One of the world’s biggest drug lords, Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, leader of Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel, has been arrested by US federal agents in El Paso, Texas.

Zambada, 76, founded the criminal organisation with Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, who is currently jailed in the US.

Arrested with Zambada on Thursday was Guzman’s son, Joaquin Guzman Lopez, said the US justice department.

In February, Zambada was charged by US prosecutors with a conspiracy to make and distribute fentanyl, a drug more powerful than heroin that has been blamed for the US opioid crisis.

In a written statement on Thursday evening, US Attorney General Merrick Garland said the two men lead “one of the most violent and powerful drug trafficking organizations in the world”.

“El Mayo and Guzman Lopez join a growing list of Sinaloa cartel leaders and associates who the Justice Department is holding accountable in the United States,” Mr Garland said.

“Fentanyl is the deadliest drug threat our country has ever faced, and the Justice Department will not rest until every single cartel leader, member, and associate responsible for poisoning our communities is held accountable,” added Mr Garland, the top law enforcement officer in the US.

American prosecutors say the Sinaloa cartel is the biggest supplier of drugs to the US.

US authorities have previously noted that fentanyl is the leading cause of death for Americans aged 18 to 45.

The US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) had been offering a reward of up to $15m (£12m) for Zambada’s capture.

During Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman’s trial in 2019, his lawyers accused Zambada of bribing the “entire” Mexican government in exchange for living openly without fear of prosecution.

“In truth he controlled nothing,” Guzman’s lawyer, Jeffrey Lichtman, told jurors of his client. “Mayo Zambada did,” he claimed.

According to the US state department, Zambada is also the owner of several legitimate businesses in Mexico, including “a large milk company, a bus line, and a hotel”, as well as real estate assets.

Alongside fentanyl charges, he is also facing charges in the US ranging from drug trafficking, murder, kidnapping, money laundering and organised crime.

In May, Zambada’s nephew – Eliseo Imperial Castro, who was known as “Cheyo Antrax” – was killed in an ambush in Mexico. He was also wanted by US authorities.

Zambada is arguably the biggest drug lord in the world and certainly the most influential in the Americas.

He had evaded authorities for decades, and as such, his arrest has come as a shock in Mexico.

Details of the arrests of the two men remain unclear, but it appears they flew into the United States.

Citing Mexican and US officials, the Wall Street Journal reports that Zambada was tricked into boarding the plane by a high-ranking Sinaloa member following a months-long operation by Homeland Security Investigations and the FBI.

Zambada believed he was going to inspect clandestine airfields in Mexico, the paper reports.

As more information emerges, Zambada’s arrest will no doubt be heralded by President Joe Biden’s administration as one of the most significant operations by the DEA in years.

Zambada co-founded the Sinaloa cartel in the wake of the collapse of the Guadalajara cartel at the end of the 1980s.

While Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman was the public face of the organisation and the most notorious of the two men, many believed it was in fact El Mayo who was its real leader.

Not only ruthless, he was also innovative, creating and maintaining some of the earliest links with Colombian cartels to flood the US with cocaine and heroin.

And more latterly, fentanyl.

His leadership of the criminal empire has endured in the face of changing presidents in Mexico and the US, amid repeated anti-drug offensives from successive governments and constant efforts by his enemies in other drug-trafficking organisations to bring him down.

That is no mean feat in the violent, dangerous and treacherous underworld in which he has operated as an unassailable kingpin for many years.

Yet that extraordinary resilience appears to have run out in El Paso, Texas – a city blighted by the influx of the synthetic opioid, fentanyl, much of which was smuggled in by his organisation.

A humanitarian crisis is unfolding in the north of Ethiopia, driven by drought, crop failure and continued insecurity in the aftermath of a brutal war.

With local officials warning that more than two million people are now at risk of starvation, the BBC has gained exclusive access to some of the worst affected areas in Tigray province, and analysed satellite imagery to reveal the full scale of the emergency the region now faces.

The month of July is a critical period for food security, when farmers need to plant crops to take advantage of the seasonal rains.

The satellite images we have identified show that reservoirs, and the farmlands they help irrigate, have dried up because the rains failed last year. They now need to be replenished by seasonal rains if farmers are to stand any hope of a successful season later in the year.

The images below are of the Korir dam and reservoir, about 45km (28 miles) north of the regional capital, Mekele.

A small lake with an artificial barrier, known as a micro-dam, is clearly visible in the first photograph, taken in June 2023. Below the dam is fertile land irrigated by the reservoir.

Systems such as this have been able to support more than 300 farmers growing wheat, vegetables and sorghum – a grain crop.

The lower image shows the same area in June 2024, with the reservoir empty and parched fields.

Without adequate rainfall, the irrigation system cannot operate and farmers are unable to survive off the land.

“Even though our dam has no water, our land will not go anywhere,” says Demtsu Gebremedhin who used to farm tomatoes, onions and sorghum.

“So we don’t give up and we hope we will go back to farming.”

Tigray’s population is estimated to be between six and seven million.

Until the end of 2022, the region was engulfed in a bitter two-year war pitting local Tigray forces against the federal government and its allies.

It is estimated that hundreds of thousands of people were killed in the conflict, or died because of starvation and lack of health care.

Dozens of displacement camps were set up to provide refuge, and humanitarian support.

Now the war is over, some have been able to return home – but most have remained in camps, reliant on food aid being delivered there because the lack of rainfall has meant they have no crops to harvest and eat.

One of these camps is near the town of Shire about 280km (174 miles) by road to the west of the Korir dam. Set up by UN agencies, it now provides shelter to more than 30,000 people.

The blue tents seen in this satellite image have been provided by the International Organization of Migration (IOM) and the white by the UN refugee agency (UNHCR).

Tsibktey Teklay looks after five of her children in the camp. Her husband was killed in the war.

“We had animals. We used to harvest crops in winter,” she told the BBC in May. “In short, we had the best lifestyle. Now we are down to nothing.”

In the camp, she does some cooking and some handicraft work to earn money, but some of her children have had to beg.

“I hope I will get my land back at least. Food grown on our land is better than food aid,” she says.

“If we can return to our home town, our children can work or go to school.

“So I hope that after our miserable life here, this will be the best future for them.”

The BBC has spoken to doctors at a hospital in the town of Endabaguna, some 20km (12 miles) south of Shire about their growing concerns.

“We’ve been treating increasing numbers of children in recent months,” says the hospital’s medical director, Dr Gebrekristos Gidey.

One woman – 20-year-old Abeba Yeshalem – gave birth prematurely as a result of malnutrition, he says.

At the hospital, Abeba told us: “My husband went away to study, leaving me on my own, and he was unable to help me financially. I don’t have enough food to feed either myself or the baby.“

The dozens of children being treated are not only from families living in the camps, but also those from the nearby towns.

“We don’t have the resources to care for all those in need,” says Dr Gebrekristos.

The region is facing its most critical time of the year, known as the “peak hunger season” according to Dr Gebrehiwet Gebregzabher, head of the Disaster Risk Management Commission in Tigray.

It is a time when food supplies traditionally run low – and crops must be planted to be ready for the October harvest.

“There are 2.1 million people that are at risk of starvation,” he tells the BBC, “with a further 2.4 million relying on an uncertain aid supply.“

Data obtained from the Ethiopian government’s meteorology agency shows the consequence of poor rains last year.

Tigray’s northern regions and neighbouring Afar both suffered from drought.

To the south of Ethiopia, heavy rains caused flooding, with damage to crops and livestock.

Rainfall in January and February this year was also below normal in large parts of Tigray, although it improved in some areas in March.

Famine “creeps up in the darkness” warns Prof Alex de Waal, executive director of the advocacy group, the World Peace Foundation at Tufts University. He says too little attention is being paid to the crisis.

“Famines are man-made, so the men who make them like to conceal the evidence and hide their role,” he says.

He says the current situation in Tigray has echoes of the catastrophic famine of 1984 in which as many as a million people died of starvation.

“In 1984, the Ethiopian government wanted the world to believe that its revolution heralded a bright new era of prosperity, and foreign donors refused to believe warnings of starvation until they saw pictures of dying children on the BBC news.”

Aid agencies have mapped the scale of the crisis facing Ethiopia based on a range of factors, including failed rains, ongoing insecurity and a lack of access for aid distributions.

The Famine Early Warning Systems Network (Fews Net) describes parts of Tigray, along with neighbouring Afar and Amhara, as facing an emergency

The federal government in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa disputes these warnings of critical food shortages.

Shiferaw Teklemariam, head of Ethiopia’s national Disaster Risk Management Commission, told the BBC that based on official assessments “there are no looming dangers of famine and starvation in Tigray…[or] elsewhere in Ethiopia.”

He added that officials were “doing their best” to address the challenges facing the country and that “beneficiaries most in need” would continue to be prioritised.

Relations between the Ethiopian government and aid agencies have been strained in recent years, amid allegations from the UN that food aid was being blocked from reaching Tigray during the conflict there.

In 2021, the federal government denied reports of hunger in Tigray and expelled seven senior UN workers, accusing them of “meddling in the internal affairs of the country”.

Then in June last year, the UN’s World Food Programme and the US Agency for International Development (USAID) suspended all food aid to Ethiopia, saying they had uncovered evidence that government and military officials were stealing humanitarian supplies.

Deliveries were only resumed in November.

There have also been public disputes within Ethiopia about the severity of the situation.

In February, after Ethiopia’s ombudsman reported nearly 400 deaths from hunger in the country, including in Tigray, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said: “There are no people dying due to hunger in Ethiopia.”

In response to these political tensions, Alex de Waal says aid agencies which are “strapped for cash and averse to controversy” have been slow to respond to the current crisis.

A spokesperson for USAID told the BBC they “continue to urge the government of Ethiopia and other donors to increase funding to the humanitarian needs of the most vulnerable”.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) says the funding currently available is “insufficient to meet the extensive humanitarian needs”, but the resources available are channelled “to the most urgent, life-saving response.”

Ten years ago, musician Usman Riaz grabbed a pencil and started to sketch.

He might have hoped, but didn’t know at the time, that it would start him on a path to making history.

That initial drawing became The Glassworker – Pakistan’s first ever hand-drawn animated feature film.

It follows the story of young Vincent and his father Tomas, who run a glass workshop, and a war that threatens to upend their lives.

Vincent’s relationship with violinist Alliz, the daughter of a military colonel, begins to test the bond between father and son.

Usman tells BBC Asian Network the characters ultimately come to learn “that life is beautiful but fragile, like glass”.

He describes The Glassworker as an “anti-war film” set in an ambiguous and fantastical world that takes inspiration from his home country.

“I wanted to tackle issues and themes that would have been difficult to tackle if it was based in Pakistan,” he says.

The country doesn’t have the thriving film industry of neighbouring India and there is no government support or incentive for budding creatives like Usman.

So The Glassworker was a passion project, he says.

“These 10 years for me have just been purely driven with passion and obsession.

“Since I was a child, I have loved hand-drawn animation and there’s something so magical about it.

“The beauty of the lines drawn and painted by the human hand always resonated with me.”

Usman says he travelled the world looking for mentors and his search took him to Japanese animation house Studio Ghibli.

The influence of the Oscar-winning artists behind classics such as Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke can be seen in The Glassworker’s own style.

Usman says the industry veterans at Ghibli were also the ones who encouraged him to start the production himself.

After raising $116,000 through a 2016 crowdfunding campaign he founded his own studio, Mano Animations.

From there it’s been a painstaking process, especially since full production started in 2019.

“What you are watching is essentially a moving painting,” says Usman.

“Every single frame you see, whether it’s a background or the character moving, it’s all drawn by hand.”

Usman says that, so far, he hasn’t made any money from the project and has been unable to pay his wife Maryam and cousin Khizer, who he recruited to help him.

But there’s hope that the labour of love could be the start of something bigger.

Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy is another experienced industry figure Usman turned to for advice about getting The Glassworker off the ground.

She directed 3 Bahadur, a computer-generated tale that was Pakistan’s first-ever animated feature film.

On its 2015 release it broke box office records, even surpassing US imports and dethroning previous record-holder Rio 2.

Her studio was also the country’s first female-led animation studio, and she understands the challenges of getting started better than most.

“Everything in Pakistan is driven by passion” she says. “I had to run pillar to post.

“We’re a country that has limited access to electricity and our industry is heavily taxed.

“We’re unable to import computers and hardware needed for animation.”

But Sharmeen – who is going to direct upcoming Star Wars film New Jedi Order – says The Glassworker could be a “monumental step” for Pakistan’s animation scene.

If it finds commercial success, she believes it will “ignite” something in the country, but there are barriers to home-grown animation becoming a red-hot trend.

Arafat Mazhar from Lahore-based Puffball animation agrees that “the technical skills are already there” in Pakistan despite there being “no formal training or schools available”.

But “how do you not censor yourself?” he asks.

It’s a question facing any Pakistani filmmaker who has to deal with its strict board of film censors.

“Every time there’s a good film that comes out that’s sincere, the state ends up censoring it,” says Arafat.

He doesn’t believe the rules are likely to relax soon.

Sharmeen agrees the government will only encourage the domestic film industry to grow if they work to “provide opportunity to create a level playing field for us to compete with the rest of the world”.

“There is a lot of scope in Pakistan for animation,” she says. “We’ve just never been given the opportunity to create it.”

She shares Arafat’s pessimism about the pace of change.

“Unfortunately, it will just be a few filmmakers who have that passion, who will continue to create films,” she says.

But Sharmeen says she is eager to see how the world embraces The Glassworker.

“I know that there is so much in there that will touch people’s hearts”.

Usman will finally get to find out how audiences react to the work he’s spent 10 years pouring his energy into as The Glassworker goes on general release.

He says he hopes to “put Pakistan on the map” and show it can stand up to the giants across the border in Bollywood.

But he admits the process has been “gruelling”.

“It is extremely difficult, but we’ve done something nobody has ever done in the country before,” he says.

“I think we’ve created something special that can stand toe-to-toe with the rest of the animation produced in the world.”

Listen to Ankur Desai’s show on BBC Asian Network live from 15:00-18:00 Monday to Thursday – or listen back here.

Huge, fast-moving wildfires have destroyed up to half of the historic Canadian town of Jasper, officials say, and the blazes are still out of control as firefighters try to save as many buildings as possible.

Entire streets of the main town in western Canada’s Jasper National Park have been levelled by the fire, with video showing smouldering rubble where homes once stood and the charred remains of cars.

While no deaths have been reported, some 20,000 tourists and 5,000 residents have fled the mountainous area in Alberta province, which has been hugely popular with tourists for decades.

During a news conference on Thursday, a tearful Alberta Premier Danielle Smith struggled at times to recount the scale of the damage, but said “potentially 30 to 50 percent” of buildings had been destroyed.

“There is no denying that this is the worst nightmare for any community,” she said, adding that Jasper National Park had been “a source of pride” for many generations.

Ms Smith became visibly emotional as she described the beauty of the park and its significance to the community, which relies largely on tourism. Some 2.5 million people visit the park, and nearby Banff National Park, each year.

Karyn Decore, the owner of the Maligne Lodge in Jasper, was on holiday when she learned her hotel had burned down. On Wednesday night, she received a photograph of the building in flames.

“I was horrified and devastated when I saw that photo,” she told the BBC. “I think it’s going to take a couple of days for the shock to wear down.”

“It’s really hard for everyone to comprehend that we lost one of our properties,” she said, adding that she intended to rebuild the lodge.

BBC journalist Wendy Hurrell was in Jasper National Park when the fires began to burn on Monday. She drove through the night with her husband and daughter in a rush to leave town.

“The storm was ferocious – the skies went dark red and there were whipping winds, fierce rain and lightning,” she said.

“We are some of the last travellers to see Jasper in its full beauty – it will be a very long time before it will recover. It’s utterly devastating for them all and my heart is breaking.”

Hundreds of firefighters from around the world have been deployed to help with the response, but officials warn the extent of the damage is still emerging. The focus on Thursday, they said, was on containing the towering flames which engulfed the town from two sides.

Pierre Martel, director for the national fire management programme at Parks Canada, said the fire was started by a lightning storm and escalated late on Wednesday as it was fanned by powerful winds.

“It [was] just a monster at that point,” Mr Martel said. “There are no tools we have in our tool box to deal with it.”

The flames reached 100m (328ft) high in some places, covering “an inordinate amount of space in a very little amount of time”, one official said.

Mike Ellis, Alberta’s minister for public safety, said the fire was 5km (three miles) outside of Jasper when it was pushed by the winds to the town in “less than 30 minutes”.

“Any firefighter will tell you there is little to nothing you can do when you have a wall of flames coming at you like that,” he said.

“Nobody anticipated that fire to come so fast, so large and so quickly.”

Justin Trudeau, Canada’s prime minister, thanked the emergency services for their response to the wildfires.

“As the heartbreaking images from Jasper emerge, I want to thank the brave first responders who are in Alberta right now, fighting to save every home and every community they can,” he said.

Environment Canada said there might soon be a reprieve from the hot and dry weather, which allowed the fire to grow, as rain is expected late on Thursday.

This marks another year of difficult fire conditions for the province. Last year, a record 2.2 million hectares burned in Alberta between 1 March and 31 October.

Outside Alberta, there are more than 45 active blazes in British Columbia and fires are burning in California, Oregon, Washington, Montana and Utah in the US.

The overall number of fires has decreased around the world over the last two decades.

But researchers say climate change could bring more lightning to forests in northern reaches of the globe, increasing the risk of wildfires.

With an anticipated ten thousand athletes parading through the heart of Paris, Friday’s Olympic opening ceremony promises a spectacle

Many of the details have been kept secret, so expect plenty of surprises.

The ceremony begins at 18:30 BST on Friday, and will last just under four hours.

Here are some of the things to watch out for during the curtain-raiser, which you can watch live on the BBC.

For the first time, the ceremony will take place not in a stadium, but in the heart of a city. The world’s Olympic teams are set to parade along the River Seine in boats, watched by about 300,000 spectators in a display directed by Thomas Jolly, the ceremony’s artistic director.

The flotilla will carry more than 10,000 athletes along a six mile (3.7km) route along the waterway, which has been under intense scrutiny for its cleanliness.

• Watch: BBC joins Parisian mayor for a dip in the Seine

Organisers hope Friday’s spectacle is free-flowing, amid a mammoth security operation that will involve tens of thousands of police.

Earlier this year, French President Emmanuel Macron admitted that a plan B (and a plan C) had been put together in case the challenges proved insurmountable.

The boats will pass some of the city’s best-known bridges and landmarks on their journey during the evening – including Notre-Dame cathedral and, naturally, the Eiffel Tower – before reaching the Trocadéro.

It will conclude as the sun sets over the city’s west, which organisers hope will further solidify the legend of the City of Lights. Games president Tony Estanguet has promised the timing will make the show “more sublime, with a truly poetic dimension”.

(And by the way – theories differ as to whether the French capital earned its nickname as a luminous centre of intellect and creativity, or due to the way it reportedly embraced street lighting early in the technology’s development.)

Organisers are promising cameras on each boat to show the stars up close.

But what remains to be seen is exactly how this arrangement scales up and down for Olympic delegations of different sizes.

The USA, for example, is sending just shy of 600 competitors while some smaller nations are being represented by just a single competitor each.

Dozens of vessels will be used, with help enlisted from local boat firms.

The spotlight will be shone on those athletes given the job of carrying their team’s flag. A pair of British Olympic veterans – diver Tom Daley and rower Helen Glover – have been given that responsibility for Team GB.

Jolly has signed up 3,000 performers – including musicians and 400 dancers on bridges – though he’s remained tight-lipped about who the famous names are.

It has been suggested that French-Malian R&B star Aya Nakamura could be among the musical acts, as the world’s most-streamed French-language artist.

That remains unconfirmed, and has proven unpopular with the French far-right, which has argued that her music owes more to Africa and the US than to France. Nakamura was prompted to reply to one group: “What do I owe you? Nothing.”

• Culture war erupts over singer’s suggested role in Olympics

There’s been some speculation that Canadian star Céline Dion – who sings in French and English – could perform, after she was seen in the French capital earlier this week. Again, nothing is confirmed, but a performance would represent a comeback for Dion, who cancelled shows after revealing in 2022 that she had a rare neurological condition called Stiff Person Syndrome.

Lady Gaga, too, has been spotted in Paris – stoking rumours that she could play her own part. But any Daft Punk fans hoping to “get lucky” with a performance from the French duo were left disappointed when the act shot down any rumours they’d take part.

The Olympic torch travelled to the French capital from Greece in a massive relay that began more than three months ago. As part of its journey, the torch was briefly transported on the world’s longest rowing boat – the 24-seat Stampfli Express.

As for who gets the honour of lighting the Olympic cauldron – tradition dictates that the identity of the final torchbearer stays a secret until the big televised reveal.

That duty has previously fallen to the likes of Muhammad Ali in Atlanta in 1996 and to Aboriginal sprinter Cathy Freeman in Sydney four years later.

Among those who’ve carried the torch so far are French former footballer Thierry Henry and judo star Romane Dicko. Rapper Snoop Dogg will also have a role in carrying the torch in the final stages of the relay before the opening ceremony begins.

With the athletes’ parade always comes a bold array of looks – not least when the Olympics are taking place this time in one of the world’s style capitals.

Team USA and Team GB will be kitted out by Ralph Lauren and Ben Sherman respectively. Other eye-catching outfits come courtesy of Stella Jean, whose designs for Haiti are designed to project a vibrant image of the Caribbean nation.

• Perfect 10? The looks the athletes are sporting

The event’s organisers say some 3,000 unique costumes have been made for both the Olympic and Paralympic opening and closing ceremonies in a secretive workshop near Paris. Many will be made of recycled materials as the Games looks to stress its green ethos.

The woman stitching together this part of the visual spectacle is Daphné Bürki, who says she has been getting ready for the “biggest show of the 21st century four times over”.

Keep your eyes peeled for sporting superstars among the athletes’ contingent.

But we also expect to see celebrities and dignitaries of all sorts in the crowd, with more than 100 heads of state and government due to attend, according to Reuters.

US First Lady Jill Biden and Argentine President Javier Milei are among the anticipated attendees, alongside French President Emmanuel Macron and Olympic chief Thomas Bach.

Elizabeth II appeared at the London 2012 curtain-raiser – and not just in her filmed appearance with Daniel Craig.

• ‘Good evening, Mr Bond’: When the Queen met 007

The opening ceremony will be shown live from 17:45 BST on BBC One, BBC iPlayer and the BBC Sport website and app.

You can tune in to radio coverage on BBC Radio 5 Live and BBC Sounds from 19:00 BST.

There will also be live text coverage on the BBC Sport website and app bringing you the best of the event from Paris.

• How to follow the Olympics across the BBC
• When is the opening ceremony?
• Looking for last-minute tickets? Here’s how
• Guide: What’s happening when at the Olympics

Typhoon Gaemi has made landfall in mainland China after wreaking havoc in Taiwan and the Philippines.

More than 150,000 people living in the south-eastern Chinese province of Fujian have been relocated to safer areas in anticipation of the storm.

It comes after widespread flooding and landslides across Taiwan and the Philippines, killing at least 21 people.

The Philippines says it is “racing against time” to contain an oil spill after a tanker carrying 1.5 million litres of industrial fuel capsized and sank off of the country’s coast.

The ship was one of two which sank in the region on Thursday, with the second going down just off Taiwan’s south-western coast.

China activated its highest-tier disaster warning as the storm made its way to its shores on Thursday evening local time.

Chinese President Xi Jinping chaired a meeting with the Communist Party’s top leadership on flood control and disaster relief plans, state media reported.

Train services have been suspended in Fujian, while authorities in northern China have warned heavy rains could trigger landslides and flooding.

Meanwhile, the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters says there is a “high risk” of natural disasters.

China is experiencing a summer of extremely changeable weather, with heavy downpours in the east and south and scorching heatwaves in the north. It typically experiences heavy rain from the middle of July to mid-August.

Gaemi is taking a route similar to Typhoon Doksuri from last year, which caused widespread flooding across northern China, although there is a possibility that its route could change.

A clean-up operation is currently taking place in Taiwan following the typhoon – the largest to have struck the island in eight years but only the first of this year’s storm season.

Taiwan’s meteorological office said several areas of the island received more than 1000mm of rainfall between Wednesday night and Thursday lunchtime, while the southern city of Kaohsuing recorded 1350mm of rain.

It left large areas of the city under more than a metre of flood water and three people were killed.

A search and rescue operation is underway to find the remaining six Burmese sailors who were reported missing after their Tanzania-flagged cargo ship Fu Shun went down off the northern coast of Taiwan.

Three crew members have been rescued so far, but high winds and choppy seas are hampering rescue efforts, officials have said.

Five other cargo ships have been run aground close to the island.

Despite avoiding a direct hit by the storm, Typhoon Gaemi had intensified seasonal monsoon rains by the time it hit the Philippines, causing widespread flooding in Manila.

The storm caused the MT Terra Nova, a tanker that was heading to the Philippine city of Iloilo, to sink with 17 crew members on board.

The Philippine coast guard said it found the body of one missing crew member, and 16 others were rescued.

A huge operation is now underway to manage an oil spill which could be the worst in the country’s history if not properly contained.

The coast guard has detected an oil slick stretching to about four kilometres, describing it as “enormous”.

Rear Admiral Armando Balilo said the spill would “definitely affect the marine environment”.

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

Experts said that under ordinary circumstances officials would immediately deploy booms, or temporary floating barriers, to limit how far the spill can spread – but the bad weather has delayed these efforts.

US Vice-President Kamala Harris – who’s expected to be the Democratic nominee for November’s presidential election – has held what she called “frank and constructive” talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Striking a tougher tone than President Joe Biden, Ms Harris said she made clear her “serious concerns” about casualties in Gaza, telling Mr Netanyahu how Israel defended itself mattered.

“It is time for this war to end,” she said after their face-to-face talks at the White House.

Ms Harris also stressed the need for a path to a two-state solution, while calling on Americans to be aware of “nuance” on the conflict.

Earlier on Thursday, Mr Netanyahu met Mr Biden, who stepped down from his re-election campaign on Sunday.

Mr Netanyahu’s meetings at the White House came a day after he gave a fiery speech to Congress, vowing “total victory” against Hamas, as thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters demonstrated outside.

The prime minister faces pressure both at home and abroad to bring an end to the Israel-Gaza war, now in its ninth month.

Mr Biden’s staunch support of Israel has infuriated many left-wing activists, whose support the Democrats may need if they are to win November’s presidential election.

Given that, there is also considerable interest in the position Ms Harris might take towards Israel should she replace Mr Biden in the White House.

After meeting Mr Netanyahu for about 40 minutes, Ms Harris said she had an “unwavering commitment” to Israel and its right to defend itself.

She noted the conflict began on 7 October when Hamas militants attacked southern Israel from Gaza, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 250 captives, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive in Gaza has killed more than 39,000 people.

“Israel has a right to defend itself. And how it does so matters,” Ms Harris said, expressing concern about the “dire humanitarian situation” in Gaza.

“We cannot allow ourselves to be numb to the suffering and I will not be silent,” she said.

“Let’s get the deal done so we can get a ceasefire to end the war,” she added. “Let’s bring the hostages home, and let’s bring much-needed relief to the Palestinian people.”

Mr Netanyahu is due to meet Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on Friday.

As he met Mr Biden earlier, the prime minister said he had known him for 40 years – and that the US president had known every Israeli premier over the last half a century.

“From a proud Jewish Zionist to a proud Irish-American Zionist, I want to thank you for 50 years of public service and 50 years of support for the state of Israel,” he said.

Mr Netanyahu also said he looked forward to working with Mr Biden “on the great issues before us” over the next several months.

The US president joked that Golda Meir was the first Israeli prime minister that he had met, and that Yitzhak Rabin, a successor, was there as an assistant.

At a news briefing, White House national security spokesman John Kirby said Mr Biden and Mr Netanyahu had discussed the urgent need for a hostage release deal, the potential of conflict spilling over into Lebanon, the threat of Iran and the need to reach “compromises” in peace talks.

While Mr Kirby added that “gaps remain” in the US-Israel relationship, it was still “healthy”.

“By healthy, I mean they’re not going to agree on everything,” Mr Kirby said, adding that Mr Biden was “very comfortable with the relationship he has with the prime minister”.

The US and Israeli leaders also held a closed-door meeting with the families of seven US citizens still being held hostage by Hamas in Gaza.

Following the meeting, Jonathan Dekel-Chen – whose son Sagui was kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz on 7 October – told reporters that the meeting was “productive and honest”. He did not provide further details.

“We feel probably more optimistic than we have since the first round of releases in late November, early December,” he said.

Once upon a time, the vulture was an abundant and ubiquitous bird in India.

The scavenging birds hovered over sprawling landfills, looking for cattle carcasses. Sometimes they would alarm pilots by getting sucked into jet engines during airport take-offs.

But more than two decades ago, India’s vultures began dying because of a drug used to treat sick cows.

By the mid-1990s, the 50 million-strong vulture population had plummeted to near zero because of diclofenac, a cheap non-steroidal painkiller for cattle that is fatal to vultures. Birds that fed on carcasses of livestock treated with the drug suffered from kidney failure and died.

Since the 2006 ban on veterinary use of diclofenac, the decline has slowed in some areas, but at least three species have suffered long-term losses of 91-98%, according to the latest State of India’s Birds report.

And that’s not all, according to a new peer-reviewed study. The unintentional decimation of these heavy, scavenging birds allowed deadly bacteria and infections to proliferate, leading to the deaths of about half a million people per year over five years, says the study published in the American Economic Association journal.

“Vultures are considered nature’s sanitation service because of the important role they play in removing dead animals that contain bacteria and pathogens from our environment – without them, disease can spread,” says the study’s co-author, Eyal Frank, an assistant professor at University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy.

“Understanding the role vultures play in human health underscores the importance of protecting wildlife, and not just the cute and cuddly. They all have a job to do in our ecosystems that impacts our lives.”

Mr Frank and his co-author Anant Sudarshan compared human death rates in Indian districts that once thrived with vultures to those with historically low vulture populations, both before and after the vulture collapse. They also examined rabies vaccine sales, feral dog counts and pathogen levels in the water supply.

They found that after anti-inflammatory drug sales had risen and vulture populations had collapsed, human death rates increased by more than 4% in districts where the birds once thrived.

The researchers also found that the effect was greatest in urban areas with large livestock populations where carcass dumps were common.

The authors estimated that between 2000 and 2005, the loss of vultures caused around 100,000 additional human deaths annually, resulting in more than $69bn (£53bn) per year in mortality damages or the economic costs associated with premature deaths.

These deaths were due to the spread of disease and bacteria that vultures would have otherwise removed from the environment.

For example, without vultures, the stray dog population increased, bringing rabies to humans.

Rabies vaccine sales rose during that time but were insufficient. Unlike vultures, dogs were ineffective at cleaning rotting remains, leading to bacteria and pathogens spreading into drinking water through runoff and poor disposal methods. Faecal bacteria in the water more than doubled.

“The vulture collapse in India provides a particularly stark example of the type of hard-to-reverse and unpredictable costs to humans that can come from the loss of a species,” says Mr Sudarshan, an associate professor at the University of Warwick and co-author of the study.

“In this case, new chemicals were to blame, but other human activities – habitat loss, wildlife trade, and now climate change – have an impact on animals and, in turn, on us. It’s important to understand these costs and target resources and regulations towards preserving especially these keystone species.”

Of the vulture species in India, the white-rumped vulture, Indian vulture and red-headed vulture have suffered the most significant long-term declines since the early 2000s, with populations dropping by 98%, 95% and 91%, respectively. The Egyptian vulture and the migratory griffon vulture have also declined significantly, but less catastrophically.

The 2019 livestock census in India recorded more than 500 million animals, the highest in the world. Vultures, highly efficient scavengers, were historically relied upon by farmers to swiftly remove livestock carcasses. The decline of vultures in India is the fastest ever recorded for a bird species and the largest since the passenger pigeon’s extinction in the US, according to researchers.

India’s remaining vulture populations are now concentrated around protected areas where their diet consists more of dead wildlife than potentially contaminated livestock, according to the State of Indian Birds report. These continuing declines suggest “ongoing threats for vultures, which is of particular concern given that vulture declines have negatively affected human well-being”.

Experts warn that veterinary drugs still pose a major threat to vultures. The dwindling availability of carcasses, due to increased burial and competition from feral dogs, exacerbates the problem. Quarrying and mining can disrupt nesting habitats for some vulture species.

Will the vultures come back? It is difficult to say, though there are some promising signs. Last year, 20 vultures – bred in captivity and fitted with satellite tags and rescued – were released from a tiger reserve in West Bengal. More than 300 vultures were recorded in the recent survey in southern India. But more action is required.

Russia and China have staged a joint patrol over the north Pacific Ocean and the Bering Sea near the coast of Alaska.

The two countries have carried out several joint patrols in the past, and Russia regularly flies its bombers over the Bering Sea.

But Wednesday’s joint patrol was the first that brought together bombers from both countries in the north Pacific area.

Moscow and Beijing said it was “not aimed at any third party”, while the US-Canadian North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) said the bombers, which it intercepted, stayed in international airspace and were “not seen as a threat”.

But Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski described the event as an “unprecedented provocation by our adversaries”, adding that it was “the first time they have been intercepted operating together.”

China has said the patrol has “nothing to do with the current international and regional situation”.

Russian TU-95MS strategic missile carriers and the Chinese air force’s Xian H-6 strategic bombers were deployed, according to Russia.

China and Russia have developed closer ties since Moscow was placed under sanctions by the West following its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Any display of deepening cooperation is watched with apprehension by the US and European countries.

Earlier this month, Moscow and Beijing wrapped up their fourth joint naval patrol in the northern and western Pacific Ocean.

Nato countries issued a joint statement at the end of a recent summit in Washington accusing China of being a “decisive enabler” of Russia’s war in Ukraine and urging it to “cease all material and political support” to the country’s war effort.

In a report on Arctic security published on Monday, the US Department of Defence expressed concern over the two countries’ “growing alignment”, and predicted that their military cooperation would continue to increase.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov rejected this, saying Russian-Chinese cooperation in the Arctic could only contribute to an atmosphere of “stability and predictability” in the area.

North Korean hackers are attempting to steal nuclear and military secrets from governments and private companies around the world, the UK, US and South Korea have warned.

They say the group – known by the names Andariel and Onyx Sleet – is targeting defence, aerospace, nuclear and engineering entities to obtain classified information, with the aim of advancing Pyongyang’s military and nuclear programs and ambitions.

The group has been seeking information in a wide range of areas – from uranium processing to tanks, submarines and torpedoes – and has targeted the UK, US, South Korea, Japan, India and elsewhere.

US air force bases, Nasa and defence companies are said to have been targeted.

• North Korea hacked South Korea chip equipment makers, Seoul says
• North Korea: Missile programme funded through stolen crypto, UN report says

The high-profile warning about this specific group appears to be a sign that its work combining espionage and money-making activity is worrying officials because of its impact both on sensitive technology and every-day life.

The US says the group funds its espionage activity through ransomware operations against US healthcare entities.

Paul Chichester, director of operations for the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), an arm of GCHQ, said: “The global cyber espionage operation that we have exposed today shows the lengths that DPRK state-sponsored actors are willing to go to pursue their military and nuclear programmes.

“It should remind critical infrastructure operators of the importance of protecting the sensitive information and intellectual property they hold on their systems to prevent theft and misuse.”

The NCSC assesses that Andariel is a part of North Korea’s Reconnaissance General Bureau (RGB) 3rd Bureau.

The joint warning issued by the US, UK and South Korea shares advice to help defend against North Korean actors, which it says have also been seeking information on robot machinery, mechanical arms, and 3D printing components.

“This indictment showcases that North Korean threats groups also pose a serious threat to citizens’ everyday lives and can’t be ignored or disregarded,” Michael Barnhart, Mandiant Principal Analyst at Google Cloud said.

“Their targeting of hospitals to generate revenue and fund their operations demonstrates a relentless focus on fulfilling their priority mission of intelligence gathering, regardless of the potential consequences it may have on human lives.”

This is just the latest in a series of warnings about North Korean hackers over the years.

Some of the most high profile cyber incidents have been linked to the country, including an attack on Sony Pictures in 2014 in retaliation for a Hollywood comedy film that depicted the assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

North Korea is also known for the activities of Lazarus Group which has carried out major thefts of millions of dollars.

Dozens of villagers have reportedly been killed after a gang of young men launched a series of attacks in a remote region of Papua New Guinea.

Survivors of the massacre have described hearing their neighbours’ cries of pain, and watching as others were speared as they tried to flee the gang in canoes.

At least 26 people – including 16 children – were killed, local media reported, with fears the death toll may yet rise to 50 as the search for survivors continues.

United Nations human rights chief Volker Türk said the “shocking” violence seemed to be “the result of a dispute over land and lake ownership and user rights” and appealed to officials to “ensure those responsible are held to account”.

Governor Allan Bird told Australia’s ABC News there were just 20 police officers for the 100,000 people who live in the Angoram district of East Sepik province where the attack took place.

National police have now arrived in the region to help with the investigation – more than a week after the violence took place.

But according to local media, police already know the identity of the more than 30 men who carried out the attacks between 16 and 18 July.

The gang – who Angoram police Inspector Peter Mandi said called themselves “I don’t care”, according to the Guardian – were armed with guns, knives and axes, attacking in the early hours.

They allegedly raped and killed their victims, setting numerous homes alight.

One woman described how she had floated for hours clinging to a log, trying to remain quiet while the attack went on around her.

“I could hear women wailing in pain, children crying out. I was lucky the men didn’t see me,” she told The National newspaper.

Another survivor said simply of the “surprise” attack: “We were helpless.”

The villagers who could escaped into the surrounding bush, leaving behind the dead.

Provincial police commander Senior Inspector James Baugen described to the Post Courier how bodies had been left “rotting” in the village, while others had been taken by crocodiles after floating down the river.

He added that many of the dead were mothers and their children.

Gov Bird said law and order had been on the decline in the region for the last six months.

It was thought land ownership was also the cause of a similarly shocking attack in Papua New Guinea’s Highlands in February, in which another 26 people were killed.

A year ago, escalating tribal conflict over land and wealth led to a three-month lockdown in Enga province, during which police imposed a curfew and travel restrictions.

An Indian labourer’s fortunes have changed overnight after he found a massive diamond in a mine in the central state of Madhya Pradesh.

The 19.22-carat diamond is expected to fetch about 8m rupees ($95,570; £74,000) in a government auction.

Raju Gound said he had been leasing mines in Panna city for more than 10 years in the hope of finding a diamond.

Panna is famed for its diamond reserves and people often lease cheap, shallow mines from the government to hunt for the precious stone.

The federal government’s National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) runs a mechanised diamond mining project in Panna.

It also leases out shallow mines to individuals, families and co-operative groups who look for diamonds, usually with basic tools and equipment.

Any finds are handed over to the government diamond office, which then evaluates the stone.

“These mines can be leased for about 200-250 rupees [for a specific period],” Anupam Singh, an official at the state government’s diamond office, told the BBC.

In 2018, a labourer from Bundelkhand found a diamond worth 15m rupees in a mine in Panna. However, such discoveries are rare.

Mr Singh said that while many people have found smaller stones, Mr Gound’s find was notable because of its size.

Mr Gound told the BBC that his father had leased the mine in Krishna Kalyanpur Patti village near Panna about two months ago.

He said his family leases mines mostly during the monsoon season when agricultural and masonry work dry up.

“We are very poor and have no other source of income. So we do this in the hope of making some money,” he said.

He had heard stories of people chancing upon diamonds and hoped that he too would get lucky one day.

On Wednesday morning, he went to the site to perform his daily task of manually searching for the precious stone.

“It’s tedious work. We dig a pit, pull out chunks of soil and rock, wash them in a sieve and then carefully sift through thousands of dried, tiny stones to look for diamonds,” he said.

And that afternoon, all that hard work paid off and his luck turned.

“I was sifting through the stones and saw something that resembled a piece of glass. I held it up to my eyes and saw a faint glint. That’s when I knew I had found a diamond,” he said.

Mr Gound then took his prized find to the government diamond office, where it was evaluated and weighed.

Mr Singh said the diamond would be sold in the next government auction and that Mr Gound would receive his compensation after the government royalty and taxes were deducted.

Mr Gound hopes to build a better house for his family with the money and even pay for his children’s education. But first, he wants to pay off his debt of 500,000 rupees.

He says he’s not afraid of people finding out about the diamond as he plans to divide the money between 19 relatives who live with him.

For now, he’s content just knowing that the money will come to him.

“Tomorrow, I’ll go to the mine again to look for diamonds,” he said.

Jennifer Aniston has criticised Donald Trump’s vice-presidential candidate, JD Vance, for resurfaced comments calling Democrats a “bunch of childless cat ladies with miserable lives”.

The Friends actress, 55, posted a 2021 interview with Mr Vance that has been widely shared since his selection as Mr Trump’s running mate for November’s presidential election.

“I truly can’t believe that this is coming from a potential VP of the United States,” she wrote on Instagram.

“All I can say is… Mr Vance, I pray that your daughter is fortunate enough to bear children of her own one day.”

Mr Vance has a two-year-old daughter, and two sons.

“I hope she will not need to turn to IVF as a second option,” Ms Aniston wrote.

“Because you are trying to take that away from her, too.”

The actress has previously spoken openly about her struggles while trying to have children through in-vitro fertilisation (IVF).

Last month, Mr Vance voted to block Democrat-proposed legislation to guarantee access to IVF nationwide.

Ahead of that vote, Mr Vance and the other 48 Senate Republicans signed a letter saying they supported IVF, but that the Democratic bill was overly broad and “false fearmongering”.

In the clip, Mr Vance criticised Vice-President Kamala Harris because she has no biological children.

Ms Harris is stepmother to her husband Doug Emhoff’s two children.

But Mr Vance told former Fox News host Tucker Carlson the US was run by “a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they’ve made and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable too”.

“Look at Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg, AOC [Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez], the entire future of the Democrats is controlled by people without children,” he said.

“How does it make any sense we’ve turned our country over to people who don’t really have a direct stake in it?”

Kamala Harris’ stepdaughter, Ella Emhoff, posted a reaction to Mr Vance’s comments on Instagram on Thursday.

“How can you be ‘childless’ when you have cutie pie kids like cole and I?” the 25-year-old daughter of Harris’ husband, Doug Emhoff, and his ex-wife, Kerstin Emhoff, wrote. Cole Emhoff is her 29-year-old brother.

The BBC has contacted the Trump-Vance campaign team for comment.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg also addressed the comments earlier this week, speaking about adopting twins with his husband, Chasten.

“The really sad thing is he said that after Chasten and I had been through a fairly heartbreaking setback in our adoption journey,” Mr Buttigieg told CNN’s The Source programme.

“He couldn’t have known that – but maybe that’s why you shouldn’t be talking about other people’s children.”

There has also been backlash from fans of singer-songwriter Taylor Swift, who has no children – and three cats.

“It’s bold, for someone seeking votes, to hone in on ‘childless cat ladies’ when the leader of Childless Cat Ladies is Taylor Swift,” British writer Caitlin Moran posted on X.

Another X user shared the Time magazine cover where Swift posed with one of her cats, writing: “Hell hath no fury like a certain childless cat lady who has yet to endorse a presidential candidate.”

In 2022, Aniston told Allure she wished someone had told her to freeze her eggs.

“It was a challenging road for me, the baby-making road,” she said.

“All the years and years of speculation… it was really hard.

“I was going through IVF, drinking Chinese teas, you name it.”

But she had “zero regrets”.

“I would’ve given anything if someone had said to me, ‘Freeze your eggs. Do yourself a favour.’ You just don’t think it. So here I am today,” she told the magazine.

“The ship has sailed.”

The first F-16 fighter jets are set to arrive in Ukraine from Nato member states, after many months of preparation and pilot training.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has said they are essential to help Ukrainians push back against Russia’s aerial dominance and “unblock the skies”.

Russian forces have been preparing for the Ukrainian F-16s too.

They have targeted a number of Ukrainian military airfields and there are growing concerns that these long-awaited jets will be attacked and destroyed soon after they arrive.

In July alone, at least three airfields have come under attack: Myrhorod and Kryvyi Rih in central Ukraine and one in southern Odesa region.

Moscow claims it has destroyed five Ukrainian Su-27 fighter jets and one MiG-29, along with a radar and valuable Patriot air defence launchers.

Kyiv authorities are keeping mostly silent and the air force has refused a BBC request for comment, claiming on social media that the destroyed jets and air defence system were in reality decoys that had cost Russia several expensive Iskander missiles.

Decoys or not, Ukraine’s allies, and many Ukrainians themselves, fear there may be insufficient protection for the US-built F-16s.

Until now the Ukrainian air force has largely relied on “dispersed operations” to ensure its warplanes are not hit on the ground, according to Prof Justin Bronk, senior research fellow for air power and technology at Royal United Service Institute.

Planes and equipment are regularly moved around within or between bases, he explains, so “if Russia does launch an airstrike, they’ll probably just hit an empty tarmac or grass”.

But that may have to change if Ukraine is to protect its valuable fleet of Western aircraft from Russian missiles.

F-16s require perfectly smooth runways swept clear of stones and other small items of debris, if they are not to run the risk of engine failure.

Any attempt to improve the infrastructure on existing bases will become visible to “Russian observation whether orbital or human intelligence sources,” Prof Bronk believes.

Until recently, Russia would have relied on surveillance or satellite imagery to spy on Ukraine’s air bases, so it never knew for sure if its missiles had struck their targets.

Now it has spy drones such as Zala, Supercam and Orlans that can send real-time images from deep inside Ukrainian territory, avoiding Ukraine’s electronic detection and jamming systems.

Drone unit commander Oleksandr Karpyuk says the drones can now be pre-programmed to fly long distance in radio silence.

Russian defence ministry video showing the attack on Myrhorod airbase earlier this month appears to show the moment Iskander ballistic missiles hit the area where several jets were parked.

There is no indication that the F-16s have yet arrived in Ukraine, although Kyiv-based aviation expert Anatoliy Khrapchynsky suggests Russian forces are “probing” Ukrainian airfields because they believe they might be.

Only this month US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the transfer of F-16s was already under way from Denmark and the Netherlands.

Some 65 F-16s have been pledged by Nato countries.

When in theatre they will roughly double the number of fighter jets currently at Ukraine’s disposal, which are all Soviet-era MiG-29s and Su-27s.

For Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky they cannot come a moment too soon, after an 18-month wait.

He had originally opened for twice as many as the 65 he has been promised, such is the need for fighter aircraft to carry out key types of mission:

• Suppression of Enemy Air Defences – SEAD missions – the military is desperate to take out Russia’s surface to air missile systems
• Air Interdiction operations, to disrupt, delay or destroy Russia’s ground forces
• Defensive Counter Air (DCA), to protect Ukrainian territory from Russian aircraft and missiles.

These defensive missions are for the moment perhaps the most important.

This year Ukraine has been under huge threat from Russian glide bombs, which are basically dumb bombs fitted with pop-out wing kits and guidance modules to deliver precision strike stand-off capabilities, similar to the JDAM munitions from the United States.

Russia is churning out these add-on kits and these souped-up bombs have been wreaking havoc on the front lines.

Around 3,000 were dropped in March alone, mostly from Su-34 fighter-bombers.

If Ukraine can protect its F-16s on the ground, the hope is that they could play an important part in pushing back the Russian aircraft to a point where the glide bombs can no longer target Ukrainian ground forces.

The F-16s would work alongside the limited number of Western-supplied surface to air missile systems such as Patriot and NASAMS which are already on the ground.

The warplanes will be armed with AIM-120 AMRAAM air-to-air missiles, which can turn “autonomous” and self-guide to target after a certain distance from launch.

Currently Ukraine’s Soviet-era aircraft use missiles that require a constant “lock” on a Russian plane throughout the targeting and launching phase.

That places the Ukrainian jets under greater threat because they cannot fire a missile and then turn away, which the F-16s can do.

Not everyone believes the F-16s will be able to protect Ukraine’s frontline towns.

If the jets fly high, they will be vulnerable to Russia’s air defence systems, warns Prof Bronk. If they fly low, they will have to fly deeper into Russian territory to give their missiles sufficient range. And that carries even greater risks.

Rather than seeing the F16s as potential targets, Anatoliy Khrapchynsky argues they will only enhance Ukraine’s air defences, because of their ability to intercept cruise missiles while Patriot batteries shoot down ballistic missiles.

Each airbase will have crews on shift that will take off in case of an aerial threat.

But the problem is that Ukraine is facing a big shortage of Patriots and missiles for them. President Zelensky says Ukraine needs at least 25 Patriot defence systems to protect its skies and it has only a handful.

The F-16s won’t necessarily turn the tide of the war, but they will have a significant impact in attacks on the ground and in the air.

The question is whether there will be enough of them, and whether they can be protected on the ground.

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.”

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.

Venezuelans will be going to the polls on Sunday in the most tensely awaited presidential election in more than a decade.

Opposition supporters think that they stand a real chance of ousting the incumbent, President Nicolás Maduro, from office after 11 years.

Meanwhile, Mr Maduro, who is running for a third consecutive term, has painted the election in stark terms, warning that a defeat for his socialist PSUV party could trigger “a bloodbath”.

Here, we look at five things you need to know about the polls and how we got here.

This election could bring a change of government to Venezuela after 25 years in which it has been run by the socialist PSUV party – first under the leadership of the late President Hugo Chávez, and after his death from cancer in 2013, under his protegee, Nicolás Maduro.

During this quarter of a century, the PSUV has come to dominate key institutions in the country.

A PSUV-led coalition holds 256 out of 277 seats in the National Assembly, Venezuela’s legislative body.

This almost total control of the legislature has in turn allowed the Maduro government to take control of two other key institutions whose members are chosen by the National Assembly:

• Supreme Tribunal of Justice – Venezuela’s highest court
• National Electoral Council (CNE) – the body responsible for organising elections

With the government in control of the executive, the legislative and, to a large extent, the judiciary, democracy has been undermined.

A divided opposition has in the past failed to pose a serious challenge to the Maduro Administration.

Its strategy of boycotting elections because they were not free and fair resulted in Mr Maduro being re-elected in 2018 in an election widely dismissed as a sham, and in the National Assembly being almost completely in his party’s hands.

But the main opposition parties, which have now united behind one candidate, have dropped their election boycott, arguing that even though they have been hampered and harassed by the government along the way, this presidential election constitutes their best chance to oust Mr Maduro from power.

They point to opinion polls which suggest their candidate, Edmundo González, has an overwhelming lead over Mr Maduro and argue that support for Mr González is so overwhelming that it will thwart any potential attempts by the government to steal the election.

Mr González has said that if he wins, he will restore the independence of Venezuela’s institutions.

Another win for Mr Maduro is expected to allow him to further tighten his grip on power and to curtail the activities of the opposition even more.

The result of the election will have repercussions well beyond the South American country of 29.4 million inhabitants.

Over the past 10 years, 7.8 million Venezuelans have fled the country because of the economic and political crisis into which the country was plunged under the Maduro Administration.

Polls conducted in the run-up to the election suggest that exodus is only going to increase if President Maduro wins another term.

One poll put the number of those saying they would leave if Mr Maduro is re-elected at 10% of the current population. Another even suggested a third of the population could emigrate.

Either way, the number of those planning to leave the country in case of a Maduro win is expected to increase.

While the majority of Venezuelans have migrated to other Latin American countries, a sizeable number have chosen the United States as their destination.

With immigration a hot topic in the US election, who emerges victorious in Venezuela will therefore be closely watched in Washington, as well as in Latin American countries to which Venezuelans have emigrated en masse.

Relations between Mr Maduro and his US counterparts have been rocky.

The Venezuelan leader blames US sanctions for his country’s economic woes and has forged close alliances with China, Iran, and Russia – nations which also have a thorny relationship with the US.

A change of government could see Venezuela turn away from these countries as well as from its close ally, Cuba.

Who Venezuela does business with matters because the Andean country has the world’s biggest oil reserve.

Its oil output has plummeted under President Maduro – the result of a combination of lack of investment, mismanagement and oil sanctions.

A lifting of the oil sanctions – imposed by the US in order to exert pressure on Mr Maduro following the 2018 presidential election which was widely dismissed as neither free nor fair – could have repercussions on the price of oil globally.

While opposition supporters have united behind Edmundo González, the person who inspired hope in the opposition ranks that Mr Maduro can be defeated is María Corina Machado.

Ms Machado won an opposition primary held in October 2023 with 93% of the roughly 2.3 million votes cast.

What made the result even more extraordinary was that she was barred from running for public office at the time.

She appealed against the ban, but it was upheld by the Supreme Court, which is dominated by government loyalists.

Her handpicked stand-in, Corina Yoris, was prevented from registering as a candidate and it was only then that Mr González was chosen as a “provisional” candidate.

However, the soft-spoken and low-key former diplomat managed to gain the trust of the opposition parties in the following weeks and Mr González was picked as their unity candidate.

Ms Machado has thrown her weight behind him and criss-crossed the country campaigning for Mr González and the two have formed a powerful alliance.

The ban imposed on Ms Machado by the then comptroller general, Elvis Amoroso, is just one of the many difficulties the opposition has faced.

Since the beginning of the year, more than 100 of its campaign activists have been jailed.

Ms Machado has been stopped at roadblocks, her car was vandalised and damaged, and restaurants that had served her were closed down.

Many observers fear that Maduro and his allies will do everything in their power to stay in the presidential palace.

There have been reports of many anomalies and changes which benefit the governing party, including the fact that the majority of the 7.8 million Venezuelans living abroad were not able to register.

With the National Electoral Council (CNE) – the body which organises elections and announces their results – dominated by government allies and led by Elvis Amoroso, the same man who banned Ms Machado from running for office, many fear that Maduro allies could resort to fraud.

This fear has been further stoked by the fact that Mr Amoroso revoked the invitation to European Union election observers to monitor the polls.

The ex-President of Argentina, Alberto Fernández, was also uninvited after he said that the Maduro government should accept a possible defeat at the polls and Brazil suspended its observer mission after being criticised by President Maduro.

Now, only four observers from the United Nations and a handful of technical observers from the Carter Center will be present at the election.

The Carter Center has already warned that “given its limited size and scope, the Center’s mission will not conduct a comprehensive assessment of the voting, counting, and tabulation processes”.

Voting in Venezuela is electronic. Voters punch in a button assigned to their preferred candidate on a voting machine.

The machine prints out a paper receipt which is then placed in a ballot box.

The electronic results are sent to the CNE headquarters and should be made public shortly after the polling booths close.

The opposition is planning to deploy thousands of witnesses to monitor the count of the paper receipts at individual polling stations and plans to keep its own tally to get a sense of the number of votes it has won.

While the opposition has so far struck an optimistic note, pointing to the large number of people who have flocked to their campaign rallies, there is no doubt that the hours after the polling stations close and before the result is announced will be some of the tensest in the past decade.

Walking the endless corridors of Apple Storage in downtown Toronto, it’s not hard to see why business is booming.

Behind one metal shutter, hundreds of candles are being boxed ready to be shipped around the world, behind another another an e-bike repair shop fixes transport for the city’s hundreds of delivery riders.

There’s even a locker full of bitcoin ATM machines, technology banned in the UK, but legal here in Canada, which enables bitcoin owners to exchange the digital currency for cash, or vice versa.

Showing me around the long, brightly lit corridors lined with rows of shuttered metal doors is David Allan, one of the owners. He says 70% of this facility is rented by businesses.

“In a pre-Covid world, office rents went to around C$60 ($44; £34) a foot, while you could get storage at the time for $30 a foot.

“So, instead of having sort of an interior office for file storage, firms moved into self-storage facilities because it was half the price or less, and they were able to use their offices in a more productive way.”

It’s a worldwide trend. Storage companies are snapping up vacant commercial spaces abandoned after the pandemic. Meanwhile, as rents rise, consumers and business are looking for cheaper storage options.

In Canada, 16 new facilities opened their doors last year, adding an extra one million sq ft of space. Rents are up too – by an average of 12% from 2023 – according to StorTrack, who track industry data.

In the UK the industry made more than a billion pounds last year for the first time, according to a report from commercial property firm Cushman & Wakefield and the Self Storage Association.

In parts of Asia the so-called side-hustle culture is helping spur growth, according to Helen Ng, chief executive of the Self Storage Association Asia (SSAA).

She says that having a second job is more common in Singapore, and often involves keeping stock for an e-commerce business at a storage facility.

Ms Ng herself owns two self-storage facilities in Singapore, and says that almost half of her renters are using the units for a side-hustle.

The industry has been so popular with investors, it’s even spawned several podcasts advising would-be moguls on how to get into the business.

Entrepreneur Dean Booty from Beverley in East Yorkshire is one of them.

“I had a restaurant business, and it failed, and it was a miserable time for me and my wife. It was in the centre of a town where I lived in. It really hurt my ego.”

Mr Booty says this was the inspiration to share his success in self-storage with others.

His podcast Hacking Self Storage gets around 15,000 listens each month, he reveals, adding “I had no idea there was that many people interested in self-storage, which is incredible.”

Mr Booty’s storage operation comprises just under 100,000 square foot in five locations across England, Scotland and Wales.

The 42-year-old father says he’d like to retire by age 50.

“There’s massive amounts of money coming into the industry, which only means it’s going to become more and more competitive, but at the minute, the demand is growing faster than the supply in the UK, which is incredibly exciting,” he adds.

But not everyone shares Mr Booty’s excitement.

“It’s an indictment of our housing crisis. Space shouldn’t be a luxury in terms of living space,” says Ben Twomey Chief executive of housing campaign group Generation Rent.

He accuses the industry of “making lots of money from people not having room in their homes”.

“Not just to keep their items, but to live their lives, or to address mental health challenges they have from being in a small or overcrowded home.”

Back in Apple Storage in Toronto, we step into a large, brightly lit locker, tools hanging from the walls, two electric bikes suspended on work stands.

Mechanics are hard at work. Kevin Tsui is one of them and says the e-bike repair business occupies multiple units in the building.

“It is relatively cheaper than having like a retail store to just do this sort of work. The reason our company chose this storage area was that we actually own a store that got demolished for condos. This was just an easy next step for us.”

Mr Tsui, originally from Hong Kong, explains that where he’s from most of the shops in malls look like storage units.

“In Canada we’re taking advantage of the fact that we have a lot of space, but that’s slowly diminishing in the big cities. If you want enough space to do what you need, this is ideal.”

Helen Ng agrees, adding “urbanisation is just a fact of life. I don’t know how practical it is to expect everyone to actually store their items at home.”

In the space of three years, Griff has gone from recording songs in her bedroom to touring the world with Coldplay and Taylor Swift.

The speed of her ascent has been dizzying. So much so that she called her debut album Vertigo.

But Griff’s success hasn’t been a surprise to everyone – not to the Brit Awards, who named her a rising star in 2021, nor to the BBC, which put her on its new talent hotlist in the same year.

Born Sarah Griffiths, she signed to Warner Records in 2019, and her emotionally vulnerable pop songs went viral during the pandemic thanks to what she called her “lockdown content hustle”.

She emerged with a hit single, Black Hole, and a rush of support slots for artists like Ed Sheeran and Dua Lipa.

“The challenge is to try and win over 80,000 people who are not there to see you,” she says.

“I learned that people just want to have fun and dance. So I would cut my slow songs, make it a fun time, not take it too seriously.”

For a singer who dreads the stage (“there’s something about the scrutiny and the judgement that still terrifies me”), the experience was life-changing.

“I think I’ve learned that nerves never go away,” she says. “Like, I get sick to the stomach every single time.

“But it’s a unique high, having people sing [your words] back to you.

“Every now and again, without asking, a whole stadium would start putting their lights up. And that’s when you really feel like, oh my God, I’ve really got this audience.”

All those tour dates might have delayed her debut album, but it was worth it. When Vertigo was released last week, the fans who’d discovered her in stadiums around the world were ready. It entered the UK chart at number three.

When we last spoke in 2020, Griff told me she’d never had her heart broken.

Songs that appeared to be about relationships were often about friends she’d lost touch with or the foster children who moved through her parents’ house in Hertfordshire.

Vertigo, on the other hand, appears to be a straightforward break-up record.

“It might have happened, yes,” she confirms. “But I think that’s naturally what you experience in your early 20s.”

How did the real thing compare to the scenarios she imagined in her teenage songs?

“It’s just tougher, maybe, than you think.

“Being let down or feeling rejection is harder to articulate than you can imagine.”

On the record, however, she has a talent for finding the fault-lines in relationships and exposing them with unsparing clarity.

“” she sings on the title track.

The album’s most emotionally naked song is Astronaut, in which Griff reluctantly (and sarcastically) sets a lover free: “

Originally a darker, synth-heavy ballad, it changed completely after Coldplay’s Chris Martin asked to hear some of Griff’s work-in-progress.

“Chris, very kindly, sat down for an evening and listened to a bunch of songs with me – and he picked up Astronaut as one that I just needed to slow down and strip back. So I asked if he wouldn’t mind helping me with that.”

They quickly booked a studio and recorded the song live, without a click track, allowing them to linger on the song’s most emotional passages.

“And now all you hear is Chris on piano and my vocal, essentially. It’s just one take.”

That wasn’t his only contribution. Griff says touring stadiums with bands like Coldplay “subconsciously” affected her songwriting.

“I don’t think I went in being like, ‘Right, I now need to write like A Sky Full Of Stars’,” she laughs – but the big, singalong choruses of songs like Miss Me Too and Tears For Fun are deliberately designed to be “euphoric and congregational”.

Congregational is a key word.

Griff grew up as a member of Hillsong, the non-denominational Christian megachurch that began in Australia in 1983 and has reportedly counted Justin Bieber, Lana Del Rey, Selena Gomez, Drake and the Kardashian sisters among its members.

The church’s services are more like rock concerts than the traditional diet of hymns and sermons – and they taught Griff about the power of music.

Hillsong also gave her a sense of belonging that she didn’t feel at school – which she once described as “probably 97% white”.

For a long time, she rejected her heritage – her Chinese mother came to the UK as a refugee, while her father was the son of Windrush-generation parents. But, even so, she felt a career in pop music was off-limits.

“I didn’t think that was my space to take up. I thought I had to be an R&B or a soul artist, because pop doesn’t feel like it welcomes anyone that looks like me.”

That’s starting to change. Griff shares this week’s top 10 with British-Liberian singer Cat Burns and references Raye’s success as a positive sign – but says there’s still a long way to go.

“I still think the UK is yet to see an artist of colour that really, really breaks internationally,” she says.

“There are moments, and there’s small fires, but for some reason we fail to fan the flames and sustain long touring careers.

“It’s up to everyone to figure out why and work out how to support it.”

She’s encouraged by the acclaim being heaped on Charli XCX – who is of British-Indian heritage and, like Griff, produces her own material.

And she talks glowingly of the remix of Charli’s song Girl, So Confusing, where Charli and Lorde discuss how the music industry complicated their friendship.

“That song was so impactful to so many girls because the competition is real,” Griff says.

“You’re expected to be picture perfect and support everyone – but we’re in an industry that really does, like, pit you against each other, whether someone’s telling you about [sales] numbers or comparing you with someone else or bitching about you. It can be so toxic.

“And I think that’s why that song was so unique, because the girl dynamic can be so complex, functioning within a world of misogyny.”

Luckily, she has the right people in her corner. Not just megastars like Chris Martin and Dua Lipa, but fellow up-and-comers Holly Humberstone and Maisie Peters.

“We’re always checking in on each other. ‘Are you still alive?’, ‘Yes, I’m alive!’,” she laughs.

More importantly, at least as far as her profile goes, Griff has the support of Taylor Swift.

After promoting her music on social media, Swift invited Griff to play with her at Wembley Stadium last month.

“This girl, she is so creative on every single level,” the US superstar told the audience, like a proud mum.

Griff says the atmosphere backstage was “surprisingly calm”, given the scale of the show.

“What was really nice about it is that every single person on that tour is aware that they’re part of history. There’s such a gratitude to being a part of it. And I think that’s really a beautiful atmosphere to be around.”

So, has she ever considered the possibility of headlining a stadium show of her own?

“It’s weird, my goalpost of success keeps shifting the longer I’m in this,” she says.

“My ultimate goal is just to write songs that outlive me – but if that involves performing in stadiums, then that’s super inspiring.”

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

• ‘I wanted my clitoris back’ – FGM survivors fight back
• Frantic digging at scene of deadly Ethiopia landslides
• Batons, tear gas, live fire – Kenyans face police brutality
• Olympic fencer and Playboy model champions body positivity

MrBeast says he’s hired investigators after his former co-host was accused of grooming a teenager.

Ava Kris Tyson was accused by other YouTubers of sending inappropriate messages to the minor when she was 20.

The 28-year-old, who’d worked on MrBeast’s channel since 2012, strenuously denied grooming but said the pair had “mutually agreed” she should quit.

In a follow-up statement, MrBeast, real name Jimmy Donaldson, said he was “disgusted” by the “serious allegations of Ava Tyson’s behaviour online”.

Ava has apologised for “past behaviour” which was “not acceptable”.

MrBeast is the world’s biggest YouTuber with more than 300m subscribers.

He said he had become aware of the allegations against Ava, which first started circulating online last month, “over the last few days”.

“I am disgusted and opposed to such unacceptable acts,” he says.

MrBeast’s statement said he had “been focused on hiring an independent third party to conduct a thorough investigation to ensure I have all the facts”.

“That said,” he continued, “I’ve seen enough online and taken immediate action to remove Ava from the company, my channel, and any association with MrBeast.

“I do not condone or support any of the inappropriate actions.”

The US YouTuber added that he would wait for the investigators to finish their work and “take any further actions based on their findings”.

Ava previously said she had “never groomed anyone” and “to create a narrative that my behaviour extended beyond bad edgy jokes is disgusting and did not happen”.

She added: “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.”

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.

She has not yet responded to MrBeast’s most recent comments.

The person alleged to have recieved the messages from Ava came to her defence, saying that descriptions of their relationship online were “massive lies and twisting the truth”.

In a post shared on X, he wrote: “Ava never did anything wrong and just made a few edgy jokes. I was never exploited or taken advantage of.”

BBC Newsbeat has contacted Ava Tyson and MrBeast’s representatives for comment.

MrBeast first posted on YouTube in 2012 when he was 13.

Over the next 10 years he became one of the most popular content creators, sharing increasingly elaborate videos before being named the most subscribed YouTuber in 2022.

His videos include challenges inspired by Squid Game, a “deadly” obstacle course and spending a week in solitary confinement.

The 26-year-old from Kansas now has 306 million subscribers and more than 55 billion views.

He’s won the prize for favourite male creator at the Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards for the past three years running.

MrBeast is well known for his giveaways, giving fans cash, cars and even houses.

He has a separate channel for his charitable causes where he’s shared videos of him building a school, wells, and supporting an orphanage.

In 2022, Forbes estimated MrBeast makes $54m (£42m) a year and he’s previously spoken about how much he reinvests in his videos.

Away from YouTube, in 2022 MrBeast founded a food company called Feastables following the launch of his virtual fast-food chain, MrBeast Burger.

In 2023 he sued the company behind the fast-food chain, claiming the food was “revolting” and was damaging his reputation.

In March, it was announced he was partnering with Prime Video to create Beast Games which has been billed as “the biggest reality competition series” with 1,000 people competing for a $5m prize.

Listen to Newsbeat live at 12:45 and 17:45 weekdays – or listen back here.

When divers in the Baltic Sea first saw the wreck on the sonar, they thought it was a fishing boat.

But when they went to investigate, they found a 19th Century sailing ship, “loaded to the sides” with champagne, wine, mineral water and porcelain.

They counted more than 100 bottles of champagne in the wreck, off the coast of Sweden.

And now Tomasz Stachura, of Polish diving group Baltitech, believes the shipment could have been destined for a Russian tsar.

Baltitech, which specialises in exploring shipwrecks in the Baltic, described the find as “treasure”.

Mr Stachura, leader of the team, said: “I’ve been a diver for 40 years. From time to time, you see one or two bottles.

“But I’ve never seen crates with bottles of alcohol, and baskets of water, like this.”

The find was made about 20 nautical miles (37km) south of the Swedish island of Oland.

Two divers had said they would do “a quick dive” but then were gone for nearly two hours.

“So we already knew that there was something very interesting on the bottom,” Mr Stachura added.

The clay water bottles, showing the brand name of German company Selters, helped them date the wreck to 1850 to 1867.

While champagne would be of more interest to many today, mineral water was an exclusive product “treated almost like medicine” which “only found its way to royal tables”, said Mr Stachura.

“Its value was so precious that transports were escorted by the police.”

Mr Stachura told the BBC he believes the goods could have been heading for the table of Russia’s Tsar Nicholas I – who is reported to have lost one of his ships in the area in 1852.

“That would explain why the ship had this cargo – which was all very exclusive,” he said.

“Usually, when we find wrecks the cargo is very cheap.”

He thinks the ship was heading across the Baltic to either Stockholm or St Petersberg – which would again tie in with the theory.

“A dive itself only takes about 20 minutes,” he said. “But then diving into the archives is what can be more interesting.

“In the future, maybe we will know more about this wreck.”

As for the champagne – and prestigious mineral water – Mr Stachura believes both would be drinkable today.

For now, the treasure is staying where it is, with underwater archaeologists called in to assist. Swedish authorities have been notified, and administration also has to be done before it can be brought to the surface.

“It had been lying there for 170 years so let it lie there one more year,” said Mr Stachura.

Wine writer Henry Jeffreys, author of Empire of Booze, said: “Champagne was generally a lot sweeter in the 19th Century.

“And if it was going to the Russian market, they liked it very, very sweet. Russia was the biggest market for champagne then. In London, they preferred it drier.”

Brandy was sometimes added to champagne back then, he said. This, along with the sugar, would have helped with preservation.

And the conditions – 58m underwater, in the cold and dark – were perfect for the bottles.

“If you’re going to leave champagne for 150 plus years, the bottom of the sea is a really good place,” said Mr Jeffreys.

Depending on the state of the corks, the champagne could still be “palatable”, he added – even though it’s likely to have lost its fizz by now.

Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech was hailed as historic, powerful and moving by his supporters in Israel and derided as absurd and cynical by some of his critics.

Much of the nation is focused on the need to end the war in Gaza and bring home the hostages held by Hamas.

Instead, the Israeli prime minister delivered a fiery defence of Israel’s military campaign, framing it as a proxy fight against Iran that must be won at all costs.

“You placed the truth on the most important stage in the world,” tweeted Aryeh Deri, the head of Shas, which is part of Mr Netanyahu’s coalition government.

“His words represent every Israeli who wants to live in security and believes in the righteousness of Israel’s fight for existence,” was the reaction of Israel Katz, the foreign minister.

“Netanyahu gave an excellent speech,” wrote columnist Shai Peron, who identifies as a religious Zionist, on the Ynet news website. “He didn’t give a pass to the world, to academia, to fake wokeness. He clarified to the world this is a war between light and darkness. He reminded everyone that it is ‘us first, you later.’”

It’s the hostages in Gaza who are the first priority for their families and friends.

A former hostage and some family members travelled with Mr Netanyahu and joined the audience in the chamber, but many demonstrated against him in Washington.

Thousands of miles away in central Tel Aviv, the families and friends of those held captive gathered to watch the speech, delivered in English, projected onto a screen with Hebrew subtitles.

While it was playing, relatives of some who had died in Gaza took to a stage to berate the prime minister with cries of anguish – a jarring contrast to the standing ovations they were seeing in Congress.

“I’m again and again shocked because it’s unbelievable the level of absurdity and cynicism and hypocrisy,” said Noa Golan, who was in the crowd.

“It’s surreal being here, [it’s] so clear and obvious what needs to be done, and seeing him there. Lying would be a good way to describe it.”

Her friend Ruth Bar-Shalom said she hadn’t really expected an announcement of a deal to free the hostages, but she had expected Congress to be “much wiser and to demand answers from him”.

“He’s using everyone and everything, including the American Congress which is too ignorant to see the difference between a lie and the truth, between reality and the movie he’s showing them again and again and they believe,” she said.

“It’s unbelievable, we’re standing here helpless. We see that, and we cannot believe that this could happen in these days.”

Although Mr Netanyahu said Israel was intensely engaged in efforts to free the hostages, he made no mention of the ceasefire agreement under negotiation. He also postponed the departure of the Israeli delegation to the next round of talks in Qatar.

Israeli officials said he wanted to first coordinate positions with US President Joe Biden. But the move reinforced a widespread conviction that the prime minister is delaying a deal to appease the ultra-right nationalists in his government.

Families of the hostages responded by demanding an urgent meeting with the negotiators, accusing him of deliberately sabotaging their chances of bringing their loved ones home.

Mr Netanyahu also made almost no mention of the tens of thousands of Palestinians killed in Israel’s sweeping military operations. And he angrily dismissed accusations by the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) that he was starving Gaza. He said Israel had let half a million tons of food into the Strip, and blamed Hamas for stealing it.

The prime minister was “repeating the degrading propaganda and lies that he spread over the past nine months,” Hamas said in response to the speech.

“It would have been better to arrest Netanyahu as a war criminal and hand him to the International Criminal Court instead of giving him an opportunity to… cover up the mass killings and ethnic cleansing in the Gaza Strip,” it said in a statement, accusing Washington of giving Mr Netanyahu cover to “escape punishment”.

Ahmad Majdalani, a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization’s (PLO) executive committee, denounced Mr Netanyahu’s description of the Gaza conflict as a civilizational war, “as if destroying the Gaza Strip… was a civilizational matter”.

In an interview with Voice of Palestine, he said the applause in Congress for “every word” Mr Netanyahu uttered showed the US was a true partner in the war.

“Netanyahu knows how to talk,” wrote Amos Harel in the left-wing Haaretz paper, “especially in English, in which his eloquence is infinitely more impressive than that of all his domestic rivals.”

He said the prime minister was correct about Hamas atrocities and “inconceivable support for the massacre” on some American campuses.

“But there is little weight behind these words as long as the prime minister doesn’t take responsibility for the Israeli failure on October 7, is in no hurry to bring the hostages home, and has refused for months to move forward on a detailed practical plan for the ‘day after’ the war in Gaza.”

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.

One of the world’s biggest drug lords, Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, leader of Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel, has been arrested by US federal agents in El Paso, Texas.

Zambada, 76, founded the criminal organisation with Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, who is currently jailed in the US.

Arrested with Zambada on Thursday was Guzman’s son, Joaquin Guzman Lopez, said the US justice department.

In February, Zambada was charged by US prosecutors with a conspiracy to make and distribute fentanyl, a drug more powerful than heroin that has been blamed for the US opioid crisis.

In a written statement on Thursday evening, US Attorney General Merrick Garland said the two men lead “one of the most violent and powerful drug trafficking organizations in the world”.

“El Mayo and Guzman Lopez join a growing list of Sinaloa cartel leaders and associates who the Justice Department is holding accountable in the United States,” Mr Garland said.

“Fentanyl is the deadliest drug threat our country has ever faced, and the Justice Department will not rest until every single cartel leader, member, and associate responsible for poisoning our communities is held accountable,” added Mr Garland, the top law enforcement officer in the US.

American prosecutors say the Sinaloa cartel is the biggest supplier of drugs to the US.

US authorities have previously noted that fentanyl is the leading cause of death for Americans aged 18 to 45.

The US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) had been offering a reward of up to $15m (£12m) for Zambada’s capture.

During Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman’s trial in 2019, his lawyers accused Zambada of bribing the “entire” Mexican government in exchange for living openly without fear of prosecution.

“In truth he controlled nothing,” Guzman’s lawyer, Jeffrey Lichtman, told jurors of his client. “Mayo Zambada did,” he claimed.

According to the US state department, Zambada is also the owner of several legitimate businesses in Mexico, including “a large milk company, a bus line, and a hotel”, as well as real estate assets.

Alongside fentanyl charges, he is also facing charges in the US ranging from drug trafficking, murder, kidnapping, money laundering and organised crime.

In May, Zambada’s nephew – Eliseo Imperial Castro, who was known as “Cheyo Antrax” – was killed in an ambush in Mexico. He was also wanted by US authorities.

Zambada is arguably the biggest drug lord in the world and certainly the most influential in the Americas.

He had evaded authorities for decades, and as such, his arrest has come as a shock in Mexico.

Details of the arrests of the two men remain unclear, but it appears they flew into the United States.

Citing Mexican and US officials, the Wall Street Journal reports that Zambada was tricked into boarding the plane by a high-ranking Sinaloa member following a months-long operation by Homeland Security Investigations and the FBI.

Zambada believed he was going to inspect clandestine airfields in Mexico, the paper reports.

As more information emerges, Zambada’s arrest will no doubt be heralded by President Joe Biden’s administration as one of the most significant operations by the DEA in years.

Zambada co-founded the Sinaloa cartel in the wake of the collapse of the Guadalajara cartel at the end of the 1980s.

While Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman was the public face of the organisation and the most notorious of the two men, many believed it was in fact El Mayo who was its real leader.

Not only ruthless, he was also innovative, creating and maintaining some of the earliest links with Colombian cartels to flood the US with cocaine and heroin.

And more latterly, fentanyl.

His leadership of the criminal empire has endured in the face of changing presidents in Mexico and the US, amid repeated anti-drug offensives from successive governments and constant efforts by his enemies in other drug-trafficking organisations to bring him down.

That is no mean feat in the violent, dangerous and treacherous underworld in which he has operated as an unassailable kingpin for many years.

Yet that extraordinary resilience appears to have run out in El Paso, Texas – a city blighted by the influx of the synthetic opioid, fentanyl, much of which was smuggled in by his organisation.

US Vice-President Kamala Harris – who’s expected to be the Democratic nominee for November’s presidential election – has held what she called “frank and constructive” talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Striking a tougher tone than President Joe Biden, Ms Harris said she made clear her “serious concerns” about casualties in Gaza, telling Mr Netanyahu how Israel defended itself mattered.

“It is time for this war to end,” she said after their face-to-face talks at the White House.

Ms Harris also stressed the need for a path to a two-state solution, while calling on Americans to be aware of “nuance” on the conflict.

Earlier on Thursday, Mr Netanyahu met Mr Biden, who stepped down from his re-election campaign on Sunday.

Mr Netanyahu’s meetings at the White House came a day after he gave a fiery speech to Congress, vowing “total victory” against Hamas, as thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters demonstrated outside.

The prime minister faces pressure both at home and abroad to bring an end to the Israel-Gaza war, now in its ninth month.

Mr Biden’s staunch support of Israel has infuriated many left-wing activists, whose support the Democrats may need if they are to win November’s presidential election.

Given that, there is also considerable interest in the position Ms Harris might take towards Israel should she replace Mr Biden in the White House.

After meeting Mr Netanyahu for about 40 minutes, Ms Harris said she had an “unwavering commitment” to Israel and its right to defend itself.

She noted the conflict began on 7 October when Hamas militants attacked southern Israel from Gaza, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 250 captives, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive in Gaza has killed more than 39,000 people.

“Israel has a right to defend itself. And how it does so matters,” Ms Harris said, expressing concern about the “dire humanitarian situation” in Gaza.

“We cannot allow ourselves to be numb to the suffering and I will not be silent,” she said.

“Let’s get the deal done so we can get a ceasefire to end the war,” she added. “Let’s bring the hostages home, and let’s bring much-needed relief to the Palestinian people.”

Mr Netanyahu is due to meet Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on Friday.

As he met Mr Biden earlier, the prime minister said he had known him for 40 years – and that the US president had known every Israeli premier over the last half a century.

“From a proud Jewish Zionist to a proud Irish-American Zionist, I want to thank you for 50 years of public service and 50 years of support for the state of Israel,” he said.

Mr Netanyahu also said he looked forward to working with Mr Biden “on the great issues before us” over the next several months.

The US president joked that Golda Meir was the first Israeli prime minister that he had met, and that Yitzhak Rabin, a successor, was there as an assistant.

At a news briefing, White House national security spokesman John Kirby said Mr Biden and Mr Netanyahu had discussed the urgent need for a hostage release deal, the potential of conflict spilling over into Lebanon, the threat of Iran and the need to reach “compromises” in peace talks.

While Mr Kirby added that “gaps remain” in the US-Israel relationship, it was still “healthy”.

“By healthy, I mean they’re not going to agree on everything,” Mr Kirby said, adding that Mr Biden was “very comfortable with the relationship he has with the prime minister”.

The US and Israeli leaders also held a closed-door meeting with the families of seven US citizens still being held hostage by Hamas in Gaza.

Following the meeting, Jonathan Dekel-Chen – whose son Sagui was kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz on 7 October – told reporters that the meeting was “productive and honest”. He did not provide further details.

“We feel probably more optimistic than we have since the first round of releases in late November, early December,” he said.

Huge, fast-moving wildfires have destroyed up to half of the historic Canadian town of Jasper, officials say, and the blazes are still out of control as firefighters try to save as many buildings as possible.

Entire streets of the main town in western Canada’s Jasper National Park have been levelled by the fire, with video showing smouldering rubble where homes once stood and the charred remains of cars.

While no deaths have been reported, some 20,000 tourists and 5,000 residents have fled the mountainous area in Alberta province, which has been hugely popular with tourists for decades.

During a news conference on Thursday, a tearful Alberta Premier Danielle Smith struggled at times to recount the scale of the damage, but said “potentially 30 to 50 percent” of buildings had been destroyed.

“There is no denying that this is the worst nightmare for any community,” she said, adding that Jasper National Park had been “a source of pride” for many generations.

Ms Smith became visibly emotional as she described the beauty of the park and its significance to the community, which relies largely on tourism. Some 2.5 million people visit the park, and nearby Banff National Park, each year.

Karyn Decore, the owner of the Maligne Lodge in Jasper, was on holiday when she learned her hotel had burned down. On Wednesday night, she received a photograph of the building in flames.

“I was horrified and devastated when I saw that photo,” she told the BBC. “I think it’s going to take a couple of days for the shock to wear down.”

“It’s really hard for everyone to comprehend that we lost one of our properties,” she said, adding that she intended to rebuild the lodge.

BBC journalist Wendy Hurrell was in Jasper National Park when the fires began to burn on Monday. She drove through the night with her husband and daughter in a rush to leave town.

“The storm was ferocious – the skies went dark red and there were whipping winds, fierce rain and lightning,” she said.

“We are some of the last travellers to see Jasper in its full beauty – it will be a very long time before it will recover. It’s utterly devastating for them all and my heart is breaking.”

Hundreds of firefighters from around the world have been deployed to help with the response, but officials warn the extent of the damage is still emerging. The focus on Thursday, they said, was on containing the towering flames which engulfed the town from two sides.

Pierre Martel, director for the national fire management programme at Parks Canada, said the fire was started by a lightning storm and escalated late on Wednesday as it was fanned by powerful winds.

“It [was] just a monster at that point,” Mr Martel said. “There are no tools we have in our tool box to deal with it.”

The flames reached 100m (328ft) high in some places, covering “an inordinate amount of space in a very little amount of time”, one official said.

Mike Ellis, Alberta’s minister for public safety, said the fire was 5km (three miles) outside of Jasper when it was pushed by the winds to the town in “less than 30 minutes”.

“Any firefighter will tell you there is little to nothing you can do when you have a wall of flames coming at you like that,” he said.

“Nobody anticipated that fire to come so fast, so large and so quickly.”

Justin Trudeau, Canada’s prime minister, thanked the emergency services for their response to the wildfires.

“As the heartbreaking images from Jasper emerge, I want to thank the brave first responders who are in Alberta right now, fighting to save every home and every community they can,” he said.

Environment Canada said there might soon be a reprieve from the hot and dry weather, which allowed the fire to grow, as rain is expected late on Thursday.

This marks another year of difficult fire conditions for the province. Last year, a record 2.2 million hectares burned in Alberta between 1 March and 31 October.

Outside Alberta, there are more than 45 active blazes in British Columbia and fires are burning in California, Oregon, Washington, Montana and Utah in the US.

The overall number of fires has decreased around the world over the last two decades.

But researchers say climate change could bring more lightning to forests in northern reaches of the globe, increasing the risk of wildfires.

Once upon a time, the vulture was an abundant and ubiquitous bird in India.

The scavenging birds hovered over sprawling landfills, looking for cattle carcasses. Sometimes they would alarm pilots by getting sucked into jet engines during airport take-offs.

But more than two decades ago, India’s vultures began dying because of a drug used to treat sick cows.

By the mid-1990s, the 50 million-strong vulture population had plummeted to near zero because of diclofenac, a cheap non-steroidal painkiller for cattle that is fatal to vultures. Birds that fed on carcasses of livestock treated with the drug suffered from kidney failure and died.

Since the 2006 ban on veterinary use of diclofenac, the decline has slowed in some areas, but at least three species have suffered long-term losses of 91-98%, according to the latest State of India’s Birds report.

And that’s not all, according to a new peer-reviewed study. The unintentional decimation of these heavy, scavenging birds allowed deadly bacteria and infections to proliferate, leading to the deaths of about half a million people per year over five years, says the study published in the American Economic Association journal.

“Vultures are considered nature’s sanitation service because of the important role they play in removing dead animals that contain bacteria and pathogens from our environment – without them, disease can spread,” says the study’s co-author, Eyal Frank, an assistant professor at University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy.

“Understanding the role vultures play in human health underscores the importance of protecting wildlife, and not just the cute and cuddly. They all have a job to do in our ecosystems that impacts our lives.”

Mr Frank and his co-author Anant Sudarshan compared human death rates in Indian districts that once thrived with vultures to those with historically low vulture populations, both before and after the vulture collapse. They also examined rabies vaccine sales, feral dog counts and pathogen levels in the water supply.

They found that after anti-inflammatory drug sales had risen and vulture populations had collapsed, human death rates increased by more than 4% in districts where the birds once thrived.

The researchers also found that the effect was greatest in urban areas with large livestock populations where carcass dumps were common.

The authors estimated that between 2000 and 2005, the loss of vultures caused around 100,000 additional human deaths annually, resulting in more than $69bn (£53bn) per year in mortality damages or the economic costs associated with premature deaths.

These deaths were due to the spread of disease and bacteria that vultures would have otherwise removed from the environment.

For example, without vultures, the stray dog population increased, bringing rabies to humans.

Rabies vaccine sales rose during that time but were insufficient. Unlike vultures, dogs were ineffective at cleaning rotting remains, leading to bacteria and pathogens spreading into drinking water through runoff and poor disposal methods. Faecal bacteria in the water more than doubled.

“The vulture collapse in India provides a particularly stark example of the type of hard-to-reverse and unpredictable costs to humans that can come from the loss of a species,” says Mr Sudarshan, an associate professor at the University of Warwick and co-author of the study.

“In this case, new chemicals were to blame, but other human activities – habitat loss, wildlife trade, and now climate change – have an impact on animals and, in turn, on us. It’s important to understand these costs and target resources and regulations towards preserving especially these keystone species.”

Of the vulture species in India, the white-rumped vulture, Indian vulture and red-headed vulture have suffered the most significant long-term declines since the early 2000s, with populations dropping by 98%, 95% and 91%, respectively. The Egyptian vulture and the migratory griffon vulture have also declined significantly, but less catastrophically.

The 2019 livestock census in India recorded more than 500 million animals, the highest in the world. Vultures, highly efficient scavengers, were historically relied upon by farmers to swiftly remove livestock carcasses. The decline of vultures in India is the fastest ever recorded for a bird species and the largest since the passenger pigeon’s extinction in the US, according to researchers.

India’s remaining vulture populations are now concentrated around protected areas where their diet consists more of dead wildlife than potentially contaminated livestock, according to the State of Indian Birds report. These continuing declines suggest “ongoing threats for vultures, which is of particular concern given that vulture declines have negatively affected human well-being”.

Experts warn that veterinary drugs still pose a major threat to vultures. The dwindling availability of carcasses, due to increased burial and competition from feral dogs, exacerbates the problem. Quarrying and mining can disrupt nesting habitats for some vulture species.

Will the vultures come back? It is difficult to say, though there are some promising signs. Last year, 20 vultures – bred in captivity and fitted with satellite tags and rescued – were released from a tiger reserve in West Bengal. More than 300 vultures were recorded in the recent survey in southern India. But more action is required.

The first F-16 fighter jets are set to arrive in Ukraine from Nato member states, after many months of preparation and pilot training.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has said they are essential to help Ukrainians push back against Russia’s aerial dominance and “unblock the skies”.

Russian forces have been preparing for the Ukrainian F-16s too.

They have targeted a number of Ukrainian military airfields and there are growing concerns that these long-awaited jets will be attacked and destroyed soon after they arrive.

In July alone, at least three airfields have come under attack: Myrhorod and Kryvyi Rih in central Ukraine and one in southern Odesa region.

Moscow claims it has destroyed five Ukrainian Su-27 fighter jets and one MiG-29, along with a radar and valuable Patriot air defence launchers.

Kyiv authorities are keeping mostly silent and the air force has refused a BBC request for comment, claiming on social media that the destroyed jets and air defence system were in reality decoys that had cost Russia several expensive Iskander missiles.

Decoys or not, Ukraine’s allies, and many Ukrainians themselves, fear there may be insufficient protection for the US-built F-16s.

Until now the Ukrainian air force has largely relied on “dispersed operations” to ensure its warplanes are not hit on the ground, according to Prof Justin Bronk, senior research fellow for air power and technology at Royal United Service Institute.

Planes and equipment are regularly moved around within or between bases, he explains, so “if Russia does launch an airstrike, they’ll probably just hit an empty tarmac or grass”.

But that may have to change if Ukraine is to protect its valuable fleet of Western aircraft from Russian missiles.

F-16s require perfectly smooth runways swept clear of stones and other small items of debris, if they are not to run the risk of engine failure.

Any attempt to improve the infrastructure on existing bases will become visible to “Russian observation whether orbital or human intelligence sources,” Prof Bronk believes.

Until recently, Russia would have relied on surveillance or satellite imagery to spy on Ukraine’s air bases, so it never knew for sure if its missiles had struck their targets.

Now it has spy drones such as Zala, Supercam and Orlans that can send real-time images from deep inside Ukrainian territory, avoiding Ukraine’s electronic detection and jamming systems.

Drone unit commander Oleksandr Karpyuk says the drones can now be pre-programmed to fly long distance in radio silence.

Russian defence ministry video showing the attack on Myrhorod airbase earlier this month appears to show the moment Iskander ballistic missiles hit the area where several jets were parked.

There is no indication that the F-16s have yet arrived in Ukraine, although Kyiv-based aviation expert Anatoliy Khrapchynsky suggests Russian forces are “probing” Ukrainian airfields because they believe they might be.

Only this month US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the transfer of F-16s was already under way from Denmark and the Netherlands.

Some 65 F-16s have been pledged by Nato countries.

When in theatre they will roughly double the number of fighter jets currently at Ukraine’s disposal, which are all Soviet-era MiG-29s and Su-27s.

For Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky they cannot come a moment too soon, after an 18-month wait.

He had originally opened for twice as many as the 65 he has been promised, such is the need for fighter aircraft to carry out key types of mission:

• Suppression of Enemy Air Defences – SEAD missions – the military is desperate to take out Russia’s surface to air missile systems
• Air Interdiction operations, to disrupt, delay or destroy Russia’s ground forces
• Defensive Counter Air (DCA), to protect Ukrainian territory from Russian aircraft and missiles.

These defensive missions are for the moment perhaps the most important.

This year Ukraine has been under huge threat from Russian glide bombs, which are basically dumb bombs fitted with pop-out wing kits and guidance modules to deliver precision strike stand-off capabilities, similar to the JDAM munitions from the United States.

Russia is churning out these add-on kits and these souped-up bombs have been wreaking havoc on the front lines.

Around 3,000 were dropped in March alone, mostly from Su-34 fighter-bombers.

If Ukraine can protect its F-16s on the ground, the hope is that they could play an important part in pushing back the Russian aircraft to a point where the glide bombs can no longer target Ukrainian ground forces.

The F-16s would work alongside the limited number of Western-supplied surface to air missile systems such as Patriot and NASAMS which are already on the ground.

The warplanes will be armed with AIM-120 AMRAAM air-to-air missiles, which can turn “autonomous” and self-guide to target after a certain distance from launch.

Currently Ukraine’s Soviet-era aircraft use missiles that require a constant “lock” on a Russian plane throughout the targeting and launching phase.

That places the Ukrainian jets under greater threat because they cannot fire a missile and then turn away, which the F-16s can do.

Not everyone believes the F-16s will be able to protect Ukraine’s frontline towns.

If the jets fly high, they will be vulnerable to Russia’s air defence systems, warns Prof Bronk. If they fly low, they will have to fly deeper into Russian territory to give their missiles sufficient range. And that carries even greater risks.

Rather than seeing the F16s as potential targets, Anatoliy Khrapchynsky argues they will only enhance Ukraine’s air defences, because of their ability to intercept cruise missiles while Patriot batteries shoot down ballistic missiles.

Each airbase will have crews on shift that will take off in case of an aerial threat.

But the problem is that Ukraine is facing a big shortage of Patriots and missiles for them. President Zelensky says Ukraine needs at least 25 Patriot defence systems to protect its skies and it has only a handful.

The F-16s won’t necessarily turn the tide of the war, but they will have a significant impact in attacks on the ground and in the air.

The question is whether there will be enough of them, and whether they can be protected on the ground.

Typhoon Gaemi has made landfall in mainland China after wreaking havoc in Taiwan and the Philippines.

More than 150,000 people living in the south-eastern Chinese province of Fujian have been relocated to safer areas in anticipation of the storm.

It comes after widespread flooding and landslides across Taiwan and the Philippines, killing at least 21 people.

The Philippines says it is “racing against time” to contain an oil spill after a tanker carrying 1.5 million litres of industrial fuel capsized and sank off of the country’s coast.

The ship was one of two which sank in the region on Thursday, with the second going down just off Taiwan’s south-western coast.

China activated its highest-tier disaster warning as the storm made its way to its shores on Thursday evening local time.

Chinese President Xi Jinping chaired a meeting with the Communist Party’s top leadership on flood control and disaster relief plans, state media reported.

Train services have been suspended in Fujian, while authorities in northern China have warned heavy rains could trigger landslides and flooding.

Meanwhile, the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters says there is a “high risk” of natural disasters.

China is experiencing a summer of extremely changeable weather, with heavy downpours in the east and south and scorching heatwaves in the north. It typically experiences heavy rain from the middle of July to mid-August.

Gaemi is taking a route similar to Typhoon Doksuri from last year, which caused widespread flooding across northern China, although there is a possibility that its route could change.

A clean-up operation is currently taking place in Taiwan following the typhoon – the largest to have struck the island in eight years but only the first of this year’s storm season.

Taiwan’s meteorological office said several areas of the island received more than 1000mm of rainfall between Wednesday night and Thursday lunchtime, while the southern city of Kaohsuing recorded 1350mm of rain.

It left large areas of the city under more than a metre of flood water and three people were killed.

A search and rescue operation is underway to find the remaining six Burmese sailors who were reported missing after their Tanzania-flagged cargo ship Fu Shun went down off the northern coast of Taiwan.

Three crew members have been rescued so far, but high winds and choppy seas are hampering rescue efforts, officials have said.

Five other cargo ships have been run aground close to the island.

Despite avoiding a direct hit by the storm, Typhoon Gaemi had intensified seasonal monsoon rains by the time it hit the Philippines, causing widespread flooding in Manila.

The storm caused the MT Terra Nova, a tanker that was heading to the Philippine city of Iloilo, to sink with 17 crew members on board.

The Philippine coast guard said it found the body of one missing crew member, and 16 others were rescued.

A huge operation is now underway to manage an oil spill which could be the worst in the country’s history if not properly contained.

The coast guard has detected an oil slick stretching to about four kilometres, describing it as “enormous”.

Rear Admiral Armando Balilo said the spill would “definitely affect the marine environment”.

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

Experts said that under ordinary circumstances officials would immediately deploy booms, or temporary floating barriers, to limit how far the spill can spread – but the bad weather has delayed these efforts.

An Indian labourer’s fortunes have changed overnight after he found a massive diamond in a mine in the central state of Madhya Pradesh.

The 19.22-carat diamond is expected to fetch about 8m rupees ($95,570; £74,000) in a government auction.

Raju Gound said he had been leasing mines in Panna city for more than 10 years in the hope of finding a diamond.

Panna is famed for its diamond reserves and people often lease cheap, shallow mines from the government to hunt for the precious stone.

The federal government’s National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) runs a mechanised diamond mining project in Panna.

It also leases out shallow mines to individuals, families and co-operative groups who look for diamonds, usually with basic tools and equipment.

Any finds are handed over to the government diamond office, which then evaluates the stone.

“These mines can be leased for about 200-250 rupees [for a specific period],” Anupam Singh, an official at the state government’s diamond office, told the BBC.

In 2018, a labourer from Bundelkhand found a diamond worth 15m rupees in a mine in Panna. However, such discoveries are rare.

Mr Singh said that while many people have found smaller stones, Mr Gound’s find was notable because of its size.

Mr Gound told the BBC that his father had leased the mine in Krishna Kalyanpur Patti village near Panna about two months ago.

He said his family leases mines mostly during the monsoon season when agricultural and masonry work dry up.

“We are very poor and have no other source of income. So we do this in the hope of making some money,” he said.

He had heard stories of people chancing upon diamonds and hoped that he too would get lucky one day.

On Wednesday morning, he went to the site to perform his daily task of manually searching for the precious stone.

“It’s tedious work. We dig a pit, pull out chunks of soil and rock, wash them in a sieve and then carefully sift through thousands of dried, tiny stones to look for diamonds,” he said.

And that afternoon, all that hard work paid off and his luck turned.

“I was sifting through the stones and saw something that resembled a piece of glass. I held it up to my eyes and saw a faint glint. That’s when I knew I had found a diamond,” he said.

Mr Gound then took his prized find to the government diamond office, where it was evaluated and weighed.

Mr Singh said the diamond would be sold in the next government auction and that Mr Gound would receive his compensation after the government royalty and taxes were deducted.

Mr Gound hopes to build a better house for his family with the money and even pay for his children’s education. But first, he wants to pay off his debt of 500,000 rupees.

He says he’s not afraid of people finding out about the diamond as he plans to divide the money between 19 relatives who live with him.

For now, he’s content just knowing that the money will come to him.

“Tomorrow, I’ll go to the mine again to look for diamonds,” he said.

A police officer has been suspended after a video circulated online of a man being kicked and stamped on the head at Manchester Airport.

An officer had been removed from all duties after a “thorough review of further information” of the incident, which took place on Tuesday, Greater Manchester Police confirmed.

The footage showed a uniformed male officer holding a Taser over the man who was lying on the ground at Terminal 2 before kicking him twice at about 20:30 BST.

Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham, who has met the home secretary over the incident, has appealed for calm.

After the meeting, Yvette Cooper said she understood the “the widespread distress” the footage had caused, adding she had spoken to police about the “urgent steps” they are taking.

She said it was “essential” police had the trust of communities, and the public “rightly expect high standards from those in charge of keeping us safe”.

Greater Manchester Police (GMP) said it understood the “deep concerns” that had been “widely raised”.

The footage sparked a protest outside Rochdale police station on Wednesday night, with hundreds of people gathered, and chants of “shame on you” heard.

In the build-up to the incident shown in the clip, a police spokesman said that firearms officers had been punched to the ground after trying to make an arrest following a fight in the airport.

There was a “clear risk” their weapons could be taken from them, the police spokesman said, adding all three had been taken to hospital, one with a broken nose.

Four men were later arrested on suspicion of assault and affray, and all have since been bailed.

It remains unclear what led to the incident, but Mr Burnham said he thought there had been “an issue on a flight coming into Manchester”.

“When the flight landed, two individuals were waiting for their mum, who said there had been an issue,” he said.

“She pointed somebody out and there was an altercation in the arrivals hall.”

He said those involved had been “followed by camera through the airport and then we get to the scene that people have seen in the car park area”.

Mr Burnham told BBC Radio Manchester he had seen “the full footage” that showed a “fast-moving and complicated situation in a challenging location – it’s not clear cut”.

“Time has been taken to get a clearer picture of what has happened,” he said, adding that an investigation needed to proceed now “in a thorough and measured way”.

• Anderson remarks on airport video irresponsible – Burnham

Amar Minhas from Leeds was travelling through the terminal with his family when he saw officers approach the man to arrest him.

“They pinned him up against a wall”, he told the BBC, before another man tried to intervene and a fight broke out, with the pinned man throwing punches until he was Tasered to the floor, when the officer kicked him.

Prime Minster Sir Keir Starmer has said he “completely understands” the public’s concern over the footage.

Sir Keir said the home secretary was being kept updated.

Former chief superintendent of the Met Police, Dal Babu, told BBC Radio 4 the police actions were “appalling and unnecessary” and in his opinion racism played a part in the incident.

He said the men were arrested for affray and assault, not offences at the “serious end” like attempted murder, gross bodily harm, or malicious wounding.

“I think racism played a significant part in this,” he said, adding GMP had been “slow out of the block in understanding the seriousness” of the incident at a time when trust in police was “so low”.

Many of those who spoke to the BBC in Rochdale about the video asked to remain anonymous.

One woman said: “If I were to kick a person in the face, I would be arrested and sentenced, not have the charges dropped and a policeman should be treated the same.”

Meanwhile, a man in the town said: “The police reaction was wrong but I don’t know what the context is.

“We need to see the full picture. But when you’re kicking a man who can’t defend himself – it’s exceeding the need for force.”

Usman Nawaz from the Rochdale Community Alliance, said the “extremely disturbing” footage was “not the policing we recognise in this country”.

Mr Nawaz said the people of Rochdale had “generally had a very good relationship with our police”, but that the force must “get a handle on this really quickly” or mistrust could grow between police and local communities.

The force said in its latest statement that it would “continue to meet” with Greater Manchester residents and elected representatives to discuss concerns raised about the footage.

It said it had referred itself to the Independent Office for Police Conduct over the incident.

The MP of the man who was filmed being kicked told the House of Commons the video was “truly shocking and disturbing”.

Paul Waugh, Labour MP for Rochdale, said he was meeting the man’s family later today.

He said police faced a difficult job but that they had to expect the highest standards of conduct in their duties.

The Leader of the House, Lucy Powell, MP for Manchester Central, also said the footage was “incredibly disturbing”, adding that there was “understandably a lot of concern”.

IOPC Regional Director Catherine Bates said the police watchdog was investigating the “level of force” used by a GMP officer in the incident, adding it was “vitally important” all the circumstances were investigated.

She said inquiries were at an early stage, but a “significant amount of body-worn video and CCTV footage” of the incident had been secured.

“We appreciate people want answers and we will work to provide those answers as quickly as we can,” Ms Bates said.

A spokesman for GMP’s police federation said it was supporting the suspended officer, as well as “all of our colleagues who were involved in this incident”.

They added: “Everyone has the right to a fair hearing where all sides of the story are told and context is provided.”

Russia and China have staged a joint patrol over the north Pacific Ocean and the Bering Sea near the coast of Alaska.

The two countries have carried out several joint patrols in the past, and Russia regularly flies its bombers over the Bering Sea.

But Wednesday’s joint patrol was the first that brought together bombers from both countries in the north Pacific area.

Moscow and Beijing said it was “not aimed at any third party”, while the US-Canadian North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) said the bombers, which it intercepted, stayed in international airspace and were “not seen as a threat”.

But Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski described the event as an “unprecedented provocation by our adversaries”, adding that it was “the first time they have been intercepted operating together.”

China has said the patrol has “nothing to do with the current international and regional situation”.

Russian TU-95MS strategic missile carriers and the Chinese air force’s Xian H-6 strategic bombers were deployed, according to Russia.

China and Russia have developed closer ties since Moscow was placed under sanctions by the West following its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Any display of deepening cooperation is watched with apprehension by the US and European countries.

Earlier this month, Moscow and Beijing wrapped up their fourth joint naval patrol in the northern and western Pacific Ocean.

Nato countries issued a joint statement at the end of a recent summit in Washington accusing China of being a “decisive enabler” of Russia’s war in Ukraine and urging it to “cease all material and political support” to the country’s war effort.

In a report on Arctic security published on Monday, the US Department of Defence expressed concern over the two countries’ “growing alignment”, and predicted that their military cooperation would continue to increase.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov rejected this, saying Russian-Chinese cooperation in the Arctic could only contribute to an atmosphere of “stability and predictability” in the area.

Ten years ago, musician Usman Riaz grabbed a pencil and started to sketch.

He might have hoped, but didn’t know at the time, that it would start him on a path to making history.

That initial drawing became The Glassworker – Pakistan’s first ever hand-drawn animated feature film.

It follows the story of young Vincent and his father Tomas, who run a glass workshop, and a war that threatens to upend their lives.

Vincent’s relationship with violinist Alliz, the daughter of a military colonel, begins to test the bond between father and son.

Usman tells BBC Asian Network the characters ultimately come to learn “that life is beautiful but fragile, like glass”.

He describes The Glassworker as an “anti-war film” set in an ambiguous and fantastical world that takes inspiration from his home country.

“I wanted to tackle issues and themes that would have been difficult to tackle if it was based in Pakistan,” he says.

The country doesn’t have the thriving film industry of neighbouring India and there is no government support or incentive for budding creatives like Usman.

So The Glassworker was a passion project, he says.

“These 10 years for me have just been purely driven with passion and obsession.

“Since I was a child, I have loved hand-drawn animation and there’s something so magical about it.

“The beauty of the lines drawn and painted by the human hand always resonated with me.”

Usman says he travelled the world looking for mentors and his search took him to Japanese animation house Studio Ghibli.

The influence of the Oscar-winning artists behind classics such as Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke can be seen in The Glassworker’s own style.

Usman says the industry veterans at Ghibli were also the ones who encouraged him to start the production himself.

After raising $116,000 through a 2016 crowdfunding campaign he founded his own studio, Mano Animations.

From there it’s been a painstaking process, especially since full production started in 2019.

“What you are watching is essentially a moving painting,” says Usman.

“Every single frame you see, whether it’s a background or the character moving, it’s all drawn by hand.”

Usman says that, so far, he hasn’t made any money from the project and has been unable to pay his wife Maryam and cousin Khizer, who he recruited to help him.

But there’s hope that the labour of love could be the start of something bigger.

Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy is another experienced industry figure Usman turned to for advice about getting The Glassworker off the ground.

She directed 3 Bahadur, a computer-generated tale that was Pakistan’s first-ever animated feature film.

On its 2015 release it broke box office records, even surpassing US imports and dethroning previous record-holder Rio 2.

Her studio was also the country’s first female-led animation studio, and she understands the challenges of getting started better than most.

“Everything in Pakistan is driven by passion” she says. “I had to run pillar to post.

“We’re a country that has limited access to electricity and our industry is heavily taxed.

“We’re unable to import computers and hardware needed for animation.”

But Sharmeen – who is going to direct upcoming Star Wars film New Jedi Order – says The Glassworker could be a “monumental step” for Pakistan’s animation scene.

If it finds commercial success, she believes it will “ignite” something in the country, but there are barriers to home-grown animation becoming a red-hot trend.

Arafat Mazhar from Lahore-based Puffball animation agrees that “the technical skills are already there” in Pakistan despite there being “no formal training or schools available”.

But “how do you not censor yourself?” he asks.

It’s a question facing any Pakistani filmmaker who has to deal with its strict board of film censors.

“Every time there’s a good film that comes out that’s sincere, the state ends up censoring it,” says Arafat.

He doesn’t believe the rules are likely to relax soon.

Sharmeen agrees the government will only encourage the domestic film industry to grow if they work to “provide opportunity to create a level playing field for us to compete with the rest of the world”.

“There is a lot of scope in Pakistan for animation,” she says. “We’ve just never been given the opportunity to create it.”

She shares Arafat’s pessimism about the pace of change.

“Unfortunately, it will just be a few filmmakers who have that passion, who will continue to create films,” she says.

But Sharmeen says she is eager to see how the world embraces The Glassworker.

“I know that there is so much in there that will touch people’s hearts”.

Usman will finally get to find out how audiences react to the work he’s spent 10 years pouring his energy into as The Glassworker goes on general release.

He says he hopes to “put Pakistan on the map” and show it can stand up to the giants across the border in Bollywood.

But he admits the process has been “gruelling”.

“It is extremely difficult, but we’ve done something nobody has ever done in the country before,” he says.

“I think we’ve created something special that can stand toe-to-toe with the rest of the animation produced in the world.”

Listen to Ankur Desai’s show on BBC Asian Network live from 15:00-18:00 Monday to Thursday – or listen back here.