It was Joe Biden’s first chance to define how he will be judged by history.

In a rare televised address from the Oval Office on Wednesday night, his first public comments since he abruptly ended his re-election bid on Sunday, he spoke of his accomplishments. He spoke of his humble roots. He sang the praises of the American people. He said the future of American democracy lies in their hands.

What he didn’t do, despite saying he would always level with Americans, was provide a direct explanation for the biggest question of the day.

He didn’t say why he has become the first incumbent president to abandon a re-election bid, just a few months before voting begins.

And that is what the history books will be most interested in.

He hinted at it. He talked around it. But he never tackled it head on. It was left for the American people to read between the lines.

“In recent weeks,” Mr Biden said, “it’s become clear to me that I need to unite my party.”

He then echoed what has become a growing chorus among Democrats – that it was time to “pass the torch” to a new generation.

While he said his accomplishments, which he listed in detail, merited a second term in office, he added that “nothing can come in the way of saving our democracy – and that includes personal ambition.”

Left unsaid was the cold, hard reality that he resigned because it was becoming increasingly clear that he was going to lose to Donald Trump in November. And that is an outcome that those in his party universally view as catastrophic.

Trailing in the polls, embarrassed by a miserable debate performance and with a growing chorus in the Democratic Party calling for him to step aside, there was no clear path to a Biden victory.

While the president may not have said it, his Republican predecessor – and now former rival for the White House – had no such qualms.

At a rally in Charlotte, North Carolina, a few hours before the address, Donald Trump said Mr Biden dropped out because he was losing badly.

Then he went on the attack against Kamala Harris, the party’s new presumptive nominee, claiming that she was a “radical left lunatic” and the “ultra-liberal driving force behind every single Biden catastrophe”.

Republican groups have been flooding the airwaves in key battleground states, in an attempt to define Ms Harris in their terms, not hers. According to research by the Associated Press, Trump’s side is slated to outspend their Democratic counterparts 25-to-1 over the course of the next month.

One advertisement had been saying Ms Harris was complicit in covering up the president’s “obvious mental decline”.

Mr Biden’s speech offered a nationally televised, primetime opportunity to provide a rebuttal to the attacks against his vice-president and to firmly address concerns about his ability to continue to fulfil his presidential duties.

It was an opportunity he mostly passed on.

Towards the end of his speech, the president did talk up his running mate. He said Ms Harris was “experienced, tough, capable” and an “incredible partner for me and a leader for our country”.

They were strong words, but there weren’t many of them. He spent more time discussing Benjamin Franklin than he did his vice-president – the person he endorsed on Sunday, and the one who will be the most important torch-carrier for his legacy in the months ahead.

With little cover from the president, Ms Harris and her team will have to decide whether, and how, to respond to the withering Republican attacks in the coming days.

Mr Biden may have another chance to tout his former running mate at the Democratic convention in Chicago next month, but this is a delicate time for the new presumptive nominee, as her campaign is just lifting off the ground and Americans are still getting to know her.

The president may have been uncomfortable being overly political in this what could be his final Oval Office address. But if he is concerned about his legacy, Harris’s success or failure, more than anything else he does from here on out, matters.

It will determine whether history judges him as man who made a noble sacrifice, or one who put his party at risk by selfishly holding on to power for too long.

The pilot who survived a deadly plane crash in Nepal was saved after his cockpit was sheared off by a freight container seconds before the rest of the aircraft crashed in flames.

Captain Manish Ratna Shakya, the sole survivor of the disaster that killed 18 people at Kathmandu airport, is being treated in hospital but BBC Nepali has confirmed he is talking and able to tell family members he was “all good”.

Rescuers told the BBC that they had reached the stricken pilot as flames neared the cockpit section of the aircraft embedded in the container.

“He was facing difficulty to breathe as the air shield was open. We broke the window and immediately pulled him out,” Senior Superintendent of Nepal Police Dambar Bishwakarma said.

“He had blood all over his face when he was rescued but we took him to the hospital in a condition where he could speak,” he added.

Nepal’s civil aviation minister Badri Pandey described how the aircraft had suddenly turned right as it took off from the airport, before crashing into the east side of the runway.

CCTV footage shows the aircraft in flames careering across part of the airport before part of it appears to fall into a valley at the far edge of the site.

“It hit the container on the edge of the airport… then, it fell further below,” Mr Pandey said. “The cockpit, however, remained stuck inside the container. This is how the captain survived.”

“The other part of the plane crashed into a nearby mound and it tore into pieces. The entire area away from the region where the cockpit fell down caught fire and everything was burnt,” Mr Pandey said.

The pilot was “rescued within five minutes of the crash” and “was very scared but had not lost consciousness at that time”, according to a statement released by the Nepali army.

An army ambulance then took him to hospital.

According to the hospital’s medical director, Dr. Meena Thapa, he suffered injuries to his head and face and will soon undergo surgery to treat broken bones in his back.

“We have treated injuries on various parts of his body,” Thapa told BBC News Nepali, “He is under observation in the neuro surgery ward.”

On Wednesday evening, Nepali Prime Minister KP Sharma visited the hospital, where he met members of the pilot’s family.

Investigations are underway to determine the cause of the crash.

The head of Tribhuvan International Airport said that an initial assessment showed that the plane had flown in the wrong direction.

“As soon as it took off, it turned right, [when it] should have turned left,” Mr Niraula told BBC Nepali.

Nepal has been criticised for its poor air safety record. In January 2023, at least 72 people were killed in a Yeti Airlines crash that was later attributed to its pilots mistakenly cutting the power.

It was the deadliest air crash in Nepal since 1992, when all 167 people aboard a Pakistan International Airlines plane died when it crashed on approach to Kathmandu Airport.

Saruya Airlines operates flights to five destinations within Nepal, with a fleet of three Bombardier CRJ-200 jets, according to the company’s website.

India can be tricky territory for Labour.

Prime Minister Clement Attlee was criticised for allowing partition to be rushed at terrible cost in human life.

Foreign Secretary Robin Cook caused a storm by offering to mediate between India and Pakistan over Kashmir.

And the party led by Jeremy Corbyn angered even more here when it passed a motion calling for international intervention in the disputed region.

So it must have been with some trepidation that David Lammy arrived in a warm and damp New Delhi on Wednesday morning, a newly-minted foreign secretary stepping away for the first time from the more familiar turf of Europe and the United States.

His trip oozed caution. The announcements were uncontroversial; both countries agreed a new tech security partnership.

His words in interviews were safe and measured, eulogising India as a “superpower” and “indispensable partner”.

Mr Lammy’s programme even included a tree planting ceremony at the British residence. Radical this was not.

Yet the nature of the trip was less important than the sheer fact of it.

This was a British foreign secretary in a new government, making a point of visiting India in his third week in office.

Mr Lammy held talks with his Indian counterpart Subrahmanyam Jaishankar.

More than that, he also secured a prized meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a head of government who rarely deigns to trouble himself with mere foreign ministers.

And all this while Mr Modi’s new coalition government was busy dealing with the fallout from its first budget.

In other words, this was a meeting both sides wanted and were prepared to make time for.

For Labour, the primary focus was trade. If it wants the UK’s economy to grow, then it will need British firms to do more business with Indian partners.

India’s economy is on course to become the world’s third largest by the end of the decade. Yet it is only the UK’s 12th largest trading partner.

“There is so much we can do with this global superpower,” Mr Lammy told me.

“We have a long-standing history, a longstanding relationship, and it is a win-win for both of our economies.”

He said Britain would work with India to agree a new free trade deal “in the coming months”, negotiations that have been stalled for much of the year as both countries held elections.

“Being here in India is essential. We have shared interest with India. It is a growing economy. It is going to be the third largest by the end of this decade. It is hugely important that we deepen and grow our ties.”

But this trip was not just about economics. There was broader geopolitics too.

Mr Lammy wants to reset Britain’s relations with the so-called Global South. India sees itself as key player in this loose group of developing nations.

And that, Mr Lammy says, involves less lecturing by Britain and more listening.

He was keen to talk about shared interests on green technology and shared threats in the Indo-Pacific, namely China.

He was less keen to talk about his hosts subsidising Russia’s war machine in Ukraine by buying many tanker loads of cheap Russian oil and gas.

“Across the democratic community, there will always be differences of opinion,” he averred. Which is one way of excusing an ally for aiding an enemy.

The subtext to all this – implicit rather than explicit – was that with so much political instability among Britain’s traditional allies on both sides of the Atlantic, the government was keen to revive and reset – to use Mr Lammy’s favoured phrase – its relations with other allies. And India is the biggest prize.

He said Britain’s relationship with India had been “underperforming” but both countries’ interests were aligned on many issues. He said the UK must cooperate with India “in this tough, geopolitically-challenging time”.

For Indian ministers, Mr Lammy’s trip was seen as good moment to invest in a British government that may be in power for some time.

It was also a chance to refocus the UK on the possibility of a trade deal between the two countries – which India hopes would force the UK to relax its visa regime for Indian students and business professionals.

They clearly welcomed the fact Mr Lammy had made an early visit, and had brought a plane-load of tech entrepreneurs with him.

Away from the economics, there was also some unstated politics.

India has just lost in Rishi Sunak a British prime minister of Asian origin with close family links to the country.

Labour was aware of that, and wanted to fill the gap quickly.

The Jeremy Corbyn era is also still fresh is some Indian minds, and Mr Lammy’s early trip will come as some reassurance.

This trip to the subcontinent was hot and humid. Mr Lammy’s suit was too dark and thick. But the great-grandson of a lady from Calcutta will probably think it was worth the sweat in diplomatic gain.

Israel’s PM Benjamin Netanyahu told US lawmakers “our enemies are your enemies” in a landmark speech to Congress intended to rally support for the war in Gaza, but marked by protests inside and outside the Capitol.

“When we fight Iran, we’re fighting the most radical and murderous enemy of the United States of America,” Mr Netanyahu said.

“Our fight is your fight, and our victory will be your victory,” he added.

The Israeli leader received a raucous reception from mostly Republican politicians as he delivered a speech to a joint session of Congress, his fourth.

But growing political divisions over the war in Gaza were underscored by the dozens of Democratic members of Congress deliberately not present and thousands of protesters on the streets outside.

Crowds gathered by a stage on Capitol Hill decked with banners, including one declaring the Israeli leader a “wanted war criminal,” a reference to an arrest warrant sought by the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court.

Five people were arrested inside the Capitol building for attempting to disrupt Mr Netanyahu’s address, according to police.

Addressing the protestors, Mr Netanyahu said: “You have officially become Iran’s useful idiots.”

In one of many references to Iran, the Israeli prime minister claimed an “axis of terror” threatened the US, Israel and the Arab world, framing it as a “clash of barbarism against civilisations”.

The term riffed off what Iran describes as the “axis of resistance,” an alliance across the Middle East including the Palestinian group Hamas, the Lebanese organisation Hezbollah and the Houthis, who rule parts of Yemen.

He told Congress that Iranian proxy forces had attacked American targets, adding that Iran believes that “to truly challenge America it must first conquer the Middle East”.

“But in the heart of the Middle East, standing in Iran’s way, is one proud pro-American democracy: my country, the state of Israel.”

Speaking for over an hour, Mr Netanyahu deflected criticism of Israel and framed the war in Gaza as his country’s battle for survival, in a pitch for further US military aid.

He thanked the US for providing Israel with “generous military assistance” for decades, adding that in return Israel had provided the US with critical intelligence that had “saved many lives”.

But he called for a process of “fast-tracking” US military aid, claiming this could expedite an end to the war in Gaza and help prevent a broader regional war.

Quoting British Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s appeal to the American people during World War Two, he said: “Give us the tools and we’ll finish the job.”

Mr Netanyahu did not discuss the humanitarian crisis in Gaza at length, except to maintain that Israel delivers enough food aid to provide each person with 3,000 calories. If Gaza’s residents were not getting food, he said, it was because “Hamas steals it”.

Outlining his vision for the Gaza Strip after the war, he called for “a demilitarised and deradicalised” enclave under Israeli military control.

“Gaza should have a civilian administration run by Palestinians who do not seek to destroy Israel. That’s not too much to ask,” he said.

He made no reference to the prospect of an eventual two-state solution, something President Joe Biden and Vice-President Kamala Harris – who is likely to replace him as the Democratic Party nominee – want.

Several standing ovations could not disguise the fact that at least 39 lawmakers were absent from the address.

Almost all were Democrats, among them influential former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, who said it was “inappropriate” for Mr Netanyahu to visit.

Ms Harris was not in attendance, reportedly due to a scheduling clash.

Throughout the speech, Michigan Democrat Rashida Tlaib, the first Palestinian-American member of Congress, was seen holding a placard in the air, which read “guilty of genocide” and “war criminal”.

Conscious that Donald Trump could return to the White House, Benjamin Netanyahu also thanked the former president for moving the American embassy to Jerusalem and for recognising Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, a territory Israel conquered from Syria in 1967.

The two men will meet in Florida later this week.

At home in Israel, families of hostages still held in Gaza gathered to condemn the speech as it was broadcast, silently, on to the central area known as Hostages Square in Tel Aviv.

After listening to the national anthem, the crowd dispersed as Netanyahu continued his address on screen.

The audio was muted, but his English speech was shown with subtitles in Hebrew translation.

Shortly after the end of the speech, the Israeli army announced it had retrieved the bodies of two hostages, Maya Goren and Oren Goldin, from Gaza. The news underscored the growing despair many hostage families feel towards the prospect of seeing their loved ones alive again, with monthslong hostage negotiations still not having borne fruit.

The prime minister’s address to Congress came nine months into Israel’s campaign in Gaza, which has killed more than 39,000 people, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

The Israeli military launched a campaign to destroy Hamas in response to an unprecedented attack on southern Israel on 7 October, during which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

A tanker carrying close to 1.5 million litres of industrial fuel has capsized and sank off the Philippine capital on Thursday, causing an oil spill, officials say.

Sixteen crew members of the Philippine-flagged MT Terra Nova have been rescued while one remains missing, Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista said.

Mr Bautista said an oil spill has been detected but strong winds and high waves were hampering the authorities’ response.

The incident comes a day after Typhoon Gaemi intensified seasonal monsoon rains, submerging large swathes of Metro Manila and its suburbs in deep floods.

Gaemi has made landfall in Taiwan, leaving three people killed and wounding hundreds more.

The MT Terra Nova was heading for the central Philippine city of Iloilo when it sank, leaving an oil spill stretching for several kilometres, authorities said.

It “capsized and eventually submerged,” the coast guard said in a report, adding they were investigating whether bad weather was a factor.

Manila Bay, where the tanker capsized, hosts busy shipping lanes and its shores are home to shopping malls, casino resorts and fishing communities.

In March 2023, an oil tanker carrying 800,000 litres of industrial fuel sank off the coast of Oriental Mindoro province.

That oil reached the shores of several nearby fishing villages, coating beaches in black sludge.

Residents in coastal villages reported experiencing cramps, vomiting and dizziness, and clean-up workers deployed to the affected village of Pola also reported feeling ill.

The black box sits on the army truck dashboard like a talisman, its tiny screen lighting up with warnings when Russian drones are above us. We are driving fast along a country road in the darkness near the front lines outside Kharkiv.

Like many in this war, the soldiers inside have come to revere the little cube they call “sugar”; it warns of the unseen dangers above.

On the vehicle’s roof are three mushroom-shaped antennas that make up separate drone-jamming equipment. The car emits an invisible aura of protection that will thwart some, but not all, of the Russian attack drones patrolling the skies above this battlefield.

“It has detected the Zala Lancet Russian drones,” says Senior Lt Yevhenii, 53, from the front passenger seat, describing one of the most powerful long range Russian drones and its targeting drone. “Is that why we’re driving so fast?” I ask, aware that the drone-jamming antenna is useless against a Lancet.

“We’re not a priority for them, but it’s still better not to slow down because it’s very dangerous,” says Yevhenii, from the Khartia Brigade of Ukraine’s National Guard.

The jamming equipment blocks roughly 75% of frequencies that drones use to communicate with their operators, but some like the Lancet are difficult to block because they are entirely autonomous once their target has been marked. Because of the Lancet’s power, it tends to be used on larger targets, such as armoured vehicles or infantry positions, the Ukrainians say.

Almost none of this technology was here in Ukraine a year ago; now it is commonplace. Drones, which were once peripheral to the war are a central component for both sides, alongside infantry and artillery as Ukraine struggles to hold back Russian advances.

Ukraine has been thrown into the bleak future of war, where within minutes individual soldiers, fast-moving vehicles and trench positions can be precisely targeted. Drones have civilians in their sights too: about 25 from Russia attacked Kharkiv on Tuesday night, although most were intercepted.

Ukraine’s army is fighting back with its own drones, and there are dozens across this stretch of front line. One Ukrainian soldier tells me every day they kill 100 Russians.

The last images from drone cameras are usually of men panicking, their arms flailing, weapons firing before they are killed. The brigade’s 37-year-old drone commander, who goes by the call sign Aeneas, says that without shelter in a building there is little chance of survival – for Russians, and his men too.

“It’s the new way or a new path in modern war. In 2022 it was only infantry war and today one half is only a war of drone, a battle between Russian drones and ours,” he says.

The move to drone warfare is a combination of necessity and innovation. Drones are in plentiful supply, even though when armed they lack the explosive fire power of artillery.

Ukraine has consistently run short of artillery shells, and its allies have been slow to produce and supply them. But a Drone Coalition of Ukrainian allies has pledged to supply the country with a million drones this year.

Russia has made its own innovations on the battlefield too, using an older technology, and the village of Lyptsi, just six miles (10km) from the Russian border, has paid the price.

It was devastated by glide bombs – Soviet-era “dumb bombs” fitted with fins and a satellite guidance system. Some are as large as 3,000kg (6,600lbs) and, when launched from aircraft, glide onto Ukrainian infantry positions and towns to highly destructive effect.

One woman named Svitlana, who was driven out of Lyptsi by these attacks, told us: “Everything was exploding all around. Everything was burning. It was scary there. It was impossible to even get out of the cellar.”

Aeneas takes us on a tour of his drone teams, embedded along the front line in Lyptsi. Every vehicle we encountered near there was fitted with drone-jamming equipment; but the jammer’s protection ends when you exit the vehicle.

It’s dangerous to be caught out in the open, so we follow Aeneas running across the rubble for cover. All the while the BBC’s own drone detector calls out calmly into an earpiece: “Detection: multiple drones, multiple pilots. High signal strength.”

Out of breath, we make it to the drone unit’s underground base beneath a ruined building, where we are introduced to two operators, Yakut and Petro. There are drones on every surface, next to a frying pan with their evening meal. They get through many hundreds of drones in a month, as most are single-use and detonate on their target.

Their weapon of choice is the First Person View (FPV) drone, which carries a payload of between 1kg (2.2lbs) and 2kg of explosive, packed with shrapnel. The drones are modified off-the-shelf models which have cameras to send video back to their remote operators. “We call them celebration drones in Ukraine. They were used to film weddings and parties before the war,” Aeneas says.

I watch on a screen in real time beside Yakut who is fixed in concentration flying a drone manually to a target, across open fields and woodland. “He knows every puddle, every tree in the area,” Petro says.

The FPV drone approaches a building where a Russian soldier is believed to be hiding. It flies through an open window and detonates, the operator’s screen turning to static as the signal is lost. At the same time, another drone team is targeting a Russian Tigr light-armoured vehicle and scores a direct hit, captured by a second surveillance drone that’s watching from above.

The men stay on these positions, flying missions day and night, for up to five days at a stretch and spend as little time outside as possible. Their biggest fear is glide bombs: one landed nearby earlier that week, and the whole building shook. What happens if there’s a direct hit? I ask Petro. “We die,” he replies.

Aeneas shows me a recording from earlier in the week: a Russian soldier is caught in the open and the unit’s drone has him in its sights. The soldier notices it and runs for cover, hiding in a drainage culvert by the roadside. Slowly the drone lowers to its level, checking one side of the drainage pipe, then going around the other side, where the soldier is hiding. It detonates and the man is blown out, dying by the roadside. “He was divided into two parts,” explains Aeneas.

The operators are cool and dispassionate, almost clinical in their targeting and killing. They are as far as three miles (5km) away from their targets, one step removed from the immediate blood and guts of the battlefield. But encountering these weapons on the frontline is nerve-wracking.

A few days later, after dark, at an infantry trench close to Russian positions, a unit commander tells me he believes the Ukrainians have the upper hand in drone warfare, the Russians the advantage with glide bombs.

Russia also has the advantage in drone numbers: six for every Ukrainian one, although the drone teams I was with say they have the technological edge and are quicker at finding ways to counter-attack and jam Russian drones.

The trench is in a wooded copse, surrounded by fields, a thick canopy of trees provides cover.

But as we are speaking a Russian FPV drone is detected and begins to move closer to the position. The few dim lights, mostly phone screens, are turned off in the trench, and the men sit silently as the drone’s approach gets louder. We hold our breath as it hovers overhead. For what seems like an age, no one dares move. But then the drone moves on, in search of another target.

The largest drone in the brigade’s arsenal is the Vampire, which with its six rotors is the size of a coffee table. Again we join Aeneas on another mission in Lyptsi after dark, under the sound of constant artillery fire, where we meet the heavy bomber team. They work to attach the bomb to the drone.

“Ten kilograms, the Russians call this drone the Bogeyman,” says Aeneas. It’s payload is powerful enough to take out their intended target, a Russian command post, they say.

As the men work, a Russian drone makes a number of passes overhead: each time it does, the soldiers retreat into the basement, wait for the all-clear, then resume the assembly. As the drone takes off into the night in a cloud of dust, they watch its progress again from a second surveillance drone.

Just then, with barely any warning, we see on the drone’s thermal camera three Russian glide bombs detonating over the Ukrainian position, over a kilometre away. The shock waves are visible: seconds later they reach our location and the house around us shudders violently.

Ukraine’s allies know that by supporting the drone effort, they are helping the country’s cause, but it isn’t simply an act of charity.

The head of the British military, Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, has said that the UK’s armed forces can learn from Ukraine how to fight future wars. He said in a speech on Tuesday that he wants the Army to have “battalions of one-way attack drones”.

Aeneas and his men know this. As we leave their position, a Russian drone returns and we drive off at speed into the darkness. In the truck he tells me: “No one is fighting war this way – they are learning from us. This will be the future war.”

Typhoon Gaemi which made landfall on Taiwan’s east coast, has killed three people and injured hundreds more, officials said.

Gaemi, which landed near the city of Hualien with wind speeds of around 240km/h (150mph) is believed to be the most powerful storm to hit the island in eight years.

The storm has forced officials to cancel parts of the island’s largest annual military drills, along with almost all domestic flights and more than 200 international flights.

Before hitting Taiwan, Gaemi also brought relentless rains to large swathes of the Philippines, where eight people have died.

Authorities are warning that one of the biggest threats is the typhoon’s potential to cause landslides and flash flooding, especially on mountainsides destabilised by a large earthquake in April.

One of the three people killed in Taiwan was a motorist who was hit by a falling tree, authorities said. Another was crushed by an excavator when it overturned.

More than 8,000 people across the island have been temporarily relocated by local authorities, reports said.

Gaemi made landfall in Taiwan around midnight on Wednesday (16:00 GMT), on the northeastern coast close to Yilan county.

On Wednesday, the government has declared a typhoon day, suspending work and classes across the island except for the Kinmen islands.

On Thursday, schools and offices remained closed, while flights to and from Taiwan have also been cancelled.

The typhoon was originally expected to hit further north, but the mountains of northern Taiwan steered it slightly south towards the city of Hualien.

The typhoon is expected to weaken as it tracks over the mountainous terrain of Taiwan before re-emerging in the Taiwan Strait towards China.

A second landfall is expected in the Fujian province in southeastern China later on Thursday. The typhoon is expected to bring 300mm of rain to the region, which has already been experiencing flooding and persistent downpours.

Several rail operators in China have also suspended operations.

Despite the very strong winds, officials say the main threat from Gaemi is from the huge amount of moisture it is carrying.

The island’s Central Weather Administration has issued a land warning for all of Taiwan.

Taiwanese authorities are warning that between one and two metres of rainfall can be expected across the central and southern mountains of the island in the next 24 hours.

In the capital Taipei, shelves in supermarkets were left bare on Tuesday evening as people stocked up ahead of expected price increases after the typhoon passes.

The threat of the typhoon has also forced the government to call off parts of its planned week-long Hang Kuang military drills, which they had repeatedly said would be “the most realistic ever”.

Although it did not make landfall in the Philippines, Gaemi exacerbated the southwest monsoon and brought heavy rain to the country’s capital region and northern provinces on Wednesday. Work and classes have been halted there while stock and foreign exchange trading were suspended.

Metro Manila, home to nearly 15 million people, was placed under a state of calamity as rivers and creeks overflowed.

Footage circulating on social media showed small cars floating in chest-deep waters and commuters trapped on the roofs of sunken buses.

The state weather bureau said the rains, which are typical at this time of the year, could persist until Thursday.

Fifty-five years after it sank, killing 21 men, Australia has found the shipwreck of the MV Noongah.

The 71m (233ft) freighter was carrying steel off the coast of New South Wales when it ran into stormy weather in 1969, sparking one of the biggest maritime searches in Australian history.

Five of the 26 crewmen were plucked from the water in the hours after the vessel sank, but only one body was ever recovered from those lost at sea.

The location of the wreck has now been confirmed by Australia’s science agency, using high resolution seafloor mapping and video footage.

Only minutes after sending a distress signal on 25 August, the ship had sunk in heavy seas.

Royal Australian Navy destroyers, minesweepers, planes, helicopters and a number of other vessels launched a massive search, as rescue crews also combed the shore for any sign of survivors.

Over the next 12 hours, they found two men at sea in two separate life rafts, and three more clinging to a plank of wood, according to local media.

The fate of the rest of the crew and the ship itself have been a mystery ever since.

Locals first spotted a wreck years ago – in deep water off the coast of South West Rocks, about 460km (286 miles) north of Sydney – and reported its coordinates to authorities.

There have long been suspicions that it may be the Noongah, but the technology or diving knowledge needed to identify the ship was not available.

But last month, a high-tech ship owned by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) was sent to investigate further.

They found the wreck, largely intact and sitting upright on the sea floor, 170m below the surface. All its key dimensions matched the Noongah, the CSIRO said.

The Sydney Project – which finds and documents the wrecks of lost ships – is now planning a dive to collect additional vision from the site, in the hope of shedding light on why the ship sank.

“This tragedy is still very much in the memory of many in the community,” CSIRO’s Matt Kimber said.

“We hope that knowing the resting place of the vessel brings some closure for all.”

Surviving family members of the crew told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation the discovery is a relief.

“It’s always been in the back of my mind,” Pamela Hendy – the widow of captain Leo Botsman – said.

A police officer has been filmed kicking and stamping on the head of a man lying on the ground at Manchester Airport.

The uniformed male officer is seen holding a Taser over the man, who is lying face down, before striking him twice while other officers shout at onlookers to stay back in a video shared widely online.

Greater Manchester Police (GMP) said firearms officers had been attacked while attempting to arrest someone following a fight in the airport’s Terminal 2 on Tuesday. It said it had referred itself to the police watchdog.

Anger has grown over the video and a crowd of what appeared to be several hundred people protested outside the police station in Rochdale, Greater Manchester, on Wednesday evening.

The Manchester Evening News reported that one of the protesters had told the crowd they were “no longer going to settle” for “police brutality”.

“A protest held last night outside Rochdale Police Station about our response at Manchester Airport has concluded safely, without incident,” Assistant Chief Constable Wasim Chaudhry said in a statement obtained early on Thursday by BBC News.

GMP earlier said one officer had been removed from operational duties over the events, and it had referred itself to the Independent Office of Police Conduct (IOPC) over the events and one officer had been removed from operational duties.

In an earlier statement, Assistant Chief Constable Chaudhry said: “We know that a film of an incident at Manchester Airport that is circulating widely shows an event that is truly shocking, and that people are rightly extremely concerned about.

“The use of such force in an arrest is an unusual occurrence and one that we understand creates alarm.

“One male officer has been removed from operational duties and we are making a voluntary referral of our policing response to the Independent Office of Police Conduct.”

The IOPC said it would assess GMP’s referral “and decide what further action is required”.

Firearms officers had been called to the airport at about 20:25 BST on Tuesday after reports of an altercation by members of the public, a police spokesman said.

Three officers were “punched to the ground” in a “violent assault” when they attempted to arrest one of the suspects, he added.

“As the attending officers were firearms officers, there was a clear risk during this assault of their firearms being taken from them.”

Three officers were taken to hospital for treatment, with one female officer suffering a broken nose.

Two men were arrested on suspicion of assault, assault on an emergency worker, affray, and obstructing police, while two other men were also arrested on suspicion of affray and assault on an emergency worker, police confirmed.

Amar Minhas from Leeds told the BBC he was coming through arrivals when he saw the scene unfold.

He said police officers had approached one of the men, in his early 20s, and told him he was a wanted man, before “they pinned him up against a wall”.

Another man then “started on the police” and a fight ensued, he said.

The man who was being pinned against the wall started “throwing punches, he was Tasered, and fell to the floor”, Mr Minhas said.

“That’s when the policeman kicked him.”

The Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, described the video as “disturbing” and said he recognised “the widespread and deep concern” it had caused.

He said he had raised his concerns with GMP’s deputy chief constable.

Andy George, president of the National Black Police Association, described the video as “difficult to watch”.

In a post on X, formerly Twitter, he wrote: “Whilst policing is a really difficult job, we are trained to a higher standard and held to a higher standard.”

Home Office minister Dame Diana Johnson also posted on X: “I am aware of disturbing footage from an incident at Manchester Airport this afternoon and understand the public concern it has prompted.

“I have asked for a full update from Greater Manchester Police.”

Commenting on the protest in Rochdale, and noting the referral already made to the IOPC, ACC Chaudhry said: “We understand the immense feeling of concern and worry that people feel about our response and fully respect their right to demonstrate their views peacefully.”

He added: “We have spent the evening listening to community feedback and will continue to engage with communities and elected members to maintain strong partnership links and understand local views.”

The Duke of Sussex has said his decision to fight against intrusion from the tabloid press has been a “central piece” behind the breakdown of his relationship with the rest of the Royal Family.

In December a High Court judge ruled that Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN) had unlawfully gathered information for stories published about Prince Harry – and he has since been awarded hundreds of thousands of pounds in damages.

Speaking for the first time since the four-year legal battle concluded, he said he felt “vindicated” by the ruling, calling it a “monumental victory”.

But in comments due to be aired as part of an ITV documentary on Thursday, Prince Harry added “it would be nice if we did it as a family”.

Prince Harry, who became the first British royal in 130 years to give evidence in a court, told the programme his decision to fight these cases had “caused… part of a rift” with the rest of his family.

He and his wife, Meghan, stepped back as senior royals in 2020 after publicly revealing their struggles under the media spotlight.

The prince, who now lives in the US state of California, also said he believed there was evidence his mother – the late Princess Diana – was hacked, claiming she “was probably one of the first” victims.

This has never been proven in court.

“The press, the tabloid press very much enjoy painting her as being paranoid, but she wasn’t paranoid, she was absolutely right of what was happening to her,” he said.

Referring to one headline from the Daily Mirror brought up in his case against MGN which claimed his then-girlfriend Chelsy Davy was preparing to break up with him, the prince said it “seems as though they knew something before I even did”.

“I think there’s a lot of… paranoia, fear, worry, concern, distrust in the people around you, clearly a headline like that has absolutely no public interest whatsoever,” he said.

The interview is due to air in a new ITV documentary, Tabloids on Trial, on Thursday evening.

The programme speaks to other famous faces – including Hugh Grant, Charlotte Church and Paul Gascoigne – whose lives have been impacted by the press.

In response to the documentary, an MGN spokesperson said: “We welcomed the judgment in December 2023 that gave the business the necessary clarity to move forward from events that took place many years ago.

“Where historical wrongdoing took place, we apologise unreservedly, have taken full responsibility and paid compensation,” the spokesperson added.

The case was just one of a series of legal challenges the prince has brought against parts of the British press.

Cases against Associated Newspapers – the publisher of the Daily Mail – and News Group Newspapers – now News UK, which publishes the Sun – are currently making their way through the courts.

The man accused of stabbing writer Sir Salman Rushdie in 2022 in New York now faces a new charge of supporting a terrorist group.

Hadi Matar has been charged with providing material support to the Lebanon-based militant group Hezbollah, according to an indictment unsealed on Wednesday.

The federal charges come weeks after Mr Matar rejected an offer from prosecutors that would have sentenced him to prison for a shorter period of time if he pleaded guilty.

He is also charged with attempted murder and assault for the 2022 attack which left Mr Rushdie blind in one eye.

Mr Matar’s lawyer, Nathaniel Barone, told the BBC his client plans to plead not guilty to the new charges.

“We plan on zealously and feverishly defending him on these matters,” Mr Barone said, adding that his client maintains his innocence on all the charges brought against him.

He has been held without bail since the attack.

The indictment said Mr Matar attempted to provide “material support and resources” to Hezbollah, knowing it was a terrorist organization, but the document did not detail what evidence connected him to the group.

Hezbollah is designated a terrorist organisation by Western states, Israel, Gulf Arab countries and the Arab League.

It remains unclear exactly why the 26-year-old New Jersey resident attacked the famed British author, though he told the New York Post, in an interview from jail, that he had watched videos of Sir Salman on YouTube. “I don’t like people who are disingenuous like that.”

In an interview with the BBC earlier this year, Sir Salman recalled Mr Matar “sprinting up the stairs” and stabbing him 12 times.

“I couldn’t have fought him,” he said of the attack that lasted 27 seconds. “I couldn’t have run away from him.”

The attack left him in hospital for six weeks recovering from his injuries.

Sir Salman’s memoir about the incident “Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder” was released earlier this year.

The severed leg of a surfer who was attacked by a shark has washed up on an Australian beach, with doctors now racing to see if it can be reattached.

Kai McKenzie, 23, was surfing near Port Macquarie in New South Wales (NSW) on Tuesday, when a 3m (9.8ft) great white shark bit him.

He managed to catch a wave into shore, where an off-duty police officer used a makeshift tourniquet to stem his bleeding, according to authorities.

His leg washed up a short time later and was put on ice by locals before being taken to hospital, where a medical team is now assessing surgery options.

Mr McKenzie – who is a sponsored surfer – remains in a serious but stable condition, according to emergency services, who have thanked the off-duty officer for his rapid response to the incident.

“He used the lead off his dog as a tourniquet… and essentially saved his life until the paramedics got there,” said NSW Ambulance’s Kirran Mowbray.

She described Mr McKenzie as “calm” and “able to talk” following the attack. “He’s just a really brave and courageous young man,” she added.

Mr McKenzie was rushed to a local hospital shortly after the incident, before being flown to the John Hunter Hospital – which is a major trauma centre – in Newcastle some 200km (124 miles) away. His severed leg also made the long journey.

The keen surfer had only recently returned to the water after suffering a significant neck injury which forced him to take time off from the sport, according to local media reports.

A GoFundMe page to help Mr McKenzie’s family with his medical and rehabilitation costs has been created, attracting over A$75,000 ($49,000; £38,000) as of Wednesday.

While Australia has more shark attacks than any other country except the US, fatal attacks remain relatively rare.

Some 200,000 children, young people and vulnerable adults suffered abuse while in state and faith-based care in New Zealand over the last 70 years, a landmark investigation has found.

It means almost one in three children in care from 1950 to 2019 suffered some form of abuse, including being subject to rape, electric shocks and forced labour, according to the Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquiry.

The publication of the commission’s final report follows a six-year investigation into the experiences of nearly 3,000 people.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon apologised for the findings, calling it “a dark and sorrowful day in New Zealand’s history as a society”.

The inquiry was New Zealand’s biggest and most expensive to date, costing about NZ$170m ($101m; £78m).

Many of those abused have come from disadvantaged or marginalised communities, including Māori and Pacific people, as well as those with disabilities.

The findings come as vindication for a people who have found themselves facing down powerful officialdom, the state, and religious institutions – and often struggling to be believed.

Faith-based institutions often had higher rates of sexual abuse than state care, the inquiry found.

Civil and faith leaders fought to cover up abuse by moving abusers to other locations and denying culpability, with many victims dying before seeing justice, the report said.

Weighing 14kg, it was brought together over 100 days of public hearings – starting back in 2018.

Speaking at its launch, the then Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said it was a “chance to confront our history and make sure we don’t make the same mistakes again”.

More than 2,300 survivors spoke to the inquiry, which found that in most cases, “abuses and neglect almost always started from the first day”.

One survivor, Anna Thompson, told the commission how she was physically and verbally abused at a faith-based orphanage.

“At night, the nuns would strip my clothes off, tie me to the bed face down, and thrash me with a belt with the buckle. It cut into my skin until I bled and I couldn’t sit down afterwards for weeks,” she said in testimony published in the report.

Jesse Kett spoke of how he was beaten and raped by staff in a residential school in Auckland when he was eight years old – recounting in his testimony that other staff members would sometimes watch the abuse happen.

Moeapulu Frances Tagaloa was abused by a priest for two years from the age of five in the 1970s.

“He was a popular, well-known teacher,” she said.

“But he was also a paedophile and unfortunately there were other little girls that he abused.”

Ms Tagaloa now works to help other survivors and has called for all 138 recommendations included in the report to be implemented.

The report found that Māori and Pacific survivors endured higher levels of physical abuse, and were often “degraded because of their ethnicity and skin colour”.

It also found that children and people in foster care experienced the highest levels of sexual abuse among various social welfare care settings.

“It is a national disgrace that hundreds of thousands of children, young people and adults were abused and neglected in the care of the state and faith-based institutions,” the report said.

“Many survivors died while they were in care or by suicide following care. For others, the impacts of abuse are ongoing and compounding, making everyday activities and choices challenging,” it added.

Prime Minister Luxon said: “We should have done better, and I am determined we will do so.

“To every person who took part, I say thank you for your exceptional strength, your incredible courage and your confronting honesty. Because of you, we know the truth about the abuse and trauma you have endured,” he said, describing many of the stories as horrific and harrowing.

“I cannot take away your pain, but I can tell you this: you are heard and you are believed.”

He added that it was too soon to reveal how much the government expected to pay victims in compensation. He said he would offer a formal apology on 12 November.

Speaking to the BBC, Grant Robertson, a former deputy prime minister who was involved in commissioning the report, said it had been a “long time coming”.

He said like many New Zealanders, he felt “a great sense of shame” and “an appreciation of the depth of hurt that’s felt by survivors, and also with a desire that we make good on what is a horrific situation”.

According to the report, the economic cost of this abuse and neglect has been estimated to be anywhere from NZ$96bn to $217bn, taking into consideration negative outcomes including increased mental and physical healthcare costs, homelessness and crime.

On Wednesday, dozens of care abuse survivors took part in a march to parliament before the inquiry was released.

One survivor called the report “historic”.

“For decades they told us we made it up,” Toni Jarvis told news agency Reuters. “So this today is historic and it’s an acknowledgement. It acknowledges all the survivors that have been courageous enough to share their stories.”

Academic Dr Rawiri Waretini-Karena, who was a witness in the inquiry, had earlier spoken about the “pipeline from state care to prison”.

Dr Waretini-Karena, who spent 10 years in prison, told the inquiry about abuse he suffered as a child in a boys’ home.

“When I walked into the prison yard for the first time as a teenager, having never been there before – I already knew 80% of the men in there. We’d spent the last 11 years growing up together in state care,” he wrote in an opinion piece for Radio New Zealand.

“That’s when I knew there was a pipeline to prison; a pipeline that has spent decades sweeping up and funnelling Māori children from state care to prison.”

Dr Waretini-Karena added that the Royal Commission’s report acknowledged “that whilst we are responsible for our actions, we are not responsible for the hidden mechanisms that operate within the environment we are born into, privileging one faction at the expense of the other”.

It is fair to say few had heard of Edmundo González when he registered as a candidate for Venezuela’s presidential election back in March.

The 74-year-old had never run for public office before and was not even widely known in opposition circles.

And yet, in the four months since he decided to run for the top office, the low-key former diplomat has overtaken incumbent President Nicolás Maduro in the opinion polls.

He has become the man the main opposition coalition, PUD, is pinning its hopes on to oust Mr Maduro, who has been in office for the past 11 years.

A large part of his appeal stems from the fact that he has the backing of María Corina Machado, the woman who won an opposition primary in October by a landslide.

Ms Machado received 93% of the votes in the open primary despite being banned from running for office.

When the ban was upheld by the Supreme Court, a body which is stacked with Maduro loyalists, Ms Machado first picked 80-year-old academic Corina Yoris to replace her on the ballot.

When Ms Yoris was thwarted from registering her candidacy by computer problems the opposition blamed on the government, Mr González became the opposition’s surprise “provisional” candidate.

For the next three weeks, Mr González was referred to by his own coalition members as a “placeholder”, who was widely expected to be replaced by a candidate with more name recognition.

Finally, a day before the deadline to change the names on the presidential ballot expired, the PUD announced it would stick with the former diplomat.

But far from thrusting its candidate into the limelight, the opposition coalition kept Mr González in the background, while Ms Machado criss-crossed the country calling on people to vote for him.

This may have seemed an unusual strategy in most countries, but in Venezuela, where opposition activists have been harassed and in some cases jailed, it was considered a wise precaution by many.

According to non-governmental group Foro Penal, 72 opposition campaign workers have been arrested since 4 July, when the election campaign officially kicked off.

Despite these attacks on the opposition campaign, Mr González’s tone and rhetoric have been calm and measured, in keeping with his past as an ambassador.

“I never imagined I would be in this position,” he told BBC News Mundo about becoming the opposition’s unity candidate.

In a change from the infighting which has hampered the Venezuelan opposition in the past, he has appeared shoulder-to-shoulder with María Corina Machado, whom he continues to refer to as “the opposition leader”.

He has also struck a conciliatory tone when addressing those who support Mr Maduro, promising “reconciliation” were he to win on Sunday.

“We aim for those who support the government – which is a dwindling number of people – to listen to our call for a coming together of all Venezuelans,” he told BBC News Mundo in June.

It is a message he has repeated time and time again.

“Enough of the shouting and the insults, it’s time to come together,” he urged in a prayer meeting just a week before the polls.

His reconciliatory tone in a country which has seen divisions between government and opposition supporters get ever deeper over the past 11 years is in stark contrast to that of his rival, President Maduro, who has warned of a “bloodbath” should Mr González win.

Senior members of the Maduro administration have repeatedly dismissed Mr González as “a poor old man” who “is part of a perverse plan to inflict harm on our people”.

Despite these personal attacks on him, Mr González has steadfastly insisted that reaching out to those who are on the other side of the political divide is the only way to forge “national reconciliation”.

Asked about widespread fears that the result of the election may be tampered with – the 2018 re-election of Mr Maduro was widely dismissed as neither free nor fair – Mr González has insisted that he is hopeful that the opposition will win with such a majority that it will make his victory hard to contest.

“They have wanted to spread fear of change, they want you to be afraid to express yourselves on Sunday, but what they’re not counting on is the bravery of the Venezuelan people,” he said a week before the polls.

Moscow’s Europe Square is no more.

The city’s mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, has signed an order renaming this place Eurasia Square.

It’s a little change that says a lot about the direction in which Russia is moving: away from the West.

It’s not the prettiest square in the Russian capital. It’s certainly no match for Red Square, with the breathtaking onion domes of St Basil’s Cathedral and the Kremlin.

Eurasia Square is built beside the bustling “Kyiv Railway Station” and a hotel, where the BBC’s Moscow Office was once located. There’s a fountain and an unusual composition created by a Belgian sculptor entitled “The Abduction of Europe”.

I remember when this square was constructed just over 20 years ago. It was built as a symbol of unity on the continent of Europe. There were once dozens of flags of different European countries flying here.

They were removed last year, and now the name’s gone too.

Goodbye Europe; hello Eurasia.

But what exactly is Eurasia?

Different countries have different concepts of Eurasia. President Vladimir Putin officially terms Russia a Eurasian power. He uses the word to mean Russia is geographically in Europe and Asia but civilisationally distinct from both.

Europe Square’s commemorative plaque still stands. It reads:

“As a token of stronger friendship and unity between the European countries, the government of Moscow has decided to create the ensemble of the Square of Europe in the Russian capital.”

The reality is that Russia’s war in Ukraine and Western sanctions have put enormous strain on relations between Moscow and Europe. The Russian authorities talk constantly now of the need to tilt east and look towards China, North Korea, Asia as a whole.

Europe isn’t just out of fashion – it is portrayed by the Russian authorities as the enemy.

It’s not the first time that the Moscow authorities have played politics with street names after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

In June 2022 the street where the US embassy is located was renamed “Donetsk People’s Republic Square,” a reference to the self-proclaimed breakaway region of Ukraine, which Russia later claimed to have annexed.

In similar fashion, the following month the area around the British embassy became “Luhansk People’s Republic Square”.

Back on (former) Europe Square, what do passers-by make of the change to Eurasia?

“It’s the right decision,” Olga tells me. “We’re not friends with Europe right now. I don’t want to be in Europe.”

“Eurasia is good,” says Anna. “Russia borders Europe and Asia. I was born in Kazakhstan, so this is fine with me.”

“Europe has different standards now,” Pasha tells me. “They think in a different way. We’re gradually splitting away.”

But Yevgeniya is disappointed. She sees the name change as “a sign of conflict between different countries.”

“It’s so sad,” she adds.

But at the end of the day, does a name really matter?

Following the 1917 Russian Revolution so many streets and squares in Russia were renamed to feature the word “communism”. Did it help the Soviet Union build communism? Not in the slightest.

The decision to ditch the word Europe from a square doesn’t mean that Russia won’t one day, once again, look West.

There are many glass ceilings a Kamala Harris presidency could shatter. One of them is that she could be the first black sorority member to sit in the Oval Office.

The US vice-president, who spoke on Wednesday at the biennial convention of Zeta Phi Beta, is a life-time member of Alpha Kappa Alpha.

The two organisations are among the predominantly black sororities and fraternities that make up the National Pan-Hellenic Council.

Commonly called the Divine Nine, its nearly four million members are poised to become a secret weapon as Ms Harris seeks the presidency.

Less than 24 hours after Joe Biden endorsed his deputy to seek the Democratic nomination in his place, the group vowed to launch an “unprecedented voter registration, education and mobilisation” drive.

As a non-profit, the National Pan-Hellenic Council is non-partisan and cannot officially endorse Ms Harris.

But it is promising a campaign that “will activate the thousands of chapters and members in our respective organisations to ensure strong voter turnout in the communities we serve”.

That is in line with how the Divine Nine historically gets behind its own. Its members have supported Ms Harris, 59, in the past as she climbed the ladder of national politics.

Greek life on US university campuses typically evokes images of young white men or women living together in group houses and drinking booze out of red solo cups.

But black Greek-letter clubs emerged at the turn of the 20th century as support systems that offered kinship to black students experiencing segregation and social isolation at majority-white institutions.

The first black fraternity, Alpha Phi Alpha, began as a study group at Cornell in 1906, according to The Divine Nine: The History of African American Fraternities and Sororities by Lawrence C Ross.

Its membership has included civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr, former Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall and Olympic gold medallist Jesse Owens.

Ms Harris pledged Alpha Kappa Alpha, the nation’s oldest black sorority, as a senior – or fourth-year student – at Howard University in Washington DC.

She has previously said the experience “changed my life”.

Both in its individual parts and as a collective, the Divine Nine is built around shared values of scholarship, civic engagement and community service.

It has lobbied in the past for everything from federal anti-lynching legislation and women’s suffrage to high school tutoring and financial aid opportunities for black youth, according to Mr Ross’s book.

Membership is for life, he writes, which is “almost spiritual” and “makes you realise that your life on earth has more meaning than just your own selfish needs”.

Of her AKA connection, Ms Harris said in 2019: “Throughout your life, you find friends who become family and – like family – they help shape you and your life experiences. For me, that was the women of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. who became my sisters.”

That year, as the then-California senator launched a campaign for president, her fellow “sorors” canvassed and phone-banked to get out the vote.

When she became Mr Biden’s running mate, images of AKAs and other Divine Niners, accessorised with heels and pearls, went viral for their Stroll to the Polls in Atlanta, in the battleground state of Georgia. The Biden-Harris ticket went on to narrowly win the state, powered in part by strong black turnout.

Though Ms Harris’s candidacy for the November 2024 election is only a few days old, the backing of her sisters is already providing consequential.

On a Sunday night Zoom call, the group Win With Black Women – which includes several Divine Nine members – helped raise more than $1m (£775,000) in roughly three hours for the nascent campaign.

“People are just energised,” Crystal Sewell, an AKA leader, told CBS News, the BBC’s US partner.

“And really really excited about possibilities [as] it relates to VP Harris and her candidacy.”

Ms Harris, who is seeking to make history as America’s first female president, is leaning into that enthusiasm.

Speaking to 6,000 fired up Zeta Phi Beta women at a convention centre in Indianapolis on Wednesday, she promised them “we are not playing around” if she defeats Donald Trump this November.

Her keynote address was scheduled weeks ago, but – touching on topics such as abortion, gun control and Project 2025 – the vice-president laid out the stakes of her candidacy.

“We face a choice between two different visions for our nation,” she told the crowd. “One focused on the future, the other focused on the past. With your support, I am fighting for our nation’s future.”

“So let us continue to fight,” she added, “because when we fight, we win.”

Namibian Michelle Nehoya has spent nearly $500 (£390) on an application for a visa to visit Canada – but more than two years later it has yet to materialise.

The 38-year-old, who lives in Namibia’s capital, Windhoek, is desperate to get to Quebec to see her aunt and cousins whom she has not seen for almost a decade.

The visa application has involved filling in multiple forms – and among other requirements, she has also had to provide six months of bank statements, an invitation letter plus a detailed travel history.

There is no way to apply in Namibia, so this has also meant travelling to South Africa to submit her biometric data, which involves giving her fingerprints and having a photo taken.

Her experience is not uncommon for Africans travelling to Western countries.

In 2022, seven of the top 10 countries with the highest visa rejection rates in the bloc of European countries known as the Schengen area were African, according to consultancy firm Henley and Partners.

“It has been lengthy and frustrating. I haven’t been given any reason why it’s taken so long,” Ms Nehoya tells the BBC.

However, if her family in Quebec decide to travel to Namibia on Canadian passports, they will not face anything like the challenges and costs she encountered. Canadian citizens can currently enter Namibia without a visa.

But this will change in eight months’ time.

From next April, Canadian nationals, along with those from Germany, the US, the UK and 29 other countries, will require a visa for entry.

These include all “non-reciprocating countries” – meaning the new visa rules will affect citizens from all countries that require Namibian passport holders to have visas.

“Namibia has extended gestures of goodwill and favourable treatment to nationals of various countries. However, despite these efforts, certain nations have not reciprocated,” Namibia’s immigration ministry said in May.

“In light of this disparity, the government has deemed it necessary to implement a visa requirement to ensure parity and fairness in diplomatic interactions.”

But these visitors will be able to buy their 90-day visa, costing $90, on arrival in Namibia – unlike the onerous requirements placed on African passport holders who need to get their visas beforehand.

The British High Commissioner to Namibia, Charles Moore, said he respected the right of Namibia to impose new regulations.

“[The UK] unfortunately imposed a visa regime on Namibia last year due to the number of asylum seekers we were receiving. That was impacting on our relationship with Namibia,” he said.

A statement from the UK government further explained there had been a sustained and significant increase in the number of asylum applications from Namibians at the UK border since 2016.

“This constitutes an abuse of the provision to visit the UK for a limited period as non-visa nationals,” it said.

For Ms Nehoya, Namibia’s visa announcement is long overdue: “I think it is fair. It feels like Namibia is standing up for itself.”

The reactions on social media to the news echo her sentiments.

“Finally. I hope they also require them to submit a bible of documents, take medical tests, [and] Namibian language tests,” wrote one commenter.

Another said: “If I need to bring bank statements… and all sort of documents and still buy visa just to gain entry to a country, that country should also do the same to gain entry to my country.”

And visas for the Schengen area, the US and Canada do not come cheap for African passport holders.

The European Union made more than €53m ($58m; £45m) on rejected visa applications from African countries in 2023, according to a recent report by the Lago Collective, a think-tank that focuses on migration.

Visas can be rejected for multiple reasons. The report says most rejections are based on “reasonable doubt about the visa applicant’s intention to return home”.

In June 2024, the price of Schengen short-term visas went up from €80 to €90 for adults, and in October 2023, the UK visa fee rose from £100 to £115.

The report also showed that nearly a third of Africans applying for a visa to the Schengen area were rejected, higher than the global average.

Even when visas are approved, African travellers say their experiences at border security make them feel uncomfortable and unwanted.

Winnie Byanyima, the head of UNAids and who is herself Ugandan, drew attention to this when she tweeted in 2022: “I’m at Geneva airport, I’m almost refused to board, all documents scrutinised over and over again, calls made… I board last.”

Despite Namibia’s visa initiative receiving praise on social media, the tourism industry is less enthusiastic.

The Hospitality Association of Namibia said it was “very concerned” about the message it “sends to the global travel trade”.

In 2022, the tourism sector accounted for 7% of GDP, making it the third largest contributor to the economy – with most tourists coming countries such as Germany and the US.

Though Soni Nrupesh, a tourism expert based in Windhoek, believes the visa move will not deter visitors: “It will not change much; you can still get on a plane without a visa.

“It’s just when you get to the airport you will fill a form pay the fees and enter.”

Prospective travellers like Ms Nehoya hope this kind reciprocity will be the future for everyone.

“People come to Namibia, and they love it. But we also want to see what is happening on the other side,” she says.

“It would be nice to go to Canada, the US or the UK and just get a visa on arrival. But right now, we must plan everything so far in advance.”

• Kenya’s vision of visa-free entry proves tricky for some
• Why is it so hard for Africans to visit other African countries?
• Should Africa have a single passport?
• Why Namibian town wants to change its name to ǃNamiǂNûs
• Fishrot: The corruption scandal entwining Namibia and Iceland

Thulasendrapuram, a tiny village around 300km from the south Indian city of Chennai (formerly Madras) and 14,000 km from Washington DC, is where Kamala Harris’ maternal grandparents were from.

The centre of the village is currently proudly displaying a large banner of Ms Harris, 59.

Special prayers are being offered to the local deity for her success – Ms Harris and her maternal grandfather’s names are on the list of donors to the village temple – and sweets are being distributed.

Villagers have been closely observing the US presidential race following Joe Biden’s withdrawal and Ms Harris’ rise as the possible nominee.

“It is not an easy feat to be where she has reached in the most powerful country in the world,” says Krishnamurthi, a retired bank manager.

“We are really proud of her. Once Indians were ruled by foreigners, now Indians are leading powerful nations.”

There is also a sense of pride, especially among women. They see Ms Harris as one of their own, a symbol of what is possible for women everywhere.

“Everybody knows her, even the children. ‘My sister, my mother’ – that is how they address her,” said Arulmozhi Sudhakar, a village local body representative.

“We are happy that she has not forgotten her roots and we express our happiness.”

The excitement and spectacle is a reminder of how villagers took to the streets with fireworks, posters and calendars when Ms Harris became the vice president.

There was a communal feast where hundreds enjoyed traditional south Indian dishes like sambar and idli which, according to one of Ms Harris’ relatives, are among her favourite foods to eat.

Ms Harris is the daughter of Shyamala Gopalan, a breast cancer researcher, who hailed from the southern state of Tamil Nadu, before moving to the US in 1958. Gopalan’s parents were from Thulasendrapuram.

“My mother, Shyamala, came to the US from India alone at 19. She was a force – a scientist, a civil rights activist, and a mother who infused a sense of pride in her two daughters,” Ms Harris said in a social media post last year.

Ms Harris visited Chennai with her sister Maya after their mother died and immersed her ashes in the sea in keeping with Hindu traditions, according to this report in The Hindu newspaper .

Ms Harris comes from a family of high achievers. Her maternal uncle Gopalan Balachandran is an academic. Her grandfather PV Gopalan rose to become an Indian bureaucrat and was an expert on refugee resettlement.

He also served as an advisor to Zambia’s first president in the 1960s.

“She [Kamala] has been a prominent figure for quite a while now. It’s not a great surprise. Something like this was on the cards for many years,” said R Rajaraman, an emeritus professor of theoretical physics at Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University and a classmate of Ms Harris’ mother.

Prof Rajaraman says he lost touch with Shyamala but met her again in the mid-1970s when he travelled to Berkeley in the US.

“Shyamala was there. She gave me a cup of tea. These two children [Kamala and her sister Maya] were there. They paid no attention,” he recalled.

“Both of them were enterprising. There was positivity in her mother, which is there in Kamala also.”

Back in Thulasendrapuram, villagers are anticipating the announcement of her candidature soon.

“Kamala’s chithi [Tamil for mother’s younger sister] Sarala visits this temple regularly. In 2014 she donated 5,000 rupees ($60; £46) on behalf of Kamala Harris,” said Natarajan, the temple priest.

Natarajan is confident that their prayers will help Ms Harris win the election.

The villagers say they might be thousands of miles away from the US, but they feel connected with her journey. They hope she would visit them some day or the village would find a mention in her speech.

Anti-government protests have sparked nationwide clashes in Bangladesh between police and university students. At least 150 people have been killed – and some of those caught up in the bloodshed have described to the BBC what happened.

One student said demonstrators in the capital Dhaka just wanted to hold a peaceful rally, but the police “ruined” it by attacking them as they were gathering.

A student leader now recovering in hospital described how he was blindfolded and tortured by people claiming to be police.

Meanwhile, an emergency department doctor said they were overwhelmed as dozens of young people with gunshot wounds were brought in at the height of the clashes.

Security forces are accused of excessive force but the government has blamed political opponents for the unrest, which erupted after quotas were imposed on government jobs. Most of these have now been scrapped on Supreme Court orders.

A nationwide internet blackout since Thursday has restricted the flow of information in the country, where a curfew is being enforced by thousands of soldiers.

Limited connectivity was restored on Tuesday night, with priority given to companies such as banks, technology firms and media outlets. Mobile phones have started pinging with WhatsApp messages between friends and families, but users say the internet is slow, while mobile internet and sites such as Facebook remain suspended.

The violence is the most serious challenge in years to Sheikh Hasina, 76, who secured her fourth straight term as prime minister in January, in a controversial election boycotted by the country’s main opposition parties.

Raya (not her real name), a student at the private BRAC university, told BBC Bangla she first joined the protests on Wednesday 17 July, but it was the following day that clashes with police got “really horrible”.

“Police attacked students by throwing tear gas shells after 11:30am. At that moment, a few students picked up those tear gas shells and threw them back towards the policemen,” was how she described it.

She said the police later started using rubber bullets and at one point trapped the students in their campus, even stopping them from taking the badly injured to hospital.

Then, in the afternoon, the police ordered them to leave.

“On that day, we just wanted to do a peaceful rally, but the police ruined the whole environment before we could do anything,” Raya said.

Things took an even darker turn on 19 July, the day when most of the fatalities happened.

By 10:00, hundreds of protesters were battling police at Natun Bazaar near Rampura, not far from a normally secure district that’s home to numerous embassies which now resembled a war zone.

The protesters were hurling bricks and stones at police who responded with shotgun fire, tear-gas and sound grenades, while a helicopter was firing from the air.

BBC reporters saw fires everywhere, burnt and vandalised vehicles left on the street, barricades – set up by police as well as protesters – dismantled steel road barriers and broken branches scattered on the road.

The police could be seen asking for reinforcements and ammunition which was quickly running out.

By this time hospitals in the city were starting to see large numbers of injured, many arriving on foot drenched in blood.

Emergency departments were overwhelmed as hundreds of patients flooded in over a short span of time.

“We referred critically injured patients to Dhaka Medical College Hospital as we could not manage them here,” one doctor who did not want to be named told BBC Bangla, saying most of the victims had been shot with rubber bullets.

Also speaking on condition of anonymity, another doctor at a government hospital said for a few hours it seemed like every other minute someone injured came in.

“On Thursday and Friday, most of the patients came with injury from gunshots,” the doctor said. “On Thursday we performed 30 surgeries on a single six-hour shift.

“It was unnerving even for an experienced doctor… some of my colleagues and I were really nervous to treat so many injured young people.”

The situation got worse by Friday evening with the government declaring a nationwide curfew and deploying the army on the streets.

It was after Friday’s violence that one of the student leaders, Nahid Islam, went missing.

His father said he was taken from a friend’s house at midnight on Friday, and reappeared more than 24 hours later.

Nahid himself then described how he had been picked up and taken to a room in a house, interrogated and subjected to physical and mental torture by people claiming to be detectives.

He says he fainted and only regained consciousness early on Sunday morning, at which point he walked home and sought hospital treatment for blood clots on both shoulders and his left leg.

In response to his allegations, Information Minister Mohammad Ali Arafat told the BBC the incident would be investigated but that he suspected “sabotage” – that someone was trying to discredit the police.

“My question is, if someone from the government has gone, why would they pick him up, detain him for 12 hours and release him somewhere, so that he can come back and make such a complaint?”

There are also questions about those who died, some of whom do not seem to have a proven connection to the protest movement.

BBC Bangla spoke to relatives of Maruf Hossain, 21, who was jobhunting in Dhaka after finishing his studies.

His mother said she told him not to go out during the protests but he was shot in the back while trying to escape the fighting, and later died in hospital.

Another of the dead, Selim Mandal, a construction worker, was trapped in a fire which broke out in the early hours of Sunday morning after violence in the area at a site where he was both working and living.

His charred body was found with those of two others. The cause of the fire is unknown.

Hasib Iqbal, 27, who died in the violence, was said to be a member of the protest movement but not deeply involved. His family said he wasn’t really a part of it, but they’re not sure how he died.

His father was shocked to learn of the death of his son, who had gone to Friday prayers. “We were supposed to go to prayers together, but since I was a little late, he went to the mosque alone,” Mr Razzaq told BBC Bengali.

Mr Razzaq later went out to look for him but only found out he had died hours later. His death certificate said he died of asphyxiation but relatives at his funeral found black marks on his chest.

Mr Razzaq does not plan to file a complaint with the police because “my son will never come back”.

“My only son,” he said, “I never dreamed of losing him like this.”

“I’m the messiah… I’m Marvel Jesus!” proclaims Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool in his third lead outing as the acerbic, X-rated, genre-satirising anti-hero, who returns to cinemas on Thursday for the first time since 2018.

It’s a typically subversive line. But the sharpest jokes hold a grain of truth.

Disney’s Marvel franchise is not short of superheroes, but it is in need of saving right now.

Traditionally, heavyweights like Spider-Man, Thor, Hulk or the Avengers ensemble could be relied on to save the day. But these aren’t ordinary times for Marvel, following the studio’s much-discussed slump.

It’s a good thing, then, that Reynolds’ Deadpool has fully joined the fold, alongside Australian Hugh Jackman – who, thanks to the creative joys of the Marvel multiverse (parallel worlds of different realities), is able to reprise his iconic role as the late metal-clawed Wolverine.

• A guide to the Marvel multiverse

A few years ago, even in the craziest timeline, a downturn in Marvel’s fortunes seemed unthinkable. In 2019, Avengers: Endgame alone took £2.1bn – a high point for the studio’s cinematic universe, which has earned Hollywood almost £23bn since 2008 in an eye-watering gold rush over 33 films.

But last year its iron grip loosened. The confusingly named The Marvels opened to a franchise record low of £38m.

Audience fatigue appeared heavy against an avalanche of interconnected multiverse content – from traditional blockbusters to TV series released on streaming over the pandemic.

This created “a muddled narrative that baffled viewers”, wrote Tatiana Siegel in a Variety feature headlined “Crisis at Marvel”. She described Marvel mastermind Kevin Feige as spread too thin across projects, struggling to maintain standards and ready to wield the axe.

Disney CEO Bob Iger publicly acknowledged quantity had “diluted” the brand, promising to rein in the sequel-heavy culture and put stories first.

Enter Reynolds, who, at a press conference earlier this month, emphasised the film’s unique identity – bringing edge and self-deprecation to an increasingly stale universe. As a co-writer and producer, he said he feels “immensely proud” to make “a different type of movie for the MCU”.

Speaking to the BBC, he says the messiah line reflected Deadpool’s enduring fortune to be “in the right place at the right time”.

“Those lines were written before any larger analysis of storytelling trends in the media,” he adds.

The film sees Deadpool trying to escape his superhero past. But his peaceful existence unravels when the MCU’s Time Variance Authority – the group entrusted to balance the dizzying multiverse timelines – finds itself out of control.

Its corporate stooge Mr Paradox, played by Succession’s Matthew Macfadyen, tries to covertly recruit Deadpool to help safeguard the central “sacred” timeline of reality by sacrificing his world. Refusing, he drags a begrudging, living, Wolverine into his timeline in a bid to save the day.

When asked about potential future spin-offs for the pair, Reynolds insists he wants to steer clear of Marvel’s recent pitfalls. “I love being able to do a movie that is in and of itself just a movie,” he tells the BBC. “Deadpool and Wolverine isn’t a commercial for another movie. It’s just not part of the DNA.”

Reynolds and Jackman have known each other for almost two decades, first working together on 2008’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine, which gave Reynolds his superhero start. Their friendship is clear.

“You’re so lucky because a lot of people don’t know how jealous Wolverine can be,” jokes Jackman. “If you mention anyone else, I will kill them. Particularly if it’s another Australian superhero.”

“You know, his claws come out…” jibes Reynolds.

“So Thor is out!” adds director Shawn Levy, in reference to Australian Chris Hemsworth.

The exchange mirrors how Reynolds sees their real-world relationship reflected on screen. The Canadian star says it was “such a treat to write dialogue” for the film because it felt like “straddling this line – myself and Hugh speaking to each other as friends who’ve… been through a lot together.

“Hugh and I are very outwardly jokey, but in real life our conversations are intense and emotional and about life and all kinds of stuff.”

Both given similar powers as victims of experimentation by the US government’s Weapon X project, Deadpool and Wolverine share a love-hate relationship.

First appearing as adversaries in the 1980s, by 1999 they were firm “frenemies” in the comics. In one issue, they bonded over their mutual tortures at the hands of the Weapon X programme and even shared a beer. “This was the start of an awkward friendship,” wrote Nerdist’s Eric Diaz.

In 2019, Disney acquired 20th Century Fox – making Deadpool and Wolverine official members of the MCU.

The film realises an ambition years in the making. Jackman insists he “really did mean it” when he declared himself “done” with Wolverine after 2017’s critically-acclaimed Logan, which saw the superhero meet his end.

But weeks after filming wrapped in 2016, he saw the first Deadpool – offering a different twist on the genre in its anarchistic comedy – and regretted his decision.

“For four or five years, all I could see were those characters together,” he explains, imagining classic buddy comedy/drama pairings like 48 Hours or The Odd Couple.

Eventually, it became an itch he had to scratch. “I can tell you the date. August 14 2022. I was driving and it came to me like that – I wanted to do [Wolverine] again… with Ryan playing Deadpool.”

Pulling over, he rang Reynolds to plead his case. The timing was perfect, because the actor was hours away from pitching a third Deadpool film to Marvel with Levy.

Levy says Jackman’s arrival was key to giving the third film its “why” and its “heart”.

For Reynolds’ Deadpool, this means plenty of X-rated jokes at Disney’s expense. For Jackman, it is a golden opportunity to explore new depths of his much-loved Wolverine.

“There’s parts of the character that I’d always pitched in different versions and tried to get across. It was something that I’ve been scratching at. And these guys hit it.”

Jackman, 55, says his renewed enthusiasm may come from the perspective age brings, after years on stage and a starring role in screen musical The Greatest Showman.

“When you come back because you desperately want to, and particularly in this form, it felt incredibly fresh.

“There’s one monologue I get which has more countable words than I’ve [previously] used in an entire movie,” he explains.

The final trailer sent fans into meltdown, with the shock appearance of Dafne Keen returning as an older version of Wolverine’s daughter, Laura, from his famous Logan farewell.

It is the epitome of fan service. But willpower alone does not make a blockbuster capable of potentially reviving Marvel’s fortunes. That instead relies on authentic, cohesive storytelling.

Deadpool and Wolverine is the only Disney-backed MCU release this year (thanks to delays from the writers’ strikes), but this may not be a bad thing.

Reviews from critics have been mixed, but many have described the film as the shot in the arm that Marvel needs.

The Guardian’s three-star review said the film “mocks the MCU back to life”, with Deadpool “basically right” in his saviour complex quip.

Variety praised Deadpool and Wolverine’s “misty-eyed” fan-service as a “welcome corrective” to 15 years of MCU convolution, even if the special effects and action sequences don’t always match 2018’s sequel. “The entire genre could use a shake-up, and this jester-like character is just the guy to do it,” added Peter Debruge.

However, the Independent’s two-star review could not look past the “tedious and annoying corporate merger of a film”.

The Hollywood Reporter said the film is on course for a massive $165m (£127m) opening weekend in the US, which would mark the biggest R-rated opening of all time.

Can it save the MCU? Not on its own – multiverse content problems run deep. But it’s certainly energised it and is, whisper it, fun – whichever timeline you’re in.

Bodycam footage captured shortly after the attempted assassination of Donald Trump shows Secret Service and local law enforcement officers near the lifeless body of the gunman.

A trail of blood can be seen near the body of the deceased gunman, identified as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, who was able to fire at the former president from a roof overlooking the outdoor rally in Pennsylvania 10 days ago.

One audience member, Corey Comperatore, 50, was killed and two others – David Dutch, 57 and James Copenhaver, 57 – were badly wounded but are in a stable condition.

The new footage emerged hours after US Secret Service director Kim Cheatle resigned over security failures surrounding the assassination attempt.

The bodycam video captured by Butler County Emergency Services Unit was posted on X by the office of Republican Senator Chuck Grassley.

“A Beaver County sniper seen and sent the pictures out, this is him,” one Secret Service agent can be heard saying in the video, referring to the shooter’s body.

“I don’t know if you got the same ones I did?” an officer asks the agent of the photos.

“I think I did, yeah, he’s [the shooter] got his glasses on,” the agent replies.

The officer adds the sniper “sent the original pictures, and seen him (the shooter) come from the bike, and set the book bag down, and then lost sight of him”.

• Secret Service boss resigns over Trump shooting
• What we know about Trump gunman

The agent also asks about whether an abandoned bike that was found in the area belonged to the shooter.

“We don’t know,” an officer replies.

Discussions can also be heard about “victims in the crowd” and “people detained who were filming”.

Senator Grassley is one of many members of Congress demanding a full investigation into the incident.

Lawmakers questioned Ms Cheatle about security preparations ahead of the campaign rally during a six-hour House of Representatives Oversight Committee hearing on Monday.

Ms Cheatle said she took responsibility for the security lapses, but during the hearing she pushed back on calls to resign.

She called the shooting “the most significant operational failure at the Secret Service in decades”.

Witnesses reported seeing a suspicious man – suspect Crooks – with a rifle on a rooftop at the rally minutes before shots were fired.

Crooks was killed by a counter-sniper shortly after getting a volley of shots off.

Trump was injured in the right ear. He later said he felt the bullet “ripping through the skin”.

Blood was visible on Trump’s face as protection officers rushed him away.

On Tuesday night, Ms Cheatle resigned in a letter sent to staff saying as director she took “full responsibility for the security lapses”.

Janet Jackson can still remember the first song she wrote.

She was nine years old and bored, one rainy afternoon in 1975.

Her older brothers – already international megastars – had just returned from an exhausting 10-month world tour. While they recuperated, there was no-one to keep her entertained.

Finding herself at a loose end, Janet sneaked into the recording studio in family’s backyard in Encino, California, and started playing a tune she called Fantasy.

“I laid down the drum track, I did the background vocals, I sang and I played everything on it,” she recalls.

With an empty day successfully filled, she left the tape on the system and went to bed, not thinking much about it.

But when she arrived home from school the following day, the song was blaring down the driveway.

“I was so embarrassed. The studio door was open and Mike was listening to it,” she says, referring to her brother Michael.

“I think Randy was listening to it, my father was listening.

“Then my father said, ‘You’re gonna sing’.

“I said, ‘No, no, no, I want to go to the college and study business law.'”

But when Joe Jackson told his children what to do, they fell in line.

“It was kind of hard [to argue] because, look at where he led my brothers,” she says.

“So I said, ‘OK, I’ll give it a go.'”

Nearly 50 years later, Janet Jackson is one of the most successful recording artists of all time.

With era-defining albums like Control and Janet, she has sold more than 100 million records, been named an MTV Icon and, in 1990, broke the glass ceiling by becoming the first woman to be nominated for best producer at the Grammys.

“That was jaw-dropping for me,” she says. “You think it should have happened a long time ago.”

We meet backstage at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, where the star is about to play the 73rd show of her Together Again tour, which reaches the UK in September.

Her most successful concert tour to date, it explores Janet’s entire career, from the sweaty R&B grooves of Nasty and Rhythm Nation to seductive slow jams like That’s The Way Love Goes and Any Time, Any Place – all performed with her trademark whip-crack choreography.

On stage, she’s a commanding presence. In person, she’s shy and softly spoken.

“I don’t like talking,” she confides. “And I don’t like interviews. I don’t think I’m very good at them.”

In the midst of a New York heatwave, this puts a chill up my spine. I’ve watched enough YouTube videos to know Janet can be awkward and distracted under the spotlight.

But the fears quickly melt away.

Today, Janet is candid, relaxed and funny – not only breaking into song, but busting out dance moves and, most surprisingly of all, joking about her ill-fated love life.

“How many times have I been married now?” she laughs. “Three, I think.”

There’s an ease that suggests the star has resolved – or at least found a way to make peace with – her battles with low self-esteem and body image.

The key, perhaps, is that she has someone else to care for.

Her first son, Eissa, was born in 2017 and is present for her New York show, standing proudly at the side of the stage wearing ear defenders.

“Being a mum is the most beautiful thing,” she says.

“I love every single minute of it.”

Eissa is now seven, the same age Janet was when she made her TV debut, appearing with her brother Randy in a comedy sketch on the Carol Burnett Show.

“I don’t ever remember being asked,” she says, a hint of sadness in her voice.

“I just remember doing it.”

Before long, she was taking roles in the TV sitcoms like Good Times and Diff’rent Strokes.

In her teens, she released her first two albums, Janet Jackson and Dream Street. One contained a surprising duet with Cliff Richard. Both failed to sell.

Then, when she was 18, Janet suddenly and unexpectedly eloped with doe-eyed soul singer James DeBarge.

Their marriage was annulled after eight months, but not before it threatened to ruin her reputation.

At the time, DeBarge was a drug addict who would often disappear for hours at a time – including on their wedding night. Janet found herself scouring the streets for him at all hours of the night and day.

“I was doing the TV show Fame at the time and I’d be late for work and hold up shooting,” she says, wincing at the memory.

“I wasn’t being irresponsible. I just felt that [James] needed me more than the show.

“I got spoken to a few times by the producers. I’m not sure they were that fond of me.”

Janet eventually asked to be released from the show, deciding to give music “one more chance”.

Rejecting her father’s preferred producers, she hired Minneapolis funk masters Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis for her next album, Control.

Known for hits like The Time’s Jungle Love and The SOS Band’s Just Be Good To Me, they teased out a new sound for the singer – full of industrial-strength rhythms and strident, assertive lyrics.

The stories were drawn directly from Janet’s life. What Have You Done For Me Lately was a sassy retort to DeBarge, while Nasty was written after Janet and her friend were harassed by a group of men on the streets of Minnesota.

The title track, meanwhile, was a defiant celebration of independence.

““

Jam and Lewis helped Janet express a side of her personality – self-confident and in command – that the public had never seen before.

And they did it by getting her drunk on ice cream.

“They did!” she laughs. “I didn’t know the ice cream had real rum in it because I really didn’t drink.

“But I wasn’t like an idiot, tripping and stumbling over myself. I just felt a little woozy in the head and I was more forthcoming with my story.”

“All of the songs we did with her on Control record had attitude,” says Jimmy Jam.

“She always had a lot of attitude in the parts she played on TV and we just thought, that’s not coming out in the music. So we tried to make really aggressive tracks, really hard-hitting tracks, because we knew she could pull them off.”

Ferociously cool, Control became an MTV staple thanks to eye-catching videos like Nasty and The Pleasure Principle – all featuring Janet’s punchy choreography.

Surprisingly, she never had formal training – learning her moves from classic MGM musicals. Her only experiences of dance classes ended in disaster.

“Mother tried, when I was very little, putting me in ballet,” she says. “But I’ve got a booty. So she [the teacher] would say that I’m not tucking my butt in enough.

“Then she hit me.

“I was young. I was little. Maybe four, five. And so mother took me out.”

A second attempt at taking classes in her teens also ended badly.

“I remember that [my teacher] got a little too close to me and I felt very, very uncomfortable. And I remember coming out of the class and telling my mother and she said, ‘You’re never going back’.

“So I never really studied.”

Control was a monster, selling 10 million copies and spawning six hit singles.

For the follow-up, Janet’s label asked her to make a concept album about her family.

She entertained the idea briefly (You Need Me, a song about her difficult relationship with Joe Jackson, eventually became a B-side) but eventually rejected it in favour of the socially conscious lyrics of Rhythm Nation 1814.

It was inspired by the dawn of 24-hour news. Janet would have CNN running in the studio, and reports about homelessness, drug crime and school shootings made their way into the lyrics.

“I was seeing things that were bothersome to me and wanting to write about [them] in the hope I could make some sort of a difference.”

Her goal, she says, was not to make political songs in the style of Tracy Chapman or U2, but to make sneak messages into music “that was really funky”.

“People would get into the groove of it, then stop and listen to what the message is and say, ‘OK, wait a minute, that’s really interesting.'”

Is she discouraged that, 35 years later, we’re still fighting the same problems?

“It’s crazy, isn’t it?” she sighs.

“Have we made some strides? Yeah, I think we definitely have. But there’s still so much further to go.”

Sexism is another topic Janet has addressed repeatedly, in songs like The Skin Game and New Agenda (“).

Even after the success of Control, she clashed with men who wanted to dictate her career.

“In the industry, [I was] told no, more than once. ‘You’re a girl. Girls don’t do that.’

“And I was like, ‘Well, why not? What’s wrong with trying?'”

The obvious conclusion would be that Janet got pushback when she delivered the soft, sensual and explicit Janet album as the first record of a multi-million dollar deal with Virgin Records.

But she says the label “loved” the sound and feel of songs like That’s The Way Love Goes, If and Any Time, Any Place. The Janet album – promoted with a topless photoshoot for Rolling Stone – outsold even Control, shifting more than 14 million copies.

It was the 1997 follow-up, The Velvet Rope, that caused more consternation. Dark and disturbing, it amped up the sex while addressing topics like domestic violence, depression and same-sex relationships.

The album’s lightest moment was Together Again – a bittersweet house anthem written after one of her friends died of Aids.

The lyrics aren’t particularly specific: Janet’s promise to meet again in another life works for anyone who has lost a loved one. But the track made executives jumpy.

“I think it was because of the era of Aids and all that was surrounding it. But I had lost a lot of friends and a lot of people that I knew to it – and it was heavily on my mind.

“But I never really envisioned myself singing Together Again,” she adds.

“Even though I wrote it for myself, I always thought it would be better with someone like [The Weather Girls’] Martha Wash, who had that kind of voice.”

Together Again has become her signature song. It’s her most streamed track on Spotify, as well as the title of her current tour.

The stage production may not be as expensive as her theatrical 1990s tours – with just five dancers and a minimal set – but that gives the show a more intimate feel.

Janet lets her guard down, turning her mic to the audience during Again, cheering for fans and blowing kisses as they sing along.

She also rewards them with a clutch of cherished deep cuts like Feedback, So Excited and All Nite (Don’t Stop).

They’re all late-period songs that would have received more love if the Super Bowl “wardrobe malfunction” controversy hadn’t damaged her career (Janet’s music was blacklisted by MTV and hundreds of US radio stations amidst the backlash).

One of the tour’s most powerful moments comes when she performs Scream, duetting with video footage of Michael, who died in 2009.

It’s still emotional “listening to him every night, seeing him, remembering us,” she says.

“Mike and I wrote that song in New York, in his apartment,” she reminisces.

“So [I relive] that whole journey, listening to him sing it [and remembering] what he was going through at that time.

“And just me being his little sister, always by his side, and being that support system. That’s always been my role.”

The concert wraps up with Together Again, during which Janet catches a bouquet of flowers and bounds across the stage with her dancers, beaming from ear to ear.

The audience in Brooklyn is studded with stars, including fashion designer Christian Siriano, soul singer Maxwell, drag queen Kevin Aviance and R&B star Tinashe – whose current single, Nasty, tips its hat to Janet’s song of the same name.

“Everything about her is 10 out of 10. She’s the blueprint,” Tinashe says. “A huge reference point for me. She’s such a queen.”

After the show, Janet meets fans backstage, her hand pressed to the small of her back after pulling a muscle dancing to What Have You Done For Me Lately.

Nonetheless, she’s in good spirits – looking forward to a “mummy day” between shows, and asking whether the setlist should change when she comes to Europe.

Flustered, I deflect the question by asking whether putting together the career-spanning concert has given her new perspectives on her life.

“I’m just thankful that people are still interested in seeing me do this,” she replies.

“I feel very blessed.”

full interview in the iPlayer documentary Janet Jackson: Life in the Spotlight.

Balloons carrying rubbish sent by North Korea have landed in South Korea’s presidential compound in the capital city of Seoul, say officials.

It is the first time the South Korean leader’s office, which is a designated no-fly zone, has been hit by balloons launched by Pyongyang.

A chemical, biological and radiological warfare response team was sent to collect the balloons, the presidential security service said.

They were found to pose no contamination or safety risk.

According to a news report by local news site Yonhap, the military did not shoot down the balloons as they feared it would cause their contents to spread further.

The balloons also landed in other parts of Seoul, with officials telling residents to avoid touching the balloons and to “report them to the nearest military unit or police station”.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff told Reuters that with wind blowing from the west, balloons aimed at the South were likely to land in the northern Gyeonggi province, the country’s most populous province, where the capital city is located.

The latest incident comes days after South Korea’s military reacted to the escalating launches by restarting propaganda broadcasts from loudspeakers along the border.

North and South Korea have both used balloons in their propaganda campaigns since the Korean War in the 1950s.

The launches have escalated this year, with thousands of balloons being sent by the North across the border since May.

Wednesday’s balloons marked the North’s tenth launch this year, in what it claims is retaliation for balloons sent by South Korean activists.

These allegedly contained anti-Pyongyang leaflets, alongside food, medicine, money and USB sticks loaded with K-pop videos and dramas.

Katy Perry’s comeback has faltered after Woman’s World, the first single from her new album, debuted at number 63 in the US chart and at 47 in the UK.

It’s a disappointing return for the pop star, who will release her seventh album 143 in September.

As well as being torn apart on social media, Woman’s World – and its video – have been critically panned, with many feeling its feminist messaging is out of touch.

The Guardian asked “what regressive, warmed-over hell is this?”, The Cut stated that “Perry is stuck in 2016”, and Rolling Stone raised the question: “Did Katy Perry release the worst comeback single of all time?”

On the song, Perry sings about women being sisters, mothers, champions, winners and superheroes all while being sexy and confident – with a catchy chorus of ““.

The video goes one step further, with Perry (dressed as Rosie the Riveter) and other women dancing around a construction site in tiny outfits.

Scenes from the video include the women using urinals, brandishing sex toys, and Perry being hit by an anvil – which prompts her to grow bionic legs.

There’s also an appearance from YouTuber Trisha Paytas, dragging a monster truck.

Later, in a behind-the-scenes video posted on Instagram, Perry explained that the video was meant to be “satire”, “slapstick” and “very on the nose”.

But in her review, the Guardian’s Laura Snapes said Perry was struggling to match her pop star peers at the top of the charts, such as Chappell Roan.

“Roan – along with Sabrina Carpenter and Charli xcx – is modelling how to be a pop star in 2024: they’re inventive, self-aware, silly, deep, some of the qualities Perry had at the peak of her promise but seems to have lost for ever,” she wrote.

Perry has also drawn criticism for working with producer Dr Luke on the single, particularly given that the track is about female empowerment.

Fellow singer Kesha sued Dr Luke in 2014, seeking to void their contract because, her lawyers claimed, he had “sexually, physically, verbally, and emotionally abused [Kesha] to the point where [she] nearly lost her life”.

Dr Luke denied the claims. They reached an agreement to settle a years-long defamation lawsuit last year.

When Perry announced the collaborators for her new album, Kesha – who has just released her first track as an independent artist – tweeted “lol”, widely seen as a jibe at her fellow pop star. Kesha was later pictured in a vest top bearing the same message.

With 2010 album Teenage Dream, Perry became the first female artist to have five number one songs from the same album on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart.

She has also had five number one singles in the UK, but these were spread out over a decade – from 2008’s I Kissed A Girl through to Feels, her 2017 collaboration with Calvin Harris, Pharrell Williams and Big Sean.

Perry’s last album, Smile, was released in 2020 and – while it had mixed reviews – hit the top five in the UK and US. Its lead single Daisies peaked at number 37 on the UK chart.

A woman who was raped by former fashion mogul Peter Nygard decades ago told a Canadian court that the incident left her traumatised for years.

“It breaks my heart to reflect on the derailment of my life caused by this,” said the woman, who was assaulted by Nygard in 1989 when she was in her 20s.

Nygard, once the head of a lucrative global apparel empire, is being sentenced this week for sexually assaulting four women.

The 83-year-old was convicted last November by a Toronto jury, having denied the charges.

Nygard appeared in-person in a Toronto courtroom for the beginning of his sentencing hearing on Wednesday, and was wearing a black sweatshirt with its hood up, and a black puffer jacket overtop.

He wore a face-mask and what appeared to be a visor, and his face was barely visible.

His two-day sentencing, scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday, had been repeatedly pushed back, with two of his lawyers resigning over ethical concerns, causing delays.

Nygard listened silently as victim impact statements were read in court, including from three of his accusers who detailed how the assaults left them with severe depression and anxiety, and in some instances, derailed their careers.

“The actions that Nygard took have impacted my life in a debilitating way,” said one woman.

“I did not feel safe being seen. Therefore I did not trust men and did not engage in long-term relationships with anyone for my entire life,” she said.

“Now a 63-year-old woman, I’m deeply saddened by the lack of love in my life.”

The sentencing will not be the end of Nygard’s legal challenges. He faces separate sexual assault and sex trafficking charges in Montreal, Winnipeg and in the US.

He has denied any wrongdoing and the other charges have not been tested in court.

Nygard is accused of using his influence and wealth to systematically assault and traffic women in both the US and Canada over a number of decades, when he was at the helm Nygard International, his global clothing design and manufacturing business.

Over his six-week criminal trial in Toronto last autumn, prosecutors argued that Nygard – once estimated to be worth at least $700m (£542m) – used his “status” to assault five women in a series of incidents that occurred from the late 1980s to 2005.

Most of the women detailed similar stories, in which Nygard lured them with the promise of work or professional help in the fashion industry. Each of them were then invited separately to a tour by Nygard at his Toronto office that ended in his private bedroom suite.

One prosecutor described the room as having “a giant bed … and a bar and doors, doors with no handles and automatic locks controlled by Peter Nygard”.

Nygard then raped or sexually assaulted the women inside the bedroom, the court heard. The victims were aged 16 to 28 at the time.

On Wednesday, Crown prosecutor Neville Golwalla asked Toronto Superior Court Justice Robert Goldstein to sentence Nygard to 15 years, which he said would take into account his crimes as well as time already served behind bars.

“It took decades for these women to get justice and for their experiences to be validated,” he added.

His lawyer Gerri Wiebe asked for a lesser sentence, citing Nygard’s age and deteriorating health.

The court heard that chronic pain has limited his mobility, and he has type 2 diabetes and glaucoma that requires surgery.

Ms Wiebe argued a lengthy sentence would reduce his life expectancy, and “would deprive him of any hope of release or rehabilitation”.

Nygard has been in custody since his arrest in late 2020. He has been held at an infirmary inside a Toronto detention center, the court heard, where he has been afforded privileges like his own phone and access to email through his assistant.

During the Toronto trial last year, his defence lawyers argued that his accusers, who are also part of a US class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of his alleged victims, were motivated by financial gain.

Nygard also claimed during the trial that he did not recall four of the five women in the case, and that he would have never acted “in that kind of manner”.

A jury found him guilty on four counts and not guilty on a fifth count of sexual assault and on one count of forcible confinement.

Nygard will now face another sexual assault case in Montreal, where he has been charged with assaulting and forcibly confining a woman more than two decades ago.

A preliminary inquiry in that case is set to begin in January 2025.

Nygard is also facing charges in Winnipeg related to offences allegedly committed in 1993, involving a woman who was 20 years old at the time.

In that case, he is alleged to have held the woman captive and raped her after inviting her to a modeling job. He has denied the charges.

Once his criminal cases in Canada are completed, he is expected to be extradited to the US, where authorities claim he engaged in a “decades-long pattern of criminal conduct” involving at least a dozen victims across the globe.

The US Department of Justice charged him with sex trafficking and racketeering offenses and accused him of targeting “women and minor-aged girls who came from disadvantaged economic backgrounds or had a history of abuse”.

A separate class-action lawsuit has also been filed against him by 57 women in the US, though it was put on hold amid his criminal proceedings.

In 2020, Nygard stepped down as chairman of his firm shortly before it filed for bankruptcy after US authorities raided its New York headquarters.

The record for the world’s hottest day has tumbled twice in one week, according to the European climate change service.

On Monday the global average surface air temperature reached 17.15C, breaking the record of 17.09C set on Sunday.

It beats the record set in July 2023, and it could break again this week.

Parts of the world are experiencing powerful heatwaves including the Mediterranean, Russia and Canada.

Climate change is driving up global temperatures as greenhouse gas emissions released when humans burn fossil fuels warm the Earth’s atmosphere.

“While fluctuations are to be expected, as the climate continues to warm, we are likely to keep seeing records being broken, and each new record is taking us further into uncharted territory,” says Prof Rebecca Emerton, a climate scientist at the Copernicus Climate Change Service.

The naturally-occurring climate phenomenon El Niño also added heat to the climate in the first six months of this year but its effects have now waned.

Extreme heat is a serious health hazard, with thousands of deaths attributed to high temperatures every year.

In 2000-2019, almost half a million heat-related deaths around the world occurred each year, according to the World Health Organization.

China has issued heat alerts this week, with central and northwestern areas of the country recording temperatures higher than 40C.

Russia has been battling wildfires in Siberia, and Spain and Greece also endured days of high temperatures.

In the US, more than 40 million people on Tuesday faced dangerous temperatures, and wildfires have broken out in western areas of the country.

The global average temperature usually peaks in July or August during summer in the northern hemisphere.

The northern hemisphere has large land masses – like the US or Russia – that warm up faster than the oceans that dominate the southern hemisphere.

The recent sudden rise in temperatures is also down to significantly-above-average temperatures over large parts of Antarctica, according to Prof Emerton.

Large swings in temperature are not unusual in Antarctica at this time of year – they also contributed to record temperatures in 2023.

Sea ice in the region is almost as low as this time last year, which also leads to above-average sea temperatures in the Southern Ocean.

“The hottest day record has been broken once again because the world continues to burn huge amounts of oil, gas, and coal,” says Friederike Otto, Senior Lecturer in Climate Science at Grantham Institute at Imperial College London.

“Every broken record is a warning that our climate is heating to dangerous levels. These warnings are becoming much more frequent; however, we have all the tools, technology and knowledge to stop things from getting worse – replace fossil fuels with renewable energy and get emissions down to net zero as quickly as possible,” she added.

It was Joe Biden’s first chance to define how he will be judged by history.

In a rare televised address from the Oval Office on Wednesday night, his first public comments since he abruptly ended his re-election bid on Sunday, he spoke of his accomplishments. He spoke of his humble roots. He sang the praises of the American people. He said the future of American democracy lies in their hands.

What he didn’t do, despite saying he would always level with Americans, was provide a direct explanation for the biggest question of the day.

He didn’t say why he has become the first incumbent president to abandon a re-election bid, just a few months before voting begins.

And that is what the history books will be most interested in.

He hinted at it. He talked around it. But he never tackled it head on. It was left for the American people to read between the lines.

“In recent weeks,” Mr Biden said, “it’s become clear to me that I need to unite my party.”

He then echoed what has become a growing chorus among Democrats – that it was time to “pass the torch” to a new generation.

While he said his accomplishments, which he listed in detail, merited a second term in office, he added that “nothing can come in the way of saving our democracy – and that includes personal ambition.”

Left unsaid was the cold, hard reality that he resigned because it was becoming increasingly clear that he was going to lose to Donald Trump in November. And that is an outcome that those in his party universally view as catastrophic.

Trailing in the polls, embarrassed by a miserable debate performance and with a growing chorus in the Democratic Party calling for him to step aside, there was no clear path to a Biden victory.

While the president may not have said it, his Republican predecessor – and now former rival for the White House – had no such qualms.

At a rally in Charlotte, North Carolina, a few hours before the address, Donald Trump said Mr Biden dropped out because he was losing badly.

Then he went on the attack against Kamala Harris, the party’s new presumptive nominee, claiming that she was a “radical left lunatic” and the “ultra-liberal driving force behind every single Biden catastrophe”.

Republican groups have been flooding the airwaves in key battleground states, in an attempt to define Ms Harris in their terms, not hers. According to research by the Associated Press, Trump’s side is slated to outspend their Democratic counterparts 25-to-1 over the course of the next month.

One advertisement had been saying Ms Harris was complicit in covering up the president’s “obvious mental decline”.

Mr Biden’s speech offered a nationally televised, primetime opportunity to provide a rebuttal to the attacks against his vice-president and to firmly address concerns about his ability to continue to fulfil his presidential duties.

It was an opportunity he mostly passed on.

Towards the end of his speech, the president did talk up his running mate. He said Ms Harris was “experienced, tough, capable” and an “incredible partner for me and a leader for our country”.

They were strong words, but there weren’t many of them. He spent more time discussing Benjamin Franklin than he did his vice-president – the person he endorsed on Sunday, and the one who will be the most important torch-carrier for his legacy in the months ahead.

With little cover from the president, Ms Harris and her team will have to decide whether, and how, to respond to the withering Republican attacks in the coming days.

Mr Biden may have another chance to tout his former running mate at the Democratic convention in Chicago next month, but this is a delicate time for the new presumptive nominee, as her campaign is just lifting off the ground and Americans are still getting to know her.

The president may have been uncomfortable being overly political in this what could be his final Oval Office address. But if he is concerned about his legacy, Harris’s success or failure, more than anything else he does from here on out, matters.

It will determine whether history judges him as man who made a noble sacrifice, or one who put his party at risk by selfishly holding on to power for too long.

The black box sits on the army truck dashboard like a talisman, its tiny screen lighting up with warnings when Russian drones are above us. We are driving fast along a country road in the darkness near the front lines outside Kharkiv.

Like many in this war, the soldiers inside have come to revere the little cube they call “sugar”; it warns of the unseen dangers above.

On the vehicle’s roof are three mushroom-shaped antennas that make up separate drone-jamming equipment. The car emits an invisible aura of protection that will thwart some, but not all, of the Russian attack drones patrolling the skies above this battlefield.

“It has detected the Zala Lancet Russian drones,” says Senior Lt Yevhenii, 53, from the front passenger seat, describing one of the most powerful long range Russian drones and its targeting drone. “Is that why we’re driving so fast?” I ask, aware that the drone-jamming antenna is useless against a Lancet.

“We’re not a priority for them, but it’s still better not to slow down because it’s very dangerous,” says Yevhenii, from the Khartia Brigade of Ukraine’s National Guard.

The jamming equipment blocks roughly 75% of frequencies that drones use to communicate with their operators, but some like the Lancet are difficult to block because they are entirely autonomous once their target has been marked. Because of the Lancet’s power, it tends to be used on larger targets, such as armoured vehicles or infantry positions, the Ukrainians say.

Almost none of this technology was here in Ukraine a year ago; now it is commonplace. Drones, which were once peripheral to the war are a central component for both sides, alongside infantry and artillery as Ukraine struggles to hold back Russian advances.

Ukraine has been thrown into the bleak future of war, where within minutes individual soldiers, fast-moving vehicles and trench positions can be precisely targeted. Drones have civilians in their sights too: about 25 from Russia attacked Kharkiv on Tuesday night, although most were intercepted.

Ukraine’s army is fighting back with its own drones, and there are dozens across this stretch of front line. One Ukrainian soldier tells me every day they kill 100 Russians.

The last images from drone cameras are usually of men panicking, their arms flailing, weapons firing before they are killed. The brigade’s 37-year-old drone commander, who goes by the call sign Aeneas, says that without shelter in a building there is little chance of survival – for Russians, and his men too.

“It’s the new way or a new path in modern war. In 2022 it was only infantry war and today one half is only a war of drone, a battle between Russian drones and ours,” he says.

The move to drone warfare is a combination of necessity and innovation. Drones are in plentiful supply, even though when armed they lack the explosive fire power of artillery.

Ukraine has consistently run short of artillery shells, and its allies have been slow to produce and supply them. But a Drone Coalition of Ukrainian allies has pledged to supply the country with a million drones this year.

Russia has made its own innovations on the battlefield too, using an older technology, and the village of Lyptsi, just six miles (10km) from the Russian border, has paid the price.

It was devastated by glide bombs – Soviet-era “dumb bombs” fitted with fins and a satellite guidance system. Some are as large as 3,000kg (6,600lbs) and, when launched from aircraft, glide onto Ukrainian infantry positions and towns to highly destructive effect.

One woman named Svitlana, who was driven out of Lyptsi by these attacks, told us: “Everything was exploding all around. Everything was burning. It was scary there. It was impossible to even get out of the cellar.”

Aeneas takes us on a tour of his drone teams, embedded along the front line in Lyptsi. Every vehicle we encountered near there was fitted with drone-jamming equipment; but the jammer’s protection ends when you exit the vehicle.

It’s dangerous to be caught out in the open, so we follow Aeneas running across the rubble for cover. All the while the BBC’s own drone detector calls out calmly into an earpiece: “Detection: multiple drones, multiple pilots. High signal strength.”

Out of breath, we make it to the drone unit’s underground base beneath a ruined building, where we are introduced to two operators, Yakut and Petro. There are drones on every surface, next to a frying pan with their evening meal. They get through many hundreds of drones in a month, as most are single-use and detonate on their target.

Their weapon of choice is the First Person View (FPV) drone, which carries a payload of between 1kg (2.2lbs) and 2kg of explosive, packed with shrapnel. The drones are modified off-the-shelf models which have cameras to send video back to their remote operators. “We call them celebration drones in Ukraine. They were used to film weddings and parties before the war,” Aeneas says.

I watch on a screen in real time beside Yakut who is fixed in concentration flying a drone manually to a target, across open fields and woodland. “He knows every puddle, every tree in the area,” Petro says.

The FPV drone approaches a building where a Russian soldier is believed to be hiding. It flies through an open window and detonates, the operator’s screen turning to static as the signal is lost. At the same time, another drone team is targeting a Russian Tigr light-armoured vehicle and scores a direct hit, captured by a second surveillance drone that’s watching from above.

The men stay on these positions, flying missions day and night, for up to five days at a stretch and spend as little time outside as possible. Their biggest fear is glide bombs: one landed nearby earlier that week, and the whole building shook. What happens if there’s a direct hit? I ask Petro. “We die,” he replies.

Aeneas shows me a recording from earlier in the week: a Russian soldier is caught in the open and the unit’s drone has him in its sights. The soldier notices it and runs for cover, hiding in a drainage culvert by the roadside. Slowly the drone lowers to its level, checking one side of the drainage pipe, then going around the other side, where the soldier is hiding. It detonates and the man is blown out, dying by the roadside. “He was divided into two parts,” explains Aeneas.

The operators are cool and dispassionate, almost clinical in their targeting and killing. They are as far as three miles (5km) away from their targets, one step removed from the immediate blood and guts of the battlefield. But encountering these weapons on the frontline is nerve-wracking.

A few days later, after dark, at an infantry trench close to Russian positions, a unit commander tells me he believes the Ukrainians have the upper hand in drone warfare, the Russians the advantage with glide bombs.

Russia also has the advantage in drone numbers: six for every Ukrainian one, although the drone teams I was with say they have the technological edge and are quicker at finding ways to counter-attack and jam Russian drones.

The trench is in a wooded copse, surrounded by fields, a thick canopy of trees provides cover.

But as we are speaking a Russian FPV drone is detected and begins to move closer to the position. The few dim lights, mostly phone screens, are turned off in the trench, and the men sit silently as the drone’s approach gets louder. We hold our breath as it hovers overhead. For what seems like an age, no one dares move. But then the drone moves on, in search of another target.

The largest drone in the brigade’s arsenal is the Vampire, which with its six rotors is the size of a coffee table. Again we join Aeneas on another mission in Lyptsi after dark, under the sound of constant artillery fire, where we meet the heavy bomber team. They work to attach the bomb to the drone.

“Ten kilograms, the Russians call this drone the Bogeyman,” says Aeneas. It’s payload is powerful enough to take out their intended target, a Russian command post, they say.

As the men work, a Russian drone makes a number of passes overhead: each time it does, the soldiers retreat into the basement, wait for the all-clear, then resume the assembly. As the drone takes off into the night in a cloud of dust, they watch its progress again from a second surveillance drone.

Just then, with barely any warning, we see on the drone’s thermal camera three Russian glide bombs detonating over the Ukrainian position, over a kilometre away. The shock waves are visible: seconds later they reach our location and the house around us shudders violently.

Ukraine’s allies know that by supporting the drone effort, they are helping the country’s cause, but it isn’t simply an act of charity.

The head of the British military, Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, has said that the UK’s armed forces can learn from Ukraine how to fight future wars. He said in a speech on Tuesday that he wants the Army to have “battalions of one-way attack drones”.

Aeneas and his men know this. As we leave their position, a Russian drone returns and we drive off at speed into the darkness. In the truck he tells me: “No one is fighting war this way – they are learning from us. This will be the future war.”

A police officer has been filmed kicking and stamping on the head of a man lying on the ground at Manchester Airport.

The uniformed male officer is seen holding a Taser over the man, who is lying face down, before striking him twice while other officers shout at onlookers to stay back in a video shared widely online.

Greater Manchester Police (GMP) said firearms officers had been attacked while attempting to arrest someone following a fight in the airport’s Terminal 2 on Tuesday. It said it had referred itself to the police watchdog.

Anger has grown over the video and a crowd of what appeared to be several hundred people protested outside the police station in Rochdale, Greater Manchester, on Wednesday evening.

The Manchester Evening News reported that one of the protesters had told the crowd they were “no longer going to settle” for “police brutality”.

“A protest held last night outside Rochdale Police Station about our response at Manchester Airport has concluded safely, without incident,” Assistant Chief Constable Wasim Chaudhry said in a statement obtained early on Thursday by BBC News.

GMP earlier said one officer had been removed from operational duties over the events, and it had referred itself to the Independent Office of Police Conduct (IOPC) over the events and one officer had been removed from operational duties.

In an earlier statement, Assistant Chief Constable Chaudhry said: “We know that a film of an incident at Manchester Airport that is circulating widely shows an event that is truly shocking, and that people are rightly extremely concerned about.

“The use of such force in an arrest is an unusual occurrence and one that we understand creates alarm.

“One male officer has been removed from operational duties and we are making a voluntary referral of our policing response to the Independent Office of Police Conduct.”

The IOPC said it would assess GMP’s referral “and decide what further action is required”.

Firearms officers had been called to the airport at about 20:25 BST on Tuesday after reports of an altercation by members of the public, a police spokesman said.

Three officers were “punched to the ground” in a “violent assault” when they attempted to arrest one of the suspects, he added.

“As the attending officers were firearms officers, there was a clear risk during this assault of their firearms being taken from them.”

Three officers were taken to hospital for treatment, with one female officer suffering a broken nose.

Two men were arrested on suspicion of assault, assault on an emergency worker, affray, and obstructing police, while two other men were also arrested on suspicion of affray and assault on an emergency worker, police confirmed.

Amar Minhas from Leeds told the BBC he was coming through arrivals when he saw the scene unfold.

He said police officers had approached one of the men, in his early 20s, and told him he was a wanted man, before “they pinned him up against a wall”.

Another man then “started on the police” and a fight ensued, he said.

The man who was being pinned against the wall started “throwing punches, he was Tasered, and fell to the floor”, Mr Minhas said.

“That’s when the policeman kicked him.”

The Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, described the video as “disturbing” and said he recognised “the widespread and deep concern” it had caused.

He said he had raised his concerns with GMP’s deputy chief constable.

Andy George, president of the National Black Police Association, described the video as “difficult to watch”.

In a post on X, formerly Twitter, he wrote: “Whilst policing is a really difficult job, we are trained to a higher standard and held to a higher standard.”

Home Office minister Dame Diana Johnson also posted on X: “I am aware of disturbing footage from an incident at Manchester Airport this afternoon and understand the public concern it has prompted.

“I have asked for a full update from Greater Manchester Police.”

Commenting on the protest in Rochdale, and noting the referral already made to the IOPC, ACC Chaudhry said: “We understand the immense feeling of concern and worry that people feel about our response and fully respect their right to demonstrate their views peacefully.”

He added: “We have spent the evening listening to community feedback and will continue to engage with communities and elected members to maintain strong partnership links and understand local views.”

A tanker carrying close to 1.5 million litres of industrial fuel has capsized and sank off the Philippine capital on Thursday, causing an oil spill, officials say.

Sixteen crew members of the Philippine-flagged MT Terra Nova have been rescued while one remains missing, Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista said.

Mr Bautista said an oil spill has been detected but strong winds and high waves were hampering the authorities’ response.

The incident comes a day after Typhoon Gaemi intensified seasonal monsoon rains, submerging large swathes of Metro Manila and its suburbs in deep floods.

Gaemi has made landfall in Taiwan, leaving three people killed and wounding hundreds more.

The MT Terra Nova was heading for the central Philippine city of Iloilo when it sank, leaving an oil spill stretching for several kilometres, authorities said.

It “capsized and eventually submerged,” the coast guard said in a report, adding they were investigating whether bad weather was a factor.

Manila Bay, where the tanker capsized, hosts busy shipping lanes and its shores are home to shopping malls, casino resorts and fishing communities.

In March 2023, an oil tanker carrying 800,000 litres of industrial fuel sank off the coast of Oriental Mindoro province.

That oil reached the shores of several nearby fishing villages, coating beaches in black sludge.

Residents in coastal villages reported experiencing cramps, vomiting and dizziness, and clean-up workers deployed to the affected village of Pola also reported feeling ill.

There are many glass ceilings a Kamala Harris presidency could shatter. One of them is that she could be the first black sorority member to sit in the Oval Office.

The US vice-president, who spoke on Wednesday at the biennial convention of Zeta Phi Beta, is a life-time member of Alpha Kappa Alpha.

The two organisations are among the predominantly black sororities and fraternities that make up the National Pan-Hellenic Council.

Commonly called the Divine Nine, its nearly four million members are poised to become a secret weapon as Ms Harris seeks the presidency.

Less than 24 hours after Joe Biden endorsed his deputy to seek the Democratic nomination in his place, the group vowed to launch an “unprecedented voter registration, education and mobilisation” drive.

As a non-profit, the National Pan-Hellenic Council is non-partisan and cannot officially endorse Ms Harris.

But it is promising a campaign that “will activate the thousands of chapters and members in our respective organisations to ensure strong voter turnout in the communities we serve”.

That is in line with how the Divine Nine historically gets behind its own. Its members have supported Ms Harris, 59, in the past as she climbed the ladder of national politics.

Greek life on US university campuses typically evokes images of young white men or women living together in group houses and drinking booze out of red solo cups.

But black Greek-letter clubs emerged at the turn of the 20th century as support systems that offered kinship to black students experiencing segregation and social isolation at majority-white institutions.

The first black fraternity, Alpha Phi Alpha, began as a study group at Cornell in 1906, according to The Divine Nine: The History of African American Fraternities and Sororities by Lawrence C Ross.

Its membership has included civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr, former Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall and Olympic gold medallist Jesse Owens.

Ms Harris pledged Alpha Kappa Alpha, the nation’s oldest black sorority, as a senior – or fourth-year student – at Howard University in Washington DC.

She has previously said the experience “changed my life”.

Both in its individual parts and as a collective, the Divine Nine is built around shared values of scholarship, civic engagement and community service.

It has lobbied in the past for everything from federal anti-lynching legislation and women’s suffrage to high school tutoring and financial aid opportunities for black youth, according to Mr Ross’s book.

Membership is for life, he writes, which is “almost spiritual” and “makes you realise that your life on earth has more meaning than just your own selfish needs”.

Of her AKA connection, Ms Harris said in 2019: “Throughout your life, you find friends who become family and – like family – they help shape you and your life experiences. For me, that was the women of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. who became my sisters.”

That year, as the then-California senator launched a campaign for president, her fellow “sorors” canvassed and phone-banked to get out the vote.

When she became Mr Biden’s running mate, images of AKAs and other Divine Niners, accessorised with heels and pearls, went viral for their Stroll to the Polls in Atlanta, in the battleground state of Georgia. The Biden-Harris ticket went on to narrowly win the state, powered in part by strong black turnout.

Though Ms Harris’s candidacy for the November 2024 election is only a few days old, the backing of her sisters is already providing consequential.

On a Sunday night Zoom call, the group Win With Black Women – which includes several Divine Nine members – helped raise more than $1m (£775,000) in roughly three hours for the nascent campaign.

“People are just energised,” Crystal Sewell, an AKA leader, told CBS News, the BBC’s US partner.

“And really really excited about possibilities [as] it relates to VP Harris and her candidacy.”

Ms Harris, who is seeking to make history as America’s first female president, is leaning into that enthusiasm.

Speaking to 6,000 fired up Zeta Phi Beta women at a convention centre in Indianapolis on Wednesday, she promised them “we are not playing around” if she defeats Donald Trump this November.

Her keynote address was scheduled weeks ago, but – touching on topics such as abortion, gun control and Project 2025 – the vice-president laid out the stakes of her candidacy.

“We face a choice between two different visions for our nation,” she told the crowd. “One focused on the future, the other focused on the past. With your support, I am fighting for our nation’s future.”

“So let us continue to fight,” she added, “because when we fight, we win.”

The pilot who survived a deadly plane crash in Nepal was saved after his cockpit was sheared off by a freight container seconds before the rest of the aircraft crashed in flames.

Captain Manish Ratna Shakya, the sole survivor of the disaster that killed 18 people at Kathmandu airport, is being treated in hospital but BBC Nepali has confirmed he is talking and able to tell family members he was “all good”.

Rescuers told the BBC that they had reached the stricken pilot as flames neared the cockpit section of the aircraft embedded in the container.

“He was facing difficulty to breathe as the air shield was open. We broke the window and immediately pulled him out,” Senior Superintendent of Nepal Police Dambar Bishwakarma said.

“He had blood all over his face when he was rescued but we took him to the hospital in a condition where he could speak,” he added.

Nepal’s civil aviation minister Badri Pandey described how the aircraft had suddenly turned right as it took off from the airport, before crashing into the east side of the runway.

CCTV footage shows the aircraft in flames careering across part of the airport before part of it appears to fall into a valley at the far edge of the site.

“It hit the container on the edge of the airport… then, it fell further below,” Mr Pandey said. “The cockpit, however, remained stuck inside the container. This is how the captain survived.”

“The other part of the plane crashed into a nearby mound and it tore into pieces. The entire area away from the region where the cockpit fell down caught fire and everything was burnt,” Mr Pandey said.

The pilot was “rescued within five minutes of the crash” and “was very scared but had not lost consciousness at that time”, according to a statement released by the Nepali army.

An army ambulance then took him to hospital.

According to the hospital’s medical director, Dr. Meena Thapa, he suffered injuries to his head and face and will soon undergo surgery to treat broken bones in his back.

“We have treated injuries on various parts of his body,” Thapa told BBC News Nepali, “He is under observation in the neuro surgery ward.”

On Wednesday evening, Nepali Prime Minister KP Sharma visited the hospital, where he met members of the pilot’s family.

Investigations are underway to determine the cause of the crash.

The head of Tribhuvan International Airport said that an initial assessment showed that the plane had flown in the wrong direction.

“As soon as it took off, it turned right, [when it] should have turned left,” Mr Niraula told BBC Nepali.

Nepal has been criticised for its poor air safety record. In January 2023, at least 72 people were killed in a Yeti Airlines crash that was later attributed to its pilots mistakenly cutting the power.

It was the deadliest air crash in Nepal since 1992, when all 167 people aboard a Pakistan International Airlines plane died when it crashed on approach to Kathmandu Airport.

Saruya Airlines operates flights to five destinations within Nepal, with a fleet of three Bombardier CRJ-200 jets, according to the company’s website.

Fifty-five years after it sank, killing 21 men, Australia has found the shipwreck of the MV Noongah.

The 71m (233ft) freighter was carrying steel off the coast of New South Wales when it ran into stormy weather in 1969, sparking one of the biggest maritime searches in Australian history.

Five of the 26 crewmen were plucked from the water in the hours after the vessel sank, but only one body was ever recovered from those lost at sea.

The location of the wreck has now been confirmed by Australia’s science agency, using high resolution seafloor mapping and video footage.

Only minutes after sending a distress signal on 25 August, the ship had sunk in heavy seas.

Royal Australian Navy destroyers, minesweepers, planes, helicopters and a number of other vessels launched a massive search, as rescue crews also combed the shore for any sign of survivors.

Over the next 12 hours, they found two men at sea in two separate life rafts, and three more clinging to a plank of wood, according to local media.

The fate of the rest of the crew and the ship itself have been a mystery ever since.

Locals first spotted a wreck years ago – in deep water off the coast of South West Rocks, about 460km (286 miles) north of Sydney – and reported its coordinates to authorities.

There have long been suspicions that it may be the Noongah, but the technology or diving knowledge needed to identify the ship was not available.

But last month, a high-tech ship owned by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) was sent to investigate further.

They found the wreck, largely intact and sitting upright on the sea floor, 170m below the surface. All its key dimensions matched the Noongah, the CSIRO said.

The Sydney Project – which finds and documents the wrecks of lost ships – is now planning a dive to collect additional vision from the site, in the hope of shedding light on why the ship sank.

“This tragedy is still very much in the memory of many in the community,” CSIRO’s Matt Kimber said.

“We hope that knowing the resting place of the vessel brings some closure for all.”

Surviving family members of the crew told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation the discovery is a relief.

“It’s always been in the back of my mind,” Pamela Hendy – the widow of captain Leo Botsman – said.

Israel’s PM Benjamin Netanyahu told US lawmakers “our enemies are your enemies” in a landmark speech to Congress intended to rally support for the war in Gaza, but marked by protests inside and outside the Capitol.

“When we fight Iran, we’re fighting the most radical and murderous enemy of the United States of America,” Mr Netanyahu said.

“Our fight is your fight, and our victory will be your victory,” he added.

The Israeli leader received a raucous reception from mostly Republican politicians as he delivered a speech to a joint session of Congress, his fourth.

But growing political divisions over the war in Gaza were underscored by the dozens of Democratic members of Congress deliberately not present and thousands of protesters on the streets outside.

Crowds gathered by a stage on Capitol Hill decked with banners, including one declaring the Israeli leader a “wanted war criminal,” a reference to an arrest warrant sought by the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court.

Five people were arrested inside the Capitol building for attempting to disrupt Mr Netanyahu’s address, according to police.

Addressing the protestors, Mr Netanyahu said: “You have officially become Iran’s useful idiots.”

In one of many references to Iran, the Israeli prime minister claimed an “axis of terror” threatened the US, Israel and the Arab world, framing it as a “clash of barbarism against civilisations”.

The term riffed off what Iran describes as the “axis of resistance,” an alliance across the Middle East including the Palestinian group Hamas, the Lebanese organisation Hezbollah and the Houthis, who rule parts of Yemen.

He told Congress that Iranian proxy forces had attacked American targets, adding that Iran believes that “to truly challenge America it must first conquer the Middle East”.

“But in the heart of the Middle East, standing in Iran’s way, is one proud pro-American democracy: my country, the state of Israel.”

Speaking for over an hour, Mr Netanyahu deflected criticism of Israel and framed the war in Gaza as his country’s battle for survival, in a pitch for further US military aid.

He thanked the US for providing Israel with “generous military assistance” for decades, adding that in return Israel had provided the US with critical intelligence that had “saved many lives”.

But he called for a process of “fast-tracking” US military aid, claiming this could expedite an end to the war in Gaza and help prevent a broader regional war.

Quoting British Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s appeal to the American people during World War Two, he said: “Give us the tools and we’ll finish the job.”

Mr Netanyahu did not discuss the humanitarian crisis in Gaza at length, except to maintain that Israel delivers enough food aid to provide each person with 3,000 calories. If Gaza’s residents were not getting food, he said, it was because “Hamas steals it”.

Outlining his vision for the Gaza Strip after the war, he called for “a demilitarised and deradicalised” enclave under Israeli military control.

“Gaza should have a civilian administration run by Palestinians who do not seek to destroy Israel. That’s not too much to ask,” he said.

He made no reference to the prospect of an eventual two-state solution, something President Joe Biden and Vice-President Kamala Harris – who is likely to replace him as the Democratic Party nominee – want.

Several standing ovations could not disguise the fact that at least 39 lawmakers were absent from the address.

Almost all were Democrats, among them influential former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, who said it was “inappropriate” for Mr Netanyahu to visit.

Ms Harris was not in attendance, reportedly due to a scheduling clash.

Throughout the speech, Michigan Democrat Rashida Tlaib, the first Palestinian-American member of Congress, was seen holding a placard in the air, which read “guilty of genocide” and “war criminal”.

Conscious that Donald Trump could return to the White House, Benjamin Netanyahu also thanked the former president for moving the American embassy to Jerusalem and for recognising Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, a territory Israel conquered from Syria in 1967.

The two men will meet in Florida later this week.

At home in Israel, families of hostages still held in Gaza gathered to condemn the speech as it was broadcast, silently, on to the central area known as Hostages Square in Tel Aviv.

After listening to the national anthem, the crowd dispersed as Netanyahu continued his address on screen.

The audio was muted, but his English speech was shown with subtitles in Hebrew translation.

Shortly after the end of the speech, the Israeli army announced it had retrieved the bodies of two hostages, Maya Goren and Oren Goldin, from Gaza. The news underscored the growing despair many hostage families feel towards the prospect of seeing their loved ones alive again, with monthslong hostage negotiations still not having borne fruit.

The prime minister’s address to Congress came nine months into Israel’s campaign in Gaza, which has killed more than 39,000 people, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

The Israeli military launched a campaign to destroy Hamas in response to an unprecedented attack on southern Israel on 7 October, during which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

MrBeast’s YouTube co-host Ava Kris Tyson has quit the channel after grooming allegations, which she denies.

The 28-year-old US YouTuber, who has more than 22,000 subscribers on her own channel, was accused of sending inappropriate messages to a minor, reportedly then 13, when she was 20.

On X, Ava denied the claims saying, “I never groomed anyone”, but apologised for her “past behaviour” in a statement.

She said that she and MrBeast – real name Jimmy Donaldson – have “mutually decided it’s best I permanently step away from all things MrBeast and social media to focus on my family and mental health”.

Ava rose to fame after appearing alongside MrBeast on his channel, which has more than 300m subscribers, since 2012.

In 2022 he became the most subscribed YouTuber on the platform and is known for huge stunts and his philanthropic videos.

Ava revealed last year that she was a transgender woman and that she was undergoing gender-affirming therapy while changing her pronouns to she/her.

Allegations first surfaced against her last month in videos shared by other YouTubers which accuse her of messaging a minor when she was 20.

Ava responded by saying: “To create a narrative that my behaviour extended beyond bad edgy jokes is disgusting and did not happen.

“In past years, I have learned that my old humour is not acceptable. I cannot change who I was, but I can continue to work on myself.

“I humbly apologise to anyone I have hurt with my unacceptable social media posts, past actions, and to those who may feel betrayed by how I used to act online.”

The alleged victim – who was named online – has come out to defend Ava saying: “These videos are massive lies and twisting the truth.

“Ava never did anything wrong and just made a few edgy jokes. I was never exploited or taken advantage of.”

BBC Newsbeat has contacted representatives for Ava Kris Tyson and MrBeast for comment.

Listen to Newsbeat live at 12:45 and 17:45 weekdays – or listen back here.

Typhoon Gaemi which made landfall on Taiwan’s east coast, has killed three people and injured hundreds more, officials said.

Gaemi, which landed near the city of Hualien with wind speeds of around 240km/h (150mph) is believed to be the most powerful storm to hit the island in eight years.

The storm has forced officials to cancel parts of the island’s largest annual military drills, along with almost all domestic flights and more than 200 international flights.

Before hitting Taiwan, Gaemi also brought relentless rains to large swathes of the Philippines, where eight people have died.

Authorities are warning that one of the biggest threats is the typhoon’s potential to cause landslides and flash flooding, especially on mountainsides destabilised by a large earthquake in April.

One of the three people killed in Taiwan was a motorist who was hit by a falling tree, authorities said. Another was crushed by an excavator when it overturned.

More than 8,000 people across the island have been temporarily relocated by local authorities, reports said.

Gaemi made landfall in Taiwan around midnight on Wednesday (16:00 GMT), on the northeastern coast close to Yilan county.

On Wednesday, the government has declared a typhoon day, suspending work and classes across the island except for the Kinmen islands.

On Thursday, schools and offices remained closed, while flights to and from Taiwan have also been cancelled.

The typhoon was originally expected to hit further north, but the mountains of northern Taiwan steered it slightly south towards the city of Hualien.

The typhoon is expected to weaken as it tracks over the mountainous terrain of Taiwan before re-emerging in the Taiwan Strait towards China.

A second landfall is expected in the Fujian province in southeastern China later on Thursday. The typhoon is expected to bring 300mm of rain to the region, which has already been experiencing flooding and persistent downpours.

Several rail operators in China have also suspended operations.

Despite the very strong winds, officials say the main threat from Gaemi is from the huge amount of moisture it is carrying.

The island’s Central Weather Administration has issued a land warning for all of Taiwan.

Taiwanese authorities are warning that between one and two metres of rainfall can be expected across the central and southern mountains of the island in the next 24 hours.

In the capital Taipei, shelves in supermarkets were left bare on Tuesday evening as people stocked up ahead of expected price increases after the typhoon passes.

The threat of the typhoon has also forced the government to call off parts of its planned week-long Hang Kuang military drills, which they had repeatedly said would be “the most realistic ever”.

Although it did not make landfall in the Philippines, Gaemi exacerbated the southwest monsoon and brought heavy rain to the country’s capital region and northern provinces on Wednesday. Work and classes have been halted there while stock and foreign exchange trading were suspended.

Metro Manila, home to nearly 15 million people, was placed under a state of calamity as rivers and creeks overflowed.

Footage circulating on social media showed small cars floating in chest-deep waters and commuters trapped on the roofs of sunken buses.

The state weather bureau said the rains, which are typical at this time of the year, could persist until Thursday.