov.

Books written by so-called foreign agents have started to disappear from shops and libraries.

A “foreign agent” label can make life difficult – but being declared “undesirable” amounts to an outright ban.

All manner of organisations have been banned from Russia in this way – from the NGO Greenpeace to London-based think-tank Chatham House, as well as a number of key Russian media outlets.

Late opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation was disbanded after being declared “extremist” – another label used to effectively erase individuals and organisations from public life.

Navalny himself was handed a lengthy prison sentence and died in jail in February 2024. His widow says he was killed by President Putin. Several of Navalny’s lawyers were themselves arrested on charges of extremism.

In Russia, anyone who wishes to hold a demonstration needs permission from the authorities. If the rally is critical of the government, that is practically impossible.

“One-person pickets” are allowed, but many are regularly shut down – ostensibly because of Covid restrictions.

One man was fined for wearing blue-and-yellow shoes – seen as a violation of laws regulating political demonstrations. And a journalist from Vologda Region, Antonida Smolina, was visited by police after someone complained about photographs she had posted online showing her posing in a yellow coat against a blue sky.

Other actions outlawed in Russia include “disrespect” for the authorities and calls for sanctions to be imposed on the country.

According to Natalia Prilutskaya of Amnesty International, the Kremlin uses laws to “legitimise repression”, partly by exploiting the vague wording of some Russian laws.

“This vagueness allows law enforcement structures to qualify basically any activity as a forbidden activity, or at least it makes it easier,” Ms Prilutskaya told the BBC.

Dmitrii Anisimov, spokesman for Russian human rights group OVD-Info, argues that laws are a particularly important for the Kremlin because of the way Russia’s security apparatus functions.

“The Russian security community is fairly bureaucratic and it needs legal norms for their actions,” he said. Legislation used by the security services had been “deliberately designed in a way that makes their application simple and widespread”, he added.

Ms Prilutskaya says it all adds up to a general climate of repression, which she blames on President Vladimir Putin.

“The ambitions of one person have brought Russia to the edge of a really deep abyss,” she said.

When it comes to planning a holiday, Afghanistan is not at the top of most people’s must-visit lists.

Decades of conflict mean that few tourists dared step foot in the Central Asian nation since its heyday as part of the hippie trail in the 1970s. And the future of whatever tourism industry had survived was thrust into further uncertainty by the Taliban’s return to power in 2021.

But a quick scroll through social media suggests that not only has tourism survived, it has – in its own, extraordinarily niche way – boomed.

“Five reasons why Afghanistan should be your next trip,” gush the delighted influencers, their cameras sweeping across glistening lakes, through mountainous passes and into colouful, busy markets.

“Afghanistan hasn’t been this safe in 20 years,” others declare, posing next to the vast chasms left behind by the destruction of the Bamiyan Buddhas more than 20 years ago.

Behind the sunny claims and glamorous videos are questions about the risks these travellers are taking, and exactly who this burgeoning industry is truly helping.

A population struggling to survive, or a regime keen to shift the narrative in its favour?

“It is very ironic to see those videos on TikTok where there is a Taliban guide and Taliban official giving tickets to tourists to visit the [site of the] destruction of the Buddhas,” points out Dr Farkhondeh Akbari, whose family fled Afghanistan during the first Taliban regime in the 1990s.

“These are the people who destroyed the Buddhas.”

The list of countries visited by Sascha Heeney do not, on first hearing, sound like ideal holiday destinations – places many will be more used to reading about in the news.

But then, that appears to be exactly why Heeney, and thousands more like her across the globe, picked them out: off the beaten track, as far away from a five-star resort as you can get – and therefore, almost entirely unique.

So perhaps it is not surprising she was won over by Afghanistan.

“It is just raw,” says the part-time travel guide from Brighton, UK. “You don’t get much rawer than there. That can be attractive – if you want to see real life.”

What do the Taliban get out of it? After all, they have a reputation for being deeply suspicious, hostile even, towards outsiders, particularly Westerners.

And yet here are they are, posing – if slightly uncomfortably – alongside the tourists, guns on show, their bearded faces potentially about to go viral on TikTok (banned in the country since 2022).

At one level, the answer is simple. The Taliban – largely isolated internationally, under widespread sanctions and prevented from accessing funds given to Afghanistan’s former government – need money.

The tourists – whose numbers have crept up from just 691 in 2021 to more than 7,000 last year, according to AP news agency – bring it.

Most seem to join one of myriad tours offered by international companies, providing a peek at the “real Afghanistan” for a few thousand dollars a trip.

Mohammad Saeed, the head of the Taliban government’s Tourism Directorate in Kabul, said earlier this year that he dreamed of the country becoming a tourist hotspot. In particular, he revealed, he was eyeing up the Chinese market – all with the backing “of the Elders”.

“All they want to do [with tourism], it’s good,” says Afghan tour guide Rohullah, whose smiling face has been shared dozens of times by happy clients since he started leading groups three years ago.

“Tourism creates a lot of jobs and opportunities,” he adds – and he should know.

After what he refers to as “the change” in 2021 – when the Taliban seized power as the US pulled out – he was offered a job as a tour guide by a friend. Before that, he had spent eight years working for the Afghan finance ministry.

And he hasn’t regretted it. Tour groups like Heeney’s need drivers and local guides, and with tourist numbers continuing to rise, there is no shortage of work.

It is not surprising then to find groups of young men – and they are all men – attending Taliban-approved hospitality classes in Kabul, hoping to take advantage of the burgeoning industry.

“We expect much for this year,” Rohullah says. “This is a peaceful time – it was not possible to travel to all parts of Afghanistan before, but for now, it really is possible.”

The killing of three Spanish tourists and an Afghan at a market in Bamiyan in May by the Islamic State-affiliated ISK militant group stood out for being unusual because it targeted foreigners.

The British Foreign Office continues to advise against all travel to the country, which remains a target for attacks. ISK carried out 45 in 2023 alone, according to the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point.

Of course, part of the reason for Afghanistan’s increased security now is that during the 20 year war which engulfed the country after the US invasion, the Taliban themselves were responsible for much of the violence.

Take – for example – the first three months of 2021, when the UN attributed more than 40% of the 1,783 civilian casualties recorded to the Taliban. It wasn’t just the Taliban though. The same report noted US-led Afghan government forces were responsible for 25% of the casualties in the same period.

What is perhaps more surprising is that Heeney and two other members of the group she led for Lupine Tours earlier this year were women – and they were far from the only ones. Young Pioneer Tours – which has long experience of organising holidays to North Korea and other off-grid destinations – even runs exclusively female trips to Afghanistan. Rohullah has guided female solo travellers “without any issues”.

The Taliban’s strict rules for their own female population – which has seen them forced out of the workplace, out of secondary education and even out of the Band-e-Amir national park, a stop on many of the international tours on offer – do not preclude female tourists visiting.

It does mean that “women and men have different encounters” in Afghanistan, acknowledges Rowan Beard, who has been bringing groups to the country since 2016. It is not necessarily a bad thing, he argues.

“Men cannot speak with women; women can,” he explains. “Our female tourists had the opportunity to sit with a group of women and hear from them about their experiences, and further insights into the country.”

But everyone needs to follow the rules put in place. Heeney and her group were briefed in advance of what would be required in order to meet those rules, including on how they dressed, how to act and who they could, and couldn’t, talk to.

The Taliban – ever-present, watching from the sidelines with their guns – were among those who did not speak to Heeney or the female members of her group. She didn’t begrudge it.

“You have to kind of know the rules and learn the game,” she explains.

For Heeney, speaking with the women – who were “incredibly happy” the group was visiting – was a highlight on a tour where the “absolutely lovely”, generous and welcoming people of Afghanistan stood out.

In videos posted on social media, the women are noticeably missing from vibrant street scenes – a fact glossed over by one visitor, who declares people shouldn’t worry, they are just inside doing what women around the world love to do: shop.

Watching these slick videos from outside Afghanistan, some are left with a bitter taste.

“[Tourists think] it is just this backward part of the world, and they can do whatever they want – we don’t care,” says Dr Akbari, now a postdoctoral researcher at Monash University in Australia.

“We just go and enjoy the landscape and get our views and our likes. And this hurts us a lot.”

It is, she adds, “unethical tourism with a lack of political and social awareness”, which allows the Taliban to gloss over the realities of life now they are back in power.

Because this is, arguably, the other value of tourism to the Taliban: a new image. One which doesn’t highlight the rules controlling the lives of Afghan women.

“My family – they have no male guardian – cannot travel from one district to another district,” Dr Akbari points out. “We are talking about 50% of the population who have no rights… We are talking about a regime which has installed gender apartheid.

“And yes, there is a humanitarian crisis: I’m happy that tourists might go and buy something from a shop and it might help a local family, but what is the cost of it? It is normalising the Taliban regime.”

Heeney admits she did have a “moral struggle” over the Taliban’s position on women before she visited.

“Of course, I feel very strongly about their rights – it crossed my mind,” she says. “But then as a traveller… I think countries are deserving to go to, and be listened to – we have a skewed idea. I like to see with my own eyes. I can make my own judgment.”

Beard argues for letting people “make their own conclusions rather than there being a one-size-fits-all answer to the experience women have in the country”.

The overly positive view shared by some on social media can definitely be seen as problematic, says Marina Novelli, professor of marketing and tourism at Nottingham University School of Business.

“I would be very wary of the sensationalisation of a destination,” she says, explaining that some may “paint an image that is naïve”.

“Sometimes travellers also want to send a positive message – but that does not mean that problems [aren’t still there].”

Boycotting is also not the way forward, argues Prof Novelli, who sits on an international tourism ethics board.

“I find that problematic – it isolates these countries even more.”

It also opens up a question over where to draw the line – there are plenty of tourist destinations in the global north which have governments with questionable practices, she says.

However, the potential for benefit is also worth considering: in Saudi Arabia, she says, a growing tourism industry has led to a widening role in society for women.

“I think tourism can be a force for peace, for cross-cultural exchange,” Prof Novelli says.

That potential though does not make it easier for women like Dr Akbari, and her family and friends in Afghanistan.

“Our pains and our sufferings are being whitewashed,” she says, “brushed with these fake strokes of security the Taliban want.”

Shamsa Sharawe has become infamous within the Somali community across the world for speaking out against female genital mutilation (FGM) . In a video to illustrate what happened to her vulva when she was aged six she cut off the petals of a rose with a razor blade and then stitched up what was left of the flower.

The TikTok post went viral – with nearly 12 million views since it was shared 16 months ago.

No Somali, even in the diaspora, talks openly about FGM – never mind the problems that can come with it like painful periods, the difficulty of urinating, the agony of having sex and the dangers and trauma of giving birth when one’s vulva (including the lips and clitoris) have been cut off and the vaginal opening has been narrowed to a tiny hole.

This form of FGM – known as infibulation or “type three” – is what happens to most girls in Somalia as it is a commonly held belief that the cutting off their outer genitalia will guarantee their virginity.

Women who do not undergo FGM are regarded by many in Somali society as having loose morals or a high sex drive, which risks ruining a family’s reputation.

Yet the 31-year-old TikToker, who came to live in the UK in 2001 when her family fled Somalia’s civil war, is not afraid to take on such taboos with humorous, engaging and sometimes heart-breaking honesty.

Using the name Shamsa Araweelo on TikTok, she has shared a horrific account of how she was forcibly married off and raped not long after she turned 18 while on a trip to Somalia. It took six months for her to find a way to escape back to the UK.

But perhaps the biggest taboo of all has been to admit that she wanted her genitalia back – so much so that she has paid to have reconstructive surgery as it is not available to women through the UK’s National Health Service (NHS).

She found out that this was possible when she was contacted by Haja Bilkisu, a German citizen who had undergone FGM as a child on a visit to her birth country of Sierra Leone.

Responding to Ms Sharawe’s rose video, Ms Bilkisu explained that she had had her clitoris reconstructed thanks to Dr Dan mon O’Dey at Germany’s Luisenhospital in Aachen.

“I was terrified of the idea of re-cutting, even though this time it was with my consent,” Ms Sharawe tells the BBC.

“But I had to do it for my mental health. I just wanted to never feel pain again.”

The surgery includes the reconstruction of the clitoris and labia – in Ms Sharawe’s case using tissue from her buttocks – and the removal of cysts and scar tissue in order to reduce pain and restore a woman’s sex life. In some instances, the vaginal opening is also enlarged back to normal.

Ms Sharawe, who was featured in last year’s BBC list of 100 women for her determination to end FGM, decided to share her journey to Germany and recovery so other women like her could know their options.

Yet it has taken years of abuse and the trauma of a second failed marriage for her to find the courage to take on the establishment within the Somali community.

Ms Sharawe, now a single mother with a 10-year-old daughter, also feels let down by the NHS.

It only offers deinfibulation for FGM survivors – that is surgery that opens up the vagina, but does not replace any removed tissue and will not undo any of the damage.

Ms Sharawe decided to look for funds to pay for surgery in Germany.

Through online crowdfunding, she managed to raise £25,000 ($32,000) – and underwent a four-and-half hour procedure in December.

She was in Germany for three weeks and on her return, the anti-FGM activist and teaching assistant was not able to leave her house for months as she recovered.

The childcare costs and other expenses on top of the surgery mean she is still in debt – owing around £3,000 to the hospital.

“Paying for damage you didn’t choose for yourself, or you didn’t create, is really unfair,” she says.

There are four different types of FGM with varying levels of severity:

1. Clitoridectomy: partial or total removal of the sensitive clitoris
2. Excision: partial or total removal of the clitoris plus the inner skin folds surrounding the vagina (labia minora)
3. Infibulation: cutting and repositioning of the outer skin folds around the vagina (labia minora and labia majora). Often includes stitching to leave only a small gap
4. Covers all other harmful procedures like pricking, piercing, incising, scraping and cauterising the clitoris or genital area.

• What is FGM, where does it happen and why?

In the past couple of decades, medical techniques have been developed to try to repair the damage – pioneered in 2004 by French surgeon Dr Pierre Foldès.

Clitoral reconstruction is covered by public health insurance in Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Sweden and Switzerland.

However, in Africa – where the majority of girls and women who have undergone FGM live – access to surgery is limited to Kenya, where patients must pay around £1,000, and Egypt, where non-governmental organisations can cover the costs.

“Not every surgeon can do this surgery. It’s complicated and every patient is different,” says Dr Adan Abdullahi, a specialist in Kenya.

But he says women with every type of FGM could benefit: “It has a positive effect on childbirth, especially for ‘type three’, which is associated with a narrowing of the vagina.”

Other issues, such as pain during sex, can be significantly improved or cured, he says – adding that his patients often experience improved self-esteem “and a sense of completeness”.

Ms Bilkisu says she does feel more complete since her surgery, which was covered by the German health system: “Undergoing surgery was really a power move, a way to fight back.”

But the 30-year-old recruitment agent encourages others to do their research thoroughly before deciding: “Reconstruction is not only to reconstruct the clitoris.

“A lot of women who are cut have thick scar tissue. You have to discuss it with your doctor. What can you do to make the vulva more elastic?”

Ms Bilkisu, who was determined to have “a normal sexual experience” one day and autonomy over her body, has had three operations over the last three years – each one taking around six hours.

“That’s tough on your body. You’re put under anaesthesia. You have to take medication afterwards. I couldn’t walk for three weeks,” she says.

The physical toll of such operations means some doctors, like Dr Reham Awwad in Egypt, are keen to promote non-surgical procedures.

The co-founder of the Restore clinic says that although reconstruction surgery can bring relief, the cutting is sometimes so severe that even the most advanced surgical techniques cannot restore sexual function.

“I definitely don’t think surgery is the answer for everyone,” she tells the BBC.

Around half the cases at her clinic, which opened in 2020, are now treated using non-surgical means like injections of platelet-rich plasma which promotes tissue rejuvenation.

“The plasma [can] lead to regeneration and stimulation of increased blood flow and reducing inflammation in the areas where you inject it,” she says.

However, she cautions that the high cost means such treatments are beyond the reach of many.

Her clinic also offers psychological therapies to overcome trauma for women cut at an age when they can remember the experience.

For those who do opt for reconstructive surgery, the results can be emotional.

“The first time I actually saw my clitoris I was taken aback because for me it was like this doesn’t belong to me,” said Ms Bilkisu, who was eight years old when she underwent “type two” FGM.

Ms Sharawe agrees it takes some getting used to, plus learning how to deal with things like proper period bleeds.

It will take her another six months to completely recover – and she has not been able to afford to go back to Germany for a check-up, which worries her.

“But now I know how it feels to be a full woman… I am a very happy woman,” she says.

“I can wear underwear without discomfort or pain. I can wear trousers. I feel normal.”

And while she has experienced an expected backlash from some Somalis on social media – some of her family have surprised her with their support.

One of her uncles even wanted to know if the surgery was available in the UK for his wife.

“He didn’t feel comfortable knowing his wife’s FGM was still affecting her even after 50-plus years. He wanted to improve the quality of her life… because we [all] deserve to have a good quality of life.”

• Inside the beauty pageant in one of the world’s worst places to be a woman
• Somalia’s hidden world of sex work
• What beauty parlours reveal about Somali women

If you can elbow your way onto one of Majorca’s sunspots this summer, you will witness two unstoppable forces.

The first, as old as time, the tide of the Balearic Sea, methodically erasing the day’s lovingly crafted sandcastles.

The second, a more modern phenomenon, the tsunami of tourism threatening to consume all in its path.

Every inch of beach is taken. Finding a parking space is like striking gold.

If you leave your sunbed for too long, your possessions are unceremoniously turfed to make space for the long queue of would-be usurpers.

All these are the signs of a bonanza that’s seen and heard across the island, not least in the incessant beeping of contactless payment machines ringing out from the teeming hotels, restaurants and bars.

A chorus of commerce powered by record numbers of visitors.

But if this is a tale of colossal wealth being showered onto a business-savvy Spanish community, Sonia Ruiz certainty has not shared any of it.

We meet the mother of one, 31, in a park a few hundred metres from the shore in the capital, Palma.

Her four-year-old son Luca negotiates the various playground slides with no apparent concern.

But Sonia is really struggling. Her landlord has asked them to leave and she says finding a new place is impossible.

“Every day I’m looking and every day the rent is higher,” she says.

“I even stop people in the street and ask if they have something because the day is approaching when I will have to leave the apartment, and I just see me and my son homeless because there is absolutely nothing.”

Sonia and her partner are separated but have been forced to live together because individually they cannot afford the cost of rent, despite taking home 2,400 euros a month between them.

“They ask you for deposits of several months. Some have even told me that they don’t want children, they don’t want animals. And so many people are looking.”

Like thousands of Majorcans, Sonia is protesting this weekend against the surge in tourism that is being blamed for plummeting living standards among the local population.

Activists say spiralling housing costs are being driven by a huge number of houses and apartments being bought by foreigners, or at least rented out to them for large chunks of the summer.

“It’s impossible to sustain this sort of model,” 25-year-old Pere Joan Femenia explains from outside the cathedral in Majorca’s capital, Palma.

He is part of a movement called “Menys Turisme, Més Vida”, or “Less Tourism, More Life”.

He says not only are unprecedented numbers of visitors pricing locals out of the housing market, they are also using up public spaces, public services and natural resources.

Pere started his activism five years ago as part of Greta Thunberg’s climate movement, but his focus has shifted to the cost of living for his fellow islanders.

“Businesses are changing from one’s selling traditional products to multi-nationals selling ice cream and we are losing our identity. We want to preserve our culture,” he says.

Pere points over to the port, far beyond the rows of street vendors and swelling crowds filling the square, explaining that some cruises disgorge as many of 12,000 visitors every day onto the island.

He says it is a myth that Majorca needs ever-expanding tourism to survive, and that the reality is many locals are preparing to leave for good because they can no longer afford it here.

Pere argues that putting limits on flights arriving and cruises docking will immediately ease the pressure on the island.

It is a demand that will form part of the slogans and banners carried around Palma during this weekend’s protest.

Spain’s National Institute of statistics says last year 14.4 million foreign tourists visited the Balearic Islands, of which Majorca is by far the biggest – followed by Menorca then Ibiza.

The institute says the number of international visitors to the archipelago increased by 9.1% compared with 2022 while their spending went up even more – 16.4%.

When Spanish visitors are taken into account too, activists claim this year could see 20 million visitors to the Balearics.

As Spain’s tourist hotspots have developed over the decades, the debate over whether the millions of visitors bring more problems than benefits has intensified.

This year it feels like something has changed. The anger among many locals is reaching a new level – notably demonstrated in Barcelona recently when visitors were drenched with water pistols.

There have been demonstrations elsewhere on the mainland, in Malaga, as well as in the Canary Islands. Spain’s tourist magnets are now looking to repel a seemingly inexorable deluge.

Some British newspapers compiled lists of “hostile holiday hotspots” to avoid in the summer of 2024.

On a packed beach in Magaluf, the long-time destination of choice for millions of British holidaymakers, the Green family from Rotherham are paddling happily.

This is dad Adam’s first trip abroad, although calling it a “holiday” may be a stretch as he and wife keep tabs on their seven kids.

“It’s hectic, but we’re getting there. Apart from the heat, it’s great” he says.

I ask whether they’ve heard about the various protests that have been taking place and if it made them think twice about coming out to Majorca.

“I saw a little bit on the news”, says Charlotte, “but I tried not to watch it because I didn’t want it to stress me out and put me off coming because we’d already booked and paid for it.”

And how about the central thrust of the local protesters’ argument – that burgeoning tourism is having a hugely negative impact?

“Don’t the tourists boost it and make the money for this place?” asks Adam.

“People travel around the world and this is it. With no tourists there’d be no jobs, no wages, no nowt. They rely on it, don’t they?”

A former Ukrainian nationalist MP has died after being shot on the street in the western city of Lviv.

Iryna Farion caused controversy in 2023 by suggesting that “true patriots” of Ukraine should not speak Russian under any circumstances.

The 60-year-old linguistic professor’s killing on Friday is being investigated and police say it may have been a targeted attack.

Her attacker has not been identified. Police say a power outage affected CCTV in the area.

Lviv regional head Maksym Kozytskyi said on Telegram that Ms Farion died in hospital after the shooting.

Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said “this was not a spontaneous killing” and police were looking for a motive.

“We already have several versions. The main ones, I can say, are [linked to Farion’s] social and political activities and personal dislike,” he said in a statement via the Telegram message service.

“We do not rule out that the murder has a commissioned character,” he added.

On Saturday President Volodymyr Zelensky said a major police operation was under way.

“All versions are being investigated, including the one that leads to Russia,” he said.

The hardline nationalist Svoboda (Freedom) political party Ms Farion was a member of blamed Russia directly for the killing.

“Moscow shoots in the temple for the Ukrainian language,” it said in a statement.

In 2023, Ms Farion said that true patriots of Ukraine should not speak Russian in any settings, including on the front lines, as it is the language of the aggressor country.

She described Russian as “the language of the enemy, who kills, discriminates, insults and rapes me”, and added: “How crazy should you be to fight in the Ukrainian army and speak Russian?”

Her words provoked a strong reaction in Ukraine at the time, with people accusing her of inciting hatred based on linguistic preferences.

She was dismissed from a university in western Ukraine and was investigated by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU).

In May, the Lviv Court of Appeal reportedly issued a ruling reinstating her to the position.

While most of the world was grappling with the blue screen of death on Friday, one country that managed to escape largely unscathed was China.

The reason is actually quite simple: CrowdStrike is hardly used there.

Very few organisations will buy software from an American firm that, in the past, has been vocal about the cyber-security threat posed by Beijing.

Additionally, China is not as reliant on Microsoft as the rest of the world. Domestic companies such as Alibaba, Tencent and Huawei are the dominant cloud providers.

So reports of outages in China, when they did come, were mainly at foreign firms or organisations. On Chinese social media sites, for example, some users complained they were not able to check into international chain hotels such as Sheraton, Marriott and Hyatt in Chinese cities.

Over recent years, government organisations, businesses and infrastructure operators have increasingly been replacing foreign IT systems with domestic ones. Some analysts like to call this parallel network the “splinternet”.

“It’s a testament to China’s strategic handling of foreign tech operations,” says Josh Kennedy White, a cybersecurity expert based in Singapore.

“Microsoft operates in China through a local partner, 21Vianet, which manages its services independently of its global infrastructure. This setup insulates China’s essential services – like banking and aviation – from global disruptions.”

Beijing sees avoiding reliance on foreign systems as a way of shoring up national security.

It is similar to the way some Western countries banned Chinese tech firm Huawei’s technology in 2019 – or the UK’s move to ban the use of Chinese-owned TikTok on government devices in 2023.

Since then, the US has launched a concerted effort to ban sales of advanced semiconductor chip tech to China, as well as attempts to stop American companies from investing in Chinese technology. The US government says all of these restrictions are on national security grounds.

An editorial published on Saturday in the state-run Global Times newspaper made a thinly veiled reference to these curbs on Chinese technology.

“Some countries constantly talk about security, generalise the concept of security, but ignore the real security, this is ironic,” the editorial said.

The argument here is that the US tries to dictate the terms of who can use global technology and how it is used, yet one of its own companies has caused global chaos through lack of care.

The Global Times also took a jab at the internet giants who “monopolise” the industry: “Relying solely on top companies to lead network security efforts, as some countries advocate, may hinder not just the inclusive sharing of governance outcomes but also introduce new security risks.”

The reference to “sharing” is probably an allusion to the debate over intellectual property insofar as China is often accused of copying or stealing western technology. Beijing insists this is not the case and advocates for an open global technology marketplace – while still keeping tight control over its domestic scene.

Not everything was totally unaffected in China, however. A small numbers of workers expressed thanks to an American software giant for ending their working week early.

“Thank you Microsoft for an early vacation,” was trending on the social media site Weibo on Friday, with users posting pictures of blue error screens.

Cyber-security experts and agencies around the world are warning people about a wave of opportunistic hacking attempts linked to the IT outage.

Although there is no evidence that the CrowdStrike outage was caused by malicious activity, some bad actors are attempting to take advantage.

Cyber agencies in the UK and Australia are warning people to be vigilant to fake emails, calls and websites that pretend to be official.

And CrowdStrike head George Kurtz encouraged users to make sure they were speaking to official representatives from the company before downloading fixes.

• LIVE: Follow updates on this story

“We know that adversaries and bad actors will try to exploit events like this,” he said in a blog post.

“Our blog and technical support will continue to be the official channels for the latest updates.”

His words were echoed by cybersecurity expert Troy Hunt, who runs the well-known Have I Been Pwned security website.

“An incident like this that has commanded so many headlines and has people worried is a gift to scammers,” he said.

Mr Hunt was responding to a warning from the Australian Signals Directorate (known as the ASD, the equivalent of the UK’s GCHQ or the US’s National Security Agency) which issued an alert about hackers sending out bogus software fixes claiming to be from CrowdStrike.

“Alert! We understand a number of malicious websites and unofficial code are being released claiming to help entities recover,” the notice reads.

The agency is urging IT responders to only use CrowdStrike’s website to source information and help.

The ASD warning follows calls from the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) on Friday for people to be hyper vigilante of suspicious emails or calls that pretend to be CrowdStrike or Microsoft help.

“An increase in phishing referencing this outage has already been observed, as opportunistic malicious actors seek to take advantage of the situation,” the agency said.

Whenever there is a major news event, especially one linked to technology, hackers respond by tweaking their existing methods to take into account the fear and uncertainty.

We saw the same with the Covid-19 pandemic when hackers adjusted their phishing email attacks to offer information about the virus and even pretend to have an antidote in order to hack people and organisations.

Because the IT outage has been a global news story we are seeing hackers capitalise.

According to researchers at Secureworks, there has already been a sharp rise in CrowdStrike-themed domain registrations – hackers registering new websites made to look official and potentially trick IT managers or members of the public into downloading malicious software or handing over private details.

The advice is mainly for IT managers who are the ones being affected by this as they try to get their organisations back online.

But individuals too might be targeted, so experts are warning to be cautious and only act on information from the official CrowdStrike channels.

As the global chaos subsides and systems continue to return online, the enormous IT outage which caused havoc around the world on Friday reveals a few uncomfortable truths about the foundations of our digital lives – and how fragile they might be.

The outage showed that even the platform of an enormous firm like Microsoft, with its deep pockets and huge investment in robust system security, could be knocked sideways by an accidental error in a software update issued by an independent cybersecurity company. And with catastrophic impact because Microsoft-powered computers are at the heart of so much of our tech infrastructure.

It shines a light on just how reliant we have become on that infrastructure, and how helpless we are as a result when something goes wrong that is beyond our control.

Ultimately, when these systems wobble, there is nothing you or I can do about it.

I watched an IT expert on the TV yesterday, whose advice for those caught up in the whirlwind was to “be patient”. Patience is the last thing many people felt at the time I’m sure, but honestly it was the only possible action for most of us.

• Follow live updates on this story

The outage also demonstrated, wrote Owen Sayers in Computer Weekly, “the immense risk we face if we put all our eggs into one huge world-spanning basket”.

He was referring to the huge number of businesses, services and people who use a single IT provider. It is easy and convenient – but it also means there is no Plan B if that provider suddenly has a problem.

There is an old adage that convenience is the enemy of security, and this is the biggest example of that I have ever seen.

As a consumer, it is hard to avoid this dominance – if you shop in a store and pay with a card or your phone, you are relying on someone else’s tech to process your transaction smoothly. Increasingly, you are less likely to have a choice – a number of businesses no longer accept physical cash at all.

For small businesses, budgets are tight.

“In some of the cases, the single vendor is a choice due to cost,” says Alina Timofeeva from BCS, the Institute for IT.

“The rationale is that the vendor is so big and powerful that the companies do not anticipate it could go down.”

This makes sense, but is a larger number of smaller IT providers the solution?

You might not get the huge, seismic outages if fewer people are relying on them, but you are also introducing multiple systems with multiple potential weaknesses – which could make them easier to hack.

What happened on Friday was not a cyber attack, and Microsoft is quick to point out that the outage was not its fault, although questions clearly remain about exactly how the cyber security firm CrowdStrike’s disastrous Falcon update slipped through the net.

“There will be someone in CrowdStrike who will be in a lot of trouble right now for not getting this right,” observes Prof Victoria Baines, from Gresham College in London.

“And there will be a lot of people working this weekend.”

A massive tech failure has caused travel chaos around the world, with banking and healthcare services also badly hit.

Flights have been grounded because of the IT outage – a flaw which left many computers displaying blue error screens.

There were long queues, delays and flight cancellations at airports around the world, as passengers had to be manually checked in.

Cyber-security firm CrowdStrike has admitted that the problem was caused by an update to its antivirus software, which is designed to protect Microsoft Windows devices from malicious attacks.

Microsoft has said it is taking “mitigation action” to deal with “the lingering impact” of the outage.

Here is a summary of what we know so far.

• Follow live updates on this story
• How a single update caused global havoc
• What are my rights if my flight is cancelled or delayed?
• GPs, pharmacies and airports hit by outage

This is still a little unclear.

CrowdStrike is known for producing antivirus software, intended to prevent hackers from causing this very type of disruption.

According to CrowdStrike boss George Kurtz, the issues are only impacting Windows PCs and no other operating systems, and were caused by a defect in a recent update.

“The issue has been identified, isolated and a fix has been deployed,” he said.

“This is not a security incident or cyber-attack.”

What exactly was wrong with the update is yet to be revealed, but as a potential fix involves deleting a single file, it is possible that just one rogue file could be at the root of all the mayhem.

It could be some time.

CrowdStrike’s Mr Kurtz, speaking to NBC News, said it was the firm’s “mission” to make sure every one of its customers recovered completely from the outage.

“We’re deeply sorry for the impact that we’ve caused to customers, to travellers, to anyone affected by this, including our companies,” he said.

He has since told CNBC that while some systems can be fixed quickly, for others it “could be hours, could be a bit longer”.

CrowdStrike has issued its fix. But according to those in the know, it will have to be applied separately to each and every device affected.

Computers will require a manual reboot in safe mode – causing a massive headache for IT departments everywhere.

Something important to note here, is that personal devices like your home computer or mobile phone are unlikely to have been affected – this outage is impacting businesses.

Microsoft is advising clients to try a classic method to get things working – turning it off and on again – in some cases up to 15 times.

The tech giant said this has worked for some users of virtual machines – PCs where the computer is not in the same place as the screen.

“Several reboots (as many as 15 have been reported) may be required, but overall feedback is that reboots are an effective troubleshooting step at this stage,” it said.

It is also telling customers with more in-depth computing knowledge that they should delete a certain file – the same solution one CrowdStrike employee has been sharing on social media.

But this fix is intended for experts and IT professionals, not regular users.

The problems have emerged across the world, but were first noticed in Australia, and possibly felt most severely in the air travel industry, with more than 3,300 flights cancelled globally.

• UK airports saw delays, with long queues at London’s Stansted and Gatwick.
• Ryanair said it had been “forced to cancel a small number of flights today (19 July)” and advised passengers to log-on to their Ryanair account, once it was back online, to see what their options are.
• British Airways also cancelled several flights.
• Several US airlines, notably United, Delta and American Airlines, grounded their flights around the globe for much of Friday. Australian carriers Virgin Australia and Jetstar also had to delay or cancel flights.
• Airports in Tokyo, Amsterdam and Delhi were also impacted.

Meanwhile, the problems have also hit payment systems, banking and healthcare providers around the world.

Railway companies, including Britain’s biggest which runs Southern, Thameslink, Gatwick Express and Great Northern, warned passengers to expect delays.

In Alaska, the 911 emergency service was affected, while Sky News was off air for several hours on Friday morning, unable to broadcast.

The outage might also impact people getting paid on time.

Melanie Pizzey, head of the Global Payroll Association, told PA news agency that she’d been contacted by “numerous clients” who couldn’t access their payroll software.

She said the outage could mean firms are unable to process staff payments this week, but there may be a knock-on effect too.

“We could see a backlog with regard to processing payrolls for the coming month end, which may delay employees from receiving their monthly wage,” she said.

If you’re worried about your own, personal devices, we have some good news.

The software at the centre of this outage is generally used by businesses, which means that most people’s personal computers won’t be impacted.

That means if you’re wondering whether you need to delete a certain file to avoid your computer restarting constantly, the simple answer is no, you don’t.

It’s a reminder of the complexity of our modern digital infrastructure that CrowdStrike, a company that’s not exactly a household name, can be at the heart of such worldwide disarray.

The US firm, based in Austin, Texas, is a listed company on the US stock exchange, featuring in both the S&P 500 and the high-tech Nasdaq indexes.

Like a lot of modern technology companies, it hasn’t been around that long. It was founded a mere 13 years ago, but has grown to employ nearly 8,500 people.

As a provider of cyber-security services, it tends to get called in to deal with the aftermath of hack attacks.

It has been involved in investigations of several high-profile cyber-attacks, such as when Sony Pictures had its computer system hacked in 2014.

But this time, because of a flawed update to its software, a firm that is normally part of the solution to IT problems has instead caused one.

In its last earnings report, CrowdStrike declared a total of nearly 24,000 customers. That’s an indication not just of the size of the issue, but also the difficulties that could be involved in fixing it.

Each of those customers is a huge organisation in itself, so the number of individual computers affected is hard to estimate.

If we can’t control rising global temperatures by drastically cutting carbon emissions, could something called geo-engineering be a way to cool the planet?

In what is already a £103bn ($135bn) industry, scientists around the world, including in the UK, are researching geo-engineering – ways of manipulating the climate to tackle global warming.

Some experts are concerned there are too many risks associated with it, fearing it could mess with global weather patterns or actually warm some regions, not cool them.

As the industry grows, so have conspiracy theories. BBC Weather has seen a large increase in social media comments around geo-engineering since January, accusing us of covering up secret projects and wrongly blaming geo-engineering for the cool and wet weather we’ve recently had. Worldwide, there have been twice as many mentions of geo-engineering this year on X, formerly known as Twitter, than over the last six months of 2023.

Some geo-engineering ideas include reflecting sunlight back out to space to cool Earth. The most advanced area of geo-engineering is direct air carbon capture with small-scale facilities in operation across Europe, the US and Canada. These currently remove around 10,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide a year (one third of London’s annual emissions), meaning it would need massively scaling up to make any difference to the roughly 35 billion tonnes we emit globally.

“We need to start to think about other things that we can do in order to limit any further warming,” says Professor Liz Bentley, chief executive of the Royal Meteorological Society. “That’s where geo-engineering starts to become an interesting discussion.”

Aside from fears about exacerbating the effects of climate change, some experts are worried it’s tempting to see geo-engineering as a quick fix that could also distract us from efforts to reduce carbon emissions.

It sounds like the stuff of science fiction, but the idea of reflecting solar radiation, the technical term for sunlight, is not as crazy as it might sound and sometimes happens in the natural world. During volcanic eruptions, huge amounts of ash and aerosols – tiny particles – can be transported into the high atmosphere which can then reflect solar radiation back into space.

The eruption of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines in 1991 led to the average global temperature cooling by 0.5C over the following couple of years.

So, could we really replicate a volcano to cool our planet?

Professor Jim Haywood, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Exeter, urges caution. “I really want to know about the detrimental impacts of climate change, but also about the potential side-effects and detrimental impacts of any solar radiation management deployments,” he said.

Researchers are studying two kinds of solar radiation management: marine cloud brightening and stratospheric aerosol injection.

Marine cloud brightening involves spraying very fine saltwater from a boat towards low-level clouds above the ocean to enhance their brightness and reflectivity.

Modelling has shown that if you were to spray a large area – around 4% of the ocean – near the equator and brighten clouds, the combination of more cloud and consequently a lower sea surface temperature beneath it could have worldwide impacts.

Our atmosphere is complex, has no borders and behaves like a fluid. You may have come across the ‘butterfly effect’ where if a butterfly were to flutter its wings in Mexico, it can bring rain to the UK. While in reality that is a big leap, it highlights how weather is connected all over the world.

“Brightening the cloud off the coast of Namibia could induce drought over South America and particularly Brazil. What’s in Brazil? Well, the rainforests,” Prof Haywood said.

In this instance, because of complex atmospheric and ocean circulations, increasing the cloud brightness would cool the sea surface in the eastern south Atlantic, which means the rainfall pattern would be negatively disrupted across the south Atlantic towards South America. Drought in the Amazon rainforest – often referred to as the ‘lungs of the planet’ as they absorb carbon dioxide – could cause considerable damage.

While there is focus on using marine cloud brightening to offset global temperature rise, some see an opportunity to use it on a much smaller scale.

After a mass coral bleaching event in 2016 in the Great Barrier Reef, scientists at Southern Cross University in Australia have been conducting cloud brightening trials to shield and cool the very coral-rich areas of the reef to prevent bleaching during marine heatwaves.

“While we are in the early stages in understanding how marine cloud brightening might be applied over the Great Barrier Reef, we have made major scientific advancements.

“We have greatly increased our confidence that clouds over the reef can be brightened,” Professor Daniel Harrison, the project lead from Southern Cross University said.

The technology to perform marine cloud brightening on a small scale with fans and sprayers already exists, but the other method of solar radiation management – stratospheric aerosol injection – would need greater advances to have the desired impact.

This method of geo-engineering involves artificially adding aerosols such as sulphate into the stratosphere, which extends from 6-12 miles (10-20km) to 31 miles (50km) above the Earth. These aerosols would reflect some solar radiation, reducing the amount reaching our planet’s surface and theoretically cause a global cooling.

How enough aerosol could be injected into the stratosphere is uncertain but planes capable of flying at an altitude of 11 miles (18km) – around 1.5 times higher than commercial aircraft can – are one suggestion.

Millions of tonnes of sulphur dioxide would need to be injected to have any impact. For example, during the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo, the resulting half a degree of global cooling was the result of about 15 million tonnes of sulphur dioxide injected into the stratosphere.

Because sulphate aerosols only last a couple of years in the atmosphere compared to the decades that carbon dioxide lasts, stratospheric aerosol injection is only seen as a short-term method.

This hasn’t stopped one company in the US from starting to sell ‘cooling credits’. For a fee they will send a balloon filled with sulphur dioxide into the stratosphere, where it will burst and release the gas.

They suggest that one of their cooling credits – two grams of sulphur dioxide – will “offset one tonne of carbon dioxide warming for one year”. That’s the equivalent of one passenger’s return flight between Paris and New York, which means a lot of balloons would need to be released for this to have any sort of cooling effect.

As with marine cloud brightening, there are also risks with stratospheric aerosol injection. In a study earlier this year, computer modelling found that stratospheric aerosol injection could cause strong warming 15km above the tropics which would change large-scale weather patterns, warming the polar regions and altering rainfall patterns over land.

“The regional impacts are very much unknown,” Prof Bentley said. ”We may be able to mitigate global average temperature [rise], but we may actually make things worse in certain regions of the world”.

This brings us to fundamental questions about the credibility and risks involved in this kind of intervention. In 2022, hundreds of scientists signed an open letter calling for a global non-use agreement on solar radiation management.

They said increasing calls for development provided “cause for concern” with the dangers involved “poorly understood” and something that would act as a disincentive to governments, businesses and societies from decarbonising.

The group worries that even doing theoretical research will lead to real-world experiments without fully knowing the downsides. But other scientists think the risk of investigating solar radiation management further is smaller than the risk of relying solely on decarbonisation.

Additionally, some say that misinformation and conspiracists are preventing them from doing research.

Dr Ramit Debnath, an assistant professor at the University of Cambridge, says “a lot of funders are very sceptical of funding research” because they are wary of being targeted by conspiracists. He has analysed almost 2 million tweets with the hashtag #GeoEngineering and found that over 70% expressed negative sentiments about solar radiation management with the majority tapping into conspiracies.

One of these is to do with ‘chemtrails’, a widely debunked conspiracy theory about an alleged secret plot to spray people with dangerous chemicals, suggesting the white streaks in the sky that come out the back of planes is evidence of this. These are actually condensed water vapour trails – known as contrails – that come from the jet engines of planes.

Contrails at this height actually absorb solar radiation and warm the planet and are therefore nothing to do with geo-engineering techniques currently being explored.

Dr Debnath says that by so much as talking about solar radiation management on social media, he is accused of “trying to kill people and control people’s lives”.

Solar radiation management is being treated with caution – the UK government hasn’t deployed the techniques and has “no plans to do so”. However, they are investing.

The Natural Environment Research Council has invited applications for a £10.5m fund in order to “deliver ‘risk-risk analyses’” to assess whether the negative impacts of the technique are greater than the damage that would be caused by climate change.

“It isn’t a silver bullet that’s going to solve everything,” said Prof Bentley. “But it possibly could be part of an array of solutions.”

Shamsa Sharawe has become infamous within the Somali community across the world for speaking out against female genital mutilation (FGM) . In a video to illustrate what happened to her vulva when she was aged six she cut off the petals of a rose with a razor blade and then stitched up what was left of the flower.

The TikTok post went viral – with nearly 12 million views since it was shared 16 months ago.

No Somali, even in the diaspora, talks openly about FGM – never mind the problems that can come with it like painful periods, the difficulty of urinating, the agony of having sex and the dangers and trauma of giving birth when one’s vulva (including the lips and clitoris) have been cut off and the vaginal opening has been narrowed to a tiny hole.

This form of FGM – known as infibulation or “type three” – is what happens to most girls in Somalia as it is a commonly held belief that the cutting off their outer genitalia will guarantee their virginity.

Women who do not undergo FGM are regarded by many in Somali society as having loose morals or a high sex drive, which risks ruining a family’s reputation.

Yet the 31-year-old TikToker, who came to live in the UK in 2001 when her family fled Somalia’s civil war, is not afraid to take on such taboos with humorous, engaging and sometimes heart-breaking honesty.

Using the name Shamsa Araweelo on TikTok, she has shared a horrific account of how she was forcibly married off and raped not long after she turned 18 while on a trip to Somalia. It took six months for her to find a way to escape back to the UK.

But perhaps the biggest taboo of all has been to admit that she wanted her genitalia back – so much so that she has paid to have reconstructive surgery as it is not available to women through the UK’s National Health Service (NHS).

She found out that this was possible when she was contacted by Haja Bilkisu, a German citizen who had undergone FGM as a child on a visit to her birth country of Sierra Leone.

Responding to Ms Sharawe’s rose video, Ms Bilkisu explained that she had had her clitoris reconstructed thanks to Dr Dan mon O’Dey at Germany’s Luisenhospital in Aachen.

“I was terrified of the idea of re-cutting, even though this time it was with my consent,” Ms Sharawe tells the BBC.

“But I had to do it for my mental health. I just wanted to never feel pain again.”

The surgery includes the reconstruction of the clitoris and labia – in Ms Sharawe’s case using tissue from her buttocks – and the removal of cysts and scar tissue in order to reduce pain and restore a woman’s sex life. In some instances, the vaginal opening is also enlarged back to normal.

Ms Sharawe, who was featured in last year’s BBC list of 100 women for her determination to end FGM, decided to share her journey to Germany and recovery so other women like her could know their options.

Yet it has taken years of abuse and the trauma of a second failed marriage for her to find the courage to take on the establishment within the Somali community.

Ms Sharawe, now a single mother with a 10-year-old daughter, also feels let down by the NHS.

It only offers deinfibulation for FGM survivors – that is surgery that opens up the vagina, but does not replace any removed tissue and will not undo any of the damage.

Ms Sharawe decided to look for funds to pay for surgery in Germany.

Through online crowdfunding, she managed to raise £25,000 ($32,000) – and underwent a four-and-half hour procedure in December.

She was in Germany for three weeks and on her return, the anti-FGM activist and teaching assistant was not able to leave her house for months as she recovered.

The childcare costs and other expenses on top of the surgery mean she is still in debt – owing around £3,000 to the hospital.

“Paying for damage you didn’t choose for yourself, or you didn’t create, is really unfair,” she says.

There are four different types of FGM with varying levels of severity:

1. Clitoridectomy: partial or total removal of the sensitive clitoris
2. Excision: partial or total removal of the clitoris plus the inner skin folds surrounding the vagina (labia minora)
3. Infibulation: cutting and repositioning of the outer skin folds around the vagina (labia minora and labia majora). Often includes stitching to leave only a small gap
4. Covers all other harmful procedures like pricking, piercing, incising, scraping and cauterising the clitoris or genital area.

• What is FGM, where does it happen and why?

In the past couple of decades, medical techniques have been developed to try to repair the damage – pioneered in 2004 by French surgeon Dr Pierre Foldès.

Clitoral reconstruction is covered by public health insurance in Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Sweden and Switzerland.

However, in Africa – where the majority of girls and women who have undergone FGM live – access to surgery is limited to Kenya, where patients must pay around £1,000, and Egypt, where non-governmental organisations can cover the costs.

“Not every surgeon can do this surgery. It’s complicated and every patient is different,” says Dr Adan Abdullahi, a specialist in Kenya.

But he says women with every type of FGM could benefit: “It has a positive effect on childbirth, especially for ‘type three’, which is associated with a narrowing of the vagina.”

Other issues, such as pain during sex, can be significantly improved or cured, he says – adding that his patients often experience improved self-esteem “and a sense of completeness”.

Ms Bilkisu says she does feel more complete since her surgery, which was covered by the German health system: “Undergoing surgery was really a power move, a way to fight back.”

But the 30-year-old recruitment agent encourages others to do their research thoroughly before deciding: “Reconstruction is not only to reconstruct the clitoris.

“A lot of women who are cut have thick scar tissue. You have to discuss it with your doctor. What can you do to make the vulva more elastic?”

Ms Bilkisu, who was determined to have “a normal sexual experience” one day and autonomy over her body, has had three operations over the last three years – each one taking around six hours.

“That’s tough on your body. You’re put under anaesthesia. You have to take medication afterwards. I couldn’t walk for three weeks,” she says.

The physical toll of such operations means some doctors, like Dr Reham Awwad in Egypt, are keen to promote non-surgical procedures.

The co-founder of the Restore clinic says that although reconstruction surgery can bring relief, the cutting is sometimes so severe that even the most advanced surgical techniques cannot restore sexual function.

“I definitely don’t think surgery is the answer for everyone,” she tells the BBC.

Around half the cases at her clinic, which opened in 2020, are now treated using non-surgical means like injections of platelet-rich plasma which promotes tissue rejuvenation.

“The plasma [can] lead to regeneration and stimulation of increased blood flow and reducing inflammation in the areas where you inject it,” she says.

However, she cautions that the high cost means such treatments are beyond the reach of many.

Her clinic also offers psychological therapies to overcome trauma for women cut at an age when they can remember the experience.

For those who do opt for reconstructive surgery, the results can be emotional.

“The first time I actually saw my clitoris I was taken aback because for me it was like this doesn’t belong to me,” said Ms Bilkisu, who was eight years old when she underwent “type two” FGM.

Ms Sharawe agrees it takes some getting used to, plus learning how to deal with things like proper period bleeds.

It will take her another six months to completely recover – and she has not been able to afford to go back to Germany for a check-up, which worries her.

“But now I know how it feels to be a full woman… I am a very happy woman,” she says.

“I can wear underwear without discomfort or pain. I can wear trousers. I feel normal.”

And while she has experienced an expected backlash from some Somalis on social media – some of her family have surprised her with their support.

One of her uncles even wanted to know if the surgery was available in the UK for his wife.

“He didn’t feel comfortable knowing his wife’s FGM was still affecting her even after 50-plus years. He wanted to improve the quality of her life… because we [all] deserve to have a good quality of life.”

• Inside the beauty pageant in one of the world’s worst places to be a woman
• Somalia’s hidden world of sex work
• What beauty parlours reveal about Somali women

Donald Trump took the stage on Thursday night at the Republican National Convention like a conquering hero. He had cheated death. His Democratic opponents were tearing themselves apart.

His loyalists, who now fill the ranks of his party, packed the Milwaukee arena and cheered enthusiastically throughout his hour-and-a-half speech.

He pledged to serve all Americans if elected then recounted, in a subdued, but almost messianic tone, his brush with a spray of bullets. Some delegates even wore bandages over their right ears like their injured political idol in tribute to him.

“I stand before you in this arena only by the grace of almighty God,” he said. “Over the last few days, many people have said it was a providential moment.” He spoke of dropping to the ground as bullets flew past him and how his supporters had “great sorrow on their faces”.

“When I rose, surrounded by Secret Service, the crowd was confused because they thought I was dead,” he said.

The unity message and its powerful delivery made for a unique convention speech and a remarkable Trump one. But the rest of his speech was more traditional convention fare.

Although he called for ending the “partisan witch hunts” against him, he avoided the extended forays into 2020 election denial that have at times dominated his rally speeches, and he mostly replaced his normal pointed attacks on individual opponents with calls for unity.

There was classic Trump in there too – dark and false claims, sometimes during extended improvisations.

Trump’s performance hinted that for all the talk of a changed man after the attempt on his life and for all the more organised, focused operation behind him, the former president is still inclined to veer off-script, even in the most momentous of occasions.

The question many Americans could be wondering now is which version of Trump will lead the country should he beat Democrat Joe Biden in November. Looking back at the last four days offers some clues.

The address, weakly delivered though it may have been, still represented the culmination of a remarkable stretch for the former president, starting with President Joe Biden’s disastrous presidential debate performance in Atlanta three weeks ago that prompted an uprising in his Democratic Party.

Since then, the US Supreme Court ruled that Trump had broad immunity from criminal prosecution, a judge delayed sentencing for his New York conviction in a hush-money case and another judge entirely dismissed the case against him for mishandling national security documents.

Then he was nearly assassinated. The attempt on his life by a 20-year-old gunman left Trump’s face bloodied and provided the iconic image that was emblazoned on T-shirts and signs at the convention.

All of this meant he and his supporters converged on Milwaukee with a sense that their time had come.

For four slickly produced and relentlessly on-message evenings, the Republican party positioned itself as a welcoming place for all Americans and the former president as a uniting force who would return the nation to greatness.

While there were still partisan speakers throwing red meat to the crowd, they were largely limited to the early-evening slots, when fewer Americans were tuned in to the proceedings.

As the final hour each night arrived, the focus softened and a string of speakers described the former president in deeply personal terms.

• The Trump family: A guide to an American dynasty

It began on Monday, with Trump receiving an exuberant welcome as he entered the convention centre for his first public appearance since the shooting.

He sat in the VIP section of the building and watched as model and social media influencer Amber Rose defended him against accusations of racism: “Donald Trump and his supporters don’t care if you’re black, white, gay or straight.”

On Tuesday, former White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders recounted Trump hugging her young son at the White House while Lara Trump painted her father-in-law as “an amazing grandfather”.

Earlier that evening, former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, who had been one of Trump’s fiercest critics on the 2024 Republican primary campaign trail, was urging voters who didn’t support Trump “100% of the time” to back his re-election.

“When times are really tough, when he’s got everything to lose and nothing to gain,” Steve Witkoff, a friend of the former president, told the audience, “Donald Trump shows up, and he’s there for you.”

Trump’s first term in office was marked by sharp political divisions within American society. The day after he was inaugurated, millions marched through the streets of Washington in protest.

His attempts to ban nationals from a list of Muslim-majority countries caused chaos at American airports early in his presidency and border restrictions implemented later led to an outcry about crying children separated from their parents at detention centres.

Trump’s four years in office ended with him refusing to accept his defeat in the presidential election – denialism that culminated in the 6 January riot at the US Capitol, where thousands of his supporters attempted to block certification of President Biden’s victories.

He was denounced by many in his own party, and faced a second impeachment by the House of Representatives. Although he was acquitted in a Senate trial, seven Republicans broke ranks and voted for his conviction. After leaving office, the former president was indicted four times, found culpable for sexual assault by a civil court and convicted of fraud.

That was then, however, and here in Wisconsin – within the security bubble of the Republican National Convention – it was decidedly different now.

The overriding message from the Republicans this week was that those divisions and distractions are things of the past, and that the Trump that America sees today is not the one they might remember from his first White House tenure.

If the rest of the nation agrees, it would represent a remarkable comeback story or a collective act of political amnesia, depending on one’s perspective.

“I think that we really now are the party of unity and inclusiveness,” said Jennifer McGrath, a delegate from Las Vegas, Nevada. “We really are the place to be at this point.”

David Botkins, a member of the Virginian Republican Party’s State Central Committee, said he thought the assassination attempt had changed Trump and that he would be “different, better and more effective” in a second presidential term.

“I think the policies are going to be the same, the conservatism is going to be the same, but there may be a tenderness and a compassion and a gratitude and a respect for divine providence that will inform the tone with which he conducts himself as president for the next four years.”

As for those policies and proposals, the Republican convention offered scant details.

The first three nights of the convention each had a theme – the economy, safety and foreign policy. They formed a framework for the former president’s acceptance speech and offer a useful guide for the key points the party is seeking to emphasise in the campaign ahead.

While Trump only mentioned President Biden by name once, he noted that “this administration” was presiding over soaring inflation (which has now eased), knowing that economic concerns are the bread-and-butter of bids to oust an incumbent officeholder.

Crime and immigration, two issues on which Republicans joined at the hip all week, served as the centrepiece on “safety” night. Polls show that a majority of Americans now favour lowering immigration levels and support Trump’s call for removing millions of undocumented migrants residing in the US. During Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s speech, some convention attendees waved pre-printed signs reading “mass deportation now”.

Conflicts abroad were another prong of the Republican case against Mr Biden. In a particularly dramatic moment on Wednesday, families of six of the 13 US soldiers killed by a car bomb during the 2021 US withdrawal from Afghanistan took the stage to blame the current president for the deaths and claim that the president wasn’t fit to lead the nation’s military.

“With our victory in November, the years of war, weakness and chaos will be over,” Trump said in his speech.

And while there were more specific policy discussions in events held on the sidelines of the convention, they took place well away from prime-time network television cameras.

For instance, on Monday, the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, hosted a “policy fest”, where former Trump administration officials and Republican politicians offered their views on topics like foreign policy, education, immigration, the economy and energy.

The Heritage Foundation is behind the 1,000-page Project 2025 blueprint for a second Trump presidency, which has generated controversy, media attention and relentless attacks from Democrats – and many of the speakers defended their efforts to provide a detailed plan for a new Republican administration.

On Thursday, Trump campaign manager Chris LaCivita made it clear what he thought of these outside efforts, describing Project 2025 – which many officials from the first Trump administration are part of – as a “pain in the ass”.

“The issues that are going to win us this campaign are not the issues that they want to talk about,” he said.

Eight years ago, when Donald Trump first ran for president, the Republican National Convention in Cleveland was a sometimes chaotic event, with then-establishment conservatives making last-ditch efforts to deny him the nomination.

Trump’s 2024 campaign is run by wily operatives, rather than political fringe characters, and they kept the convention participants on a tight script this week. The party, from the top to the grass-roots, has been fully remade in the former president’s image.

In 2016, Texas Senator Ted Cruz, who finished second behind Trump in the primary voting, pointedly declined to endorse the winner, saying only that Republicans should vote their “conscience”. He was roundly booed.

This time around, he started his speech by saying “God bless Donald Trump” and went on to lavish the former president with praise.

Trump’s other Republican critics were nowhere to be found. His former vice-president, Mike Pence, spent the week on holiday in Montana. Senators like Mitt Romney of Utah, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine stayed home. Former President George W Bush also kept his distance.

On Wednesday, it was Trump’s new vice-presidential running mate, JD Vance, who laid out the core tenets of this new, Trump-dominated Republican Party in his nomination acceptance speech.

“We won’t cater to Wall Street, we’ll commit to the working man,” he said. “We won’t import foreign labour, we’ll fight for American citizens. We won’t buy energy from countries that hate us, we’ll get it right here from American workers. We won’t sacrifice our supply chains to unlimited global trade, we’ll stamp every product ‘Made in the USA.’”

The political festivities in Milwaukee were Trumpism from start to finish – a carefully calibrated machine, promoting the party’s most popular agenda items and focusing criticism on one man, President Joe Biden.

But what if Republicans are going after the wrong guy? A growing number of Democrats have called on Mr Biden to be replaced as their presidential nominee and speculation is growing that he might actually listen.

The Democratic convention isn’t until the end of August, leaving time for the president to step aside either for his running mate, Kamala Harris, or for an open process to select another candidate.

On Thursday evening, the Trump campaign sought to highlight their candidate’s strength and vitality by giving him a raucous entrance, preceded by appearances by former wrestler Hulk Hogan, Ultimate Fighting Championship impresario Dana White and a performance by Kid Rock.

The campaign’s intention – to draw a contrast with Mr Biden’s perceived frailty and target younger male voters – was obvious.

That strategy may be less effective against Ms Harris or one of the more youthful Democratic governors who are mentioned as possible Biden successors.

But for the moment, the Republicans are riding high and optimistic about their victory in November, convinced that the former president’s run of good fortune is just getting started.

The mother of two women who were murdered says she has forgiven their killer, but not two police officers who took photos of their bodies.

Mina Smallman told BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme that she does not feel “hatred” towards the man who killed her daughters, Nicole Smallman and Bibaa Henry, in June 2020.

But she said the Met Police officers who sent photos of their bodies to a WhatsApp group chat had “violated” the victims – and for that reason she has not forgiven them.

“Obviously what they did wasn’t as bad as murdering,” Ms Smallman said.

“But you’re telling me you have violated our girls, further?

“Because of that – them I haven’t forgiven.”

Ms Smallman, 27, and Ms Henry, 46, were stabbed to death by Danyal Hussein in June 2020.

PCs Jamie Lewis and Deniz Jaffer were deployed to guard the crime scene in Wembley, where the two sisters were found. They took pictures of their bodies, describing them as “dead birds” on a group chat, an offence for which they were each jailed for 33 months.

Ms Smallman said that when the two men were released, she attempted suicide, an incident she describes in her book A Better Tomorrow: Life Lessons in Hope and Strength.

“I just thought: ‘I don’t want to be here.’

“I’ve had enough. And yeah – I attempted suicide.”

Ms Smallman, a campaigner for women’s safety, said police needed to take the online misogynistic radicalisation of young men more seriously.

“A lot accelerated during lockdown … [young men became exposed] to dialogues that suggest that if you can’t get a girlfriend it’s because women have become more dominant and men have lost their place in society.”

“This is radicalisation that is happening to our young men, it is feeding those haters to hate even more, and giving them the tools to hurt women in their lives.”

Despite how her daughters were treated by the Met Police officers, she said she still has faith in the police.

“The majority of the police are good people.”

But she added that the Met needed reform, which was why she was “working with” authorities to “ensure that we have the police force that we deserve”.

Earlier this month she called for more black officers to be deployed in London, appearing at the launch of the Alliance for Police Accountability (APA), a group of bodies fighting racism and misogyny in the police.

Commenting on the recent crossbow attack that killed Carol, Hannah and Louise Hunt, the wife and two of the daughters of the BBC’s John Hunt, Ms Smallman said she “grieves all over again”.

“It just takes me back to the day when I was told [my daughters] were dead.

“Now I grieve, for them, for us, and for the family.

“Their life will never be the same again.”

Ms Smallman knows the mother of Sarah Everard, who was raped and murdered by a Met Police officer.

“When I talk to these mums, they are so broken, really broken. And they’re grateful to me, because they know I’m talking about all of us.”

If you have been affected by any of the issues in this story, help and support is available at BBC Action Line.

A new exhibition in Delhi showcasing rare artworks by European artists gives insights into how the British ruled the country.

Called Destination India: Foreign Artists in India, 1857-1947, the show focuses on artists who travelled to colonial India from around the world.

The representation of India through the European and British artists has “long been a subject of intrigue and exploration”, writes Indian MP and author Shashi Tharoor, in an introduction to the show.

“The fascination with India’s unique landscapes, grand monuments, vibrant traditions and rich history has drawn many to its shores, seeking to capture the essence of this multifaceted nation.”

Mr Tharoor notes that the show is “refreshing and essential” as it explores the less-explored, yet a compelling period of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, rather than just the early pioneers.

The exhibition showcases artworks, including from British artist William Carpenter, that give glimpses into not only the royal courts, but also daily life in the Empire.

Carpenter usually did watercolour, but this 1857 artwork, pictured above, is wood engraving on paper that depicts the busy back streets of Delhi’s Jama Masjid (mosque).

Many interesting artists visited India from England and other European countries in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. They were mainly conventional artists working in oil and watercolour and various print media.

“They were attracted to the people, and not just to the grandees, but to ordinary people in the streets. If there was still an element of the picturesque, it was a more intimate and animated version of that aesthetic,” says Ashish Anand, managing director of DAG, a leading art firm which has put together the show.

“In their works we find an India – if we can put it this way – that we do not just see, but that we can hear and smell.”

The work above is another watercolour painting of the Jama Masjid by William Simpson in 1864.

Mainly a war artist, Simpson was sent to India in 1859 by a publishing company to illustrate the aftermath of the violent uprising two years earlier. Indian soldiers, known as sepoys, had in 1857 set off a rebellion against the British rule, often referred to as the first war of independence.

Simpson’s project halted when the publishing company went bankrupt. He called it the “biggest disaster of my life”. Nonetheless, he continued travelling and sketching his expeditions across the sub-continent.

This is a 1900 pastel portrait of elderly Indians by Olinto Ghilardi, an Italian artist.

A significant European artist, Ghilardi shaped modern Indian art in the early 20th Century.

He mentored Abanindranath Tagore – nephew of Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore and founder of the Bengal School of Art, which shaped modern Indian painting. Ghilardi encouraged him to experiment with watercolours, gouache, and pastels, which he extensively used later in his work.

Ghilardi also served as the vice principal of the Government School of Art in Calcutta (now Kolkata).

This 1896 painting of a young Indian woman was also made by Ghilardi.

Not much is known about the life of the Italian painter before he arrived in Kolkata. His association with Tagore indicates his acceptance as an artist among Kolkata’s Bengali elite.

Much later, in 1911, Ghilardi became a prominent member of an avant-garde group of Italian artists.

This is British artist Carlton Alfred Smith’s undated watercolour painting of a street scene in India.

Smith lived in India between 1916 and 1923. He often painted landscapes along with portraits of people.

A painter of the late Victorian period from Camden Town in London, Smith began as a lithographer before switching to painting. A member of the Royal Academy of Art, he’s known for drawing interiors of cottages and the English countryside.

This is a 1894 watercolour painting of Kashmir’s Wular Lake by George Strahan, a British army engineer and artist.

A gifted student from Surrey, Strahan joined the army and arrived in India in 1860, working in towns of Roorkee and Haridwar.

Two years later, he joined the Topographical Survey of India and started mapping central India, Rajasthan and the Himalayas.

In 1888, he became superintendent of the Great Trigonometrical Survey, which mapped the Indian subcontinent.

At the Survey, Strahan drew relief maps before colour printing was introduced.

After retirement, he lived in the hills of Dehradun and travelled to Kashmir every summer.

This is an 1887 watercolour of Hyderabad in southern India by German artist Woldemar Friedrich.

A historical painter and illustrator, Friedrich spent much of his career teaching at prestigious German art academies. In the late 1880s, he travelled to India and created a series of landscapes and illustrations, published in the 1893 book “Six Months in India”.

Carpenter’s 1857 wood engraving on paper artwork on Benaras (above) shows Varanasi – one of the world’s oldest cities and and India’s spiritual capital – brimming with life.

Trained at the Royal Academy Schools in London, Carpenter became a renowned 19th-Century portrait and landscape painter.

Arriving in India in 1850, he travelled extensively, painting rulers, street scenes, landscapes, and locals across Bombay (now Mumbai), Rajasthan, Delhi, Punjab, Kashmir, Lahore, Ceylon (Sri Lanka), and Afghanistan.

This is English artist Charles William Bartlett’s 1919 woodblock print on paper rendition of Punjab’s Golden Temple, a sacred shrine for Sikhs.

Dover-born Bartlett was one of the world’s leading Japanese woodblock painters, and later switched to fine art.

In 1913, he travelled to India, Indonesia and China. He designed 38 woodblock prints for his Japanese publisher from 1916 to 1925, including many scenes from his travels in South Asia.

American artist Edwin Lord Weeks painted this colourful oil on canvas of a bullock-cart in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, in 1882.

Born in Boston to a wealthy family, Weeks was among the first American artists to visit India. His business family supported his artistic endeavours.

Weeks first travelled to India between 1882 and 1883, painting places mainly in Rajasthan. He returned in 1886, when he visited at least seven cities. Known for his realist style and attention to detail, Weeks also wrote a travel account of his journeys through Persia (present day Iran) and India in 1896.

Last week, Ontario Premier Doug Ford posted a video online with a message for his Canadian province.

It seemed like a typical innocuous political advertisement – Mr Ford sporting a casual black polo shirt and a blue apron, standing at a barbecue grilling burgers, cans of beer at hand.

“It’s summertime in Ontario,” the premier said, beaming into the camera.

Instead, the video was a shot across the bow, with the premier launching an interactive map of local breweries, wineries and distilleries.

It was a strategic move in the midst of liquor labour dispute that has snarled summer alcohol sales in Canada’s most populous province.

For the first time in its history, workers at Ontario’s liquor retailer are on strike. The battle has shone a spotlight on the province’s peculiar and, some say, outdated liquor control system.

On 5 July, the more than 9,000 employees of the provincially-owned Liquor Board of Ontario (LCBO) walked off the job after negotiations for a new collective agreement between their union and Mr Ford’s government fell apart. The LCBO then shuttered all its 650 stores for at least two weeks.

This week, the Ontario Public Services Employees Union (OPSEU) returned to the bargaining table with the province. But talks resumed after another salvo from Mr Ford: the premier has promised to accelerate plans to put canned cocktails in privately-run retailers – the primary sticking point for the union.

For a brief moment on Friday, it seemed the dispute was resolved, after the union representing LCBO workers announced that a tentative deal had been reached that would reopen liquor stores in a few days.

But it backtracked during a scheduled news conference with reporters that lasted just two minutes, during which they claimed that Mr Ford’s government had refused to sign their return-to-work order.

“We were prepared to come here to announce a deal,” said union spokesperson Katie Arnup. “We do not have a deal. The strike continues.”

Soon after, the LCBO told its side of the story: It accused the workers’ union of negotiating in “bad faith”, saying it introduced new demands around money that should have been dealt with at the bargaining table. It also vowed to file an unfair labour complaint against the union, signalling that the fight is not yet over.

The LCBOs scattered through Ontario today – generally well-stocked, clean and some consumers will argue, overpriced – are the product of a nearly century-old decision that gave the Crown corporation control over the distribution and sale of liquor in the province.

For years, the whole system maintained distinctive traces of temperance-era policy.

Customers were required to obtain a separate liquor permit before placing an order with a clerk, who could deny any order they believed was too large. Alcohol was not openly displayed. Stores were hidden away from main streets, and purchases were packed away in discreet paper bags.

Slowly, starting in the 1950s and 1960s, the LCBO evolved into a more consumer-friendly operation, now with wine tasting and free drink samples and a glossy LCBO-branded food and drink magazine. (Though self-service, which allows customers to grab their preferred alcohol directly off store shelves, was only fully phased in by the late 1980s).

Ontarians could get beer from the brewer consortium-owned The Beer Store and, later, in the 1990s, Ontario-made wine from The Wine Rack, owned by the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan.

But for the most part the LCBO has enjoyed an iron-clad monopoly on Ontario alcohol sales.

As most other provinces, like Alberta, British Columbia and Prince Edward Island, moved to liberalise their liquor sales and allow for privately-run stores, Ontario stayed mostly the same.

In 2015, things started to shift. The first grocery stores in Ontario were authorised to sell six-packs of beer – a change described at the time as the biggest shake-up to alcohol sales since Prohibition.

“It was one small purchase for a politician, one giant leap for Ontario beer consumers,” read one article in the Toronto Star of the very first grocery store beer purchase by then Premier Kathleen Wynne.

Today, 450 grocery stores across the province are licensed to sell beer, wine and cider.

So amid the strike, Ontarians are not facing an entirely dry summer. They can still place limited LCBO delivery orders online, and purchase wine, beer and cider from some stores.

A bigger change is now around the corner.

Starting this month, convenience stores, big-box stores and grocers will all be eligible to sell wine, beer, cider and ready-to-drink cocktails like hard seltzers.

OPSEU says pre-made cocktails pose an existential crisis to the LCBO’s business.

“This is our line in the sand and we are making history,” said president JP Hornick on the first day of the strike.

“We are here today because of the Ford government’s plan to try and expand privatisation of alcohol sales… That puts every Ontarian at risk.”

And, OPSEU says, the change threatens the C$2.5bn ($1.83bn; £1.42bn) LCBO sales net for provincial coffers.

But Mr Ford argues the plan will give small businesses a shot at the market while still leaving the LCBO with a considerable competitive advantage.

Under the new plan, the LCBO remains the only retailer of high-alcohol spirits like gin and whisky, as well as the only wholesaler and primary distributor of alcohol in Ontario.

“Keep in mind when, when you’re the wholesaler, that’s where you make money,” the premier said last week.

The proposal also gives Mr Ford a chance to deliver on a pledge in time for the next election, currently scheduled for 2026.

“He campaigned on this,” said Walid Hejazi at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management.

“It’s a winning issue for the Conservatives,” added Mr Hejazi, who noted he worked as a consultant for the LCBO about 15 years ago.

“The province is proposing a strategy that will lower the price I have to pay and make it more convenient… who doesn’t want cheaper alcohol and more convenience?”

Another problem for the LCBO is that the sting of the LCBO’s strike has been dulled considerably by the small amount of liquor liberalisation the province already has.

Ontarians, for the most part, are not up in arms, with access to alcohol at hundreds of wineries, grocery stores and beer stores that remain open.

“What if you went on strike and hardly anyone noticed?” read the first line of a Globe and Mail editorial.

Public polling has seemed to reflect the ambivalence, with just 15% of Ontarians saying they have been personally affected by the strike.

(A tourism industry group says the strike is affecting the operations of 35% of poll respondents in the sector due to limited product availability and slow fulfillment).

But they aren’t necessarily on Team Ford, either. An internal poll by Mr Ford’s government indicates that while many support liquor liberalisation, a little over half back the strike action.

Many Ontarians did, however, take notice of the Conservative premier’s interactive alcohol retail map, which may have annoyed more voters than the shuttered stores.

The province’s efforts to unveil an alcohol-finder soon after the strike began raised questions about the government’s priorities, with one resident suggesting a better use would be a map of family doctors that are accepting new patients.

Dr Adil Shamji, a provincial Liberal politician, said he “routinely” gets calls from constituents for help finding doctors, childcare or affordable housing.

“Never, including after this strike, have I had people calling my office asking for help in finding booze,” he said.

Dr Shamji said he wants both sides to get back to get a deal done, one with protections for the LCBO.

For his part, Mr Ford says he is ready to keep negotiating but on canned cocktails at least, he is not budging.

“If they want to negotiate over [ready-to-drink beverages], the deal’s off. I’m gonna repeat that: that ship has sailed,” he said.

A love story between a white, heterosexual, working-class mechanic and a South Asian Muslim drag queen is shining a light on an underground LGBTQ+ subculture.

Feature film Unicorns takes the viewer to the heart of the highly secretive so-called “gaysian” scene – an amalgamation of the words gay and Asian – and introduces its glamorous drag queens.

“A lot of the queens are closeted and only have a certain number of hours on a weekend where they can actually be themselves, a lot use pseudonyms and have been ostracised from their families,” said Sally El Hosaini who co-directed the film with her partner James Krishna Floyd.

“On the surface [the gaysian scene is] extremely bright, very attractive… but underneath it’s actually a very gritty, real and quite a hardcore world,” added Floyd.

“They’re a minority within a minority… they’re getting attacked and rejected from all sides, from mainstream culture, from South Asian communities for the most part, from their religious communities for the most part and from the mainstream LGBTQ+ community as well.”

Floyd, who also wrote the screenplay, said he and El Hosaini – who is half Welsh and half Egyptian – were keen to explore “fluid identities”.

“For me personally as a half Indian, half English guy who has had sexually fluid experiences… mainstream culture is always putting all of us in very neat little boxes,” he said.

“I find that very frustrating and just so limiting.”

He said he had “always known about the gaysian scene” but was properly introduced to it by his friend Asifa Lahore, who in 2014 became the UK’s first Muslim drag queen to speak publicly about her work.

Lahore is a producer on the film.

“Everything in the film is based on either Asifa’s experiences, my own experiences or South Asian drag queens that I now know very well – it all comes from reality,” said Floyd.

Ashiq (played by Jason Patel) works in a shop by day but at night transforms into drag queen Aysha, dancing for a largely South Asian LGBTQ+ audience.

The love story begins when single father and mechanic Luke (played by Bohemian Rhapsody and former EastEnders actor Ben Hardy) mistakenly happens upon an underground club where Aysha is performing and they share a kiss before he realises she is a drag queen.

Patel, who plays Aysha, is not a real-life drag queen but many of the supporting cast are.

After a casting shout-out on social media El Hosaini and Floyd were sent audition tapes by a number of South Asian drag queens.

“A lot of those tapes were very moving,” said El Hosaini.

“Some of them were saying things like ‘I don’t even care if I get this role… the fact that this is being made about this kind of character and exists has made me feel seen’,” she said.

“Someone had recorded their tape in a bathroom and were talking very quietly because their family were in the house and and they didn’t want to be overheard.”

“It was another moment of just reminding us why we’re making this film,” added Floyd.

“If we were making this film for anyone, it was for the gaysian community… because there hasn’t been a film about them, certainly not a fictional feature film.”

Floyd and El Hosaini, who live in London and have a son together, first met when Floyd starred in El Hosaini’s directorial debut feature film My Brother the Devil.

He starred again in her second feature film The Swimmers.

Unicorns is Floyd’s directorial debut and the pair’s third time working together.

What is it like making a film with your partner?

“We first met in work, so we had that creative connection before our relationship,” said El Hosaini.

“When you do what we do and you’re so involved, we are each other’s rocks and support.”

She said with Floyd beginning work on Unicorns nine years ago, the project was “as old as our son, so actually it was like a child that had grown up in our family”.

“Us coming together to make it together just felt organic and felt like the right thing to do,” she added.

El Hosaini, whose mother is Welsh and father is Egyptian, was born in Swansea, raised in Cairo and returned to Wales at 16 to study at UWC Atlantic College in the Vale of Glamorgan.

Unicorns was supported by Ffilm Cymru Wales and will have a special screening at Green Man Festival in Powys next month.

“The industry has often seen my Egyptian side and seen me as Arab so I’ve been sent a lot of projects that always have an Arab angle,” said El Hosaini.

“But I’m equally as Welsh as I am Arab, it’s definitely in my bones, my blood and part of me and I think it’s just time until I do my Welsh projects.”

Floyd said they were both frustrated by the narrow range of stories that make it to cinema and wanted to correct that.

“This industry is not very kind to minorities and it certainly isn’t kind to minorities within minorities,” he said.

“There’s such an imbalance. How many films do we need to make about – and I can say this as a half-white man – privileged, white, middle-class, cis, heteronormative men? Do we need any more of those? No, we don’t.”

He said one of the great things about storytelling was it could “shine a bit of a light on those communities that we don’t really hear about”.

“There’s more that connects us than divides us,” added El Hosaini

Unicorns is in UK and Irish cinemas now.

To his fans, he’s the “African king” – an international star and the first black African to win a Tour de France stage.

Biniam Girmay did that not only once but three times this year at road cycling’s premier event. Barring an accident, the 24-year-old looks set to win the green jersey on Sunday – a prize awarded to the best sprinter over the gruelling three-week competition.

But Girmay’s journey to the top has been riddled with obstacles – he has battled culture shocks, Europe’s visa procedures and the loneliness of being thousands of miles away from his wife and young daughter.

Now, he is embracing his role as a hero in his home country – Eritrea – and an inspiration for cyclists across Africa as a whole.

Many believe Girmay’s success will spark change in an overwhelmingly white sport – in this year’s Tour de France he is the only black rider in the whole peloton of 176 riders.

Girmay – or Bini to his loved ones and fans – was born and raised in Eritrea, a small East African country with a population of around 3.7 million.

Unusually, Girmay was never a champion of Asmara – the capital city he grew up in – or Eritrea. Instead, he appeared quite suddenly on the international stage after being scouted by cycling’s global governing body, the UCI.

Girmay told Eritrean media earlier this year that it is easier to win at the Tour de France than to be an Eritrean champion. This is because despite its tiny population, the country has a wealth of talented cyclists, many of whom have won medals in global and continental races.

Cycling is one of Eritrea’s most popular sports, a pastime picked up during decades of Italian colonial rule.

It is a source of pride for many Eritreans, whose country usually only makes global headlines for its border conflicts and a human rights record considered to be poor by rights organisations, but fiercely defended by the government.

Girmay’s dreams of becoming a cyclist were sparked by his cousin, African champion Meron Teshome.

The cycling obsession extends further into his family – his younger brother is now a professional rider and his father, a carpenter, used to watch the Tour de France on TV with Girmay every year.

This is My Moment, a documentary charting his rise, shows an elderly female relative telling him: “When I was young no-one could beat me, not even you!”

At 12 years old, Girmay won his first mountain bike competition and as a teenager he was selected to represent Eritrea as a junior in the African Championships.

While there, he caught the eye of a UCI scout.

They invited him to train at the organisation’s World Cycling Centre (WCC), an elite Swiss facility that hosts young athletes from countries where there may not be so many opportunities for development.

In 2018, at the age of 17, Girmay quit school and left home for Switzerland.

The transition was tough, he had no friends or family nearby and was hit by a huge culture shock.

“It was tough to prepare Bini; he had to change a lot of things: his lifestyle, his routines,” Jean-Jacques Henry, head of talent detection at the WCC, recalled as Girmay prepared for the 2023 Tour de France.

“It was too cold for him when he arrived in July. For us, it was warm. He didn’t like cobblestones [which riders of Girmay’s ilk often tackle] and he didn’t understand tactics.”

But he believed he would overcome these issues and realise his dream. He even took up English classes so he would not have to use a translator in media interviews when he eventually turned pro.

Sure enough, in 2020, Girmay was scooped up by French team Delko.

While training in France, he began planning his wedding with Saliem, his partner back in Eritrea.

But the 2020 coronavirus outbreak scuppered his plans to return home – and also left him unable to compete in Europe as several races got cancelled.

The following year, Girmay took another blow. Delko had gone bust, leaving the young cyclist without a team.

He was, however, able to travel back to Asmara and marry Saliem.

She later gave birth to a baby girl, but Girmay could not stick around for long as he had been signed by Belgian-based team Intermarché–Wanty.

Securing a visa to continue his cycling odyssey was not easy – This Is My Moment documents the new father struggling to reach numerous visa application centres and embassies while in Asmara.

Eventually, he managed to acquire a long-term visa, which he holds to this day. However, as per its requirements, Girmay has to leave Europe’s Schengen zone of 29 countries every three months. He usually goes back to Asmara.

In 2022, the cyclist began his history-making streak.

At Belgium’s Gent-Wevelgem, he became the first African to win a one-day classic race. Girmay was part of a four-rider breakaway in the last 30km and sprinted to victory with 250m to go.

“Veni… vidi… Bini!” an ecstatic British commentator boomed as zoomed past finish line. The phrase, a play on the Latin for “I came, I saw, I conquered”, has become somewhat of slogan among his fans and the media.

As a sprinter, Girmay accelerates quickly towards the end of the race, embarking on a ferocious dash to the finish line.

He is rarity – as a mountainous country Eritrea mostly produces “climbers”, cyclists who race especially well on steep inclines.

Girmay topped his Gent-Wevelgem victory with another history-making stage win at Giro d’ Italia, which after the Tour de France is cycling’s second biggest Grand Tour race.

Celebrations were cut short when Girmay was taken to hospital – he had accidentally popped a prosecco cork in his eye on the winners’ podium.

He made a quick recovery, but without his wife and daughter around, he still struggled to enjoy his win.

Despite this homesickness, Girmay battled on. His wife and daughter eventually moved to French city of Nice – and will be waiting for him after the Tour ends on Sunday.

Also watching closely, will be cycling fans back in Eritrea.

After his third stage victory at the Tour, people spilled out onto the streets in Asmara, waving the national flag and dancing to a soundtrack of celebratory car horns.

Eritrean fans often turn up to support Girmay away from home too – at the 2023 Tour de Suisse one fan told the BBC: “He is an African king. We are proud. Eritrea is known for some bad things like war, now it is different.”

Girmay also represents the wider continent, Mani Arthur, who runs the Black Cyclists Network and has competed for Ghana, told the BBC’s Focus on Africa podcast last week.

“We don’t really see many black riders, especially from Africa, competing in the Tour de France,” he said.

“So to see Girmay not only be competing but to also win a much coveted stage is incredible. He’s proven himself to be amongst the best riders in the world.”

Eritrean cycling coach Aklilu Haile, who has known Girmay for a decade, believes his success can have a big impact.

“Sometimes cycling seems like it’s for white people only, but now he teaches us that cycling is for all the world,” he said.

Following the Tour de France, Girmay will take on this summer’s Olympics in Paris. He hopes to win a gold medal but this is unlikely – he is the only road cyclist representing Eritrea and therefore will not have anyone to lead him out in the peleton to secure a space for his sprint.

He also has high hopes for next year’s World Championships in Rwanda, the country in which he was first scouted by the UCI.

For many, a Girmay victory in Rwanda have huge significance.

Cycling fans from across the world would witness an African rider whizzing past a finish line on African soil, before being enveloped into a crowd flying the green, blue and yellow of the Eritrean flag.

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If you can elbow your way onto one of Majorca’s sunspots this summer, you will witness two unstoppable forces.

The first, as old as time, the tide of the Balearic Sea, methodically erasing the day’s lovingly crafted sandcastles.

The second, a more modern phenomenon, the tsunami of tourism threatening to consume all in its path.

Every inch of beach is taken. Finding a parking space is like striking gold.

If you leave your sunbed for too long, your possessions are unceremoniously turfed to make space for the long queue of would-be usurpers.

All these are the signs of a bonanza that’s seen and heard across the island, not least in the incessant beeping of contactless payment machines ringing out from the teeming hotels, restaurants and bars.

A chorus of commerce powered by record numbers of visitors.

But if this is a tale of colossal wealth being showered onto a business-savvy Spanish community, Sonia Ruiz certainty has not shared any of it.

We meet the mother of one, 31, in a park a few hundred metres from the shore in the capital, Palma.

Her four-year-old son Luca negotiates the various playground slides with no apparent concern.

But Sonia is really struggling. Her landlord has asked them to leave and she says finding a new place is impossible.

“Every day I’m looking and every day the rent is higher,” she says.

“I even stop people in the street and ask if they have something because the day is approaching when I will have to leave the apartment, and I just see me and my son homeless because there is absolutely nothing.”

Sonia and her partner are separated but have been forced to live together because individually they cannot afford the cost of rent, despite taking home 2,400 euros a month between them.

“They ask you for deposits of several months. Some have even told me that they don’t want children, they don’t want animals. And so many people are looking.”

Like thousands of Majorcans, Sonia is protesting this weekend against the surge in tourism that is being blamed for plummeting living standards among the local population.

Activists say spiralling housing costs are being driven by a huge number of houses and apartments being bought by foreigners, or at least rented out to them for large chunks of the summer.

“It’s impossible to sustain this sort of model,” 25-year-old Pere Joan Femenia explains from outside the cathedral in Majorca’s capital, Palma.

He is part of a movement called “Menys Turisme, Més Vida”, or “Less Tourism, More Life”.

He says not only are unprecedented numbers of visitors pricing locals out of the housing market, they are also using up public spaces, public services and natural resources.

Pere started his activism five years ago as part of Greta Thunberg’s climate movement, but his focus has shifted to the cost of living for his fellow islanders.

“Businesses are changing from one’s selling traditional products to multi-nationals selling ice cream and we are losing our identity. We want to preserve our culture,” he says.

Pere points over to the port, far beyond the rows of street vendors and swelling crowds filling the square, explaining that some cruises disgorge as many of 12,000 visitors every day onto the island.

He says it is a myth that Majorca needs ever-expanding tourism to survive, and that the reality is many locals are preparing to leave for good because they can no longer afford it here.

Pere argues that putting limits on flights arriving and cruises docking will immediately ease the pressure on the island.

It is a demand that will form part of the slogans and banners carried around Palma during this weekend’s protest.

Spain’s National Institute of statistics says last year 14.4 million foreign tourists visited the Balearic Islands, of which Majorca is by far the biggest – followed by Menorca then Ibiza.

The institute says the number of international visitors to the archipelago increased by 9.1% compared with 2022 while their spending went up even more – 16.4%.

When Spanish visitors are taken into account too, activists claim this year could see 20 million visitors to the Balearics.

As Spain’s tourist hotspots have developed over the decades, the debate over whether the millions of visitors bring more problems than benefits has intensified.

This year it feels like something has changed. The anger among many locals is reaching a new level – notably demonstrated in Barcelona recently when visitors were drenched with water pistols.

There have been demonstrations elsewhere on the mainland, in Malaga, as well as in the Canary Islands. Spain’s tourist magnets are now looking to repel a seemingly inexorable deluge.

Some British newspapers compiled lists of “hostile holiday hotspots” to avoid in the summer of 2024.

On a packed beach in Magaluf, the long-time destination of choice for millions of British holidaymakers, the Green family from Rotherham are paddling happily.

This is dad Adam’s first trip abroad, although calling it a “holiday” may be a stretch as he and wife keep tabs on their seven kids.

“It’s hectic, but we’re getting there. Apart from the heat, it’s great” he says.

I ask whether they’ve heard about the various protests that have been taking place and if it made them think twice about coming out to Majorca.

“I saw a little bit on the news”, says Charlotte, “but I tried not to watch it because I didn’t want it to stress me out and put me off coming because we’d already booked and paid for it.”

And how about the central thrust of the local protesters’ argument – that burgeoning tourism is having a hugely negative impact?

“Don’t the tourists boost it and make the money for this place?” asks Adam.

“People travel around the world and this is it. With no tourists there’d be no jobs, no wages, no nowt. They rely on it, don’t they?”

Tshiring Jangbu Sherpa cannot forget the dead body he saw just metres from the summit of Mount Lhotse in the Himalayas more than a decade ago.

The Nepali was working as a guide for a German climber trying to scale the world’s fourth highest mountain in May 2012. The body blocking their path was thought to be Milan Sedlacek, a Czech mountaineer who’d perished just a few days earlier.

Mr Sherpa was curious why the Czech climber had died so close to the top. One of the gloves on the frozen corpse was missing.

“The bare hand might have slipped away from the rope,” the guide says. “He might have been killed after losing his balance and crashing onto the rock.”

The body stayed where it was – and every climber scaling Mount Lhotse thereafter had to step past it.

Mr Sherpa, 46, had no idea then that he would return 12 years later to retrieve the climber’s body, as part of a team of a dozen military personnel and 18 sherpas deployed by the Nepali army to clean up the high Himalayas.

There have been more than 300 deaths in the Everest region since records of mountain climbing there began a century ago, and many of these bodies remain. The death toll has kept increasing: eight people have been killed so far this year; and 18 died in 2023, according to Nepal’s tourism department.

The government first launched the clean-up campaign in 2019, which included removing some bodies of dead climbers. But this year was the first time that authorities set a goal to retrieve five bodies from the so-called “death zone”, above an altitude of 8,000m (26,247 feet).

In the end the team – who subsisted on water, chocolate and sattu, a mixture of chickpea, barley and wheat flour – retrieved four bodies.

One skeleton and 11 tonnes of rubbish were removed at lower attitudes after a 54-day operation that ended on 5 June.

“Nepal has received a bad name for the garbage and dead bodies which have polluted the Himalayas on a grave scale,” Major Aditya Karki, the leader of this year’s operation, told BBC Nepali.

The campaign also aims to improve safety for the climbers.

Maj Karki says many have been startled by the sight of bodies – last year, one mountaineer could not move for half an hour after seeing a dead body on the way to Mount Everest.

Many people cannot afford to retrieve the bodies of relatives who have died on mountains in Nepal. Even if they have the financial means, most private companies refuse to help get bodies from the death zone because it is too dangerous.

The military allocated five million rupees ($37,400; £29,000) this year to retrieve each body. Twelve people are needed to lower a body from 8,000m, with each needing four cylinders of oxygen. One cylinder costs more than $400, meaning that $20,000 is needed for oxygen alone.

Every year, there is only about a 15-day window during which climbers can ascend and descend from 8,000 metres, as the winds slow down during the transition between wind cycles. In the death zone, the wind speed often exceeds 100 km per hour.

After locating the bodies, the team mostly worked after nightfall because they did not want to disturb other mountaineers. In the Everest region, which also consists of Lhotse and Nuptse, there is only one single ladder and ropeway for people climbing up and down from base camp.

“It was very tough to bring back the bodies from the death zone,” Mr Sherpa says. “I vomited sour water many times. Others kept coughing and others got headaches because we spent hours and hours at very high altitude.”

At 8,000m, even strong sherpas can carry only up to 25kg (55 pounds), less than 30% of their capacity at lower altitudes.

The body near the summit of Mount Lhotse, which stands at 8,516m, was discoloured after exposure to the sun and snow for 12 years. Half of the body was buried in snow, Mr Sherpa says.

All four climbers’ bodies retrieved were found in the same position as they had died. Their frozen state meant their limbs could not be moved, making transportation even more difficult.

Nepali law states that all bodies have to remain in the best condition before they are returned to authorities – any damage could result in penalties.

The clean-up team arranged a roping system to bring the bodies down gradually, because pushing them from behind or pulling them from in front was not possible. Sometimes, the bodies became stuck in the rocky, icy terrain, and pulling them out again was a laborious task.

It took 24 hours non-stop to bring the body presumed to belong to the Czech climber to the nearest camp, which is just about 3.5km away, Mr Sherpa says. The team then spent another 13 hours getting the body down to another lower camp.

Next stop for the bodies was a journey to Kathmandu by helicopter, but the crew was stuck in the town of Namche for five days because of bad weather. They arrived in the capital safely on 4 June.

The four bodies and the skeleton have been kept at a hospital in Kathmandu.

The army has found identification documents on two bodies – Czech climber Milan Sedlacek and American mountaineer Roland Yearwood, who died in 2017. The Nepali government will be in communication with the respective embassies.

The process of identifying the other two bodies is ongoing.

Sherpa climbers and guides keep track of the locations and possible identities of lost climbers, so they have provided potential information on some of the bodies. They believe all the bodies belong to foreigners, but the government has not confirmed this.

About 100 sherpas have died on the Himalayas since records began, so many families have been waiting for years to perform the last Buddhist rites for their loved ones.

Authorities have said they will bury the bodies if no one comes to claim them three months after identification – regardless of whether the bodies belong to a foreigner or a Nepali.

Mr Sherpa first climbed in the Himalayas at the age of 20. In his career, he has scaled Everest three times and Lhotse five times.

“Mountaineers have got famous from climbing. The Himalayas have given us so many opportunities,” he says.

“By doing this special job of retrieving dead bodies, it’s my time to pay back to the Great Himalayas.”

Singer Jessie J has revealed she was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) three months ago.

In a post on Instagram on Saturday, the Price Tag singer, 36, said it had made her “re-think” her whole life.

She added that ADHD felt like “a superpower as long as you look at it from the right perspective”.

ADHD is a condition that affects people’s behaviour. It can make sufferers seem restless, and they may have trouble concentrating and can act on impulse, according to the NHS website.

OCD is a mental health condition where a person has obsessive thoughts and compulsive behaviours, the NHS says.

Jessie J, whose full name is Jessica Cornish, said having a baby had “exposed” the conditions more.

Her son, Sky Safir Cornish Colman, was born last year.

In her post, she said there had been moments where she felt like she couldn’t discuss her conditions, but added: “Here I am talking about it.”

She wrote: “In telling people a lot of the reaction I got was ‘Yeah I mean we knew that’ (which I’m sure some of you are doing right now) and of course I knew to some extent but having a baby has let’s say… exposed it a lot more which was comforting in a way, as it made it feel less heavy and scary.”

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The British star, also known for hits such as Domino, said she knew she had been “a little different and felt things differently” her whole life.

She added it was weird when one day, someone finally explained why.

She acknowledged that ADHD was a “wide spectrum”, adding: “I low key feel like it’s a superpower as long as you look at it from the right perspective and have the right people around you that can navigate it with you.”

Jessie J said that social media had given her the opportunity to relate, connect and heal with strangers who are going through similar things.

“I have always been honest in the journey I’m going through in life,” she said.

“And I know there are so many people that are going through this same thing and I’m honestly just reaching out to hold your hand and because I need mine held too.”

The singer said her diagnosis had made her love herself even more, adding: “I’m hugging 11-year-old me.

“Who would clean her trainers with a toothbrush when she was stressed and to this day has lived with a 1000 lists to not feel like life will crumble.

“Here’s to getting to know yourself even more through life.

“And loving yourself all the way.”

She concluded that nothing in life defines people, but rather helps them grow and become “a more wholesome version” of themselves.

Adidas has dropped the supermodel Bella Hadid, who is half Palestinian, from an advertising campaign for retro shoes referencing the 1972 Munich Olympics.

Israel had criticised the choice of Ms Hadid. It accused her of hostility to Israel and noted that 11 Israeli athletes had been killed by Palestinian attackers at the Munich Games.

Adidas subsequently apologised and said it would “revise” its campaign.

Ms Hadid has been a vocal supporter of the Palestinians and earlier this year donated money to support relief efforts for the war in Gaza.

BBC News has contacted Hadid’s representatives for comment.

The German sportswear company had chosen Hadid to promote its SL72 trainers, which were first launched to coincide with the 1972 Olympics.

Adidas recently relaunched the SL72 shoes as part of a series reviving classic trainers.

However images of the American model wearing the shoes prompted criticism, including on Israel’s official account on X (formerly Twitter).

“Guess who the face of their campaign is? Bella Hadid, a half-Palestinian model,” a post read on Thursday.

It referred to the attack at the 1972 games, which happened when members of the Palestinian Black September group broke into the Olympic village. In addition to the Israeli athletes, a German police officer was also killed.

Other social media users defended Ms Hadid and called for a boycott of Adidas following the move to pull the campaign.

Adidas confirmed to AFP that Hadid had been removed from the campaign.

In a statement provided to the news agency, the company said it would be “revising the remainder of the campaign” with immediate effect.

“We are conscious that connections have been made to tragic historical events — though these are completely unintentional — and we apologise for any upset or distress caused.”

Hadid, whose father is Palestinian property tycoon Mohamed Anwar Hadid, has been vocal in her support for people affected by the war in Gaza.

In an Instagram post in May, Hadid said she was “devastated at the loss of the Palestinian people and the lack of empathy coming from the government systems worldwide”.

Last month, she and her supermodel sister Gigi donated $1m (£785,000) to support Palestinian relief efforts.

The conflict in Gaza began when Hamas gunmen launched an unprecedented attack on Israel, killing about 1,200 people and taking 252 back to Gaza as hostages.

Israel responded by launching a military campaign in Gaza with the aims of destroying Hamas and freeing the hostages.

More than 38,900 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.

The UN’s top court has said Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories is against international law, in a landmark opinion.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) said Israel should stop settlement activity in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem and end its “illegal” occupation of those areas and the Gaza Strip as soon as possible.

In response, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the court had made a “decision of lies”.

The court’s advisory opinion is not legally binding but still carries significant political weight. It marks the first time the ICJ has delivered a position on the legality of the 57-year occupation.

The ICJ, based at The Hague in the Netherlands, has been examining the issue since the beginning of last year, at the request of the UN General Assembly.

The court was specifically asked to give its view on Israel’s policies and practices towards the Palestinians, and on the legal status of the occupation.

Delivering the court’s findings, ICJ President Nawaf Salam said it had found that “Israel’s… continued presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory is illegal.”

“The State of Israel is under the obligation to bring an end to its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory as rapidly as possible,” he said.

He said Israel’s withdrawal from the Gaza Strip in 2005 did not bring Israel’s occupation of that area to an end because it still exercises effective control over it.

The court also said Israel should evacuate all of its settlers from the West Bank and East Jerusalem and pay reparations to Palestinians for damages caused by the occupation.

Israel has built about 160 settlements housing some 700,000 Jews in the West Bank and East Jerusalem since 1967. The court said the settlements were illegal. Israel has consistently disputed that they are against international law.

The ICJ said Israel’s “policies and practices amount to annexation of large parts of the Occupied Palestinian Territory”, which it said was against international law, adding that Israel was “not entitled to sovereignty” over any part of the occupied territories.

Israel claims sovereignty over the whole of Jerusalem, the eastern half of which it captured in the 1967 Middle East war. It considers the city its indivisible capital – something which is not accepted by the vast majority of the international community.

Among its other far-reaching conclusions, the court said Israeli restrictions on Palestinians in the occupied territories constituted “systemic discrimination based on, inter alia, race, religion or ethnic origin”. It also said Israel had illegally exploited the Palestinians’ natural resources and violated their right to self-determination.

The court also advised states to avoid any actions, including providing aid or assistance, that would maintain the current situation.

Israel’s prime minister swiftly issued a blunt statement rejecting what the court had determined.

“The Jewish people are not occupiers in their own land – not in our eternal capital Jerusalem, nor in our ancestral heritage of Judea and Samaria” (the West Bank), Mr Netanyahu said in a statement.

“No decision of lies in The Hague will distort this historical truth, and similarly, the legality of Israeli settlements in all parts of our homeland cannot be disputed.”

But the court’s findings were welcomed by the Palestinians.

Hussein Al Sheikh, the secretary general of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), the Palestinians’ main umbrella group, called it “a historic victory for the rights of the Palestinian people and their right to self-determination. And the collapse and defeat of the Judaization project through confiscation, settlement, displacement, and racist practices against a people under occupation.

“The international community must respect the opinion of international justice and force Israel to end its occupation of the Palestinian territories,” he said.

The court’s findings will now go to the UN General Assembly, which will decide how to respond, including the option of adopting a resolution. That would be significant and could constitute a catalyst for negotiations and set the legal parameters for a future negotiated settlement.

This case is separate from another active case brought to the ICJ by South Africa accusing Israel of committing genocide against the Palestinians in the war in Gaza.

France has recalled a line of Olympic-branded water bottles for children, a week before the Games’ opening ceremony in Paris.

The reusable bottles contain excessive levels of a chemical, Bisphenol A, says the official consumer recall agency, Rappel Conso.

The white flasks stamped with the Olympic rings and the Paris 2024 mascot, or the flame, were issued in August last year and sold until June.

The authorities have urged people to return the bottles to the stores they bought them from.

Bisphenol A – which has been widely used in making food containers – has been the subject of ongoing assessments about its safety to consumers.

According to France’s food safety agency Anses, it is an endocrine disruptor – meaning it interferes with the body’s hormones – and is believed to be linked to health issues including breast cancer and infertility.

Associated with a wide array of health issues, Bisphenol A has been banned in France since 2015.

Rappel Conso’s website says the bottles made by the Vilac company have “levels of Bisphenol A not in line with regulations” on products designed for contact with foods.

The 2024 Summer Olympics, an international multi-sport event is scheduled to be held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024.

Christina Sandera, the partner of Oscar-winning actor and director Clint Eastwood, has died at the age of 61.

Eastwood, 94, confirmed her death in a statement to BBC News, adding: “Christina was a lovely, caring woman, and an important part of my life.”

He added that he would “miss her very much”.

The pair are reported to have been together for ten years. Sandera’s cause of death was not revealed.

The legendary actor and Sandera kept their relationship under wraps.

However, they were seen together in public on numerous occasions, including on the red carpets for The Mule and The 15:17 To Paris.

In 2016, they were pictured attending a screening of Sully at Directors Guild Of America in Los Angeles.

A year earlier, they attended a garden party fundraising event for animal rescue efforts.

One of the most recognisable Hollywood stars, Eastwood is known for his action and western hero roles.

His spaghetti westerns redefined the genre, while he also won fans around the world as Harry Callahan in the five Dirty Harry films throughout the 1970s and 1980s.

But as both actor and director he has stepped outside those roles, handling comedy and making serious biopics.

In a career spanning seven decades, Eastwood has scooped up multiple Academy Awards and Golden Globe Awards.

Eastwood’s 40th film as a director, Juror No. 2, is currently in postproduction.

Eastwood was previously married twice, first to model Margaret Neville Johnson, and later to TV news anchor Dina Ruiz.

His relationship with Ruiz ended in divorce in 2014.

Israel has launched air strikes on the Houthi-controlled Red Sea port of Hodeidah in Yemen, a day after a drone launched by the group hit Tel Aviv.

Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said his country aimed to send a message to the Houthi movement.

“The fire that is currently burning in Hodeidah, is seen across the Middle East and the significance is clear,” he said.

Houthi-linked news outlets said three people were killed and more than 80 injured in the Israeli strikes.

Houthi official Mohammed Abdulsalam reported a “brutal Israel aggression against Yemen”.

He said the strikes were aimed at pressuring the Houthis to stop supporting the Palestinians in Gaza, something he said would not happen.

It is the first time Israel has responded directly to what it says have been hundreds of Yemeni drone and missile attacks aimed at its territory in recent months.

Footage from Hodeidah showed huge fires raging on Saturday evening. The Houthi-run government in Sanaa said Israel struck oil storage facilities close to the shore, as well as a nearby power plant.

In a statement, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said: “After nine months of continuous aerial attacks by the Houthis in Yemen toward Israel, IAF [Israeli Air Force] fighter jets conducted an extensive operational strike over 1,800km [1,118 miles) away against Houthi terrorist military targets” in the area of the port of Hodeidah.

“The IDF is capable of operating anywhere required and will strike any force that endangers Israelis,” the statement said, adding that Saturday’s operation was codenamed Outstretched Arm.

Mr Gallant said the Israeli jets had struck the group because they had harmed Israelis.

“The Houthis attacked us over 200 times. The first time that they harmed an Israeli citizen, we struck them. And we will do this in any place where it may be required,” he said.

Speaking on Saturday evening after the attacks, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country would defend itself “by all means”.

“Anyone who harms us will pay a very heavy price for their aggression,” he said in a televised address, claiming the port was an entry point for Iranian weapons.

He also said it showed Israel’s enemies there was no place it could not reach.

On Friday a block of flats in Tel Aviv was hit by what an Israeli military official said was an Iranian-made unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), which had been modified to fly long distance.

The Houthis said it carried out that attack, and vowed to stage more.

The attack killed a 50-year-old man who had recently moved to Israel from Belarus and injured eight others.

The Israeli military official said its defence forces had detected the incoming drone but had not tried to shoot it down because of “human error”.

Previously, almost all Houthi missiles and drones fired towards Israel had been intercepted and none were known to have reached Tel Aviv.

The Houthi Supreme Political Council, the movement’s executive body, was quoted by Houthi-run media on Saturday evening saying that there would be an “effective response” to the airstrikes.

Although Israel has not struck the Houthis in Yemen before, the US and UK have been launching air strikes against the group for months to try to stop the Houthis from attacking commercial shipping in the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea.

The Houthis initially said they were attacking ships connected with Israel, or heading to or from there. However, many of the vessels have no connection with Israel and since air strikes began the group has also targeted vessels linked to the UK and US.

A woman who served 43 years for a murder she did not commit has been released after her conviction was overturned.

Sandra Hemme was 20 years old when she was found guilty of stabbing to death library worker Patricia Jeschke from St Joseph, Missouri, in November 1980. She was given a life sentence.

There was no evidence that linked her to the crime other than a confession she gave under heavy sedation in a psychiatric hospital, a review into her case found.

Now 64, she is believed to have served the longest known wrongful conviction of a woman in US history according to her representatives.

Her legal team at the Innocence Project said they are grateful that Ms Hemme is finally reunited with her family, and they will “continue to fight” to clear her name.

While she is no longer incarcerated, her case is still being reviewed.

Circuit Court Judge Ryan Horsman’s original 118-page ruling overturning her conviction came on 14 June. It said Ms Hemme’s lawyers had clear proof of her innocence, including evidence that was not given to her defence team at the time.

“This court finds that the totality of the evidence supports a finding of actual innocence,” Judge Horsman concluded.

The review found that local police ignored evidence that directly pointed to one of their own officers – Michael Holman – who later went to prison for another crime and died in 2015.

Holman’s truck was seen in the area the day of the murder, his alibi could not be corroborated, and he used Patricia Jeschke’s credit card after claiming he found it in a ditch.

A pair of distinctive gold earrings identified by Ms Jeschke’s father were also found in Holman’s home.

None of this was disclosed to Ms Hemme’s defence team at the time, the review said.

Ms Hemme was interrogated by police several times under the influence of antipsychotic medication and a powerful sedative after being involuntarily committed to a psychiatric hospital. She had been receiving occasional psychiatric treatment since she was 12 years old.

Her responses were “monosyllabic” and she was “not totally cognisant of what was going on”, court documents showed, and at times could barely hold her head up straight and was in pain from muscle spasms – a side effect of the medications.

Judge Horsman’s review noted that no forensic evidence linked Ms Hemme to the murder. She had no motive and there were no witnesses linking her to the crime.

Sandra Hemme finally left prison on Friday, and the Kansas City Star reports that she will live with her sister.

After her release she was reunited with family in a nearby park, where she hugged her sister, daughter and granddaughter.

Her father had been hospitalised and was receiving palliative care this week. Her legal team said she was planning to visit him as soon as she can.

Defence lawyer Sean O’Brien told the Star that she will still need help because she has spent most of her life in prison and was ineligible for social security.

Donald Trump has told a rally in Michigan that he “took a bullet for democracy” when an attempt was made on his life last week.

Attended by thousands, it was Trump’s first rally with new running mate JD Vance – and first since he survived the assassination attempt.

He told a packed arena in Grand Rapids that Democrats have accused him of being “a threat to democracy” and, to huge applause, said he was ready to “take back the White House”.

An investigation is under way into the shooting last weekend, which left Trump with a wounded ear – though the prominent white bandage he wore throughout the Republican National Convention had on Saturday been replaced by a discreet flesh-toned plaster.

Trump was not scheduled to address the crowd until 17:00 EST (21:00 GMT) but by 13:00, a line stretched for about three miles (4.8km) outside the 12,000-person Van Del Arena.

Many of those at the event, in the battleground state of Michigan, told the BBC that the assassination attempt – which killed an audience member and wounded two others – would not stop them from showing support for the Republican presidential nominee.

Some said they came precisely because of the shooting.

Unlike that rally, held in Butler, Pennsylvania, the Grand Rapids event was indoors – allowing security officers to carefully monitor who entered and to cut off threats from outside the rally.

In his speech, Trump thanked the “thousands and thousands” of people who came to see him “almost exactly” a week after the assassination attempt.

“I stand before you only by the grace of almighty God,” he said, repeating his belief that divine intervention saved him from being killed.

Wendy and Steve Upcott of Clarkston, Michigan, were among the thousands who drove from all over the state to see him, many reassured by the increased security.

The couple said their 26-year-old daughter begged them not to attend the event two hours from home, fearing for their safety in the wake of the assassination attempt. But they felt obliged to come after the shooting last weekend.

“The chances of it happening again just one week to the day later is unlikely,” said Ms Upcott.

Them and many others in Grand Rapids were decked out in red Make America Great Again caps, along with cowboy hats, shirts and full outfits resembling the American flag. T-shirts with Trump’s mug shot were also for sale.

Laura Schultz said she thought about her safety on Saturday morning before she decided to come to the event with a friend.

“You can’t let fear stop you,” she said.

Other rally-goers, including several young adults, said the assassination attempt pushed them to attend the Michigan rally.

It was the first Trump campaign event for fellow Donald, a 24 year old from Grand Rapids, who wore a shirt with the viral image of Trump pumping his fist after being shot.

“This is the first event after the attempted assassination. I think it’s probably going to be the most important rally,” he said, declining to share his last name.

Donald said he had no fears for his own safety, because of the hundreds of police officers, including some on horseback.

But others said they remained scared for Trump.

“It should be a concern for most Americans that he is still not safe,” Ms Upcott said.

“He needs to be very careful,” said Ms Schultz.

Other supporters expressed outrage at the US Secret Service over the incident last week.

The agency has faced intense scrutiny after shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks was able to take aim at Trump in Pennsylvania by climbing onto a roof of a building near the rally stage, even after rallygoers pointed him out to police.

Investigators have still yet to name a motive for the 20-year-old gunman who was later killed by Secret Service agents.

Since then, the country has become more attuned to possible threats to both presidential candidates. Police in Jupiter, Florida, on Friday arrested a man for allegedly posting threats to Trump on social media, while a different man from Florida was arrested a few days earlier for allegedly threatening President Joe Biden.

Saturday’s Michigan indoor event space was much easier to secure, with metal detectors and military personnel sweeping the whole building, said former Secret Service agent Jason Russell, who has worked on campaign events at the Grand Rapids arena.

“You’ll have a pretty, pretty significant number of agents on site,” Mr Russell said, adding that they would be able to keep Trump out of view until his entrance.

This was one of several campaign stops the former president has made to the key battleground state, as polls show him in a close race against Mr Biden.

The rally came on the heels of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where Trump officially accepted his party’s presidential nomination and delivered his first public address since the assassination attempt.

It also marked the first time Trump appeared on the campaign trail with his vice-presidential pick, Ohio Sen. JD Vance.

Mr Biden, meanwhile, has had to pause campaign events after testing positive for Covid-19.

He continues to resist growing calls from members of his own party to drop out of the race due to concerns about his age and cognitive abilities.

Trump has for the most part stayed silent about Democrats’ drama, but on Saturday he told the crowd they have a “couple problems”.

“They don’t know who their candidate is, and neither do we,” he said.

On Saturday, the former White House physician, Dr Ronny Jackson, released a statement about his condition after having examined Trump.

The bullet created a 2cm-wide wound on Trump’s ear that extended down to the cartilage, Dr Jackson said, which is beginning to “heal properly.” No stitches had been needed, he added.

Trump’s campaign also announced that it plans to hold its next rally in Charlotte, North Carolina on 24 July at the Bojangles Coliseum.

There was little to indicate what had happened on the fifth floor of the Grand Hyatt Erawan in Bangkok until police officers opened the door.

No-one was heard to scream, or had rung for help. No-one had even made it to the door.

Even inside, there were apparently no signs of struggle – the untouched late lunch still laid out neatly on the table for the occupants to enjoy.

From outside of Room 502, the only clue to the horror inside the locked room was the fact the group were late checking out of the hotel.

And yet inside were six bodies, alongside tea cups laced with cyanide.

It didn’t take officers long to work out the occupants of the room had drunk the poisoned tea, or to find out who the apparent victims were.

But days after police revealed the grim discovery, big questions remain: why them – and who did it?

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

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

According to investigators, Chong was believed to have borrowed 10 million baht ($280,000; £215,000) from husband and wife Hong Pham Thanh and Thi Nguyen Phuong to invest in a hospital building project in Japan. The couple, who owned a construction business, had apparently tried in vain to get their money back.

In fact, the matter was due to go to court in Japan in a matter of weeks.

On the face of it, this meeting appeared to be an attempt to discuss the issue in advance of the case.

Thi Nguyen Phuong Lan was there because Chong – who US media have said lived in Oakland, California – had asked her to act as her intermediary with the couple regarding the investment.

But how were the other two linked to the case?

Dinh Tran Phu – a successful make-up artist whose clientele includes movie stars, singers and beauty queens in Vietnam – was at the gathering working for Chong.

His father, speaking to BBC Vietnamese, emphasised the fact he had travelled to Thailand with his regular clients, not with strangers.

A close friend, meanwhile, said he knew both Thi Nguyen Phuong and Thi Nguyen Phuong Lan, having introduced them to treatments at a friend’s spa in Da Nang, where he lived.

Dang Hung Van’s participation in the hotel suite meeting was not immediately clear.

Police said there was a seventh name in the hotel reservation, the sister of one of the six. That person returned to Vietnam from Thailand last week and police said she was not involved in the incident.

The group checked into the hotel separately over the weekend and were assigned five rooms – four on the seventh floor, and one on the fifth.

Chong checked into Room 502 on Sunday. The five others visited her in her suite that day, but they headed back to their respective rooms for the night.

Before noon on Monday, Dang Hung Van ordered six cups of tea while Dinh Tran Phu, the make-up artist, ordered fried rice from their respective rooms. They asked that it be delivered to Room 502 at 14:00 local time.

A few minutes before 14:00, Chong started receiving the food orders at Room 502. She was alone in the suite at that time.

Police said she refused the waiter’s offer to brew tea for her party. The waiter also found that she “spoke very little and was visibly under stress”.

The rest of the group started arriving soon after. The couple went in lugging a suitcase.

At 14:17, all six could be seen by the door before it was shut. From then on, there was no sign of movement from inside.

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

Police entered the room at 16:30 on Tuesday and found the six dead on the floor.

The initial investigation found that two appeared to have tried get to the suite’s door, but failed to reach it in time.

All the bodies bore signs of cyanide poisoning, which can – in certain doses – kill within minutes. Their lips and nails had turned dark purple indicating a lack of oxygen, while their internal organs turned “blood red”, which is another sign of cyanide poisoning.

Investigators say there is “no other cause” that would explain their deaths “except for cyanide”.

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

Cyanide starves the body’s cells of oxygen, which can induce heart attacks. Early symptoms include dizziness, shortness of breath and vomiting.

Its use in Thailand is heavily regulated and those found to have unauthorised access face up to two years in jail.

Police suspect that one of the dead was behind the poisoning and was driven by crushing debt – but have not said who.

According to Vietnamese outlet VN Express, investigators said Chong had been sued by all the other five over their failed investments.

The meeting in Bangkok was called to negotiate a settlement, but the attempt failed.

Police have sought a statement from the group’s tour guide in Bangkok, 35-year-old Phan Ngoc Vu.

The guide reportedly said that before she died, Thi Nguyen Phuong Lan, the mediator, had asked someone to buy traditional medicine containing snake blood for her joint pains.

Then there are the two metal beverage containers that did not belong to the hotel found by police in the suite.

The containers were placed beside the cyanide-laced teacups, near the dining table.

What is certain is that officials want the matter resolved quickly.

Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has directed officials in Hanoi to co-ordinate closely with their Thai counterparts on the investigation.

As for Thai authorities, it couldn’t have come at a worse time for Thailand. It had just expanded visa-free entry to 93 countries to revive its tourism industry, a key economic pillar that has yet to fully recover from the pandemic.

Barely a year before, a 14-year-old boy shot dead two people at a luxury shopping mall, also in Bangkok.

Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin was with police on the scene at the Grand Hyatt on Tuesday night. He said there was no danger to public safety and that it was a private matter.

For the families left behind, the shock is palpable.

BBC Vietnamese got hold of the make-up artist’s mother, Tuy, on the phone, but she was sobbing so uncontrollably that she hung up after a short conversation. She said she thought her son was just on a routine work trip.

His father, Tran Dinh Dung, said in a separate interview that he did not notice anything strange with his son the last time he saw him.

While most of the world was grappling with the blue screen of death on Friday, one country that managed to escape largely unscathed was China.

The reason is actually quite simple: CrowdStrike is hardly used there.

Very few organisations will buy software from an American firm that, in the past, has been vocal about the cyber-security threat posed by Beijing.

Additionally, China is not as reliant on Microsoft as the rest of the world. Domestic companies such as Alibaba, Tencent and Huawei are the dominant cloud providers.

So reports of outages in China, when they did come, were mainly at foreign firms or organisations. On Chinese social media sites, for example, some users complained they were not able to check into international chain hotels such as Sheraton, Marriott and Hyatt in Chinese cities.

Over recent years, government organisations, businesses and infrastructure operators have increasingly been replacing foreign IT systems with domestic ones. Some analysts like to call this parallel network the “splinternet”.

“It’s a testament to China’s strategic handling of foreign tech operations,” says Josh Kennedy White, a cybersecurity expert based in Singapore.

“Microsoft operates in China through a local partner, 21Vianet, which manages its services independently of its global infrastructure. This setup insulates China’s essential services – like banking and aviation – from global disruptions.”

Beijing sees avoiding reliance on foreign systems as a way of shoring up national security.

It is similar to the way some Western countries banned Chinese tech firm Huawei’s technology in 2019 – or the UK’s move to ban the use of Chinese-owned TikTok on government devices in 2023.

Since then, the US has launched a concerted effort to ban sales of advanced semiconductor chip tech to China, as well as attempts to stop American companies from investing in Chinese technology. The US government says all of these restrictions are on national security grounds.

An editorial published on Saturday in the state-run Global Times newspaper made a thinly veiled reference to these curbs on Chinese technology.

“Some countries constantly talk about security, generalise the concept of security, but ignore the real security, this is ironic,” the editorial said.

The argument here is that the US tries to dictate the terms of who can use global technology and how it is used, yet one of its own companies has caused global chaos through lack of care.

The Global Times also took a jab at the internet giants who “monopolise” the industry: “Relying solely on top companies to lead network security efforts, as some countries advocate, may hinder not just the inclusive sharing of governance outcomes but also introduce new security risks.”

The reference to “sharing” is probably an allusion to the debate over intellectual property insofar as China is often accused of copying or stealing western technology. Beijing insists this is not the case and advocates for an open global technology marketplace – while still keeping tight control over its domestic scene.

Not everything was totally unaffected in China, however. A small numbers of workers expressed thanks to an American software giant for ending their working week early.

“Thank you Microsoft for an early vacation,” was trending on the social media site Weibo on Friday, with users posting pictures of blue error screens.

A new exhibition in Delhi showcasing rare artworks by European artists gives insights into how the British ruled the country.

Called Destination India: Foreign Artists in India, 1857-1947, the show focuses on artists who travelled to colonial India from around the world.

The representation of India through the European and British artists has “long been a subject of intrigue and exploration”, writes Indian MP and author Shashi Tharoor, in an introduction to the show.

“The fascination with India’s unique landscapes, grand monuments, vibrant traditions and rich history has drawn many to its shores, seeking to capture the essence of this multifaceted nation.”

Mr Tharoor notes that the show is “refreshing and essential” as it explores the less-explored, yet a compelling period of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, rather than just the early pioneers.

The exhibition showcases artworks, including from British artist William Carpenter, that give glimpses into not only the royal courts, but also daily life in the Empire.

Carpenter usually did watercolour, but this 1857 artwork, pictured above, is wood engraving on paper that depicts the busy back streets of Delhi’s Jama Masjid (mosque).

Many interesting artists visited India from England and other European countries in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. They were mainly conventional artists working in oil and watercolour and various print media.

“They were attracted to the people, and not just to the grandees, but to ordinary people in the streets. If there was still an element of the picturesque, it was a more intimate and animated version of that aesthetic,” says Ashish Anand, managing director of DAG, a leading art firm which has put together the show.

“In their works we find an India – if we can put it this way – that we do not just see, but that we can hear and smell.”

The work above is another watercolour painting of the Jama Masjid by William Simpson in 1864.

Mainly a war artist, Simpson was sent to India in 1859 by a publishing company to illustrate the aftermath of the violent uprising two years earlier. Indian soldiers, known as sepoys, had in 1857 set off a rebellion against the British rule, often referred to as the first war of independence.

Simpson’s project halted when the publishing company went bankrupt. He called it the “biggest disaster of my life”. Nonetheless, he continued travelling and sketching his expeditions across the sub-continent.

This is a 1900 pastel portrait of elderly Indians by Olinto Ghilardi, an Italian artist.

A significant European artist, Ghilardi shaped modern Indian art in the early 20th Century.

He mentored Abanindranath Tagore – nephew of Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore and founder of the Bengal School of Art, which shaped modern Indian painting. Ghilardi encouraged him to experiment with watercolours, gouache, and pastels, which he extensively used later in his work.

Ghilardi also served as the vice principal of the Government School of Art in Calcutta (now Kolkata).

This 1896 painting of a young Indian woman was also made by Ghilardi.

Not much is known about the life of the Italian painter before he arrived in Kolkata. His association with Tagore indicates his acceptance as an artist among Kolkata’s Bengali elite.

Much later, in 1911, Ghilardi became a prominent member of an avant-garde group of Italian artists.

This is British artist Carlton Alfred Smith’s undated watercolour painting of a street scene in India.

Smith lived in India between 1916 and 1923. He often painted landscapes along with portraits of people.

A painter of the late Victorian period from Camden Town in London, Smith began as a lithographer before switching to painting. A member of the Royal Academy of Art, he’s known for drawing interiors of cottages and the English countryside.

This is a 1894 watercolour painting of Kashmir’s Wular Lake by George Strahan, a British army engineer and artist.

A gifted student from Surrey, Strahan joined the army and arrived in India in 1860, working in towns of Roorkee and Haridwar.

Two years later, he joined the Topographical Survey of India and started mapping central India, Rajasthan and the Himalayas.

In 1888, he became superintendent of the Great Trigonometrical Survey, which mapped the Indian subcontinent.

At the Survey, Strahan drew relief maps before colour printing was introduced.

After retirement, he lived in the hills of Dehradun and travelled to Kashmir every summer.

This is an 1887 watercolour of Hyderabad in southern India by German artist Woldemar Friedrich.

A historical painter and illustrator, Friedrich spent much of his career teaching at prestigious German art academies. In the late 1880s, he travelled to India and created a series of landscapes and illustrations, published in the 1893 book “Six Months in India”.

Carpenter’s 1857 wood engraving on paper artwork on Benaras (above) shows Varanasi – one of the world’s oldest cities and and India’s spiritual capital – brimming with life.

Trained at the Royal Academy Schools in London, Carpenter became a renowned 19th-Century portrait and landscape painter.

Arriving in India in 1850, he travelled extensively, painting rulers, street scenes, landscapes, and locals across Bombay (now Mumbai), Rajasthan, Delhi, Punjab, Kashmir, Lahore, Ceylon (Sri Lanka), and Afghanistan.

This is English artist Charles William Bartlett’s 1919 woodblock print on paper rendition of Punjab’s Golden Temple, a sacred shrine for Sikhs.

Dover-born Bartlett was one of the world’s leading Japanese woodblock painters, and later switched to fine art.

In 1913, he travelled to India, Indonesia and China. He designed 38 woodblock prints for his Japanese publisher from 1916 to 1925, including many scenes from his travels in South Asia.

American artist Edwin Lord Weeks painted this colourful oil on canvas of a bullock-cart in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, in 1882.

Born in Boston to a wealthy family, Weeks was among the first American artists to visit India. His business family supported his artistic endeavours.

Weeks first travelled to India between 1882 and 1883, painting places mainly in Rajasthan. He returned in 1886, when he visited at least seven cities. Known for his realist style and attention to detail, Weeks also wrote a travel account of his journeys through Persia (present day Iran) and India in 1896.

Microsoft says it estimates that 8.5m computers around the world were disabled by the global IT outage.

It’s the first time a figure has been put on the incident and suggests it could be the worst cyber event in history.

The glitch came from a security company called CrowdStrike which sent out a corrupted software update to its huge number of customers.

Microsoft, which is helping customers recover said in a blog post: “we currently estimate that CrowdStrike’s update affected 8.5 million Windows devices.”

The post by David Weston, vice-president at the firm, says this number is less than 1% of all Windows machines worldwide, but that “the broad economic and societal impacts reflect the use of CrowdStrike by enterprises that run many critical services”.

The company can be very accurate on how many devices were disabled by the outage as it has performance telemetry to many by their internet connections.

The tech giant – which was keen to point out that this was not an issue with its software – says the incident highlights how important it is for companies such as CrowdStrike to use quality control checks on updates before sending them out.

“It’s also a reminder of how important it is for all of us across the tech ecosystem to prioritize operating with safe deployment and disaster recovery using the mechanisms that exist,” Mr Weston said.

The fall out from the IT glitch has been enormous and was already one of the worst cyber-incidents in history.

The number given by Microsoft means it is probably the largest ever cyber-event, eclipsing all previous hacks and outages.

The closest to this is the WannaCry cyber-attack in 2017 that is estimated to have impacted around 300,000 computers in 150 countries. There was a similar costly and disruptive attack called NotPetya a month later.

There was also a major six-hour outage in 2021 at Meta, which runs Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp. But that was largely contained to the social media giant and some linked partners.

The massive outage has also prompted warnings by cyber-security experts and agencies around the world about a wave of opportunistic hacking attempts linked to the IT outage.

Cyber agencies in the UK and Australia are warning people to be vigilant to fake emails, calls and websites that pretend to be official.

And CrowdStrike head George Kurtz encouraged users to make sure they were speaking to official representatives from the company before downloading fixes.

“We know that adversaries and bad actors will try to exploit events like this,” he said in a blog post.

Whenever there is a major news event, especially one linked to technology, hackers respond by tweaking their existing methods to take into account the fear and uncertainty.

According to researchers at Secureworks, there has already been a sharp rise in CrowdStrike-themed domain registrations – hackers registering new websites made to look official and potentially trick IT managers or members of the public into downloading malicious software or handing over private details.

Cyber security agencies around the world have urged IT responders to only use CrowdStrike’s website to source information and help.

The advice is mainly for IT managers who are the ones being affected by this as they try to get their organisations back online.

But individuals too might be targeted, so experts are warning to be to be hyper vigilante and only act on information from the official CrowdStrike channels.

Tshiring Jangbu Sherpa cannot forget the dead body he saw just metres from the summit of Mount Lhotse in the Himalayas more than a decade ago.

The Nepali was working as a guide for a German climber trying to scale the world’s fourth highest mountain in May 2012. The body blocking their path was thought to be Milan Sedlacek, a Czech mountaineer who’d perished just a few days earlier.

Mr Sherpa was curious why the Czech climber had died so close to the top. One of the gloves on the frozen corpse was missing.

“The bare hand might have slipped away from the rope,” the guide says. “He might have been killed after losing his balance and crashing onto the rock.”

The body stayed where it was – and every climber scaling Mount Lhotse thereafter had to step past it.

Mr Sherpa, 46, had no idea then that he would return 12 years later to retrieve the climber’s body, as part of a team of a dozen military personnel and 18 sherpas deployed by the Nepali army to clean up the high Himalayas.

There have been more than 300 deaths in the Everest region since records of mountain climbing there began a century ago, and many of these bodies remain. The death toll has kept increasing: eight people have been killed so far this year; and 18 died in 2023, according to Nepal’s tourism department.

The government first launched the clean-up campaign in 2019, which included removing some bodies of dead climbers. But this year was the first time that authorities set a goal to retrieve five bodies from the so-called “death zone”, above an altitude of 8,000m (26,247 feet).

In the end the team – who subsisted on water, chocolate and sattu, a mixture of chickpea, barley and wheat flour – retrieved four bodies.

One skeleton and 11 tonnes of rubbish were removed at lower attitudes after a 54-day operation that ended on 5 June.

“Nepal has received a bad name for the garbage and dead bodies which have polluted the Himalayas on a grave scale,” Major Aditya Karki, the leader of this year’s operation, told BBC Nepali.

The campaign also aims to improve safety for the climbers.

Maj Karki says many have been startled by the sight of bodies – last year, one mountaineer could not move for half an hour after seeing a dead body on the way to Mount Everest.

Many people cannot afford to retrieve the bodies of relatives who have died on mountains in Nepal. Even if they have the financial means, most private companies refuse to help get bodies from the death zone because it is too dangerous.

The military allocated five million rupees ($37,400; £29,000) this year to retrieve each body. Twelve people are needed to lower a body from 8,000m, with each needing four cylinders of oxygen. One cylinder costs more than $400, meaning that $20,000 is needed for oxygen alone.

Every year, there is only about a 15-day window during which climbers can ascend and descend from 8,000 metres, as the winds slow down during the transition between wind cycles. In the death zone, the wind speed often exceeds 100 km per hour.

After locating the bodies, the team mostly worked after nightfall because they did not want to disturb other mountaineers. In the Everest region, which also consists of Lhotse and Nuptse, there is only one single ladder and ropeway for people climbing up and down from base camp.

“It was very tough to bring back the bodies from the death zone,” Mr Sherpa says. “I vomited sour water many times. Others kept coughing and others got headaches because we spent hours and hours at very high altitude.”

At 8,000m, even strong sherpas can carry only up to 25kg (55 pounds), less than 30% of their capacity at lower altitudes.

The body near the summit of Mount Lhotse, which stands at 8,516m, was discoloured after exposure to the sun and snow for 12 years. Half of the body was buried in snow, Mr Sherpa says.

All four climbers’ bodies retrieved were found in the same position as they had died. Their frozen state meant their limbs could not be moved, making transportation even more difficult.

Nepali law states that all bodies have to remain in the best condition before they are returned to authorities – any damage could result in penalties.

The clean-up team arranged a roping system to bring the bodies down gradually, because pushing them from behind or pulling them from in front was not possible. Sometimes, the bodies became stuck in the rocky, icy terrain, and pulling them out again was a laborious task.

It took 24 hours non-stop to bring the body presumed to belong to the Czech climber to the nearest camp, which is just about 3.5km away, Mr Sherpa says. The team then spent another 13 hours getting the body down to another lower camp.

Next stop for the bodies was a journey to Kathmandu by helicopter, but the crew was stuck in the town of Namche for five days because of bad weather. They arrived in the capital safely on 4 June.

The four bodies and the skeleton have been kept at a hospital in Kathmandu.

The army has found identification documents on two bodies – Czech climber Milan Sedlacek and American mountaineer Roland Yearwood, who died in 2017. The Nepali government will be in communication with the respective embassies.

The process of identifying the other two bodies is ongoing.

Sherpa climbers and guides keep track of the locations and possible identities of lost climbers, so they have provided potential information on some of the bodies. They believe all the bodies belong to foreigners, but the government has not confirmed this.

About 100 sherpas have died on the Himalayas since records began, so many families have been waiting for years to perform the last Buddhist rites for their loved ones.

Authorities have said they will bury the bodies if no one comes to claim them three months after identification – regardless of whether the bodies belong to a foreigner or a Nepali.

Mr Sherpa first climbed in the Himalayas at the age of 20. In his career, he has scaled Everest three times and Lhotse five times.

“Mountaineers have got famous from climbing. The Himalayas have given us so many opportunities,” he says.

“By doing this special job of retrieving dead bodies, it’s my time to pay back to the Great Himalayas.”

When it comes to planning a holiday, Afghanistan is not at the top of most people’s must-visit lists.

Decades of conflict mean that few tourists dared step foot in the Central Asian nation since its heyday as part of the hippie trail in the 1970s. And the future of whatever tourism industry had survived was thrust into further uncertainty by the Taliban’s return to power in 2021.

But a quick scroll through social media suggests that not only has tourism survived, it has – in its own, extraordinarily niche way – boomed.

“Five reasons why Afghanistan should be your next trip,” gush the delighted influencers, their cameras sweeping across glistening lakes, through mountainous passes and into colouful, busy markets.

“Afghanistan hasn’t been this safe in 20 years,” others declare, posing next to the vast chasms left behind by the destruction of the Bamiyan Buddhas more than 20 years ago.

Behind the sunny claims and glamorous videos are questions about the risks these travellers are taking, and exactly who this burgeoning industry is truly helping.

A population struggling to survive, or a regime keen to shift the narrative in its favour?

“It is very ironic to see those videos on TikTok where there is a Taliban guide and Taliban official giving tickets to tourists to visit the [site of the] destruction of the Buddhas,” points out Dr Farkhondeh Akbari, whose family fled Afghanistan during the first Taliban regime in the 1990s.

“These are the people who destroyed the Buddhas.”

The list of countries visited by Sascha Heeney do not, on first hearing, sound like ideal holiday destinations – places many will be more used to reading about in the news.

But then, that appears to be exactly why Heeney, and thousands more like her across the globe, picked them out: off the beaten track, as far away from a five-star resort as you can get – and therefore, almost entirely unique.

So perhaps it is not surprising she was won over by Afghanistan.

“It is just raw,” says the part-time travel guide from Brighton, UK. “You don’t get much rawer than there. That can be attractive – if you want to see real life.”

What do the Taliban get out of it? After all, they have a reputation for being deeply suspicious, hostile even, towards outsiders, particularly Westerners.

And yet here are they are, posing – if slightly uncomfortably – alongside the tourists, guns on show, their bearded faces potentially about to go viral on TikTok (banned in the country since 2022).

At one level, the answer is simple. The Taliban – largely isolated internationally, under widespread sanctions and prevented from accessing funds given to Afghanistan’s former government – need money.

The tourists – whose numbers have crept up from just 691 in 2021 to more than 7,000 last year, according to AP news agency – bring it.

Most seem to join one of myriad tours offered by international companies, providing a peek at the “real Afghanistan” for a few thousand dollars a trip.

Mohammad Saeed, the head of the Taliban government’s Tourism Directorate in Kabul, said earlier this year that he dreamed of the country becoming a tourist hotspot. In particular, he revealed, he was eyeing up the Chinese market – all with the backing “of the Elders”.

“All they want to do [with tourism], it’s good,” says Afghan tour guide Rohullah, whose smiling face has been shared dozens of times by happy clients since he started leading groups three years ago.

“Tourism creates a lot of jobs and opportunities,” he adds – and he should know.

After what he refers to as “the change” in 2021 – when the Taliban seized power as the US pulled out – he was offered a job as a tour guide by a friend. Before that, he had spent eight years working for the Afghan finance ministry.

And he hasn’t regretted it. Tour groups like Heeney’s need drivers and local guides, and with tourist numbers continuing to rise, there is no shortage of work.

It is not surprising then to find groups of young men – and they are all men – attending Taliban-approved hospitality classes in Kabul, hoping to take advantage of the burgeoning industry.

“We expect much for this year,” Rohullah says. “This is a peaceful time – it was not possible to travel to all parts of Afghanistan before, but for now, it really is possible.”

The killing of three Spanish tourists and an Afghan at a market in Bamiyan in May by the Islamic State-affiliated ISK militant group stood out for being unusual because it targeted foreigners.

The British Foreign Office continues to advise against all travel to the country, which remains a target for attacks. ISK carried out 45 in 2023 alone, according to the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point.

Of course, part of the reason for Afghanistan’s increased security now is that during the 20 year war which engulfed the country after the US invasion, the Taliban themselves were responsible for much of the violence.

Take – for example – the first three months of 2021, when the UN attributed more than 40% of the 1,783 civilian casualties recorded to the Taliban. It wasn’t just the Taliban though. The same report noted US-led Afghan government forces were responsible for 25% of the casualties in the same period.

What is perhaps more surprising is that Heeney and two other members of the group she led for Lupine Tours earlier this year were women – and they were far from the only ones. Young Pioneer Tours – which has long experience of organising holidays to North Korea and other off-grid destinations – even runs exclusively female trips to Afghanistan. Rohullah has guided female solo travellers “without any issues”.

The Taliban’s strict rules for their own female population – which has seen them forced out of the workplace, out of secondary education and even out of the Band-e-Amir national park, a stop on many of the international tours on offer – do not preclude female tourists visiting.

It does mean that “women and men have different encounters” in Afghanistan, acknowledges Rowan Beard, who has been bringing groups to the country since 2016. It is not necessarily a bad thing, he argues.

“Men cannot speak with women; women can,” he explains. “Our female tourists had the opportunity to sit with a group of women and hear from them about their experiences, and further insights into the country.”

But everyone needs to follow the rules put in place. Heeney and her group were briefed in advance of what would be required in order to meet those rules, including on how they dressed, how to act and who they could, and couldn’t, talk to.

The Taliban – ever-present, watching from the sidelines with their guns – were among those who did not speak to Heeney or the female members of her group. She didn’t begrudge it.

“You have to kind of know the rules and learn the game,” she explains.

For Heeney, speaking with the women – who were “incredibly happy” the group was visiting – was a highlight on a tour where the “absolutely lovely”, generous and welcoming people of Afghanistan stood out.

In videos posted on social media, the women are noticeably missing from vibrant street scenes – a fact glossed over by one visitor, who declares people shouldn’t worry, they are just inside doing what women around the world love to do: shop.

Watching these slick videos from outside Afghanistan, some are left with a bitter taste.

“[Tourists think] it is just this backward part of the world, and they can do whatever they want – we don’t care,” says Dr Akbari, now a postdoctoral researcher at Monash University in Australia.

“We just go and enjoy the landscape and get our views and our likes. And this hurts us a lot.”

It is, she adds, “unethical tourism with a lack of political and social awareness”, which allows the Taliban to gloss over the realities of life now they are back in power.

Because this is, arguably, the other value of tourism to the Taliban: a new image. One which doesn’t highlight the rules controlling the lives of Afghan women.

“My family – they have no male guardian – cannot travel from one district to another district,” Dr Akbari points out. “We are talking about 50% of the population who have no rights… We are talking about a regime which has installed gender apartheid.

“And yes, there is a humanitarian crisis: I’m happy that tourists might go and buy something from a shop and it might help a local family, but what is the cost of it? It is normalising the Taliban regime.”

Heeney admits she did have a “moral struggle” over the Taliban’s position on women before she visited.

“Of course, I feel very strongly about their rights – it crossed my mind,” she says. “But then as a traveller… I think countries are deserving to go to, and be listened to – we have a skewed idea. I like to see with my own eyes. I can make my own judgment.”

Beard argues for letting people “make their own conclusions rather than there being a one-size-fits-all answer to the experience women have in the country”.

The overly positive view shared by some on social media can definitely be seen as problematic, says Marina Novelli, professor of marketing and tourism at Nottingham University School of Business.

“I would be very wary of the sensationalisation of a destination,” she says, explaining that some may “paint an image that is naïve”.

“Sometimes travellers also want to send a positive message – but that does not mean that problems [aren’t still there].”

Boycotting is also not the way forward, argues Prof Novelli, who sits on an international tourism ethics board.

“I find that problematic – it isolates these countries even more.”

It also opens up a question over where to draw the line – there are plenty of tourist destinations in the global north which have governments with questionable practices, she says.

However, the potential for benefit is also worth considering: in Saudi Arabia, she says, a growing tourism industry has led to a widening role in society for women.

“I think tourism can be a force for peace, for cross-cultural exchange,” Prof Novelli says.

That potential though does not make it easier for women like Dr Akbari, and her family and friends in Afghanistan.

“Our pains and our sufferings are being whitewashed,” she says, “brushed with these fake strokes of security the Taliban want.”

Shamsa Sharawe has become infamous within the Somali community across the world for speaking out against female genital mutilation (FGM) . In a video to illustrate what happened to her vulva when she was aged six she cut off the petals of a rose with a razor blade and then stitched up what was left of the flower.

The TikTok post went viral – with nearly 12 million views since it was shared 16 months ago.

No Somali, even in the diaspora, talks openly about FGM – never mind the problems that can come with it like painful periods, the difficulty of urinating, the agony of having sex and the dangers and trauma of giving birth when one’s vulva (including the lips and clitoris) have been cut off and the vaginal opening has been narrowed to a tiny hole.

This form of FGM – known as infibulation or “type three” – is what happens to most girls in Somalia as it is a commonly held belief that the cutting off their outer genitalia will guarantee their virginity.

Women who do not undergo FGM are regarded by many in Somali society as having loose morals or a high sex drive, which risks ruining a family’s reputation.

Yet the 31-year-old TikToker, who came to live in the UK in 2001 when her family fled Somalia’s civil war, is not afraid to take on such taboos with humorous, engaging and sometimes heart-breaking honesty.

Using the name Shamsa Araweelo on TikTok, she has shared a horrific account of how she was forcibly married off and raped not long after she turned 18 while on a trip to Somalia. It took six months for her to find a way to escape back to the UK.

But perhaps the biggest taboo of all has been to admit that she wanted her genitalia back – so much so that she has paid to have reconstructive surgery as it is not available to women through the UK’s National Health Service (NHS).

She found out that this was possible when she was contacted by Haja Bilkisu, a German citizen who had undergone FGM as a child on a visit to her birth country of Sierra Leone.

Responding to Ms Sharawe’s rose video, Ms Bilkisu explained that she had had her clitoris reconstructed thanks to Dr Dan mon O’Dey at Germany’s Luisenhospital in Aachen.

“I was terrified of the idea of re-cutting, even though this time it was with my consent,” Ms Sharawe tells the BBC.

“But I had to do it for my mental health. I just wanted to never feel pain again.”

The surgery includes the reconstruction of the clitoris and labia – in Ms Sharawe’s case using tissue from her buttocks – and the removal of cysts and scar tissue in order to reduce pain and restore a woman’s sex life. In some instances, the vaginal opening is also enlarged back to normal.

Ms Sharawe, who was featured in last year’s BBC list of 100 women for her determination to end FGM, decided to share her journey to Germany and recovery so other women like her could know their options.

Yet it has taken years of abuse and the trauma of a second failed marriage for her to find the courage to take on the establishment within the Somali community.

Ms Sharawe, now a single mother with a 10-year-old daughter, also feels let down by the NHS.

It only offers deinfibulation for FGM survivors – that is surgery that opens up the vagina, but does not replace any removed tissue and will not undo any of the damage.

Ms Sharawe decided to look for funds to pay for surgery in Germany.

Through online crowdfunding, she managed to raise £25,000 ($32,000) – and underwent a four-and-half hour procedure in December.

She was in Germany for three weeks and on her return, the anti-FGM activist and teaching assistant was not able to leave her house for months as she recovered.

The childcare costs and other expenses on top of the surgery mean she is still in debt – owing around £3,000 to the hospital.

“Paying for damage you didn’t choose for yourself, or you didn’t create, is really unfair,” she says.

There are four different types of FGM with varying levels of severity:

1. Clitoridectomy: partial or total removal of the sensitive clitoris
2. Excision: partial or total removal of the clitoris plus the inner skin folds surrounding the vagina (labia minora)
3. Infibulation: cutting and repositioning of the outer skin folds around the vagina (labia minora and labia majora). Often includes stitching to leave only a small gap
4. Covers all other harmful procedures like pricking, piercing, incising, scraping and cauterising the clitoris or genital area.

• What is FGM, where does it happen and why?

In the past couple of decades, medical techniques have been developed to try to repair the damage – pioneered in 2004 by French surgeon Dr Pierre Foldès.

Clitoral reconstruction is covered by public health insurance in Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Sweden and Switzerland.

However, in Africa – where the majority of girls and women who have undergone FGM live – access to surgery is limited to Kenya, where patients must pay around £1,000, and Egypt, where non-governmental organisations can cover the costs.

“Not every surgeon can do this surgery. It’s complicated and every patient is different,” says Dr Adan Abdullahi, a specialist in Kenya.

But he says women with every type of FGM could benefit: “It has a positive effect on childbirth, especially for ‘type three’, which is associated with a narrowing of the vagina.”

Other issues, such as pain during sex, can be significantly improved or cured, he says – adding that his patients often experience improved self-esteem “and a sense of completeness”.

Ms Bilkisu says she does feel more complete since her surgery, which was covered by the German health system: “Undergoing surgery was really a power move, a way to fight back.”

But the 30-year-old recruitment agent encourages others to do their research thoroughly before deciding: “Reconstruction is not only to reconstruct the clitoris.

“A lot of women who are cut have thick scar tissue. You have to discuss it with your doctor. What can you do to make the vulva more elastic?”

Ms Bilkisu, who was determined to have “a normal sexual experience” one day and autonomy over her body, has had three operations over the last three years – each one taking around six hours.

“That’s tough on your body. You’re put under anaesthesia. You have to take medication afterwards. I couldn’t walk for three weeks,” she says.

The physical toll of such operations means some doctors, like Dr Reham Awwad in Egypt, are keen to promote non-surgical procedures.

The co-founder of the Restore clinic says that although reconstruction surgery can bring relief, the cutting is sometimes so severe that even the most advanced surgical techniques cannot restore sexual function.

“I definitely don’t think surgery is the answer for everyone,” she tells the BBC.

Around half the cases at her clinic, which opened in 2020, are now treated using non-surgical means like injections of platelet-rich plasma which promotes tissue rejuvenation.

“The plasma [can] lead to regeneration and stimulation of increased blood flow and reducing inflammation in the areas where you inject it,” she says.

However, she cautions that the high cost means such treatments are beyond the reach of many.

Her clinic also offers psychological therapies to overcome trauma for women cut at an age when they can remember the experience.

For those who do opt for reconstructive surgery, the results can be emotional.

“The first time I actually saw my clitoris I was taken aback because for me it was like this doesn’t belong to me,” said Ms Bilkisu, who was eight years old when she underwent “type two” FGM.

Ms Sharawe agrees it takes some getting used to, plus learning how to deal with things like proper period bleeds.

It will take her another six months to completely recover – and she has not been able to afford to go back to Germany for a check-up, which worries her.

“But now I know how it feels to be a full woman… I am a very happy woman,” she says.

“I can wear underwear without discomfort or pain. I can wear trousers. I feel normal.”

And while she has experienced an expected backlash from some Somalis on social media – some of her family have surprised her with their support.

One of her uncles even wanted to know if the surgery was available in the UK for his wife.

“He didn’t feel comfortable knowing his wife’s FGM was still affecting her even after 50-plus years. He wanted to improve the quality of her life… because we [all] deserve to have a good quality of life.”

• Inside the beauty pageant in one of the world’s worst places to be a woman
• Somalia’s hidden world of sex work
• What beauty parlours reveal about Somali women