Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wazed has resigned and left the country after weeks of student-led protests spiralled into deadly, nationwide unrest.

The 76-year-old fled in a helicopter on Monday to India, reports said, as thousands of protesters stormed her official residence in the capital Dhaka.

This brings an unexpected end to the reign of Bangladesh’s longest-serving PM, who has been in power since 2009 and ruled the country for more than 20 years in total.

Credited with overseeing the South Asian country’s economic progress in recent years, Ms Hasina began her political career as a pro-democracy icon.

However, in recent years she has been accused of turning autocratic and clamping down on any opposition to her rule. Politically-motivated arrests, disappearances, extra-judicial killings and other abuses have all risen under Ms Hasina.

In January she won an unprecedented fourth term as PM in a January election widely decried by critics as being a sham and boycotted by the main opposition.

Born to a Muslim family in East Bengal in 1947, Ms Hasina had politics in her blood.

Her father was the nationalist leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Bangladesh’s “Father of the Nation” who led the country’s independence from Pakistan in 1971 and became its first president.

At that time, Ms Hasina had already established a reputation as a student leader at Dhaka University.

Her father was assassinated with most of his family members in a military coup in 1975. Only Ms Hasina and her younger sister survived as they were travelling abroad at the time.

After living in exile in India, Ms Hasina returned to Bangladesh in 1981 and became the leader of the political party her father belonged to, the Awami League.

She joined hands with other political parties to hold pro-democracy street protests during the military rule of General Hussain Muhammed Ershad. Propelled by the popular uprising, Ms Hasina quickly became a national icon.

She was first elected to power in 1996. She earned credit for signing a water-sharing deal with India and a peace deal with tribal insurgents in the south-east of the country.

But at the same time, her government was criticised for numerous allegedly corrupt business deals and for being too subservient to India.

She later lost to her former ally-turned-nemesis, Begum Khaleda Zia of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), in 2001.

As heirs to political dynasties, both women dominated Bangladesh politics for more than three decades and used to be known as the “battling begums”. Begum refers to a Muslim woman of high rank.

Observers say their bitter rivalry has resulted in bus bombs, disappearances and extrajudicial killings becoming regular occurrences.

Ms Hasina eventually came back to power in 2009 in polls held under a caretaker government.

A true political survivor, she endured numerous arrests while in opposition as well as several assassination attempts, including one in 2004 that damaged her hearing. She has also survived efforts to force her into exile and numerous court cases in which she has been accused of corruption.

Bangladesh under Ms Hasina presents a contrasting picture. The Muslim-majority nation, once one of the world’s poorest, has achieved credible economic success under her leadership since 2009.

It’s now one of the fastest-growing economies in the region, even surpassing its giant neighbour India. Its per capita income has tripled in the last decade and the World Bank estimates that more than 25 million people have been lifted out of poverty in the last 20 years.

Much of this growth has been fuelled by the garment industry, which accounts for the vast majority of total exports from Bangladesh and has expanded rapidly in recent decades, supplying markets in Europe, North America and Asia.

Using the country’s own funds, loans and development assistance, Ms Hasina’s government has undertaken huge infrastructure projects, including the flagship $2.9bn Padma bridge across the Ganges.

The latest protests were the most serious challenge Ms Hasina faced since taking office, and follows a highly controversial election in which her party was re-elected for a fourth straight parliamentary term.

Amid increasing calls for her to resign, she had remained defiant. She condemned the agitators as “terrorists” and appealed for support to “suppress these terrorists with a firm hand”.

The latest unrest in Dhaka and elsewhere began with a demand to abolish quotas in civil service jobs but turned into a wider anti-government movement.

In the wake of the pandemic, Bangladesh has been struggling with the escalating cost of living. Inflation has skyrocketed, its foreign exchange reserves have dropped precipitously, and its foreign debt has doubled since 2016.

Critics have blamed this on Ms Hasina’s government’s mismanagement, and say that Bangladesh’s previous economic success only helped those close to Ms Hasina’s Awami League due to endemic corruption.

They also say the country’s progress has come at the cost of democracy and human rights, and allege that Ms Hasina’s rule has been marked by repressive authoritarian measures against her political opponents, detractors and the media. The government and Ms Hasina have denied such allegations.

But rights groups have documented hundreds of cases of enforced disappearances and extra-judicial killings by security forces since 2009. Last year Human Rights Watch accused her of a “violent autocratic crackdown” on opposition supporters.

In recent months, many senior leaders from the BNP were arrested, along with thousands of supporters following anti-government protests – a remarkable turnaround for a leader who once fought for multi-party democracy.

Ms Hasina’s government flatly denied claims it was behind abuses. but it also severely restricted visits by foreign journalists wanting to investigate such allegations.

The dramatic resignation of Bangladesh’s long-serving prime minister Sheikh Hasina and her flight to India ironically underscore the close ties between the two countries.

Ms Hasina ruled Bangladesh, a nation of 170 million, for close to 15 years until a protest by students to abolish civil service quotas snowballed into a broader and violent anti-government movement. At least 280 people have died in clashes between police and anti-government protesters so far.

Back in June, Ms Hasina visited India twice in two weeks.

Her first visit was to attend Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s oath-taking ceremony. After that, she made a two-day state visit, the first by a head of government to India after Mr Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalition’s third consecutive victory in parliamentary elections.

“We have met 10 times in the last one year. However, this meeting is special because Sheikh Hasina is the first state guest after the third term of our government,” Mr Modi said at a joint news conference.

The bonhomie was unmistakable. “Bangladesh greatly values its relations with India,” said Ms Hasina. “Come to Bangladesh to witness what all we have done and plan to do”.

India has a special relationship with Bangladesh. The neighbours share a 4,096km (2,545 miles)-border and linguistic, economic and cultural ties. Bangladesh, formerly East Pakistan, was born after a war in 1971 with West Pakistan (now Pakistan), with India supporting Bengali nationalists. Bilateral trade between the two countries is around $16bn (£12bn), with India being Bangladesh’s top export destination in Asia.

To be sure, the ties are not perfect: differences arise over Bangladesh’s close relationship with China, border security, migration issues and some Bangladeshi officials’ discomfort with Mr Modi’s Hindu nationalist politics.

After Ms Hasina’s resignation, Bangladesh’s army chief Waker-uz-Zaman has announced plans for an interim government. He will meet President Mohammed Shahabuddin and reports say he’s hoping for a solution by the day’s end after speaking with opposition parties, led by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). Leadership of the interim government remains unclear.

So far, India has only described the violent protests as an “internal matter” of Bangladesh. Can it say – and do – more about the unfolding developments?

“NOTHING. Nothing for now,” wrote Happymon Jacob, an Indian foreign policy expert, on X (formerly Twitter) on what India should be doing.

“It is still unfolding. And, it’s not about India; it’s about politics in Bangladesh. Let them figure it out.”

Michael Kugelman of the Wilson Center, an American think-tank, believes Ms Hasina’s resignation and flight are “close to a worst-case scenario for India, as it has long viewed any alternative to Ms Hasina and her party as a threat to Indian interests”.

Mr Kugelman told the BBC that Delhi will likely reach out to Bangladesh’s military to convey its concerns and hope its interests are taken into account in an interim government.

“Beyond that, India will have to watch and wait nervously. It may support free and fair elections in the interest of stability, but it doesn’t want the BNP – even if it has grown weak and divided – to return. Delhi likely wouldn’t oppose a long period of interim rule for that reason.”

Ms Hasina’s sudden downfall would have caught her allies off guard.

The daughter of Bangladesh’s founding president and the world’s longest-serving female head of government, Ms Hasina led her country for nearly 15 years. She had overseen one of the world’s fastest-growing economies and a major boost in living standards in South Asia.

But her rule had also been marked by accusations of forced disappearances, extrajudicial killings and repression of the opposition. She and her party Awami League denied these charges, while her government blamed opposition parties for fuelling protests.

In January, Ms Hasina won her fourth consecutive term in a controversial election. The opposition BNP boycotted the vote, and allegations of a rigged poll were compounded by mass arrests of its leaders and supporters.

Some of the anti-India sentiment in Bangladesh stems from India’s support for Ms Hasina’s government, which critics view as interference in domestic politics. Historical grievances and accusations of overreach also contribute to some of the negative perception.

Ali Riaz, a Bangladeshi-American political scientist at Illinois State University, told the BBC that India’s silence is “not surprising as it has been the principal backer of the Hasina government for the past 14 years and practically contributed to the erosion of democracy in Bangladesh”.

“The unqualified support to Sheikh Hasina has acted as a bulwark against any pressure on her for human rights transgressions. India has benefitted economically and seen Ms Hasina as the only way to keep the country within India’s sphere of influence.”

India sees the current Bangladeshi opposition and its allies as “dangerous Islamic forces”. Ms Hasina cracked down on anti-India militants on her soil and granted transit rights to secure trade routes to five Indian states which border Bangladesh.

“A peaceful, stable and prosperous Bangladesh is in India’s interests. India should do everything to ensure that those conditions are maintained. Essentially you want to keep peace and calm,” Harsh Vardhan Shringla, a former Indian foreign secretary and high commissioner to Bangladesh, told the BBC, hours before Ms Hasina resigned.

For the moment, the situation is uncertain. “India doesn’t have too many options at this point in time,” a senior diplomat told the BBC. “We have to tighten control on our borders. Anything else would be construed as interference”.

“One, two, three, four, Sheikh Hasina is a dictator!”

The words had become a rallying cry for young Bangladeshis in recent weeks – and on Monday their fury ended the prime minister’s 15-year reign.

The 76-year-old Ms Hasina had ruled the South Asian nation of 170 million with an iron fist since 2009 – just a month ago, protests demanding her resignation would have been unthinkable.

But by Monday morning, she was stuck in a deadly stalemate. It had been several days since the top court scrapped the job quotas that originally sparked the protests in early July. But the agitation continued, morphing into an anti-government movement that wanted her out of power.

What finally tipped the scales was the ferocity of the clashes between the protesters and police on Sunday. Nearly 300 people are estimated have died in the violence so far but Sunday alone saw at least 90 people, including 13 police officers, killed – the worst single day of casualties incurred during protests in Bangladesh’s recent history.

Critics called it “carnage”, even as Ms Hasina stood her ground.

Bangladesh PM resigns and flees country: Follow live

And yet, tens of thousands took to the streets on Monday, many of them marching towards the capital Dhaka, in defiance of a nationwide curfew.

Bangladeshis, it appeared, no longer feared bullets. What had been a political movement was now a mass uprising.

Ms Hasina’s decision to flee was also hastened by the military, which would have put pressure on her to step down. The army, which has ruled Bangladesh in the past and is still hugely respected, has an outsized influence over the country’s politics.

The violence from the weekend as well as the prospect of facing fresh rounds of massive protests would have made the military establishment re-think its options.

Junior officers had already raised concerns about being asked to fire on civilians in a meeting with the military chief, General Waker-Uz-Zaman, on Friday.

What lies ahead is less clear but Gen Zaman is in talks with “various stakeholders”, including opposition parties and civil society groups to find an “interim” solution, a high-level source familiar with the matter tells the BBC.

It is no surprise that Ms Hasina has fled to India. It’s unclear what counsel she received from across the border but Bangladesh’s giant neighbour has been a crucial ally of hers throughout.

It is partly why, as her popularity diminished, strong sentiment against India grew within Bangladesh.

Delhi always viewed its foothold in Bangladesh as key to the security of the seven landlocked states in India’s north-east, most of which share a border with Bangladesh. Ms Hasina has given transit rights to India to make sure goods from its mainland make it to those states.

She also clamped down on anti-India militant groups based in Bangladesh, a key issue in India.

But in recent weeks, Delhi faced a dilemma – by backing its unpopular ally, it risked alienating a mass movement and damaging its long-term relationship with Bangladesh. Ms Hasina’s resignation has solved that problem.

The daughter of Bangladesh’s founding president, Sheikh Hasina had been the world’s longest-serving female head of government.

Her father was assassinated with most of the family in a military coup in 1975 – only Ms Hasina and her younger sister survived as they were travelling abroad at the time.

After living in exile in India, she returned to Bangladesh in 1981 and joined hands with other political parties to lead a popular uprising for democracy that made her a national icon.

Ms Hasina was first elected to power in 1996 but later lost to her rival Begum Khaleda Zia of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) in 2001.

She came back to power in 2009 in polls held under a caretaker government.

Her time in power was rife with accusations of forced disappearances, extra-judicial killings, and the crushing of opposition figures and her critics – she denied the charges, and her government often accused the main opposition parties of fuelling protests.

In recent weeks too, Ms Hasina and her party – the Awami League – blamed their political opponents for the unrest that gripped the country.

But this time, the anger was louder than ever before. It was certainly the most serious challenge Ms Hasina, who won a contentious election in January which the opposition boycotted, had faced during her years in office.

For weeks, she had refused to give ground, even calling the protesters “terrorists” at one point.

But the realisation that the force of the security establishment couldn’t keep people off the steets does not augur well for any leader – least of all an embattled one.

Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has resigned after weeks of deadly anti-government protests as thousands of people stormed her official residence, demanding she step down.

Ms Hasina, 76, had already left the country to a “safer place”, one of her advisers said, before crowds arrived at her palace.

The resignation came a day after at least 90 people were killed and hundreds injured in a new round of demonstrations.

The unrest in Dhaka and elsewhere began with a demand to abolish quotas in civil service jobs but escalated into a mass anti-government movement.

Entrances to Dhaka were blocked on Monday, with army units and police deployed across the city.

The internet was also completely shut down before being restored a few hours later.

The government had also announced a three-day “holiday” – widely interpreted as a curfew – which closed down businesses and the courts.

However, this did not stop tens of thousands of people from converging on the city, heeding a call by protest leaders to start a “long march to Dhaka”. Anger was high following the deaths – mostly of protesters – on Sunday.

Both police and some supporters of the governing party were seen shooting at anti-government protesters with live ammunition. Police also used tear gas and rubber bullets.

Thirteen police officers were also killed on Sunday when thousands of people attacked a police station in the district of Sirajganj, police said. Two more police died of their injuries on Monday following the attack. Elsewhere there were reports of several more protesters being killed.

The total death toll from weeks of unrest now stands at some 300, most of them protesters shot by security forces.

Mobile operators received orders from the government to shut off their 4G services on Monday, reports said.

The country is “again in the midst of a near-total national internet shutdown after earlier social media and mobile cuts”, said NetBlocks, a watchdog that monitors internet freedom.

On 18 July, the Bangladeshi government had also switched off the country’s mobile internet in an attempt to quell the protests. Broadband connectivity was restored a week later, while mobile internet services came back online days after.

But neither the internet blackout nor an indefinite nationwide curfew imposed on Sunday have hindered the protesters across Bangladesh.

On Monday, thousands of protesters started marching in Uttara, a suburb of Dhaka, chanting and demanding Ms Hasina’s resignation – under the watchful eye of army personnel and police officers who have been stationed across various points in the capital.

Amid calls for her resignation, Ms Hasina initially sounded defiant. Speaking after a meeting with security chiefs on Monday, she said the protesters were “not students but terrorists who are out to destabilise the nation”.

On Sunday, Law and Justice Minister Anisul Huq told the BBC’s Newshour programme that authorities were showing “restraint”.

“If we had not shown restraint, there would have been a bloodbath. I guess our patience has limits,” he added.

Deaths and injuries have also been reported across the country, including the northern districts of Bogra, Pabna and Rangpur.

On Sunday, thousands of people gathered in a main square in Dhaka and there were violent incidents in other parts of the city.

“The whole city has turned into a battleground,” a policeman, who asked not to be named, told the AFP news agency. He said a crowd of several thousand protesters had set fire to cars and motorcycles outside a hospital.

Asif Mahmud, a leading figure in the nationwide civil disobedience campaign, called on protesters to march on Dhaka on Monday.

“The time has come for the final protest,” he said.

Students Against Discrimination, a group behind the anti-government demonstrations, urged people not to pay taxes or any utility bills.

The students have also called for a shutdown of all factories and public transport.

Around 10,000 people have been reportedly detained in a major crackdown by security forces in the past two weeks. Those arrested included opposition supporters and students.

Some ex-military personnel have expressed support for the student movement, including ex-army chief General Karim Bhuiyan, who told journalists: “We call on the incumbent government to withdraw the armed forces from the street immediately.

He and other ex-military personnel condemned “egregious killings, torture, disappearances and mass arrests”.

The protests began when students took to the streets last month over a quota that reserved one third of civil service jobs for relatives of the veterans of Bangladesh’s independence war with Pakistan in 1971.

Most of the quota has now been scaled back by the government following a Supreme Court ruling, but students have continued to protest, demanding justice for those killed and injured, and for Ms Hasina to step down.

Earlier, Ms Hasina offered unconditional dialogue with the student leaders.

“I want to sit with the agitating students of the movement and listen to them. I want no conflict,” she said.

But the student protesters have rejected that offer.

Bangladeshi media say most of those killed in last month’s protests were shot dead by police. Thousands were injured.

The government has argued that police opened fire only in self-defence and to protect state properties.

US stock markets sank on Monday following falls in Europe and Asia as fears rose that the American economy is heading for a slowdown.

The technology-heavy Nasdaq index plummeted a further 6.3% after a sharp decline at the end of last week. The other main indexes in the US also dropped.

Stock markets in London, Paris and Frankfurt are also trading lower, while Asian markets plunged with Japan’s Nikkei 225 down 12.4% or 4,451 points in the biggest fall by points in history.

It comes as weak jobs data in the US on Friday sparked concerns about the world’s largest economy.

In the US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 2.6% while the S&P 500 dropped by 3.2% on Monday.

In Europe, the CAC-40 in Paris trimmed earlier losses but was still trading 1.7% lower while Frankfurt’s DAX slid by 2.3%.

Weaker-than-expected economic data from the US has fuelled speculation that its economy is slowing.

At the same time, the US Federal Reserve held off cutting interest rates last week in contrast to other central banks such as the Bank of England.

There has also been concern that shares in technology companies, such as those focused on artificial intelligence (AI), have been overvalued and are now facing difficulties.

Intel announced major layoffs last week as well as disappointing financial results, and there is speculation that its rival Nvidia, which makes AI chips, will delay its latest launch.

The US Nasdaq index, which contains a large number of technology firms, hit a record high last month but last week tumbled by around 10% in what is known as a “correction”.

Meanwhile, veteran US investor Warren Buffett’s firm Berkshire Hathaway revealed that it had sold about half its stake in US technology giant Apple.

As the Nikkei plunged in Japan, stock markets in Taiwan, South Korea, India, Australia, Hong Kong and Shanghai all tumbled by between 1.4% and 8%.

The yen has been strengthening against the US dollar since the Bank of Japan raised interest rates last week, making stocks in Tokyo – and Japanese goods in general – more expensive for foreign investors and buyers.

Tomochika Kitaoka, chief equity strategist at Nomura Securities, said US economic slowdown worries were “too much”.

“But the [Japanese] market did turn nervous after the Bank of Japan’s rate hike as they thought the domestic economy is not strong enough to justify the rate hike.”

Unlike other central banks, the Bank of Japan lifted interest rates last week to the highest level since the global financial crisis in 2008.

Inflation in Japan rose by more than expected in June while the economy shrank in the first three months of the year because of a weaker yen and poor household spending.

The Japanese currency has strengthened more than 10% against the US dollar over the last month.

Friday’s sharp fall in US stock prices followed weak jobs data.

In July, US employers added 114,000 roles, far fewer than expected while the unemployment rate ticked up from 4.1% to 4.3%.

The figures raised concerns that a long-running jobs boom in the US might be coming to an end.

It stoked speculation about when – and by how much – the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates.

Simon French, chief economist and head of research at Panmure Liberum, said it was not yet clear if the jobs figures were an aberration because of Hurricane Beryl in July or was a first sign that companies are hiring fewer workers.

The most recent data showed that the US economy grew at an annual rate of 2.8%.

On whether the US is heading for a slowdown, Shanti Kelemen, chief investment officer at M&G Wealth, told the BBC’s Today programme it could go either way.

“You can pick out evidence to create a positive story, you can also pick out the evidence to create a negative story,” she said.

“I don’t think it universally points to one direction yet.”

Filipino gymnast Carlos Yulo won his second Olympic gold medal in two days, becoming only the second athlete to take home the Games’ top prize for his country.

A three-bedroom condo, thousands of dollars and a lifetime of free ramen are among the flurry of gifts that the government and local brands have pledged to reward the 24-year-old with for his historic wins in the men’s floor exercise and vault events.

Mr Yulo’s feat has also made him the country’s latest social media sensation.

“Another gold for the Philippines! History is made again! Ang galing galing mo! [You are incredible!]” wrote a user on X.

Mr Yulo scored an average of 15.116 on the vault on Sunday, ahead of Armenia’s Artur Davtyan (14.966) and Britain’s Harry Hepworth (14.949).

He punched his arms into the air and embraced fellow athletes on hearing his score. He went into the competition without high expectations, he had told reporters.

“I was just hoping to perform well. I didn’t really expect a medal,” Mr Yulo had said.

“It really felt like a bonus for me. It’s crazy, because last night I couldn’t sleep. I was so hyped because I had won that gold medal [the day before].

Barely 24 hours ago, Mr Yulo had scooped the gold for the men’s floor exercise with 15 points, edging out Artem Dolgopyat of Israel by just 0.034 of a point. Mr Dolgopyat had been the defending Olympic champion and world title holder.

Mr Yulo’s double gold feat is now the most discussed topic on X, formerly known as Twitter, in the Philippines.

“It took 100 years for us to hear Lupang Hinirang [the Philippines’ national anthem] two nights in a row while the world is watching. Thank you so much for the pride and historic moment!” wrote an X user.

A century has passed since the Philippines’ debut in the Olympics in 1924. Weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz earned the country’s first Olympic gold medal in Tokyo three years ago.

Philippine celebrities and public figures, including president Ferdinand Marcos Jr and First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, also congratulated Mr Yulo.

“No words can express how proud we are of you, Caloy. You have achieved GOLD for the Philippines not once, but twice! Filipinos all over the world stood united, cheering and rooting for you,” Mr Marcos wrote on Facebook.

The Philippine government will hand the gymnast 10 million Philippine pesos ($173,300; £135,400) – a reward promised to any gold medalists – while a real estate firm has promised him a fully furnished three-bedroom unit at McKinley Hill, the largest condominium development in metropolitan Manila.

The House of Representatives has pledged to give Mr Yulo an additional 6 million pesos in cash incentives, with speaker of the lower house, Ferdinand Martin Romualdez, describing him as a “sports hero” and “national treasure”.

Even medical clinics and universities have rolled out the red carpet for the national hero – a gastroenterologist has offered Mr Yulo free consultations and colonoscopies for life while the University of Mindanao has pledged free university credits.

Also awaiting him are lifetime supplies of ramen, mac and cheese and grilled chicken offered by various restaurant chains.

Meanwhile, the capital city Manila, where Mr Yulo was born and raised, is preparing a “hero’s welcome” for him.

“The grandest welcome will greet him and all our Paris Olympians. When we meet him, we will present Carlos Yulo cash incentives, awards and symbols of the eternal gratitude of the proud capital city of the Philippines,” the city’s mayor, Honey Lacuna, said.

Over the past few days, global stock markets have been plummeting.

Trading screens across the US, Asia and, to a certain extent, Europe are awash with blinking red numbers heading south.

The sudden turn comes as fears grow that the US economy – the world’s biggest – is slowing down.

Experts say the main reason for this fear is that US jobs data for July, released on Friday, was much worse than expected.

However, for some, talk of an economic slowdown – or even a (whisper it) recession – is a little premature.

So, what did the official figures show us? As always with economics, there is good news and bad news.

Bad news first. US employers created 114,000 jobs in July which was way below expectations of 175,000 new roles.

The rate of unemployment also rose to 4.3%, a near three-year high, which triggered something known as the “Sahm rule”.

Named after American economist Claudia Sahm, the rule says if the average unemployment rate over three months is half a percentage point higher than the lowest level over the past 12 months then the country is at the beginning of a recession.

In this case, the US unemployment rate rose in July, so the three-month average was 4.1%. That compares to the lowest level over the last year which was 3.5%.

Adding to these concerns was the fact that the US Federal Reserve voted last week not to cut interest rates.

Other central banks within developed economies, including the Bank of England and the European Central Bank, have recently cut interest rates.

The Fed held borrowing costs but its chair, Jerome Powell, signalled that a cut in September was on the table.

However, this led to speculation that the Fed had waited too long to act.

A cut in interest rates means it is cheaper to borrow money which should, in theory, act as a boost to the economy.

If the jobs figures suggest that the economy is already tipping downwards, then the fear is the Fed is too late.

Then, on top of all this, are technology companies and their share prices. There has been a long-running rally in their shares, fuelled in part by optimism over artificial intelligence (AI).

Last week, the chip-making giant Intel announced it was cutting 15,000 jobs. At the same time, market rumours suggested that rival Nvidia may have to delay the release of its new AI chip.

What followed was a bloodbath on the Nasdaq, the technology-heavy US index. After hitting a high only a few weeks ago, it plunged by 10% on Friday.

That helped pump-up the fear factor across markets and that’s where danger could lie.

If stock market panic continues and shares keep plunging the Fed could potentially step in before its next meeting in September and cut interest rates.

This could happen, according to Neil Shearing, group chief economist at Capital Economics, if there is “a market dislocation that deepens and starts to threaten systemically important institutions and/or broader financial stability”.

Now for the good(-ish) news.

“We are not in a recession now,” according to Ms Sahm herself, inventor of the rule.

She told CNBC on Monday that “the momentum is in that direction”.

But she added: “A recession is not inevitable and there is substantial scope to reduce interest rates.”

Others are equivocal about the jobs data.

“While the report was bad it wasn’t bad,” said Mr Shearing.

“It is likely that Hurricane Beryl contributed to weakness in July’s payrolls figure. Other data painted a picture of a labour market that is cooling, but not collapsing,” he said.

He added that there appeared to be “no increase in firings” while a “modest” decline in average weekly hours worked in July “does not scream ‘recession'”.

For Simon French, chief economist and head of research at Panmure Liberum, after digesting the US jobs data it’s time to take a moment.

“Stepping back, have we suddenly re-appraised the health of the world’s biggest economy? No and nor should we.”

But he added: “It is another data point at a time when liquidity is thin and you’ve got a lot of things to worry about.”

Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan has now been behind bars for a year – although there are times you would barely know it.

Mr Khan is still the dominant force of Pakistan’s opposition politics; his name still in the papers and the courts. His social media supporters have been unrelenting.

With no public appearances, the few people allowed in to see the former cricket star regularly – his lawyers and family – have become his conduit for messages to the outside world. They are keen to push the message that his 365 days behind bars have left him unbowed.

“There is still a swagger about him,” Aleema Khanum, Imran Khan’s sister, says. “He’s got no needs, no wants – only a cause.”

According to those who visit him, Mr Khan spends his days on his exercise bike, reading and reflecting. He has an hour a day to walk around the courtyard. There have been occasional disagreements about how quickly the family can provide him with new books.

“He has said ‘I’m not wasting a minute of my time in jail, it’s an opportunity for me to get more knowledge’,” Ms Khanum tells the BBC.

But the fact is Mr Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi are still trapped in prison, with no sign they will be released any time soon.

According to some, this is not a surprise.

“There was no expectation that Mr Khan was going to do anything that would make it easy for him to get out of jail,” says Michael Kugelman, director of the South Asia Institute at the Wilson Centre think tank in Washington.

And the military – Pakistan’s powerful behind-the-scenes player – “don’t ease up when they decide there’s a political figure that they want to lock up”, says Mr Kugelman. “That has especially been the case with Khan.”

Indeed, the military has been key to many of the ups and downs of Mr Khan’s life in the last decade. Many analysts believe it was his initial close relationship with the military establishment which helped him win power.

But by 9 May last year, that was in tatters. Mr Khan – who had been ousted from power in a vote of no confidence in 2022 – had been arrested, and his supporters came out to protest.

Some of those protests turned violent, and there were attacks on military buildings – including the official residence of the most senior army official in Lahore which was looted and set alight.

In the aftermath, BBC sources said Pakistan’s media companies had been told to stop showing his picture, saying his name or playing his voice.

Mr Khan was released – but ultimately only for a few months.

He was jailed again on 5 August for failing to correctly declare the sale of state gifts – and that was just the start.

In the run-up to the election, the cases against him mounted; by the start of February – just days before the vote – the 71-year-old had acquired three long prison sentences, the last for 14 years.

By the election, many of the candidates standing for Mr Khan’s PTI party were also in prison or in hiding, the party stripped of its well-recognised symbol of a cricket bat – a vital identifier in a country with a 58% literacy rate.

Despite this, “we were determined and wanted to make a statement”, Salman Akram Raja, Mr Khan’s lawyer and a candidate in the election, says.

“It was very constrained, many couldn’t campaign at all. The loss of the cricket bat symbol was the body blow.”

All candidates stood as independents, but hopes – even within the party – weren’t high.

Yet candidates backed by Imran Khan won more seats than anyone else, forcing his political rivals to form an alliance to block them. The PTI, meanwhile, was left to fight for many of their seats in court, alleging the results were rigged.

Supporters see the election on 8 February as a turning point, proof of Mr Khan’s potent message – even from behind bars.

“There is a change, that was expressed on 8 February,” says Aleema Khanum. “Change is coming, it is in the air.”

Others say that practically, the result hasn’t changed the status quo.

“We are really where we might expect to be given past precedent,” Mr Kugelman says.

“PTI didn’t form a government, its leader is still in jail and the coalition in power is led by parties backed by the military.”

But more recently, things have certainly seemed to be looking up for Mr Khan and his supporters.

All three of the sentences handed down just before the election have fallen away, a United Nations panel declared his detention was arbitrary and Pakistan’s supreme court said PTI was an official party and should receive “reserve seats”; the seats reserved for women and non-Muslims allocated according to the proportion of seats the party has won.

But none have yet had a practical impact: Mr Khan is still in jail with new cases against his name, and the reserve seats have yet to be allocated.

His wife Bushra Bibi, whose prison sentence was dropped when the case that declared their marriage illegal was appealed, is also still in prison on new charges.

Meanwhile, the government has made it clear that it sees Mr Khan and his party as a public threat. It announced earlier this month that it intends to seek to ban PTI, despite warnings from groups like the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.

The military also shows no indication it has changed its mind. On the 9 May anniversary this year, a statement from its public relations wing said there would be no compromise with the “planners, facilitators and executioners” and nor would they be allowed to “hoodwink the law of the land”.

And it is this relationship with the military that most analysts think Mr Khan really needs to smooth out to finally escape prison.

“I think we can come up with an arrangement that gives everyone a way out and allows the system to function,” says Khan’s lawyer, Mr Raja.

Meanwhile, from jail, Mr Khan has been delivering his own messages. Aleema Khanum recently said that that he had told the military to “stay neutral… to let this country run” and called it “the backbone of Pakistan”.

It has been seen as an olive branch by some commentators, although the use of the term neutral was picked up on; when the army previously declared itself neutral by not taking sides in politics, he ridiculed the expression, saying “only an animal is neutral”.

His recent call for snap elections is a move that some see as one of his conditions to the military.

“I don’t think that’s very realistic,” says Mr Kugelman. “Over time, Khan may relent a bit. It is one of the truisms of Pakistani politics: if you want to be prime minister you need to be in the good graces, or at least not the bad graces, of the military.”

For now at least, the stalemate continues.

For the past two years, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has pledged to transform India into a high-income, developed country by 2047. India is also on course to become the world’s third largest economy in six years, according to several projections.

High-income economies have a per capita Gross National Income – total amount of money earned by a nation’s people and businesses – of $13,846 (£10,870) or more, according to the World Bank.

With a per capita income of around $2,400 (£1,885), India is among the lower middle-income countries. For some years now, many economists have been warning that India’s economy could be headed for a “middle income trap”.

This happens when a country stops being able to achieve rapid growth easily and compete with advanced economies. Economist Ardo Hannson defines it as a situation when countries “seem to get stuck in a trap where your costs are escalating and you lose competitiveness”.

A new World Bank report holds out similar fears. At the current growth rate, India will need 75 years to reach a quarter of America’s per capita income, World Development Report 2024 says. It also says more than 100 countries – including India, China, Brazil and South Africa – face “serious obstacles” that could hinder their efforts to become high-income countries in the next few decades.

Researchers looked at the numbers from 108 middle-income countries responsible for 40% of the world’s total economic output – and nearly two-thirds of global carbon emissions. They are home to three-quarters of the global population and nearly two-thirds of those in extreme poverty.

They say these countries face greater challenges in escaping the middle-income trap. These include rapidly ageing populations, rising protectionism in advanced economies and the urgent need for an accelerated energy transition.

“The battle for global economic prosperity will be largely won or lost in middle-income countries,” says Indermit Gill, chief economist of the World Bank and one of the study’s authors.

“But too many of these countries rely on outmoded strategies to become advanced economies. They depend just on investment for too long – or they switch prematurely to innovation.”

For example, the researchers say, the pace at which businesses can grow is often slow in middle-income countries.

In India, Mexico, and Peru, firms that operate for 40 years typically double in size, while in the US, they grow seven-fold in the same period. This indicates that firms in middle-income countries struggle to grow significantly, but still survive for decades. Consequently, nearly 90% of firms in India, Peru, and Mexico have fewer than five employees, with only a small fraction having 10 or more, the report says.

Mr Gill and his fellow researchers advocate a new approach: these countries need to focus on more investment, infuse new technologies from around the world and grow innovation.

South Korea exemplifies this strategy, the report says.

In 1960, its per capita income was $1,200 – it rose to $33,000 by 2023.

Initially, South Korea boosted public and private investment. In the 1970s, it shifted to an industrial policy that encouraged domestic firms to adopt foreign technology and advanced production methods.

Companies like Samsung responded. Initially a noodle-maker, Samsung began producing TV sets for domestic and regional markets by licensing technologies from Japanese firms.

This success created a demand for skilled professionals. The government increased budgets and set targets for public universities to develop these skills. Today, Samsung is a global innovator and one of the world’s largest smartphone manufacturers, the report says.

Countries like Poland and Chile followed similar paths, the report says. Poland boosted productivity by adopting Western European technologies. Chile encouraged technology transfer to drive local innovation, famously adapting Norwegian salmon farming techniques to become a top salmon exporter.

History provides enough clues about an impending middle-income trap. Researchers reveal that as countries grow wealthier, they often hit a “trap” at around 10% of US GDP per capita ($8,000 today), placing them in the middle-income range. That’s roughly in the middle of what the bank classifies as “middle-income” countries.

Since 1990, only 34 middle-income countries have transitioned to high-income status, with over a third benefiting from integration into European Union (EU) or newfound oil reserves.

Economists Raghuram Rajan and Rohit Lamba separately estimate that even at a very respectable per capita income growth rate of 4%, India’s per capita income will reach $10,000 only by 2060, which is lower than China’s level today.

“We must do better. Over the next decade, we will see a possible population dividend, that is rise in the share of our population of working age, before we, like other countries, succumb to ageing,” they write in their new book Breaking The Mould: Reimagining India’s Economic Future.

“If we can generate good employment for all our youth, we will accelerate growth and have a shot at becoming comfortably upper middle class before our population starts ageing.”

In other words, the economists wonder, “Can India become rich before it becomes old?”

Independent presidential candidate Robert F Kennedy Jr has posted a video on social media in which he admits that he dumped a dead bear cub in New York City’s Central Park in 2014.

The clip, posted to his X account on Sunday, shows him with controversial US comedian Roseanne Barr as he describes bizarre circumstances that led to an incident that mystified New Yorkers 10 years ago.

Mr Kennedy said a woman had hit and killed the bear with her car when he was driving behind her outside of the city, and he put it in his van with the intention of skinning the animal and harvesting its meat.

It appears he shared the anecdote to get ahead of a story in The New Yorker magazine published on Monday.

According to the New Yorker , Mr Kennedy was “tickled” by the discovery of the bear while on a falconry outing in upstate New York. When he discovered the bear, he loaded it onto the back of his truck.

An image included in the article shows Mr Kennedy grimacing with his hand inside the dead bear’s bloody mouth.

Citing an anonymous person with knowledge of the incident, the magazine reported that Mr Kennedy “thought it would be funny to make it look like an errant cyclist”.

The account is broadly similar to the one provided by Mr Kennedy over the weekend.

In the video, Mr Kennedy, seated with rolled-up sleeves at a table covered with food, tells Ms Barr that he was driving to meet a group of people to go falconing near Goshen, New York, 10 years ago when the bear was killed.

“I was going to skin the bear – and it was in very good condition – and I was going to put the meat in my refrigerator,” he says. “And you can do that in New York state: Get a bear tag for a roadkill bear.”

New York state does allow people to take bears killed on roads, but the law stipulates that a person has to notify law enforcement or the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation to acquire such a tag.

Mr Kennedy does not appear to have done that.

Instead, he says he continued to his falconing event, which went late into the evening, then went on to dinner at Peter Luger Steakhouse in New York City, about 75 miles (121km) south of Goshen.

“At the end of the dinner, it was late and I realised I couldn’t go home,” Mr Kennedy says. “I had to go to the airport, and the bear was in my car, and I didn’t want to leave the bear in my car because that would have been bad.”

That is when, he says, it occurred to him that there had been a series of bicycle accidents in New York and that he had an old bicycle in his car.

He tells Barr that he had the idea of staging a bike accident with the bear carcass in Central Park, which several drunk people with him endorsed. He emphasises that he had not been drinking.

“So we did that and we thought it would be amusing for whoever found it or something,” he says.

“The next day… it was on every television station. It was a front page of every paper and I turned on the TV and there was like a mile of yellow tape and 20 cop cars, there were helicopters flying, and I was like, ‘Oh my god. What did I do?'”

He then notes that a factchecker from The New Yorker had called him and asked whether he was involved in dumping the bear’s body, which appears to have prompted him to release this video.

The bear’s corpse was discovered by a woman walking her dog, according to a 2014 story written by the New York Times. It had been placed under some bushes and an abandoned bicycle, the story says.

The article said that the police’s animal cruelty squad was looking into the death, and that the New York Department of Environmental Conservation had concluded that the animal had been killed in a “motor vehicle collision” – not a bike accident.

Neither department responded to requests for comment.

The Times story was written by another member of the Kennedy family – Tatiana Schlossberg, the granddaughter of the former US president, John F Kennedy. She did not immediately respond to a request for comment about her relative.

Mr Kennedy’s confession comes as his presidential campaign appears to be struggling. His support has dwindled to single digits in polls since Kamala Harris entered the race for the Democrats.

He has also struggled to raise money and slowed his campaigning in recent weeks, though he insists he has no intention of pulling out.

• SIMPLE GUIDE: Everything you need to know about the vote
• ANALYSIS: Three ways Trump will try to end Harris honeymoon
• SWING STATES: Where the election could be won and lost
• EXPLAINER: RFK Jr and others running for president
• VOTERS: US workers in debt to buy groceries

US stock markets sank on Monday following falls in Europe and Asia as fears rose that the American economy is heading for a slowdown.

The technology-heavy Nasdaq index plummeted a further 6.3% after a sharp decline at the end of last week. The other main indexes in the US also dropped.

Stock markets in London, Paris and Frankfurt are also trading lower, while Asian markets plunged with Japan’s Nikkei 225 down 12.4% or 4,451 points in the biggest fall by points in history.

It comes as weak jobs data in the US on Friday sparked concerns about the world’s largest economy.

In the US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 2.6% while the S&P 500 dropped by 3.2% on Monday.

In Europe, the CAC-40 in Paris trimmed earlier losses but was still trading 1.7% lower while Frankfurt’s DAX slid by 2.3%.

Weaker-than-expected economic data from the US has fuelled speculation that its economy is slowing.

At the same time, the US Federal Reserve held off cutting interest rates last week in contrast to other central banks such as the Bank of England.

There has also been concern that shares in technology companies, such as those focused on artificial intelligence (AI), have been overvalued and are now facing difficulties.

Intel announced major layoffs last week as well as disappointing financial results, and there is speculation that its rival Nvidia, which makes AI chips, will delay its latest launch.

The US Nasdaq index, which contains a large number of technology firms, hit a record high last month but last week tumbled by around 10% in what is known as a “correction”.

Meanwhile, veteran US investor Warren Buffett’s firm Berkshire Hathaway revealed that it had sold about half its stake in US technology giant Apple.

As the Nikkei plunged in Japan, stock markets in Taiwan, South Korea, India, Australia, Hong Kong and Shanghai all tumbled by between 1.4% and 8%.

The yen has been strengthening against the US dollar since the Bank of Japan raised interest rates last week, making stocks in Tokyo – and Japanese goods in general – more expensive for foreign investors and buyers.

Tomochika Kitaoka, chief equity strategist at Nomura Securities, said US economic slowdown worries were “too much”.

“But the [Japanese] market did turn nervous after the Bank of Japan’s rate hike as they thought the domestic economy is not strong enough to justify the rate hike.”

Unlike other central banks, the Bank of Japan lifted interest rates last week to the highest level since the global financial crisis in 2008.

Inflation in Japan rose by more than expected in June while the economy shrank in the first three months of the year because of a weaker yen and poor household spending.

The Japanese currency has strengthened more than 10% against the US dollar over the last month.

Friday’s sharp fall in US stock prices followed weak jobs data.

In July, US employers added 114,000 roles, far fewer than expected while the unemployment rate ticked up from 4.1% to 4.3%.

The figures raised concerns that a long-running jobs boom in the US might be coming to an end.

It stoked speculation about when – and by how much – the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates.

Simon French, chief economist and head of research at Panmure Liberum, said it was not yet clear if the jobs figures were an aberration because of Hurricane Beryl in July or was a first sign that companies are hiring fewer workers.

The most recent data showed that the US economy grew at an annual rate of 2.8%.

On whether the US is heading for a slowdown, Shanti Kelemen, chief investment officer at M&G Wealth, told the BBC’s Today programme it could go either way.

“You can pick out evidence to create a positive story, you can also pick out the evidence to create a negative story,” she said.

“I don’t think it universally points to one direction yet.”

Vice-President Kamala Harris is expected to announce her running mate by Tuesday afternoon, ending two weeks of intense speculation that has gripped the US as it hurtles towards the November presidential election.

Ms Harris interviewed several top contenders in Washington DC over the weekend, including governors Josh Shapiro and Tim Walz and Senator Mark Kelly.

Her choice will join her on a whirlwind five-day tour of seven cities this week as the vice-president ramps up her campaign in key battleground states.

The most recent poll from CBS, the BBC’s US partner, shows Ms Harris and Trump in a tight race nationally, with Mr Harris holding a one-point lead over the former president.

The poll released on Sunday shows Trump and Ms Harris tied in battleground states, where the former president held a five-point lead while Mr Biden remained in the race.

Ms Harris reportedly met her vetting team – led by former US attorney general Eric Holder – over the weekend and received in-depth presentations on their findings, including potential political vulnerabilities.

She met three of those candidates – Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, Arizona Senator Mark Kelly and Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro – on Sunday.

She also had a meeting with another top contender – Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg – on Friday and is understood to have met several other candidates virtually, US media report.

Ahead of the decision, the Harris campaign was met with a flurry of lobbying efforts on behalf of – or criticising – the candidates.

Mr Shapiro, for example, has drawn sharp opposition from some progressive groups for his support of private school vouchers in Pennsylvania – a Republican-backed proposal to send $100m to families for private school tuition and school supplies – as well as his pro-Israel views.

The announcement is expected to take place ahead of a Harris campaign rally in Philadelphia on Tuesday night.

• Who might Harris pick as her running mate?
• JD Vance was once ‘never Trump’. Now he’s his running mate
• Kamala Harris formally chosen as Democratic nominee

The Philadelphia event will be followed by a string of campaign events across Wisconsin, Michigan, North Carolina, Georgia and Arizona, before ending with a campaign event in Las Vegas, Nevada on 10 August.

Trump and his running mate, JD Vance, have both suggested that Ms Harris’ choice of running mate will ultimately have no impact on the upcoming election.

In an episode of the “Full Send” podcast released on Friday, Mr Vance said that he believed that the vice-presidential choice “doesn’t really matter, as much as this hits my ego”.

“People are going to vote primarily for Donald Trump or for Kamala Harris. That’s the way these things go,” he said.

Similarly, Trump has largely shrugged off questions about Mr Harris’ choice, arguing last week that the vice-presidential role “does not have any impact”.

On Sunday, however, Trump criticised Mr Shapiro on Fox News, saying that Ms Harris could lose “her little Palestinian base” if she chooses him.

Mr Shapiro, who during his student days wrote in a college magazine that Palestinians were “too battle minded”, told reporters on Friday that he now supported a two-state solution.

• SIMPLE GUIDE: Everything you need to know about the vote
• ANALYSIS: Three ways Trump will try to end Harris honeymoon
• SWING STATES: Where the election could be won and lost
• EXPLAINER: RFK Jr and others running for president
• VOTERS: US workers in debt to buy groceries

Hurricane Debby has made landfall at the Big Bend region of Florida’s Gulf Coast, with fears of storm surges and catastrophic flooding.

The weather system strengthened into a Category One hurricane late on Sunday and came ashore near Steinhatchee on Monday morning, said the National Hurricane Center (NHC).

It is now forecast to move slowly across the state, packing 80mph winds and dumping as much as 30in (76cm) of rain as it moves north.

The fourth named storm of the season will also soak Georgia and South Carolina in the days ahead.

The slow-moving nature of the storm could mean historic amounts of rainfall, said Jamie Rhome, the deputy director of the hurricane center.

“You’re talking about catastrophic flooding.”

Already the storm’s strong winds are impacting Floridians – some 260,000 homes and businesses are without power in the state, according to PowerOutage.com.

Debby is expected to slow down dramatically on its journey across Florida as the steering flow of winds high in the atmosphere essentially collapses.

This will leave the hurricane drifting slowly out over the Atlantic as a tropical storm where it will churn over the ocean, relentlessly throwing bands of rain into south-east Georgia and the Carolinas on Tuesday and Wednesday, before moving inland over South Carolina on Thursday.

Historic rainfall is likely to lead to areas of catastrophic flooding, exacerbated by a storm surge along the coast which could leave water trapped in river systems, unable to drain into the ocean.

Ahead of the storm making landfall, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency for 61 of Florida’s 67 counties. He also said utility crews from in and out of state are ready to help restore power after the storm.

• Why modern hurricanes are slowing down

Mr DeSantis is not the only one preparing, residents across the state are readying for the worst.

Spyridon Aibejeris told USA Today repairs on his Keaton Beach home had just wrapped up two weeks ago from Hurricane Idalia, a category three storm that made landfall last summer.

“Man, I’ve done this so many times,” Mr Aibejeris said. “You just go back and see what you’ve got to do.”

“I hope I don’t have to go back to that again,” he added.

Forecasters predicted this hurricane season, which runs from 1 June to 30 November, will be a busy one.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) issued its most startling warning to date about the current season. Forecasters said there could be up to 25 named storms in 2024.

Between eight and 13 of those storms could develop into hurricanes, the NOAA said.

Hurricane Betty marks the fourth named storm of the year after Tropical Storm Alberto, Hurricane Beryl and Tropical Storm Chris.

It is thought that climate change may be making slow-moving hurricanes like this more likely.

As the world heats unevenly, this causes changes in the atmospheric circulations that steer storms across the planet.

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The sister of Marc Fogel, an American teacher imprisoned in Russia for illegal possession of cannabis, told the BBC that she wishes her brother was among those freed during the historic US-Russia prisoner swap earlier this week.

Mr Fogel, 63, was arrested at an airport in August 2021 and charged with carrying a small amount of medical marijuana, which had been prescribed in the US.

The native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, was a teacher at the Anglo-American School of Moscow.

While serving out his 14-year prison sentence, Mr Fogel has reportedly been teaching English to fellow inmates.

Anne Fogel said she last spoke to her brother on Wednesday, when their family undertook a “massive effort” to get him on the plane with the other freed US prisoners.

Reporter Evan Gershkovich, former US Marine Paul Wheelan and journalist Alsu Kurmasheva were taken to the US after they were released in the largest prisoner swap between Russia and the West since the Cold War.

Anne Fogel detailed the family’s effort in an interview with the BBC: “We were frantically calling senators and congressmen and our ambassadors, former Russian ambassadors who served there, and I had no news for him, even though he knew that something was happening.”

Anne said her brother may have been aware a prisoner swap was taking place because “they play news nonstop in the Russian penal colonies”.

“He knew that something was going on, because… Paul Whelan had been moved and Evan (Gershkovich) had been moved.”

After learning her brother was not part of the swap, she said she felt “betrayal”.

• Who are the prisoners in the swap?
• Two years, secret talks, high stakes: How deal was struck
• Biden burnishes his legacy with historic prisoner swap
• Watch: Putin hugs Russian prisoners as they arrive in Moscow

US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said on Thursday, the day of the prisoner swap, that the US was still “actively working to get his (Mark Fogel’s) release”.

When asked about the American’s case the following day, President Biden said that “we’re not giving up on that”.

Asked whether that gave her hope, Anne said: “I’m playing to whatever hope I can so yes, to a certain degree.

“The administration pulled off a masterful, incredible swap and they should be congratulated… and I’m very happy for the return of Paul and Evan and Alsu.

“I just wished my brother was among them.”

Anne said her message to the White House was: “Please, please do everything you can to get him out. He’s the oldest one there, and he’s the most infirm. Please help us.”

White House National Security Council deputy adviser, Jonathan Finer, said on CBS’ Face the Nation on Sunday that “we worked to try to get Marc included in the deal that consummated last week”.

“And we are right back at it to try to get Marc back to the United States and unite (him) with his family.”

He said that officials work on Mr Fogel’s case “every single day”.

Mr Finer declined to predict whether the American might be returned by the end of the Biden administration in January.

Mystery surrounds an American woman who was found chained to a tree “screaming” in a forest in the western Indian state of Maharashtra.

Lalita Kayi, 50, was discovered a week ago in the dense forests of Sindhudurg district after her cries for help were heard by shepherds. They alerted the police who sawed off the chain and rescued her.

Ms Kayi, who appeared completely emaciated, was taken to hospital. Her physical health has since improved and, on Friday, she was moved to a psychiatric facility for further treatment, doctors treating her told the BBC.

In a written statement to the police, she has alleged that her husband “chained her and left her in the forest to die without food or water”.

Police say they are looking for her husband in the southern state of Tamil Nadu on the basis of information she provided them.

But seven days after Ms Kayi was rescued, many questions remain unanswered.

Pandurang Gawkar, a cow herder who found her last Saturday, told BBC Marathi that he had taken his cattle to graze in the forest when he heard “a woman screaming loudly”.

“The sound was coming from the forest on the side of the mountain. When I went there, I saw that one of her legs was tied to a tree. She was screaming like an animal. I called other villagers and the local police.”

Police said that on her they found a copy of her passport, which stated that she was an American citizen, and her Aadhaar card – a unique ID for Indians – with her home address in Tamil Nadu.

They said she also had a mobile phone, a tablet and 31,000 rupees ($370; £290) in her possession – which allowed them to rule out theft as a motive.

Locals say that it was the woman’s good fortune that the shepherd picked a spot near her to graze his flock that day. The forest she was discovered in is vast and she otherwise could have gone for days without anyone hearing her cries for help.

Police initially took her to a local hospital before moving her to a hospital in the neighbouring state of Goa.

Dr Shivanand Bandekar, dean of Goa Medical College, told The Indian Express newspaper that she had some wounds on her leg and that she appeared to be suffering from a mental health condition.

“We do not know for how long she did not eat, but her vital signs are stable,” Dr Bandekar said.

On Friday, the woman’s physical health had improved enough to be moved to a psychiatric hospital in Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra state.

“Currently, her health is stable,” hospital superintendent Dr Sanghamitra Phule told BBC Marathi.

“She is taking medication, eating, and interacting with people. If she wants something, she can communicate it. She only knows English.”

According to the police, Ms Kayi was a ballet dancer and yoga practitioner in America – some reports say specifically Massachusetts – and moved to India about 10 years ago to study yoga and meditation in Tamil Nadu.

It was there that she met her husband – in some media reports, police have called him Satish. Police say they believe at some point she fell out with her husband.

Some reports say that she stayed in a hotel in Goa for two days and then travelled to Mumbai city, India’s financial capital.

But there is no clarity surrounding when or how she then ended up in the forest where she was discovered last week.

Ms Kayi, who was initially unable to speak, communicated with the police and doctors by scribbling notes on a pad. Through them she blamed her husband for tying her to the tree and claimed that she had gone without food and water for 40 days.

She also claimed that she had been given an “injection for extreme psychosis” which locked her jaw and prevented her from drinking water, and that she had to be provided nutrition intravenously.

“I am a victim and survived. But he ran away from here,” she alleged.

Police say they have been unable to verify these claims and believe it is unlikely that someone would survive without food or water for so long.

They have registered a case of attempted murder against her husband and have dispatched teams to Tamil Nadu, Goa and Maharashtra to investigate the matter further. Her husband is yet to be traced by the police and hasn’t made any statements to the media.

Police say they are also looking for clues in the mobile phone and the tablet they found on the woman.

The US embassy in Delhi – which media reports say has been “exerting pressure on the police to speed up the investigation” – has refused to comment on the case.

A spokesperson told the BBC that it could not respond to inquiries “due to the US Privacy Act”, which governs the dissemination of private information.

As the Paris gymnastics arena roared on American Simone Biles for her third gold medal of the 2024 Olympics, one of those applauding was none other than An Chang-ok, a rival from North Korea.

Saturday’s women’s vault final saw the North share a stage with its foes South Korea and the US.

An, 21, grinned and waved for TV cameras and hugged at least one fellow finalist – rare interactions with foreigners by a young woman required to perform diplomatic gymnastics while being carefully chaperoned on her trip away from home.

Pyongyang’s decision to send athletes to these Games – two of whom even posed for a selfie with rivals from the South – has raised hopes that the secretive state could be partially reopening after a particularly deep period of isolation.

After all, this comes after a heated period that has seen the North sending waste-filled balloons at the South.

• Biles takes vault title in emphatic fashion
• Other big stories from day eight of the Games
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The North’s participation in these Games signalled a “remarkable” return to the international fold, suggested Jean H Lee, a former Associated Press journalist who opened the US news agency’s first bureau in the North Korean capital, Pyongyang.

It did not send any athletes to the Tokyo Olympics, held in 2021, after the country shut itself off from the world even more sternly than usual due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

But in Paris, it was “making the effort to rejoin the international community”, Lee said, “regardless of what’s happening with their nuclear programme, which is always the elephant in the room”.

The North’s nuclear ambitions are an enduring cause of tension with the South and the US. But there was no sign of animosity between the three nations’ gymnasts on Saturday.

This new generation of North Korean athletes have claimed two silvers in Paris, and occasionally surprised sport commentators who did not know what to expect from them.

Winning medals was not the country’s only aim, according to Prof Ramon Pacheco Pardo of King’s College London, who has written extensively on the two Koreas.

The age-old North Korean art of “sports diplomacy” involved limited participation in a global forum to prove the country was normal, Prof Pacheco Pardo said. Athletes were some of the “few actors that North Korea has who won’t be viewed suspiciously” by the world, he explained.

The contrasting support for An and Biles could not have been starker. In an earlier competition during the Games in Paris, Biles was memorably cheered on by a host of celebrity supporters in the stands, including Lady Gaga, Ariana Grande, Tom Cruise and Snoop Dogg. Thousands of punters yelled her name on Saturday, too.

An, meanwhile, received only polite appreciation from the neutrals. She had no compatriots in the room, since ordinary North Koreans are prevented from leaving their country.

It is unlikely that anyone was watching at home, either, as the Games are not being televised live in North Korea, according to Radio Free Asia (RFA). And BBC Monitoring has only been able to find a handful of text reports in the tightly-controlled state media.

Nonetheless, “the chattering class of Pyongyang certainly will, from one source or another” know the Olympic results as they come in, said John Everard, the UK’s ambassador to North Korea from 2006 to 2008.

An is among 16 North Korean who athletes have come to an opulent host city that could hardly be more different to the austere Pyongyang airport in which they were filmed setting off last month.

Top North Korean athletes were likely to have some awareness of the outside world, said Everard, but there was still likely to be a “shock factor”.

One of the viral moments of the Games so far was a rare encounter that seemed to break the boundaries: when a bronze-winning South Korean table-tennis player took a selfie that showed his mixed-doubles partner posing alongside the silver-winning North Korean duo.

Would the leadership in Pyongyang have anticipated – or relished – this brief symbol of unity between two nations who are still technically at war?

Agreeing to the selfie was “a message” from the North, said Prof Pachedo Pardo, who speculated that the move would have had Pyongyang’s consent. “North Korea is indicating that it doesn’t have a problem with South Korean people – that the issue it has is with the South Korean government.”

At any rate, the moment was not totally unexpected, after something similar in 2016. And two years later, North and South fielded a joint women’s ice hockey team at the Winter Games in the South.

The selfie represents one of the North’s few visible interactions with the outside world during the Games, including a perfunctory press conference by the two table-tennis stars.

Away from the stadiums, unverified footage has appeared to show An holding a collection of pin-badges, which are reported to be an item popularly traded by international gymnasts.

After so much exposure to the Western world, the athletes will probably undergo a gruelling “debrief” after returning home to ensure they stay on-message, said Lee, who is also the co-host of the BBC World Service’s Lazarus Heist podcast.

Contrary to the myth, any athlete deemed to have “failed” would probably not be punished, the analysts agreed. But they could face gruelling “self-criticism” sessions.

“The big hit for not winning a medal isn’t so much the punishment, it’s that you don’t gain all the benefits that you could have gained,” said Everard. Victorious athletes may be given higher status in society and even prizes such as a new home.

It remains to be seen whether this latest sporting diplomacy will translate into meaningful new talks between the two Koreas. The relative bonhomie in Paris was briefly imperilled at the outset by a furore when organisers mixed up the two nations’ names in the opening ceremony, for which they apologised.

Outside the Bercy Arena after Saturday’s gymnastics, one fan from the Seoul side was not convinced the politics would change much.

But she said the sight of sportspeople sharing a stage was at least a reminder that all Koreans were united by something “human”.

When Lolita came to Australia in 2022, she was fleeing an older man she’d been forced to marry as a child in Saudi Arabia.

She told confidants she’d escaped a cycle of violence and sexual servitude so extreme it had repeatedly landed her in hospital.

But less than a year after her arrival, she vanished – last seen by a friend who claims he watched as she was taken from her apartment by a group of Saudi men in a black van.

Records show that Lolita, who is in her early 30s and goes by a single name, was put on a flight from Melbourne to Kuala Lumpur in May 2023. From there, her lawyer believes she was returned to Saudi Arabia and detained.

But Lolita’s exact whereabouts and safety – or whether she is even alive – remain unknown.

It’s far from the first time the mysterious plight of a Saudi woman fleeing her homeland has ended up in the headlines.

“What makes this case particularly compelling, compared to some other cases of Saudi women who have disappeared… or turned up dead, is that we have a witness,” says solicitor Alison Battisson.

The Saudi Arabian embassy in Canberra declined to comment. However, in a statement to the BBC, the Australian Federal Police said it became “aware” of the alleged kidnapping in June and had “started making immediate inquiries” both within the country and “offshore”.

Advocates fear Lolita’s case is part of a growing trend in Australia, in which agents of other countries are monitoring, harassing or assaulting their expats with impunity.

The government has declared foreign interference – of all forms – its “most significant” national security threat and promised a crackdown.

But Ms Battisson and other rights campaigners are questioning how a woman – who had told immigration authorities she was fleeing violence – could allegedly be snatched from her home in broad daylight.

Lolita first came to Melbourne in May 2022, according to flight records.

Although she mostly kept to herself, she soon struck up a friendship with a Sudanese refugee who had also lived in Saudi Arabia, as an undocumented migrant.

It was Ali – not his real name – who put Lolita in touch with Ms Battisson, as she had helped him with his own asylum claim.

The human rights lawyer spoke frequently with Lolita from that point onwards, describing her as a “soft spoken” woman with a clear resolve to take back her life: “She was determined this was her time.”

But their correspondence ended abruptly in May of last year, after Ms Battisson received a “strange” text message from Lolita.

“It was in much more formal language than she had ever used, and it said, ‘What is my visa status’,” she tells the BBC.

Lolita’s claim for a protection visa – for people at risk of persecution in their home country – had previously been rejected, but Ms Battisson was helping her appeal against the decision. She says that is something her client was acutely aware of, as the two discussed it frequently.

“I now believe that message was actually from the people who had taken Lolita,” Ms Battisson says. She thinks they were trying to work out whether Lolita had a permanent visa, which would have given her the right to Australian consular assistance back in Saudi Arabia.

Then came the radio silence. As the weeks turned to months, Ms Battisson knew in her gut that “something was seriously wrong”.

She couldn’t reach Ali either, which was highly unusual as the two kept in regular contact.

When Ali eventually did return Ms Battisson’s calls, her worst fears were confirmed.

He said that he had witnessed Lolita being taken, but that the incident had left him so paralysed with fear for his own family, that he’d gone to ground.

He detailed his last conversation with Lolita – a frantic phone call in which she pleaded for protection from a group of men planning to take her to Saudi Arabia.

She even sent him pictures of the bags she claimed they had forced her to pack.

Ali told Ms Battisson he rushed to her flat, but on arrival an Arabic-speaking man threatened him, using personal details that Ali believes could only have come from the Saudi embassy in Canberra.

Changing tack, he contacted a friend and asked him to go to the airport, so the two of them could “create a fuss” and get the attention of security.

But they never saw Lolita in the terminal.

“It took me a year in total to confirm she had been taken,” Ms Battisson says, the dismay in her voice palpable.

The pro-bono lawyer has since been building a paper trail to try to piece together what happened.

“We have phone records and message records of her talking about being frightened. And we also have a pattern of her moving house because of that fear,” she says.

And then there’s the recent testimony of a relative. “As far as they know, Lolita is now in a Saudi prison or detention centre,” Ms Battisson says.

Glaring gaps in the story remain, but one thing Ms Battisson is unequivocal about is that “there are simply no safe options” for Lolita in her home country.

Since becoming the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia in 2017, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has, in some ways, sought to modernise the kingdom by loosening its long-standing restrictions on women.

Crucially though, all females still require a male guardian to sign them out of prison, and in Lolita’s case, that obligation would fall to the husband she allegedly fled halfway across the world to escape.

That fact alone, Ms Battisson says, should be enough to convince Australian authorities that there is “simply no way she would have willingly gone back to Saudi Arabia”.

Around the same time Lolita came to Australia, the country was grappling with the mysterious deaths of two other Saudi women.

In June of 2022, the badly decomposed bodies of sisters Asra and Amaal Alsehli were discovered in their Western Sydney apartment.

Little is known about how they died, but police have described the case as both “suspicious” and “unusual”, and it will soon be the subject of a coronial inquest.

But according to those who witnessed their behaviour, Asra and Amaal – who travelled to Australia from Saudi Arabia in 2017 to seek asylum – were living in fear.

Reports of Saudi women turning up dead while living abroad or being dragged back to the kingdom while trying to seek asylum are not new.

High profile examples include the case of Tala Farea and Rotana Farea, two sisters who were found duct-taped together in the Hudson River in 2018 after applying for asylum in the US. Or Dina Ali Lasloom, who claims she was intercepted by her uncles during a transit in Manila Airport, while trying to flee to Australia in 2017.

In recent years, scores of Australians with Chinese, Iranian, Indian, Cambodian and Rwandan heritage have also come forward to report incidents of monitoring, harassment, or assault, by agents they believed were employed by their respective governments.

And Australia’s intelligence chief has said that more people are now “being targeted for espionage and foreign interference” inside the country “than ever before”.

“Australians need to know that the threat is real. The threat is now. And the threat is deeper and broader than you might think,” Mike Burgess said in February.

Earlier this year, a parliamentary review of national foreign interference legislation found “significant flaws in its design and implementation” and that it had “failed to achieve its intended purpose”.

In response, the government announced reforms – which it calls “world-leading” – including the establishment of a support network to help diaspora communities identify and report suspicious behaviour, and a permanent foreign interference task force.

“These are complex problems, and we’re constantly working with our agencies to… protect vulnerable people,” Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil said in a statement about the measures.

But it is too early to assess how effective the changes will prove.

It is not, however, too late for the government to help Lolita, Ms Battisson argues. They could issue her a visa and help her return to Australia, a decision that would fall to the Immigration Minister, Tony Burke.

“As a country now, we have the opportunity to ensure that a victim of gendered violence is finally safe,” she says.

“All women deserve a safe environment in which to flourish, which is what Lolita was doing before she was taken.”

Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan has now been behind bars for a year – although there are times you would barely know it.

Mr Khan is still the dominant force of Pakistan’s opposition politics; his name still in the papers and the courts. His social media supporters have been unrelenting.

With no public appearances, the few people allowed in to see the former cricket star regularly – his lawyers and family – have become his conduit for messages to the outside world. They are keen to push the message that his 365 days behind bars have left him unbowed.

“There is still a swagger about him,” Aleema Khanum, Imran Khan’s sister, says. “He’s got no needs, no wants – only a cause.”

According to those who visit him, Mr Khan spends his days on his exercise bike, reading and reflecting. He has an hour a day to walk around the courtyard. There have been occasional disagreements about how quickly the family can provide him with new books.

“He has said ‘I’m not wasting a minute of my time in jail, it’s an opportunity for me to get more knowledge’,” Ms Khanum tells the BBC.

But the fact is Mr Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi are still trapped in prison, with no sign they will be released any time soon.

According to some, this is not a surprise.

“There was no expectation that Mr Khan was going to do anything that would make it easy for him to get out of jail,” says Michael Kugelman, director of the South Asia Institute at the Wilson Centre think tank in Washington.

And the military – Pakistan’s powerful behind-the-scenes player – “don’t ease up when they decide there’s a political figure that they want to lock up”, says Mr Kugelman. “That has especially been the case with Khan.”

Indeed, the military has been key to many of the ups and downs of Mr Khan’s life in the last decade. Many analysts believe it was his initial close relationship with the military establishment which helped him win power.

But by 9 May last year, that was in tatters. Mr Khan – who had been ousted from power in a vote of no confidence in 2022 – had been arrested, and his supporters came out to protest.

Some of those protests turned violent, and there were attacks on military buildings – including the official residence of the most senior army official in Lahore which was looted and set alight.

In the aftermath, BBC sources said Pakistan’s media companies had been told to stop showing his picture, saying his name or playing his voice.

Mr Khan was released – but ultimately only for a few months.

He was jailed again on 5 August for failing to correctly declare the sale of state gifts – and that was just the start.

In the run-up to the election, the cases against him mounted; by the start of February – just days before the vote – the 71-year-old had acquired three long prison sentences, the last for 14 years.

By the election, many of the candidates standing for Mr Khan’s PTI party were also in prison or in hiding, the party stripped of its well-recognised symbol of a cricket bat – a vital identifier in a country with a 58% literacy rate.

Despite this, “we were determined and wanted to make a statement”, Salman Akram Raja, Mr Khan’s lawyer and a candidate in the election, says.

“It was very constrained, many couldn’t campaign at all. The loss of the cricket bat symbol was the body blow.”

All candidates stood as independents, but hopes – even within the party – weren’t high.

Yet candidates backed by Imran Khan won more seats than anyone else, forcing his political rivals to form an alliance to block them. The PTI, meanwhile, was left to fight for many of their seats in court, alleging the results were rigged.

Supporters see the election on 8 February as a turning point, proof of Mr Khan’s potent message – even from behind bars.

“There is a change, that was expressed on 8 February,” says Aleema Khanum. “Change is coming, it is in the air.”

Others say that practically, the result hasn’t changed the status quo.

“We are really where we might expect to be given past precedent,” Mr Kugelman says.

“PTI didn’t form a government, its leader is still in jail and the coalition in power is led by parties backed by the military.”

But more recently, things have certainly seemed to be looking up for Mr Khan and his supporters.

All three of the sentences handed down just before the election have fallen away, a United Nations panel declared his detention was arbitrary and Pakistan’s supreme court said PTI was an official party and should receive “reserve seats”; the seats reserved for women and non-Muslims allocated according to the proportion of seats the party has won.

But none have yet had a practical impact: Mr Khan is still in jail with new cases against his name, and the reserve seats have yet to be allocated.

His wife Bushra Bibi, whose prison sentence was dropped when the case that declared their marriage illegal was appealed, is also still in prison on new charges.

Meanwhile, the government has made it clear that it sees Mr Khan and his party as a public threat. It announced earlier this month that it intends to seek to ban PTI, despite warnings from groups like the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.

The military also shows no indication it has changed its mind. On the 9 May anniversary this year, a statement from its public relations wing said there would be no compromise with the “planners, facilitators and executioners” and nor would they be allowed to “hoodwink the law of the land”.

And it is this relationship with the military that most analysts think Mr Khan really needs to smooth out to finally escape prison.

“I think we can come up with an arrangement that gives everyone a way out and allows the system to function,” says Khan’s lawyer, Mr Raja.

Meanwhile, from jail, Mr Khan has been delivering his own messages. Aleema Khanum recently said that that he had told the military to “stay neutral… to let this country run” and called it “the backbone of Pakistan”.

It has been seen as an olive branch by some commentators, although the use of the term neutral was picked up on; when the army previously declared itself neutral by not taking sides in politics, he ridiculed the expression, saying “only an animal is neutral”.

His recent call for snap elections is a move that some see as one of his conditions to the military.

“I don’t think that’s very realistic,” says Mr Kugelman. “Over time, Khan may relent a bit. It is one of the truisms of Pakistani politics: if you want to be prime minister you need to be in the good graces, or at least not the bad graces, of the military.”

For now at least, the stalemate continues.

Something remarkable has happened to A23a, the world’s biggest iceberg.

For months now it has been spinning on the spot just north of Antarctica when really it should be racing along with Earth’s most powerful ocean current.

Scientists say the frozen block, which is more than twice the size of Greater London, has been captured on top of a huge rotating cylinder of water.

It’s a phenomenon oceanographers call a Taylor Column – and it’s possible A23a might not escape its jailer for years.

“Usually you think of icebergs as being transient things; they fragment and melt away. But not this one,” observed polar expert Prof Mark Brandon.

“A23a is the iceberg that just refuses to die,” the Open University researcher told BBC News.

The berg’s longevity is well documented. It broke free from the Antarctic coastline way back in 1986, but then almost immediately got stuck in the bottom-muds of the Weddell Sea.

For three decades it was a static “ice island”. It didn’t budge. It wasn’t until 2020 that it re-floated and started to drift again, slowly at first, before then charging north towards warmer air and waters.

In early April this year, A23a stepped into the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) – a juggernaut that moves a hundred times as much water around the globe as all Earth’s rivers combined.

This was meant to put boosters on the near-trillion-tonne berg, rifling it up into the South Atlantic and certain oblivion.

Instead, A23a went precisely nowhere. It remains in place just north of South Orkney Islands, turning in an anti-clockwise direction by about 15 degrees a day. And as long as it does this, its decay and eventual demise will be delayed.

A23a has not grounded again; there is at least a thousand metres of water between its underside and the seafloor.

It’s been stopped in its tracks by a type of vortex first described in the 1920s by a brilliant physicist, Sir G.I. (Geoffrey Ingram) Taylor.

The Cambridge academic was a pioneer in the field of fluid dynamics, and was even brought into the Manhattan Project to model the likely stability of the world’s first atomic bomb test.

Prof Taylor showed how a current that meets an obstruction on the seafloor can – under the right circumstances – separate into two distinct flows, generating a full-depth mass of rotating water between them.

In this instance, the obstruction is a 100km-wide bump on the ocean bottom known as Pirie Bank. The vortex sits on top of the bank, and for now A23a is its prisoner.

“The ocean is full of surprises, and this dynamical feature is one of the cutest you’ll ever see,” said Prof Mike Meredith from the British Antarctic Survey.

“Taylor Columns can also form in the air; you see them in the movement of clouds above mountains. They can be just a few centimetres across in an experimental laboratory tank or absolutely enormous as in this case where the column has a giant iceberg slap-bang in the middle of it.”

How long might A23a continue to perform its spinning-top routine?

Who knows, but when Prof Meredith placed a scientific buoy in a Taylor Column above another bump to the east of Pirie Bank, the floating instrument was still rotating in place four years later.

A23a is a perfect illustration once again of the importance of understanding the shape of the seafloor.

Submarine mountains, canyons and slopes have a profound influence on the direction and mixing of waters, and on the distribution of the nutrients that drive biological activity in the ocean.

And this influence extends also to the climate system: it’s the mass movement of water that helps disperse heat energy around the globe.

A23a’s behaviour can be explained because the ocean bottom just north of South Orkney is reasonably well surveyed.

That’s not the case for much of the rest of the world.

Currently, only a quarter of Earth’s seafloor has been mapped to the best modern standard.

For the past two years, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has pledged to transform India into a high-income, developed country by 2047. India is also on course to become the world’s third largest economy in six years, according to several projections.

High-income economies have a per capita Gross National Income – total amount of money earned by a nation’s people and businesses – of $13,846 (£10,870) or more, according to the World Bank.

With a per capita income of around $2,400 (£1,885), India is among the lower middle-income countries. For some years now, many economists have been warning that India’s economy could be headed for a “middle income trap”.

This happens when a country stops being able to achieve rapid growth easily and compete with advanced economies. Economist Ardo Hannson defines it as a situation when countries “seem to get stuck in a trap where your costs are escalating and you lose competitiveness”.

A new World Bank report holds out similar fears. At the current growth rate, India will need 75 years to reach a quarter of America’s per capita income, World Development Report 2024 says. It also says more than 100 countries – including India, China, Brazil and South Africa – face “serious obstacles” that could hinder their efforts to become high-income countries in the next few decades.

Researchers looked at the numbers from 108 middle-income countries responsible for 40% of the world’s total economic output – and nearly two-thirds of global carbon emissions. They are home to three-quarters of the global population and nearly two-thirds of those in extreme poverty.

They say these countries face greater challenges in escaping the middle-income trap. These include rapidly ageing populations, rising protectionism in advanced economies and the urgent need for an accelerated energy transition.

“The battle for global economic prosperity will be largely won or lost in middle-income countries,” says Indermit Gill, chief economist of the World Bank and one of the study’s authors.

“But too many of these countries rely on outmoded strategies to become advanced economies. They depend just on investment for too long – or they switch prematurely to innovation.”

For example, the researchers say, the pace at which businesses can grow is often slow in middle-income countries.

In India, Mexico, and Peru, firms that operate for 40 years typically double in size, while in the US, they grow seven-fold in the same period. This indicates that firms in middle-income countries struggle to grow significantly, but still survive for decades. Consequently, nearly 90% of firms in India, Peru, and Mexico have fewer than five employees, with only a small fraction having 10 or more, the report says.

Mr Gill and his fellow researchers advocate a new approach: these countries need to focus on more investment, infuse new technologies from around the world and grow innovation.

South Korea exemplifies this strategy, the report says.

In 1960, its per capita income was $1,200 – it rose to $33,000 by 2023.

Initially, South Korea boosted public and private investment. In the 1970s, it shifted to an industrial policy that encouraged domestic firms to adopt foreign technology and advanced production methods.

Companies like Samsung responded. Initially a noodle-maker, Samsung began producing TV sets for domestic and regional markets by licensing technologies from Japanese firms.

This success created a demand for skilled professionals. The government increased budgets and set targets for public universities to develop these skills. Today, Samsung is a global innovator and one of the world’s largest smartphone manufacturers, the report says.

Countries like Poland and Chile followed similar paths, the report says. Poland boosted productivity by adopting Western European technologies. Chile encouraged technology transfer to drive local innovation, famously adapting Norwegian salmon farming techniques to become a top salmon exporter.

History provides enough clues about an impending middle-income trap. Researchers reveal that as countries grow wealthier, they often hit a “trap” at around 10% of US GDP per capita ($8,000 today), placing them in the middle-income range. That’s roughly in the middle of what the bank classifies as “middle-income” countries.

Since 1990, only 34 middle-income countries have transitioned to high-income status, with over a third benefiting from integration into European Union (EU) or newfound oil reserves.

Economists Raghuram Rajan and Rohit Lamba separately estimate that even at a very respectable per capita income growth rate of 4%, India’s per capita income will reach $10,000 only by 2060, which is lower than China’s level today.

“We must do better. Over the next decade, we will see a possible population dividend, that is rise in the share of our population of working age, before we, like other countries, succumb to ageing,” they write in their new book Breaking The Mould: Reimagining India’s Economic Future.

“If we can generate good employment for all our youth, we will accelerate growth and have a shot at becoming comfortably upper middle class before our population starts ageing.”

In other words, the economists wonder, “Can India become rich before it becomes old?”

When Graeme Carroll started taking pictures of birds during the coronavirus pandemic, he found a natural affinity with both the art and his avian subjects. He shared some of the secrets of his success with the BBC (but don’t expect him to reveal his best locations).

Graeme suddenly stops talking mid-sentence and grabs the camera that permanently hangs on a strap from around his neck.

He crouches and points his long, camouflage-clad lens at a sudden frenzy of movement in the ferns beside the footpath.

“I’m sure it’s a wren,” he whispers.

Suddenly, the foliage stops flittering and the chirping that had accompanied it ceases. The bird has clearly gone, evading Graeme’s Sony A1 camera.

Wrens “are very flighty,” he says with a laugh.

On another day he might set up a stool and sit there for a while to see if it returns, but we’ve got other sites to scout.

Over the past four years, Graeme has become something of an expert in birds and spends many hours trying to find the best spots to see them in his native Durham dales.

“You have got to put the time in,” he says, as we push through waist-high ferns beside the Bollihope Burn, the beck that weaves through a small valley of old mine workings sandwiched between Weardale and Teesdale.

“It’s always luck when you get a good picture of a bird, but there are things you can to do to increase the chances of that good luck.”

This is one of his favourite bird-watching spots and one he is happy to share, chiefly because it is already well-known to many “twitchers and toggers”, bird watchers and photographers.

He is very protective of his sites and guards their locations fiercely, fearful that they could be spoiled and his beloved birds disturbed if the wrong people find out where they are.

For Graeme, part of the fun and satisfaction is getting a shot of a truly wild creature going about its business.

There is one spot he likes near Muggleswick where he can lie on his back among the heather and watch the red kites soar above him.

Above us swallows dart through the air, Graeme takes a picture of a damsel fly and the brook to our side continues to babble.

He really wants to find the stonechat which he knows frequent the valley, but they prove elusive – for now.

He has already got a good shot of a dipper, achieved by crawling on his belly to the side of the beck to snap away on his silent camera as the little bird skipped over the pebbles.

We reach an enclosure, where Graeme once took a bucket-list picture of a cuckoo mid-song as it perched on a dead tree.

He had scouted the spot for three years waiting to see the bird, so was delighted when it finally paid off, research being a key part of his process to get the best shots.

Cutting our losses with the stonechats, we head back to his car and on to the road over the moors to Teesdale.

Up to 80% of his time is spent in the car; some of his best shots are from his red Mazda.

He spends hours crawling along country lanes, his front windows down so as to not obscure any potential photo opportunity and his camera, fitted with a 200-600m lens, within easy reach on the passenger seat.

Graeme is, he says, a very “irritating” driver, but mindful of that, he always pulls over to let other motorists pass.

He constantly scans the skies for circling silhouettes and fence posts and branches for those that may be perched.

The first U-turn of the day came on our way to Bollihope from his home in Wolsingham, an abrupt about-face after he saw a kestrel sitting atop one of the large red and white poles used to mark the edge of the road in the winter snows.

The second arrives about 10 miles (16km) later as we crest a hill and start our descent into Middleton-in-Teesdale.

As we pass the gateway to a farm, Graeme lets out a cry.

“A curlew,” he says, and I just glimpse its long curved beak as we pass.

He swings the car round, exclaiming: “You don’t normally see them here at this time of the year. They and the lapwings are usually gone by now.”

Thankfully, it is still sitting on the gate post when Graeme pulls up and he takes a flurry of shots.

Birds are more bothered by people than cars, Graeme says, adding he can drive pretty close without disturbing them.

Keeping the disturbance of the birds to a minimum is key for Graeme, who describes himself as an “ethical photographer” who follows the birdwatcher’s code.

He won’t use baits or bird calls to try and lure his subjects (the latter being illegal for a number of species), and once he has got a picture he will leave so as to not deter a bird from hunting if it has found a place it likes.

The fun is in scouting out and researching an area to try and find the birds in their natural habitat.

It all started for Graeme during the coronavirus pandemic when his hobby of playing music for several bands, including a Deep Purple tribute act, was curtailed by the cancellation of gigs.

Graeme, who works as a website administrator for Durham County Council, needed something new to occupy him so started taking pictures of the birds visiting the feeder in his garden.

That migrated to going out for walks to take pictures of other birds and he quickly became obsessed.

“I don’t do things by halves,” he says with another laugh, recounting how he spent hours watching online tutorials to learn how to identify birds and get the best out of his new camera, which he normally has set to 30 frames a second with manual controls.

“I cannot emphasise it enough, you have got to learn how to use the gear,” he says.

Fractions of a second count and he can change apertures and focuses with a flick of his finger without taking his eyes from his quarry.

For every two or three pictures he shares on his social media or looks to sell as a print, he has probably taken up to 800, he says.

With the curlew added to his collection, we move on to Graeme’s “secret road”, one of his most-prized locations for spotting all manner of feathered friends.

We don’t see the owls he has encountered along here before, and our excitement at thinking we have spotted a meadow pipit perched on a post is rapidly doused when we realise it is just a splinter out of the wood.

But then suddenly, Graeme’s efforts pay off as we sight a stonechat, the feathered fiend who had evaded us earlier, sitting happily atop a fence post.

The adult male poses obligingly as Graeme snaps away, then moments later we see a juvenile with a caterpillar hanging from its mouth that delights Graeme even more.

As we head back into Weardale, Graeme turns off on to a side road where, he says with a mischievous laugh, we are guaranteed to find an “incredibly large bird”.

The reason for his mirth becomes apparent when we round a bend and see three peacocks swaggering around next to an old stone farmhouse.

“They are always here and are practically feral,” he says as we drive by.

We pass through the market town of Stanhope and up the steep Crawleyside Bank to the moors beyond and, after spotting red kites circling near Edmundbyers, our final stop lies near three old oak trees close to Muggleswick.

We wait in the hopes of seeing a little owl that Graeme has photographed before.

His longest stake out was a nine-hour watch for a black-crowned night heron near Wakefield, which he finally saw for three or four seconds.

“Of course it was worth it,” he says with full sincerity.

His favourite birds are the grey herons found on and around the River Wear, and the short-eared owls he has seen at several spots, including his secret road.

He also adores green woodpeckers having become infatuated with one of his grandfather’s table mats which featured an illustration of one.

There is a small population in the woods of Auckland Castle in Bishop Auckland but he is yet to photograph them, he says, although they are very much on his list.

As we watch the oaks, there is a moment of excitement when a flock of crows suddenly take flight, suggesting there is a predator, such as an owl, about.

But we fail to see what excited them and decide to call it quits, the midday sun now too bright to take a good picture in even if the birds are still around, which is not so likely at this time of the day.

“Welcome to my world,” he says with another laugh as we head back to Wolsingham where he will edit some of today’s shots.

“I just love it,” he says. “I like the peace.

“I spend my day at a computer, getting out into the beautiful County Durham countryside is fantastic for my mental health.

“I am addicted and I do have some missed opportunities that still haunt me, but I can laugh it off.

“Every time you go out you can see something different, and you can always take a better picture.”

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At the age of 23, Nigerian musician Udoh Ebaide Joy survived a traumatic car accident.

It damaged her spinal cord and for months she could not get around without a wheelchair.

But alongside the pain, Ms Joy felt an overwhelming sense of clarity.

“It made me decide that I will live my life to the fullest,” she told the BBC’s Africa Daily podcast.

In the time since she recovered, Ms Joy has put her energy – and all her savings – into travelling, even converting a 1980s Nissan van into a home on wheels.

But Ms Joy’s greatest adventure took place this year when, at the age of 32, she became the first documented black African woman to travel solo from East to West Africa on a motorcycle.

The Afrobeats singer did a 9,000km (5,600 miles) trip from the Kenyan city of Mombasa to Lagos in Nigeria, and she spent more than three months travelling.

Along the way she experienced gorgeous scenery, visa problems, an underground community of African bikers, lone rides through “scary” forests and an epic, tear-jerking homecoming celebration.

“Being alone and travelling on those roads, not understanding the language, I was always travelling with fear, which was good because my fears keep me alive,” she says.

The journey began earlier this year when Ms Joy flew to Kenya and bought a 250cc motorbike, which she named Rory.

Having never even ridden a standard bicycle, let alone a motorbike, she took a one-week training course in the capital, Nairobi, to prepare for her adventure.

Then, on 8 March, Ms Joy embarked on her odyssey through Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, Zambia, Angola, the Republic of Congo, Cameroon and Nigeria.

She opted to avoid the Democratic Republic of Congo because of conflict in the east and other safety issues, as well as the poor condition of the roads.

Kenya was the perfect starting point – “the people, the friendliness” were second to none, she says.

The “crazy” roads of Kampala, Uganda’s capital, naturally threw her a few challenges.

However after this experience, she rode to her next destination – Rwanda, and was very impressed by its “seamless” border crossing.

When entering numerous other countries Ms Joy faced extra costs, bureaucracy and hours-long delays.

But Rwanda is one of the few nations on the continent with visa-free travel for all Africans.

It was also “a motorcyclist’s dream” – its mountainous terrain was perfect for practising how to lean from side to side while riding. This was something Ms Joy truly embraced and enjoyed.

Tanzania provided the most memorable meal of Ms Joy’s trip.

After riding for several hours without seeing a single person, she encountered a village in the middle of a forest. Local women at an eatery served a hungry Ms Joy some soup, a huge platter of roasted chicken, and a bowl of fluffy white rice.

“They were fascinated by a girl on a motorcycle and interested in my bad Swahili,” she laughs. “The conversation was so sweet, it just felt good to eat and to see people.”

Along with curious locals, Ms Joy encountered many sites of cultural significance and natural beauty on her trip. She was enthralled by the Victoria Falls on the Zambia-Zimbabwe border.

“It felt great! I’d heard about Victoria Falls forever – for heaven’s sake, it’s one of the seven [natural] wonders in our own universe,” she says.

She met bikers from various countries on her trip, and they joined her for short legs of her journey, recommending where to stay or eat.

An app for bikers also proved invaluable, allowing her to get tips and other advice.

When she started out Ms Joy had intended to camp at night by the roadsides, but soon gave up on the idea as unsafe – and half-way through her journey sent her tent and other camping equipment back home to reduce her baggage.

From Kampala onwards she stayed in cheap hotels – sometimes staying a few days in one place to explore.

“On days I rode, I did at least 300km,” she said, explaining she would often ride overnight.

In Angola, bikers threw her a party – to celebrate the journey she had taken so far.

“It’s a small community,” she says. “No matter where you are, if you get the right connection, you can meet any biker anywhere.”

Those without the ability – or inclination – to jump on a bike and ride alongside Ms Joy, were able to travel with her virtually.

She posted dozens of slick mini-vlogs on social media, captivating viewers across the world with her humour and honesty.

When she had an internet connection, she would send her recordings to someone back home, who would edit the footage and post videos for her.

By the end of the trip, she had reached more than 100,000 followers on Instagram.

Many of these supporters were women, who were proud to see Ms Joy overcoming gender-based stereotypes.

She showed the world she was a woman on a bike, fulfilling her own adventure, doing something for herself.

“Thank you for showing the WORLD how amazing women can be!” one commented.

Ms Joy did not face any discrimination whilst meeting people on her journey.

“People ask about the negativities, but I have not experienced the negatives,” she says.

“Yes, people are fascinated about a girl on a bike, but I’ve not had any bad experiences.”

The positivity she encountered throughout the journey peaked when she reached her final destination – Lagos, the main city in Nigeria.

Fellow bikers and other members of the public crowded the street to give her a hero’s welcome in an event organised by Nigeria’s arts and culture ministry.

“When I arrived, I couldn’t hold back my tears. People were dancing and cheering. I couldn’t contain my excitement,” Ms Joy remembers.

After sleeping “non-stop for three days”, she concludes that the trek changed her outlook on life.

“The trip taught me that I am resilient and tenacious enough to overcome any challenge that life throws at me,” she says.

“I had the best time of my life.”

She has no plans to hang up her leathers though. In just over a month, she will set off on a journey from Nigeria to Morocco.

Biking is a “lifetime lesson”, she explains – it has taken her to the most sublime places and introduced her to the most wonderful people.

• LISTEN: Udoh Ebaide Joy talks to Africa Daily
• Trekking 10,000km across Africa for a football match
• ‘Born to be wild’: Kenya’s female biker gang

The BBC has begun to remove Huw Edwards from some of its archive footage after the former broadcaster pleaded guilty to making indecent images of children.

It is starting with family and entertainment content on iPlayer, according to the Observer which first reported on the move.

Until last year, Edwards was one of the main presenters on BBC One’s News at Ten and often fronted coverage of major national events.

“As you would expect we are actively considering the availability of our archive,” a BBC spokesperson said.

“While we don’t routinely delete content from the BBC archive as it is a matter of historical record, we do consider the continued use and re-use of material on a case-by-case basis.”

Edwards resigned from the BBC in April citing medical advice. On Wednesday, he admitted having 41 indecent images of children, which had been sent to him by another man on WhatsApp.

The Observer claimed that the removal of certain content was aimed at “protecting audiences from repeats of Edwards’ most visible work in news and on state occasions”, including the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II.

A Doctor Who episode featuring Edwards’ voice has already been removed from iPlayer.

The episode from 2006 features David Tennant and Billie Piper as the Doctor and his companion Rose Tyler. The pair travel to the future to the London 2012 Olympics where Edwards’ voice is heard as part of a televised BBC news report.

A mural of the former newsreader in the presenter’s home village of Llangennech, Carmarthenshire has also been removed.

Artist Steve Jenkins, 50, painted over the portrait on Tuesday after it was announced Edwards had been charged.

Cardiff council has also removed a plaque honouring Edwards at Cardiff Castle.

In a separate development, The Sunday Times has revealed that a woman who complained to the BBC about Edwards twice is having therapy paid for by the corporation.

The newspaper says the woman, a member of the public called Rachel, struck up a friendship with Huw Edwards in 2018 over social media.

In 2021, Rachel complained about Edwards, alleging the relationship was becoming “toxic”. She complained about him again the following year.

She retracted both her complaints. Nevertheless, the newspaper reports that the BBC warned Edwards about his behaviour and told him to stop contacting her, but he did not.

After an investigation into its handling of Rachel’s complaints, the BBC admitted shortcomings in its processes. It is still paying for Rachel’s therapy.

A BBC Spokesperson said: “If a complaint is made, or concern raised, about how the BBC handles such a complaint then we always investigate thoroughly, provide support to those involved and be as transparent as possible in relation to our work, findings and any resolution.”

It has also emerged that the BBC board, which oversees the running of the corporation, has asked executives for two briefing papers covering their response to Edwards’ arrest in November and the internal disciplinary process he faced.

Milla Magee was crowned Miss England in May with some reports calling her the first plus size Miss England.

The 23-year-old said whatever your size “it doesn’t matter” and she wants to use her reign to spread the message.

She lives in Newquay in Cornwall, but grew up in London where she was surrounded by rock ‘n’ roll, with a mum who worked at Creation Records, the label of Oasis and Primal Scream.

Her godmother is Noel Gallagher’s ex-wife Meg Matthews, and Milla was “trying to conform to the lifestyle”.

“I went to an all-girls school and I think that’s where the struggle started,” she said.

“A lot of the other girls were petite and small.

“It’s not in my bone structure to look like that but I tried to conform to that because it’s what society told me I had to look like.”

What followed was body dysmorphia, a condition which causes people to believe they are extremely ugly.

She said: “And then I just it dawned on me, I thought, ‘no, I will make it my style’.”

Looking back to curvy beauties of the past such as Marilyn Monroe was her inspiration.

“We had role models of women back in the day, like the gorgeous Marilyn Monroe, who was curvaceous, or models like Naomi Campbell, who are very tall and athletically built,” she said.

“And they’re so beautiful, and embrace their looks.

“It’s about embracing whatever we’ve been born with and it’s still beautiful.”

Now, winning the Miss England title as the only size 16 in the line-up, she wants to be “that representative that I wish I had”.

What also helped her shun the demands of the body perfect was surfing on trips down from London and in Newquay where she has lived since she was 16.

“Surfing saved my life because at that time living in London I struggled a lot mentally and that was trying to conform to the lifestyle that I was born into,” she said.

“It was a very different lifestyle to the way I live now.

“I was trying to conform to my surroundings because we’ve got this image of what men and women should look like.

“But if you’re passionate and stay true to yourself, if you’re kind and humble that’s all that matters.”

She took this body positive message all the way to the podium when she was crowned Miss England in May.

She accepted there was still a tension between what was perceived by many as a beauty contest and shunning body stereotypes, but urges a different outlook on the contest.

She said rather than being a beauty contest the ethos of Miss England is now “beauty with a purpose”.

“I wanted to be part of the movement to change perspective on these so-called pageants,” she said.

“It’s evolved so much with women from all walks of life coming together.

“We’ve had firefighters, we’ve had lawyers, we’ve had doctors, myself as the first surfer and lifeguard to represent.

“You can’t not be inspired by the women around you. It’s not about the physical on the outside, it’s about beauty from the inside.”

Did she mention lifeguard?

Yes, she trained at Fistral in Newquay and is taking it further with her campaign Go Far with CPR – which calls for the teaching of the resuscitation technique CPR to be compulsory in schools.

“It’s a skill that you can do wherever you are in the world, but it is the difference between life and death,” she said.

“Both of my grandfathers passed away before I was born due to heart attacks.”

Back at Fistral, she is on a mission to spread the word all the way to the Miss World event next year.

“I feel like if I can use my voice and use this opportunity, not only to represent… represent our beautiful country, but also use my voice for positive change and for good, that is what my purpose is,” she said.

“If I can be a representative to all those young girls who look at me and think that they can relate to that, then I’ve done my job,” she said.

X (formerly Twitter)

“Hopefully the fans will be happy because we’re trying to be as loyal to the source material as we can be.”

The season finale of House of the Dragon, a prequel to Game of Thrones, airs on Sunday, with millions of fantasy fanatics expected to tune in.

Based on George RR Martin’s novel, A Song of Ice and Fire, the HBO drama sees fiery beasts, battles and family feuds take centre stage.

Behind the photo-realistic visual effects and intricate plots lies an immense effort in production with the show’s costumes captivating audiences and critics.

Emmy award-winning designer Caroline McCall from Portadown in County Armagh joined the show for its second season and plays a crucial role in bringing the fictional kingdom of Westeros to life.

Fresh from her work on the BBC and HBO’s fantasy drama His Dark Materials, Caroline said she was “really excited to try to get my teeth stuck into another one”.

“I was excited by the scale of it, and slightly apprehensive when I got the job… [House of the Dragon] is a huge show with an amazing scope of design as a costume designer,” she told BBC News NI.

“I was very excited to get the opportunity to pitch for the job.”

Caroline was hired to replace renowned designer Jany Temime – best known for her work on the Harry Potter film series – who she said built a strong foundation for the series.

“I had the benefit that there was already a really great costume team on board,” she said.

“A lot of the team already knew the workings of the show, so that was really helpful.”

Born in County Armagh, Caroline found early inspiration at Belfast’s Grand Opera House where theatre productions sparked her interest in costume design from a young age.

After studying a foundation course at Ulster University, she then embarked on a three-year costume degree at Wimbledon College of Arts in London.

She then trained with the BBC, climbing her way up the industry before winning an Emmy in 2011 for her work on period drama Downton Abbey.

This summer, she is celebrating her 25th year in the film industry, during which she has witnessed significant changes back home.

Game of Thrones was primarily filmed on location in Northern Ireland and has sparked a film boom there.

“I’m rather jealous that there’s an industry now,” she said.

“I think it’s fantastic that it’s so well established. I have several team members from Northern Ireland who trained on Thrones.”

House of the Dragon is set 200 years before Game Of Thrones, and follows the fortunes of the Targaryens – a noble family with the power to control dragons.

With hundreds of costumes to oversee, where does a designer begin?

“It’s huge,” Caroline said.

“The fans of the show, and particularly those who have read the books, have got very firm ideas of how things should be.

“The politics and the economics of these places have changed between our show and Game Of Thrones.

“To dress people accordingly, basically in a redefined Westeros, was quite something to get my head around.”

In season two, the houses have separated, “so there’s a natural reason to redesign quite a lot of the principle characters”, Caroline explained.

Her research spanned “thousands of years of history” as she drew inspiration from cultures including the Roman and Byzantine Empires and the Mayans.

“I took all this reference and sort of divvied it up in to what aesthetically worked for each house,” she said.

“For example, the Targaryen look, it’s sort of brutalist in style, in terms of its adornment and embroidery, it’s more abstract, whereas the folks at Kings Landing are more naturalistic.”

With a team of up to 300 people, costumes are painstakingly dyed, printed and decorated, often taking months to complete.

The first series of House of the Dragon, much like its predecessor, faced some criticism for its dark cinematography, something that showrunner Ryan Condal has acknowledged and adjusted.

“We went into season two very conscious of that feedback,” he told The Hollywood Reporter.

The cinematography is something Caroline was very aware of as she produced her garments.

“We tried before filming to look at colours on camera and in the environments that they would be in, to sort of make sure the greens were reading green or the blues were reading blue,” she said.

“Some of the sets are really dark, and they should be, Dragonstone and Harrenhal don’t have a lot of natural light coming in.”

House of the Dragon was one of the few US productions that continued to shoot during the Hollywood writers’ and actors’ strikes.

For almost three months in 2023, industry writers and actors walked out in a dispute over fair pay and the use of artificial intelligence in the industry.

But the House of the Dragon cast did not take part because the show was mainly filmed in the UK under contracts overseen by British union Equity, rather than its striking US counterpart the Screen Actors Guild.

The show’s writer Ryan Condal previously told the BBC it was a “fraught period”, but a “great privilege” to keep the cast and crew employed.

So what’s next for the designer, and the House of the Dragon?

With details on season three kept tight-lipped, Caroline revealed that she will once again be working on the show, which she said will be her main focus for the next 14 months – albeit with a brief break for award season next year, one would assume.

Could the show repeat previous successes at the Baftas, Golden Globes or Costume Designers Guild Awards? It’s not something the designer has given much thought.

“You just have to do your best work and it all depends on what other productions are out…there’s an awful lot of fantasy and science fiction shows out this year,” she said.

“We’ll see.”

On a crisp September night in 1943, a woman boarded a warplane ready to return to Poland to fight the Nazis, a parachute strapped to her back and a blue dress beneath her flight suit.

Elżbieta Zawacka had arrived in the UK in May following a perilous journey lasting several months across 1,000 miles of occupied territory.

Branded “the captain in a skirt” and “a militant female dictator” as she confronted those in charge in London, her efforts would transform the status of women in the Polish Home Army, helping to save thousands of lives.

On her return to her homeland, and having played a major role in the largest organised insurrection against Germany in World War Two, her “reward” was to be captured, tortured and jailed by her own government.

So who was the woman who went by the name of Zo, and what inspired her to acts of such defiance and bravery?

Elżbieta Zawacka was born in 1909 in the city of Toruń, a part of Poland which had been under the control of Prussia, then later Germany, for nearly a century.

At the end of World War One, the area was reclaimed by Poland. When both Germany and the Soviet Union invaded the country in September 1939, Zawacka joined the underground resistance, taking the code name Zo and building an intelligence network made up nearly entirely of women that covered the size of Wales.

Her blonde hair and perfect German made her an ideal candidate to act as its main courier, smuggling microfilms packed with military information hidden in objects such as toothpaste tins, keys and cigarette lighters – often into Berlin where the illicit cargo would be handed to another agent to be passed on to the West.

“It’s really ironic,” says Clare Mulley, historian and author of a new book, . “She has to bring information from Nazi-occupied Poland right into the heart of the Third Reich as that’s the fastest way they can get it to London.”

In May 1942 her network was infiltrated by the Nazis and soon Gestapo officers were in hot pursuit. At one point, Mulley says, Zo leapt from the door of a moving train to evade an officer who had joined her in the carriage.

With her intelligence network compromised and her name and face known, she was handed a new mission.

Assigned by the commander of Poland’s Home Army, Gen Stefan Rowecki, as his personal representative, Zo was instructed to cross occupied Europe to pass orders to the country’s government-in-exile, which was based in London.

Departing in February 1943, the journey first took her back to Berlin and then on to Paris, where she soon feared the worst when her fake identity papers were confiscated by a hotel clerk.

“She knows they think there’s something up, but when they return them to her the next morning, they say, ‘What wonderful papers, we kept them to compare against a possible forgery,'” says Mulley.

Needing to reach Gibraltar to catch a troopship to Britain, Zo next hid herself inside a secretly adapted tender (water-tank carriage) on a train used by French politician and Nazi collaborator Pierre Laval.

This took her to the Pyrenees, almost drowning her in the process, from where she trekked across the mountain range into Spain.

Again Zo was nearly captured. At one point, Mulley says, she was thrown out of a hotel window by her guideto shake off two German officers who had picked up her resistance companions. She was later shot at as she crossed the frozen mountain passes.

Zo finally boarded a ship to Liverpool where she was immediately picked up by MI6 and taken to its south London base, amid fears she was an enemy agent.

Papers held by the National Archives show this questioning was seemingly done in the most British way possible.

“One of the very first memos is from her interrogating officer and he just says rather pathetically: ‘She was rather reluctant to pass information on to me.’

“I love that. It’s very polite,” laughs Mulley.

Zo soon moved into a hotel in Piccadilly and joined up with the Polish authorities, who were bemused by the arrival of someone who had gained legendary status – but was also a woman.

“They don’t know whether to salute her or to bow and kiss her hand,” Mulley says.

For Polish war hero Kazimierz Bilski, there was one thing for it. He declared that “out of a bachelor’s long-standing habit, I tried my best to draw her into some semblance of flirtation”.

“He takes her across St James’s Park and it’s spring and there’s bluebells and birdsong and American GIs making out with the English girls, and he pulls from his pocket these silk stockings like an amorous magician and flirts with her,” explains Mulley.

“Zo’s absolutely appalled because the only women wearing silk stockings in Poland are the wives of Gestapo officers. She could be killed if she was caught with them.

“It just shows to her how little he understands what the situation is like behind enemy lines.”

As a courier she had witnessed first hand the risks members of the resistance took when smuggling intelligence across Europe and, in her usual forthright fashion, Zo set out to inform the Polish leaders of their ignorance.

“I started to point out their mistakes… I’m quite direct in these matters,” she later recorded.

“The London end isn’t really working very well so she sorts that out,” Mulley explains.

The matter of greatest importance to Zo was a mission given to her by Gen Rowecki, to secure from Poland’s government-in-exile the same legal military rights for women in the Home Army as male soldiers had.

“He’s not a feminist or equal opportunities employer or anything like that. He’s doing it because he knows it’s of real importance to the Home Army’s effort,” Mulley says.

Poland’s Home Army was the largest resistance force in occupied Europe but with many men stuck overseas, there was a need to recruit as many women as possible and for them to have military ranks.

“The women can’t discipline soldiers and they can’t give orders; they can only ask politely, and that’s not the way an army runs,” says Mulley.

The government-in-exile “just can’t believe that women should be given military legal status”, Mulley explains, and Zo was branded “an insane feminist”.

Yet she drafted a legal decree on women’s military status that became law and which would prove lifesaving the following year.

Zo was determined to return to the fight in her homeland, and joining up with Poland’s elite paratrooper unit in Britain – known as the Cichociemni or Silent Unseen – made this possible.

During the war, several of the UK’s stately homes were requisitioned as training camps and Zo was sent to Audley End House, in Essex, to brief the troops about how to remain unnoticed in occupied Poland.

It was also where she began her own training, and on 9 September 1943 she became one of only 316 Cichociemni out of some 2,500 recruits to be flown home.

“I quite like the line she’s the only person to parachute back from Britain to Nazi-occupied Poland in a dress because she’s the only woman to do it,” Mulley says.

Back on home soil, Zo’s underground work continued but it would be her influence during the Warsaw Uprising – a rebellion launched against the Nazis on 1 August 1944 – that proved most significant.

With the Polish fighters finally surrendering after 63 days of brutal combat, which left some 200,000 people dead, Zo’s work to gain military status for female soldiers spared countless women the fate of being executed or sent to concentration camps.

“Previously when the Nazi Germans captured women who are involved in resistance… they considered them to be basically bandits or commandos and Hitler has got this Commando Order – after a raid on the Channel Islands, he said that anyone who is found fighting not in uniform will be shot without trial,” says Mulley.

Recent estimates by Poland’s Warsaw Uprising Museum suggest up to 12,000 women took part.

“They have protections under the Geneva Convention, which means it’s the only time in the war that Nazi Germany sets up prisoner-of-war camps for women,” Mulley says.

Zo, though, managed to sneak away from her captors to continue her resistance work.

Yet along with many other resistance fighters who were considered a threat by the Soviet-backed communist authorities who took power in Poland as World War Two ended, Zo was arrested. She was tortured and sentenced to 10 years in jail.

Released after six years, she would remain closely watched, her wartime heroics kept hidden by those in charge.

In secret, Zo managed to collect the resistance stories of women who had served in the war. These were eventually used to create a museum in her hometown of Toruń.

Zo, who died aged 99 in January 2009, became only the second woman to attain the status of brigadier general in the Polish Army, a rank conferred upon her in the years after communist government fell.

So what drove this woman who was so determined to see her causes to the end?

“One of the things I like about her is that when she talks after the war, she speaks about recruiting many of her friends and she sometimes says, ‘They were so grateful to me, they were so delighted that I enabled them the chance to serve their nation,'” Mulley says.

“And then you look at some of the paperwork of her friends and they said: ‘Zo came and she terrified me. I couldn’t do anything else. I had to do it.’

“They’ve got a very different perspective on it but she sort of blithely assumes that everyone shares her very binary world vision – they’re bad, we’ve got to free Poland.

“That’s it. That’s what’s driving her.”

Over the past few days, global stock markets have been plummeting.

Trading screens across the US, Asia and, to a certain extent, Europe are awash with blinking red numbers heading south.

The sudden turn comes as fears grow that the US economy – the world’s biggest – is slowing down.

Experts say the main reason for this fear is that US jobs data for July, released on Friday, was much worse than expected.

However, for some, talk of an economic slowdown – or even a (whisper it) recession – is a little premature.

So, what did the official figures show us? As always with economics, there is good news and bad news.

Bad news first. US employers created 114,000 jobs in July which was way below expectations of 175,000 new roles.

The rate of unemployment also rose to 4.3%, a near three-year high, which triggered something known as the “Sahm rule”.

Named after American economist Claudia Sahm, the rule says if the average unemployment rate over three months is half a percentage point higher than the lowest level over the past 12 months then the country is at the beginning of a recession.

In this case, the US unemployment rate rose in July, so the three-month average was 4.1%. That compares to the lowest level over the last year which was 3.5%.

Adding to these concerns was the fact that the US Federal Reserve voted last week not to cut interest rates.

Other central banks within developed economies, including the Bank of England and the European Central Bank, have recently cut interest rates.

The Fed held borrowing costs but its chair, Jerome Powell, signalled that a cut in September was on the table.

However, this led to speculation that the Fed had waited too long to act.

A cut in interest rates means it is cheaper to borrow money which should, in theory, act as a boost to the economy.

If the jobs figures suggest that the economy is already tipping downwards, then the fear is the Fed is too late.

Then, on top of all this, are technology companies and their share prices. There has been a long-running rally in their shares, fuelled in part by optimism over artificial intelligence (AI).

Last week, the chip-making giant Intel announced it was cutting 15,000 jobs. At the same time, market rumours suggested that rival Nvidia may have to delay the release of its new AI chip.

What followed was a bloodbath on the Nasdaq, the technology-heavy US index. After hitting a high only a few weeks ago, it plunged by 10% on Friday.

That helped pump-up the fear factor across markets and that’s where danger could lie.

If stock market panic continues and shares keep plunging the Fed could potentially step in before its next meeting in September and cut interest rates.

This could happen, according to Neil Shearing, group chief economist at Capital Economics, if there is “a market dislocation that deepens and starts to threaten systemically important institutions and/or broader financial stability”.

Now for the good(-ish) news.

“We are not in a recession now,” according to Ms Sahm herself, inventor of the rule.

She told CNBC on Monday that “the momentum is in that direction”.

But she added: “A recession is not inevitable and there is substantial scope to reduce interest rates.”

Others are equivocal about the jobs data.

“While the report was bad it wasn’t bad,” said Mr Shearing.

“It is likely that Hurricane Beryl contributed to weakness in July’s payrolls figure. Other data painted a picture of a labour market that is cooling, but not collapsing,” he said.

He added that there appeared to be “no increase in firings” while a “modest” decline in average weekly hours worked in July “does not scream ‘recession'”.

For Simon French, chief economist and head of research at Panmure Liberum, after digesting the US jobs data it’s time to take a moment.

“Stepping back, have we suddenly re-appraised the health of the world’s biggest economy? No and nor should we.”

But he added: “It is another data point at a time when liquidity is thin and you’ve got a lot of things to worry about.”

The dramatic resignation of Bangladesh’s long-serving prime minister Sheikh Hasina and her flight to India ironically underscore the close ties between the two countries.

Ms Hasina ruled Bangladesh, a nation of 170 million, for close to 15 years until a protest by students to abolish civil service quotas snowballed into a broader and violent anti-government movement. At least 280 people have died in clashes between police and anti-government protesters so far.

Back in June, Ms Hasina visited India twice in two weeks.

Her first visit was to attend Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s oath-taking ceremony. After that, she made a two-day state visit, the first by a head of government to India after Mr Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalition’s third consecutive victory in parliamentary elections.

“We have met 10 times in the last one year. However, this meeting is special because Sheikh Hasina is the first state guest after the third term of our government,” Mr Modi said at a joint news conference.

The bonhomie was unmistakable. “Bangladesh greatly values its relations with India,” said Ms Hasina. “Come to Bangladesh to witness what all we have done and plan to do”.

India has a special relationship with Bangladesh. The neighbours share a 4,096km (2,545 miles)-border and linguistic, economic and cultural ties. Bangladesh, formerly East Pakistan, was born after a war in 1971 with West Pakistan (now Pakistan), with India supporting Bengali nationalists. Bilateral trade between the two countries is around $16bn (£12bn), with India being Bangladesh’s top export destination in Asia.

To be sure, the ties are not perfect: differences arise over Bangladesh’s close relationship with China, border security, migration issues and some Bangladeshi officials’ discomfort with Mr Modi’s Hindu nationalist politics.

After Ms Hasina’s resignation, Bangladesh’s army chief Waker-uz-Zaman has announced plans for an interim government. He will meet President Mohammed Shahabuddin and reports say he’s hoping for a solution by the day’s end after speaking with opposition parties, led by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). Leadership of the interim government remains unclear.

So far, India has only described the violent protests as an “internal matter” of Bangladesh. Can it say – and do – more about the unfolding developments?

“NOTHING. Nothing for now,” wrote Happymon Jacob, an Indian foreign policy expert, on X (formerly Twitter) on what India should be doing.

“It is still unfolding. And, it’s not about India; it’s about politics in Bangladesh. Let them figure it out.”

Michael Kugelman of the Wilson Center, an American think-tank, believes Ms Hasina’s resignation and flight are “close to a worst-case scenario for India, as it has long viewed any alternative to Ms Hasina and her party as a threat to Indian interests”.

Mr Kugelman told the BBC that Delhi will likely reach out to Bangladesh’s military to convey its concerns and hope its interests are taken into account in an interim government.

“Beyond that, India will have to watch and wait nervously. It may support free and fair elections in the interest of stability, but it doesn’t want the BNP – even if it has grown weak and divided – to return. Delhi likely wouldn’t oppose a long period of interim rule for that reason.”

Ms Hasina’s sudden downfall would have caught her allies off guard.

The daughter of Bangladesh’s founding president and the world’s longest-serving female head of government, Ms Hasina led her country for nearly 15 years. She had overseen one of the world’s fastest-growing economies and a major boost in living standards in South Asia.

But her rule had also been marked by accusations of forced disappearances, extrajudicial killings and repression of the opposition. She and her party Awami League denied these charges, while her government blamed opposition parties for fuelling protests.

In January, Ms Hasina won her fourth consecutive term in a controversial election. The opposition BNP boycotted the vote, and allegations of a rigged poll were compounded by mass arrests of its leaders and supporters.

Some of the anti-India sentiment in Bangladesh stems from India’s support for Ms Hasina’s government, which critics view as interference in domestic politics. Historical grievances and accusations of overreach also contribute to some of the negative perception.

Ali Riaz, a Bangladeshi-American political scientist at Illinois State University, told the BBC that India’s silence is “not surprising as it has been the principal backer of the Hasina government for the past 14 years and practically contributed to the erosion of democracy in Bangladesh”.

“The unqualified support to Sheikh Hasina has acted as a bulwark against any pressure on her for human rights transgressions. India has benefitted economically and seen Ms Hasina as the only way to keep the country within India’s sphere of influence.”

India sees the current Bangladeshi opposition and its allies as “dangerous Islamic forces”. Ms Hasina cracked down on anti-India militants on her soil and granted transit rights to secure trade routes to five Indian states which border Bangladesh.

“A peaceful, stable and prosperous Bangladesh is in India’s interests. India should do everything to ensure that those conditions are maintained. Essentially you want to keep peace and calm,” Harsh Vardhan Shringla, a former Indian foreign secretary and high commissioner to Bangladesh, told the BBC, hours before Ms Hasina resigned.

For the moment, the situation is uncertain. “India doesn’t have too many options at this point in time,” a senior diplomat told the BBC. “We have to tighten control on our borders. Anything else would be construed as interference”.

Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wazed has resigned and left the country after weeks of student-led protests spiralled into deadly, nationwide unrest.

The 76-year-old fled in a helicopter on Monday to India, reports said, as thousands of protesters stormed her official residence in the capital Dhaka.

This brings an unexpected end to the reign of Bangladesh’s longest-serving PM, who has been in power since 2009 and ruled the country for more than 20 years in total.

Credited with overseeing the South Asian country’s economic progress in recent years, Ms Hasina began her political career as a pro-democracy icon.

However, in recent years she has been accused of turning autocratic and clamping down on any opposition to her rule. Politically-motivated arrests, disappearances, extra-judicial killings and other abuses have all risen under Ms Hasina.

In January she won an unprecedented fourth term as PM in a January election widely decried by critics as being a sham and boycotted by the main opposition.

Born to a Muslim family in East Bengal in 1947, Ms Hasina had politics in her blood.

Her father was the nationalist leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Bangladesh’s “Father of the Nation” who led the country’s independence from Pakistan in 1971 and became its first president.

At that time, Ms Hasina had already established a reputation as a student leader at Dhaka University.

Her father was assassinated with most of his family members in a military coup in 1975. Only Ms Hasina and her younger sister survived as they were travelling abroad at the time.

After living in exile in India, Ms Hasina returned to Bangladesh in 1981 and became the leader of the political party her father belonged to, the Awami League.

She joined hands with other political parties to hold pro-democracy street protests during the military rule of General Hussain Muhammed Ershad. Propelled by the popular uprising, Ms Hasina quickly became a national icon.

She was first elected to power in 1996. She earned credit for signing a water-sharing deal with India and a peace deal with tribal insurgents in the south-east of the country.

But at the same time, her government was criticised for numerous allegedly corrupt business deals and for being too subservient to India.

She later lost to her former ally-turned-nemesis, Begum Khaleda Zia of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), in 2001.

As heirs to political dynasties, both women dominated Bangladesh politics for more than three decades and used to be known as the “battling begums”. Begum refers to a Muslim woman of high rank.

Observers say their bitter rivalry has resulted in bus bombs, disappearances and extrajudicial killings becoming regular occurrences.

Ms Hasina eventually came back to power in 2009 in polls held under a caretaker government.

A true political survivor, she endured numerous arrests while in opposition as well as several assassination attempts, including one in 2004 that damaged her hearing. She has also survived efforts to force her into exile and numerous court cases in which she has been accused of corruption.

Bangladesh under Ms Hasina presents a contrasting picture. The Muslim-majority nation, once one of the world’s poorest, has achieved credible economic success under her leadership since 2009.

It’s now one of the fastest-growing economies in the region, even surpassing its giant neighbour India. Its per capita income has tripled in the last decade and the World Bank estimates that more than 25 million people have been lifted out of poverty in the last 20 years.

Much of this growth has been fuelled by the garment industry, which accounts for the vast majority of total exports from Bangladesh and has expanded rapidly in recent decades, supplying markets in Europe, North America and Asia.

Using the country’s own funds, loans and development assistance, Ms Hasina’s government has undertaken huge infrastructure projects, including the flagship $2.9bn Padma bridge across the Ganges.

The latest protests were the most serious challenge Ms Hasina faced since taking office, and follows a highly controversial election in which her party was re-elected for a fourth straight parliamentary term.

Amid increasing calls for her to resign, she had remained defiant. She condemned the agitators as “terrorists” and appealed for support to “suppress these terrorists with a firm hand”.

The latest unrest in Dhaka and elsewhere began with a demand to abolish quotas in civil service jobs but turned into a wider anti-government movement.

In the wake of the pandemic, Bangladesh has been struggling with the escalating cost of living. Inflation has skyrocketed, its foreign exchange reserves have dropped precipitously, and its foreign debt has doubled since 2016.

Critics have blamed this on Ms Hasina’s government’s mismanagement, and say that Bangladesh’s previous economic success only helped those close to Ms Hasina’s Awami League due to endemic corruption.

They also say the country’s progress has come at the cost of democracy and human rights, and allege that Ms Hasina’s rule has been marked by repressive authoritarian measures against her political opponents, detractors and the media. The government and Ms Hasina have denied such allegations.

But rights groups have documented hundreds of cases of enforced disappearances and extra-judicial killings by security forces since 2009. Last year Human Rights Watch accused her of a “violent autocratic crackdown” on opposition supporters.

In recent months, many senior leaders from the BNP were arrested, along with thousands of supporters following anti-government protests – a remarkable turnaround for a leader who once fought for multi-party democracy.

Ms Hasina’s government flatly denied claims it was behind abuses. but it also severely restricted visits by foreign journalists wanting to investigate such allegations.

At least 90 people were killed in Bangladesh on Sunday, amid worsening clashes between police and anti-government protesters.

The unrest comes as student leaders have declared a campaign of civil disobedience to demand that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina step down.

Thirteen police officers were killed when thousands of people attacked a police station in the district of Sirajganj, police said.

The student protest started with a demand to abolish quotas in civil service jobs last month, but has now turned into a wider anti-government movement.

Both police and some supporters of the governing party were seen shooting at anti-government protesters with live ammunition. Police also used tear gas and rubber bullets.

The total death toll since the protest movement began in July now stands at over 280.

A nationwide overnight curfew has been in place since 18:00 (12:00 GMT).

The UN’s human rights chief, Volker Türk, called for an end to the “shocking violence” and urged restraint from Bangladeshi politicians and security forces.

He expressed particular concern over a mass march planned in Dhaka on Monday, warning of a risk of “further loss of life and wider destruction”.

“The government must cease targeting those participating peacefully in the protest movement, immediately release those arbitrarily detained, restore full internet access, and create conditions for meaningful dialogue,” Mr Turk added.

The continuing effort to suppress popular discontent, including through the excessive use of force, and the deliberate spread of misinformation and incitement to violence, must immediately cease,” Mr Türk added.

Amid calls for her resignation, Ms Hasina sounded defiant. Speaking after a meeting with security chiefs, she said the protesters were “not students but terrorists who are out to destabilise the nation”.

On Sunday, Law and Justice Minister Anisul Huq told the BBC’s Newshour programme that authorities were showing “restraint”.

“If we had not shown restraint, there would have been a bloodbath. I guess our patience has limits,” he added.

In the capital, Dhaka, access to internet on mobile devices has been suspended.

Deaths and injuries have been reported across the country, including the northern districts of Bogra, Pabna and Rangpur.

Thousands of people gathered in a main square in Dhaka and there have been violent incidents in other parts of the city.

“The whole city has turned into a battleground,” a policeman, who asked not to be named, told the AFP news agency. He said a crowd of several thousand protesters had set fire to cars and motorcycles outside a hospital.

Asif Mahmud, a leading figure in the nationwide civil disobedience campaign, called on protesters to march on Dhaka on Monday.

“The time has come for the final protest”, he said.

Students Against Discrimination, a group behind the anti-government demonstrations, urged people not to pay taxes or any utility bills.

The students have also called for a shutdown of all factories and public transport.

Around 10,000 people have been reportedly detained in a major crackdown by security forces in the past two weeks. Those arrested included opposition supporters and students.

Some ex-military personnel have expressed support for the student movement, including ex-army chief General Karim Bhuiyan, who told journalists: “We call on the incumbent government to withdraw the armed forces from the street immediately.

He and other ex-military personnel condemned “egregious killings, torture, disappearances and mass arrests”.

The next few days are seen as crucial for both camps.

The protests pose a momentous challenge to Ms Hasina, who was elected for a fourth consecutive term in January elections, boycotted by the main opposition.

Students took to the streets last month over a quota that reserved one third of civil service jobs for relatives of the veterans of Bangladesh’s independence war with Pakistan in 1971.

Most of the quota has now been scaled back by the government following a government ruling, but students have continued to protest, demanding justice for those killed and injured. Now they want Ms Hasina to step down.

Supporters of Ms Hasina have ruled out her resignation.

Earlier, Ms Hasina offered unconditional dialogue with the student leaders, saying she wanted the violence to end.

“I want to sit with the agitating students of the movement and listen to them. I want no conflict,” she said.

But the student protesters have rejected her offer.

Ms Hasina called in the military last month to restore order after several police stations and state buildings were set on fire during the protests.

The Bangladeshi army chief, Gen Waker-Uz-Zaman, held a meeting with junior officers in Dhaka to assess the security situation.

“The Bangladesh army has always stood by the people and will continue to do so for the interest of people and in any need of the state,” Gen Zaman said, according to a release by the Inter Services Public Relation Directorate.

Bangladeshi media say most of those killed in last month’s protests were shot dead by police. Thousands were injured.

The government argues that police opened fire only in self-defence and to protect state properties.

Filipino gymnast Carlos Yulo won his second Olympic gold medal in two days, becoming only the second athlete to take home the Games’ top prize for his country.

A three-bedroom condo, thousands of dollars and a lifetime of free ramen are among the flurry of gifts that the government and local brands have pledged to reward the 24-year-old with for his historic wins in the men’s floor exercise and vault events.

Mr Yulo’s feat has also made him the country’s latest social media sensation.

“Another gold for the Philippines! History is made again! Ang galing galing mo! [You are incredible!]” wrote a user on X.

Mr Yulo scored an average of 15.116 on the vault on Sunday, ahead of Armenia’s Artur Davtyan (14.966) and Britain’s Harry Hepworth (14.949).

He punched his arms into the air and embraced fellow athletes on hearing his score. He went into the competition without high expectations, he had told reporters.

“I was just hoping to perform well. I didn’t really expect a medal,” Mr Yulo had said.

“It really felt like a bonus for me. It’s crazy, because last night I couldn’t sleep. I was so hyped because I had won that gold medal [the day before].

Barely 24 hours ago, Mr Yulo had scooped the gold for the men’s floor exercise with 15 points, edging out Artem Dolgopyat of Israel by just 0.034 of a point. Mr Dolgopyat had been the defending Olympic champion and world title holder.

Mr Yulo’s double gold feat is now the most discussed topic on X, formerly known as Twitter, in the Philippines.

“It took 100 years for us to hear Lupang Hinirang [the Philippines’ national anthem] two nights in a row while the world is watching. Thank you so much for the pride and historic moment!” wrote an X user.

A century has passed since the Philippines’ debut in the Olympics in 1924. Weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz earned the country’s first Olympic gold medal in Tokyo three years ago.

Philippine celebrities and public figures, including president Ferdinand Marcos Jr and First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, also congratulated Mr Yulo.

“No words can express how proud we are of you, Caloy. You have achieved GOLD for the Philippines not once, but twice! Filipinos all over the world stood united, cheering and rooting for you,” Mr Marcos wrote on Facebook.

The Philippine government will hand the gymnast 10 million Philippine pesos ($173,300; £135,400) – a reward promised to any gold medalists – while a real estate firm has promised him a fully furnished three-bedroom unit at McKinley Hill, the largest condominium development in metropolitan Manila.

The House of Representatives has pledged to give Mr Yulo an additional 6 million pesos in cash incentives, with speaker of the lower house, Ferdinand Martin Romualdez, describing him as a “sports hero” and “national treasure”.

Even medical clinics and universities have rolled out the red carpet for the national hero – a gastroenterologist has offered Mr Yulo free consultations and colonoscopies for life while the University of Mindanao has pledged free university credits.

Also awaiting him are lifetime supplies of ramen, mac and cheese and grilled chicken offered by various restaurant chains.

Meanwhile, the capital city Manila, where Mr Yulo was born and raised, is preparing a “hero’s welcome” for him.

“The grandest welcome will greet him and all our Paris Olympians. When we meet him, we will present Carlos Yulo cash incentives, awards and symbols of the eternal gratitude of the proud capital city of the Philippines,” the city’s mayor, Honey Lacuna, said.

US stock markets sank on Monday following falls in Europe and Asia as fears rose that the American economy is heading for a slowdown.

The technology-heavy Nasdaq index plummeted a further 6.3% after a sharp decline at the end of last week. The other main indexes in the US also dropped.

Stock markets in London, Paris and Frankfurt are also trading lower, while Asian markets plunged with Japan’s Nikkei 225 down 12.4% or 4,451 points in the biggest fall by points in history.

It comes as weak jobs data in the US on Friday sparked concerns about the world’s largest economy.

In the US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 2.6% while the S&P 500 dropped by 3.2% on Monday.

In Europe, the CAC-40 in Paris trimmed earlier losses but was still trading 1.7% lower while Frankfurt’s DAX slid by 2.3%.

Weaker-than-expected economic data from the US has fuelled speculation that its economy is slowing.

At the same time, the US Federal Reserve held off cutting interest rates last week in contrast to other central banks such as the Bank of England.

There has also been concern that shares in technology companies, such as those focused on artificial intelligence (AI), have been overvalued and are now facing difficulties.

Intel announced major layoffs last week as well as disappointing financial results, and there is speculation that its rival Nvidia, which makes AI chips, will delay its latest launch.

The US Nasdaq index, which contains a large number of technology firms, hit a record high last month but last week tumbled by around 10% in what is known as a “correction”.

Meanwhile, veteran US investor Warren Buffett’s firm Berkshire Hathaway revealed that it had sold about half its stake in US technology giant Apple.

As the Nikkei plunged in Japan, stock markets in Taiwan, South Korea, India, Australia, Hong Kong and Shanghai all tumbled by between 1.4% and 8%.

The yen has been strengthening against the US dollar since the Bank of Japan raised interest rates last week, making stocks in Tokyo – and Japanese goods in general – more expensive for foreign investors and buyers.

Tomochika Kitaoka, chief equity strategist at Nomura Securities, said US economic slowdown worries were “too much”.

“But the [Japanese] market did turn nervous after the Bank of Japan’s rate hike as they thought the domestic economy is not strong enough to justify the rate hike.”

Unlike other central banks, the Bank of Japan lifted interest rates last week to the highest level since the global financial crisis in 2008.

Inflation in Japan rose by more than expected in June while the economy shrank in the first three months of the year because of a weaker yen and poor household spending.

The Japanese currency has strengthened more than 10% against the US dollar over the last month.

Friday’s sharp fall in US stock prices followed weak jobs data.

In July, US employers added 114,000 roles, far fewer than expected while the unemployment rate ticked up from 4.1% to 4.3%.

The figures raised concerns that a long-running jobs boom in the US might be coming to an end.

It stoked speculation about when – and by how much – the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates.

Simon French, chief economist and head of research at Panmure Liberum, said it was not yet clear if the jobs figures were an aberration because of Hurricane Beryl in July or was a first sign that companies are hiring fewer workers.

The most recent data showed that the US economy grew at an annual rate of 2.8%.

On whether the US is heading for a slowdown, Shanti Kelemen, chief investment officer at M&G Wealth, told the BBC’s Today programme it could go either way.

“You can pick out evidence to create a positive story, you can also pick out the evidence to create a negative story,” she said.

“I don’t think it universally points to one direction yet.”

A helicopter pilot from New Zealand has been killed in the Indonesian province of Papua, police have said.

Glen Malcolm Conning, 50, was killed by a pro-independence group known as Free Papua Organisation (OPM), according to police.

OPM spokesman Sebby Sambom told the BBC that he had not been able to verify the Indonesian authorities’ claim.

It comes nearly a year and a half after the abduction of another pilot from New Zealand, Phillip Mehrtens, who remains in captivity.

Authorities say the group responsible for Mr Conning’s death is the same that is holding Mr Mehrtens.

Mr Conning was killed when rebels rounded up those on board the helicopter, including four passengers, after they landed in an isolated area in the Central Papua province, police said in a statement. The passengers are reported to be safe.

The spokesperson for the police special operation in Papua, Bayu Suseno, claimed the pilot’s body was taken to the helicopter and then burned along with the aircraft in Alama District, which can only by accessed by helicopter.

Mr Conning was shuttling passengers for a private company.

OPM spokesman Mr Sambom told the BBC that despite being unable to verify the claims, “if it was true, then the pilot is a spy because we have declared that the area is a war zone”.

In February 2023, separatist fighters in Indonesia’s Papua region took another New Zealand pilot hostage. Phillip Mehrtens, 37, was captured shortly after landing his plane in the remote mountainous area of Nduga to drop off passengers.

Since then, Mr Mehrtens has been held captive by West Papua National Liberation Army fighters (TPNPB) – the armed wing of the OPM – who also attacked a number of Indonesian troops sent to rescue him, killing at least one.

These hostile acts come in the context of a long-running, often brutally violent conflict between the Indonesian government and West Papua’s indigenous people.

Papuan rebels have been seeking independence from Indonesia for decades, and have previously issued threats and attacked aircraft which they believe are carrying personnel and supplies for Jakarta, the country’s capital.

The region is divided into two provinces, Papua and West Papua, and is separate from independent Papua New Guinea.

Previously a Dutch colony, West Papua declared independence in 1961. However, Indonesia took over two years later and was formally given control in a UN-supervised vote in 1969.

The UN vote is widely considered illegitimate as only about 1,000 Papuans took part in it. A pro-independence movement began shortly afterwards, which continues to this day.

“One, two, three, four, Sheikh Hasina is a dictator!”

The words had become a rallying cry for young Bangladeshis in recent weeks – and on Monday their fury ended the prime minister’s 15-year reign.

The 76-year-old Ms Hasina had ruled the South Asian nation of 170 million with an iron fist since 2009 – just a month ago, protests demanding her resignation would have been unthinkable.

But by Monday morning, she was stuck in a deadly stalemate. It had been several days since the top court scrapped the job quotas that originally sparked the protests in early July. But the agitation continued, morphing into an anti-government movement that wanted her out of power.

What finally tipped the scales was the ferocity of the clashes between the protesters and police on Sunday. Nearly 300 people are estimated have died in the violence so far but Sunday alone saw at least 90 people, including 13 police officers, killed – the worst single day of casualties incurred during protests in Bangladesh’s recent history.

Critics called it “carnage”, even as Ms Hasina stood her ground.

Bangladesh PM resigns and flees country: Follow live

And yet, tens of thousands took to the streets on Monday, many of them marching towards the capital Dhaka, in defiance of a nationwide curfew.

Bangladeshis, it appeared, no longer feared bullets. What had been a political movement was now a mass uprising.

Ms Hasina’s decision to flee was also hastened by the military, which would have put pressure on her to step down. The army, which has ruled Bangladesh in the past and is still hugely respected, has an outsized influence over the country’s politics.

The violence from the weekend as well as the prospect of facing fresh rounds of massive protests would have made the military establishment re-think its options.

Junior officers had already raised concerns about being asked to fire on civilians in a meeting with the military chief, General Waker-Uz-Zaman, on Friday.

What lies ahead is less clear but Gen Zaman is in talks with “various stakeholders”, including opposition parties and civil society groups to find an “interim” solution, a high-level source familiar with the matter tells the BBC.

It is no surprise that Ms Hasina has fled to India. It’s unclear what counsel she received from across the border but Bangladesh’s giant neighbour has been a crucial ally of hers throughout.

It is partly why, as her popularity diminished, strong sentiment against India grew within Bangladesh.

Delhi always viewed its foothold in Bangladesh as key to the security of the seven landlocked states in India’s north-east, most of which share a border with Bangladesh. Ms Hasina has given transit rights to India to make sure goods from its mainland make it to those states.

She also clamped down on anti-India militant groups based in Bangladesh, a key issue in India.

But in recent weeks, Delhi faced a dilemma – by backing its unpopular ally, it risked alienating a mass movement and damaging its long-term relationship with Bangladesh. Ms Hasina’s resignation has solved that problem.

The daughter of Bangladesh’s founding president, Sheikh Hasina had been the world’s longest-serving female head of government.

Her father was assassinated with most of the family in a military coup in 1975 – only Ms Hasina and her younger sister survived as they were travelling abroad at the time.

After living in exile in India, she returned to Bangladesh in 1981 and joined hands with other political parties to lead a popular uprising for democracy that made her a national icon.

Ms Hasina was first elected to power in 1996 but later lost to her rival Begum Khaleda Zia of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) in 2001.

She came back to power in 2009 in polls held under a caretaker government.

Her time in power was rife with accusations of forced disappearances, extra-judicial killings, and the crushing of opposition figures and her critics – she denied the charges, and her government often accused the main opposition parties of fuelling protests.

In recent weeks too, Ms Hasina and her party – the Awami League – blamed their political opponents for the unrest that gripped the country.

But this time, the anger was louder than ever before. It was certainly the most serious challenge Ms Hasina, who won a contentious election in January which the opposition boycotted, had faced during her years in office.

For weeks, she had refused to give ground, even calling the protesters “terrorists” at one point.

But the realisation that the force of the security establishment couldn’t keep people off the steets does not augur well for any leader – least of all an embattled one.

For the past two years, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has pledged to transform India into a high-income, developed country by 2047. India is also on course to become the world’s third largest economy in six years, according to several projections.

High-income economies have a per capita Gross National Income – total amount of money earned by a nation’s people and businesses – of $13,846 (£10,870) or more, according to the World Bank.

With a per capita income of around $2,400 (£1,885), India is among the lower middle-income countries. For some years now, many economists have been warning that India’s economy could be headed for a “middle income trap”.

This happens when a country stops being able to achieve rapid growth easily and compete with advanced economies. Economist Ardo Hannson defines it as a situation when countries “seem to get stuck in a trap where your costs are escalating and you lose competitiveness”.

A new World Bank report holds out similar fears. At the current growth rate, India will need 75 years to reach a quarter of America’s per capita income, World Development Report 2024 says. It also says more than 100 countries – including India, China, Brazil and South Africa – face “serious obstacles” that could hinder their efforts to become high-income countries in the next few decades.

Researchers looked at the numbers from 108 middle-income countries responsible for 40% of the world’s total economic output – and nearly two-thirds of global carbon emissions. They are home to three-quarters of the global population and nearly two-thirds of those in extreme poverty.

They say these countries face greater challenges in escaping the middle-income trap. These include rapidly ageing populations, rising protectionism in advanced economies and the urgent need for an accelerated energy transition.

“The battle for global economic prosperity will be largely won or lost in middle-income countries,” says Indermit Gill, chief economist of the World Bank and one of the study’s authors.

“But too many of these countries rely on outmoded strategies to become advanced economies. They depend just on investment for too long – or they switch prematurely to innovation.”

For example, the researchers say, the pace at which businesses can grow is often slow in middle-income countries.

In India, Mexico, and Peru, firms that operate for 40 years typically double in size, while in the US, they grow seven-fold in the same period. This indicates that firms in middle-income countries struggle to grow significantly, but still survive for decades. Consequently, nearly 90% of firms in India, Peru, and Mexico have fewer than five employees, with only a small fraction having 10 or more, the report says.

Mr Gill and his fellow researchers advocate a new approach: these countries need to focus on more investment, infuse new technologies from around the world and grow innovation.

South Korea exemplifies this strategy, the report says.

In 1960, its per capita income was $1,200 – it rose to $33,000 by 2023.

Initially, South Korea boosted public and private investment. In the 1970s, it shifted to an industrial policy that encouraged domestic firms to adopt foreign technology and advanced production methods.

Companies like Samsung responded. Initially a noodle-maker, Samsung began producing TV sets for domestic and regional markets by licensing technologies from Japanese firms.

This success created a demand for skilled professionals. The government increased budgets and set targets for public universities to develop these skills. Today, Samsung is a global innovator and one of the world’s largest smartphone manufacturers, the report says.

Countries like Poland and Chile followed similar paths, the report says. Poland boosted productivity by adopting Western European technologies. Chile encouraged technology transfer to drive local innovation, famously adapting Norwegian salmon farming techniques to become a top salmon exporter.

History provides enough clues about an impending middle-income trap. Researchers reveal that as countries grow wealthier, they often hit a “trap” at around 10% of US GDP per capita ($8,000 today), placing them in the middle-income range. That’s roughly in the middle of what the bank classifies as “middle-income” countries.

Since 1990, only 34 middle-income countries have transitioned to high-income status, with over a third benefiting from integration into European Union (EU) or newfound oil reserves.

Economists Raghuram Rajan and Rohit Lamba separately estimate that even at a very respectable per capita income growth rate of 4%, India’s per capita income will reach $10,000 only by 2060, which is lower than China’s level today.

“We must do better. Over the next decade, we will see a possible population dividend, that is rise in the share of our population of working age, before we, like other countries, succumb to ageing,” they write in their new book Breaking The Mould: Reimagining India’s Economic Future.

“If we can generate good employment for all our youth, we will accelerate growth and have a shot at becoming comfortably upper middle class before our population starts ageing.”

In other words, the economists wonder, “Can India become rich before it becomes old?”

Several countries have urged their nationals to leave Lebanon, as fears grow of a wider conflict in the Middle East.

Iran has vowed “severe” retaliation against Israel, which it blames for the death of Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on Wednesday. Israel has not commented.

His assassination came hours after Israel killed Hezbollah senior commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut.

Western officials fear that Hezbollah, an Iran-backed militia and political movement based in Lebanon, could play a key role in any such retaliation, which in turn could spark a serious Israeli response.

Diplomatic efforts by the US and other Western countries continue to try to de-escalate tensions across the region.

A growing number of flights have been cancelled or suspended at the country’s only commercial airport in Beirut.

The US, the UK, Australia, France, Canada, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Japan, Turkey and Jordan are among the countries to have urged their citizens to leave Lebanon as soon as possible.

Fears of an escalation of hostilities that could engulf Lebanon are at their highest since Hezbollah stepped up its attacks on Israel, a day after the deadly Hamas attacks on southern Israel on 7 October, in support for Palestinians in Gaza.

Most of the violence has been contained to border areas, with both sides indicating not being interested in a wider conflict.

Hezbollah, however, has vowed to respond to Shukr’s assassination, which happened in Dahiyeh, the group’s stronghold in Beirut’s southern suburbs.

It came after 12 children and teenagers were killed in a strike on the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, which Israel blamed on Hezbollah. Israel said Shukr was the behind it.

Meanwhile there has been continuing firing between the two sides. Hezbollah said it launched drones at a military barracks in Ayelet HaShahar, northern Israel, in the early hours of Monday morning. The Israeli military said two soldiers were wounded.

It came a day after Hezbollah launched dozens of rockets at the nearby town of Beit Hillel. There were no reports of casualties from that attack.

Israel’s air force responded by striking targets in southern Lebanon. A Hezbollah fighter and a paramedic were killed in a strike on the town of Mays al-Jabal, less than a mile from the border with Israel.

In a separate development on Sunday morning, two people were killed in a stabbing attack in the Israeli city of Holon. The attacker, a Palestinian from the occupied West Bank, was later “neutralised”, police said.

Also on Sunday, officials from the Hamas-run ministry of health in Gaza said an Israeli air strike had hit a tent inside a hospital, killing at least five people. The officials said 19 Palestinians had been killed across the day.

In a statement on Saturday, the US embassy in Beirut said those who chose to stay in Lebanon should “prepare contingency plans” and be prepared to “shelter in place for an extended period of time”.

The Pentagon has said it is deploying additional warships and fighter jets to the region to help defend Israel from possible attacks by Iran and its proxies, a strategy similar to the one adopted in April, when Iran launched more than 300 missiles and drones at Israel in retaliation to an attack on its diplomatic compound in Syria.

It blamed Israel for that strike.

Many fear Iran’s retaliation on this occasion could take a similar form.

The UK says it is sending extra military personnel, consular staff and border force officials to help with any evacuations.

It has urged UK citizens to leave Lebanon while commercial flights are running.

Two British military ships are already in the region and the Royal Air Force has put transport helicopters on standby.

UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy said the regional situation “could deteriorate rapidly”.

In a phone call with EU Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell on Friday, Iran’s Acting Foreign Minister Ali Baqeri Kani said Iran would “undoubtedly use its inherent and legitimate right” to “punish” Israel.

On Friday, an announcer on Iran’s state TV warned “the world would witness extraordinary scenes”.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned Israelis that “challenging days lie ahead… We have heard threats from all sides. We are prepared for any scenario”.

Tensions escalated after a rocket strike on a football pitch in the occupied Golan Heights killed 12 children and teenagers.

Israel accused Hezbollah and vowed “severe” retaliation, though Hezbollah denied it was involved.

Days later, Shukr, who was a close adviser to the Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, was killed in a targeted Israeli air strike in Beirut. Four others, including two children, were also killed.

Hours after that, Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in Iran, Hamas’s main backer. He was visiting to attend the inauguration of Iran’s new president, Masoud Pezeshkian.

Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has said Israel will suffer a “harsh punishment” for the killing.

Haniyeh’s assassination dealt a blow to the negotiations for a ceasefire and hostage release deal in Gaza, the main hope to defuse tensions along the Lebanon-Israel border.

The war began in October when Hamas carried out an unprecedented attack on Israel, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 others back to Gaza as hostages.

The attack triggered a massive Israeli military response, which has killed at least 39,480 Palestinians in Gaza, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.