Calls to denounce “die hard” Taiwanese secessionists, a tipline to report them and punishments that include the death penalty for “ringleaders” – Beijing’s familiar rhetoric against Taiwan is turning dangerously real.

The democratically-governed island has grown used to China’s claims. Even the planes and ships that test its defences have become a routine provocation. But the recent moves to criminalise support for it are unnerving Taiwanese who live and work in China, and those back home.

“I am currently planning to speed up my departure,” a Taiwanese businesswoman based in China said – this was soon after the Supreme Court ushered in changes allowing life imprisonment and even the death penalty for those guilty of advocating for Taiwanese independence.

“I don’t think that is making a mountain out of a molehill. The line is now very unclear,” says Prof Chen Yu-Jie, a legal scholar at Taiwan’s Academia Sinica.

China’s Taiwan Affairs Office was quick to assure the 23 million Taiwanese that this is not targeted at them, but at an “extremely small number of hard-line independence activists”. The “vast majority of Taiwanese compatriots have nothing to fear,” the office said.

But wary Taiwanese say they don’t want to test that claim. The BBC has spoken to several Taiwanese who live and work in China who said they were either planning to leave soon or had already left. Few were willing to be interviewed on record; none wanted to be named.

“Any statement you make now could be misinterpreted and you could be reported. Even before this new law China was already encouraging people to report on others,” the businesswoman said.

That was made official last week when Chinese authorities launched a website identifying Taiwanese public figures deemed “die hard” separatists. The site included an email address where people could send “clues and crimes” about those who had been named, or anyone else they suspected.

Scholars believe Beijing hopes to emulate the success of Hong Kong’s national security laws, which it said were necessary for stability – but they have crushed the city’s pro-democracy movement as former lawmakers, activists and ordinary citizens critical of the government have been jailed under them.

By making pro-Taiwanese sentiments a matter of national security, Beijing hopes to “cut off the movement’s ties with the outside world and to divide society in Taiwan between those who support Taiwan independence and those who do not”, Prof Chen says.

She believes the guidance from the Supreme Court will almost certainly result in prosecutions of some Taiwanese living in China.

“This opinion has been sent to all levels of law enforcement nationwide. So this is a way of saying to them – we want to see more cases like this being prosecuted, so go and find one.”

“We must be even more cautious,” said a Taiwanese man based in Macao. He said he had always been prepared for threats, but the new legal guidance had made his friends “express concern” about his future in the Chinese city.

“In recent years, patriotic education has become prevalent in Macau, with more assertive statements on Taiwan creating a more tense atmosphere compared to pre-pandemic times,” he added.

Taiwan, which has powerful allies in the US, the EU and Japan, rejects Beijing’s plans for “reunification” – but fears have been growing that China’s Xi Jinping has sped up the timeline to take the island, an avowed goal of the Chinese Communist Party.

For more than 30 years Taiwanese companies – iPhone-maker Foxconn, advanced chips giant TSMC and electronics behemoth Acer – have played a key role in China’s growth. The prosperity also brought Taiwanese from across the strait who were in search of jobs and brighter prospects.

“I absolutely loved Shanghai when I first moved there. It felt so much bigger, more exciting, more cosmopolitan than Taipei,” says Zoe Chu*. She spent more than a decade in Shanghai managing foreign musicians who were in high demand from clubs and venues in cities across China.

This was the mid-2000s when China was booming, drawing money and people from across the globe. Shanghai was at the heart of it – bigger, shinier and trendier than any other Chinese city.

“My Shanghainese friends were dismissive of Beijing. They called it the big northern village,” Ms Chu recalls. “Shanghai was the place to be. It had the best restaurants, the best nightclubs, the coolest people. I felt like such a country bumpkin, but I learned fast.”

By the end of that decade – in 2009 – more than 400,000 Taiwanese lived in China. By 2022, that number had plummeted to 177,000, according to official figures from Taiwan.

“China had changed,” says Ms Chu, who left Shanghai in 2019. She now works for a medical company in Taipei and has no plans to return.

“I am Taiwanese,” she explains. “It’s no longer safe for us there.”

The Taiwanese exodus has been driven by the same things that have pushed huge numbers of foreigners to leave China – a sluggish economy, growing hostility between Beijing and Washington and, most of all, the sudden and sweeping lockdowns during the Covid pandemic.

But Taiwanese in China have also been worried because the government doesn’t see them as “foreigners”, which makes them especially vulnerable to state repression.

Senior Taiwanese officials have told the BBC that 15 Taiwanese nationals are currently being held in China for various alleged crimes, “including violations of the anti-secession law”.

In 2019, China jailed a Taiwanese businessman for espionage after he was caught taking photos of police officers in Shenzen – a charge he denied. He was only released last year. In April 2023, China confirmed that it had arrested a Taiwan-based publisher for “endangering national security”. He still remains in custody.

Amy Hsu*, who once lived and worked in China, says she is now scared to even visit because of her job. After returning to Taiwan, she began volunteering at an NGO which helped people who had fled Hong Kong to settle in Taiwan.

“It is definitely more dangerous for me now,” she says. “In 2018, they began using surveillance cameras to fine people for jaywalking and the system could identify your face and send the fine directly to your address.”

She says the extent of surveillance disturbed her – and she worries it can be used to go after even visitors, especially those on a list of potential offenders.

“Oh I am definitely on the list. I am a hardline pro-independence [guy] with lots of ideas,” chuckles Robert Tsao, a 77-year-old tech billionaire, who founded one of Taiwan’s largest chip-makers, United Micro-electronics Corporation (UMC).

Mr Tsao was born in Beijing, but today he supports Taiwan independence and avoids not just China, but also Hong Kong, Macau, Thailand and even Singapore.

Mr Tsao was not always hostile to China. He was one of the first Taiwanese investors to set up advanced chip-making factories in China. But he says the crackdown in Hong Kong changed his mind: “It was so free and vibrant and now it’s gone. And they want to do the same to us here.”

“This new ruling is actually helping people like me,” he says. He believes it will backfire, increasing the resolve of Taiwanese people to resist China.

“They say the new law will only affect a few hard-line independence supporters like me, but so many Taiwanese people either support independence or the status quo [keep things as they are], which is the same thing, so we have all become criminals.”

Five people have been charged in the drug-related death of Matthew Perry last year, police say, including two doctors and the actor’s personal assistant.

Police said on Thursday that their investigation, launched in May, uncovered a “broad underground criminal network” of drug suppliers who distributed large quantities of ketamine.

Perry, 54, died at his Los Angeles home in October. A post-mortem examination found a high concentration of ketamine in his blood and determined the “acute effects” of the controlled substance had killed him.

“These defendants took advantage of Mr Perry’s addiction issues to enrich themselves,” US Attorney Martin Estrada said on Thursday. “They knew what they were doing was risking great danger to Mr Perry, but they did it anyway.”

• ‘Ketamine Queen’ and cover-ups: Five things discovered in the Matthew Perry probe

Three of the defendants – including Perry’s assistant – have already pleaded guilty to drug charges, while two others – a doctor and a woman known as “The Ketamine Queen” – were arrested on Thursday, according to the justice department.

Ketamine – a powerful anaesthetic – is used as a treatment for depression, anxiety and pain. People close to Perry, who starred as one of the lead characters on the NBC television show Friends, told a coroner’s investigation after his death that he was undergoing ketamine infusion therapy.

But his last session had taken place more than a week before his death. The medical examiner said the ketamine in Perry’s system could not have been from the infusion therapy because of the drug’s short half-life.

The levels of ketamine in his body were as high as the amount given during general anaesthesia, according to the medical examiner.

An indictment filed in federal court detailed the elaborate drug purchasing scheme that prosecutors say ultimately led to Perry’s death.

Prosecutors said Perry’s assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa, worked with two doctors to provide the actor with over $50,000 (£38,000) of ketamine in the weeks before his death.

Officials argued those involved in the scheme tried to profit from Perry’s well-known substance abuse issues. One of the doctors, Salvador Plasencia, is alleged to have written in a text message: “I wonder how much this moron will pay.”

Mr Plasencia, 42, provided Perry ketamine “outside the usual course of professional practice and without a legitimate medical purpose”, according to the indictment.

He also allegedly taught Iwamasa how to inject Perry with ketamine without proper safety procedures and surveillance, the police indictment says.

In the four days before his death, Iwamasa gave Perry at least 27 shots of ketamine, prosecutors alleged.

He did so even after a large dose of ketamine earlier that month caused Perry to “freeze up”, leading Mr Plasencia to advise against a similar-sized dose in the future, prosecutors said. The doctor still left several vials of the drug with the actor and his assistant after the incident, according to the indictment.

Others charged in the case include Jasveen Sangha, the so-called “Ketamine Queen” who supplied the drug to Plasencia through the help of two other co-defendants, Erik Fleming and doctor Mark Chavez.

Chavez, Fleming and Iwamasa have all pleaded guilty.

Ms Sangha and Mr Plasencia both made their initial appearances in Los Angeles court on Thursday afternoon and pleaded not guilty, the US Department of Justice said.

Both suspects had tentative trial dates set for October. Mr Plasencia was given a bond of $100,000 and Ms Sangha was ordered to be held without bond.

Prosecutors say the defendants attempted to cover up their alleged crimes after Perry’s death.

Ms Sangha allegedly texted another suspect, telling him to “delete all our messages”. Mr Plasencia also falsified medical records, according to the indictment.

Drowning was also listed as a contributing factor in Perry’s death, which was ruled an accident. Other contributing factors were coronary artery disease and the effects of buprenorphine, which is used to treat opioid use disorder.

At the height of his fame, Perry was battling with addiction to painkillers and alcohol, and attended rehabilitation on multiple occasions. He detailed his struggle with substance use in his memoir, Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing.

In 2016, he told BBC Radio 2 that he could not remember three years of filming during Friends, because of drink and drugs.

After attempts at treatment, he wrote in his memoir that he had been mostly sober since 2001 – “save for about 60 or 70 mishaps”.

The pork sausage was a sign that this was going to be different. Or at least, that it was meant to be.

Like a grocery store employee in front of a concession stand, Donald Trump stood framed by the everyday items of an American shopping basket.

Breakfast oats. Bread. Butter. The sausage.

In a 45-minute-long pre-prepared speech at his Bedminster Golf Club in New Jersey, his remarks appeared designed to signal a shift away from the usual personal attacks on his opponent.

Reading off a piece of paper – itself something of departure from his normally freewheeling style – this was instead an attempt to focus on policy and, somewhat like the ground coffee beans that remained in shot throughout, in granular detail too.

The former president listed a barrage of what he said were price increases under the current administration. Flour up 38%, he said. Eggs, 46%.

Sure, he questioned whether Kamala Harris loves her country, impugned her intelligence and accused her of being a “communist” multiple times.

But, compared to what has come before, this was far less heavy on the insults and it will have been music to the ears of at least some senior Republican figures.

The concerns in Republican circles about Trump’s struggle to adjust to the challenge presented by Ms Harris have been mounting ever since she took over as the presumptive Democrat nominee.

“The winning formula for President Trump is very plain to see,” Kellyanne Conway, once his campaign manager and close advisor, recently told Fox News.

“It’s fewer insults, more insights and that policy contrast.”

Others too have cringed as Trump has attacked Ms Harris over her racial identity or made bizarre claims that she was engaged in deep-fake fraud over the size of the crowds at her rallies.

“So stupid,” Megyn Kelly, the conservative commentator and former Fox News host, said in response to the latter tactic on her radio show.

“Just focus on the damn border!”

That’s a piece of advice, it has to be said, he doesn’t have too much trouble following.

Although his remarks began with a promise to focus on some “big facts and very substantial truths”, as so often they more than strained the definition of both.

He claimed, once again, that some countries are emptying out their prisons and “insane asylums” to flood the US with illegal migrants, despite there being no data on the prison history of migrants crossing the border or their mental health status.

And he repeated – without any evidence and contrary to government data – that 100% of new jobs have gone to migrants, while regurgitating false claims about having won the 2020 election.

But for those Republicans who wanted to see a new approach to counter troubling polling data, meticulous accuracy was likely not high on their list of demands from their candidate.

Even that headline list of increasing grocery costs – what Trump called “Kamala’s price hikes” – appeared to raise a number of questions.

The Reuters news agency, for example, pointed out that bread and coffee prices have actually fallen over the last year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ monthly Consumer Price Index.

But that’s not really the point. Factual or not, this was Trump connecting to voters on the issues that matter, and many do still feel the effects of the high levels of inflation under President Biden.

And with Harris yet to sit down for a formal media interview, he worked hard to land some blows against her on her record, in particular remarks she made in 2020 during widespread protests over police reform where she appeared sympathetic to calls to reduce spending on the police.

He also claimed – with some merit – that she’d stolen his pledge to end tax on tips in the US service industry, complaining that it “would’ve been nice” if she’d seen fit to give him credit.

The big question, of course, is whether Trump himself can stay on message and stick to these kinds of talking points.

In large parts of the press conference he was very much his usual self, giving long-winded diatribes about the mechanics of electric trucks, a “drill baby drill” promise to increase oil extraction, and at one point declaring that “I’m a big fan of electricity.”

But something was missing, somewhat akin to a man from the meat marketing board being forced to give a lecture about the health benefits of carrots.

You couldn’t help feeling that none of this sat very naturally for a politician whose whole political strategy has so often been fuelled by invective.

Opening the floor to questions from reporters he was asked whether he was indeed stepping back from the vitriolic character assassinations of his opponents.

“They’re not nice to me,” he said.

“I think I’m entitled to personal attacks.”

• SIMPLE GUIDE: Everything you need to know about the vote

• ANALYSIS: Three ways Trump will try to end Harris honeymoon

• EXPLAINER: Where the election could be won and lost

• FACT-CHECK: Trump falsely claims Harris crowd was faked

• VOTERS: What Democrats make of Tim Walz as VP

Internet entrepreneur Kim Dotcom has lost his long battle to avoid extradition from New Zealand to the United States.

A spokesperson for New Zealand Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith said he had signed an extradition order for Mr Dotcom on Thursday.

US authorities have said he made his fortune from digital piracy on the now-defunct file-sharing website Megaupload, which he founded in 2005.

Mr Dotcom has said he had no control over what users uploaded to the site.

The entrepreneur, who was born in Germany and lives in New Zealand, has described himself as an “internet freedom fighter”.

His legal campaign against removal began after he was arrested in a dramatic FBI raid on his Auckland mansion in 2012.

He has since launched several unsuccessful appeals against extradition in the New Zealand courts.

Mr Dotcom faces several criminal charges in the US – including for copyright infringement, money laundering and racketeering – and could face a lengthy jail term if convicted.

U.S. authorities say Mr Dotcom and three other Megaupload executives cost film studios and music producers more than $500m in losses.

At its peak, Megaupload was the 13th most popular website on the internet, accounting for 4% of all online traffic worldwide.

Mr Dotcom made millions of dollars from selling advertising and premium subscriptions.

Users often shared pirated films and music on the site, but Mr Dotcom has denied he encouraged this.

In a post on social media on Tuesday, he said, “The obedient US colony in the South Pacific just decided to extradite me for what users uploaded to Megaupload,” in apparent reference to the extradition order.

When Friends actor Matthew Perry was found dead in a hot tub at his Los Angeles home last year, it seemed like it could have just been an accident.

He’d been treating his depression with ketamine infusion therapy, wasn’t found with drug paraphernalia or anything suggesting foul play, and appeared to have drowned.

He’d spent decades fighting addiction, but the actor had said he was finally clean.

As the world mourned the passing of the actor, known for playing Chandler Bing on Friends, a coroner found something curious: high levels of ketamine in his blood, in the range used for general anaesthesia during surgery.

It should not have still been in his system since his last therapy appointment more than a week prior.

According to US prosecutors, a nearly year-long investigation that followed uncovered an alleged vast underground ketamine dealing network, cover-up attempts and another death.

It led to five arrests – including medical doctors, Perry’s assistant and an alleged dealer they said was known locally as the “Ketamine Queen”.

His live-in assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to distribute ketamine causing death, and two other people – Eric Fleming and Dr Mark Chavez – also pleaded guilty to conspiring to distribute drugs unlawfully.

Dr Salvador Plasencia, accused of supplying ketamine to Perry, is charged with falsifying records. Alleged dealer Jasveen Sangha faces nine counts, including conspiracy to distribute ketamine and distribution of ketamine resulting in death.

Both pleaded not guilty in court on Thursday.

Ms Sangha’s name comes up again and again in the investigation.

Authorities allege the “Ketamine Queen” supplied the drugs that led to Perry’s death on 28 October 2023.

The 41-year-old is accused of selling 50 vials of ketamine to him for about $11,000 (£8,550) and is described by prosecutors as a drug trafficker who knew the ketamine she distributed could be deadly.

Her North Hollywood home was a “drug-selling emporium”, Martin Estrada, the US attorney for California’s Central District, told a news conference.

More than 80 vials of ketamine were allegedly found there in a search, along with thousands of pills that included methamphetamine, cocaine and Xanax.

A handgun was also discovered, Mr Estrada said.

The home, called the “Sangha Stash House” in the indictment, was where she is alleged to have packaged and distributed drugs, mostly for the rich and famous.

Ms Sangha “only deal[s] with high end and celebs”, according to the indictment.

Before the news conference ended, Mr Estrada was asked about the scale of Ms Sangha’s alleged network.

He alleged she was a “major source of supply for ketamine to others as well as Perry”.

As Perry fell deeper into addiction, he wanted more and more ketamine and sought it for lower prices, which led to him to street dealers as well as the more elite providers, authorities said.

Those charged in the case took advantage of him, Mr Estrada said.

“I wonder how much this moron will pay?” Dr Plasencia wrote in one text message, according to authorities.

In another, he said he wanted to be Perry’s “go-to for drugs”.

It is alleged that Perry paid them around $2,000 for vials that actually cost about $12 a piece.

“These defendants cared more about profiting off of Mr Perry than caring for his well-being,” said Mr Estrada.

Authorities say Perry purchased 20 vials of ketamine from Dr Plasencia for a total of $55,000 between September and October 2023.

Dr Plasencia also allegedly taught Iwamasa, the assistant, how to inject the drug, even though he had learned “that Perry’s ketamine addiction was spiralling out of control”, according to investigators.

Authorities say the doctor provided more ketamine even though he witnessed Perry “freeze up” while administering the drug on one occasion.

Following Perry’s death, those accused of supplying him with the drugs attempted to hide their actions, investigators say.

Authorities say Ms Sangha sent a message to another suspect telling him to “delete all our messages”.

Fleming is alleged to have messaged Ms Sangha: “Please call… Got more info and want to bounce ideas off you. I’m 90% sure everyone is protected. I never dealt with [Perry] only his assistant. So the assistant was the enabler.”

He also asked Ms Sangha, according to court documents, whether ketamine stay “in your system or is it immediately flushed out”.

Authorities say they used coded language, calling ketamine “Dr Pepper”, “bots” or “cans”.

Dr Plasencia allegedly falsified medical records in an attempt to make the drugs given to the actor look legitimate.

Authorities also uncovered that Ms Sangha was allegedly tied to another overdose death in 2019.

According to court documents, she knew about the dangers of ketamine after selling it to a customer named Cody McLaury, who died of an overdose after buying the drug.

One of his family members is said to have texted her saying: “The ketamine you sold my brother killed him. It’s listed as the cause of death.”

Days later, investigators say, Ms Sangha searched on Google: “Can ketamine be listed as a cause of death?”

Authorities say Ms Sangha will face charges in that case.

Perry’s live-in assistant, Iwamasa, was the person who found the actor dead.

Investigators say he was also the one who injected Perry with the ketamine that led to his death.

Iwamasa never received medical training and “knew little, if anything” about administering controlled substances, according to court documents.

In the four days leading up to and including Perry’s death, prosecutors say Iwamasa administered more than 20 shots of ketamine, three on the day the actor died.

He was charged in July with one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine resulting in death and serious bodily injury. Prosecutors say he has since pled guilty to the charge.

Ketamine is supposed to be administered only by a physician, investigators say, and patients who have taken the drug should be monitored by a professional because of its possible harmful effects.

On 10 October, weeks before Perry’s death, Dr Plasencia is alleged to have bought 10 vials of ketamine from accused co-conspirator Dr Mark Chavez, which he intended to sell to Perry.

Authorities say Dr Plasencia then met Perry and Iwamasa in a public parking lot, where the doctor injected the actor while inside a vehicle.

Two days later, he allegedly injected him at home with a large dose that caused him to “freeze up” and his blood pressure to spike.

Dr Plasencia told Iwamasa something to the effect of, “Let’s not do that again.”

But he allegedly left additional vials with Iwamasa.

Perry was open about his addictions. His 2022 memoir described decades struggling with alcohol and drugs. He wrote about his co-star Jennifer Anniston confronting him over smelling alcohol on his breath and the millions he’d spent trying to remain sober.

He said that he hoped his openness would help others who were struggling. The homepage for the Matthew Perry Foundation, set up after his death, has his quote: “When I die, I want helping others to be the first thing that’s mentioned.”

The head of the federal Drug Enforcement Agency, Anne Milgram, said on Thursday that the arrests and the public details of the high-profile case were likely to help others and prevent deaths – exactly as Perry had wanted.

Ukraine has set up a military administrative office in Russia’s western Kursk region, where its surprise incursion into Russian territory continues, according to its top military commander.

Gen Oleksandr Syrsky said the office would “maintain law and order” and “meet the immediate needs” of the population in the area.

In a video posted on social media, Gen Syrsky is seen telling a meeting chaired by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that the office has been created “on the territories controlled by Ukraine”.

Russian Defence Minister Andrei Belousov has said Moscow will send reinforcements to “safeguard” the population in the region.

Ukraine also claimed to have made further gains in its incursion on Thursday.

Ukrainian troops were 35km inside the Kursk region, where they control 1,150sq km of territory, including 82 settlements, Gen Syrsky said.

Now on its 10th day, this is Ukraine’s deepest incursion into Russia since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion in 2022.

But Kyiv has said it is not interested in “taking over” Russian territory.

Instead, the incursion is an attempt to pressure Moscow into agreeing to “restore a just peace”, Ukrainian foreign ministry spokesman Heorhiy Tykhy told reporters on Wednesday.

In light of the incursion, Russian officials have prepared plans for “additional measures” to safeguard the population and infrastructure in areas bordering Ukraine.

The measures involve improving the “management of troops” in the Belgorod region, which neighbours Kursk, according to a video published on the Russian defence ministry’s Telegram channel.

Interfax news agency said the plan would also apply to Kursk and Bryansk regions. All three border Ukraine.

Russia has also declared a federal level emergency in the Belgorod region. On Monday, 11,000 people were evacuated from the Krasnaya Yaruga district in Belgorod, according to Russian state news agency Tass.

Despite this, Moscow also claims it has recaptured some lost territory. In a statement, the defence ministry said it had regained control of the Krupets settlement in the Kursk region.

The developments came as a UK source confirmed to the BBC that tanks donated by the UK had been used during Ukraine’s Russian incursion.

The UK Ministry of Defence did not officially comment on which specific UK weapons have been used by Ukraine, but the department reiterated that Ukraine had a “clear right” to use UK-supplied weapons for “self-defence against Russia’s illegal attacks”.

The UK was one of the first countries to provide modern Western battle tanks to Ukraine, donating 14 Challenger 2 tanks in the past year. But that was for a Ukrainian offensive to recapture its own territory.

The Ministry of Defence has insisted that there has been no change in policy.

Military equipment supplied by the United States and Germany is also being used for Ukraine’s incursion.

None of those countries have raised objections about their equipment being used for the offensive. But given the secrecy surrounding the operation, few would have known Ukraine’s intentions in advance.

There may still be concerns in the West about what happens next. Not just over whether Ukraine could suffer significant losses and come back asking for more. But more importantly, there will be some who may worry about how Russia responds.

The Kremlin has already accused the West of being behind the attack on its territory. The fact that Western weapons are involved could be seen as evidence for that charge.

Escalation is always a worry when it involves a nuclear armed state, and the Kremlin has not been afraid to occasionally rattle its nuclear sabre.

But it has also set down many red lines that have already been crossed.

It warned the West not to supply Ukraine with tanks in the first place. That warning was eventually ignored.

There is, however, still one big restriction. No Western country has given Kyiv the green light to use their long-range missiles to strike targets inside Russia.

Britain, France and the US have all provided some – but with the caveat they must be used inside Ukraine, which does include its southern Crimea peninsula that Russia illegally annexed in 2014.

President Zelensky has repeatedly pleaded for those caveats to be lifted.

Dozens of Israeli settlers have set fire to houses and cars in a village in the occupied West Bank, with the Palestinian health ministry saying at least one person has been killed.

The settlers – some of them wearing masks – threw rocks and Molotov cocktails as they attacked the village of Jit, near the town of Nablus, on Thursday evening, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said.

The Palestinian health ministry said a local villager in his early 20s was killed and another person critically injured in the chest. The IDF said it was examining the report of the fatality.

Israeli political leaders condemned the attack, pledging to punish the perpetrators. One Israeli national was detained in Jit, the IDF said.

Footage has emerged on social media purportedly showing houses and vehicles set ablaze in Jit late on Thursday.

Plumes of smoke are seen rising above the village.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement that “those responsible for any criminal act will be caught and prosecuted”.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog wrote in a post on X: “This is an extreme minority that harms the law-abiding community of settlers and the settlement as a whole and in the name and status of Israel in the world during a particularly sensitive and difficult period.

“Law enforcement officials must act immediately” to bring those responsible to justice, Mr Herzog added.

In a statement, the IDF said its forces were deployed in the village “within minutes” of receiving reports of violence, shooting in the air to disperse the crowds. Attackers were then removed from Jit.

The IDF added that a joint investigation was launched by its forces, Israel’s security agency Shin Bet and the Israeli police following the “serious incident”.

The US said attacks by settlers were “unacceptable and must stop”.

“Israeli authorities must take measures to protect all communities from harm, this includes intervening to stop such violence, and holding all perpetrators of such violence to account,” a White House National Security Council spokesperson said.

Palestinians regularly accuse Israeli security forces of allowing groups of violent settlers to attack their villages.

According to OCHA – the UN office for Humanitarian Affairs – there have been more than 1,000 attacks by settlers against Palestinians since October, with at least 1,390 people – including 660 children – displaced.

Lethal violence has frequently accompanied the attacks. OCHA recorded 107 that led to Palestinian fatalities and injuries, 859 causing damage to Palestinian property.

International attention has been focused on the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip – but the scale of settler violence has prompted the US, the EU and the UK to impose sanctions on some settler leaders and, for the first time, against entire settler outposts.

A remote cluster of Scottish islands could help solve one of our planet’s greatest mysteries, scientists say.

The Garvellach islands off the west coast of Scotland are the best record of Earth entering its biggest ever ice age around 720 million years ago, researchers have discovered.

The big freeze, which covered nearly all the globe in two phases for 80 million years, is known as “Snowball Earth”, after which the first animal life emerged.

Clues hidden in rocks about the freeze have been wiped out everywhere – except in the Garvellachs. Researchers hope the islands will tell us why Earth went into such an extreme icy state for so long and why it was necessary for complex life to emerge.

Layers of rock can be thought of as pages of a history book – with each layer containing details of the Earth’s condition in the distant past.

But the critical period leading up to Snowball Earth was thought to be missing because the rock layers were eroded by the big freeze. 

Now a new study by researchers at University College, London, has revealed that the Garvellachs somehow escaped unscathed. It may be the only place on Earth to have a detailed record of how the Earth entered one of the most catastrophic periods in its history – as well as what happened when the first animal life emerged when the snowball thawed hundreds of millions of years ago.

Back then Scotland was in a completely different place because the continents have moved over time. It was south of the Earth’s equator and had a tropical climate, until it and the rest of the planet became engulfed in ice.

“We capture that moment of entering an ice age in Scotland that is missing in all other localities in the world,” Prof Graham Shields of University College London, who led the research, told BBC News.

“Millions of critical years are missing in other places because of glacial erosion – but it is all there in the layers of rock in the Garvellachs.”

The islands in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland are uninhabited, apart from a team of scientists working out of the main island’s solitary building, although there are also the ruins of a 6th Century Celtic monastery.

The breakthrough was made by Prof Shield’s PhD student, Elias Rugen, whose results have been published in the Journal of the Geological Society of London. Elias is the first to date the rock layers and identify them as from the critical period that is missing from all other rock formations in all other parts of the world.

His discovery puts the Garvellachs in line for one of the biggest accolades in science: the golden spike hammered in at locations identified as the best record of planet-changing geological moments – though to ward off thieves the spike is not actually made of gold.

Elias has taken many of the judges of the golden spike, formally known as members of the “Cryogenian sub-commission”, several times to the rock faces to press his case.

The next stage is to allow the wider geological community to voice any objections or to come up with a better candidate. If there are none, then the spike could be hammered in next year.

The prize would raise the scientific profile of the location and attract further research funding.

A Detroit judge has been temporarily taken off the bench after he forced a 15-year-old girl to wear handcuffs and a jail uniform because she appeared to fall asleep during a field trip to his court.

District Court Judge Kenneth King said he did not like Eva Goodman’s “attitude” and said he wanted to show her “how you are to conduct yourself in a courtroom”.

The teenager was visiting the 36th District Court for a trip organised by the environmental charity The Greening, whose other excursions include kayaking and bird-watching.

On Thursday, the chief judge of the 36th District Court, William McConico, said in a statement that he had conducted a “swift and thorough internal investigation” of the incident and decided to temporarily take Mr King off his cases to undergo “necessary training”.

“We sincerely hope that this incident does not undermine our longstanding relationships with local schools,” Judge McConio said.

The girl’s mother, Latoreya Hill, told local news: “Would you want someone to treat your child like that?

“To belittle her in front of the whole world and her friends, to make her feel even more worse about her situation.”

Video from the court shows Judge King telling Ms Hill’s daughter: “One thing you’ll learn about my courtroom is that I’m not a toy. I am not to be played with.”

He asked other visitors on the trip to vote if he should put Eva in a juvenile detention centre, before deciding to have her handcuffed and dressed in a jail outfit before releasing her.

“It was her whole attitude and her whole disposition that disturbed me,” the judge said in interviews afterwards.

“I wanted to get through to her, show how serious this is,” he said, adding: “I’ll do whatever needs to be done to reach these kids and make sure that they don’t end up in front of me.”

In the video of the incident, Judge King tells Eva: “You sleep at home in your bed, not in court.”

Her mother, however, said Eva did not have “her own bed that she can sleep in”.

“She was tired,” Ms Hill, a single mother of two, said. “I’m trying my best.”

Judge Aliyah Sabree, who has the No 2 leadership post at the court, said on Wednesday that said Mr King’s actions did “not reflect the standards” of the court and would be “addressing this matter with the utmost diligence”.

Mr King said he stood by his decisions. “I wanted this to look and feel very real to her, even though there’s probably no real chance of me putting her in jail,” he said.

“That was my own version of Scared Straight.”

The US says there has been a “promising start” to the new round of talks in Doha on a ceasefire and hostage release deal in the Gaza Strip, as the number of Palestinians reported killed in the war between Israel and Hamas surpassed 40,000.

An agreement is seen as key to stopping the 10-month conflict spiralling into an all-out regional war involving Iran, but expectations of a breakthrough are low.

White House spokesman John Kirby said “there remains a lot of work to do” to resolve gaps in the implementation of the framework agreement.

Hamas has said it will not participate in the indirect negotiations in Doha for now, although mediators are said to be relaying messages to the armed group’s officials based there.

It has called for a roadmap based on a proposal outlined by the US president and has accused Israel’s prime minister of adding new conditions, which he has denied.

Israeli media report that the country’s negotiating team has been given a slightly expanded mandate, while the relatives of hostages still held in Gaza are calling this the “last chance” to get some of them out alive.

The mediators face a number of potential sticking points, including control of land along Gaza’s border with Egypt and the return of displaced Palestinian civilians to northern Gaza.

The talks were suspended after Hamas’s political leader and chief negotiator, Ismail Haniyeh, was assassinated in Tehran at the end of July. Iran has vowed to retaliate against Israel, which has neither confirmed nor denied involvement, raising fears of a wider escalation.

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

Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry said on Thursday that at least 40,005 people had been killed in the territory since then, which the UN human rights chief described as a “grim milestone for the world”.

The figure, which does not make a distinction between combatants and civilians, is often disputed by the Israeli government but is broadly accepted by UN agencies.

The Israeli military said it had “eliminated over 17,000 terrorists”. It has also reported that 330 of its troops have been killed since the ground invasion began.

Israel’s delegation to the Doha talks reportedly included the directors of its Mossad foreign intelligence agency and Shin Bet domestic security service, David Barnier and Ronen Bar, as well as the Israeli military’s hostages chief, Nitzan Alon.

CIA director William Burns joined them, along with Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman Al Thani and Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel.

Qatari and Egyptian officials were also “mediating with Hamas” as part of the process, according to the US state department.

After the start of the discussions on Thursday, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters that they were likely to continue on Friday because of the complexity of the agreement.

Mr Kirby stressed that they were not having a debate over the broad framework of the deal.

“We’re at a point where it’s generally accepted. Where the gaps are in the execution of the deal, the individual muscle-movements that go with putting the deal in place,” he explained, without providing any details.

He added: “The remaining obstacles can be overcome, and we must bring this process to a close.”

The first phase of the proposed deal outlined by US President Joe Biden at the end of May would include a “full and complete ceasefire” lasting six weeks, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from all populated areas of Gaza, and the exchange of some of the hostages – including women, the elderly and the sick or wounded – for Palestinian prisoners held in Israel.

The second phase would involve the release of all other living hostages and a “permanent end to hostilities”. The third would see the start of a major reconstruction plan for Gaza and the return of dead hostages’ remains

A senior official in Hamas – which is proscribed as a terrorist organisation by Israel, the UK and other countries – told the BBC on Wednesday that it would not attend the Doha talks, even though its political leadership is almost entirely based in the Qatari capital.

He claimed that Israel had “added new conditions and reneged on its previous agreement”, including demanding that it maintain full control over the Philadelphi corridor, a narrow strip of land running along Gaza’s southern border with Egypt, and that displaced people returning to northern Gaza be screened to ensure they are unarmed civilians.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office issued a statement on Tuesday saying the claim that he had added new conditions was “false”, describing them instead as “essential clarifications to help implement” the initial proposal.

“Enough is enough, we want to get back to our homes in Gaza City. Every hour, a family is getting killed or a house getting bombed,” Aya, a displaced Palestinian woman sheltering in Deir al-Balah, told Reuters news agency. “We are hopeful this time. Either it’s this time or never I am afraid.”

The families of the remaining Israeli hostages also believe time is running out, and many took part in a march through Tel Aviv at which they chanted “seal the deal”. Israel says 111 hostages are still being held by Hamas, 39 of whom are presumed dead.

It came as the spokesman of Hamas’s military wing released a statement providing further details about how he said an Israeli male hostage had been shot and killed by a Hamas guard. Abu Ubaida said the guard had “acted in a retaliatory manner, against instructions, after he received information that his two children were martyred” by Israeli forces.

The Israeli military said in response to the group’s initial statement about the killing on Monday that it did not have any information that allowed it to confirm or deny the claim.

Hamas also posted on Thursday a photo showing the body of another man, who it said had been killed in “an unfortunate incident”.

The Israeli military said the image showed “a hostage who was murdered and whose body was recovered” by troops in November.

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum identified him as Ofir Tzarfati and cited his mother, Richelle, as saying: “What is important is that the delegation succeeds and does everything to come back with a deal. Everyone needs to come home, now.”

In addition to halting a war and freeing hostages, the US and others see a ceasefire deal as a way to deter Iran from retaliating against Israel for the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, who has been succeeded by Hamas leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, one of the masterminds of the 7 October attack.

The Iran-backed Lebanese Hezbollah movement has also vowed to respond to the killing of a senior commander in an Israeli air strike in Beirut. The Israeli military blamed the latter for a rocket attack that killed 12 children in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

Israel has warned Iran that it would “exact a heavy price for any aggression”, while Iran has insisted “a punitive response to an aggressor is a legal right”.

Mr Kirby said the US and its allies had to take seriously the “rhetoric coming out of Tehran”.

“I can’t sit here and tell you for sure that that there’s been a decision to change their mind,” he said. “A few days ago, we had information… that an attack could come with little or no warning, and certainly could come in coming days, and we have to be ready for it.”

Police have identified two murder suspects thought to have been involved in the death of a miner whose remains were discovered more than 50 years after he went missing.

Alfred Swinscoe’s remains were found in a field on farmland in Nottinghamshire last April, after the father of six was last seen drinking at a pub on 27 January 1967.

Work on Mr Swinscoe’s bones has found he sustained a “significant” stab injury and blunt force trauma, and police say he died with a broken hand.

Now officers have identified two suspects, both of whom are no longer alive.

Nottinghamshire Police launched a murder inquiry following the discovery of the remains, later confirmed as belonging to the 54-year-old.

They were found off Coxmoor Road in Sutton-in-Ashfield, on 26 April, when digging work was being carried out on farmland.

Officers believe Mr Swinscoe – who last seen at the former Pinxton Miners Arms in Derbyshire – was murdered and then buried in a grave between 4ft (1.2m) and 6ft (1.8m) deep.

Police said since the remains were found, scientists had carried out “extensive” work on Mr Swinscoe’s bones to determine a cause of death.

It is thought Mr Swinscoe could have sustained his broken hand while fighting his attacker or attackers off.

One of the suspects had a history of violence, police added.

Some of the injuries the suspect had inflicted on another man he was convicted of assaulting in April 1966, were similar to those found on Mr Swinscoe.

As some of the bones were missing, experts believe it was “highly likely” Mr Swinscoe was killed at a different location, and then moved to where his remains were found “at a much later date”.

Mr Swinscoe’s grandson, Russell Lowbridge, told the BBC he recognised the former miner’s sock that was found with the remains.

“Finding out he was murdered was a shock. It took some sinking in,” Mr Lowbridge said. “It’s all a bit disturbing and upsetting.

“Anybody that knew anything, they’ve kept it a secret. It would be wonderful if [people] did come forward – it would help put our minds at rest.

“It will always haunt us; we’ll always be left wondering. We have got some closure, but not full closure. There are still questions to be answered.”

Since the age of 14, Mr Swinscoe had worked at Langton Colliery as a “cutter”, known for operating a machine that cut large chunks of coal out of the coal face for others to then break down.

He had the nickname “Sparrow”, and was also known as “Champion Pigeon Man of Pinxton”, due to his love of pigeon racing.

Four of his six children are still alive and he has a number of grandchildren.

It is believed Mr Swinscoe was drinking with his two sons and friends on the night of his disappearance.

He was last seen giving money to son Gary to buy a round, and then left to use the outside toilet.

Mr Lowbridge previously told the BBC that the disappearance had “tormented” Gary, who died in 2012 “never knowing what happened to his dad”.

Detectives believe a vehicle would have been used in the killing, as it was “some distance” between the pub and where Mr Swinscoe was buried.

They added it “would have been rare” to own a car in the village of Pinxton in 1967.

Assistant Chief Constable Rob Griffin said many of the people who were with Mr Swinscoe at the time he went missing were no longer alive, adding “we may never get the full picture” of what happened.

“That certainly hasn’t stifled our determination to investigate this crime and leave no stone unturned to find his killer or killers,” he said.

“We will continue to investigate this crime and continue to look at all new and existing avenues available to us.”

Mr Swincoe’s cause of death will be determined by a pathologist ahead of an inquest.

Police are continuing to appeal for information, with Mr Swinscoe’s final movements recreated as part of a BBC Crimewatch appeal in October.

The family held a small funeral for Mr Swinscoe in Kirkby-in-Ashfield, Nottinghamshire, in January.

The service – at A Wass Funeral Directors – was officiated by Stephen Blakeley, a celebrity celebrant who was known for playing PC Younger in the television series Heartbeat.

“He did a nice talk about grandad for us and it was lovely,” Mr Lowbridge said.

“It’s good to have him back home buried properly with his family and we feel content that he’s not lost any more.”

Tens of thousands of people participated in a “Reclaim the Night” march in the Indian city of Kolkata on Wednesday night to protest against last week’s rape and murder of a trainee doctor.

The march, largely led by women, demanded justice for the 31-year-old victim who worked at the RG Kar Medical College. She was brutally attacked on Friday, sparking protests and anger across the country.

Devalina Bose, 27, an intern at the same hospital, told the BBC that she joined the protest as she was hurt and angry because of what happened to her colleague.

Here is Devalina in her own words.

I’m still traumatised by what happened to the victim. I struggle to sleep at night.

I keep thinking about how just three weeks back, I had taken a short nap in a room just a few meters away from where the rape and murder happened.

I was tired that night after being on my feet for hours and I just wanted to take a nap. But the room didn’t have a lock and so I couldn’t bolt the door shut.

I was alone in the room and, for a second, I worried about my safety.

But then I pushed the thought out of my head because I told myself that my colleagues were close-by and nothing untoward could possibly happen to me in a hospital.

But now, I don’t feel this way anymore.

Every time I’m on shift, I catch myself looking over my shoulder, scanning the room for unsafe faces, voices… I don’t know what I’m looking for but I’m always on the edge.

What happened to her is just unimaginable. How could a doctor on duty be subjected to something so horrific? So inhuman?

Doctors save people’s lives. They give people a second – sometimes a third – lease on life.

So last night, I joined all my colleagues on the street. My parents didn’t want me to participate in the march because they were worried about my safety.

But I told them that they should encourage me instead, because women have the right to be out in the streets at night and to feel safe.

Women have the right to be anywhere they choose to, doing whatever they choose to, without having to worry about their safety. We have a right to the night like anybody else.

That’s why I joined the protest. To mark this idea and to force people to see it, understand it and believe it.

I saw so many people, of all ages, participate in the march.

There were several generations of women out in the streets – grandmothers, mothers, daughters – holding placards, candles, shouting slogans for justice and change. Some were just walking along silently, perhaps soaking it all in.

My female professors and staff from the hospital were also out to protest.

People from the building I stay in were also participating in a march organised by our society.

It was the first time I saw people I never thought would participate in a march in the night.

I thought it was so special and so powerful.

I walked along with my female friends and even though I attended just one protest march, I felt connected to the hundreds of marches being held simultaneously across the state.

My friends from other places shared videos of their marches with me. I shared photos and videos of mine.

In those few moments, we all felt connected – united in our anger and desire for change.

I think this incident has ignited so much rage and touched so many people.

Often in our society, many people tend to blame the victim. They say ‘why was she out with a guy?’ or ‘why was she wearing that dress?’ or ‘why was she out at that hour in the night?’

It is reprehensible to hold a woman accountable for the man’s actions in any case. Now many of us are wondering who will people blame?

It’s time we as a society took a step back and asked ourselves this question: whose fault is rape, really?

Washington is absorbing the impact of Ukraine’s lightning assault into Russia’s Kursk region as the scale of President Zelensky’s bold gamble emerges.

US officials are assessing how the incursion might reshape the political and military dynamics of the war, as well as the implications for Washington’s long-shifting stance on how Ukraine can use American-supplied arms.

The stunning raid, catching both Russian and apparently Western leaders by surprise, highlights one of the riskiest dilemmas for the Western-backed defence of Ukraine: President Biden has consistently tried to empower Kyiv to push back Russia’s invasion without risking an American escalation with Moscow. As President Putin has always tried to portray the conflict as a war between Russia and the West, Mr Biden has sought to put clear limits on US policy to deflate that narrative and prevent a conflagration.

But Ukraine’s Kursk assault – the largest incursion into Russia by a foreign military since World War Two, according to military analysts – has raised a series of urgent questions for the White House. Does it rapidly expand the boundaries of Washington’s set limits for how Ukraine can use American and Nato weapons systems? Does it risk crossing Russia’s red lines over Western involvement in the war? If not, has President Zelensky showed Washington he can call Mr Putin’s bluff?

Despite the risks and the uncertainty, there is a sense of surprised admiration among some in Washington at Mr Zelensky’s move. Piecing together comments from US officials over the last week reveals something of the emerging position. The administration insists Ukraine gave it no advance warning of the assault. White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre has said Washington had “nothing to do” with it.

As for the use of US weapons, spokespeople from the White House, Pentagon and State Department won’t officially confirm whether they are being used, but it seems overwhelmingly clear that they are, given Ukraine’s reliance on US and Nato weapons systems. Vladislav Seleznyov, a former spokesman for the Ukrainian armed forces’ general staff, told Voice of America that US-provided HIMAR rocket launchers had been critical to the advance.

US approval for the use of its weapons by Ukraine in the Kursk incursion is certainly being implicitly given. Pentagon spokesman Maj. Gen. Patrick Ryder said this week: “We assess that they’re within the policy boundaries that we’ve set. Those policies haven’t changed as it relates to in particular to use of US weapons.” Officials say the assault is “consistent” with their policy “from the very beginning” for Ukraine to be able to defend itself against attacks coming across the border.

But Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh added: “Again, we don’t support long range attacks into Russia. These are more for crossfire. I’m not going to put a specific range on it.”

The US is the single biggest arms supplier to Ukraine – making the relationship the most consequential for Ukraine’s prospects. Just last week the Pentagon authorised its 63rd tranche of equipment in three years, including Stinger missiles and artillery shells. But since the start of the Russian invasion President Biden’s approach has been characterised by at first a refusal to send more even advanced weapons – including, consecutively, Himars rockets, Patriot missile defence systems and F-16 fighter jets – before later changing his mind.

The same goes for White House policy on Ukrainian attacks into Russian territory. For many months President Zelensky pleaded for permission to strike at military targets in Russia that facilitated attacks into Ukraine. In May, Mr Biden finally authorised the use of US weapons to strike across the border into Russia but only in a limited range from the Kharkiv region – which was under Russian assault. The White House described Ukraine’s permitted actions as “counter-strike” measures.

“They’re authorised to be used in proximity to the border when [Russian military sites] are being used on the other side of the border to attack specific targets in Ukraine,” said Mr Biden in June. “We’re not authorising strikes 200 miles into Russia and we’re not authorising strikes on Moscow, on the Kremlin.”

A few weeks later, that same permission was extended to any point along the border where Russian forces were preparing to attack Ukraine.

Since then, Mr Zelensky, along with some European allies and some Democrats in Washington, have urged the US to further “untie” Ukraine’s hands. Specifically, the Ukrainian leader wants to be able to use American-provided ATACMS or long range missiles to fire deep into Russia to take out drone or missile launch sites. Washington has refused.

Hovering ominously over all of such decisions are the warnings of President Putin, who has previously threatened to use “all available means” if Russia’s territorial integrity is threatened. This in addition to his nuclear sabre rattling if he deems the West as posing an intolerable threat to Russia via the Ukraine war.

Ultimately, President Biden’s stance could be summed up as this: Ukraine can decide how best to defend itself using American weapons, including strikes across the border, but within very clear limits – including not using long-range missiles. The words he used in June suggested that Ukraine’s limits were “in proximity to the border”.

The Kursk offensive takes America’s dilemma into unexpected territory – literally and figuratively. Ukraine’s incursion is a cross-border ground assault, reportedly involving anywhere between 5,000 to 12,000 troops. Some unconfirmed Russian reports have suggested its forces could have advanced up to 30 kilometres into Russia. By the middle of this week Kyiv said its forces were in control of 1,000 square kilometres of Russian territory, including more than 70 villages and towns, and had captured hundreds of prisoners of war. Russian officials said around 132,000 people had been evacuated from their homes.

With US officials still reluctant to talk about it publicly in any detail, my sense is that they are still working out what it means for the state of the battlefield, the future of the war and how this is affecting Putin’s calculations.

If Mr Zelensky was frustrated at what he perceived as too much caution or slow decision making from President Biden over arms authorisations, he may be trying to show him he can force both his – and Vladimir’s Putin’s – hand. It is a daring gamble.

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

• Woman switches to Miss Universe Nigeria after Miss South Africa row
• Uproar forces Kenyan city to remove ’embarassing’ athlete statues
• Botswana welcomes Tebogo home with stadium spectacular

A wreck has been found off the Aberdeenshire coast that is believed to be a lost Royal Navy warship, sunk by a torpedo during World War One.

HMS Hawke was discovered by a team of divers about 70 miles east of Fraserburgh earlier this week in “remarkable” condition.

More than 500 of the ship’s crew died when it was attacked by a German U-boat in October 1914.

The ship caught fire and, following an explosion, sank in less than eight minutes, with just 70 sailors surviving.

It is hoped that the wreckage will be formally identified by the Royal Navy in the coming weeks.

The wreckage was found by the Lost in Waters Deep group – who aim to find shipwrecks to remember wartime losses in Scottish waters.

HMS Hawke, a 387ft (118m) long and 60ft (18m) wide Edgar-class protected cruiser, was first launched in 1891.

In 1911, it was involved in an infamous collision in the Solent with RMS Olympic – the Titanic’s sister ship – and was badly damaged.

When World War One broke out Hawke was deployed to the 10th Cruiser Squadron and took part in blockade duties between Shetland and Norway.

In October 1914, the squadron deployed further south in the North Sea as part of efforts to stop German warships from attacking troop convoys from Canada.

On 15 October 1914, the squadron was on patrol off the coast of Aberdeen when HMS Hawke was struck by a single torpedo from German submarine U-9

This major attack in the early stages of the war was an early indication of the Royal Navy’s vulnerability to German U-boats, even in the north of Scotland.

The wreck, the last resting place of 524 sailors, was located on 12 August, 360ft (110m) below the surface.

Steve Mortimer, a diver who is working alongside the Lost in Waters Deep project, told BBC Scotland that finding the location of HMS Hawke took a lot of hard work.

The team’s research involved going back to data from the time such as the U-boat commander’s day journal which gave an indication of where it had been when it fired the torpedo.

They also looked at the logs of other Navy cruisers which had “exchanged post” with HMS Hawke just before it was sunk, giving them a general area for where the ship might lie.

Another piece of data was an “obstruction” on the seabed reported by Scottish fisheries in the 1980s.

The dive ship investigated the obstruction site but found nothing.

However, just a kilometre away they found a huge shipwreck.

“It took years of research but the actual time on the ground was just a few hours,” Mr Mortimer said.

He said HMS Hawke had clearly deteriorated after a century on the seabed but it was still in remarkable condition.

“Lots of the decking in still in place – teak decking,” he said.

“There is a wonderful captain’s walkway around the back of the stern. There’s loads of guns because obviously she was a warship.

“There’s lots of Royal Navy crockery. It is fascinating. She clearly was taken completely by surprise because lots of the portholes are still open.”

Mr Mortimer said the area of the sea that the ship was in does not have lots of nutrients so the wreck has not been eaten away by organisms.

He said: “You can look into the portholes and see rooms with artefacts – teacups, bowls and plates just there on the floor.

“It’s a really remarkable time capsule.”

Chinese authorities have called for gig workers to be treated with kindness after videos of a delivery rider kneeling before a security guard led to protests by dozens of riders.

Guards stopped the rider from leaving a building in Hangzhou on Monday – saying he damaged railings while scaling them during a rushed delivery.

Worried that his subsequent deliveries would be delayed, the rider got on his knees and pleaded to be let go, the city’s police said in a statement.

The incident sparked outrage online, with many urging better protections for workers in the industry.

Some 12 million people work as delivery riders in China, and the pandemic has fuelled explosive growth in the sector.

But the industry – much like in the rest of the world – is notorious for its tight deadlines, where low-wage riders are subject to tough penalties over delays and poor customer feedback.

Many also work long days, earning less than a dollar for each delivery.

The incident on Monday drew huge crowds of angry delivery riders to the building in downtown Hangzhou, leading the police to dispatch dozen of officers to manage the situation – including from the special weapons and tactics team.

Videos shared on social media show the riders chanting, “Apologise! Apologise!”

At one point, they start belting out China’s national anthem.

Hangzhou police issued a statement on Tuesday urging the public to “stay calm and seek to understand one another”.

Meituan, the delivery platform that the rider in question was working for, said it will “take thorough responsibility” to look into whether he was treated unfairly, and ensure its delivery riders are properly protected.

The platform added that it has paid to repair the broken railings.

Hashtags related to the incident have clocked up hundreds of millions of views on microblogging platform Weibo in the last few days.

Some users condemned the security guards’ “bullying tactics”, while others acknowledged that the rider had made a mistake.

“They are both low-wage workers. Why did it have to come to this?” one user wrote. “It’s a hot day, it’s not easy for all of us. Let’s try to empathise with one another.”

Others cited poor working conditions as a factor.

“Why do delivery riders break traffic rules so often? It’s simple. They will be fined if their deliveries are delayed,” another user wrote.

“This is the power of the platforms they work for. And so the riders work as hard as they can and risk their lives in order to complete what they have to do.

“It’s exactly how sweatshops function.”

China has over the years introduced guidelines to protect the rights and interests of gig workers, but problems remain.

Incidents of riders clashing with security guards in China have made headlines in the past.

In January this year, a delivery rider in the eastern city of Qingdao was stabbed to death by a security guard for entering a building without authorisation.

Research by the China Labour Bulletin, a Hong Kong-based NGO, shows gig workers have held at least 400 protests in the last five years to demand improvements.

The world’s highest single-arch rail bridge is set to connect the valley region in Indian-administered Kashmir with the rest of the country by train for the first time.

It took more than 20 years for the Indian railways to finish the bridge over the River Chenab in the Reasi district of Jammu.

The showpiece infrastructure project is 35m taller than the Eiffel Tower and the first train on the bridge is set to run soon between Bakkal and Kauri areas.

The bridge is part of a 272km (169 miles) all-weather railway line that will pass through Jammu, ultimately going all the way to the Kashmir valley (there is no definite timeline yet for the completion). Currently, the road link to Kashmir valley is often cut off during winter months when heavy snowfall leads to blockages on the highway from Jammu.

Experts say the new railway line will give India a strategic advantage along the troubled border region.

The Himalayan region of Kashmir has been a flashpoint between India and Pakistan for decades. The nuclear-armed neighbours have fought two wars over it since independence in 1947. Both claim Kashmir in full but control only parts of it.

An armed insurgency against Delhi’s rule in the Indian-administered region since 1989 has claimed thousands of lives and there is heavy military presence in the area.

“The rail bridge will permit the transport of military personnel and equipment around the year to the border areas,” said Giridhar Rajagopalan, deputy managing director of Afcons Infrastructure, the contractor for the Indian railways that constructed the bridge.

This will help India exploit a “strategic goal of managing any adventurism by Pakistan and China [with whom it shares tense relations] on the western and northern borders”, said Shruti Pandalai, a strategic affairs expert.

On the ground, sentiment about the project is more nuanced. Some locals, who did not want to be named, said the move would definitely help improve transport links, which would benefit them. But they also worry it would be a way for the Indian government to exert more control over the valley.

The railway line is part of a larger infrastructural expansion – along with more than 50 other highway, railway and power projects – by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, which stripped Jammu and Kashmir of its special status and divided the state into two federally administered territories in 2019.

The controversial move was accompanied by a months-long security clampdown which sparked massive anger in the region. Since then, the government has brought in several administrative changes that are seen as attempts to integrate Kashmir more closely with the rest of India.

Ms Pandalai adds that while India’s plans for the region would naturally be guided by its “strategic aims”, it also needs to take “local needs and context” into account.

The construction of the Chenab bridge was approved in 2003, but faced delays and missed deadlines because of the region’s treacherous topography, safety concerns and court cases.

Engineers working on the project had to reach the remote location on foot or by mule during the early stages of construction.

The Himalayas are a young mountain range and their geo-technical features have still not been fully understood. The bridge is located in a highly seismic zone and the Indian railways had to carry out extensive exploration studies, modifying its shape and arches to ensure the bridge could withstand simulated wind speeds of up to 266km/h.

“Logistics was another major challenge given the inaccessibility of the location and the narrow roads. Many of the components of the bridge were built and fabricated on site,” said Mr Rajagopalan.

Besides the engineering complications, the railways had to design a blast-proof structure. Afcons claims the bridge can withstand a strong “explosion of up to 40kg of TNT” and trains would continue to ply, albeit at slower speeds, even if there was damage or a pillar was knocked out.

Experts say that enabling all-weather connectivity to the Kashmir valley could give the region’s economy a much-needed boost.

Poor connectivity during winter months has been a major bugbear for the valley’s largely farm-dependent businesses.

Seven in 10 Kashmiris live off perishable fruit cultivation, according to think-tank Observer Research Foundation.

Ubair Shah, who owns one of Kashmir’s largest cold storage facilities in Pulwama district in south Kashmir, said the impact of the rail link could be “huge”.

Right now, most of the plums and apples stored in his facility make their way to markets in northern states like Haryana, Punjab and Delhi. The new railway line would give farmers access to southern India which could eventually help increase their incomes, he said.

Yet without better last-mile connectivity, he doesn’t expect a quick shift to railway cargo.

“The nearest station is 50km away. We’ll have to first send the produce to the station, then unload it and load it onto the train again. It’s too much handling. With perishables you have to try and minimise that,” Mr Shah said.

The project is also expected to boost the region’s tourism revenue.

Kashmir’s spectacular tourist spots have seen a recent surge in arrivals despite the remoteness of the region. A direct train between Jammu and Kashmir’s Srinagar would not only be cheaper, but also halve travel time, which could give tourism a further shot in the arm.

There will be several challenges too.

Kashmir continues to be dogged by incidents of violence. A recent spurt in militant activity – which seems to have shifted from the Kashmir valley to the relatively calmer Jammu region – is a particular cause for concern.

In June, nine Hindu pilgrims were killed and dozens injured after militants opened fire on a bus in Reasi – where the bridge is located – in one of the deadliest militant attacks in recent years. There have been several other attacks on the army and civilians.

Experts say such incidents are a reminder of the fragility of peace here – and without stability, connectivity projects would go only so far in reviving the region’s economy.

The makers of the final game to appear on the cover of one of the world’s longest-running gaming magazines say its sudden closure is a “big loss” to the industry.

US-based Game Informer had been running for 33 years until earlier this month, when its print edition and website were closed without warning.

Horror game The Casting of Frank Stone was featured on the final front cover of Game Informer and the game’s developers told BBC Newsbeat they were “incredibly honoured” to have made it on.

GameStop, which owned the magazine, has been approached for comment.

Narrative, choose-your-own-adventure style horror game The Casting of Frank Stone is a collaboration between Dead by Daylight developer Behaviour Interactive and UK studio Supermassive Games.

It was the subject of an in-depth feature in Game Informer and Traci Tufte, from Supermassive, told Newsbeat that reporters visited both teams to produce it.

“The team that we worked with was absolutely fantastic,” she said.

“The coverage was wonderful and I’m grateful that I personally had that opportunity.”

Game Informer was renowned worldwide for its frequent exclusive coverage of the biggest upcoming titles.

Mathieu Côté, from Canadian studio Behaviour, said he felt lucky to appear in the “legendary final issue” of the magazine.

“It’s sad news for everybody,” he said.

“It’s such a tentpole of video game journalism… it’ll be much-missed.”

Game Informer’s website has been inaccessible since the magazine’s closure, meaning that years of articles – including its Frank Stone coverage – are unavailable.

Some fans are making efforts to retrieve and store archived pages.

The Casting of Frank Stone is a spin-off, single-player game set in the universe of multiplayer title Dead by Daylight (DBD).

Mathieu says Supermassive, known for making cinematic horror games featuring motion-capture performances, was the obvious studio to work with.

He tells Newsbeat the hope is to expose more people to the world of DBD, which is one of the most-watched horror games on streaming sites such as Twitch, even if they don’t end up playing the main game.

Previous reports have mentioned a possible DBD movie project and other potential spin-offs, but the games industry has been hit by layoffs over the past two years.

Like dozens of gaming companies, both Behaviour and Supermassive have let workers go, but Mathieu insists the “desire to explore new ways to grow the horror world is certainly not diminished”.

“We need to make games and continue to have great ideas and invest in them,” he says.

“It’s true that we are probably a little more cautious about the partnerships that we get into or the new projects that we kick off.

“We just maybe take a little more time to dot our i’s and cross our t’s.”

Traci says she hopes the industry “turns a corner soon”.

“I think doing more things like this, bringing more innovation, bringing more creative partnerships, that’s certainly going to add a little bit of invigoration,” she says.

Mathieu adds that The Casting of the Frank Stone took about two years to make – a relatively short time for a video game – because Supermassive has an “established pipeline” for making narrative titles.

The Casting of Frank Stone is released in early September, so both teams aren’t revealing much about whether there will be any more instalments in the new spin-off series.

Mathieu says he’s “ridiculously proud of the result of this partnership” and can’t wait to watch people playing the game.

“Because that’s the whole point, right?

“We create these kind of things to give people an experience, to give people strong emotions,” he says.

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

Sweden’s public health agency has recorded what it says is the first case of a more dangerous type of mpox outside the African continent.

The person became infected during a stay in an area of Africa where there is currently a major outbreak of mpox Clade 1, the agency said.

The news comes just hours after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared that the outbreak of mpox in parts of Africa was now a public health emergency of international concern.

At least 450 people died during an initial outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the disease has since spread to areas of Central and East Africa.

According to Olivia Wigzell, the acting head of the Swedish public health agency, the infected person had sought care in the Stockholm area and the fact that they were receiving treatment in Sweden did not mean there was a risk to the broader population.

“The affected person has also been infected during a stay in an area of Africa where there is a large outbreak of mpox Clade 1,” she told a news conference.

Mpox, which was previously known as monkeypox, is transmitted through close contact, such as sex, skin-to-skin contact and talking or breathing close to another person.

It causes flu-like symptoms, skin lesions and can be fatal, with four in 100 cases leading to death. It is most common in the tropical rainforests of West and Central Africa and there are thousands of infections every year.

There are currently a number of outbreaks of mpox that are taking place simultaneously and they are partly fuelled by the newer and more serious type of Clade 1b, identified in September last year.

There are two types of Clade 1 and the Swedish case has been identified as Clade 1b. Since mpox Clade 1b was first witnessed in Democratic Republic of Congo there have been confirmed cases in Burundi, Kenya and Rwanda, before the new case identified in Sweden.

While Clade 2 did cause a public health emergency in 2022, it was relatively mild and some 300 cases have already been identified in Sweden.

WHO/Europe said it was actively engaging with Sweden’s health authorities on “how best to manage the first confirmed case of mpox Clade 1b”.

It urged other countries to act quickly and transparently like Sweden, as there were likely to be further “imported cases of Clade 1 in the European region over the coming days and weeks”.

The Swedish public health agency said the more dangerous outbreak was likely to be linked to “a higher rise of a more severe course of disease and higher mortality”.

Dr Jonas Albarnaz, who specialises in pox viruses at the Pirbright Institute, said the first case outside of Africa was concerning as it meant the spread “might be larger than we knew yesterday”.

Dr Brian Ferguson, Associate Professor of Immunology at the University of Cambridge agreed it was “clearly a concerning development” but unsurprising given the severity and spread of the outbreak in Africa.

The WHO hopes its latest declaration, that mpox is a public health emergency of international concern, will trigger greater support to the areas most affected.

Vaccines are available, for those at greatest risk or who have been in close contact with an infected person, but many experts worry there are not enough jabs or funding to get them to the people who need them most.

The mortality rate from the Clade 1b variant in Sweden will not be as high as that seen in parts of Africa, because of the high quality of healthcare in Europe.

However, Dr Ferguson said there would likely be further cases in Europe and other parts of the world “as there are currently no mechanisms in place to stop imported cases of mpox happening”.

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control said symptoms usually appeared 6-13 days after infection, through fevers and headaches, rashes or sores and muscle ache.

Most people experienced mild to moderate symptoms followed by a full recovery, but immuno-compromised individuals were at greater risk.

While news of the first case outside Africa may cause alarm, it was to be expected.

As other disease outbreaks have shown, swift international action can help stop the disease spreading further.

Authorities in the Kenyan city of Eldoret have removed the statues of three athletes after they were widely ridiculed and described as “embarrassing” and a poorly done “joke”.

The statues were unveiled ahead of Thursday’s ceremony giving Eldoret city status.

However, local residents and Kenyans online said they bore little resemblance to the athletes they allegedly represent.

Eldoret is known as the “home of champions”, as it is at the centre of the Rift Valley, where most of Kenya’s world-beating athletes come from.

The statues were removed overnight before President William Ruto officially designated Eldoret a city.

The town this week unveiled several artistic works, including three statues of athletes and other monuments such as a maize cob and a milk fountain.

They were supposed to represent the area’s sports and agricultural heritage and were erected at various strategic roundabouts in the town.

But the artworks immediately drew widespread criticism, becoming objects of ridicule rather than the pride they were supposed to elicit.

A Kenyan who shared a photo of a statue of a female athlete suspected to represent 1,500m world-record holder Faith Kipyegon, said the works represented “our collective mediocrity as a country”.

“It’s a disgrace calling it a Faith Kipyegon statue,” another Kenyan on X said.

Yet another X user shared a purported statue of marathon legend Eliud Kipchoge terming it a “joke”, saying “whoever did this will not see heaven”.

On Thursday morning, local media shared images of an empty pedestal where one of the statues had stood.

A local reporter told the BBC that county officials removed the three statues on Wednesday night, two representing female athletes and one of a male, taking them to an unknown location.

The authorities have not indicated who they represent but social media users have described one as a statue of Kipyegon and another of Kipchoge.

But their depiction of the athletes has been described as “shameless”, “embarrassing” and “substandard”.

Kenyans online have been welcoming the removal of the statues. It was not clear whether they would be replaced, or when.

Ahead of the ceremony to declare Eldoret Kenya’s fifth city, President Ruto hosted athletes who won medals at the 2024 Olympics.

They were each rewarded with money in accordance with a government scheme meant to motivate athletes for good performance.

Kenya was the highest-ranked African country at the Paris Olympics, coming 17th on the medal table with four golds and a total of 11 medals.

Kipyegon won the 1,500m title in a new Olympic record of 3min 51.29sec, the first woman to win three consecutive golds in the event.

She also took silver in the 5,000m.

However, Kipchoge did not finish the marathon after a back injury forced him to drop out.

• Third Olympic title an ‘amazing honour’ for Kipyegon
• Backlash as Botswana requests money for Olympic heroes
• Kenyan football must stop ‘shooting itself in foot’ amid FKF dispute
• Heat and hills in way of Kipchoge and Olympic history

North Korea will reopen one city to foreign tourists in December after nearly five years of border closures due to the Covid pandemic, according to tour operators.

At least two China-based operators announced that tourists will soon be allowed to visit the mountainous northern city of Samjiyon.

Reclusive North Korea sealed itself off at the start of the pandemic in early 2020, and started to scale back restrictions only in the middle of last year.

The border closures also cut off imports of essential goods, leading to food shortages that were made worse by international sanctions because of the country’s nuclear programme.

“So far just Samjiyon has been officially confirmed but we think that Pyongyang and other places will open too!!!” Shenyang’s KTG Tours wrote on its Facebook page on Wednesday.

Beijing’s Koryo Tour said tourists could “potentially” visit other parts of North Korea in December.

“Having waited for over four years to make this announcement, Koryo Tours is very excited for the opening of North Korean tourism once again,” it said Wednesday on its website.

Koryo Tours told the BBC that the North Korean authorities were allowing tourists from any country to join the trips, apart from South Korea. However, the US bans its citizens from travelling to North Korea.

Chad O’Carroll, CEO of US-based analysis firm Korea Risk Group, flagged doubts around the reopening announcement.

“I will believe it when I see it,” he told the BBC. “For now, I am quite sceptical we will see any real movement in December.”

Samjiyon has been undergoing major redevelopment in recent years, with Mr Kim revealing plans in July to rebuild its airport, convert a military ski base into a resort, and build new railways and hotels for foreign tourists, according to state media.

Mr Kim said at the time that plans to “revitalise international tourism” would be aimed at visitors from “friendly” nations.

Mr O’Carroll pointed out, however, that Samjiyong’s redevelopment is incomplete.

“If it does get completed in time, I can imagine only Russian tourists and possibly Chinese visiting in any real numbers at first,” he said. “Unless [the Democratic Republic of Korea] offers direct Samjiyon flights to a neutral connection country like Mongolia.”

Samjiyon lies on the foot of North Korea’s tallest mountain Paektu, which straddles the China-North Korea border, and is known for its winter attractions.

Pyongyang’s propaganda says the mountain is where North Korea’s founder Kim Il Sung battled Japanese occupation forces and launched the revolution. He is the grandfather of current president Kim Jong Un.

It also claims Paektu is where the incumbent’s father, Kim Jong Il, was born.

KCNA reported in July that the Mount Paektu-Samjiyon zone was envisioned to be a “four-season mountainous tourist area to meet the cultural and emotional needs of the people on the highest level and revitalise international tourism.”

North Korea has only allowed Russian tourists to enter the country since early 2024, amid warming ties between the two nations.

It was only in August last year that North Korea allowed the return of citizens who were locked out because of border controls, one of the last few countries to do so.

The Duke of Sussex has said the spread of false information via AI and social media means “we are no longer debating facts” during a four-day visit to Colombia.

Prince Harry, along with the Duchess of Sussex, arrived in the country on Thursday and was hosted by Vice-President Francia Márquez, who invited the couple after watching a Netflix series about their lives.

They spent their first day visiting a school in capital Bogotá to talk to teenagers about the impact of social media and speaking at a summit on digital responsibility staged in part by their Archewell Foundation.

“What happens online within a matter of minutes transfers to the streets. People are acting on information that isn’t true,” the duke said.

The Sussexes, who have faced their own attacks on social media, have not confirmed who is funding the trip – which is neither a state visit nor an official royal event.

But they are being given a full security detail – something they no longer enjoy in the UK after stepping down as working royals in 2020.

The duke said a lot of people were “scared and uncertain” about the possible impact of AI and that “education and awareness” would be key to tackling misinformation.

“It comes down to all of us to be able to spot the true from the fake,” he said.

“In an ideal world those with positions of influence would take more responsibility. We are no longer debating facts.

“For as long as people are allowed to spread lies, abuse, harass, then social cohesion as we know it has completely broken down.”

Ms Márquez, who hosted the couple at her official residence, described the Sussexes’ trip as a “very special visit”.

She said that, as well as its focus on cyber issues, she wanted it to help build bridges and promote women’s leadership in Colombia.

Meghan and Ms Márquez were pictured embracing as they warmly greeted each other, while the vice-president grasped Harry’s hands when they were introduced.

The California-based couple are expected to spend time in the Cartagena and Cali areas during their trip.

The tour, which appears to be similar in many ways to an official royal visit, is the Sussexes’ second this year, after their three-day visit to Nigeria in May.

Taylor Swift was joined by “best friend” Ed Sheeran as she kicked off the final part of the European leg of the Eras Tour on Thursday evening at London’s Wembley Stadium.

Performing a mix of the two songs they’ve made together, Everything Has Changed and End Game, Swift thanked Sheeran for appearing alongside her to perform to a sell-out crowd of 92,000 fans.

The concert was her first performance since the cancellation of shows in Vienna last week because of a terror threat.

It was also the first time she’d returned to the UK since an attack in Southport last month, in which three children were killed at a Swift-themed dance class.

The BBC understands that Taylor Swift has privately reached out to the families affected by the attacks.

She did not reference either event during the show.

Gigs in the Austrian capital were cancelled after authorities said they had foiled a terrorist plot, which was planned for one of Swift’s sold-out shows at the Ernst Happel Stadium.

The 34-year-old, who has not spoken publicly about Vienna, did release a statement after the three little girls were killed in Southport.

She said she was “completely in shock” at the “loss of life and innocence”.

As has been the case with most of the Eras Tour, things ran pretty much as expected.

But Sheeran’s appearance during the surprise acoustic section of the evening prompted a huge roar from the 92,000 audience members.

The songs featured in the acoustic section towards the end of the show are kept secret from the audience until they are performed.

After a mash-up of their 2012 hit Everything Has Changed, the pair then launched into 2017 collaboration End Game.

Swift then repaid the favour by duetting on Sheeran’s mega-ballad Thinking Out Loud.

“This is one of my best friends in the world,” she told the crowd at the end of their mini-set.

“He works so hard, he’s on tour right now and he’s probably so tired but he wanted to come and play for you,” she added.

With a runtime of more than three hours, there’s not much time for rambling ad libs on the setlist and apart from this, Swift’s interactions with the audience stayed on script.

Swift thanked the crowd throughout, and whilst introducing the Folklore and Evermore era of the evening, she told fans how overwhelming the crowd size felt.

She said she would miss performing to these crowds and was experiencing “feelings and emotions I didn’t think about before talking about it”.

Fans were told to watch out for her surprise songs, which are often the best way of knowing what headspace she is in.

When a fan died of a cardiac arrest following an Eras tour concert in Rio de Janeiro last year, Swift did not directly address the incident at her next show, instead releasing a statement on social media.

However, fans interpreted her choice of the song Bigger Than the Whole Sky as a tribute to 23-year-old Ana Clara Benevides Machado.

On Thursday evening Swift chose to perform King of My Heart from Reputation and The Alchemy from her latest album The Tortured Poets Department.

Both choices gave little away about how she might be feeling, but showcased just how large her repertoire of songs are.

More security had been put in place ahead of her Wembley run, which ends on Tuesday.

Non-ticket holders were banned from standing outside the stadium during the show, a practice known as “Tay-gating”.

Fans were also reminded of Wembley’s strict bag policies, which featured an extensive list of banned items.

Her shows at Wembley, which also take place on Friday, Saturday, Monday and Tuesday evening, will help her set a Wembley record.

She previously played for three nights at the same venue in June, but returned for five more nights to equal a record previously set by Take That in 2011.

Swift has also already played in Edinburgh, Liverpool, Cardiff and Dublin as part of her UK and Ireland leg.

Including songs from ten of her studio albums, her setlist features 46 songs, 16 costume changes and a total run time of more than three hours.

The tour, which will end later this year, has travelled all over the globe.

She started in Glendale, Arizona, in March last year and spent six months in the US before heading to gigs south of the border in Mexico, Argentina and Brazil.

This year began with shows in Japan, Australia and Singapore before the European leg started in France in March, and the first UK dates in Edinburgh in June.

But she’s not done yet and will be heading back to finish the tour in the US and Canada later in 2024.

Calls to denounce “die hard” Taiwanese secessionists, a tipline to report them and punishments that include the death penalty for “ringleaders” – Beijing’s familiar rhetoric against Taiwan is turning dangerously real.

The democratically-governed island has grown used to China’s claims. Even the planes and ships that test its defences have become a routine provocation. But the recent moves to criminalise support for it are unnerving Taiwanese who live and work in China, and those back home.

“I am currently planning to speed up my departure,” a Taiwanese businesswoman based in China said – this was soon after the Supreme Court ushered in changes allowing life imprisonment and even the death penalty for those guilty of advocating for Taiwanese independence.

“I don’t think that is making a mountain out of a molehill. The line is now very unclear,” says Prof Chen Yu-Jie, a legal scholar at Taiwan’s Academia Sinica.

China’s Taiwan Affairs Office was quick to assure the 23 million Taiwanese that this is not targeted at them, but at an “extremely small number of hard-line independence activists”. The “vast majority of Taiwanese compatriots have nothing to fear,” the office said.

But wary Taiwanese say they don’t want to test that claim. The BBC has spoken to several Taiwanese who live and work in China who said they were either planning to leave soon or had already left. Few were willing to be interviewed on record; none wanted to be named.

“Any statement you make now could be misinterpreted and you could be reported. Even before this new law China was already encouraging people to report on others,” the businesswoman said.

That was made official last week when Chinese authorities launched a website identifying Taiwanese public figures deemed “die hard” separatists. The site included an email address where people could send “clues and crimes” about those who had been named, or anyone else they suspected.

Scholars believe Beijing hopes to emulate the success of Hong Kong’s national security laws, which it said were necessary for stability – but they have crushed the city’s pro-democracy movement as former lawmakers, activists and ordinary citizens critical of the government have been jailed under them.

By making pro-Taiwanese sentiments a matter of national security, Beijing hopes to “cut off the movement’s ties with the outside world and to divide society in Taiwan between those who support Taiwan independence and those who do not”, Prof Chen says.

She believes the guidance from the Supreme Court will almost certainly result in prosecutions of some Taiwanese living in China.

“This opinion has been sent to all levels of law enforcement nationwide. So this is a way of saying to them – we want to see more cases like this being prosecuted, so go and find one.”

“We must be even more cautious,” said a Taiwanese man based in Macao. He said he had always been prepared for threats, but the new legal guidance had made his friends “express concern” about his future in the Chinese city.

“In recent years, patriotic education has become prevalent in Macau, with more assertive statements on Taiwan creating a more tense atmosphere compared to pre-pandemic times,” he added.

Taiwan, which has powerful allies in the US, the EU and Japan, rejects Beijing’s plans for “reunification” – but fears have been growing that China’s Xi Jinping has sped up the timeline to take the island, an avowed goal of the Chinese Communist Party.

For more than 30 years Taiwanese companies – iPhone-maker Foxconn, advanced chips giant TSMC and electronics behemoth Acer – have played a key role in China’s growth. The prosperity also brought Taiwanese from across the strait who were in search of jobs and brighter prospects.

“I absolutely loved Shanghai when I first moved there. It felt so much bigger, more exciting, more cosmopolitan than Taipei,” says Zoe Chu*. She spent more than a decade in Shanghai managing foreign musicians who were in high demand from clubs and venues in cities across China.

This was the mid-2000s when China was booming, drawing money and people from across the globe. Shanghai was at the heart of it – bigger, shinier and trendier than any other Chinese city.

“My Shanghainese friends were dismissive of Beijing. They called it the big northern village,” Ms Chu recalls. “Shanghai was the place to be. It had the best restaurants, the best nightclubs, the coolest people. I felt like such a country bumpkin, but I learned fast.”

By the end of that decade – in 2009 – more than 400,000 Taiwanese lived in China. By 2022, that number had plummeted to 177,000, according to official figures from Taiwan.

“China had changed,” says Ms Chu, who left Shanghai in 2019. She now works for a medical company in Taipei and has no plans to return.

“I am Taiwanese,” she explains. “It’s no longer safe for us there.”

The Taiwanese exodus has been driven by the same things that have pushed huge numbers of foreigners to leave China – a sluggish economy, growing hostility between Beijing and Washington and, most of all, the sudden and sweeping lockdowns during the Covid pandemic.

But Taiwanese in China have also been worried because the government doesn’t see them as “foreigners”, which makes them especially vulnerable to state repression.

Senior Taiwanese officials have told the BBC that 15 Taiwanese nationals are currently being held in China for various alleged crimes, “including violations of the anti-secession law”.

In 2019, China jailed a Taiwanese businessman for espionage after he was caught taking photos of police officers in Shenzen – a charge he denied. He was only released last year. In April 2023, China confirmed that it had arrested a Taiwan-based publisher for “endangering national security”. He still remains in custody.

Amy Hsu*, who once lived and worked in China, says she is now scared to even visit because of her job. After returning to Taiwan, she began volunteering at an NGO which helped people who had fled Hong Kong to settle in Taiwan.

“It is definitely more dangerous for me now,” she says. “In 2018, they began using surveillance cameras to fine people for jaywalking and the system could identify your face and send the fine directly to your address.”

She says the extent of surveillance disturbed her – and she worries it can be used to go after even visitors, especially those on a list of potential offenders.

“Oh I am definitely on the list. I am a hardline pro-independence [guy] with lots of ideas,” chuckles Robert Tsao, a 77-year-old tech billionaire, who founded one of Taiwan’s largest chip-makers, United Micro-electronics Corporation (UMC).

Mr Tsao was born in Beijing, but today he supports Taiwan independence and avoids not just China, but also Hong Kong, Macau, Thailand and even Singapore.

Mr Tsao was not always hostile to China. He was one of the first Taiwanese investors to set up advanced chip-making factories in China. But he says the crackdown in Hong Kong changed his mind: “It was so free and vibrant and now it’s gone. And they want to do the same to us here.”

“This new ruling is actually helping people like me,” he says. He believes it will backfire, increasing the resolve of Taiwanese people to resist China.

“They say the new law will only affect a few hard-line independence supporters like me, but so many Taiwanese people either support independence or the status quo [keep things as they are], which is the same thing, so we have all become criminals.”

Five people have been charged in the drug-related death of Matthew Perry last year, police say, including two doctors and the actor’s personal assistant.

Police said on Thursday that their investigation, launched in May, uncovered a “broad underground criminal network” of drug suppliers who distributed large quantities of ketamine.

Perry, 54, died at his Los Angeles home in October. A post-mortem examination found a high concentration of ketamine in his blood and determined the “acute effects” of the controlled substance had killed him.

“These defendants took advantage of Mr Perry’s addiction issues to enrich themselves,” US Attorney Martin Estrada said on Thursday. “They knew what they were doing was risking great danger to Mr Perry, but they did it anyway.”

• ‘Ketamine Queen’ and cover-ups: Five things discovered in the Matthew Perry probe

Three of the defendants – including Perry’s assistant – have already pleaded guilty to drug charges, while two others – a doctor and a woman known as “The Ketamine Queen” – were arrested on Thursday, according to the justice department.

Ketamine – a powerful anaesthetic – is used as a treatment for depression, anxiety and pain. People close to Perry, who starred as one of the lead characters on the NBC television show Friends, told a coroner’s investigation after his death that he was undergoing ketamine infusion therapy.

But his last session had taken place more than a week before his death. The medical examiner said the ketamine in Perry’s system could not have been from the infusion therapy because of the drug’s short half-life.

The levels of ketamine in his body were as high as the amount given during general anaesthesia, according to the medical examiner.

An indictment filed in federal court detailed the elaborate drug purchasing scheme that prosecutors say ultimately led to Perry’s death.

Prosecutors said Perry’s assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa, worked with two doctors to provide the actor with over $50,000 (£38,000) of ketamine in the weeks before his death.

Officials argued those involved in the scheme tried to profit from Perry’s well-known substance abuse issues. One of the doctors, Salvador Plasencia, is alleged to have written in a text message: “I wonder how much this moron will pay.”

Mr Plasencia, 42, provided Perry ketamine “outside the usual course of professional practice and without a legitimate medical purpose”, according to the indictment.

He also allegedly taught Iwamasa how to inject Perry with ketamine without proper safety procedures and surveillance, the police indictment says.

In the four days before his death, Iwamasa gave Perry at least 27 shots of ketamine, prosecutors alleged.

He did so even after a large dose of ketamine earlier that month caused Perry to “freeze up”, leading Mr Plasencia to advise against a similar-sized dose in the future, prosecutors said. The doctor still left several vials of the drug with the actor and his assistant after the incident, according to the indictment.

Others charged in the case include Jasveen Sangha, the so-called “Ketamine Queen” who supplied the drug to Plasencia through the help of two other co-defendants, Erik Fleming and doctor Mark Chavez.

Chavez, Fleming and Iwamasa have all pleaded guilty.

Ms Sangha and Mr Plasencia both made their initial appearances in Los Angeles court on Thursday afternoon and pleaded not guilty, the US Department of Justice said.

Both suspects had tentative trial dates set for October. Mr Plasencia was given a bond of $100,000 and Ms Sangha was ordered to be held without bond.

Prosecutors say the defendants attempted to cover up their alleged crimes after Perry’s death.

Ms Sangha allegedly texted another suspect, telling him to “delete all our messages”. Mr Plasencia also falsified medical records, according to the indictment.

Drowning was also listed as a contributing factor in Perry’s death, which was ruled an accident. Other contributing factors were coronary artery disease and the effects of buprenorphine, which is used to treat opioid use disorder.

At the height of his fame, Perry was battling with addiction to painkillers and alcohol, and attended rehabilitation on multiple occasions. He detailed his struggle with substance use in his memoir, Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing.

In 2016, he told BBC Radio 2 that he could not remember three years of filming during Friends, because of drink and drugs.

After attempts at treatment, he wrote in his memoir that he had been mostly sober since 2001 – “save for about 60 or 70 mishaps”.

The pork sausage was a sign that this was going to be different. Or at least, that it was meant to be.

Like a grocery store employee in front of a concession stand, Donald Trump stood framed by the everyday items of an American shopping basket.

Breakfast oats. Bread. Butter. The sausage.

In a 45-minute-long pre-prepared speech at his Bedminster Golf Club in New Jersey, his remarks appeared designed to signal a shift away from the usual personal attacks on his opponent.

Reading off a piece of paper – itself something of departure from his normally freewheeling style – this was instead an attempt to focus on policy and, somewhat like the ground coffee beans that remained in shot throughout, in granular detail too.

The former president listed a barrage of what he said were price increases under the current administration. Flour up 38%, he said. Eggs, 46%.

Sure, he questioned whether Kamala Harris loves her country, impugned her intelligence and accused her of being a “communist” multiple times.

But, compared to what has come before, this was far less heavy on the insults and it will have been music to the ears of at least some senior Republican figures.

The concerns in Republican circles about Trump’s struggle to adjust to the challenge presented by Ms Harris have been mounting ever since she took over as the presumptive Democrat nominee.

“The winning formula for President Trump is very plain to see,” Kellyanne Conway, once his campaign manager and close advisor, recently told Fox News.

“It’s fewer insults, more insights and that policy contrast.”

Others too have cringed as Trump has attacked Ms Harris over her racial identity or made bizarre claims that she was engaged in deep-fake fraud over the size of the crowds at her rallies.

“So stupid,” Megyn Kelly, the conservative commentator and former Fox News host, said in response to the latter tactic on her radio show.

“Just focus on the damn border!”

That’s a piece of advice, it has to be said, he doesn’t have too much trouble following.

Although his remarks began with a promise to focus on some “big facts and very substantial truths”, as so often they more than strained the definition of both.

He claimed, once again, that some countries are emptying out their prisons and “insane asylums” to flood the US with illegal migrants, despite there being no data on the prison history of migrants crossing the border or their mental health status.

And he repeated – without any evidence and contrary to government data – that 100% of new jobs have gone to migrants, while regurgitating false claims about having won the 2020 election.

But for those Republicans who wanted to see a new approach to counter troubling polling data, meticulous accuracy was likely not high on their list of demands from their candidate.

Even that headline list of increasing grocery costs – what Trump called “Kamala’s price hikes” – appeared to raise a number of questions.

The Reuters news agency, for example, pointed out that bread and coffee prices have actually fallen over the last year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ monthly Consumer Price Index.

But that’s not really the point. Factual or not, this was Trump connecting to voters on the issues that matter, and many do still feel the effects of the high levels of inflation under President Biden.

And with Harris yet to sit down for a formal media interview, he worked hard to land some blows against her on her record, in particular remarks she made in 2020 during widespread protests over police reform where she appeared sympathetic to calls to reduce spending on the police.

He also claimed – with some merit – that she’d stolen his pledge to end tax on tips in the US service industry, complaining that it “would’ve been nice” if she’d seen fit to give him credit.

The big question, of course, is whether Trump himself can stay on message and stick to these kinds of talking points.

In large parts of the press conference he was very much his usual self, giving long-winded diatribes about the mechanics of electric trucks, a “drill baby drill” promise to increase oil extraction, and at one point declaring that “I’m a big fan of electricity.”

But something was missing, somewhat akin to a man from the meat marketing board being forced to give a lecture about the health benefits of carrots.

You couldn’t help feeling that none of this sat very naturally for a politician whose whole political strategy has so often been fuelled by invective.

Opening the floor to questions from reporters he was asked whether he was indeed stepping back from the vitriolic character assassinations of his opponents.

“They’re not nice to me,” he said.

“I think I’m entitled to personal attacks.”

• SIMPLE GUIDE: Everything you need to know about the vote

• ANALYSIS: Three ways Trump will try to end Harris honeymoon

• EXPLAINER: Where the election could be won and lost

• FACT-CHECK: Trump falsely claims Harris crowd was faked

• VOTERS: What Democrats make of Tim Walz as VP

When Friends actor Matthew Perry was found dead in a hot tub at his Los Angeles home last year, it seemed like it could have just been an accident.

He’d been treating his depression with ketamine infusion therapy, wasn’t found with drug paraphernalia or anything suggesting foul play, and appeared to have drowned.

He’d spent decades fighting addiction, but the actor had said he was finally clean.

As the world mourned the passing of the actor, known for playing Chandler Bing on Friends, a coroner found something curious: high levels of ketamine in his blood, in the range used for general anaesthesia during surgery.

It should not have still been in his system since his last therapy appointment more than a week prior.

According to US prosecutors, a nearly year-long investigation that followed uncovered an alleged vast underground ketamine dealing network, cover-up attempts and another death.

It led to five arrests – including medical doctors, Perry’s assistant and an alleged dealer they said was known locally as the “Ketamine Queen”.

His live-in assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to distribute ketamine causing death, and two other people – Eric Fleming and Dr Mark Chavez – also pleaded guilty to conspiring to distribute drugs unlawfully.

Dr Salvador Plasencia, accused of supplying ketamine to Perry, is charged with falsifying records. Alleged dealer Jasveen Sangha faces nine counts, including conspiracy to distribute ketamine and distribution of ketamine resulting in death.

Both pleaded not guilty in court on Thursday.

Ms Sangha’s name comes up again and again in the investigation.

Authorities allege the “Ketamine Queen” supplied the drugs that led to Perry’s death on 28 October 2023.

The 41-year-old is accused of selling 50 vials of ketamine to him for about $11,000 (£8,550) and is described by prosecutors as a drug trafficker who knew the ketamine she distributed could be deadly.

Her North Hollywood home was a “drug-selling emporium”, Martin Estrada, the US attorney for California’s Central District, told a news conference.

More than 80 vials of ketamine were allegedly found there in a search, along with thousands of pills that included methamphetamine, cocaine and Xanax.

A handgun was also discovered, Mr Estrada said.

The home, called the “Sangha Stash House” in the indictment, was where she is alleged to have packaged and distributed drugs, mostly for the rich and famous.

Ms Sangha “only deal[s] with high end and celebs”, according to the indictment.

Before the news conference ended, Mr Estrada was asked about the scale of Ms Sangha’s alleged network.

He alleged she was a “major source of supply for ketamine to others as well as Perry”.

As Perry fell deeper into addiction, he wanted more and more ketamine and sought it for lower prices, which led to him to street dealers as well as the more elite providers, authorities said.

Those charged in the case took advantage of him, Mr Estrada said.

“I wonder how much this moron will pay?” Dr Plasencia wrote in one text message, according to authorities.

In another, he said he wanted to be Perry’s “go-to for drugs”.

It is alleged that Perry paid them around $2,000 for vials that actually cost about $12 a piece.

“These defendants cared more about profiting off of Mr Perry than caring for his well-being,” said Mr Estrada.

Authorities say Perry purchased 20 vials of ketamine from Dr Plasencia for a total of $55,000 between September and October 2023.

Dr Plasencia also allegedly taught Iwamasa, the assistant, how to inject the drug, even though he had learned “that Perry’s ketamine addiction was spiralling out of control”, according to investigators.

Authorities say the doctor provided more ketamine even though he witnessed Perry “freeze up” while administering the drug on one occasion.

Following Perry’s death, those accused of supplying him with the drugs attempted to hide their actions, investigators say.

Authorities say Ms Sangha sent a message to another suspect telling him to “delete all our messages”.

Fleming is alleged to have messaged Ms Sangha: “Please call… Got more info and want to bounce ideas off you. I’m 90% sure everyone is protected. I never dealt with [Perry] only his assistant. So the assistant was the enabler.”

He also asked Ms Sangha, according to court documents, whether ketamine stay “in your system or is it immediately flushed out”.

Authorities say they used coded language, calling ketamine “Dr Pepper”, “bots” or “cans”.

Dr Plasencia allegedly falsified medical records in an attempt to make the drugs given to the actor look legitimate.

Authorities also uncovered that Ms Sangha was allegedly tied to another overdose death in 2019.

According to court documents, she knew about the dangers of ketamine after selling it to a customer named Cody McLaury, who died of an overdose after buying the drug.

One of his family members is said to have texted her saying: “The ketamine you sold my brother killed him. It’s listed as the cause of death.”

Days later, investigators say, Ms Sangha searched on Google: “Can ketamine be listed as a cause of death?”

Authorities say Ms Sangha will face charges in that case.

Perry’s live-in assistant, Iwamasa, was the person who found the actor dead.

Investigators say he was also the one who injected Perry with the ketamine that led to his death.

Iwamasa never received medical training and “knew little, if anything” about administering controlled substances, according to court documents.

In the four days leading up to and including Perry’s death, prosecutors say Iwamasa administered more than 20 shots of ketamine, three on the day the actor died.

He was charged in July with one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine resulting in death and serious bodily injury. Prosecutors say he has since pled guilty to the charge.

Ketamine is supposed to be administered only by a physician, investigators say, and patients who have taken the drug should be monitored by a professional because of its possible harmful effects.

On 10 October, weeks before Perry’s death, Dr Plasencia is alleged to have bought 10 vials of ketamine from accused co-conspirator Dr Mark Chavez, which he intended to sell to Perry.

Authorities say Dr Plasencia then met Perry and Iwamasa in a public parking lot, where the doctor injected the actor while inside a vehicle.

Two days later, he allegedly injected him at home with a large dose that caused him to “freeze up” and his blood pressure to spike.

Dr Plasencia told Iwamasa something to the effect of, “Let’s not do that again.”

But he allegedly left additional vials with Iwamasa.

Perry was open about his addictions. His 2022 memoir described decades struggling with alcohol and drugs. He wrote about his co-star Jennifer Anniston confronting him over smelling alcohol on his breath and the millions he’d spent trying to remain sober.

He said that he hoped his openness would help others who were struggling. The homepage for the Matthew Perry Foundation, set up after his death, has his quote: “When I die, I want helping others to be the first thing that’s mentioned.”

The head of the federal Drug Enforcement Agency, Anne Milgram, said on Thursday that the arrests and the public details of the high-profile case were likely to help others and prevent deaths – exactly as Perry had wanted.

Washington is absorbing the impact of Ukraine’s lightning assault into Russia’s Kursk region as the scale of President Zelensky’s bold gamble emerges.

US officials are assessing how the incursion might reshape the political and military dynamics of the war, as well as the implications for Washington’s long-shifting stance on how Ukraine can use American-supplied arms.

The stunning raid, catching both Russian and apparently Western leaders by surprise, highlights one of the riskiest dilemmas for the Western-backed defence of Ukraine: President Biden has consistently tried to empower Kyiv to push back Russia’s invasion without risking an American escalation with Moscow. As President Putin has always tried to portray the conflict as a war between Russia and the West, Mr Biden has sought to put clear limits on US policy to deflate that narrative and prevent a conflagration.

But Ukraine’s Kursk assault – the largest incursion into Russia by a foreign military since World War Two, according to military analysts – has raised a series of urgent questions for the White House. Does it rapidly expand the boundaries of Washington’s set limits for how Ukraine can use American and Nato weapons systems? Does it risk crossing Russia’s red lines over Western involvement in the war? If not, has President Zelensky showed Washington he can call Mr Putin’s bluff?

Despite the risks and the uncertainty, there is a sense of surprised admiration among some in Washington at Mr Zelensky’s move. Piecing together comments from US officials over the last week reveals something of the emerging position. The administration insists Ukraine gave it no advance warning of the assault. White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre has said Washington had “nothing to do” with it.

As for the use of US weapons, spokespeople from the White House, Pentagon and State Department won’t officially confirm whether they are being used, but it seems overwhelmingly clear that they are, given Ukraine’s reliance on US and Nato weapons systems. Vladislav Seleznyov, a former spokesman for the Ukrainian armed forces’ general staff, told Voice of America that US-provided HIMAR rocket launchers had been critical to the advance.

US approval for the use of its weapons by Ukraine in the Kursk incursion is certainly being implicitly given. Pentagon spokesman Maj. Gen. Patrick Ryder said this week: “We assess that they’re within the policy boundaries that we’ve set. Those policies haven’t changed as it relates to in particular to use of US weapons.” Officials say the assault is “consistent” with their policy “from the very beginning” for Ukraine to be able to defend itself against attacks coming across the border.

But Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh added: “Again, we don’t support long range attacks into Russia. These are more for crossfire. I’m not going to put a specific range on it.”

The US is the single biggest arms supplier to Ukraine – making the relationship the most consequential for Ukraine’s prospects. Just last week the Pentagon authorised its 63rd tranche of equipment in three years, including Stinger missiles and artillery shells. But since the start of the Russian invasion President Biden’s approach has been characterised by at first a refusal to send more even advanced weapons – including, consecutively, Himars rockets, Patriot missile defence systems and F-16 fighter jets – before later changing his mind.

The same goes for White House policy on Ukrainian attacks into Russian territory. For many months President Zelensky pleaded for permission to strike at military targets in Russia that facilitated attacks into Ukraine. In May, Mr Biden finally authorised the use of US weapons to strike across the border into Russia but only in a limited range from the Kharkiv region – which was under Russian assault. The White House described Ukraine’s permitted actions as “counter-strike” measures.

“They’re authorised to be used in proximity to the border when [Russian military sites] are being used on the other side of the border to attack specific targets in Ukraine,” said Mr Biden in June. “We’re not authorising strikes 200 miles into Russia and we’re not authorising strikes on Moscow, on the Kremlin.”

A few weeks later, that same permission was extended to any point along the border where Russian forces were preparing to attack Ukraine.

Since then, Mr Zelensky, along with some European allies and some Democrats in Washington, have urged the US to further “untie” Ukraine’s hands. Specifically, the Ukrainian leader wants to be able to use American-provided ATACMS or long range missiles to fire deep into Russia to take out drone or missile launch sites. Washington has refused.

Hovering ominously over all of such decisions are the warnings of President Putin, who has previously threatened to use “all available means” if Russia’s territorial integrity is threatened. This in addition to his nuclear sabre rattling if he deems the West as posing an intolerable threat to Russia via the Ukraine war.

Ultimately, President Biden’s stance could be summed up as this: Ukraine can decide how best to defend itself using American weapons, including strikes across the border, but within very clear limits – including not using long-range missiles. The words he used in June suggested that Ukraine’s limits were “in proximity to the border”.

The Kursk offensive takes America’s dilemma into unexpected territory – literally and figuratively. Ukraine’s incursion is a cross-border ground assault, reportedly involving anywhere between 5,000 to 12,000 troops. Some unconfirmed Russian reports have suggested its forces could have advanced up to 30 kilometres into Russia. By the middle of this week Kyiv said its forces were in control of 1,000 square kilometres of Russian territory, including more than 70 villages and towns, and had captured hundreds of prisoners of war. Russian officials said around 132,000 people had been evacuated from their homes.

With US officials still reluctant to talk about it publicly in any detail, my sense is that they are still working out what it means for the state of the battlefield, the future of the war and how this is affecting Putin’s calculations.

If Mr Zelensky was frustrated at what he perceived as too much caution or slow decision making from President Biden over arms authorisations, he may be trying to show him he can force both his – and Vladimir’s Putin’s – hand. It is a daring gamble.

Dozens of Israeli settlers have set fire to houses and cars in a village in the occupied West Bank, with the Palestinian health ministry saying at least one person has been killed.

The settlers – some of them wearing masks – threw rocks and Molotov cocktails as they attacked the village of Jit, near the town of Nablus, on Thursday evening, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said.

The Palestinian health ministry said a local villager in his early 20s was killed and another person critically injured in the chest. The IDF said it was examining the report of the fatality.

Israeli political leaders condemned the attack, pledging to punish the perpetrators. One Israeli national was detained in Jit, the IDF said.

Footage has emerged on social media purportedly showing houses and vehicles set ablaze in Jit late on Thursday.

Plumes of smoke are seen rising above the village.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement that “those responsible for any criminal act will be caught and prosecuted”.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog wrote in a post on X: “This is an extreme minority that harms the law-abiding community of settlers and the settlement as a whole and in the name and status of Israel in the world during a particularly sensitive and difficult period.

“Law enforcement officials must act immediately” to bring those responsible to justice, Mr Herzog added.

In a statement, the IDF said its forces were deployed in the village “within minutes” of receiving reports of violence, shooting in the air to disperse the crowds. Attackers were then removed from Jit.

The IDF added that a joint investigation was launched by its forces, Israel’s security agency Shin Bet and the Israeli police following the “serious incident”.

The US said attacks by settlers were “unacceptable and must stop”.

“Israeli authorities must take measures to protect all communities from harm, this includes intervening to stop such violence, and holding all perpetrators of such violence to account,” a White House National Security Council spokesperson said.

Palestinians regularly accuse Israeli security forces of allowing groups of violent settlers to attack their villages.

According to OCHA – the UN office for Humanitarian Affairs – there have been more than 1,000 attacks by settlers against Palestinians since October, with at least 1,390 people – including 660 children – displaced.

Lethal violence has frequently accompanied the attacks. OCHA recorded 107 that led to Palestinian fatalities and injuries, 859 causing damage to Palestinian property.

International attention has been focused on the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip – but the scale of settler violence has prompted the US, the EU and the UK to impose sanctions on some settler leaders and, for the first time, against entire settler outposts.

Ukraine has set up a military administrative office in Russia’s western Kursk region, where its surprise incursion into Russian territory continues, according to its top military commander.

Gen Oleksandr Syrsky said the office would “maintain law and order” and “meet the immediate needs” of the population in the area.

In a video posted on social media, Gen Syrsky is seen telling a meeting chaired by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that the office has been created “on the territories controlled by Ukraine”.

Russian Defence Minister Andrei Belousov has said Moscow will send reinforcements to “safeguard” the population in the region.

Ukraine also claimed to have made further gains in its incursion on Thursday.

Ukrainian troops were 35km inside the Kursk region, where they control 1,150sq km of territory, including 82 settlements, Gen Syrsky said.

Now on its 10th day, this is Ukraine’s deepest incursion into Russia since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion in 2022.

But Kyiv has said it is not interested in “taking over” Russian territory.

Instead, the incursion is an attempt to pressure Moscow into agreeing to “restore a just peace”, Ukrainian foreign ministry spokesman Heorhiy Tykhy told reporters on Wednesday.

In light of the incursion, Russian officials have prepared plans for “additional measures” to safeguard the population and infrastructure in areas bordering Ukraine.

The measures involve improving the “management of troops” in the Belgorod region, which neighbours Kursk, according to a video published on the Russian defence ministry’s Telegram channel.

Interfax news agency said the plan would also apply to Kursk and Bryansk regions. All three border Ukraine.

Russia has also declared a federal level emergency in the Belgorod region. On Monday, 11,000 people were evacuated from the Krasnaya Yaruga district in Belgorod, according to Russian state news agency Tass.

Despite this, Moscow also claims it has recaptured some lost territory. In a statement, the defence ministry said it had regained control of the Krupets settlement in the Kursk region.

The developments came as a UK source confirmed to the BBC that tanks donated by the UK had been used during Ukraine’s Russian incursion.

The UK Ministry of Defence did not officially comment on which specific UK weapons have been used by Ukraine, but the department reiterated that Ukraine had a “clear right” to use UK-supplied weapons for “self-defence against Russia’s illegal attacks”.

The UK was one of the first countries to provide modern Western battle tanks to Ukraine, donating 14 Challenger 2 tanks in the past year. But that was for a Ukrainian offensive to recapture its own territory.

The Ministry of Defence has insisted that there has been no change in policy.

Military equipment supplied by the United States and Germany is also being used for Ukraine’s incursion.

None of those countries have raised objections about their equipment being used for the offensive. But given the secrecy surrounding the operation, few would have known Ukraine’s intentions in advance.

There may still be concerns in the West about what happens next. Not just over whether Ukraine could suffer significant losses and come back asking for more. But more importantly, there will be some who may worry about how Russia responds.

The Kremlin has already accused the West of being behind the attack on its territory. The fact that Western weapons are involved could be seen as evidence for that charge.

Escalation is always a worry when it involves a nuclear armed state, and the Kremlin has not been afraid to occasionally rattle its nuclear sabre.

But it has also set down many red lines that have already been crossed.

It warned the West not to supply Ukraine with tanks in the first place. That warning was eventually ignored.

There is, however, still one big restriction. No Western country has given Kyiv the green light to use their long-range missiles to strike targets inside Russia.

Britain, France and the US have all provided some – but with the caveat they must be used inside Ukraine, which does include its southern Crimea peninsula that Russia illegally annexed in 2014.

President Zelensky has repeatedly pleaded for those caveats to be lifted.

As he slipped the key card into the reader on his hotel room door and tried the handle – to no avail – he realised what he had done.

For years, Steven Murdoch, a security researcher at University College London, had taken care not to put tickets or cards with magnetic stripes in his pocket next to his smartphone. This is because the magnets in smartphones are sometimes strong enough to wipe the data on magnetic stripes.

But so-called magstripe hotel key cards are rare these days, increasingly superseded by contactless cards with radio frequency identification (RFID) chips inside them.

As such, during his hotel visit in January this year, Prof Murdoch forgot to take precautions and, he concludes, wiped his room key – having used it only once.

“I should have known better, this is the sort of thing I do know about,” he says. Upon arriving back at reception, he realised he was not alone.

“There was a queue of people with exactly the same problem as me,” he recalls.

The magnetic stripe was invented by an IBM engineer in the 1960s – his wife was instrumental in the process as it was she who suggested melting a strip of magnetic tape onto a card using a clothes iron.

In the decades since, magstripes have been used on bank cards, rail tickets, IDs and even cards containing medical information, to set up hospital machines.

But that murky brown strip of plastic usually made with polluting heavy metals may not be around for much longer.

From this year onwards, for instance, Mastercard will not require banks to put a magnetic stripe on debit and credit cards.

For ticketing, new technologies including printable barcodes and reusable contactless cards are considered more environmentally friendly and potentially more convenient.

You also can’t wipe them by accidentally putting them too close to your iPhone.

There are, broadly, two kinds of magnetic stripe, called HiCo and LoCo. The latter is cheaper, less durable, and more susceptible to disruption from magnets, says Lee Minter, head of global operations at Nagels, which makes magstripe tickets and other products. Recently, the company investigated reports from a customer who said multiple magstripe tickets they had bought had got corrupted.

Mr Minter says he can’t be 100% sure but he and his colleagues are of the opinion that it was caused by part of a circular magnet within the customer’s iPhone.

“It matched perfectly to the area which had been wiped,” he says.

In response, Apple says: “Smartphones and other items contain magnets or components that may have a risk of demagnetizing low coercivity cards. To prevent this from happening, users should keep these cards stored separately.”

While such disruption remains relatively rare, Mr Minter says that the magnetic stripe is declining in popularity either way. Of the five billion tickets Nagels prints every year, less than one-fifth now have magnetic stripes, he estimates.

Mr Minter is keen to stress the potential of thermally printed paper tickets, much like receipts, which are now being used in trials at multiple rail stations around the UK. These come with a QR code that can be used on ticket barrier scanners. There is a separate code on the back to stop people forging tickets.

Stuart Taylor, head of commercial development at Northern, a train operator, says 70% of his firm’s customers now buy digital tickets and that Northern could axe the familiar orange-trimmed, magstripe-sporting versions in just five years’ time.

“There is a clear environmental benefit,” says Mr Taylor. “Times change, I guess.”

Northern is now trialling the thermally printed paper tickets made by Nagels as an alternative. There have been some issues with printer jams and the tickets getting stuck in ticketing machines but these problems have largely been addressed, says Mr Taylor.

He emphasises that there are no plans to withdraw paper tickets, nor to cut any staff involved in ticket sales.

Are there any benefits to keeping magstripe cards or tokens around?

“No,” says Sue Walnut, product director for intelligent transportation systems at Vix Technology, bluntly.

She argues there are now so many different ways of validating a rail ticket – for example, QR codes presented on phone screens, tickets printed at home, prepaid contactless cards – that there is less need to retain magstripe technology than ever before.

But magstripe tickets and entry cards do slot conveniently into credit card holders in wallets and purses. The new paper tickets being trialled by Northern and other rail firms are larger. “They are a bit unwieldy and cumbersome,” says Ms Walnut.

Magstripe has hung around for so long partly because it is relatively cheap and the specifications for reading machines were put in place many decades ago, says Stephen Cranfield at Barnes International, which makes equipment for magnetic stripe testing.

“If you took your card today and used it in a magstripe reader from 1970, it would still be able to read it,” he says.

His firm has worked on a variety of systems – including one designed to allow kidney failure patients to use a magstripe card for setting up their dialysis machine.

Despite the ubiquity of dark brown or black magstripes, they can actually come in a whole range of colours. “It’s quite popular in China, actually – gold stripes,” explains Mr Cranfield.

But now that US banks are finally switching to chip and PIN cards, the market for magstripe is clearly dwindling.

Prof Murdoch says although magstripe technology is extremely well established, it is “inevitable” that it will gradually disappear. One downside to that, he suggests, is that magnetic stripe failures and fraud are currently well understood. Newer technologies, while in theory more secure, may also be more complex – and therefore exploitable by criminals using novel methods.

Sometimes, members of the public contact Prof Murdoch when they are having trouble proving to their bank that they have been the victim of fraud.

“If the transaction was done by magstripe, then it’s a very easy argument to say someone copied it,” says Prof Murdoch as he points out the irony. “But if the transaction was one of the more secure methods – then it’s much harder.”

A Detroit judge has been temporarily taken off the bench after he forced a 15-year-old girl to wear handcuffs and a jail uniform because she appeared to fall asleep during a field trip to his court.

District Court Judge Kenneth King said he did not like Eva Goodman’s “attitude” and said he wanted to show her “how you are to conduct yourself in a courtroom”.

The teenager was visiting the 36th District Court for a trip organised by the environmental charity The Greening, whose other excursions include kayaking and bird-watching.

On Thursday, the chief judge of the 36th District Court, William McConico, said in a statement that he had conducted a “swift and thorough internal investigation” of the incident and decided to temporarily take Mr King off his cases to undergo “necessary training”.

“We sincerely hope that this incident does not undermine our longstanding relationships with local schools,” Judge McConio said.

The girl’s mother, Latoreya Hill, told local news: “Would you want someone to treat your child like that?

“To belittle her in front of the whole world and her friends, to make her feel even more worse about her situation.”

Video from the court shows Judge King telling Ms Hill’s daughter: “One thing you’ll learn about my courtroom is that I’m not a toy. I am not to be played with.”

He asked other visitors on the trip to vote if he should put Eva in a juvenile detention centre, before deciding to have her handcuffed and dressed in a jail outfit before releasing her.

“It was her whole attitude and her whole disposition that disturbed me,” the judge said in interviews afterwards.

“I wanted to get through to her, show how serious this is,” he said, adding: “I’ll do whatever needs to be done to reach these kids and make sure that they don’t end up in front of me.”

In the video of the incident, Judge King tells Eva: “You sleep at home in your bed, not in court.”

Her mother, however, said Eva did not have “her own bed that she can sleep in”.

“She was tired,” Ms Hill, a single mother of two, said. “I’m trying my best.”

Judge Aliyah Sabree, who has the No 2 leadership post at the court, said on Wednesday that said Mr King’s actions did “not reflect the standards” of the court and would be “addressing this matter with the utmost diligence”.

Mr King said he stood by his decisions. “I wanted this to look and feel very real to her, even though there’s probably no real chance of me putting her in jail,” he said.

“That was my own version of Scared Straight.”

Sweden’s public health agency has recorded what it says is the first case of a more dangerous type of mpox outside the African continent.

The person became infected during a stay in an area of Africa where there is currently a major outbreak of mpox Clade 1, the agency said.

The news comes just hours after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared that the outbreak of mpox in parts of Africa was now a public health emergency of international concern.

At least 450 people died during an initial outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the disease has since spread to areas of Central and East Africa.

According to Olivia Wigzell, the acting head of the Swedish public health agency, the infected person had sought care in the Stockholm area and the fact that they were receiving treatment in Sweden did not mean there was a risk to the broader population.

“The affected person has also been infected during a stay in an area of Africa where there is a large outbreak of mpox Clade 1,” she told a news conference.

Mpox, which was previously known as monkeypox, is transmitted through close contact, such as sex, skin-to-skin contact and talking or breathing close to another person.

It causes flu-like symptoms, skin lesions and can be fatal, with four in 100 cases leading to death. It is most common in the tropical rainforests of West and Central Africa and there are thousands of infections every year.

There are currently a number of outbreaks of mpox that are taking place simultaneously and they are partly fuelled by the newer and more serious type of Clade 1b, identified in September last year.

There are two types of Clade 1 and the Swedish case has been identified as Clade 1b. Since mpox Clade 1b was first witnessed in Democratic Republic of Congo there have been confirmed cases in Burundi, Kenya and Rwanda, before the new case identified in Sweden.

While Clade 2 did cause a public health emergency in 2022, it was relatively mild and some 300 cases have already been identified in Sweden.

WHO/Europe said it was actively engaging with Sweden’s health authorities on “how best to manage the first confirmed case of mpox Clade 1b”.

It urged other countries to act quickly and transparently like Sweden, as there were likely to be further “imported cases of Clade 1 in the European region over the coming days and weeks”.

The Swedish public health agency said the more dangerous outbreak was likely to be linked to “a higher rise of a more severe course of disease and higher mortality”.

Dr Jonas Albarnaz, who specialises in pox viruses at the Pirbright Institute, said the first case outside of Africa was concerning as it meant the spread “might be larger than we knew yesterday”.

Dr Brian Ferguson, Associate Professor of Immunology at the University of Cambridge agreed it was “clearly a concerning development” but unsurprising given the severity and spread of the outbreak in Africa.

The WHO hopes its latest declaration, that mpox is a public health emergency of international concern, will trigger greater support to the areas most affected.

Vaccines are available, for those at greatest risk or who have been in close contact with an infected person, but many experts worry there are not enough jabs or funding to get them to the people who need them most.

The mortality rate from the Clade 1b variant in Sweden will not be as high as that seen in parts of Africa, because of the high quality of healthcare in Europe.

However, Dr Ferguson said there would likely be further cases in Europe and other parts of the world “as there are currently no mechanisms in place to stop imported cases of mpox happening”.

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control said symptoms usually appeared 6-13 days after infection, through fevers and headaches, rashes or sores and muscle ache.

Most people experienced mild to moderate symptoms followed by a full recovery, but immuno-compromised individuals were at greater risk.

While news of the first case outside Africa may cause alarm, it was to be expected.

As other disease outbreaks have shown, swift international action can help stop the disease spreading further.