Since October, the near-daily cross-border attacks between Israel and Hezbollah, the powerful Iranian-backed militia and political movement in Lebanon, have killed hundreds of people and forced tens of thousands from their homes on both sides, raising fears that the relatively contained violence could escalate into an all-out conflict.

Amid the strikes and counter-strikes, however, there have been indications that they were trying to avoid a major confrontation. But miscalculation was always a risk, and Saturday’s attack on the Druze town of Majdal Shams, in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, could have been that.

Israel accuses Hezbollah of carrying out the strike on a football pitch that killed at least 12 people, including children, the deadliest attack in the current hostilities, and has promised to respond.

“Israel will not overlook this murderous attack,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, according to a statement released by his office. “Hezbollah will pay a heavy price which it has not paid up to now.”

Hezbollah denies being behind the attack.

Before the scale of the strike became clear, however, the group said it had targeted the Hermon Brigade with an Iranian-made Falaq missile, one of several attacks carried out on that day. The base, on the slopes of Mt Hermon, is about 3km (two miles) from where the explosion happened, raising the possibility that the missile missed its target.

Daniel Hagari, a spokesman for the Israeli military, said intelligence information indicated that the attack had been carried out by Hezbollah in Lebanon, describing the group’s denial as “a lie”.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, too, said “every indication” was that the missile had been fired by Hezbollah, and that the US stood by “Israel’s right to defend its citizens from terrorist attacks”.

Lebanon, then, is waiting for a possible major Israeli reaction.

The strikes by Hezbollah started on 8 October, the day after the deadly Hamas attack on Israel, with the group saying they were in support for Palestinians in Gaza. So far, more than 450 people have been reported killed in Lebanon, including about 350 Hezbollah fighters and at least 100 civilians. In Israel, 23 civilians and at least 17 soldiers have been killed.

In Lebanon, most of the Israeli attacks have hit the south, where villages are destroyed and deserted, and the eastern Bekaa Valey, two areas where Hezbollah operates. An Israeli campaign targeting places that, so far, have been untouched, including parts of the capital Beirut, could lead to a dangerous and unpredictable phase in their fighting.

Seen as a significantly more formidable foe than Hamas, Hezbollah has been preparing for another major conflict with Israel since their last one, in 2006, which inflicted heavy damage on both sides. According to Western estimates, the group has about 150,000 rockets and missiles, which could overwhelm Israel’s sophisticated air defence systems. The arsenal also includes precision guided missiles capable of striking deep into Israeli territory.

Israeli authorities have repeatedly described the attacks by the group as unacceptable and are under growing pressure to act to allow the return of displaced residents to northern communities. Military officials have said the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), which is still carrying out large operations against Hamas in Gaza, is ready to launch an offensive against Hezbollah, although details of what one might involve remains unclear.

Hassan Nasrallah, the long-time Hezbollah leader, has repeatedly said the group does not want a full-scale war with Israel, but that it was ready for one. Last month, he said the group had deployed only a fraction of its weapons, and warned Israel that any war would be fought “without constraints or rules”. A major operation against the group could lead to the involvement of other Iranian-backed militias in the region that are part of what Tehran calls the “Axis of Resistance”.

Any war would have a devastating impact on both countries, but especially for Lebanon, which has been in a state of permanent crisis for more than half a decade. The economy has collapsed, with 80% of the population estimated to be in poverty, and political disputes have blocked the election of a president for almost two years. The government has limited influence – if any – over Hezbollah, which, like Hamas, is considered a terrorist organisation by the UK, the US and others.

But a full-scale war is not inevitable. Diplomats were trying to avert a major escalation in hostilities, and the Lebanese Foreign Minister, Abdallah Bou Habib, told the BBC the authorities were “asking Hezbollah not to retaliate”.

The Israeli foreign ministry spokesman, Oren Marmorstein, said the “only way” to prevent a conflict was to implement the United Nations Resolution 1701, approved to end the 2006 war. The text includes the withdrawal of armed groups from southern Lebanon, between the Litani river and the Blue Line, the unofficial frontier with Israel, but was never fully applied.

Now, Mr Marmorstein said, was the “very last minute” to prevent a war diplomatically.

Janet Andrewartha, who played Lyn Scully in Neighbours, has died at the age of 72.

The actress joined the long-running Australian soap in 1999 as the Scully family matriarch.

She left the show in 2006 but returned multiple times, last appearing in Erinsborough in 2019.

The soap’s official Instagram account paid tribute to the star, with a post reading: “Everyone at Neighbours is deeply saddened by the passing of Janet Andrewartha.

“Beloved by viewers for her role as Ramsay Street’s Lyn Scully, Janet will be remembered for her wide body of work, which includes her memorable turn as Reb Keane in Prisoner.”

Jackie Woodburne who played Susan Kennedy on the soap called Andrewartha “One of the finest actors of her generation and an extraordinary woman.

“Passionate, political, curious, delightfully eccentric, generous and fun. To me she was a steadfast friend for over 45 years. I will miss her every day.”

Stefan Dennis, best known for playing businessman Paul Robinson on Neighbours, said he was: “So very upset to lose the lovely Janet.

“She truly was an exceptional actress who was a pleasure work with and to be around. We will all miss you dear girl.”

Janet Andrewartha was also known for her roles in other Australian hits including A Country Practice and Blue Heelers.

She also had a successful theatrical career, starring in Othello, Jerusalem and All My Sons.

Neighbours was cancelled in 2022 but was revived the following year.

Neighbours launched in 1985 and ran until 2022, when it was cancelled after UK broadcaster Channel 5 decided to drop the show from its schedules.

Unable to find alternative funding, producers announced they had “no option but to rest the show”.

At that point, the series had run for 37 years and broadcast more than 9,000 episodes.

However, just four months after its finale was broadcast, Amazon announced it had picked up the show for its streaming service Freevee, and the show was relaunched in September 2023.

Neighbours enjoyed a golden era in the 1980s and 1990s, during which time it developed a cult following, particularly among students, as it was screened on BBC One twice a day (including a repeat).

Margot Robbie, Russell Crowe, Kylie Minogue, Jason Donovan, Guy Pearce, Natalie Imbruglia and Holly Vallance are among the stars who appeared in Neighbours early in their careers.

Thousands of people gathered on Sunday for the funerals of children and young people killed in a rocket strike in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, as world leaders scrambled to contain the attack’s political fallout.

Members of the Druze community wept as they carried caskets through the streets of Majdal Shams, while some yelled in anger at government ministers who attended the funeral, Israeli media reported.

Israel blamed Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah for the strike, which killed 12. Hezbollah strongly denied carrying it out.

On Sunday, global leaders condemned the attack and moved to de-escalate tensions amid fears that the incident could spark a war between Israel and Hezbollah.

In response to Saturday’s strike, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) hit Hezbollah targets in Lebanese territory overnight, and Hezbollah struck two Israeli military bases on Sunday.

Cross-border fire between the two sides has escalated since Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October, triggering Israel’s military campaign in Gaza. Saturday’s attack was the deadliest loss of life in and around Israel’s northern border since October.

The strike hit a football pitch in Majdal Shams, one of four towns in the Golan Heights where about 25,000 members of the Arabic-speaking Druze religious and ethnic group live.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry said 10 of the 12 victims were between the ages of 10 and 16, and has not released the ages of the other two victims.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who vowed that Hezbollah would “pay a heavy price”, arrived in Israel on Sunday after cutting short his trip to the US. He planned to hold a meeting with his military chiefs to assess the situation and approve operational plans.

Hezbollah denied it had anything to do with the strike, but had earlier on Saturday claimed responsibility for four other attacks, including one on a military base around 3km (2 miles) away.

At a funeral in Majdal Shams on Sunday, weeping men wearing traditional red-topped white hats carried 10 of the white-covered caskets through packed streets, AFP reported. Women dressed in black abaya robes cried as they laid flowers on the caskets. Some mourners carried large photos of the dead children.

Fadi Mahmud, 48, told AFP that it was the first time Majdal Shams had experienced such a loss during the war.

“Our community is very close-knit. These children are like children of everybody in the village,” he was reported as saying.

Anger among the community also boiled over at the funeral, with some directing their rage at Israeli government officials who attended, the Times of Israel reported.

“Now you come here? Ten months you didn’t come!” a man wearing a military uniform was reported as shouting at Housing Minister Nir Barkat and Environmental Protection Minister Idit Silman. His comments were met with applause.

“We’re tired of your promises!” another person reportedly yelled at Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.

In a video posted on social media, hecklers surrounded Mr Smotrich, cursing and saying “we don’t want him!”, according to a Times of Israel translation.

Israeli media reported that a leader of the Druze community had reportedly asked in a letter that government ministers not attend the funeral to avoid turning the tragedy into a “political event”.

The Druze are part of an Arabic-speaking ethnic group based in Lebanon, Syria, the Golan Heights and northern Israel. In Israel, they have full citizenship rights and comprise about 1.5% of the population.

But most of those in the Golan have retained an allegiance to Syria. They can still study and work in Israel, though only those with citizenship can vote and serve in the army.

The vast majority of the international community does not recognise Israel’s annexation of the Golan Heights from Syria in 1981.

On Sunday, global leaders spoke out against the strike and cautioned against escalation, although they differed on who was responsible.

UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy said in a post on X that the UK “condemns the strike in Golan Heights that has tragically claimed at least 12 lives” and Hezbollah “must cease their attacks”.

“We are deeply concerned about the risk of further escalation and destabilisation,” Secretary Lammy said.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that “every indication is that indeed the rocket was from Hezbollah”, but that the US did not want to see the conflict spreading.

Lebanon’s Foreign Minister Abdallah Bouhabib told the BBC that he did not think Hezbollah, which usually hits military targets, not civilians, carried out the attack, but added “it could be a mistake by the Israelis or by Hezbollah – I don’t know”.

The Lebanese government condemned the violence and called in a statement for a ceasefire on all fronts.

Supratim Bhattacharjee has been named overall winner of this year’s Mangrove Photography Awards for his image of a young girl in the aftermath of a devastating storm in Frazerganj, Sundarbans, India.

Run by the Mangrove Action Project, the competition – now in its 10th year – aims to show the relationships between wildlife, coastal communities and mangrove forests, as well as the fragility of these unique ecosystems, both above and below the waterline.

Mr Bhattacharjee’s winning image, called Sinking Sundarbans, shows Pallavi standing in front of her home and tea shop, which has been destroyed by the sea during a storm.

“I observed her strong face and calm nature during that devastating period,” said Mr Bhattacharjee.

“Children are the ones that suffer the most.”

Nestled in the Bay of Bengal, the Sundarbans is the largest mangrove forest in the world.

“[The winning] image raises a thousand questions, whilst connecting you to the girl’s heart,” said competition judge Dhritiman Mukherjee.

“Her vulnerability exposes the full impact of climate change and sea level rise experienced by many coastal communities.”

Mangroves are an important protection against climate change, with one acre (4,000sq m) of mangrove forest absorbing nearly the same amount of carbon dioxide as an acre of Amazon rainforest.

The forests also protect coastlines from eroding, as intense storms grow more frequent.

“Conservation as a story, is a complicated one,” said another of the judges, Morgan Heim.

“Photography has the ability to help us receive and feel close to those stories no matter our language. Every time I look at this kind of photography, I think, there’s still hope.”

Fellow judge Christian Ziegler added: “[In the competition] were many fascinating stories about life in the mangroves, ranging from scientific insights to restoration of the ecosystem and the difficult conditions people face.”

Here are a selection of winning images from seven competition categories, with descriptions by the photographers.

Men, women and children, wearing sarongs and traditional headgear, collect mud from a mangrove forest in Kedonganan village, just outside the town of Denpasar in Bali, Indonesia.

They cover themselves as part of a purification ritual called Mebuug Buugan, where people pray for gratitude and earth’s fertility.

The Sundarbans archipelago spans the borders of India and Bangladesh… [and] is known for its rich forest resources, which locals rely on for income.

But rampant deforestation coupled with worsening storms has intensified food and water scarcity, diminished agriculture productivity and soil quality, and turned local communities into climate refugees.

This tranquil scene invites contemplation as the gentle flow of water navigates its course through the heart of the mangrove forest.

The intertwining roots of the trees form intricate patterns, creating a natural tapestry that harmonises with the fluidity of the water.

On the rugged coast of Neil island (Shaheed Dweep) in the Andaman Islands archipelago, the tide recedes far away from the shore and exposes an extremely sharp rocky reef.

Mud-ring feeding is a unique fishing behaviour employed by bottlenose dolphins living in the shallows of the mangrove-lined bays of Florida Bay and a few other locations in the Caribbean.

On finding a school of mullet, a dolphin from the pod encircles the fish kicking up the sediments with its tail, which corrals the fish into an ever tightening spiral-shaped silty plume.

The dolphins have a remarkable ability to know where the fish are going to jump and will snatch them from the air as they try to make their escape.

In the last 40 years, Banderas Bay has lost more than 80% of its wetlands to urban expansion.

This crocodile sanctuary is a non-profit organisation located next to a small lagoon. The surrounding area has been taken over by shopping centres, hotels and condos.

Due to repeated tropical cyclones and sea level rise in the Bay of Bengal, river embankments have become broken by high tides across the Sundarbans, West Bengal, India.

As a result, homes and farms have flooded, fisheries have become destroyed by seawater, and people have been forced to migrate.

This villager has lost all his household belongings in the flood.

The male horseshoe crab tightly grasps onto the back of the female, on a mission of reproduction.

They move with the rising tide, searching for a suitable place to lay their eggs. But when they reach the mangroves, they become entangled in a huge ghost net.

If no one rescues them in time, they will eventually die from prolonged exposure.

In Hong Kong and throughout Asia, abandoned fishing nets wash ashore and in mangrove forests, entangling many creatures.

A turtle gracefully navigates the mangroves’ labyrinthine roots, seeking refuge for the night.

At high tide, the water engulfs the roots and transforms the space into a haven for marine life seeking shelter and safety.

Mangroves act as a natural filter that can remove most pollutants before they reach the ocean.

Soil and mangrove biomass have a significant capacity to store carbon from the atmosphere, helping to reduce carbon dioxide concentrations in the air.

The complex roots of mangroves also help bind soil and sediment, reduce erosion, and protect against damage from waves and currents.

In Demak Regency, Indonesia, the coastline has been severely eroded, and mangroves that once protected the coast have been cut down and replaced by aquaculture ponds. As a result, the sea is literally swallowing people’s homes.

[Demak’s residents] have realised the only solution is to restore the ecosystem by replanting the mangroves that have been cut down.

With the cutting of mangrove trees, it is increasingly difficult to fish, catch crabs, and protect against climate change and violent cyclones in the regions.

Bôndy, a private company working in ecosystem restoration, collaborates with local communities to restore mangroves at a rural commune in Majunga, Madagascar.

Together, always with a smile and in good spirits, they traverse the mangroves to revive vast stretches of isolated land.

I wanted to capture more than just this young saltwater crocodile when I encountered it at low tide in the mangroves.

I used the multiple exposure mode in my camera to superimpose layers onto my image of the croc’s eye, to capture more of the scene without sacrificing detail of the eye.

The image gives off a slightly unsettling feeling, such as what one may experience in a mangrove, unknowing of what predators may be lurking nearby, hidden by the dense network of the mangrove.

France’s national rail operator says it has finished repairing infrastructure damaged in a suspected coordinated arson attack on Friday.

State-owned SNCF said most trains were running as planned on Sunday and full service will resume on Monday.

Police are still searching for the perpetrators behind what French ministers and officials have described as “sabotage” designed to paralyse high-speed TGV lines running to and from Paris.

Hundreds of thousands of people were caught up in the resulting disruption, which came hours before the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in the capital.

SNCF said staff have been working around the clock to manually repair fibre optic cables, which were targeted on the North, Brittany and South-West lines.

Rail workers foiled an attempt to destroy safety equipment on a fourth line.

On Sunday, the rail company said the main western line from Paris was operating almost as normal, while three out of four TGV trains were running on the northern line from Lille, with no delays expected.

SNCF said around 250,000 passengers were affected on Friday, while junior transport minister Patrice Vergriete estimated as many as 800,000 people could be impacted over three days.

Eurostar – which runs international services from London to Paris and uses a high-speed line in France – was also impacted. It said one in four of its trains would not run over the weekend.

Among those caught up in the disruption on Friday was Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, who had planned to travel to the Games’ opening ceremony via train but was forced to fly instead.

He told the BBC: “I’m not going to pretend it wasn’t frustrating because it was, and for very many people it made travel so much harder.”

The Paris prosecutor’s office has opened a criminal investigation into what happened, which is being overseen by its organised crime office.

Robert Downey Jr is returning to the Marvel superhero world after five years – but not to the Iron Man role that launched the blockbuster franchise.

The actor will make his comeback as Dr Victor Von Doom, a prominent villain in the comic books that spawned the popular film series.

Downey Jr will appear in Avengers: Doomsday, which is due to be released in May 2026, and a further instalment titled Secret Wars a year later.

Stars joining the Marvel franchise were unveiled at the Comic Con event in San Diego.

Downey Jr appeared on stage concealed behind Doctor Doom’s iconic mask and green cloak before unveiling himself to fans.

Speaking to reporters, he said: “I like playing complicated characters.”

The 59-year-old was instrumental in launching the Marvel movie universe, starring in its first film Iron Man in 2008.

He last appeared in a Marvel film in 2019’s Avengers: Endgame.

The American actor won an Oscar for his role in Oppenheimer earlier this year.

Marvel is set to release a further three films in 2025 before Avengers returns to big screens.

Captain America: Brave New World will see Harrison Ford replace the late William Hurt as General Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross.

Florence Pugh will take on a leading role in Thunderbolts, while Pedro Pascal will make his Marvel debut in The Fantastic 4: First Steps.

Disney’s Marvel movie series have generated $30bn (£23.3bn) in box office takings – the first franchise to do so – but profits have slowed in recent years.

However, the recent release of Deadpool & Wolverine, starring Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman, has offered the chance of a potential revival – making $96m on its opening day on Friday.

Last year, Marvel dropped actor Jonathan Majors – who played villain Kang the Conqueror – following his conviction for assaulting his girlfriend.

Venezuelans are going to the polls in what has been described as the biggest challenge to the governing socialist PSUV party since it came to power 25 years ago.

Nicolás Maduro – who has been president since the death of his mentor, Hugo Chávez, in 2013 – will be running for a third consecutive term.

His main challenger is Edmundo González, a former diplomat who has the backing of a coalition of opposition parties.

Polls suggest Mr González has a wide lead over the incumbent, but as Mr Maduro’s 2018 re-election was widely dismissed as neither free nor fair, there are fears that the result of this election could be tampered with, should it not go Mr Maduro’s way.

Those fears have been compounded by the fact that Mr Maduro has told his supporters that he would win “by hook or by crook”.

After casting his vote early in the capital, Caracas, on Sunday, Mr Maduro vowed to “make sure” the results announced by the National Electoral Council (CNE) would be respected.

The CNE – the body which organises the election and announces the official result – is dominated by government loyalists.

Its president, Elvis Amoroso, is a close personal ally of Mr Maduro.

“The word of the electoral referee is holy,” Mr Maduro added in remarks to journalists.

Venezuelans started to turn out before 06:00 local time (10:00 GMT), when voting was scheduled to begin, and huge queues have formed at polling stations around the country.

Tensions rose outside a polling station in Caracas, where queuing voters faced off and clashed as they waited for the doors to open, Reuters news agency said.

There are only a very limited number of independent election observers in the country to monitor the poll – four from the United Nations and a small technical team from the Carter Center.

An invitation to European Union observers to be present was revoked by the head of the electoral authority, who is a close ally of Mr Maduro.

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.

Mr Maduro has, however, welcomed hundreds of guests from countries allied with his government, who he says will “accompany” the vote.

The opposition meanwhile has mobilised thousands of people to act as witnesses at individual ballot stations.

Despite the many hurdles the opposition has faced – including constant harassment and the arrest of more than 100 of people linked to its campaign since the start of the year – the opposition has been sounding an optimistic note.

It argues that the opinion polls have given its candidate such a big lead over President Maduro that it will not be possible for him to “steal the election”.

The government has dismissed the opinion polls quoted by the opposition, maintaining it is their candidate who is in the lead.

Mr Maduro himself has resorted to stark language in the run-up to the polls, warning of a “bloodbath” should he be defeated.

That statement earned him a rare rebuke from Brazil’s left-wing leader Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who said that Mr Maduro should learn “that if you win, you stay in power, but if you lose, you go”.

Mr Maduro has used the image of a fighting cockerel as a symbol for his campaign and has struck a combative note.

“We have triumphed over a thousand storms. They could not defeat us, nor will they ever be able to,” he said at his closing rally in a reference to some of the challenges he has seen off in his 11 years in power.

Following his re-election in 2018, which was widely dismissed as neither free not fair, he thwarted an attempt by opposition leader Juan Guaidó to depose him by declaring himself the rightful president.

While Mr Guaidó was backed by more than 50 countries, including the US and the EU, Mr Maduro could count on the loyalty of Venezuelan security forces.

In the end, Mr Guaidó’s parallel government withered, with Mr Maduro using it to portray himself as the “defender of Venezuelan sovereignty”, a point he drove home at his closing rally.

“On Sunday, we will prove it to the fascists, to imperialism. We will shout, ‘Long live Venezuela, my beloved homeland,'” he said.

But despite this fighting talk, many Maduro critics feel that this election – the first in over a decade in which most of the opposition has united behind one candidate and is not boycotting the poll – could be their best shot at removing him from office.

They have overcome many hurdles on the way to the polls, not least the fact that their chosen candidate, María Corina Machado, was banned from running for office.

Those who want to see a change of government have united behind her replacement, 74-year-old Edmundo González, in record time.

One of the promises the opposition has made is that if it wins, it will turn the country around, so that millions of Venezuelans who have fled the political and economic crisis it has suffered under the Maduro Administration can return.

The emigration of 7.8 million Venezuelans, and the fact that polls suggest this exodus could increase should Mr Maduro win, means that this election will be closely watched in the US and Latin American countries to which Venezuelans have fled en masse.

Cuba, China, Iran and Russia – all of them close allies of the Maduro Administration – will also be keeping a close watch, as a win for Mr González would most probably see a realignment of Venezuela away from them and towards the US.

Mr González also told a rally of tens of thousands of people it was “time to re-establish democracy” – a reference to the fact that in its 25 years in power, the governing PSUV party has gained control not just of the executive, but also of the legislative arm and to a large extent, the judiciary.

Voting is electronic and the result is expected to be announced by the CNE on the same night, perhaps as early as 20:00 local time (01:00 BST Monday).

Whoever wins is due to be sworn into office on 10 January 2025.

Olympic organisers have issued a “deep apology” after South Korea’s athletes were mistakenly introduced as North Korea at the opening ceremony in Paris.

As the excited, flag-waving team floated down the River Seine, both French and English announcers introduced them as the “Democratic People’s Republic of Korea” – the official name of North Korea.

The same name was then used – correctly – when North Korea’s delegation sailed past.

The two Koreas have been divided since the end of World War Two, with tensions between the states further escalating recently.

The subtitle which ran across the bottom of the television broadcast showed the correct title, however.

The South Korean sports ministry said it planned to lodge a “strong complaint with France on a government level” over the embarrassing gaffe.

In a statement, the ministry expressed “regret over the announcement… where the South Korean delegation was introduced as the North Korean team.”

The statement added that the second vice sports minister, Jang Mi-ran, a 2008 Olympic weightlifting champion, had demanded a meeting with Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) issued an apology on its official Korean-language X account, saying: “We would like to offer a deep apology over the mistake that occurred in the introduction of the South Korean delegation during the opening ceremony.”

South Korea, formally known as the Republic of Korea, has 143 athletes in its Olympic team this year, competing across 21 sports.

North Korea has sent 16 athletes. This is the first time it has competed in the games since Rio 2016.

As Simone Biles eyes up a chance at another Olympic medal, a row of A-list celebrities are watching on.

The seven-time medallist is one of the most high profile athletes at the Olympics, and her first performance in the artistic gymnastics on Sunday drew celebrities like it was Paris Fashion Week.

Lady Gaga, Ariana Grande, Tom Cruise, American Vogue Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour and Snoop Dogg were in the crowd to watch the American gymnast.

Grande sat with Cynthia Erivo, the pair co-staring in their upcoming film Wicked. They were seen greeting Wintour, who was with Australian film director Baz Luhrmann.

Higher in the stands was singer Nick Jonas, seen chatting with singer John Legend and his wife, model and TV personality Chrissy Teigen. Academy Award-winning actress Jessica Chastain was also at Bercy Arena to watch Biles perform.

Biles is considered by many to be the GOAT of women’s gymnastics (the greatest of all time).

And her considerable medal haul (which includes four Olympic golds and 30 world championship medals) could have potentially been higher heading into the 2024 Olympics, if it wasn’t for her infamous case of the “twistys” at the Tokyo Games.

Biles was forced to pull out of several events at the Tokyo Olympics after suffering a disorientating mental block, and many wondered if she would compete again.

Her return to the Olympics stage is a major drawcard, and Biles rewarded the crowd with a dazzling performance.

• Biles dazzles on Olympics gymnastics return

She entered the Bercy Arena on Sunday to an eruption of cheers, with celebrities in the stands and a global television audience of millions.

An acrobatic beam routine came before an energetic floor programme that featured one of the five skills named after her. Then she delivered her big Biles II vault but decided not to attempt the new skill she is planning on uneven bars.

She scored a total of 59.566 to top the all-around standings with three sub-divisions still to go. It is hard to see that changing – that score would have won the last three World Championships.

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From the Steven Spielberg classic Jaws, to predators stalking the Seine in Under Paris, there is no shortage of shark films.

Hollywood and audiences love them, seemingly never tiring of the suspense, gore and terror.

There are prehistoric giant sharks in The Meg, genetically engineered ones in Deep Blue Sea, and sharks high on cocaine in the ingeniously named Cocaine Shark.

Even Donald Trump is a fan – he was reportedly due to play the US president in a Sharknado film, before becoming the actual president.

I became hooked on them after watching James Bond film Thunderball, where the villain keeps sharks in his swimming pool.

It led to a lifelong interest in shark films, as well as an irrational fear of swimming pools, even ones filled with chlorine inside leisure centres.

Hayley Easton Street is the British director behind a new shark film, Something in the Water, which tells the story of a group of women stranded at sea.

She explains that, as fan of shark films herself, she “absolutely wanted” to make the movie.

So shy are shark movies so popular? “It’s the fear of what could be going on with the unknown of [the sea],” she tells BBC News.

“Just being stuck in the middle of the ocean is scary enough. You’re trapped in something else’s world and anything could happen.”

Forensic psychologist Professor Susan Young agrees that the fear of “the unknown, being alone and helpless” is powerful.

She says watching terrifying shark films in the comfort of your own home or in the cinema “allows you to confront your fears without real danger… and release pent up emotions in a safe and controlled environment”.

Prof Young adds: “It means people can face the boundaries of human behaviour and by viewing extreme content they’re testing their own limits and boundaries… and that emotional release is a form of catharsis.”

She explains that Sigmund Freud’s theories apply as, “from a psychodynamic perspective, these films tap into unconscious fears and desires and provide this safe outlet for exploring repressed emotions and instincts such as aggression and the fear of death”.

Making Hollywood sharks look like the real thing can be a challenge.

The production of Jaws was marred by malfunctioning mechanical Great Whites – one sunk and they were corroded by the ocean’s salt water.

The lead actors spent long periods sitting around, waiting for a prop shark to be fixed.

Director Steven Spielberg told the BBC’s Desert Island Discs in 2022 that the debacle actually led to a “much better movie” because he had to be “resourceful in figuring out how to create suspense and terror without seeing the shark itself.

“It was just good fortune that the shark kept breaking,” he said. “It was my good luck and I think it’s the audience’s good luck too because I think it’s a scarier movie without seeing so much of the shark.”

Street says they were working with a limited budget on the set of Something in the Water, so the team came up with an ingenious solution.

“We made a tiger shark fin,” she recalls. “We had this brilliant diver, Baptiste, who could hold his breath for a really long time.

“So we strapped this fin to him and gave him an underwater scooter which he could drive approximately at the speed of a shark.

“It was brilliant because it meant the actors actually had a shark fin to react to, so it allowed them to feel what it would be like if you did have these sharks circling you.”

But despite Street’s love of shark films, she did not want the ones in hers to be portrayed as marine serial killers.

“We kill 100 million sharks every year,” she notes.

The director was also aware that the release of Jaws led to a huge rise in the hunting of sharks, partly because they had been portrayed as merciless killers.

“As much as I love shark films, I love sharks.

“I was really conscious of that, because it’s easy for people to start seeing them as killing machines… or monsters, which they are not.”

She adds: “I feel it’s more scary to have the realistic theme of it, that, you know, if you are out in the ocean and there are sharks and they do mistake you for something else, they will kill you.”

Despite the huge success of Jaws, Spielberg has said he “truly regrets the decimation of the shark population because of the book and the film”.

Spielberg is not the only person concerned about Hollywood’s portrayal of sharks and the impact it continues to have.

US marine biologist Andriana Fragola dedicates herself to educating people about sharks, often sharing videos of her diving with them.

She says they are “misunderstood predators” that have been harmed by movies and the media.

Andriana tells me that she has watched Netflix’s new shark film, Under Paris, and was not impressed.

“Their whole thing was it’s about conservation, about studying them, but then the sharks are still eating people.

“So it’s giving a little bit more of a rounded education and a little bit more depth to the story, it’s not just people swimming at the beach and getting attacked and eaten.

“But the bottom line and what people can draw from the movie is that sharks are still really dangerous to people and they’re just going to continuously hunt and eat people.

“If that was true, we would be reduced as a human species. Everyone who goes to the beach, they would be threatened.”

The director and co-writer of Under Paris, Xavier Gens, says he is also an environmentalist.

He told The Hollywood Reporter that, while the danger in Jaws is the shark, he wanted to “highlight the perils of human greed” in his movie.

Andriana says the perception of sharks causes a real issue for conservation.

“It’s a huge problem because people don’t want to protect something that they’re scared of.

“The perception from people is that they’re dangerous to humans so we should eradicate them, and that’s obviously a huge problem for conservation and getting people to want to empathise or sympathise with sharks and wanting to actually protect them.

“It’s unfortunate because 100 million sharks are killed every year, and globally sharks kill fewer than 10 people every year.

“We’re really focused on the sharks being the monsters and them being out to get us. In reality it’s the opposite.”

It is unlikely that Hollywood will stop making shark films, or we will stop watching them.

But the figures show that far from being the serial killers of the sea, sharks are actually much more likely to be the victims of humans.

They are the of many nutritionists – mass-produced yet moreish foods like chicken nuggets, packaged snacks, fizzy drinks, ice cream or even sliced brown bread.

So-called ultra-processed foods (UPF) account for 56% of calories consumed across the UK, and that figure is higher for children and people who live in poorer areas.

UPFs are defined by how many industrial processes they have been through and the number of ingredients – often unpronounceable – on their packaging. Most are high in fat, sugar or salt; many you’d call fast food.

What unites them is their synthetic look and taste, which has made them a target for some clean-living advocates.

There is a growing body of evidence that these foods aren’t good for us. But experts can’t agree how exactly they affect us or why, and it’s not clear that science is going to give us an answer any time soon.

While recent research shows many pervasive health problems, including cancers, heart disease, obesity and depression are to UPFs, there’s no proof, as yet, that they are by them.

For example, a recent meeting of the American Society for Nutrition in Chicago was presented with an observational study of more than 500,000 people in the US. It found that those who ate the most UPFs had a roughly 10% greater chance of dying early, even accounting for their body-mass index and overall quality of diet.

In recent years, lots of other observational studies have shown a similar link – but that’s not the same as proving that food is processed causes health problems, or pinning down which aspect of those processes might be to blame.

So how could we get to the truth about ultra-processed food?

The kind of study needed to prove definitively that UPFs cause health problems would be extremely complex, suggests Dr Nerys Astbury, a senior researcher in diet and obesity at Oxford University.

It would need to compare a large number of people on two diets – one high in UPFs and one low in UPFs, but matched exactly for calorie and macronutrient content. This would be fiendishly difficult to actually do.

Participants would need to be kept under lock and key so their food intake could be tightly managed. The study would also need to enrol people with similar diets as a starting point. It would be extremely challenging logistically.

And to counter the possibility that people who eat fewer UPFs might just have healthier lifestyles such as through taking more exercise or getting more sleep, the participants of the groups would need to have very similar habits.

“It would be expensive research, but you could see changes from the diets relatively quickly,” Dr Astbury says.

Funding for this type of research could also be hard to come by. There might be accusations of conflicts of interest, since researchers motivated to run these kind of trials may have an idea of what they want the conclusions to be before they started.

These trials couldn’t last for very long, anyway – too many participants would most likely drop out. It would be impractical to tell hundreds of people to stick to a strict diet for more than a few weeks.

And what could these hypothetical trials really prove, anyway?

Duane Mellor, lead for nutrition and evidence-based medicine at Aston University, says nutrition scientists cannot prove specific foods are good or bad or what effect they have on an individual. They can only show potential benefits or risks.

“The data does not show any more or less,” he says. Claims to the contrary are “poor science”, he says.

Another option would be to look at the effect of common food additives present in UPFs on a lab model of the human gut – which is something scientists are busy doing.

There’s a wider issue, however – the amount of confusion around what actually counts as UPFs.

Generally, they include more than five ingredients, few of which you would find in a typical kitchen cupboard.

Instead, they’re typically made from cheap ingredients such as modified starches, sugars, oils, fats and protein isolates. Then, to make them more appealing to the tastebuds and eyes, flavour enhancers, colours, emulsifiers, sweeteners, and glazing agents are added.

They range from the obvious (sugary breakfast cereals, fizzy drinks, slices of American cheese) to the perhaps more unexpected (supermarket humous, low-fat yoghurts, some mueslis).

And this raises the questions: how helpful is a label that puts chocolate bars in the same league as tofu? Could some UPFs affect us differently to others?

• Adolescents get most calories from processed food
• Could ultra-processed foods be harmful for us?
• Ultra-processed foods ‘make you eat more’

In order to find out more, BBC News spoke to the Brazilian professor who came up with the term “ultra-processed food” in 2010.

Prof Carlos Monteiro also developed the Nova classification system, which ranges from “whole foods” (such as legumes and vegetables) at one end of the spectrum, via “processed culinary ingredients” (such as butter) then “processed foods” (things like tinned tuna and salted nuts) all the way through to UPFs.

The system was developed after obesity in Brazil continued to rise as sugar consumption fell, and Prof Monteiro wondered why. He believes our health is influenced not only by the nutrient content of the food we eat, but also through the industrial processes used to make it and preserve it.

He says he didn’t expect the current huge attention on UPFs but he claims “it’s contributing to a paradigm shift in nutrition science”.

However, many nutritionists say the fear of UPFs is overheated.

Gunter Kuhnle, professor of nutrition and food science at the University of Reading, says the concept is “vague” and the message it sends is “negative”, making people feel confused and scared of food.

It’s true that currently, there’s no concrete evidence that the way food is processed damages our health.

Processing is something we do every day – chopping, boiling and freezing are all processes, and those things aren’t harmful.

And when food is processed at scale by manufacturers, it helps to ensure the food is safe, preserved for longer and that waste is reduced.

Take frozen fish fingers as an example. They use up leftover bits of fish, provide kids with some healthy food and save parents time – but they still count as UPFs.

And what about meat-replacement products such as Quorn? Granted, they don’t look like the original ingredient from which they are made (and therefore fall under the Nova definition of UPFs), but they are seen as healthy and nutritious.

“If you make a cake or brownie at home and compare it with one that comes already in a packet that’s got taste enhancers, do I think there’s any difference between those two foods? No, I don’t,” Dr Astbury tells me.

The body responsible for food safety in England, the Food Standards Agency, acknowledges reports that people who eat a lot of UPFs have a greater risk of heart disease and cancer, but says it won’t take any action on UPFs until there’s evidence of them causing a specific harm.

Last year, the government’s Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN) looked at the same reports and concluded there were “uncertainties around the quality of evidence available”. It also had some concerns around the practical application of the Nova system in the UK.

For his part, Prof Monteiro is most worried about processes involving intense heat, such as the manufacturing of breakfast cereal flakes and puffs, which he claims “degrade the natural food matrix”.

He points to a small study suggesting this results in loss of nutrients and therefore leaves us feeling less full, meaning we’re more tempted to make up the shortfall with extra calories.

It’s also difficult to ignore the creeping sense of self-righteousness and – whisper it – snobbery around UPFs, which can make people feel guilty for eating them.

Dr Adrian Brown, specialist dietician and senior research fellow at University College London, says demonising one type of food isn’t helpful, especially when what and how we eat is such a complicated issue. “We have to be mindful of the moralisation of food,” he says.

Living a UPF-free life can be expensive – and cooking meals from scratch takes time, effort and planning.

A recent Food Foundation report found that more healthy foods were twice as expensive as less healthy foods per calorie, and the poorest 20% of the UK population would need to spend half their disposable income on food to meet the government’s healthy diet recommendations. It would cost the wealthiest only 11% of theirs.

I asked Prof Monteiro if it’s even possible to live without UPFs.

“The question here should be: is it feasible to stop the growing consumption of UPFs?” he says. “My answer is: it is not easy, but it is possible.”

Many experts say the current traffic light system on food labels (which flags up high, medium and low levels of sugar, fat and salt) is simple and helpful enough as a guide when you’re shopping.

There are smartphone apps now available for the uncertain shopper, such as the Yuka app, with which you can scan a barcode and get a breakdown of how healthy the product is.

And of course there’s the advice you already know – eat more fruit, vegetables, wholegrains and beans, while cutting back on fat and sugary snacks. Sticking to that remains a good idea, whether or not scientists ever prove UPFs are harmful.

“It’s so confusing sometimes to be a girl,” sings Charli XCX on her latest album, Brat.

The vulnerable lyrics, existential questions and honest exploration of the complexity and contradictions of womanhood has turned Brat into much more than a collection of music.

For millennials and Gen Z, it reflects a highly relatable way of life.

Brat is, in the words of Charli XCX, a girl who “has a breakdown, but kind of like parties through it”, who is honest, blunt, “a little bit volatile”. In recent weeks, brat has become a mainstream phenomenon.

In the same week that my grandmother told me one of her friends was “giving brat”, Charli tweeted “Kamala IS brat” and the US Democratic presidential nominee rebranded her X profile.

Charli isn’t the only pop girl ditching the bland approach.

The likes of Chappell Roan and Sabrina Carpenter aren’t your typical perfectly polished and carefully manicured pop stars: they’re messy and candid artists who wear their hearts on their sleeves. Both have been dominating the charts this summer.

They all stand out because they share a certain perspective on life. They appear honest and authentic, with opinions and life experience.

There are only so many times you can bop to songs with slick beats and meaningless mantras about girl power. Eventually you crave something more, and that’s what this new wave of pop girl is offering.

On Brat, Charli candidly explores what it’s like transitioning into your thirties. On her truth-telling hit Von Dutch she doesn’t care if people gossip about her, while her high-energy anthems 360 and 365 are wild, carefree and tell us that we can still have big nights out (phew!).

At the same time, she offers a personal and introspective reflection on topics such as Motherhood: ““

The existential questions resonate with most millennial women. Should I be having children? When is the right time? Will it change my life? What if I have other aspirations?

Josee Malon, a 23-year-old social executive from Kent, says she admires Charli because she gives fans “such an insightful look into her creative mindset and her personality and you don’t get this with all musicians”.

“Beyoncé, for example, is private and mysterious. Some people think that’s part of her allure and appeal, but for me that works against her. Why would I want to be influenced by someone who gives me zero energy?

“Charli XCX gives 110% energy, she lets you into her life and feels like a friend.”

It’s not just women who are fans of these pop girls. Spencer Caminsky, a 26-year-old political campaign manager, has followed Charli since 2016 and loves Brat because “it’s so much more raw and direct”.

“It’s all the great things about her past works and now expands upon the more vulnerable aspects of her life that she’s never spoken about – you really feel her emotion and regret.”

Meanwhile, 26-year-old queer pop icon Chappell Roan has built a strong Gen Z following.

Although not the first queer female pop artist, her drag queen outfits, sexually empowered lyrics and scorching-hot melodies make her one of the most mainstream.

Chappell’s music focuses heavily on her queer identity – Pink Pony Club was inspired by her first visit to a gay club, while Good Luck, Babe is about a fling with a girl who insists she’s not really gay.

Jonah Graham, 25, says he’s a fan of Chappell’s “unashamedly queer” music because she “lets people know there is a place for them to come together through big emotions, an irreverent sense of humour and boundless joy”.

But even without having the same experiences that Chappell sings of, the themes of rejection, freedom, acceptance and self-discovery are universal.

Kamala Harris has also leaned into Roan in a bid to appeal to young voters, posting a meme on TikTok quoting Roan’s lyrics: “What we really need is a femininomenon!”

While Ms Harris isn’t part of the demographic that Chappell and Charli resonate most with, and almost certainly isn’t “someone who has a pack of cigs, a Bic lighter and a strappy white top with no bra”, according to Charli’s brat definition, that isn’t the point.

Lucy Ford, a culture critic, told the BBC that “Kamala is brat in the sense that she’s a dominating cultural force right now and there’s been a separation from the album and the cultural hold it has as a vibe”.

Fun and cheeky pop music is something Sabrina Carpenter has become a master in – the 25-year-old has taken Taylor Swift’s confessional style and added a healthy dose of humour.

Her x-rated ad-lib Nonsense outros never fail to cause a stir. “,”she sang at Radio 1’s Big Weekend.

“Sabrina is being unabashedly horny in her music,” Ford explains. “It feels like an embrace of fun and silliness and not taking things too seriously.”

In other songs, she flips the typical romantic pop song on its head. This time he’s obsessed with her, and “looks so cute wrapped round my finger”.

Her self-indulgence – and being unapologetic about loving attention – is totally brat. Why should we pretend that knowing someone has a crush on you isn’t a little exciting?

But why is it that, this summer in particular, fans are craving complex, messy music?

Content writer Olivia Cox has recently got into all three artists and says what makes them stand out is that they each, in their own way, “embrace silliness”.

“It feels like pop music has been taking itself too seriously,” she says.

Rachel Humphreys, a 29-year-old Digital PR Manager from Pontefract in West Yorkshire, says the artists are a “cultural reset” and offer an element of escapism.

The music is a “welcome distraction from the daily pressures of adult-ing”.

Ford says one of the factors for why this phenomenon is occurring now, is that it’s a “response to very sentimental, ‘celebrities, they’re just like us’ sentiments in music of the past few years, where artists bare their souls to meet their fans at eye level”.

All of these reasons point to why the dated feminist slogans – like those in Katy Perry’s latest single Woman’s World – don’t resonate with millennials or Gen Z.

Perry’s satirical music video, showing women dancing around a construction site in tiny outfits, using urinals and brandishing sex toys, seems inauthentic compared with music by these Gen Z artists.

But the smart, forthright pop songs we’re listening to now are not as new as we might think.

Mercury Prize nominee CMAT told the BBC “there’s nothing sudden” about this phenomenon.

“Women have always been crafting stories in this funny, tragi-comic way, but the people who wanted to hear it were other women – who, up until recently, were not considered a very [desirable] market.”

She said her own music was criticised a few years ago and labelled “novelty music” because it was humorous.

“There was never a conversation before about it being highbrow or something we should take seriously – because nobody takes women seriously,” she added.

The likes of Madonna and Lady Gaga laid the groundwork for this music, but the modern trend starts with the likes of Lorde, who punctured the absurd positivity of 2010s pop lyrics on Team – “I’m kind of over getting told to put my hands up in the air” – and Billie Eilish.

One of her first songs was written from the point of view of a psychopath with a car trunk full of dead bodies.

Her music has carried on being wonderfully weird – every track on her new album Hit Me Hard And Soft plays with that duality.

Dynamics shift, ideas are unresolved and nothing ever settles.

That’s a feeling that many people will have felt a little over the past couple of years.

To achieve longevity, today’s brats will need to intuit when the sands of pop, and of wider culture, will shift again – and get there before everyone else.

Ismael ‘El Mayo’ Zambada is one of the most notorious names in drug war history, synonymous with the fearsome power and corrosive influence of the most important drug cartel in the world.

The last of an original generation of drug cartel leaders, he created the Sinaloa Cartel alongside Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman from the remnants of the Guadalajara Cartel after it collapsed in 1989.

But unlike his infamous partner who was twice jailed and escaped, El Mayo was able to evade capture for some 35 years. Until now.

US authorities arrested him in El Paso, Texas on Thursday. He has already pleaded not guilty to multiple charges in federal court in Texas.

He was lured to the US as part of an elaborate sting operation, masterminded by the son of his former partner, El Chapo. Joaquin Guzman Lopez, one of the heirs to El Chapo’s operation, was arrested alongside Zambada having led him to believe he was travelling to northern Mexico to look at prospective properties for clandestine airstrips.

“Are you worried of being captured?” Zambada was asked in 2010 by the late Mexican journalist, Julio Scherer García, who had travelled deep into the mountains for an unprecedented interview with the drug lord.

“The idea of being jailed gives me panic,” he answered. “I’m not sure I have what it takes to kill myself. I’d like to think I do and that I’d take my own life.”

When it came to it, however, either he didn’t have the means or the opportunity.

For someone who exercised such caution over so many years, it seems extraordinary that Zambada was duped aged 76. Perhaps it was always going to take something unique to see him in custody.

“It doesn’t surprise me that Zambada didn’t go willingly,” says Mike Vigil, a former DEA agent. “He is in his 70s, in poor health and already said that prison was his greatest fear.”

The arrests – and possible plea deal between the sons of El Chapo, known as Los Chapitos, and the US Government – begs the question of who will take control of the Sinaloa Cartel.

After El Chapo Guzman was arrested and extradited to the US in 2016, a round of bloodletting began as rival factions wrestled for control of territory as well as fought opposing drug gangs who sensed weakness.

Even more shocking, and violent, was the response of the Sinaloa Cartel’s foot soldiers when their leader, Ovidio Guzman Lopez, was arrested in October 2019.

After he was detained, hundreds of gunmen descended on the city of Culiacan and opened fire on civilian, police and military targets with .50 calibre weapons and rocket launchers. Eventually, the authorities handed Ovidio Guzman back to his men to bring the fighting to an end.

He was later re-arrested, extradited and is currently awaiting trial in a US prison.

Mike Vigil thinks a similar explosion of violence, which became known as the Culiacanazo, might be avoided this time around:

“The Sinaloa Cartel has a very strong bench of possible leaders who could take over including El Chapo’s brother,” he says.

In fact, Mr Vigil argues, the “Kingpin strategy” – that is focusing on bringing down individual cartel leaders – is rarely successful.

“Under the administration of (then-Mexican President Felipe) Calderon, it only tended to create internal conflict within the cartels which then led to a bloodbath.”

If that happens this time, suggests former DEA agent Mike Vigil, “the only winner would be their rivals, the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG)”.

That said, moments of flux and possible power vacuums such as this one are deeply unpredictable. The Mexican authorities have already sent additional forces to the state of Sinaloa ahead of any flare-up of violence.

The other obvious question over Zambada’s arrest is: why now?

The operation was planned for months. However, some reports say there was also an opportunistic element to it. When the various elements behind the ruse appeared to be coming together, despite some scepticism among the US authorities, they ultimately decided they had nothing lose by trying it.

The bigger reason behind the timing, though, was revealed by the words of the US Attorney General Merrick Garland in a video message confirming the arrests:

“Fentanyl is the deadliest threat our country has ever faced”, he said promising that the US justice department “will not rest until every single cartel leader, member and associate responsible for poisoning our communities is held accountable.”

Fentanyl overdoses are now the leading cause of death for Americans between the ages of 18 and 45. It is a staggering statistic and one that has perhaps focussed minds in the Biden administration, especially in an election year.

Both Los Chapitos and El Mayo have made billions through fentanyl, which is easy to produce and transport without the need for large coca plantations in the Andes as with the manufacture of cocaine.

Experts say that shutting down the smuggling of fentanyl altogether is virtually impossible. It is simply too profitable to the cartels and too riven into the modern landscape of Mexico’s drug war.

However, US law enforcement wants to hurt the cartels that are producing it, diminish their influence and, wherever possible, dismantle their leadership.

The capture of El Mayo Zambada – even if aging, in poor health and captured in a double-cross – was always going to remain a key part of that strategy.

As she put in some last practice lengths in Paris last week, Palestinian-American swimmer Valerie Tarazi thought back to her moment of inspiration: watching the legendary Michael Phelps winning eight golds in Beijing in 2008.

“That was like my first like, ‘Oh my gosh, I want to be an Olympian’,” she said.

Paris is a dream come true, as it is for countless athletes taking to sport’s biggest stage. But after more than nine months of war in Gaza and the deaths of tens of thousands of Palestinians, Tarazi says her participation is also an act of commemoration.

“It’s me honouring them,” she said.

A child of the huge Palestinian diaspora, Tarazi, who swims in the 200m individual medley next Friday, was born and raised in the US. But she celebrates her connections to one of Gaza’s oldest Christian families.

She says four members of her extended family were killed when a church was hit during intense Israeli bombing last December.

“It takes a toll on us,” she said of Gaza’s rising death toll, which is now approaching 40,000.

“This is our friends, our family, our teammates or national team members,” she said.

The International Olympic Committee has recognised the state of Palestine since 1995. Three quarters of UN members also now recognise Palestine, but the US, Britain and the host of this year’s games do not.

Despite her punishing training schedule and the sacrifices needed to compete at this level, Tarazi is acutely aware that she is in a uniquely privileged position, offered the chance to carry the flag in the world’s greatest sporting jamboree.

“My little bit of pain is absolutely nothing compared to what they have to go through every single day,” she said of her compatriots back home.

One of her less fortunate teammates, Tamer Qaoud, is having a hard time keeping his own sporting ambitions alive.

His house in Gaza has been destroyed. He and his family have been forced to move twice during the war. They’re now living in a tent in Deir el-Balah, in the middle of the Gaza Strip.

“My dream was to reach the Olympics,” he told the BBC this week.

“Unfortunately, due to the war and circumstances, we couldn’t leave Gaza.”

Qaoud, a 1500 metre runner, has already represented his country twice.

A year ago, at the Arab Games in Algiers, he wore running spikes for the first time. It was also the first time he’d ever run on anything other than concrete.

In September, he joined Tarazi at the Asian Games in Hangzhou, in China.

They were still there when war broke out in Gaza in early October. Qaoud says he had to go home.

His best time is well outside the Olympic qualifying mark, but any faint chance he might have had of competing in Paris, even on a wild card, quickly vanished.

“I wanted to compete with the world’s best athletes, like Jakob,” he said, referring to the current men’s 1500 world champion, Jakob Ingebrigtsen.

“I wanted to run alongside him, to feel what it’s like to compete with the world’s best.”

Amid the tents, the dust and the date palms of Deir el-Balah, he still trains, wearing his white Palestinian uniform, watched by small groups of bewildered children.

His old training ground, Gaza City’s Yarmouk Stadium, is a waste ground of rubbish and displaced Palestinian families, seeking shelter amid the stands.

And his coach, Bilal Abu Samaan, was killed in an Israeli airstrike last December, one of an estimated 182 athletes and sports officials killed since last October, according to the Palestinian Football Association.

Qaoud knows his time has not yet come. Unless he can get out of Gaza, he fears it never will.

“The war destroyed everything, shattering our dreams,” he said.

“I hope to leave Gaza, join a training camp, regain my old strength and come back stronger than before.”

Back in the pool in Paris, another Palestinian swimmer, Yazan al-Bawwab, said he was proud to be an ambassador for a place where just playing sport is a challenge.

“We don’t have a pool in Palestine,” he said. “We don’t have infrastructure.”

Like Tarazi, al-Bawwab was born and raised abroad, but he wears his uniform, and his identity, with fierce pride.

“France does not recognise Palestine as a country,” al-Bawwab said defiantly, repeating the sentence for emphasis.

“I’m here, raising the flag.”

Venezuela’s battered economy is one of the key battlegrounds in Sunday’s presidential election, with President Nicolás Maduro hoping to convince voters that the country has turned the corner after years of strife.

Thanks to his recent efforts to push down the cost of living, the outlook is slightly rosier. In February, Venezuela finally said goodbye to the rampant hyperinflation that had seen price rises peak at more than 400,000% a year in 2019.

Now annual inflation is more manageable, but still high at about 50%.

Mr Maduro has been keen to take credit for the fall, saying it shows that he has “the correct policies”.

Unfortunately, however, those policies have done little or nothing to tackle the economy’s underlying structural problems – chiefly, its historic dependence on oil, to the detriment of other sectors.

“Since it was discovered in the country in the 1920s, oil has taken Venezuela on an exhilarating but dangerous boom-and-bust ride,” as the US Council on Foreign Relations think tank puts it.

Now opponents of President Maduro are pinning their hopes of economic revival on a change of leader, and a new beginning under his electoral rival, Edmundo González.

“An opposition victory would lead to a renewed opening of Venezuela’s trade and financial ties with the rest of the world,” says Jason Tuvey, deputy chief emerging markets economist at Capital Economics.

That would also mean the end of US economic sanctions imposed after Mr Maduro’s victory in the 2018 presidential election, which was widely dismissed as neither free nor fair.

These have made it difficult for state-run oil company PDVSA to sell its crude oil internationally, forcing it to resort to black market deals at big discounts.

But Mr Tuvey cautions that reversing the economic collapse of the past decade will be a tall order, given the enormous investment needed to raise oil production and with peak oil demand approaching.

“Venezuela’s economy can never get back to where it was 15 to 20 years ago,” he tells the BBC. “It will be starting by and large from square one.”

Venezuela’s 25-year-old Bolivarian Revolution – the name that the late President Hugo Chávez gave to his political movement – promised many things, but has failed to deliver what the country arguably most needed: a broad-based economy.

Instead of diversifying away from the oil industry, the governments of Chávez and Mr Maduro doubled down on Venezuela’s mineral wealth.

Paying little heed to the future, they treated PDVSA as a cash cow, milking its funds to finance social spending on housing, healthcare and transport.

But at the same time, they neglected to invest in maintaining the level of oil production, which has plummeted in recent years – partly, but not solely, as a result of US sanctions.

These problems were already evident when President Chávez died in 2013, but have grown worse on his successor’s watch.

“Under Chávez, Venezuela was able to ride on the coat-tails of an oil boom, up until the global financial crisis,” Mr Tuvey says.

“Fifteen to 20 years ago, Venezuela was a major oil producer. It used to produce three-and-a-half million barrels a day, along the lines of some of the smaller Gulf states.

“Now the oil sector has been completely hollowed out, and it produces less than a million barrels a day.”

GDP declined rapidly, down by 70% since 2013. But Mr Maduro resorted to compensating for lower oil prices by printing money to fund spending, resulting in the runaway inflation which the country has only recently curbed.

Economic hardship has taken its toll on the Venezuelan population, with more than 7.7 million people fleeing in search of a better life – about a quarter of the population.

But for those left behind, there have been signs of improvement. While the bolívar is still the official currency, an informal dollarisation has taken place, with US greenbacks increasingly the payment method of choice in retail transactions – at least, for those who have access to them.

That has stabilised the economy – but it has brought with it a social cost.

Residents in the capital, Caracas, now find themselves subject to a two-tier economy. While US dollars are fuelling a consumption boom in high-end shops and restaurants, those paid in bolívars feel increasingly excluded.

One symbolic event that highlighted these changes was Colombian reggaeton superstar Karol G’s recent appearance in Caracas as part of her current world tour.

Few major artists perform in Venezuela these days, but she had no trouble selling out two nights in March at the 50,000-capacity Estadio Monumental, despite ticket prices ranging from $30 to $500 (£23 to £390).

At the same time, according to Caracas-based consultancy Ecoanalítica, about 65% of Venezuelans earn less than $100 a month, while only eight or nine million of the country’s 28 million people can be seen as consumers with actual purchasing power.

“Those with a very close connection to the regime or to PDVSA have been barely affected by all this,” says Mr Tuvey.

As well as the need to raise living standards and reduce inequality, another big economic challenge for Venezuela is what to do about its massive foreign debt.

The country owes an estimated $150bn to bondholders and other foreign creditors. It has been in partial default since 2017, and although Mr Maduro has repeatedly promised talks on a restructuring, none have yet taken place.

The issue has been complicated by the fact that some of the bonds were issued by PDVSA using the company’s US refiner, Citgo, as collateral. As a result, bondholders have been able to pursue the issue through the New York courts.

Bruno Gennari, emerging markets strategist at investment bank KNG Securities, tells the BBC that because the US does not recognise Mr Maduro as president after the 2018 election, this leaves Venezuela with a “legitimacy crisis”.

This means that whoever wins Sunday’s election would have to be acceptable to Washington if a US-approved debt restructuring is to take place.

Mr Gennari does not rule out that the US “could turn a blind eye” if Mr Maduro wins the election under dubious conditions, but he believes that is rather unlikely.

“This election will have a sizeable impact on Venezuela’s future. If restructuring can go ahead, we could see the beginning of a very complex recovery process,” says Mr Gennari.

Once the richest country in South America, Venezuela now has a possible path back to stability – but whatever happens, its economic glory days are firmly behind it.

Martin Odhiambo has always been interested in the healing properties of plants – and for years has been enthusiastically sharing that knowledge with fellow Kenyans.

Every Thursday at an amphitheatre at the Nairobi National Museum, he talks to dozens of people who have come to learn and exchange information about traditional medicine.

Despite worries over the efficacy and safety of these treatments, it is estimated that around 80% of people in African countries rely on them when they are ill, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

One way to allay safety concerns in Kenya would be for the authorities to find a way to oversee traditional medicine, as happens in some other countries.

But for now Mr Odhiambo is keen to let others know about plant remedies he believes can deal with common illnesses, such as colds, skin conditions and stomach upsets.

He argues that long before the onset of conventional medicine, there were traditional healers who knew from those before them what was good for treating which condition.

The information exists within communities, but does not really travel further.

Mr Odhiambo works for the Trust for Indigenous Culture and Health (Ticah), which has formed a partnership with the museum, seen as a repository of the country’s cultural heritage.

There he takes care of a special garden, known as a physic garden, which has more than 250 species of medicinal plants – they are not for sale but for education.

For years, Mr Odhiambo has studied medicinal plants – the scientific research as well as talking to the people who use them – soaking up so much folklore and indigenous knowledge that he says he now has “a tendency to dream about plants”.

At one of his Weekly Plant Talks, he sounds professorial, imparting his vast knowledge to all gathered – including herbalists, a midwife coming from the US, a psychologist, a teacher, a university student and a businesswoman.

The talk starts with a prayer and a recap of what was learnt the previous week, and then quickly moves on to the plants of the day.

The initial focus is on – a common shrub that has different local names including “nyabende” and “mukige”.

Traditionally, it is said to treat headaches as well as ease toothaches – and can act as an insect repellent. Plus its twigs can be used as a toothbrush .

It also brings “good vibes and creates positive energy”, a participant says.

As the meeting continues, people discuss, share and learn about a whole range of plant remedies for diverse health problems.

They also talk about the cultural contexts in which the plants are used such as in traditional rites, food preservation or even their mystic powers that instil “goodwill” within a community.

This forum is not used to discuss scientific research and whether the claims can be proven in a controlled experiment.

“We do not validate this information,” says Vitalis Ochieng, Ticah’s senior programme manager, emphasising that the point is for people to share what they know.

The organisation’s key mandate is to show the value of traditional medicine and amplify the voices of those who practice it, he adds.

One of the things hampering the wider adoption of traditional medicine in Kenya is that there is no government policy encouraging its safe use.

Mr Ochieng argues that indigenous knowledge could be the basis for scientific research, adding that in countries like China, traditional medicine is accepted and even exported as “alternative medicine”.

He is campaigning for traditional medicines to be regulated and standardised in Kenya, legislation that has been in the works for several years.

At the moment so-called “herbal clinics”, many selling poor quality remedies, have given traditional medicine a bad name, something experts in the East African nation acknowledge.

There have been problems with fraudsters, as well as the deliberate or accidental contamination of the products, says Dr Ruth Nyangacha, the deputy director of Centre for Traditional Medicine Research (CTMDR) – a government agency that advises the health ministry on traditional medicine.

She tells the BBC this is especially risky for patients with chronic conditions, such as diabetes, as they often turn to these remedies, partly because of cost but also as they are easier to get hold of in remote areas.

At her first plant talk at the museum, businesswoman Joyce Ng’ang’a says she turned to traditional medicine as she found conventional medication had not helped her condition.

In fact the drugs she was prescribed after her diagnosis with chronic stomach acid reflux eight years ago had had side effects like making her forgetful.

Even a trip to India for treatment had not helped – which is why she says she sought out herbal remedies.

“I have never found a reason to go back to them,” she enthused, referring to the conventional medicine she has now abandoned.

It is a course of action that doctors would not recommend over safety concerns, but Ms Ng’ang’a says she hopes her experience will mean traditional herbal therapies will eventually become formalised.

Herbalist Patrick Mwathi attends the plant talks nearly every week – wanting to improve his craft. He has been practising for decades, learning first-hand from his father in the 1970s.

He develops and sells herbal products locally – some of which he shares with others at the lecture, including a “herbal tea” with packaging that says it can aid infertility. It can also “detox” and “activate” the kidney and “cleanse” the liver, he says.

Another product is said to treat depression.

Such treatments have not been scientifically proven to be effective and Ticah encourages herbalists to register and work with the authorities to formalise their remedies.

Mr Mwathi has taken samples to government laboratories for chemical analysis – and they have passed tests to show they are are effective and not harmful.

But the process required to get a product to market – including standardisation and quality control – is long and involves many government agencies. Like other traditional practitioners he lacks the time and money to do this.

Dr Nyangacha explains that some of the challenges include knowing when the active components of remedies expire – noting that it often comes down to “guesswork”.

The CTMDR, a unit of the government’s Kenya Medical Research Institute (Kemri), does not have the funding to get the herbal remedies they test for efficacy approved for conventional use.

But there is no reason it could not be done, Dr Nyangacha argues, pointing out that Kemri has developed its own products, including a herbal medicine used in the treatment of genital herpes and a salt that is used for hypertension.

“We have genuine ones and traditional medicine [that], I must say, works.”

Mr Odhiambo needs no convincing – in fact he hopes his passion for plants will show Kenyans that common illnesses can be treated without suspicion using remedies “like in the olden days”.

• WATCH: How traditional healers are improving mental health treatment
• WATCH: Nigeria’s backstreet dentist potions
• Doctors take on traditional healers in Kenya

A gold bikini worn by the late Carrie Fisher in Return of the Jedi has been sold for $175,000 (£136,000) at auction.

The Star Wars costume is one of the most famous outfits in film history.

It includes a bikini top, bikini plates, hip rings, an armlet and bracelet.

Fisher, who played Princess Leia in the films, said she thought director George Lucas was “kidding” when he showed her the bikini.

She told NPR in an interview a month before her death in 2016 that she felt “nearly naked, which is not a style choice for me” adding that it made her “very nervous”.

The actress also revealed that during filming she had to “sit very straight because I couldn’t have lines on my sides, like little creases. No creases were allowed, so I had to sit very, very rigid straight.”

A miniature Starfighter aircraft that was used in the filming of the first Star Wars film was sold for $1.5m (£1.1m).

Heritage Auctions, who ran the sale, say the object is one of only two filming miniatures created for the production.

A wand used by Daniel Radcliffe in the film, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban fetched $52,000, while a hammer prop from a Thor film made $81,000.

An outfit worn by Macauley Culkin in the first Home Alone film was sold for $47,500.

Donald Trump has told one of the largest cryptocurrency events of the year that if he is re-elected president he will fire the chairperson of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on the first day.

Trump was the keynote speaker at Bitcoin 2024 on Saturday, a gathering of industry heavyweights in Nashville, Tennessee.

The Republican presidential candidate used the event to court voters and encourage campaign donations from the tech community.

Cryptocurrency has emerged as a political battleground for Republicans, with Trump claiming the Democratic Party and Vice-President Kamala Harris were “against crypto”.

The audience was at its most animated when Trump declared “on day one I will fire Gary Gensler”, the SEC chair nominated by current President Joe Biden. The crowd cheered loudly and started to chant “Trump” at this declaration.

Mr Gensler led a crackdown on the crypto industry, and has previously said the sector is rife with “hucksters”.

The SEC brought charges against the “King of Crypto” Sam Bankman-Fried, who was sentenced to 25 years for stealing billions of dollars from customers of his FTX cryptocurrency exchange.

Speaking for about 45 minutes, Trump outlined some of his ideas for the sector if he were to win November’s election. He said he would make the US the cryptocurrency capital of the world. His support for the industry is a 180 turn from his comments in 2021, when he told Fox Business he saw Bitcoin as a “scam” affecting the value of the US dollar.

Trump told the crowd at the event he would keep 100% of Bitcoin that the US government currently holds or acquires, adding that it would be a “national Bitcoin stockpile”.

The former president also said he would “immediately appoint a Bitcoin and crypto presidential advisory council”.

• Why tech bros are turning to Trump

He talked about the power needed to mine cryptocurrency. “You need tremendous amounts of electricity” he said, adding he would build powerplants “to get that done” and would be “using fossil fuels”.

There has been increasing support among some tech leaders for Trump’s presidential campaign in recent months. Tesla founder Elon Musk, who is the world’s richest person, has endorsed Trump. And crypto tycoons, the Winklevoss twins, who were at Saturday’s speech, have also rallied behind him.

Trump brought up that his campaign takes cryptocurrency donations, saying in the two months since he allowed crypto transactions, he received $25m (£20m) in donations. However, he did not say how much of the payments were from cryptocurrency.

Trump used his speech to frame cryptocurrency regulation as a partisan issue, saying the Biden administration was “anti-crypto”.

A number of Republican lawmakers also attended Trump’s speech, including Senators Tim Scott and Tommy Tuberville. Former Republican presidential candidate and Trump ally Vivek Ramaswamy was there as well.

Independent presidential candidate Robert F Kennedy Jr and Democratic Party lawmakers Wiley Nickel and Ro Khanna also spoke at the event.

Earlier at Bitcoin 2024 , Democratic congressman Nickel said Kamala Harris was taking a “forward-looking approach to digital assets and blockchain technology”.

Actor Kit Harington has defended his new play having dedicated performances for black audiences, denying that the initiative discriminates against white people.

Slave Play attracted controversy and criticism earlier this year when it was announced there would be two “black out” nights during the show’s 12-week run.

Rishi Sunak, who was prime minister at the time, described the initiative as “wrong and divisive”.

But Harington, who appears in the play, said of the scheme: “I’ve come to realise or believe that it’s an incredibly positive thing.”

The Game of Thrones star also told the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg that the first black out performance, which took place earlier this month, was an “incredible show”.

“Number one, if you are white, no-one’s stopping you buying a ticket, it’s not illegal to buy a ticket for that show, if you want to come,” he said. “It’s saying, ‘We would prefer the audience to be this’.

“Number two, I’ve been going to the theatre since I was young with my mum. I’ve only ever really known predominantly white audiences. It is still a particularly white space.

“So to have the argument that, oh, this is discriminating against white people, is I think vaguely strange and ridiculous.”

• Watch the full interview on iPlayer

Set on a plantation in the old American South, Slave Play explores “race, identity and sexuality”.

Written by US actor and playwright Jeremy O Harris, it was a Broadway success and received 12 Tony nominations, although it did not win any.

The Broadway run also had black out nights, which organisers said were intended for an “all-black-identifying audience”.

“People have to be radically invited into a space to know that they belong there,” Harris told BBC Radio 4 earlier this year.

The second of the two black out performances in London’s West End will take place in September.

Harington said “the energy on stage and in the audience” during the first one “was unlike anything I’ve ever experienced”.

“And I do believe with this play and what it’s saying, that having a place where a certain group of people can come and feel open to laughing in a certain way, reacting in a certain way, in sort of safety, for two nights of the entire run, is a great thing.”

His co-star Olivia Washington said: “To see black and brown people in a 900-seat theatre, I’ve never experienced that, as an audience member I’d never experienced that.

“So it was very special for me to experience in doing this play, because as you [Kuenssberg] said, it is difficult, it’s difficult subject matter, it can get hard for people to hear.

“However, to feel supported by this room in a different kind of way felt just – it felt really great.”

Slave Play’s producers told BBC News in February that the “intent is to celebrate the play with the widest possible audience”, adding: “To be absolutely clear, no-one will be prevented or precluded from attending any performance of Slave Play.”

The show’s West End transfer has received generally positive reviews from critics. The Guardian’s Arifa Akbar described it as “charismatic, needling theatre” while the Evening Standard’s Nick Curtis said it was “bold and scabrously witty” – with both critics awarding four stars.

Dominic Maxwell of the Times, however, awarded just two stars, saying the show was “the sort of ideas-led piece that would stimulate over an hour but has instead unwisely swollen to two hours”.

His colleague Clive Davis, who attended the first black out night, said he had mixed feelings about the initiative.

“Did the composition of the audience affect the way the dialogue was received? I think so,” he wrote, adding that the audience’s laughter and commentary suggested they were particularly engaged.

Reflecting on the black out nights, he continued: “I still have my doubts… I still think better marketing is the more creative way to bring in new audiences.”

However, several ticket buyers interviewed by Sky News on the night applauded the scheme.

One said it was “just about giving more people an opportunity to experience” theatre, while another said it was “not an exclusion thing, it’s just we don’t get the same opportunities” as white people.

Boneless chicken wings do not have to be bone-free, Ohio’s top court ruled, ending a lawsuit filed by a man who fell ill after swallowing a piece of bone from his order.

Michael Berkheimer sued Wings on Brookwood in 2016, saying the restaurant failed to warn him that the boneless wings could in fact contain bones, a piece of which became lodged in his throat and caused an infection.

The court on Thursday ruled that “boneless wing” refers to “cooking style” and is not to be taken literally.

The 4-3 ruling was peppered with dissent, with one judge calling the majority opinion “utter jabberwocky”.

But a majority of the judges considered being cautious of bones in a boneless wing to be common sense.

Writing for the majority, Justice Joseph T Deters said: “A diner reading ‘boneless wings’ on a menu would no more believe that the restaurant was warranting the absence of bones in the items than believe that the items were made from chicken wings, just as a person eating ‘chicken fingers’ would know that he had not been served fingers.”

The chicken wing controversy began in 2016, when Michael Berkheimer was dining with his wife and friends at a restaurant in Hamilton, Ohio.

He ordered what has been described as his “usual” – boneless wings with parmesan garlic sauce – when he noticed a piece go down uncomfortably.

Three days later, he began to feel feverish and went to the emergency room. Doctors discovered a long, thin bone that caused a tear in his oesophagus and a subsequent infection.

Mr Berkheimer later sued the restaurant, accusing them of failing to warn him that the “boneless wings” might contain bones.

In the lawsuit, he also accused the supplier and the farm that produced the chicken of negligence.

Lower courts had dismissed Mr Berkheimer’s suit, which then landed in the state’s supreme court.

A majority of the justices considered it common knowledge that chickens have bones, and sided with the lower courts against him.

“The food item’s label on the menu described a cooking style; it was not a guarantee,” Justice Deters wrote.

However, the dissenting justices felt like the decision should have sat with a jury and not with the court’s justices.

Justice Michael P Donnelly wrote in dissent: “The question must be asked: Does anyone really believe that the parents in this country who feed their young children boneless wings or chicken tenders or chicken nuggets or chicken fingers expect bones to be in the chicken? Of course they don’t.

“When they read the word ‘boneless,’ they think that it means ‘without bones,’ as do all sensible people.”

The fierce wildfire which swept through the Canadian town of Jasper in recent days melted cars to the road and turned homes to ash.

The first images of the devastation at the famous tourist town have emerged, after a 100m (328ft) firewall swept through late on Wednesday.

It has been difficult to get a sense of the scale of what happened because the fire burned out-of-control for days.

Some 25,000 people were evacuated from the town and the Jasper National Park, in Alberta.

On Friday, authorities from Jasper National Park said 358 of the 1,113 structures in town had been destroyed by the fire, which was caused by a lightning storm

However, all critical infrastructure was protected, including the hospital, library and firehall.

A list of addresses where buildings were damaged is being finalised and will be released “shortly”, authorities said.

One local who does know he has lost his home is Jasper Mayor Richard Ireland, who came back to the town with other officials on Friday.

He stood in front of what remained of his home, reduced to a few charred cement blocks, and said: “Now, it’s well, it’s just memories of family and fire.”

Mr Ireland spoke of a photograph lost to the flames, where he was just a two-year-old sitting on some moving boxes next to a birthday cake at that very house. He had lived at the same address for 67 years.

“So many others are going to go through this same thing,” he told local media.

• Canadians mourn as Jasper, jewel of the Rockies, burns

New images show extraordinary damage at the tourist town, nestled in the Canadian Rockies.

The heat was so intense it turned parts of a car into a pool of metal, dripping across the road like a silver ice cream on a hot day.

Other photographs show the twisted remains of cars piled on top of each other, and a school bus now black with only a tinge of that iconic yellow remaining.

Hotels and a church were destroyed, and many homes.

Authorities are cautious of confirming what has been levelled, at this stage.

“We are empathetic to the residents and businesses seeking more information on specific details on the extent of damage,” an update from authorities said.

“We know people are seeing images on media and social media but what we know about fire incidents is getting the information right is paramount.”

Fire crews are now taking advantage of cooler weather and recent rainfall.

They are containing the remaining hotspots in smouldering structures and along the wildfire perimeter closest to the townsite.

But winds were expected to pick up and hot, dry weather is forecast to return by Monday.

Sitting just north of the more popular Banff National Park, Jasper National Park is the largest in Canada’s Rocky Mountains.

The Unesco World Heritage Site is home to elk, grizzly bear, moose and bison.

The adjacent town of Jasper has a population of about 5,000, but has some dozen hotels to accommodate the roughly 2.5 million people who pass through to visit the park every year.

Karyn Decore, whose family has owned the historic Maligne Lodge over 60 years, has been receiving condolences from around the country since learning it was destroyed as the fire swept through town.

Ms Decore says her now-destroyed hotel is normally 100% occupied from May to October every year. Now, all of the tourists and staff have evacuated the area, and they don’t know when they may return.

Park officials estimated that a power outage in the town last year, which lasted two weeks, deprived local businesses of some CAD$10m ($7.2m;£5.6m) in revenue.

It remains to be seen how long it will take to restore the resort town, as well as the pristine ecology that helps make the majestic park a pride of Canada.

Meanwhile, there are currently 48 wildfires burning “out of control” around the Alberta province.

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A baby bat has been returned to its home in the Highlands after hiding away in a couple’s holiday luggage.

It was discovered by Alex O’Neill when he arrived back in Glasgow, after he and his partner stayed at a cottage on Kinlochmoidart Estate in Lochailort.

The tiny bat, which has been named Raspberry, survived tucked away for four hours on the 150 mile (240km) road trip last week.

After being handed into the care of a bat expert, Raspberry was helped back to full health and released in the Highlands on Saturday evening.

Alex told BBC Scotland News that he found the bat after he felt something moving in his bag while unpacking.

He said: “We see bats here in Glasgow sometimes. Lochailort has a lot of them so it wasn’t likely to freak me out.

“I took it out, threw something over it keep it dark, and then looked on Google for what to do with a bat.

“It was calm, it wasn’t agitated or anything. It was just a case of dropping a tea towel on it and scooping it up to look after it.”

Alex contacted the Bat Conservation Trust who put him in contact with expert Tracey Jolliffe – a microbiologist and former vet nurse.

Tracey, who named the bat Raspberry, said it was an inexperienced flyer and likely became disoriented which led it into the suitcase.

She added: “Raspberry was a juvenile on the point of her first proper flight. It’s relatively common for them to get into trouble at that point.

“She was a bit skinny and in a bit of a bad way at first, but fine after a few days of feeding her up.”

Tracey allowed Raspberry go on test flights around her ceiling to make sure it would be capable of taking to the skies again.

She appealed on social media for anyone who could help transport Rasperry back to the Highlands.

The Darlington family from Wrexham- who were visiting Glasgow on their way north – were able to take Raspberry part of the way to Strontian in Lochaber.

Raspberry was then passed to countryside ranger Eilidh-Ann Philips who took her back to Kinlochmoidart Estate.

Raspberry was quickly joined by other bats from the roost when she was released at dusk on Saturday.

Sarah Winnington-Ingram, who runs the estate, said she cannot remember an animal ever stowing away with a visitor.

She added: “It’s quite unusual. There is a lot of wildlife up here and people see bats all the time, but not like that.

“I’ve never even seen a bat in the cottage before either. It’s great to see it back home safely.”

A husband, wife and their daughter who performed together in American gospel group The Nelons have been killed in a plane crash along with four other people.

Jason and Kelly Nelon Clark died alongside Amber Nelon Kistler on Friday when their aircraft came down over Wyoming on its way to a performance.

Autumn Nelon Streetman – who also performs in the Grammy Award-nominated group but was not on board – confirmed the death of her parents and sister on Instagram.

She thanked fans for their “prayers, love and support” hours after the fatal crash.

Amber’s husband Nathan Kistler, the family’s assistant Melodi Hodges, pilot Larry Haynie and his wife Melissa Haynie were also killed, according to the group’s management.

Gaither Management said the passengers were making their way to Seattle to join a cruise ship The Nelons were due to perform on.

Officials in the area where the plane came down said it happened at about 13:00 local time, north of the town of Gillette. Local media said it triggered a wildfire.

A National Transportation Safety Board spokesman said preliminary reports indicate the aircraft crashed after an “auto pilot issue”.

The band’s management said Autumn – the youngest member of the family act – was awaiting the arrival of her parents and sister in Seattle when she was informed.

In a post on Instagram, Autumn said: “Thank you for the prayers that have been extended already to me, my husband, Jamie, and our soon-to-be-born baby boy, as well as Jason’s parents, Dan and Linda Clark.”

Rex Nelon, the father of Kelly Nelon Clark, founded the group in the 1970s.

They have been nominated for three Grammy awards and were inducted into the Gospel Music Association Hall of Fame in 2016.

The group’s biggest hits include I Shall Not Be Moved, Come Morning and We Shall Wear a Robe and Crown.

Kelly was also an actress and appeared in the ABC fantasy drama Resurrection.

Thousands of people gathered on Sunday for the funerals of children and young people killed in a rocket strike in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, as world leaders scrambled to contain the attack’s political fallout.

Members of the Druze community wept as they carried caskets through the streets of Majdal Shams, while some yelled in anger at government ministers who attended the funeral, Israeli media reported.

Israel blamed Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah for the strike, which killed 12. Hezbollah strongly denied carrying it out.

On Sunday, global leaders condemned the attack and moved to de-escalate tensions amid fears that the incident could spark a war between Israel and Hezbollah.

In response to Saturday’s strike, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) hit Hezbollah targets in Lebanese territory overnight, and Hezbollah struck two Israeli military bases on Sunday.

Cross-border fire between the two sides has escalated since Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October, triggering Israel’s military campaign in Gaza. Saturday’s attack was the deadliest loss of life in and around Israel’s northern border since October.

The strike hit a football pitch in Majdal Shams, one of four towns in the Golan Heights where about 25,000 members of the Arabic-speaking Druze religious and ethnic group live.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry said 10 of the 12 victims were between the ages of 10 and 16, and has not released the ages of the other two victims.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who vowed that Hezbollah would “pay a heavy price”, arrived in Israel on Sunday after cutting short his trip to the US. He planned to hold a meeting with his military chiefs to assess the situation and approve operational plans.

Hezbollah denied it had anything to do with the strike, but had earlier on Saturday claimed responsibility for four other attacks, including one on a military base around 3km (2 miles) away.

At a funeral in Majdal Shams on Sunday, weeping men wearing traditional red-topped white hats carried 10 of the white-covered caskets through packed streets, AFP reported. Women dressed in black abaya robes cried as they laid flowers on the caskets. Some mourners carried large photos of the dead children.

Fadi Mahmud, 48, told AFP that it was the first time Majdal Shams had experienced such a loss during the war.

“Our community is very close-knit. These children are like children of everybody in the village,” he was reported as saying.

Anger among the community also boiled over at the funeral, with some directing their rage at Israeli government officials who attended, the Times of Israel reported.

“Now you come here? Ten months you didn’t come!” a man wearing a military uniform was reported as shouting at Housing Minister Nir Barkat and Environmental Protection Minister Idit Silman. His comments were met with applause.

“We’re tired of your promises!” another person reportedly yelled at Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.

In a video posted on social media, hecklers surrounded Mr Smotrich, cursing and saying “we don’t want him!”, according to a Times of Israel translation.

Israeli media reported that a leader of the Druze community had reportedly asked in a letter that government ministers not attend the funeral to avoid turning the tragedy into a “political event”.

The Druze are part of an Arabic-speaking ethnic group based in Lebanon, Syria, the Golan Heights and northern Israel. In Israel, they have full citizenship rights and comprise about 1.5% of the population.

But most of those in the Golan have retained an allegiance to Syria. They can still study and work in Israel, though only those with citizenship can vote and serve in the army.

The vast majority of the international community does not recognise Israel’s annexation of the Golan Heights from Syria in 1981.

On Sunday, global leaders spoke out against the strike and cautioned against escalation, although they differed on who was responsible.

UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy said in a post on X that the UK “condemns the strike in Golan Heights that has tragically claimed at least 12 lives” and Hezbollah “must cease their attacks”.

“We are deeply concerned about the risk of further escalation and destabilisation,” Secretary Lammy said.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that “every indication is that indeed the rocket was from Hezbollah”, but that the US did not want to see the conflict spreading.

Lebanon’s Foreign Minister Abdallah Bouhabib told the BBC that he did not think Hezbollah, which usually hits military targets, not civilians, carried out the attack, but added “it could be a mistake by the Israelis or by Hezbollah – I don’t know”.

The Lebanese government condemned the violence and called in a statement for a ceasefire on all fronts.

Robert Downey Jr is returning to the Marvel superhero world after five years – but not to the Iron Man role that launched the blockbuster franchise.

The actor will make his comeback as Dr Victor Von Doom, a prominent villain in the comic books that spawned the popular film series.

Downey Jr will appear in Avengers: Doomsday, which is due to be released in May 2026, and a further instalment titled Secret Wars a year later.

Stars joining the Marvel franchise were unveiled at the Comic Con event in San Diego.

Downey Jr appeared on stage concealed behind Doctor Doom’s iconic mask and green cloak before unveiling himself to fans.

Speaking to reporters, he said: “I like playing complicated characters.”

The 59-year-old was instrumental in launching the Marvel movie universe, starring in its first film Iron Man in 2008.

He last appeared in a Marvel film in 2019’s Avengers: Endgame.

The American actor won an Oscar for his role in Oppenheimer earlier this year.

Marvel is set to release a further three films in 2025 before Avengers returns to big screens.

Captain America: Brave New World will see Harrison Ford replace the late William Hurt as General Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross.

Florence Pugh will take on a leading role in Thunderbolts, while Pedro Pascal will make his Marvel debut in The Fantastic 4: First Steps.

Disney’s Marvel movie series have generated $30bn (£23.3bn) in box office takings – the first franchise to do so – but profits have slowed in recent years.

However, the recent release of Deadpool & Wolverine, starring Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman, has offered the chance of a potential revival – making $96m on its opening day on Friday.

Last year, Marvel dropped actor Jonathan Majors – who played villain Kang the Conqueror – following his conviction for assaulting his girlfriend.

As Simone Biles eyes up a chance at another Olympic medal, a row of A-list celebrities are watching on.

The seven-time medallist is one of the most high profile athletes at the Olympics, and her first performance in the artistic gymnastics on Sunday drew celebrities like it was Paris Fashion Week.

Lady Gaga, Ariana Grande, Tom Cruise, American Vogue Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour and Snoop Dogg were in the crowd to watch the American gymnast.

Grande sat with Cynthia Erivo, the pair co-staring in their upcoming film Wicked. They were seen greeting Wintour, who was with Australian film director Baz Luhrmann.

Higher in the stands was singer Nick Jonas, seen chatting with singer John Legend and his wife, model and TV personality Chrissy Teigen. Academy Award-winning actress Jessica Chastain was also at Bercy Arena to watch Biles perform.

Biles is considered by many to be the GOAT of women’s gymnastics (the greatest of all time).

And her considerable medal haul (which includes four Olympic golds and 30 world championship medals) could have potentially been higher heading into the 2024 Olympics, if it wasn’t for her infamous case of the “twistys” at the Tokyo Games.

Biles was forced to pull out of several events at the Tokyo Olympics after suffering a disorientating mental block, and many wondered if she would compete again.

Her return to the Olympics stage is a major drawcard, and Biles rewarded the crowd with a dazzling performance.

• Biles dazzles on Olympics gymnastics return

She entered the Bercy Arena on Sunday to an eruption of cheers, with celebrities in the stands and a global television audience of millions.

An acrobatic beam routine came before an energetic floor programme that featured one of the five skills named after her. Then she delivered her big Biles II vault but decided not to attempt the new skill she is planning on uneven bars.

She scored a total of 59.566 to top the all-around standings with three sub-divisions still to go. It is hard to see that changing – that score would have won the last three World Championships.

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• Top five stories from day one of Paris Olympics 2024

Janet Andrewartha, who played Lyn Scully in Neighbours, has died at the age of 72.

The actress joined the long-running Australian soap in 1999 as the Scully family matriarch.

She left the show in 2006 but returned multiple times, last appearing in Erinsborough in 2019.

The soap’s official Instagram account paid tribute to the star, with a post reading: “Everyone at Neighbours is deeply saddened by the passing of Janet Andrewartha.

“Beloved by viewers for her role as Ramsay Street’s Lyn Scully, Janet will be remembered for her wide body of work, which includes her memorable turn as Reb Keane in Prisoner.”

Jackie Woodburne who played Susan Kennedy on the soap called Andrewartha “One of the finest actors of her generation and an extraordinary woman.

“Passionate, political, curious, delightfully eccentric, generous and fun. To me she was a steadfast friend for over 45 years. I will miss her every day.”

Stefan Dennis, best known for playing businessman Paul Robinson on Neighbours, said he was: “So very upset to lose the lovely Janet.

“She truly was an exceptional actress who was a pleasure work with and to be around. We will all miss you dear girl.”

Janet Andrewartha was also known for her roles in other Australian hits including A Country Practice and Blue Heelers.

She also had a successful theatrical career, starring in Othello, Jerusalem and All My Sons.

Neighbours was cancelled in 2022 but was revived the following year.

Neighbours launched in 1985 and ran until 2022, when it was cancelled after UK broadcaster Channel 5 decided to drop the show from its schedules.

Unable to find alternative funding, producers announced they had “no option but to rest the show”.

At that point, the series had run for 37 years and broadcast more than 9,000 episodes.

However, just four months after its finale was broadcast, Amazon announced it had picked up the show for its streaming service Freevee, and the show was relaunched in September 2023.

Neighbours enjoyed a golden era in the 1980s and 1990s, during which time it developed a cult following, particularly among students, as it was screened on BBC One twice a day (including a repeat).

Margot Robbie, Russell Crowe, Kylie Minogue, Jason Donovan, Guy Pearce, Natalie Imbruglia and Holly Vallance are among the stars who appeared in Neighbours early in their careers.

Supratim Bhattacharjee has been named overall winner of this year’s Mangrove Photography Awards for his image of a young girl in the aftermath of a devastating storm in Frazerganj, Sundarbans, India.

Run by the Mangrove Action Project, the competition – now in its 10th year – aims to show the relationships between wildlife, coastal communities and mangrove forests, as well as the fragility of these unique ecosystems, both above and below the waterline.

Mr Bhattacharjee’s winning image, called Sinking Sundarbans, shows Pallavi standing in front of her home and tea shop, which has been destroyed by the sea during a storm.

“I observed her strong face and calm nature during that devastating period,” said Mr Bhattacharjee.

“Children are the ones that suffer the most.”

Nestled in the Bay of Bengal, the Sundarbans is the largest mangrove forest in the world.

“[The winning] image raises a thousand questions, whilst connecting you to the girl’s heart,” said competition judge Dhritiman Mukherjee.

“Her vulnerability exposes the full impact of climate change and sea level rise experienced by many coastal communities.”

Mangroves are an important protection against climate change, with one acre (4,000sq m) of mangrove forest absorbing nearly the same amount of carbon dioxide as an acre of Amazon rainforest.

The forests also protect coastlines from eroding, as intense storms grow more frequent.

“Conservation as a story, is a complicated one,” said another of the judges, Morgan Heim.

“Photography has the ability to help us receive and feel close to those stories no matter our language. Every time I look at this kind of photography, I think, there’s still hope.”

Fellow judge Christian Ziegler added: “[In the competition] were many fascinating stories about life in the mangroves, ranging from scientific insights to restoration of the ecosystem and the difficult conditions people face.”

Here are a selection of winning images from seven competition categories, with descriptions by the photographers.

Men, women and children, wearing sarongs and traditional headgear, collect mud from a mangrove forest in Kedonganan village, just outside the town of Denpasar in Bali, Indonesia.

They cover themselves as part of a purification ritual called Mebuug Buugan, where people pray for gratitude and earth’s fertility.

The Sundarbans archipelago spans the borders of India and Bangladesh… [and] is known for its rich forest resources, which locals rely on for income.

But rampant deforestation coupled with worsening storms has intensified food and water scarcity, diminished agriculture productivity and soil quality, and turned local communities into climate refugees.

This tranquil scene invites contemplation as the gentle flow of water navigates its course through the heart of the mangrove forest.

The intertwining roots of the trees form intricate patterns, creating a natural tapestry that harmonises with the fluidity of the water.

On the rugged coast of Neil island (Shaheed Dweep) in the Andaman Islands archipelago, the tide recedes far away from the shore and exposes an extremely sharp rocky reef.

Mud-ring feeding is a unique fishing behaviour employed by bottlenose dolphins living in the shallows of the mangrove-lined bays of Florida Bay and a few other locations in the Caribbean.

On finding a school of mullet, a dolphin from the pod encircles the fish kicking up the sediments with its tail, which corrals the fish into an ever tightening spiral-shaped silty plume.

The dolphins have a remarkable ability to know where the fish are going to jump and will snatch them from the air as they try to make their escape.

In the last 40 years, Banderas Bay has lost more than 80% of its wetlands to urban expansion.

This crocodile sanctuary is a non-profit organisation located next to a small lagoon. The surrounding area has been taken over by shopping centres, hotels and condos.

Due to repeated tropical cyclones and sea level rise in the Bay of Bengal, river embankments have become broken by high tides across the Sundarbans, West Bengal, India.

As a result, homes and farms have flooded, fisheries have become destroyed by seawater, and people have been forced to migrate.

This villager has lost all his household belongings in the flood.

The male horseshoe crab tightly grasps onto the back of the female, on a mission of reproduction.

They move with the rising tide, searching for a suitable place to lay their eggs. But when they reach the mangroves, they become entangled in a huge ghost net.

If no one rescues them in time, they will eventually die from prolonged exposure.

In Hong Kong and throughout Asia, abandoned fishing nets wash ashore and in mangrove forests, entangling many creatures.

A turtle gracefully navigates the mangroves’ labyrinthine roots, seeking refuge for the night.

At high tide, the water engulfs the roots and transforms the space into a haven for marine life seeking shelter and safety.

Mangroves act as a natural filter that can remove most pollutants before they reach the ocean.

Soil and mangrove biomass have a significant capacity to store carbon from the atmosphere, helping to reduce carbon dioxide concentrations in the air.

The complex roots of mangroves also help bind soil and sediment, reduce erosion, and protect against damage from waves and currents.

In Demak Regency, Indonesia, the coastline has been severely eroded, and mangroves that once protected the coast have been cut down and replaced by aquaculture ponds. As a result, the sea is literally swallowing people’s homes.

[Demak’s residents] have realised the only solution is to restore the ecosystem by replanting the mangroves that have been cut down.

With the cutting of mangrove trees, it is increasingly difficult to fish, catch crabs, and protect against climate change and violent cyclones in the regions.

Bôndy, a private company working in ecosystem restoration, collaborates with local communities to restore mangroves at a rural commune in Majunga, Madagascar.

Together, always with a smile and in good spirits, they traverse the mangroves to revive vast stretches of isolated land.

I wanted to capture more than just this young saltwater crocodile when I encountered it at low tide in the mangroves.

I used the multiple exposure mode in my camera to superimpose layers onto my image of the croc’s eye, to capture more of the scene without sacrificing detail of the eye.

The image gives off a slightly unsettling feeling, such as what one may experience in a mangrove, unknowing of what predators may be lurking nearby, hidden by the dense network of the mangrove.

Israel says it has hit Hezbollah targets in Lebanon after 12 children and young adults were killed in a rocket strike while playing football in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

The country’s air force has blamed the Iran-backed militant group for Saturday’s strike on the Druze town of Majdal Shams, but Hezbollah has strongly denied any involvement.

Early on Sunday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it had conducted air strikes against seven Hezbollah targets “deep inside Lebanese territory”. It is unclear whether there were any casualties.

The rising tensions have the potential to trigger an all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah. Their forces have regularly exchanged fire since 7 October when Hamas attacked Israel, triggering Israel’s military offensive on Gaza.

Saturday’s bloodshed at the town’s football pitch was the deadliest loss of life in and around Israel’s northern border since October.

Fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, which had previously been sporadic, escalated when the militant group fired rockets at Israeli positions the day after the Hamas attack, in solidarity with Palestinians.

Israel’s foreign ministry released the identities of 10 children killed in Saturday’s strike, saying they were aged between 10 and 16.

An eleventh person was named but no age was given. Details of the twelfth casualty were not confirmed.

Verified video shows crowds of people on a football pitch and stretchers being rushed to ambulances.

Majdal Shams is one of four towns in the Golan Heights, where about 25,000 members of the Arabic-speaking Druze religious and ethnic group live.

On Sunday, thousands of people gathered in the town for the funerals of those killed.

• LIVE: Fears of full-scale war between Israel and Hezbollah after strike kills children in Golan Heights

Hezbollah spokesman Mohamad Afif denied responsibility for Saturday’s strike in the Golan Heights.

However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed retaliation immediately after it happened, saying the group would “pay a heavy price”.

Hours later, the Israeli Air Force (IAF) said it had struck “terror targets” including “weapons caches and terrorist infrastructure” overnight.

Before reports of the strike’s impact emerged, Hezbollah had claimed responsibility for four other attacks.

One was on a nearby military compound on the slopes of Mount Hermon, which lies on the border between the Golan Heights and Lebanon.

The base is around 3km (2 miles) from the football pitch.

• Golan Heights profile
• Report: Israel and Hezbollah edge closer to all-out war
• In maps: Damage, destruction and fear along the Israel-Lebanon border

IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari, who visited the scene of the air strike, accused Hezbollah of “lying and denying responsibility for the incident”.

He said that the rocket was an Iranian-made Falaq-1 “owned exclusively by Hezbollah”.

“Our intelligence is clear,” he said. “Hezbollah is responsible for the murder of innocent children.”

Sheikh Mowafaq Tarif, the leader of the Druze community in the area, said the “horrific massacre” had crossed “every possible red line”.

Meanwhile, Iran warned Israel that any new military “adventures” in Lebanon could lead to “unforeseen consequences”, said Nasser Kanani, a spokesperson for Iran’s foreign ministry, according to AFP.

The air strike prompted Mr Netanyahu, who was visiting the United States, to return home early. His plane landed in Israel on Sunday.

International leaders condemned the strike and cautioned against escalation, but differed on who was responsible.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters on Sunday: “Every indication is that indeed the rocket was from Hezbollah.” He said the US stands by “Israel’s right to defend” itself, but does not want to see the conflict spreading.

Lebanon’s government also issued a rare statement in response to the strike, saying it “condemns all acts of violence and aggression against all civilians and calls for an immediate cessation of hostilities on all fronts”.

“Targeting civilians is a flagrant violation of international law and goes against the principles of humanity,” the statement added.

The Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bouhabib told the BBC that he did not think Hezbollah carried out the attack.

“I don’t think Hezbollah would do it”, he said, explaining the group usually hits military targets, not civilian targets. But he added “it could be a mistake by the Israelis or by Hezbollah – I don’t know”.

“We are talking with Hezbollah because the victims are Druze and the Druze community here [in Lebanon] cares about them a lot. We are asking Hezbollah not to retaliate at this present time”, Mr Bouhabib said.

A United Nations statement said “maximum restraint” was crucial from all parties as the risk of a wider conflict would “engulf the entire region in a catastrophe beyond belief”.

In Majdal Shams on Sunday, where bloodstains remained on the astroturf pitch, locals expressed grief, anger and worry.

Fighting back tears, Ugarit Abu Assad, 26, from nearby Buqata, told the BBC she feared a major escalation.

“I’m afraid of the consequences of all out war,” she said, adding that “a lot of people” could die.

Most Druze live in northern Israel, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria. In Israel, they have full citizenship rights and comprise about 1.5% of the population.

Those living in the Golan were offered Israeli citizenship when the region was annexed from Syria in 1981, but not everyone accepted.

Druze in the Golan can still study and work in Israel, though only those with citizenship can vote.

Male Israeli Druze are required to serve in the army. They are the largest non-Jewish group in the IDF.

The vast majority of the international community does not recognise Israel’s annexation of the Golan Heights.

A martial arts loving teenager has died in Malaysia after falling severely ill with an infection.

Ray Williams, 18, from Bristol, travelled to Thailand for his first trip abroad to train in martial arts when he contracted a skin infection, called staphylococcus.

He was treated with tablets and was on his way back to the UK when he collapsed and was admitted into intensive care in Malaysia, where he died on Wednesday.

His coach and owner of Trojan Free Fighters, Mario Saeed, said: “No words can explain the pain I feel right now.”

The Trojan gym, and the martial arts community in Bristol have raised more than £13,300 to pay for Mr Williams’ family to fly to Malaysia.

Mr Saeed told the BBC there was “not one person who wasn’t crying” when they announced his death in the gym.

He added: “Ray was amazing. He was so happy. He will always be with us at Trojan. Trojan is Ray.

“There were more than 100 people there, we are a very strong community together.

“People think our gym is just a gym, it’s not. We are family. We sweat, bleed and cry together everyday. “

Before he went abroad, Mr Williams was training Brazilian jiu-jitsu six times a week, Muay Thai four times a week and had just taken up mixed martial arts.

Mr Williams’ other coach, Mark McLelland, taught him from the start of his teaching career, four years ago.

“Everyone got along with him, he had a strong work ethic. He was pleasure to teach and train with.

“It’s a very hard thing to deal with emotionally. We’re trying to be strong for the team and help out his family,” he said.

The “outpouring” of support from the community has “blown everyone away”, he added.

“Hopefully we can provide some sort of comfort and help to the family with what they have to go through now,” he added.

Skin infections can often affect people who train martial arts.

In many cases, they are treatable, but staphylococcus can also cause serious blood poisoning and toxic shock syndrome, according to the NHS.

A video has emerged showing what happened before a police officer was filmed kicking and stamping on a man’s head at Manchester Airport.

Officers can be seen trying to restrain one man before a second intervenes.

A fight breaks out and two officers are punched to the ground, the footage obtained by the Manchester Evening News shows.

The officer later filmed stamping on a man’s head is facing disciplinary action and an assault probe by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC).

Following the release of the new video, Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham reiterated his earlier statement that it was “a complicated situation with two sides to it”.

He said he hoped the release of more footage would give people a “fuller picture”, adding that he was worried about people jumping to conclusions and speculation online.

Akhmed Yakoob, who has been speaking publicly on behalf of the family, said “nothing could justify a kick to the head of a defenceless man”.

He described the police involved as “highly-trained officers” who “should not be seeing red”.

In the new footage, a man wearing grey clothes struggles with a male officer and punches are thrown.

Another man, who is dressed in blue, punches two other officers – one male and one female – to the floor.

The officer who is grappling with the first man breaks away and points a Taser at him.

While he is pointing the stun device, the man in blue runs over and punches him.

Another male officer then tasers the man in blue, who falls to the ground with the first male officer, who he is still holding on to.

An older woman, who can be seen falling over earlier in the video, crawls over to the man in blue, who is face down on the floor.

The first officer has by now stood up and aims his own Taser at the man in blue before appearing to kick him in the head.

The new footage ends there, but the video released last week shows the officer stamping on the head of the man prone on the floor.

BBC Verify analysis of five social media videos of the incident suggests the violence did not end here.

Another video appears to show the officer who stamped on the man’s head then approaching the man in grey, stamping on his thigh, and hitting him on the back of the head with a Taser.

Another officer appears to pepper-spray bystanders who are filming the incident.

The newest video is not included in the Verify coverage.

On Thursday, protests were held outside a police station in Rochdale, with demonstrators accusing Greater Manchester Police (GMP) of institutional racism.

The family of the man who was stamped on has appealed for “calm in all the communities”, according to Rochdale MP Paul Waugh, who spoke to them after the incident.

He told BBC Breakfast the family were “acutely aware” there were “extremists of all sides who are keen to hijack this incident for their own ends”.

He said the “strong message” the family wanted to give is that they have “no political agenda whatsoever”.

GMP said there had been a “clear risk” the firearms officers could have had their weapons taken from them, and three officers had been taken to hospital, including a female officer whose nose was broken.

Four men, aged 19, 25, 28 and 31, were arrested in the aftermath on suspicion of affray and assault, and later bailed.

The force said it understood the “deep concerns” that had been “widely raised” over the footage.

Mr Burnham told BBC Breakfast on Sunday: “The risk is, of course, is you get consequences from those judgements and that furore builds.

“That can have an impact on communities, can have an impact on public order.”

The mayor said he understood the frustration that the police had been unable to release more video because it was evidence in a live investigation.

“People now need to step back and allow the IOPC’s criminal investigation into the officer’s conduct to move forward, alongside the parallel GMP investigation into other potential offences, so that a complete picture can be presented,” Mr Burnham added.

Human rights lawyer Aamer Anwar told BBC Newsnight he was disappointed that leading politicians, including Mr Burnham, had asked people to consider the context to the incident.

There was “no justification” for a police officer to act this way, he said, adding that the context was “irrelevant”.

A group of ancient three-eyed reptiles, from a species that dates back before the dinosaurs, have been welcomed at a zoo.

The reptiles, called tuataras, have moved into a new habitat at Chester Zoo – the only zoo in the UK to host the creatures, described as one of nature’s “greatest marvels”.

Fossil records show they first appeared on Earth more than 200 million years ago, and about 50,000 are estimated to remain in the wild.

The new habitat will house a group of six tuataras to recreate the natural conditions of their native habitat for the zoo’s conservation breeding programme.

Experts say one of the most curious body parts of the tuatara is a third eye on the top of its head.

The eye has a retina, cornea, a lens and nerve endings, but it is not used for sight.

Instead, it helps to sense the intensity of sunlight and thermoregulate body temperature, circadian rhythm, navigation and hormone regulation.

Fossils suggest they died out everywhere around 70 million years ago – except for a few that survived on a number of small, isolated offshore islands in New Zealand.

Conservationists say the introduction of rats and other invasive species may have played a part in their demise, as well as a changing climate.

A Chester Zoo spokesperson said experts at the zoo became the first to ever breed tuatara outside of their native home in 2016.

Karen Lambert, from Chester Zoo, said “these unique animals are crucial to our understanding of reptilian evolution”.

She said: “These reptiles were here well before humans and it’s a real shame that they’re now so highly threatened after surviving all of this time.

“But the good news is that all the information we gathered from our breeding successes have been shared with the international conservation community, so that we can collectively work to protect their future on the planet”.