In 2018, India’s top court legalised gay sex in a landmark ruling – but the country still doesn’t allow transgender people and gay and bisexual men to donate blood.

People from the LGBT community say the decades-old ban is “discriminatory” and have gone to court to challenge it.

When Vyjayanti Vasanta Mogli’s mother was on her deathbed battling advanced Parkinson’s, she needed regular blood transfusions.

But Ms Mogli, a trans woman based in the southern city of Hyderabad, couldn’t donate blood despite being her mother’s sole caregiver.

“I had to keep posting [requests for blood donors] on WhatsApp and Facebook groups,” she said, describing the process as “traumatising”.

Ms Mogli was fortunate to find donors for her mum but many others aren’t.

Beoncy Laisharam – a doctor in the north-eastern state of Manipur – recounted the experience of one of her patients, whose transgender daughter was unable to give blood for his treatment.

“The father needed two to three units of blood daily. They were unable to find blood from other sources,” she said.

“He died two days after being brought in.”

It was such stories that pushed Sharif Ragnerka, a 55-year-old writer and activist, to file a petition in India’s Supreme Court against the ban on blood donation by LGBT people.

Indian laws prohibit LGBT people from donating blood on the ground that they are high-risk groups for HIV-Aids – it is compulsory for donors to be free from diseases that are transmissible by blood transfusion.

The policy dates back to the 1980s, when several countries imposed similar bans to reign in an HIV-Aids epidemic raging across the world, which killed thousands.

Despite change in attitudes, subsequent policies have kept the ban in place, including the latest rule drafted in 2017.

Filed in July, the plea argues that the existing blood donation policies are “highly prejudicial and presumptive” and violate the fundamental rights of “equality, dignity and life” of the LGBT community.

The court has asked the federal government to respond to Mr Ragnerka’s plea and tagged it with two similar court cases filed in 2021 and 2023 that are pending before it.

In an earlier hearing, the government had defended the ban by citing a 2021 health ministry report which stated that transgender people, gay and bisexual men were “six to 13 times” more at the risk of contracting HIV than the general population.

“The government’s policy is for mitigating risk with no moral judgement [attached to] it,” said Dr Joy Mammen, an expert in blood transfusion.

But critics say the policy is discriminatory, rooted in stigma and makes them feel “excluded and insignificant”.

“Other genders also have HIV positive people but their entire community is not banned [from donating blood],” Dr Beoncy said, adding that the ban reinforces existing stereotypes.

India is is home to an estimated tens of millions of LGBT people. In 2012, the Indian government put their population at 2.5 million, but global estimates suggest the true figure could be over 135 million.

Many of them face discrimination and are forced to leave their families.

Campaigners say the ban hampers their access to crucial medical care as it bars them from taking blood from their partners or “chosen families”.

“If there’s a blanket ban on blood donation by LGBT people, how do you expect community members to receive help in emergency situations?” asked Sahil Choudhary, an LGBT activist.

In many instances, donors might also feel compelled to lie about their sexuality while filling a mandatory form for making blood donations, to save the life of a loved one.

Activists argue that apart from it being discriminatory, the ban is also irrational because of the high demand for blood transfusions in the country.

A study published by the Public Library of Science in 2022 estimated that India faced an annual deficit of around one million units of blood.

Thangjam Santa Singh, a transgender rights activist who petitioned the court against the ban last year, said the current Indian laws are outdated as several countries have moved away from restrictions on LGBT blood donors in recent years.

Last year, the US lifted all restrictions on gay and bisexual men donating blood. Now instead of sexual orientation, donors are screened on the basis of whether they have engaged in “high-risk sexual behaviour”.

All prospective donors have to answer a questionnaire about their recent sexual histories. Those who have had a new sexual partner, multiple sexual partners and have engaged in anal sex in the last three months are asked to wait for three months before donating blood.

The rationale is that new testing technology allows faster detection of HIV cases, so prospective donors can safely give blood based on an individual risk assessment.

The UK set in place similar guidelines in 2021. Other countries that have lifted bans or eased restrictions, include Brazil, the Republic of Ireland, Canada, France and Greece.

Petitioners argue that India should also have an individual-centric system for blood donation that is based on “actual risk” and not “perceived risk”.

Ms Singh said that the Indian government can consider having a deferral period based on the donor’s recent sexual history, instead of denying the entire LGBT community the opportunity to donate altogether.

“This makes me feel like I am not human,” she said.

The Indian government has opposed this, saying that the country’s healthcare system is not ready for the change.

In its response to the earlier petitions filed before the Supreme Court, the federal government had said that advanced blood testing technologies, such as nucleic-acid testing which is widely used in other countries, were only available at a “small fraction” of blood banks in India.

“In India, the systems are not rigorous enough,” said Dr Mammen.

This applies not just “to testing” but also in “ensuring an environment where there is privacy and confidentiality so that people feel comfortable in answering questions about their sexual history”, he added.

But members of the community are not convinced – and say they would continue their fight against the “prejudiced ban”.

“I keep thinking how I wouldn’t be able to donate blood to my family in case of urgent need,” Mr Ragnerka said.

“I do not want to spend the rest of my life trying to find ways around these obstacles.”

Controversial influencer Andrew Tate has been remanded in custody overnight as part of an investigation into new allegations against him.

He and his brother Tristan were taken in for questioning by Romania’s serious crime agency, DIICOT, as police searched their home.

The internet personality was already awaiting trial for rape and human trafficking, but could potentially now face additional charges of sex with, and trafficking in, underage persons, as well as money-laundering and attempting to influence witnesses, prosecutors say.

Andrew and Tristan Tate, who have a massive following on social media, have denied all previous charges against them.

They were first detained in Romania in December 2022, then released from house arrest in August 2023.

According to a statement from DIICOT earlier in the day, four houses were searched on Wednesday morning in the capital, Bucharest, and in Ilfov county.

The brothers were then driven to DIICOT in Bucharest for questioning – and afterwards taken into custody in handcuffs and under armed guard.

They have been remanded in custody for 24 hours.

According to the brothers’ lawyer, they are being kept until prosecutors can ask a judge either to detain them for longer, move to house arrest or release them.

Asked by the BBC what he had to say about the new allegations, Andrew Tate shouted over his shoulder that the prosecutors were “desperate”.

“Wait ’til you see,” he said. “They say I have lover-boyed the mother of my children. We tricked them into having kids.

“Ask them this time what the evidence [is].”

He described the file as being “more pathetic than the first”.

Earlier on Wednesday, the brothers were met by a small crowd of reporters and supporters as they arrived at the DIICOT building in police vans.

As Andrew Tate entered the building he greeted a local blogger who asked why he was back at DIICOT. Grinning, Tate replied that he “didn’t know”, before shouting through the closing door that he was in his “favourite place”.

Two police officers, who both had their faces covered by balaclavas, were seen carrying heavy sacks into the same building – presumably with items taken during a search of the brothers’ home and other properties.

Asked to comment on the latest developments, their lawyer – Eugen Vidineac – said the latest allegations were not yet clear, as he hadn’t yet seen the file.

He said he didn’t yet know “what we’re dealing with”.

Officers at DIICOT have 24 hours to question the brothers. After that, if they want to remand them in custody, they would have to bring them before a judge.

The lawyer said he did not expect the brothers to be detained because their movements are already restricted as they await trial for other charges, including forming and organised crime group and human trafficking.

In an apparent response to the raid, Andrew Tate posted on X (formerly Twitter): “The Matrix is real. And they have a tried and true playbook.

“Slander is their number one tool and the process is the punishment. But unfortunately for them, Good always wins in the end.”

Andrew Tate is a self-described misogynist and was previously banned from social media platforms for expressing misogynistic views.

He has repeatedly claimed Romanian prosecutors have no evidence against him and there is a conspiracy to silence him.

The Tate brothers, former kickboxers who are dual UK-US nationals, are accused of exploiting women via an adult content business, which prosecutors allege operated as a criminal group.

Two female Romanian associates were also named alongside the brothers in an indictment published in June last year, and seven alleged victims were identified.

The internet personalities are also wanted in the UK in connection with separate and unrelated sexual offences allegedly committed there.

Bangladesh will announce a decision to raise interest rates from 8.5% to 9% in a day or two, the new central bank chief has told the BBC in an exclusive interview.

Dr Ahsan H Mansur said he will raise rates further to 10% or more in the coming months to tame inflation.

Soaring prices have been a major concern for Bangladesh, with its currency also under pressure with remittances drying up and garments exports badly impacted by political unrest.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) had asked Bangladesh to tighten its monetary policy and keep exchange rates flexible while extending a $4.7bn (£3.6bn) bailout for the South Asian nation.

Dr Mansur said he was in conversation with the body to “augment” and “front load” this amount by an additional $3bn.

He said Bangladesh was also seeking an additional $1.5bn from the World Bank and $1bn each from the Asian Development Bank and the Japan International Cooperation Agency.

Internet blackouts and curfews preceding the ousting of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s regime earlier this month have also put pressure on prices.

Dr Mansur, a veteran economist who spent three decades at the IMF, was named governor of Bangladesh Bank last week by the interim government headed by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus.

The former Governor Abdur Rouf Talukder and two other deputy governors resigned as part of string of bureaucratic departures following the recent fall of the previous government.

In his first sit-down interview since, Dr Mansur emphasised that cleaning up the country’s banking sector was his top priority when speaking to the BBC at the central bank’s headquarters in the commercial heart of Dhaka.

There has been a “designed robbery of the financial system” which has caused significant damage to banks and has serious implications for the stock market and the broader economy, he suggested.

Bangladesh’s banks have seen a flight of deposits and an alarming rise in non-performing assets following defaults by groups allegedly linked with the ousted Awami League government.

The non-performing assets were “just robbery of the banks. They took the money and put it in Singapore, Dubai, London and elsewhere. So the first effort would be to try to take people to task and get the money back,” said Dr Mansur.

“While doing this in parallel, we will have to reconstruct the banking system. So we are trying to establish a Banking Commission.”

The job of this commission will be to do a comprehensive audit of the banks and suggest remedies such as change of board, change of management, injection of capital, or in the case of some smaller banks, mergers.

Dr Mansur also expects the government will need to inject $15-30bn to recapitalise some of Bangladesh’s Islamic banks which could effectively mean they will be nationalised.

“We do not want it.. but [a] lot of loans have been incurred by these people, and they are not going to pay it back… We have to at least cover the depositors’ money,” he added.

Along with reforms in monetary policy, the governor also expects Bangladesh’s new government to announce a sharp reduction in spending despite the ongoing economic turmoil.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government had cut spending and lowered the country’s fiscal deficit target to 4.6% – the lowest since 2015, according to Bloomberg.

But there will need to be a further 9-10% cut in budgetary spending “so that more credit is more available for the private sector”, said Dr Mansur.

Late last week, Muhammad Yunus, the Chief Adviser to Bangladesh’s interim government, is reported to have told a gathering of diplomats that his government will undertake “comprehensive reforms” before holding the next general election.

When asked how long it will be before the elections could be called, Dr Mansur said it could be another three years or more.

Divers searching the wreckage of a superyacht which sank off the coast of Sicily on Monday have found the bodies of five of the six missing passengers, and recovered four of them to shore.

The Italian Coastguard has not formally identified the bodies which have been brought up from the wreck of the Bayesian – but rescuers have spent days searching for four Britons and two Americans.

These include Mike Lynch – the UK tech entrepreneur whose wife owns the Bayesian yacht, his daughter Hannah Lynch, the chairman of Morgan Stanley Bank International Jonathan Bloomer and his wife Judy Bloomer.

The first two bodies to be found were brought ashore to Porticello harbour on Wednesday afternoon. Hours later two more bodies were pulled from the water before the search was paused as night fell.

The Bayesian sank during freak weather early on Monday some 700m off the coast.

It is thought to have been struck by a tornado over the water – otherwise known as a waterspout – which caused the vessel to capsize and sink 50m (164ft) to the seabed.

A steady stream of boats were seen going in and out of Porticello throughout Wednesday, ferrying divers to and from the search site.

Dozens of emergency services staff had lined the small quayside as the bodies of those missing were returned by boat from the area of the wreck.

One body bag was seen being put in the back of an ambulance before the sound of sirens filed the harbour and the vehicle, escorted by two police cars, left the port.

Italian authorities have so far declined to identify those recovered, despite reports from local and international media on some of their names.

This is likely because they are waiting to bring back all six bodies before contacting the victims’ families and according to Italian law, the deceased must be formally identified by a family member, or a person close to the victims, before the deaths can be officially certified.

Earlier, the head of Sicily’s civil protection agency Salvatore Cocina said there would be an investigation in due course, but the priority was to find everyone who was on board the Bayesian vessel.

Neda Morvillo, an American jewellery designer, and her husband Chris are also among the missing.

The Bayesian, which was 56m long and flying a British flag, was carrying 10 crew and 12 passengers when it sank.

Of the 22 people on board, 15 survived – including a British mother who described holding her baby girl above the surface of the sea to save her from drowning.

The body of the yacht’s chef, Canadian-Antiguan national Recaldo Thomas, was found on Monday.

Gareth Williams, a friend of Mr Thomas, told the BBC he had known the chef for 30 years as they had grown up together in Antigua, where Mr Thomas lived during yachting’s off-season.

The passengers aboard were guests of Mr Lynch – founder of the software giant Autonomy – and were reportedly there to celebrate his acquittal in a massive US fraud case.

Mr Lynch was acquitted in June of multiple fraud charges relating to the $11bn (£8.6bn) sale of Autonomy to the US computing giant Hewlett-Packard in 2011.

Inspections of the yacht’s internal hull also took place on Wednesday morning, while a team of four British inspectors from the Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) arrived in Sicily on Wednesday at the site.

The depth of the shipwreck has proved challenging for the rescue effort.

Italian rescue services said the team of specialist divers had been hampered by the fact the Bayesian is lying on its side at the bottom of the seabed, with its access points choked with debris.

Speaking before the bodies were recovered, professional diver Andy Goddard said conditions would be “pretty dark” on the wreck with very limited ambient light at that depth.

“You’re in this space and you’ve got stuff floating all around you, like being in a washing machine. It’s really dangerous for the diver,” he told BBC Radio 5 Live.

• Who are the missing and rescued?
• What might have caused Sicily yacht to sink
• Who is British tech tycoon Mike Lynch?

US prosecutors have filed criminal charges against a Chinese dissident living in the US, accusing him of being an agent of Beijing’s intelligence service.

Yuanjun Tang, 67, was arrested on Wednesday in the New York City, the US department of justice (DOJ) said in a statement.

He is alleged to have spied on US-based Chinese democracy activists and dissidents.

Mr Tang, now a naturalised US citizen, is also accused of making false statements to the FBI.

The BBC could not immediately identify a lawyer for Mr Tang.

In Wednesday’s statement, the DOJ said Mr Tang “was charged by criminal complaint with acting and conspiring to act in the United States as an unregistered agent of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and making materially false statements to the FBI”.

It also alleged that between 2018 and 2023 he acted as China’s agent on the orders of the country’s ministry of state security (MSS) – China’s principal civilian intelligence agency.

Mr Tang is accused of regularly receiving instructions via email, encrypted chats and other means of communications from the agency.

It is also alleged that he “regularly received instructions from and reported to an MSS intelligence officer regarding individuals and groups viewed by the PRC as potentially adverse to the PRC’s interests, including prominent US-based Chinese democracy activists and dissidents.”

“He also travelled at least three times for face-to-face meetings with MSS intelligence officers and helped the MSS infiltrate a group chat on an encrypted messaging application used by numerous PRC dissidents and pro-democracy activists to communicate about pro-democracy issues and express criticism of the PRC government,” the DOJ alleges.

He apparently agreed to work for China’s intelligence agency in a bid to see his family living in mainland China, according to CBS, the BBC’s US news partner, which cites US prosecutors.

According to court documents, Mr Tang was imprisoned in China for opposing the Chinese government.

He protested against the Chinese Communist Party during the 1989 Tiananmen Square demonstrations, CBS reports.

In about 2002, he managed to defect to Taiwan, and was later granted political asylum in the US, the DOJ said.

Sphen the gentoo penguin – one half of a world-famous same-sex “power couple” – has died in Australia, aged 11.

He and his partner Magic shot to global stardom in 2018 when they fell in love at the Sea Life Sydney Aquarium, later adopting and raising two chicks.

Their romance has inspired a Mardi Gras float, been referenced in Australia’s education syllabus, and even featured in the Netflix series Atypical.

The Sea Life Sydney Aquarium said Sphen had an “immeasurable” impact around the world as a symbol of equality and a conduit for the conservation cause.

The penguin’s health had deteriorated in the days leading up to his death, and the aquarium’s veterinary team made the difficult decision earlier this month to euthanise Sphen to end his pain and discomfort.

An investigation into the cause of his decline is underway.

“The loss of Sphen is heartbreaking to the penguin colony, the team, and everyone who has been inspired or positively impacted by Sphen and Magic’s story,” the aquarium’s general manager Richard Dilly said in a statement.

“We want to take this opportunity to reflect and celebrate Sphen’s life, remembering what an icon he was.”

A sub-Antarctic species, gentoo penguins on average live between 12 and 13 years and are famously romantic monogamists.

Magic, 8, has been taken to see Sphen’s body to help the penguin understand his partner will not return.

He immediately started singing, the aquarium said, which was reciprocated by the broader penguin colony.

“The team’s focus is now on Magic, who will soon prepare for his first breeding season without Sphen,” Mr Dilly said.

Sphen is also survived by Sphengic – known as Lara – and Clancy, the couple’s two fostered chicks.

Magic and Sphen had been together for six years. Staff first noticed an attraction between them when they saw them bowing to each other – a gentoo way of flirting.

Members of the public have paid tribute to Sphen in a condolence message board on the aquarium’s website.

“Sphen and Magic were equality icons. My heart breaks for the keepers and the whole Sea Life Sydney team,” wrote long-time fan Mark.

“You taught the world so much. We will never forget you, Habibi,” another user named Rach added, using an Arabic term of affection.

Taylor Swift has spoken for the first time of how the cancellation of her Vienna tour dates earlier in August over an attack threat “filled me with a new sense of fear”.

In a post on Instagram, she said she felt “a tremendous amount of guilt because so many people had planned on coming to those shows”.

Three concerts were cancelled in the Austrian capital, and three people were arrested in connection with allegedly planning attacks inspired by the Islamic State group.

The 34-year-old singer-songwriter finished the European leg of her Eras Tour on Tuesday at Wembley Stadium in London.

In a post on Instagram on Wednesday, the US singer wrote: “Having our Vienna shows cancelled was devastating.”

“But I was also so grateful to the authorities because thanks to them, we were grieving concerts and not lives. I was heartened by the love and unity I saw in the fans who banded together.”

She said the safety of her fans was paramount when continuing with her tour: “I decided that all of my energy had to go toward helping to protect the nearly half a million people I had coming to see the shows in London.

“My team and I worked hand in hand with stadium staff and British authorities every day in pursuit of that goal, and I want to thank them for everything they did for us.”

Explaining why she had chosen to wait until now to speak about the cancellation of the Vienna concerts, which were meant to take place between 8 and 10 August, she said: “Let me be very clear: I am not going to speak about something publicly if I think doing so might provoke those who would want to harm the fans who come to my shows.

“In cases like this one, ‘silence’ is actually showing restraint, and waiting to express yourself at a time when it’s right to. My priority was finishing our European tour safely, and it is with great relief that I can say we did that.”

Swift gave eight concerts at Wembley this summer, overtaking a record for any solo singer, which was previously set by Michael Jackson in 1988.

The star’s eighth show also saw her equal the overall record for the most nights at the venue on a single tour, set by Take That in 2011.

Swift’s next show as part of The Eras Tour is scheduled for 18 October in Miami, Florida.

An undelivered postcard has finally reached its intended destination – about 121 years after it was first popped off in the post.

The Christmas-themed card was delivered to Swansea Building Society’s Cradock Street branch last week even though it was originally sent in 1903 – so only just over a century too late.

Staff say they hope to find relatives of a Miss Lydia Davies, who previously lived at the address and who the card was addressed to, to reunite them with it.

The Royal Mail said it is likely the postcard was “put back into” their system, rather than “being lost in the post for over a century”.

The postcard is written by a man called Ewart, who, addressing “L”, says he is “so sorry” that he cannot pick up a “pair” of an unknown item.

“I am so sorry, but I hope you are enjoying yourself at home,” he adds.

Ewart goes on to say that he has about 10 shillings “in pocket money, not counting the train fare, so I am doing alright”.

He ends the note by urging Lydia to “remember to meet Gilbert and John”, signing it off with “love to all”.

Henry Darby, marketing and communications officer for Swansea Building Society, said he was sorting through the post when the postcard dropped out, and that he had found limited information about the intended recipient online.

“So we thought we’d pop it on our social media and thought maybe someone locally may be connected to her, a few generations down,” he said.

Andrew Dully, from West Glamorgan Archives, has established that a John F Davies was the head of the household at the address, where he lived with his wife, Maria, and six children.

“The oldest of them was Lydia. She would have been 16 when this postcard was sent,” he said.

A spokesperson for the Royal Mail said: “It is likely that this postcard was put back into our system rather than being lost in the post for over a century.

“When an item is in our system, we are under obligation to deliver it to the correct address.”

Hezbollah has launched dozens of rockets at the occupied Golan Heights after Israeli aircraft struck deep inside Lebanon, as fears of an all-out war grow.

The Israeli military said it hit Hezbollah weapons storage facilities in the Bekaa Valley overnight. The Lebanese health ministry said one person was killed and 30 others injured.

In response, Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran, said it targeted Israeli military positions in the Golan with a rocket barrage. Israeli authorities said two homes were hit and one person was injured.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian Fatah movement accused Israel of assassinating a senior member of its armed wing in Lebanon in an effort to ignite a regional conflict.

The Israeli military said it had killed Khalil al-Makdah in a strike in the southern port city of Sidon because he was operating on behalf of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and was involved in directing attacks in and smuggling weapons to the occupied West Bank.

It was reportedly the first strike on a Fatah member since the start of the Gaza war, which has led to escalating cross-border hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah.

Tensions have risen in recent weeks after Israel killed a senior Hezbollah commander in Beirut, who it blamed for the killing of 12 children in a rocket attack.

So far, more than 530 people have been reported killed in Lebanon, among them at least 130 civilians, and 49 people in Israel, including 26 civilians. Almost 200,000 people have also been displaced on both sides of the border.

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant told troops on Tuesday that the military’s “centre of gravity” was gradually shifting from Gaza and to the Lebanese border.

“Attacking munitions warehouses in Lebanon is preparation for anything that might happen,” he noted.

On Wednesday morning, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced that jets had struck overnight a number of Hezbollah weapons storage facilities in the northern Bekaa Valley – a stronghold of the group – as well as a compound used by an air defence system.

The IDF also said it had targeted a Hezbollah fighter in the southern border village of Beit Lif.

Lebanon’s health ministry said the strikes in the Bekaa region had killed one person, whom was not identified, and that nine children had been among the 30 injured.

The state-run National News Agency (NNA) said the strikes had targeted the outskirts of the town of Bodai, the area between Saraain and Safri, and Nabi Chit.

The health ministry also reported that a man had been killed in Beit Lif, while Hezbollah confirmed the death of a fighter from the village called Hussein Mostafa.

In response to the strikes, Hezbollah said it had launched a barrage of rockets towards an IDF logistics base in the Golan Heights.

The IDF said about 50 projectiles had been launched from Lebanon and that some had fallen in the settlement of Katzrin.

A 30-year-old man was moderately wounded by shrapnel when a rocket hit his home and set it on fire, according to the Magen David Adom ambulance service.

The deputy commander of the IDF’s Northern Command, Brigadier General Alon Friedman, accused Hezbollah of directly targeting the 8,000 civilians living in Katzrin.

Hezbollah also said it had carried out a separate drone attack on Israeli military bases and warehouses in Amiad, a kibbutz near the Sea of Galilee. The IDF said some of the drones had come down in the area, without causing any casualties.

Later on Wednesday, an Israeli drone strike killed Fatah’s Khalil al-Makdah as he drove a 4×4 vehicle through Sidon’s Villas area, according to NNA.

Fatah’s armed wing, the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades – whose Lebanese branch is headed by his brother, Mounir – later confirmed his death and described him as “one of the leaders of the military council in the West Bank”.

Tawfiq Tirawy, a member of Fatah’s Central Committee based in Ramallah, told AFP news agency that the “assassination of a Fatah official is further proof that Israel wants to ignite a full-scale war in the region”.

When asked about the comments at a briefing, Israeli government spokesman David Mencer said the IDF had “produced a comprehensive list of [Makdah’s] crimes”.

A joint statement from the IDF and the Israel Security Agency (ISA) alleged that Khalil and Mounir al-Makdah collaborated with Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and were “involved in the direction of terror attacks as well as the smuggling of weapons and funds designated for terrorist activities” into the West Bank.

“The IDF and ISA will constantly continue to take action to monitor and thwart activity that endangers the safety of the State of Israel and its citizens, in order to expose and impair Iranian attempts to carry out terrorist activity,” they added.

A nurse in Gaza has told the BBC his wife and six children – including a group of quadruplets – were killed in an attack in the central Gaza strip.

“My entire family has been wiped out in an instant”, says Ashraf El Attar, “leaving me with nothing”.

The nurse – who works at Gaza’s European hospital – says his family home in Deir-al-Balah was hit in the early hours of Sunday morning. He survived with minor injuries.

Israel has not spoken about this specific attack, but has said its forces were operating in the city. It says it only targets members of armed groups.

Killed in the strike were Mr El Attar’s wife – Hala Khattab, a teacher – and their six children – a 15-year-old boy, a one-year-old girl, and their four 10-year-old quadruplets.

Speaking to BBC Arabic’s Gaza Today podcast, the nurse says that around 6am on the morning of the attack he was getting ready for work when he “heard the alarm sound and suddenly lost consciousness”.

When he came to, Mr El Attar says he was in “severe pain” and the house “was in ruins”.

All the outer walls of their apartment building were destroyed.

“I desperately called out for my children and my wife, but it was too late.

“My six children, including four twins, and my wife were killed instantly in the attack,” he says.

The strike took them by surprise, Mr El Attar says. The night before, the family had spent time “enjoying a soap opera together”, trying to “escape the harsh reality of war”.

Mr El Attar’s mother – and grandmother to his six children – says she “cannot comprehend” why their home was hit.

“My son Ashraf works as a nurse at the European hospital, where he is dedicated to helping patients.

“We had no connections with any organisations,” she says.

The couple had an “incredibly challenging time” raising their children, she says, in particular the quadruplets.

“The babies faced severe health issues in their early months and nearly died.

“We provided oxygen cylinders at home, and one of them, Hammam, underwent hernia surgery,” she says.

Mr El Attar says his wife – Hala – was “dedicated” to helping displaced people.

She was working for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (Unrwa), he says, a UN agency that provides support for Palestinian refugees.

Now the nurse says he is forced to come to terms with the life they could have had together.

“I worked tirelessly to support my family and watch my children grow up, dreaming of giving them a better future – a big house, a car, and mobile phones,” he says.

But now “all those dreams have been destroyed”.

“I demand justice for my family”, he says, something he vows to pursue through “any international court”.

“Israel has committed a grave injustice. My entire family has been wiped out in an instant, leaving me with nothing.”

The Israel Defense Forces has not commented on this specific strike, but has said it was operating in Deir al-Balah over the weekend.

In another statement on Monday, it said it had been operating in the outskirts of Deir al-Balah “eliminating terrorists, destroying combat compounds above and below ground”.

It says it only targets members of armed groups, and blames civilian deaths on Hamas – who it says places fighters, weapons, tunnels and rockets in residential areas.

Hamas-led gunmen killed about 1,200 people in an attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, taking 251 others back to Gaza as hostages.

That attack triggered a massive Israeli military offensive against Gaza and the current war, during which more than 40,170 people have been killed in Gaza, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.

US TV host Oprah Winfrey has made a surprise, unannounced appearance at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

Oprah fired up the crowd in a speech on night three of the nomination convention for Kamala Harris and her running mate Tim Walz.

“When a house is on fire, we don’t ask about the homeowner’s race or religion. We don’t wonder who their partner is or how they voted,” she said.

“No, we just try to do the best we can to save them. And if the place happens to belong to a childless cat lady, well, we try to get that cat out, too.”

The comment is a reference to Trump’s running mate, JD Vance, who made a now-famous comment about childless women.

In 2021, Senator Vance said in an interview that the US was governed by “a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they’ve made and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable, too.”

Oprah, whose production company is based in Chicago, does not have any children.

“Sweet promise of tomorrow, we’re not going back,” Oprah told delegates, leading to chants of “not going back”.

Tracy Prince and Kathy Sykes jumped out of their seats when they saw Oprah, who was born in their home state of Mississippi, take to the stage.

“We love Oprah so much,” Mrs Sykes told BBC News. “Everyone in Mississippi is so proud that she claims us.”

She said Oprah’s speech was a “powerful message” to independent voters in particular to vote for Ms Harris.

“She gave very good reasons why – to choose common sense over nonsense,” Mrs Sykes said from the convention hall.

Wednesday night also included cameos from several entertainment celebrities including Stevie Wonder, Mindy Kaling and Kenan Thompson.

The Democratic Party is calling upon its famous members to help get eyes on this convention, hoping their presence will get voters to pay attention – and then maybe cast a vote for Kamala Harris in November.

It’s a common tactic in US politics. The Republican National Convention last month featured appearances from rock musician Kid Rock and wrestler Hulk Hogan.

A group of pro-Palestinian Democrats said their request for a speaking slot at this week’s Democratic National Convention has been denied by party leaders.

The “uncommitted” delegates were hoping as late as Wednesday evening that a Palestinian-American politician would be allowed to speak critically about Israel’s war in Gaza.

But a spokesman for the Uncommitted National Movement said their request was turned down.

The BBC contacted Kamala Harris’s campaign for comment.

Abbas Alawieh, an uncommitted delegate from Michigan, was emotional as he relayed the news outside the United Center, where the convention concludes on Thursday.

“We were hopeful because Vice-President Harris’s team was engaging with us,” Mr Alawieh told reporters. “We just want to be heard.”

The uncommitted delegates were selected in state Democratic primaries earlier this year – part of an internal party protest against US support for Israel.

President Joe Biden won an overwhelming share of primary voters, but pro-Palestinian activists urged people to vote “uncommitted” and similar options in a number of states.

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Enough Democratic voters did so to send 30 delegates to the convention in Chicago, out of a total of more than 2,400 delegates.

Mr Alawieh said it was “unacceptable” that their request for a speaking slot was turned down.

“We’re not going anywhere before November,” he said. “You’re not going to get rid of us. We’re going to engage the system.”

The delegates said that they had collected signatures from nearly 250 Harris delegates supporting a ceasefire in Gaza.

The war in the Middle East has been the main focus of a series of protests outside the Democratic convention this week.

On Monday several thousand protesters marched by the United Center, although the turnout was less than organisers had expected.

A smaller protest held outside the Israeli consulate in Chicago on Tuesday led to clashes between protesters and police, resulting in 56 arrests.

Another march outside the convention site is planned for Thursday evening.

Cook County, where Chicago is located, is home to the country’s largest Palestinian community.

Modern political conventions tend to be slickly produced, carefully stage-managed events. And despite its struggles with staying on schedule and the unusual way its presidential nominee was chosen, this year’s Democratic gathering in Chicago has been no different.

The Democrats on the convention stage have tried to put their best foot forward by talking about Kamala Harris’s qualifications and character, her plan for the economy and issues on which the party has broad public support, like abortion rights and healthcare.

But what they don’t talk about – the issues and areas they have largely tried to avoid, at least so far – says as much about their electoral strategies and weakness as what they choose to highlight. Here are three notable omissions halfway through the party extravaganza.

Four years ago, amidst the mass protests over the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officers, the Democratic Party – and the nation as a whole – engaged in a sometimes animated debate about institutional racism and how American history is presented.

While many mainstream Democrats avoided the aggressive calls to “defund the police”, most engaged in the discussion of how America could take steps to address what they viewed as the corrosive legacy of slavery in the nation’s businesses, classrooms and government, including by promoting DEI – diversity, equity and inclusion.

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More recently, the issue of transgender rights has been an animating force among segments of the Democratic coalition – particularly in the face of Republican efforts to limit or prohibit the ability of children to receive gender care.

Neither topic has received much attention in the Democratic convention arena so far. There was an emotional tribute to the civil rights movement early on Monday that culminated in a wheelchair-bound Jesse Jackson – who marched with Martin Luther King Jr and ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in the 1980s – taking the stage. But DEI and other remedies have received short shrift.

“DEI has become a dog-whistle code” used to undermine minorities in powerful positions, said Shavon Arline-Bradley, the president of the National Council of Negro Women, which is organising voter outreach efforts in presidential battleground states.

“Our country was founded on opportunities for all men and all women, but we’re not hearing that now, because a lot of people don’t want to alienate a certain base of folk that are afraid of this.”

At this convention, alienating the fewest number of potential voters has been the name of the game.

And while abortion rights have been a daily focus at the convention, transgender issues – the other hot-button social topic currently – have been largely ignored in the programming that makes national television.

Ms Arline-Bradley warns that by not talking about questions of equity and inclusion, the problems will linger.

“We should talk about them, because this party is the most inclusive and diverse party,” she said. “Show it, activate it and live by those values.”

The last Democratic convention in 2020 was largely virtual – conducted in empty halls and television studios – due to the Covid pandemic. In 2016, when thousands of Democrats gathered in Philadelphia, the rifts within the party were on full display.

Supporters of Democratic socialist Bernie Sanders, who finished second behind Hillary Clinton for that year’s nomination, repeatedly disrupted the proceedings and organised protests around the convention hall.

The party was divided on topics like universal healthcare, free college tuition and, more broadly, whether Democrats should rely on support from deep-pocketed donors, big business and what Mr Sanders labelled the “corporate oligarchy”.

Those divisions still exist. Mr Sanders gave a speech Tuesday night railing against the corrupting influence of money in politics. But his speech was immediately followed by Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, who bragged about being a billionaire, and venture capitalist and former American Express chief executive Ken Chenault. The big tent, at least for now, covered obvious differences of policy and opinion.

Another current area of sharp divide within the party is US military support for Israel amidst the ongoing war in Gaza. Thousands of protesters have demonstrated outside the convention’s security perimeter, but the intense disagreements have received little attention inside the convention hall.

Mr Sanders received applause when he called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and Joe Biden turned some heads when he said in his speech on Monday that protesters “have a point” when they say there have been too many civilian deaths.

But all this is a far cry from 2016, when some antiwar convention attendees booed former four-star General John Allen and former Secretary of Defence and CIA Director Leon Panetta during their speeches.

Ever since undocumented crossings at the US-Mexico border surged early in the Biden presidency, the subject of immigration has been a liability for Democrats. Republicans have blamed the administration’s policies for encouraging the historic rise in border incursions, and the flood of new arrivals – many of whom have been transported by conservative governors to populous Democratic cities – has strained public services.

The Harris campaign appears to recognise her vulnerability on the issue. One of its first television adverts blamed Donald Trump for sinking bipartisan border-security legislation earlier this year and touted Ms Harris’s record prosecuting “transnational gangs, the drug cartels and the human traffickers” while she was California’s attorney general.

But immigration appears to be an issue the Harris team would rather talk about in 50-second television adverts than from the stage in Chicago. The topic has got a few lines here and there, but compared to the 2020 convention – when Donald Trump’s hard line on immigration was a primary focus of attack – the silence has been conspicuous.

Reports suggest this could change on Wednesday night, with some speakers due to address the issue.

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Last month, when Joe Biden’s candidacy was in tatters and speculation was swirling about whether he would stand aside, a poll suggested only one Democrat could beat Donald Trump.

That candidate, the Reuters/Ipsos poll indicated, was Michelle Obama.

The former first lady consistently polls as the most popular Democrat in America. And despite Mrs Obama repeatedly making clear she has no political ambitions, there have long been reports from within Trumpworld of concern about her fulfilling the fantasies of many Democrats and deciding to run.

And after her performance in Chicago last night, it is easy to understand why they may have been worried.

Mrs Obama lit up the second night of the Democratic National Convention on Tuesday with what some commentators declared the best political speech they had ever heard.

Speaking at the same event eight years ago, Mrs Obama famously said “when they go low, we go high”.

But last night, she and her husband took a different tack. They painted Trump as a grievance obsessed grumbler whose act had gone stale.

There was no mistake who Mrs Obama was referring to when she said that for most Americans: “If things don’t go our way, we don’t have the luxury of whining or cheating others to get further ahead… we don’t get to change the rules so we always win.”

Mrs Obama said she knew from experience that Trump is likely to resort to “ugly, misogynistic, racist lies” about Kamala Harris.

And she got a huge laugh when, referring to Trump’s comment in June that illegal immigrants are taking “black jobs”, she said: “Who’s going to tell him that the job he’s currently seeking might just be one of those black jobs?

Laughing at the former president is a new approach for Democrats, but it may be a very effective one. The change in approach is often credited to Ms Harris’s vice-presidential pick Tim Walz who has repeatedly branded Trump “weird”, a label that other Democrats have used in recent weeks.

Joe Biden often issued dark warnings that Trump poses a dangerous threat to democracy. That built up the former president as a sinister but significant figure.

Both Michelle and Barack Obama opted for the new approach by using jokes to cut him down. Their jokes were designed to cast Trump as ego-driven and petty. In their telling, he is not so much an evil menace but a self-obsessed irritation.

Like “the neighbour who keeps running his leaf blower outside your window every minute of every day”, as Barack Obama put it.

When Mr Obama, during his speech, poked fun at Trump’s comments on crowd sizes, his hand gestures made clear he was also referring to a certain part of the male anatomy – and the crowd roared with laughter.

At the same time Ms Harris was holding a campaign rally 80 miles away in Milwaukee.

In exactly the same arena in which Trump accepted his party’s presidential nomination last month. And in case anyone wanted to compare crowd sizes, the auditorium was packed out, a fact the Harris campaign pointed out to journalists.

Joe Biden declared on Monday night that November’s election was “a battle for the very soul of America”. But the Obamas offered a less ominous – and perhaps less divisive – view. Mr Obama called on Democrats to listen to the concerns of people who do not yet support Ms Harris, and warned against demonising Trump supporters.

“If a parent or grandparent occasionally says something that makes us cringe, we don’t automatically assume they’re bad people,” he said. “We recognise the world is moving fast, and that they need time and maybe a little encouragement to catch up.”

By criticising Trump but not his supporters, and by poking fun at him rather than provoking fear about him, the Obamas may have hit on a more effective way to campaign against a candidate who, just weeks ago at the Republican convention, appeared almost unassailable.

With just three months to go before the 2024 election, thousands of people have gathered in Chicago this week to support Vice-President Kamala Harris at the Democratic National Convention.

After the first two days of the party’s celebration, Democrats are gathering at the United Center Arena on Wednesday to hear from Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, the party’s nominee for vice-president.

The evening will feature a full slate of prominent Democrats, including rising stars Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, Maryland Governor Wes Moore and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

The convention started off on Monday with prime-time remarks from President Joe Biden – an emotional speech that was frequently interrupted by thunderous applause and chants of “Thank you Joe”.

Tuesday brought the ceremonial roll call vote in which state delegations declared their support for the Harris-Walz ticket, and the evening closed with rousing speeches from Barack and Michelle Obama.

The party has already officially nominated Vice-President Harris as its candidate after President Biden dropped out of the race. The in-person roll call on Tuesday was a formality, with performances from celebrities including rapper Lil Jon.

US political conventions, which happens every four years before a presidential election, date back to the 1830s, when a group of Democratic delegates supporting President Andrew Jackson gathered in Baltimore to nominate him for a second term.

Here’s what to know.

Wednesday’s line-up features former President Bill Clinton, former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.

Ms Harris’s running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, will give the night’s prime-time speech after his nomination.

Before Mr Walz speaks, delegates will hear from prominent US senators, including Cory Booker of New Jersey, Chris Murphy of Connecticut, Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota.

Two Democratic governors – Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania and Wes Moore of Maryland – who represent the next generation of party leadership will also have prominent roles.

But the night will not only feature Democrats.

Olivia Troye, a Trump administration official, and Geoff Duncan, a Republican who served as Georgia’s lieutenant governor until 2023, will give remarks as well.

The most important night of the convention is Thursday, when Vice-President Harris will take the stage. She will formally accept the presidential nomination and give her speech on the final night of the convention dedicated “For the Future”.

After the convention experienced a number of delays on Monday, DNC organisers said that the programme would begin earlier Tuesday, though speakers still ran late in the evening.

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During back-to-back speeches on Tuesday, Barack and Michelle Obama mixed gags with serious exhortations to Democrats to get out and vote in November – pointing out that Ms Harris was in a close race with Republican Donald Trump.

“Hope is making a comeback,” said Mrs Obama. This was a contrast with the “bluster and chaos” of Trump’s time in the White House, Mr Obama added.

Another of the speakers was Trump’s former spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham, who said she had switched to voting for Ms Harris, explaining: “I couldn’t be part of the insanity any longer.”

And America’s Second Gentleman, Doug Emhoff, was introduced to the stage by his son Cole, who called him a “goofy dad”. Mr Emhoff went on to laud his wife, Ms Harris, as the “right person” for him and the presidency alike.

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On Monday, the convention heard from Mr Biden. During an emotional defence of his presidency, he said: “America, I gave my best to you.”

Hillary Clinton, who was presidential candidate in 2016, offered her own tribute to Mr Biden the same evening, and voiced her hope that Ms Harris could finally break the “highest, hardest glass ceiling” in the US by becoming the first female president.

Others who spoke that night included progressive lawmaker Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Americans affected by abortion bans in Republican-controlled states.

Because Ms Harris and Mr Walz were already nominated ahead of the event, this year’s convention is focused on speeches from prominent Democrats and the adoption of the party’s platform.

Delegates are working during the day to finalise the platform, a draft of which has already been released.

It focuses on a broad range of issues, including plans to lower inflation, mitigate climate change and tackle gun violence.

In the draft, Democrats contrast each of the party positions with Project 2025, an ultra-conservative blueprint for what a second Trump administration could look like, authored by the Heritage Foundation. Trump has sought to distance himself from the project, though several of his allies were involved in writing it.

Members of the public can only attend the convention in person by becoming volunteers. But as with the Republican convention, there will be plenty of national media coverage, and the convention itself will offer live-streams on social media platforms.

You can follow BBC News coverage – featuring on-site reporting and analysis – across the website and app, and on our live-stream.

The BBC News Channel will carry special coverage from 20:00 ET (01:00 BST) each night. You can find special episodes of The Global Story and Americast podcasts on BBC Sounds and other podcast platforms.

Sign up to North America correspondent Anthony Zurcher’s election newsletter US Election Unspun for his take on the week’s events direct to your inbox.

Around 50,000 people are expected at this year’s convention in Chicago. This includes thousands of delegates chosen by state Democratic parties as well as super delegates, who are major elected officials, notable members of the Democratic Party and some members of the Democratic National Committee.

Thousands of members of the media will also be in attendance.

It will be a star-studded convention with appearances from several celebrities. In 2020, actors Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Eva Longoria attended the convention, while Elizabeth Banks and America Ferrera appeared in 2016.

Rumours have swirled about whether mega-stars Beyoncé and Taylor Swift will attend this year, but neither has confirmed.

Demonstrations have been taking place outside the DNC venue centre, focusing on opposition to US support of Israel’s war in Gaza.

A protest on Tuesday near Chicago’s Israeli consulate culminated in scuffles between demonstrators and police and led to several arrests.

Earlier, thousands of marchers took to the streets for a mostly peaceful protest on Monday, calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and an end to US support for Israel. Several were arrested when dozens of them broke through a security fence.

The turnout appeared to be well below the tens of thousands that organisers had hoped for and short of the 15,000 they claimed were there.

In that night’s address, Mr Biden acknowledged that the activists “have a point”, going on to say that “a lot of innocent people are being killed, on both sides”.

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The rape and murder of a trainee doctor in India’s Kolkata city earlier this month has sparked massive outrage in the country, with tens of thousands of people protesting on the streets, demanding justice. BBC Hindi spoke to the doctor’s parents who remember their daughter as a clever, young woman who wanted to lead a good life and take care of her family.

“Please make sure dad takes his medicines on time. Don’t worry about me.”

This was the last thing the 31-year-old doctor said to her mother, hours before she was brutally assaulted in a hospital where she worked.

“The next day, we tried reaching her but the phone kept ringing,” the mother told the BBC at their family home in a narrow alley, a few kilometres from Kolkata.

The same morning, the doctor’s partially-clothed body was discovered in the seminar hall, bearing extensive injuries. A hospital volunteer worker has been arrested in connection with the crime.

The incident has sparked massive outrage across the country, with protests in several major cities. At the weekend, doctors across hospitals in India observed a nation-wide strike called by the Indian Medical Association (IMA), with only emergency services available at major hospitals.

The family say they feel hollowed out by their loss.

“At the age of 62, all my dreams have been shattered,” her father told the BBC.

Since their daughter’s horrific murder, their house, located in a respectable neighbourhood, has become the focus of intense media scrutiny.

Behind a police barricade stand dozens of journalists and camera crew, hoping to capture the parents in case they step out.

A group of 10 to 15 police officers perpetually stand guard to ensure the cameras do not take photos of the victim’s house.

The crime took place on the night of 9 August, when the woman, who was a junior doctor at the city’s RG Kar Medical College, had gone to a seminar room to rest after a gruelling 36-hour shift.

Her parents remembered how the young doctor, their only child, was a passionate student who worked extremely hard to become a doctor.

“We come from a lower middle-class background and built everything on our own. When she was little, we struggled financially,” said the father, who is a tailor.

The living room where he sat was cluttered with tools from his profession – a sewing machine, spools of thread and a heavy iron. There were scraps of fabrics scattered on the floor.

There were times when the family did not have money to even buy pomegranates, their daughter’s favourite fruit, he continued.

“But she could never bring herself to ask for anything for herself.”

“People would say, ‘You can’t make your daughter a doctor’. But my daughter proved everyone wrong and got admission in a government-run medical college,” he added, breaking down. A relative tried to console him.

The mother recalled how her daughter would write in her diary every night before going to bed.

“She wrote that she wanted to win a gold medal for her medical degree. She wanted to lead a good life and take care of us too,” she said softly.

And she did.

The father, who is a high blood-pressure patient, said their daughter always made sure he took his medicines on time.

“Once I ran out of medicine and thought I’d just buy it the next day. But she found out, and even though it was around 10 or 11pm at night, she said no-one will eat until the medicine is here,” he said.

“That’s how she was – she never let me worry about anything.”

Her mother listened intently, her hands repeatedly touching a gold bangle on her wrist – a bangle she had bought with her daughter.

The parents said their daughter’s marriage had almost been finalised. “But she would tell us not to worry and say she would continue to take care of all our expenses even after marriage,” the father said.

As he spoke those words, the mother began to weep, her soft sobs echoing in the background.

Occasionally, her eyes would wander to the staircase, leading up to their daughter’s room.

The door has remained shut since 10 August and the parents have not set foot there since the news of her death.

They say they still can’t believe that something “so barbaric” could happen to their daughter at her workplace.

“The hospital should be a safe place,” the father said.

Violence against women is a major issue in India – an average of 90 rapes a day were reported in 2022, according to government data.

The parents said their daughter’s death had brought back memories of a 2012 case when a 22-year-old physiotherapy intern was gang-raped on a moving bus in capital Delhi. Her injuries were fatal.

Following the assault – which made global headlines and led to weeks of protests – India tightened laws against sexual violence.

But reported cases of sexual assault have gone up and access to justice still remains a challenge for women.

Last week, thousands participated in a Reclaim the Night march held in Kolkata to demand safety for women across the country.

The doctor’s case has also put a spotlight on challenges faced by healthcare workers, who have demanded a thorough and impartial investigation into the murder and a federal law to protect them – especially women – at work.

Federal Health Minister JP Nadda has assured doctors that he will bring in strict measures to ensure better safety in their professional environments.

But for the parents of the doctor, it’s too little too late.

“We want the harshest punishment for the culprit,” the father said.

“Our state, our country and the whole world is asking for justice for our daughter.”

In August 2021, the world watched desperate scenes of multitudes fleeing Afghanistan as the Taliban swept into the capital, Kabul.

Having regrouped in the decades after being driven out by the invasion that followed the 11 September attacks, and emboldened by the agreed withdrawal of the remaining US forces, the Taliban deposed the elected government.

But while thousands left, some had been trying to get into the country – including Ibrahim Nash’at, an Egyptian journalist and film-maker based in Germany.

After much persistence, Nash’at succeeded in getting permission to stay in Afghanistan for up to a year to film primarily with the country’s then newly appointed Commander of the Air Force, Malawi Mansour, along with a young Talib lieutenant, MJ Mukhtar, who in the film dreams of joining the air force and longs to avenge himself against the Americans.

Now, three years on from the Taliban’s return to power, the result is the documentary Hollywoodgate, named after the abandoned CIA military base where much of the filming took place.

But in seeking to tell the tale of the country’s new era, Nash’at found himself in an uncomfortable and often fraught position with a new government that had become known for execution and repression during its first stint in power.

“That little devil is filming,” an unknown Taliban military figure comments to Mukhtar in Nash’at’s presence. “I hope he doesn’t bring us shame in front of China.”

On another occasion, Mansour says casually in front of Nash’at that “if his intentions are bad, he will die soon.”

Asked about it, Nash’at says: “I actually didn’t understand what they were saying at the time. I’d asked the translator not to tell me bad things they said about me. I didn’t want to freak out.”

Although frequently told to stop filming, he acquired more than enough footage for this fly-on-the-wall style story, where audiences see the vestiges of American troop life such as treadmills (Mansour asks in the film for one to be sent to his house), signs for unisex toilets and a fridge containing alcohol, but also some of the $7bn (£5.4bn) stockpile of weapons that the US confirmed later it had left behind, including around 73 aircraft and 100 military vehicles.

“These monsters spent their last days here destroying everything,” says one of them about the Americans, as Mansour and his team inspect the former CIA base for the first time by torchlight.

The US military command said at the time that military equipment had been rendered “impossible” to use again, although Nash’at films some aircraft repairs being carried out and the documentary features scenes where his officials assure Mansour that some are fixed and ready to be tested in the air.

Nash’at tells BBC News he was “shocked” to discover all that had been left behind.

“When I first saw the word ‘Hollywoodgate’ on the base from the road, that was it for me,” he says.

“I thought I would make a movie about this crazy space that was American, and then it’s occupied by the Taliban Air Force. I thought it might be about how they sleep in American beds, but it’s become much more about the weapons.”

“It’s unbelievable these things even exist,” he continues. “It’s really a question for the American authorities, why did they leave all of this behind? How many more warehouses did they leave full? And right until the end of my filming, I never thought they [the Taliban] would be able to fix them.”

However, later scenes of the film, filmed one year later in August 2022, show a military parade at Bagram Air Base in front of the Afghan prime minister and minister of defence, with much of the US weaponry on triumphant display, as they host diplomatic visitors from countries including Russia, China, Pakistan and Iran. Mansour orders a flypast of several aircraft.

US media networks have since reported that weapons left behind in Afghanistan have surfaced in other conflicts around the world.

“The movie really shows the transformation of the Taliban from being a militia into a military regime,” the director claims.

Nash’at didn’t get to film anything after that parade, he says, because immediately afterwards the film-maker felt he had to flee, as he was told to report to intelligence officials and have his footage inspected. He went to Kabul airport instead.

“They said to me, ‘Hey, come to our office tomorrow with all your material, we want to check it,’” he recalls. “For me, this was a huge alert. So I left Afghanistan at once.”

“I know from these kinds of regimes the moment you go down that road, it’s going to be a downward spiral, it’s never going to be something good,” he says.

Nash’at explains that he went into the country as most others were trying to leave, “because as a journalist, I learned when something is no longer the hot story, no-one cares about it any more. I wanted to go in and do the opposite.”

What ultimately got him access, he adds, was that in during his career, he had “filmed with world leaders, and they [the Taliban] saw images of me with presidents”. And the film comes with a prestigious pedigree, as it is co-produced by Canadian Odessa Rae, also behind the Oscar-winning documentary Navalny.

Nash’at argues that “for me, the name Hollywoodgate is a representation of what this movie is about. It’s a film about the Taliban trying to show that they understand propaganda.

“It’s also about the Hollywood stories that we’ve been told about this kind of military world. It has so many layers for me, I feel that it’s a scandal sponsored by Hollywood itself. It functions like a Greek theatre where the failure of the US-led occupation of Afghanistan is played out.”

Nash’at’s filming was restricted according to the orders of the Taliban commanders he filmed with. The New York Times review of the film calls it a “frustrating documentary” as a result.

“There is no question that the director… faced tremendous danger in shooting… but the risks required to make this documentary also highlight its limitations,” it says.

However, the Guardian’s review of the film points out: “If his finished film is light on probing interviews and rigorous analysis, there’s an obvious reason: his subjects all hate him.”

Ibrahim is philosophical about this. “I think with these kinds of situations, when you take such a risk, know that there’s risk involved, then you’ll live the rest of your life knowing that there’s a risk involved. And it’s something I’ve come to accept.”

He also emphasises that his voiceover at the start of the movie tells the audience that the Taliban wanted the audience to see some of the images he filmed.

“I ask the audience, despite that, ‘may I show you what I saw?’” he says. “My job as a filmmaker is to raise questions and hope the spectators will pick up these questions and try to find answers for them. My goal is that we can see through the ways they present themselves and understand the truth of their ambitions for control—of women, of their countrymen, of their larger geo-political region.”

Ordinary Afghans are usually portrayed in the film observed from a car or truck. There are no women in this film at all – just a couple filmed in passing.

One particularly poignant image is of a woman dressed in a burka, sitting in an icy road. Other women, shapes in burkas, sit outside a shop. It looks like, but it’s not clear, whether they are begging.

In the three years since the Taliban took control in Afghanistan restrictions on women’s lives have increased: girls have been excluded from secondary schools, prevented from sitting most university entrance exams and women restricted in the work they can do, with beauty salons being closed, as well as being stopped from going to parks, gyms and sport clubs. Mansour talks about how his wife was a doctor before their marriage, but that he made her give it up.

The UN estimates that more than two-thirds of the country does not have enough food, and that the situation has got worse because of the economic sanctions on women.

“It’s painful to watch these images and know this is the reality. It’s very ugly. What’s happening there, it’s just painful,” Nash’at says.

“When I left, I was haunted by the futility of the material I had, thinking I might not be able to convey the pain of the Afghan people.

“Even if I was with the Taliban, I can see in people’s eyes the fear they have, the sadness, the tiredness. The poverty levels are on a scale I’ve never seen in any other country, and I’ve travelled a lot. It’s really sad that this country is where it is today and that nobody really cares about what’s happening to it.”

“I did choose to go to Afghanistan. I did choose to make this from Afghanistan,” he admits.

“All of the suffering that I’ve gone through in making the film, this is nothing compared to the daily suffering of the Afghans.”

If there’s one thing the world’s gaming studios need at the moment, it’s a little bit of hype.

It has been a year with no major new console launches and where the industry has seen strikes and cuts with thousands of workers being laid off.

The opening night of Gamescom is often an opportunity for a big shiny night to get fans all excited for the year ahead.

Setting the stage for the next 12 months, here are the biggest things we found out from Europe’s biggest gaming show in Germany.

In a year when games became films, and films became games, the convention centre in Cologne saw a night all about the big trailers.

This year, Borderlands has taken attention for its movie adaptation starring Cate Blanchett and Kevin Hart.

That film received some of the year’s harshest reviews, but that has not scuppered plans for a new game in the mainline series.

We don’t know lots about the game yet, other than that it is set to launch in 2025.

No specific platforms have been announced yet either, but expect this one to come to PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox’s latest consoles.

We already knew that the upcoming Black Ops 6 will be set during the First Gulf War of the 1990s.

Now we’ve had a look at one of the missions in the single-player campaign including high-speed chases and close-quarter gun fights.

This launch is already being closely watched.

It’s the first one where a Call of Duty title will be released on Microsoft’s subscription service Game Pass on day one.

Anyone signed up to that service will get this game for no extra cost, while PlayStation owners will be looking at around £70 ($90).

Fallout maker Bethesda, now a part of Microsoft’s massive collection of studios, is hoping to keep excitement building for its Indiana Jones game with a release date.

Titled Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, we found out it will be coming before the end of the year… at least if you plan to play it on an Xbox or PC.

Those gamers will get their hands on it from 9 December, just in time for Christmas shopping season.

There had been question marks over whether this game would come to its competitors’ consoles, but it was announced a version for the PlayStation 5 is in development.

That won’t be ready until Spring 2025, though.

One of the more unexpected announcements of the night, a co-op combat game called King of Meat.

Not another cooking game, but instead a new take on a dungeon crawler where you can team up with your friends to survive in a twisted reality show competition.

This one’s published by Amazon Games, and developed by Guildford-based indie studio Glowmade – a studio set up by former employees of Fable makers Lionhead Studios.

Speaking of team-based multiplayer titles, NetEase Games announced a launch date of 6 December for its free-to-play shooter Marvel Rivals.

Lots of the characters you might recognise to tempt new players in, including Captain America, Black Panther and Iron Man.

We also got a new gameplay trailer which confirms this title will have a lot in common with popular hero shooter Overwatch.

The name Peter Molyneux ring a bell?

As one of the main creators of the fantasy epic Fable, we now know he’s got a new project in the works called Masters of Albion.

If you’re a Fable fan, you’ll know Albion is the name of the world in which those games are set.

Curiously though, this one apparently will not be set in the same universe as those Fable games.

The trailer showed off a top-down real-time strategy game with elements of resource management and questing.

We got a short glimpse at a new project from Hangar 13 in the Mafia series to close the show.

It’s going to be called Mafia: The Old Country, and while we didn’t get a release date or launch window, we’ve been promised more details in December.

No surprises if that features heavily at the Game Awards.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is reviewing more than 40 cases of unruly passengers on airlines across the country.

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) referred 43 cases of people misbehaving on airplanes to the law enforcement agency during the past year.

The referred cases represent a small portion of airplane mayhem: there have been 1,375 unruly passenger reports made this year alone.

The rate of unruly passengers peaked in 2021 and has since dropped by over 80%, according to FAA data.

The two agencies adopted an information-sharing protocol in 2021 that allows the FAA to refer some cases to the FBI for review.

The partnership aims to ensure that unruly passengers face criminal prosecution when warranted.

During the height of the Covid-19, reports of such incidents surged, reaching a peak in 2021 with nearly 6,000 reports filed. That number included more than 4,000 incidents that involved airlines enforcing mask mandates aboard aircraft.

Since 2021, the FAA has referred more than 310 cases in total to the FBI.

Most incidents this year involved passengers exhibiting aggressive and threatening behaviour towards crew members and other passengers.

Among the referred cases:

• Three incidents where passengers attempted to breach the flight deck
• At least seven incidents where a passenger physically assaulted other passengers or crew members
• At least 13 cases of passengers exhibiting sexually inappropriate behaviour or sexually assaulting crew members or fellow passengers
• Four cases where passengers inappropriately touched or physically assaulted a minor passenger
• Two cases where passengers attempted to open exit doors or breach aircraft doors

The FAA pursues legal enforcement action against passengers who assault, threaten, intimidate or interfere with airline crewmembers.

The violations can carry civil penalties up to $37,000 (€33,200) per charge.

Last year, the FAA imposed $7.5m in fines after handling over 2,000 unruly passenger reports, with 512 investigations initiated.

The rapid spread of mpox – what used to be called monkeypox – in Africa has been declared a global emergency.

A new form of the virus is at the heart of concerns, but there still remain huge unanswered questions.

Is it more contagious? We don’t know. How deadly is it? We don’t have the data. Is this going to be a pandemic?

“We have to avoid the trap of thinking this is going to be Covid all over again and we’re going to have lockdowns – or that this will play out like mpox did in 2022,” says Dr Jake Dunning, an mpox scientist and doctor who has treated mpox patients in the UK.

To assess the threat – despite the uncertainty – we first need to realise this is not one mpox outbreak, but three.

They are all happening at the same time, but affecting different groups of people and behaving differently.

They are labelled by their “clade” – essentially which branch of the mpox virus family tree they come from.

• Clade 1a is causing most of the infections in the west and north of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). This is the outbreak that has been going on for more than a decade. It is spread mostly by eating infected wildlife known as bushmeat. Those who get sick can pass the virus onto people they come into close contact with and children have been particularly affected.
• Clade 1b is the new branch of the mpox family and is causing the outbreaks in the east of the DRC and neighbouring countries. This is being spread along trucking routes with drivers having heterosexual sex with exploited sex workers, with infected people also passing it onto children through close contact.
• Clade 2 is the mpox outbreak that went around the world in 2022 and again had a strong connection with sex, this time predominantly affecting gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men communities (98.6% were men in the UK) as well as their close contacts. This outbreak is not over.

The World Health Organization labelled Clade 1b as one of the main reasons for it declaring a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. This strain has spread to countries previously unaffected by mpox – Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda.

It was first reported this year, but genetic analysis has traced its origins back to September 2023 in the gold-mining city of Kamituga, South Kivu Province, DRC.

“There is a sex industry in the mining city and it has rapidly spread out to border countries because of the massive movement of people,” Leandre Murhula Masirika, a health department research coordinator, tells me from South Kivu.

He said paying for sex was the main way the virus was spreading, but it is then passed from parent-to-child or between children and had been linked to miscarriages.

The outbreak of this new Clade 1b offshoot looks markedly different to Clade 1a.

“It’s really different because the rash is more severe, the disease seems to be going on for longer, but most of all this is really being driven by sexual transmission and person-to-person contact and we haven’t seen any involvement with bushmeat at all,” Prof Trudi Lang, from the University of Oxford, told me on Radio 4’s Inside Health programme.

A key question is why? The answer is either evolution or opportunity.

The new strain does look genetically distinct, but as yet there is no compelling evidence those mutations have made the virus itself more contagious.

Getting into sex workers who have close contact with many other people would also put rocket boosters on an outbreak.

“Transmission through sexual networks occurs more rapidly, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the virus itself is more transmissible,” says Dr Rosamund Lewis, the World Health Organization’s mpox lead.

The virus is not a textbook sexually transmitted infection. However, it is spread through close physical contact and sex obviously involves close contact.

There is also uncertainty around how deadly the current outbreaks are.

Not all deaths are being recorded as some people are seeking “traditional” rather than hospital medicine. And we have no idea how many people are being infected – some of whom may have mild or no symptoms.

“We just don’t know how many cases there are and for me that is one of the most important unknowns,” says Prof Lang.

History suggests Clade 1 outbreaks are more dangerous than Clade 2. In previous outbreaks up to 10% of people who got sick with Clade 1 mpox died. However, it is not clear how relevant that 10% figure is to the current outbreaks.

And death rates are about more than just the virus. Malnourishment, untreated HIV damaging the immune system or no access to hospital care would all drive up the death rate.

The World Health Organization says 3.6% of known mpox cases died for Clade 1a in 2024. It has no equivalent figure for the new Clade 1b.

More than 500 people have already died in the mpox outbreaks in the Democratic Republic of Congo this year. The threat posed to the country and its neighbours is clear.

“We have not been able to control the virus in South Kivu,” says Leandre Murhula Masirika.

“We need a massive intervention to control this outbreak and to stop it.”

Prof Lang, who is working with teams in DRC, draws comparisons with the early days of HIV. When I challenge her on this she says it’s a phrase used “not very often and definitely not lightly”.

She says: “That combination of young exploited sex workers, the families, the truckers and obviously the children around all of this who are the vulnerable first victims of this outbreak and this was exactly the same situation in the early days of HIV, where it was really perpetuated by the trucking routes.”

Mpox is not expected to be a Covid-level event. It is already nearly a year since the new strain emerged in September 2023.

The most likely scenario in the UK and similar countries is somebody flies back with the virus and becomes sick.

This has happened multiple times with mpox in the past in the UK and the UK continues to report cases of mpox linked to the 2022 Clade 2 outbreak.

These imported cases could be the end of it or there may be limited spread within households through close physical contact. Sweden had the first Clade 1b case outside of Africa, with no further spread reported.

A more worrying scenario would be a young infected child taking it to nursery or pre-school where they play with other children and cause an outbreak there.

This is the limit of what is being considered likely in the UK.

“No, I don’t think this is going to be a big one,” said Dr Jake Dunning.

“I’m getting a little bit irked and twitchy about people just focusing on what happened in 2022 and thinking that the same will happen.”

The response would be to find people who came into contact with anyone infectious and vaccinate them, rather than mass immunisation programmes.

It should be easier to stay on top of any imported cases in this way in the UK than in the Democratic Republic of Congo which has added conflict and humanitarian challenges.

There are still no mpox-specific vaccines but smallpox vaccines work against the disease.

Smallpox and the monkeypox viruses are both Orthopoxviruses and immunity to one leads to protection from the other.

The end of the smallpox immunisation campaigns – after the disease was eradicated in 1979 – is one of the reasons we’re seeing mpox take off now.

Those who did get a smallpox vaccine as children, despite a now aged immune system, should still have some protection.

As will men who were given the vaccine during the 2022 outbreak, although the Clade 1 outbreaks are not disproportionately affecting gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men.

The people with the biggest need for vaccines are the heart of the outbreak in Africa.

Dr Dunning said: “We’re absolutely appalling at sharing tools to prevent mpox, particularly vaccines and that’s indefensible.

“It’s obvious to me that the greatest win for us is controlling these outbreaks at source.”

Here in Lesotho it is known as white gold – the water which plays such an important role in the country’s economy.

The engineering marvel at the centre of this is incongruous in the country’s highlands – sited among the shepherds in traditional Basotho blankets and mud huts that make up this rural area.

The Katse dam is a seriously impressive piece of design. Standing at 185m (600 feet) tall, it is Africa’s second largest curved dam.

Completed in 1996, it forms part of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project, which was the result of a deal signed between the governments of Lesotho and apartheid South Africa a decade earlier.

The country might be entirely surrounded by its much larger neighbour, but it has something parts of South Africa lack – a regular supply of water.

Due to its unique geography – Lesotho is the only country in the world that lies entirely above 1,000m – the country receives a relatively high amount of precipitation.

That is where Katse comes in.

Water is funnelled out of the dam, entering a series of tunnels, that eventually takes it into the Vaal river system in South Africa. It is Africa’s biggest water transfer scheme.

The government says Lesotho receives $200m (£154m) a year from South Africa for the water – more than double what the country used to get after the agreement was renegotiated earlier this year.

However, despite being water rich, Lesotho remains economically poor. And nowhere is that more apparent than in Ha Ramokoatsi village.

Despite being around just 1km from the dam, its 200 residents still have to rely on a small natural spring, tucked away inside a small cave on the hillside, for their supply of water.

At 10:00 on the day the BBC visits, there is a steady queue of women, holding empty paint buckets to carry the water home.

Some have been here since 03:00. In the queue we meet 50-year-old Manteboheleng Mosiyoa, who arrived five hours ago.

“The water situation here is terrible,” she says, visibly angry.

“Sometimes when it rains, a dead dog can be washed into the spring. We have to just take it out as we need the water, even if it is contaminated.”

She adds that consuming the water has had health consequences, and shows us an itchy rash on her wrist, which health workers say is a result of drinking dirty water.

“We regularly get sick, even small children. They drink this water and they have upset and painful stomachs.

“Sometimes when you come to the water you see little worms, but we still drink the water, because there is no way we can survive without it.”

As we speak the spring runs dry, meaning Ms Mosiyoa is left to scoop out the remaining water from a litter-filled, stagnant pool.

Village officials say that despite a series of promises from politicians – dating back to 2020 – that running water would be installed, they have heard nothing.

Village chief Hlojeng Khethisa shows me written minutes in a notebook from meetings held with the previous government.

“My message to this government is that they should come here and see how we live. We can’t have this beautiful dam built around our village and yet we’re still living in poverty.”

That is not a story that you will hear on the tours of the dam, offered by the Lesotho Highlands Development Authority, which runs the project.

Our guide is eager to tell tourists about the fact that Lesotho generates half its electricity through hydro-power, and the roads that have been built thanks to money earned from the dam.

Katse was the first dam, with a second opening in 2003. A third is set to start operating in 2028, with plans for a total of five dams.

Despite the growth, Minister of Natural Resources Mohlomi Moleko admits that the project has not always been in the interests of the communities that live around it.

“We now have to – as Basotho – refocus. Our main focus going forward is to give water to the Basotho, and second the water transfer.

“We are now looking at the provision of water for locals by 2030. That’s what we’re going to be looking at.” He adds that “he would bet his life” that the roll-out will be completed by then.

The demand for Lesotho’s natural resources is only likely to grow.

Much of Lesotho’s water is diverted to Gauteng province, South Africa’s economic heartland, and home to its biggest city, Johannesburg.

It is the largest city in the world not built on a water source, and the city of gold is getting thirstier.

Taps in the city increasingly run dry due to a combination of crumbling infrastructure, a growing population and reservoirs emptying out due to climate change.

“Lesotho’s water is very important, as it basically drives part of South Africa’s GDP,” says Professor Anja du Plessis, a water management expert at the University of South Africa.

“Water demand however is not sustainable. Consumers use a lot of water, over 200 litres a day, but 46% of water that goes through the system does not reach the consumer, due to neglected infrastructure. It’s a man-made issue at this point in time.”

A deal has also recently been signed to take Lesotho’s water more than 700km, into Botswana.

None of the economic benefits of this will be much comfort to the residents of Ha Ramokoatsi.

Despite being able to see the Katse dam from the window of her house, Ms Mosiyoa says it has bought nothing positive to her life.

“This dam hasn’t done anything for us. We know nothing of the money Lesotho gets. Nothing has been done for us. We’re really struggling.”

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• The diamond magnate at the helm of Lesotho’s politics
• A quick guide to Lesotho

A rescue mission is continuing off the coast of Sicily after the British-flagged luxury yacht Bayesian sank during freak weather early on Monday morning.

Fifteen of the 22 people who were on board were rescued from the boat.

The vessel’s cook – understood to be Recaldo Thomas – is confirmed to have died and his body has been recovered, according to Sicily’s civil protection agency.

Six remained missing and specialist divers from the Italian fire brigade have spent days searching for the four Britons and two Americans.

By Wednesday five bodies had been found and four had been recovered to shore. Italian authorities have not confirmed their identities.

The body of a man recovered near the Bayesian yacht is believed to be that of Recaldo Thomas, a Canadian-Antiguan chef who was working on the boat.

His friends have been paying tribute to him. Gareth Williams, who lives in Antigua, knew Thomas for 30 years.

“I can talk for everyone that knew him when I say he was a well-loved, kind human being with a calm spirit,” he told the BBC.

The two grew up together in Antigua, where Thomas spent his time during off-season.

“He would come over to mine over the weekend and he would sing. He had the deepest, most sultry voice in the world, and a smile that lit up the room.

“He told me just the other day that he needed to work two more seasons to fix up his late parents’ house. He loved yachting, but he was tired.”

• Follow live updates here
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• How sinking of luxury yacht off Sicily unfolded
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The six people who are unaccounted for have all been named.

Among them are British businessman Mike Lynch, who was recently acquitted of fraud in the US.

Several people on the boat, including some who are missing, were involved in his recent trial and there have been reports that the yacht trip was a celebration of Mr Lynch’s acquittal.

Mr Lynch is a tech entrepreneur who was once regarded by some as “Britain’s Bill Gates”.

Raised in Essex, he went on to study at the University of Cambridge, before co-founding software company Autonomy in 1996.

The 59-year-old made his riches by selling the company to US tech giant Hewlett-Packard in 2011 for $11bn (£8.6bn).

Mr Lynch became embroiled in a decade-long legal battle following the acquisition. He was acquitted in the US in June on multiple fraud charges, over which he had been facing two decades in jail.

He told BBC Radio 4 in August that he believed he had only been able to prove his innocence in US court because he was rich enough to pay the enormous legal fees involved.

“You shouldn’t need to have funds to protect yourself as a British citizen,” he said.

Mr Lynch was travelling with his daughter Hannah, who is also missing.

The 18-year-old is reportedly the younger of Mr Lynch’s two daughters.

She had just completed her A-levels and secured a place to read English at Oxford University, according to the Times.

Chris Morvillo is a lawyer who represented Mr Lynch in his US trial. Since 2011, he has been a partner at the Clifford Chance law firm in New York.

His biography on the firm’s website says that he served as assistant attorney for the southern district of New York from 1999 to 2005.

During his tenure, he worked on the criminal investigation surrounding the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center.

American jewellery designer Neda Morvillo, wife of Mr Morvillo, is also unaccounted for.

Mr Morvillo’s employer, Clifford Chance, confirmed the news.

In a statement, a spokesperson for the law firm said: “We are in shock and deeply saddened by this tragic incident.”

Ms Morvillo designs jewellery under the name Neda Nassiri. Her website says she “has been designing and hand-crafting fine jewelry in New York City for over 20 years”.

Jonathan Bloomer is the chairman of the Morgan Stanley International bank and insurance company Hiscox.

The 70-year-old Briton was educated at Imperial College London and has previously served on a number of company boards.

Mr Bloomer appeared at trial as a defence witness for Mr Lynch, according to the the Financial Times. Media reports suggest the pair are close friends.

Mr Bloomer’s twin brother, Jeremy, told the BBC he felt numb and his family were “coping the best we can” as rescue workers continued to search for his sibling.

“He was my elder by half an hour, so, it means a lot when you lose a twin brother. We’ll still wait and see, so it’s fingers crossed,” he said.

He added: “It’s a slow process, and it will take time. There might be air pockets but we don’t know.”

Aki Hussain, group chief executive of Hiscox, which Mr Bloomer has chaired since 2023, said: “We are deeply shocked and saddened by this tragic event.

“Our thoughts are with all those affected, in particular our chair, Jonathan Bloomer, and his wife Judy, who are among the missing.”

Judy, the wife of Jonathan Bloomer, is also among the six people missing.

Ms Bloomer is listed as a former director of property developer Change Real Estate along with her husband.

She has been called a “brilliant champion for women’s health” by a charity she has worked closely with.

Ms Bloomer has been a trustee and supporter of gynaecological cancer research charity the Eve Appeal for more than 20 years.

The charity’s chief executive, Athena Lamnisos, said she was “deeply shocked to hear the news that our very dear friend and her husband Jonathan, are among those missing”.

“Our thoughts are with Judy and Jonathan’s family, as well as all those who are still waiting for news after this tragic event,” she added in a statement.

Among the 15 people who were rescued are nine members of the yacht’s crew.

This means every member of the crew is accounted for minus the chef, who local authorities say has died.

Eight of the 15 who were rescued have been taken to hospital.

Dr Fabio Genco, who was part of the local emergency medical service that treated the survivors, said all of them had been discharged from hospital by Tuesday.

A British mother, named locally as Charlotte Golunski, was travelling on the yacht with her partner and baby girl. All three were rescued from the boat.

In an interview, she described holding her infant daughter above the surface of the sea to save her from drowning.

Ms Golunski is a partner at Mr Lynch’s company, Invoke Capital, where she has worked since 2012, according to her LinkedIn profile.

The Times has reported that she has previously worked for Autonomy, the company at the centre of Mr Lynch’s recent court case.

Another lawyer, Ayla Ronald, was also rescued along with her partner.

The New Zealand national works for Clifford Chance, where Mr Morvillo is a partner, and was part of Mr Lynch’s legal team for his June trial.

Her father told the Telegraph that she was “invited to go sailing as a result of the success in the recent United States court case”.

Angela Bacares, Mr Lynch’s wife and Hannah Lynch’s mother, is also among those who have been rescued.

On Monday, Ms Bacares was using a wheelchair after suffering ­abrasions on her feet, according to the newspaper La Repubblica.

Hollywood stars Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck are divorcing after two years of marriage.

Lopez filed for divorce on Tuesday in the Los Angeles County Superior Court, according to court documents seen by the BBC.

The pair – dubbed Bennifer by tabloids – formally tied the knot in Las Vegas in July 2022 and held a larger wedding ceremony in Georgia the following month.

Their romance began after they met while working on the set of the 2003 crime caper Gigli. They had originally planned to marry that year, but called off their relationship early in 2004.

Almost two decades later they rekindled their relationship.

“Love is beautiful. Love is kind. And it turns out love is patient. Twenty years patient,” Lopez said in 2022 after announcing the Las Vegas wedding.

The BBC has contacted their representatives for comment.

A court filing in the case says Lopez or her attorney has to notify Affleck with a copy of her petition to dissolve their marriage.

Media reports indicate Lopez, who had legally changed her last name to Affleck, did not list any details of a prenuptial agreement in her petition for divorce.

A document filed in LA’s Superior Court in the case says both Lopez, 55, and Affleck, 52, must share financial information, including their current income, expenses, properties and debts.

The document says both are mandated to divulge any changes to their finances “until there is a final agreement about all financial issues in your case”.

The court gave Lopez 60 days to file a financial disclosure and Affleck will have another 60 days after she submits her information to do likewise.

The filing says if either fails to report or update financial information, it could result in a court-imposed sanction.

There has been months of speculation over their relationship. They reportedly put their Beverly Hills mansion up for sale at $65m (£50m) and were pictured out separately not wearing their wedding rings.

Affleck, a two-time Oscar winner, was previously married to the actress Jennifer Garner, who he met on the set of 2001 romance Pearl Harbor. They split in 2015 after a decade of marriage and have three children together.

Lopez has been married four times, first to Cuban-born waiter Ojani Noa from 1997-98; then her former back-up dancer Cris Judd from 2001-03; and to singer Marc Anthony, with whom she had twins, from 2004-14.

The singer and actress, known as J.Lo, was also once engaged to New York Yankees star Alex Rodriguez.

The last elephant in South Africa’s national zoo has been released back into the wild after 40 years of captivity.

The elephant, named Charlie, was captured in 1984 from Zimbabwe’s Hwange national park when he was two years old.

He was taken to Boswell Wilkie Circus in South Africa and trained to perform tricks. In the early 2000s he was transferred to the country’s national zoo.

In recent years, animal welfare groups have pushed for the elephant to be freed due to concern for his health.

On Tuesday, EMS Foundation, which advocates for the rights of wildlife, announced that after “a nail-biting four-hour trip to freedom” the elephant had arrived at his new home at the Shambala Private Reserve in Limpopo province.

It said the “historic event” followed years of negotiation with the South African government, after EMS Foundation and its partners provided scientific evidence to show that elephants suffer in zoos.

At the zoo, Charlie the elephant is said to have witnessed the death of four other elephants, including his own calf which was less than a month old.

In 2019, concerns were raised that the elephant was showing signs of distress common with animals in captivity.

The South African National Biodiversity Institute, which runs the zoo, denied it, saying it was behaviour learnt from years of circus life that would never be completely unlearned. EMS Foundation said this was “inaccurate”.

On Tuesday, animal welfare organisation Four Paws, which collaborated with EMS Foundation, said the elephant’s “retirement was an important milestone for elephant Charlie but also for better animal welfare in South Africa”.

“Together with our partners, we have been working tirelessly to end the loneliness of Charlie to see him thrive in his new species appropriate home,” said Josef Pfabigan, Four Paws chief executive.

The elephant’s new home is a 10,000-hectare reserve with a thriving population of elephants, known to successfully reintegrate animals back into the wild.

While there, Charlie will be closely monitored by veterinary and behavioural experts.

“Our dream is that at his own pace, Charlie will learn to be the elephant he was always meant to be, and that soon, he will meet up and integrate into the existing elephant community on Shambala,” EMS Foundation said.

Dr Amir Khalil, a veterinarian who led the transfer of the elephant, told the BBC that despite the residual effects of abuse in captivity, “there is always a chance of recovery”.

On concerns about how Charlie would cope with the new environment, he said there were already positive signs of settling in and Charlie was “very excited to hear other elephants from far away”, with whom he had started to communicate.

Dr Khalil said it would take a while to prepare the elephant to be self-sufficient, but “we must not forget that Charlie was born in the wild. He has spent almost two years with his mother living in freedom”.

He said the elephant was under a rehabilitation and feeding programme, and they planned to release him to an even bigger area in the coming months.

“We are convinced, that step by step he will get used to all these new experiences.”

EMS Foundation director Michele Pickover told the AFP news agency there were also three elephants in the Johannesburg Zoo.

“We are litigating against Johannesburg over those,” she said.

South Africa has more than 25,000 wild elephants, according to the South African parks authority SANparks.

African elephants face threats from poachers, with thousands of them illegally killed each year for their tusks. They also face habitat loss due to expanding human settlements.

• Botswana threatens to send 20000 elephants to Germany
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• Elephants trample Spanish man to death in S Africa
• Zimbabwe’s dilemma over deadly elephant attacks

Many Nigerians have reacted with outrage after a new plane was bought for President Bola Tinubu at a time when the economy is experiencing its worst crisis in a generation.

The purchase comes less than two weeks after thousands took to the streets across the country to protest at rising hunger and the cost of living.

Elected last year to lead Africa’s most populous country, Mr Tinubu has introduced several economic reforms, including the removal of fuel subsidies, which have contributed to high inflation, currently over 30%.

President Tinubu said the reforms were necessary to cut government spending and stimulate long-term growth.

In January, the Nigerian president announced a 60% reduction in the size of official travel delegations, including his own entourage.

However on Monday, the president departed for France using a newly acquired Airbus A330, which has become the latest addition to the presidential fleet of more than five aircraft.

The cost of the plane has not been disclosed, and nor has the reason for his trip.

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X user @Fdmlearn said it wasn’t right that Nigerians were being told to undergo economic pain while the government was buying a new plane for the president.

“Wait so despite the Tinubu led Government telling Nigerians to bear the economic hardship and wait for a better tomorrow, they were busy paying cash for a new private Jet to add to the presidential fleet that has over 6 aircraft’s already?”.

Another X user @RealOlaudah was even more angry.

“Let’s tell ourselves the truth. Tinubu’s new Airbus presidential aircraft purchase for N150 billion at a time of penury, hunger, and want shows how wicked, selfish, self-indulgent, and insensitive to the plight of the average Nigerian he really is.”

However, @Timi_The_Law says he supports the president’s decision as the plane is not personal but belongs to the office of the president.

“Tinubu’s decision to buy a new plane is the right one. The plane belongs to the office of the president, and future presidents will enjoy it,” he posted.

It is not known if lawmakers approved the purchase, which was not mentioned in this year’s budget.

In a statement on X, President Tinubu’s media aide Bayo Onanuga said the new plane would actually save money.

“The new plane, bought far below the market price, saves Nigeria huge maintenance and fuel costs, running into millions of dollars yearly,” the statement read in part.

The new presidential jet was recently released to the Nigerian government after it was seized by a Chinese firm, Zhangson Investment Co. Limited, which obtained a Paris court order to seize some Nigerian government assets following an investment dispute with Ogun state in south-west Nigeria.

The 15-year-old plane is said to have an elaborate configuration for VIPs and replaces the country’s 19-year-old Boeing BBJ 737-700.

Nigerian officials have previously said that the presidential fleet had a high maintenance cost due to the age of its planes.

In June, lawmakers recommended the purchase of two new aircraft for the president and his deputy, saying the old ones were not safe.

Last month, lawmakers passed a supplementary budget, which sought to raise the 2024 budget from 28.7 trillion naira ($18bn; £14bn) to 35.06 trillion naira.

It is not known if the purchase of the new plane was included in this budget.

The BBC has reached out to the Senate President and the Office of the National Security Adviser but is yet to get a response.

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Authorities in Pakistan have arrested a man on suspicion of cyber terrorism, in relation to disinformation thought to have fuelled UK unrest.

Police told the BBC that Farhan Asif was linked to a website which gave a false name for the suspected Southport attacker and suggested incorrectly that he was an asylum seeker who arrived in the UK on a small boat.

The article, published on the website Channel3Now in the hours after the attack, was widely quoted in viral posts on social media.

Unrest broke out in England and Northern Ireland after the fatal stabbing attack, in which three young girls died.

On raiding Mr Asif’s property, the police recovered 2 laptops and a mobile phone used by Mr Asif.

After analysing the devices, the police say that the account on X (formerly Twitter) for Channel3Now was found active.

On Tuesday, police in Lahore said they had questioned Mr Asif about the article.

Mr Asif said he had written it based on information copied from a UK-based social media account without verifying it, a police officer told the BBC.

The officer told the BBC that Mr Asif said that he ran the website alone.

The police report states that Mr Asif told them that he runs the X account with the purpose of sharing national and international news, and that he picked up the alleged tweet from another twitter user – without checking the authenticity of the information before sharing.

The police say that he used his account “with the intent to glorify the incident about the arrest of a Muslim asylum seeker by police… and created a sense of fear, panic, insecurity in the Government and the public” and it is on this basis that they have filed a case against him.

The police report also states that “Farhan Asif admitted to providing misleading information to the BBC regarding his accomplices in an attempt to divert blame to others.”

Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency has since taken up the case and will investigate whether anyone further is involved.

BBC Verify previously tracked down several people linked to Channel3Now and questioned a person who claimed to be “management” at the site.

That person told the BBC that the publication of the false name “shouldn’t have happened, but it was an error, not intentional”.

False information about the attacker spread online after three young girls were killed at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class on 29 July.

Violent disorder then broke out in Southport before spreading to towns and cities across England and Northern Ireland, fuelled by misinformation, the far-right and anti-immigration sentiment.

According to the latest Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) figure on Tuesday, 494 people have been charged in relation to the recent rioting and unrest.

More than 130 people have already been sentenced with most sent to jail.

Pakistan’s parliament has a problem – and it is nothing to do with the politicians.

No, the problem besieging the building – terrifying new starters and turning its offices into overnight “marathon” tracks – is rats. Big ones.

The scale of the problem came to light after an official committee asked to see the records of meetings from 2008. When the records were collected, it was found most had been badly gnawed by rats.

“The rats on this floor are so huge that even cats might be afraid of them,” National Assembly spokesman Zafar Sultan admitted to the BBC.

The infestation is now so widespread that an annual budget of 1.2m rupees ($4,300; £3,300) has been dedicated to making Pakistan’s halls of power rat-free.

It seems most of the rats are located on the first floor – an area which not only houses the office of the senate opposition leader, but also hosts most of the political party meetings and standing committees.

It is also, perhaps crucially, the location of a food hall.

But the rats generally keep themselves out of sight – until, that is, people have departed for the day.

“When there are usually no people here in the evening, the rats run around in there like it’s a marathon,” a National Assembly official said.

“The staff posted there are now used to this, but if someone comes here for the first time, they get scared.”

Advertisements have now gone out in several Pakistan newspapers, in order to find a pest control company which can help officials deal with the rats.

So far, just two have shown any interest.

An “alarming number” of 400 dogs are thought to have died over the past month in Zambia after eating contaminated maize and humans could be at risk too, the country’s health minister has said.

Elijah Muchima announced that approximately half of the 25 samples taken from milling companies were found to contain exceedingly high levels of aflatoxins, a poisonous substance produced by fungi.

Maize is the staple food in Zambia and Mr Muchimi said the test results were “of great concern due to the several health implications for [the] population”.

The World Health Organization (WHO) says there is evidence aflatoxins can cause liver cancer in humans.

Authorities launched an investigation into the nation’s maize supply after Diamond TV, a Zambian broadcaster, found dozens of dogs had died from aflatoxin poisoning.

It was suspected they died after eating dog food containing contaminated maize.

In their investigation, the authorities took samples from 10 milling companies that make maize-based dog food and also process the grain to make maize meal, which is consumed by humans.

The health ministry has not reported any human deaths resulting from contaminated maize. However sources at the Zambia National Public Health Institute say they are currently trying to ascertain if the spoiled grains have had on impact on the general public.

Following the authorities’ investigation, “affected batches” of maize meal have been recalled and seizure notices have been issued to “affected companies”, Mr Muchimi said. He did not name these companies or any specific maize meal brands.

Prior to Diamond TV’s report, only Farmfeed, a dog-food processing company, had recalled its products.

In his press briefing on Tuesday, Mr Muchimi said climate change and the impact of Zambia’s recent drought had “exacerbated the occurrence of aflatoxin this season”.

Like much of southern Africa, Zambia was hit by a severe drought earlier this year. An estimated one million subsistence farmers experienced damaged crops and maize supplies in the country are still critically low.

Maize provides around 60% of the population’s daily calorie intake, according to the US agriculture department, causing politicians and the public to worry about the contaminated batches.

“Govt says 400 dogs have died due to toxins in some brands of [maize] meal. I’m a victim too. I lost over 6 big dogs over a period of 1 week,” Sunday Chanda, an opposition member of parliament, wrote on social media platform X.

“Govt says ‘it’s still investigating how wide the toxic maize has spread’. Listen, the bad [maize] meal is still out there being consumed!”

Another Zambian X user questioned why the health minister had not named the maize meal brands that were being recalled.

“We have the right to know what we’re feeding our families,” they wrote.

The Millers Association of Zambia, which represents milling companies across the country, said its businesses were working hard to ensure that the problem is resolved and the public is safe.

“We are still investigating the source of this contaminated grain and have heightened our surveillance of the product on the market,” Andrew Chintala, president of the association, said.

“We have not been testing much for aflatoxin previously because this is the first time we’re experiencing this case of high aflatoxin, for which we are still investigating the cause.”

Mr Muchimi said the government had also extended surveillance throughout the country and stepped up sampling efforts.

Dingindaba Jonah Buyoya is a Zambian journalist who initially reported on the dogs’ deaths for Diamond TV

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Divers searching the wreckage of a superyacht which sank off the coast of Sicily on Monday have found the bodies of five of the six missing passengers, and recovered four of them to shore.

The Italian Coastguard has not formally identified the bodies which have been brought up from the wreck of the Bayesian – but rescuers have spent days searching for four Britons and two Americans.

These include Mike Lynch – the UK tech entrepreneur whose wife owns the Bayesian yacht, his daughter Hannah Lynch, the chairman of Morgan Stanley Bank International Jonathan Bloomer and his wife Judy Bloomer.

The first two bodies to be found were brought ashore to Porticello harbour on Wednesday afternoon. Hours later two more bodies were pulled from the water before the search was paused as night fell.

The Bayesian sank during freak weather early on Monday some 700m off the coast.

It is thought to have been struck by a tornado over the water – otherwise known as a waterspout – which caused the vessel to capsize and sink 50m (164ft) to the seabed.

A steady stream of boats were seen going in and out of Porticello throughout Wednesday, ferrying divers to and from the search site.

Dozens of emergency services staff had lined the small quayside as the bodies of those missing were returned by boat from the area of the wreck.

One body bag was seen being put in the back of an ambulance before the sound of sirens filed the harbour and the vehicle, escorted by two police cars, left the port.

Italian authorities have so far declined to identify those recovered, despite reports from local and international media on some of their names.

This is likely because they are waiting to bring back all six bodies before contacting the victims’ families and according to Italian law, the deceased must be formally identified by a family member, or a person close to the victims, before the deaths can be officially certified.

Earlier, the head of Sicily’s civil protection agency Salvatore Cocina said there would be an investigation in due course, but the priority was to find everyone who was on board the Bayesian vessel.

Neda Morvillo, an American jewellery designer, and her husband Chris are also among the missing.

The Bayesian, which was 56m long and flying a British flag, was carrying 10 crew and 12 passengers when it sank.

Of the 22 people on board, 15 survived – including a British mother who described holding her baby girl above the surface of the sea to save her from drowning.

The body of the yacht’s chef, Canadian-Antiguan national Recaldo Thomas, was found on Monday.

Gareth Williams, a friend of Mr Thomas, told the BBC he had known the chef for 30 years as they had grown up together in Antigua, where Mr Thomas lived during yachting’s off-season.

The passengers aboard were guests of Mr Lynch – founder of the software giant Autonomy – and were reportedly there to celebrate his acquittal in a massive US fraud case.

Mr Lynch was acquitted in June of multiple fraud charges relating to the $11bn (£8.6bn) sale of Autonomy to the US computing giant Hewlett-Packard in 2011.

Inspections of the yacht’s internal hull also took place on Wednesday morning, while a team of four British inspectors from the Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) arrived in Sicily on Wednesday at the site.

The depth of the shipwreck has proved challenging for the rescue effort.

Italian rescue services said the team of specialist divers had been hampered by the fact the Bayesian is lying on its side at the bottom of the seabed, with its access points choked with debris.

Speaking before the bodies were recovered, professional diver Andy Goddard said conditions would be “pretty dark” on the wreck with very limited ambient light at that depth.

“You’re in this space and you’ve got stuff floating all around you, like being in a washing machine. It’s really dangerous for the diver,” he told BBC Radio 5 Live.

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An ex-mayor accused of spying for China and having ties with criminal syndicates has fled the Philippines, stirring fury.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr said Wednesday that “heads will roll” after officials admitted Alice Guo had left the country undetected one month ago and travelled to Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia.

Mr Marcos said her departure “laid bare the corruption that undermines our justice system and erodes the people’s trust”.

Ms Guo has been out of public view since July when a Senate panel investigating her alleged links to scam centres and online casinos ordered her arrest for refusing to testify in its enquiry.

She is accused of allowing human trafficking syndicates and scam centres to operate in her town by masquerading as online casinos.

Senators have also accused her of being an operative or spy for China, citing her “opaque” answers to questions about her Chinese parentage.

Police have filed criminal complaints against her, while the Philippines’ anti-graft body recently dismissed her from office citing “grave misconduct”.

She has denied all the allegations.

Ms Guo left the Philippines “illegally” and skipped border checks, according to the country’s Bureau of Immigration, which said it found out about her travels abroad through intelligence sources.

Mr Marcos said he would “expose the culprits who have betrayed the people’s trust and aided in her flight.”

He also ordered the cancellation of Ms Guo’s Philippine passport.

Senator Risa Hontiveros, who has been leading the investigation on the Philippines’ scam centres since May, said it is unacceptable for Ms Guo to slip past immigration checks.

“The nerve of this fake Filipino, using a Philippine passport to escape,” she said.

Ms Guo came under scrutiny in March after authorities uncovered a huge scam centre and human trafficking operation in her sleepy town of Bamban, north of Manila.

The illegal operations were hidden in Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators, or “Pogo” firms, that stood on land owned by Ms Guo’s family.

Prior to that, Ms Guo was relatively unknown and had not held public office before being elected mayor in 2022. She claims she grew up sheltered in the family’s pig farm in Bamban.

While Pogos are not illegal, they are increasingly being exposed as cover for other crimes. The firms, which mostly cater to mainland Chinese clients, flourished under former president Rodrigo Duterte, who sought close economic and political ties with Beijing.

But Mr Duterte’s successor, Mr Marcos, reversed the country’s foreign policy direction and has cracked down on Pogo-linked crimes since assuming office in 2022.

Nationalist sentiment is also growing in the Philippines, as its dispute with China over reefs and outcrops in the South China Sea continue to fester.

Earlier this week, Manila and Beijing traded fresh allegations of ship ramming in the resource-rich waters.

During a week designed to celebrate the party’s successes, Democrats on Wednesday sought to confront one of their biggest political weaknesses.

Speakers at the Democratic National Convention tried to flip the script on Republican criticism of their immigration record, praising the Biden administration’s efforts and calling Kamala Harris “tough as nails” on the issue.

Donald Trump and his Republican allies have made the border a focal point of their criticism Ms Harris, calling her a “failed border czar”.

While record numbers of migrants were detained at the border during the Biden administration, the number of unlawful crossings has now fallen for five consecutive months.

Democrats have credited the decrease to recent actions by the administration to curb illegal immigration, including an executive order signed by President Joe Biden in June that allows US immigration officials to deport migrants without processing their asylum claims.

A recent poll from CBS, the BBC’s US partner, found that 48% of likely voters believe crossings will go up if Ms Harris wins. A vast majority – 72% – said they believe they will decrease under Trump.

The issue came to the forefront of the DNC on Wednesday, with several speakers defending Ms Harris’ record and slamming the former president for standing in the way of a bipartisan border security deal that collapsed in Congress earlier this year.

“Let’s be clear, the border is broken,” said New York Congressman Tom Suozzi, who has called for tougher border security and asylum laws.

In echoing a line frequently used by Republicans to attack Mr Biden’s immigration policies, Mr Suozzi and other Democrats sought to show the party’s shift toward a tougher immigration message on an issue considered to be one of their biggest political vulnerabilities.

Mr Suozzi added Ms Harris “joyfully accepts the challenge to work across party lines, to secure our border, to treat people like human beings”.

The Trump campaign has targeted Ms Harris for her role in the administration’s immigration policy, attacking her as a failed “border czar”. As vice-president, one of Ms Harris’s early diplomatic assignments was to address the economic conditions driving a surge of migrants from Central America to the US-Mexico border.

Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy, the lead Democratic negotiator who helped broker the measure that failed in Congress in February, said Ms Harris has been “tough as nails” on illegal immigration, pushing back on Republican accusations that she “opened the border” to unchecked migration.

“Kamala Harris knows we can be a nation of immigrants and immigration laws,” he added. “That’s why, when she’s president, she will bring that border bill back, and she’ll pass it.”

The senator pointedly blamed Trump for the country’s immigration problems.

“Trump killed that bill because he knew if we fixed the border, he’d lose his ability to divide us, his ability to fan the flames of fear about people who come from different places,” Mr Murphy said.

Mr Murphy’s comments were echoed by California Representative Pete Aguilar, the chairman of the House Democratic Caucus.

According to Mr Aguilar, voters need not “choose between a secure border and building an America for all”.

“Under President Harris, we can and will do both,” he added.

Later, Democrats played a video highlighting the stricter border policies outlined in the bill, which would have funded new border agents and technologies to combat fetanyl trafficking.

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On the floor of the DNC, some delegates suggested that immigration will be a secondary electoral issue for many voters more preoccupied with daily concerns – despite polling consistently showing it’s a top concern for many.

“Immigration is certainly an important issue,” said Julie Johnson, a Texas delegate, state representative and candidate for the House of Representatives in Washington.

“But other people’s immigration does not affect whether they can go see a doctor, afford a home or whether they have a good paying job.”

Others were more cautious.

Illinois Democratic Representative Jonathan Jackson – the son of famed civil rights activist Jesse Jackson – told the BBC that work remains to be done, and that he hoped Ms Harris would do more to immediately address the issue if she wins.

“We’re going to have to deal with these migrant issues,” said Mr Jackson, who argued that economically depressed communities of colour bear the brunt of any migrant influx. “People don’t like to leave their dwellings without clothes or water or cash. But if the conditions are unbearable, they have to leave.”

“I think she has to deal with (it on) day one,” he added.

On the streets of Chicago – a blue city which saw tens of thousands of migrant arrivals over the last two years – many residents said they were sympathetic to the migrants, even if some were concerned they were a strain on local resources.

“They [the government] provided food, they provided housing, provided clothing,” said Naaman Martin, an elderly Chicago resident who plans to vote for Harris. “But for the homeless, they claim they can’t do nothing”.

“It is what it is,” he added. “It is not a voting issue for me.”

Alexandra Willis, a 29-year-old store owner and Harris supporter, said she has a “lot of empathy” for migrants and wishes they had legal pathways to the country.

“They made it all the way here from another country,” she said. “They’re very talented. I’d hire them but legally I can’t.”

Immigrants have expressed frustration that their difficult journeys to the US have become a political lightning rod.

As the DNC unfolded this week, several dozen, predominantly Venezuelan migrants gathered at a shelter just a few miles away, waiting for volunteers to distribute donated snacks as politicians nearby discussed policies that could eventually determine their fate.

While the migrants currently housed there are only vaguely aware of the ongoing convention, they are very familiar with immigration, the border and conceptions of “migrant crime” playing a prominent role in the US political debate.

Yelitza, a Venezuelan mother of four who fled her country after another son of hers was killed while participating in a protest march, said she feels that migrants are unfairly demonised by politicians, who don’t understand the reasons that many left their countries to undertake an extremely perilous journey to the US.

“The trip was extremely hard. The jungle. Criminals in Mexico. Cartel members wanted to rape my niece. I did the trip with four little kids,” she said.

“We’re not here because we like it, or because I want to. Everyone needs to understand that,” she added. “My country is in a disastrous situation. We only came here to give our children a future.”

An undelivered postcard has finally reached its intended destination – about 121 years after it was first popped off in the post.

The Christmas-themed card was delivered to Swansea Building Society’s Cradock Street branch last week even though it was originally sent in 1903 – so only just over a century too late.

Staff say they hope to find relatives of a Miss Lydia Davies, who previously lived at the address and who the card was addressed to, to reunite them with it.

The Royal Mail said it is likely the postcard was “put back into” their system, rather than “being lost in the post for over a century”.

The postcard is written by a man called Ewart, who, addressing “L”, says he is “so sorry” that he cannot pick up a “pair” of an unknown item.

“I am so sorry, but I hope you are enjoying yourself at home,” he adds.

Ewart goes on to say that he has about 10 shillings “in pocket money, not counting the train fare, so I am doing alright”.

He ends the note by urging Lydia to “remember to meet Gilbert and John”, signing it off with “love to all”.

Henry Darby, marketing and communications officer for Swansea Building Society, said he was sorting through the post when the postcard dropped out, and that he had found limited information about the intended recipient online.

“So we thought we’d pop it on our social media and thought maybe someone locally may be connected to her, a few generations down,” he said.

Andrew Dully, from West Glamorgan Archives, has established that a John F Davies was the head of the household at the address, where he lived with his wife, Maria, and six children.

“The oldest of them was Lydia. She would have been 16 when this postcard was sent,” he said.

A spokesperson for the Royal Mail said: “It is likely that this postcard was put back into our system rather than being lost in the post for over a century.

“When an item is in our system, we are under obligation to deliver it to the correct address.”

Controversial influencer Andrew Tate has been remanded in custody overnight as part of an investigation into new allegations against him.

He and his brother Tristan were taken in for questioning by Romania’s serious crime agency, DIICOT, as police searched their home.

The internet personality was already awaiting trial for rape and human trafficking, but could potentially now face additional charges of sex with, and trafficking in, underage persons, as well as money-laundering and attempting to influence witnesses, prosecutors say.

Andrew and Tristan Tate, who have a massive following on social media, have denied all previous charges against them.

They were first detained in Romania in December 2022, then released from house arrest in August 2023.

According to a statement from DIICOT earlier in the day, four houses were searched on Wednesday morning in the capital, Bucharest, and in Ilfov county.

The brothers were then driven to DIICOT in Bucharest for questioning – and afterwards taken into custody in handcuffs and under armed guard.

They have been remanded in custody for 24 hours.

According to the brothers’ lawyer, they are being kept until prosecutors can ask a judge either to detain them for longer, move to house arrest or release them.

Asked by the BBC what he had to say about the new allegations, Andrew Tate shouted over his shoulder that the prosecutors were “desperate”.

“Wait ’til you see,” he said. “They say I have lover-boyed the mother of my children. We tricked them into having kids.

“Ask them this time what the evidence [is].”

He described the file as being “more pathetic than the first”.

Earlier on Wednesday, the brothers were met by a small crowd of reporters and supporters as they arrived at the DIICOT building in police vans.

As Andrew Tate entered the building he greeted a local blogger who asked why he was back at DIICOT. Grinning, Tate replied that he “didn’t know”, before shouting through the closing door that he was in his “favourite place”.

Two police officers, who both had their faces covered by balaclavas, were seen carrying heavy sacks into the same building – presumably with items taken during a search of the brothers’ home and other properties.

Asked to comment on the latest developments, their lawyer – Eugen Vidineac – said the latest allegations were not yet clear, as he hadn’t yet seen the file.

He said he didn’t yet know “what we’re dealing with”.

Officers at DIICOT have 24 hours to question the brothers. After that, if they want to remand them in custody, they would have to bring them before a judge.

The lawyer said he did not expect the brothers to be detained because their movements are already restricted as they await trial for other charges, including forming and organised crime group and human trafficking.

In an apparent response to the raid, Andrew Tate posted on X (formerly Twitter): “The Matrix is real. And they have a tried and true playbook.

“Slander is their number one tool and the process is the punishment. But unfortunately for them, Good always wins in the end.”

Andrew Tate is a self-described misogynist and was previously banned from social media platforms for expressing misogynistic views.

He has repeatedly claimed Romanian prosecutors have no evidence against him and there is a conspiracy to silence him.

The Tate brothers, former kickboxers who are dual UK-US nationals, are accused of exploiting women via an adult content business, which prosecutors allege operated as a criminal group.

Two female Romanian associates were also named alongside the brothers in an indictment published in June last year, and seven alleged victims were identified.

The internet personalities are also wanted in the UK in connection with separate and unrelated sexual offences allegedly committed there.

US TV host Oprah Winfrey has made a surprise, unannounced appearance at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

Oprah fired up the crowd in a speech on night three of the nomination convention for Kamala Harris and her running mate Tim Walz.

“When a house is on fire, we don’t ask about the homeowner’s race or religion. We don’t wonder who their partner is or how they voted,” she said.

“No, we just try to do the best we can to save them. And if the place happens to belong to a childless cat lady, well, we try to get that cat out, too.”

The comment is a reference to Trump’s running mate, JD Vance, who made a now-famous comment about childless women.

In 2021, Senator Vance said in an interview that the US was governed by “a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they’ve made and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable, too.”

Oprah, whose production company is based in Chicago, does not have any children.

“Sweet promise of tomorrow, we’re not going back,” Oprah told delegates, leading to chants of “not going back”.

Tracy Prince and Kathy Sykes jumped out of their seats when they saw Oprah, who was born in their home state of Mississippi, take to the stage.

“We love Oprah so much,” Mrs Sykes told BBC News. “Everyone in Mississippi is so proud that she claims us.”

She said Oprah’s speech was a “powerful message” to independent voters in particular to vote for Ms Harris.

“She gave very good reasons why – to choose common sense over nonsense,” Mrs Sykes said from the convention hall.

Wednesday night also included cameos from several entertainment celebrities including Stevie Wonder, Mindy Kaling and Kenan Thompson.

The Democratic Party is calling upon its famous members to help get eyes on this convention, hoping their presence will get voters to pay attention – and then maybe cast a vote for Kamala Harris in November.

It’s a common tactic in US politics. The Republican National Convention last month featured appearances from rock musician Kid Rock and wrestler Hulk Hogan.

In August 2021, the world watched desperate scenes of multitudes fleeing Afghanistan as the Taliban swept into the capital, Kabul.

Having regrouped in the decades after being driven out by the invasion that followed the 11 September attacks, and emboldened by the agreed withdrawal of the remaining US forces, the Taliban deposed the elected government.

But while thousands left, some had been trying to get into the country – including Ibrahim Nash’at, an Egyptian journalist and film-maker based in Germany.

After much persistence, Nash’at succeeded in getting permission to stay in Afghanistan for up to a year to film primarily with the country’s then newly appointed Commander of the Air Force, Malawi Mansour, along with a young Talib lieutenant, MJ Mukhtar, who in the film dreams of joining the air force and longs to avenge himself against the Americans.

Now, three years on from the Taliban’s return to power, the result is the documentary Hollywoodgate, named after the abandoned CIA military base where much of the filming took place.

But in seeking to tell the tale of the country’s new era, Nash’at found himself in an uncomfortable and often fraught position with a new government that had become known for execution and repression during its first stint in power.

“That little devil is filming,” an unknown Taliban military figure comments to Mukhtar in Nash’at’s presence. “I hope he doesn’t bring us shame in front of China.”

On another occasion, Mansour says casually in front of Nash’at that “if his intentions are bad, he will die soon.”

Asked about it, Nash’at says: “I actually didn’t understand what they were saying at the time. I’d asked the translator not to tell me bad things they said about me. I didn’t want to freak out.”

Although frequently told to stop filming, he acquired more than enough footage for this fly-on-the-wall style story, where audiences see the vestiges of American troop life such as treadmills (Mansour asks in the film for one to be sent to his house), signs for unisex toilets and a fridge containing alcohol, but also some of the $7bn (£5.4bn) stockpile of weapons that the US confirmed later it had left behind, including around 73 aircraft and 100 military vehicles.

“These monsters spent their last days here destroying everything,” says one of them about the Americans, as Mansour and his team inspect the former CIA base for the first time by torchlight.

The US military command said at the time that military equipment had been rendered “impossible” to use again, although Nash’at films some aircraft repairs being carried out and the documentary features scenes where his officials assure Mansour that some are fixed and ready to be tested in the air.

Nash’at tells BBC News he was “shocked” to discover all that had been left behind.

“When I first saw the word ‘Hollywoodgate’ on the base from the road, that was it for me,” he says.

“I thought I would make a movie about this crazy space that was American, and then it’s occupied by the Taliban Air Force. I thought it might be about how they sleep in American beds, but it’s become much more about the weapons.”

“It’s unbelievable these things even exist,” he continues. “It’s really a question for the American authorities, why did they leave all of this behind? How many more warehouses did they leave full? And right until the end of my filming, I never thought they [the Taliban] would be able to fix them.”

However, later scenes of the film, filmed one year later in August 2022, show a military parade at Bagram Air Base in front of the Afghan prime minister and minister of defence, with much of the US weaponry on triumphant display, as they host diplomatic visitors from countries including Russia, China, Pakistan and Iran. Mansour orders a flypast of several aircraft.

US media networks have since reported that weapons left behind in Afghanistan have surfaced in other conflicts around the world.

“The movie really shows the transformation of the Taliban from being a militia into a military regime,” the director claims.

Nash’at didn’t get to film anything after that parade, he says, because immediately afterwards the film-maker felt he had to flee, as he was told to report to intelligence officials and have his footage inspected. He went to Kabul airport instead.

“They said to me, ‘Hey, come to our office tomorrow with all your material, we want to check it,’” he recalls. “For me, this was a huge alert. So I left Afghanistan at once.”

“I know from these kinds of regimes the moment you go down that road, it’s going to be a downward spiral, it’s never going to be something good,” he says.

Nash’at explains that he went into the country as most others were trying to leave, “because as a journalist, I learned when something is no longer the hot story, no-one cares about it any more. I wanted to go in and do the opposite.”

What ultimately got him access, he adds, was that in during his career, he had “filmed with world leaders, and they [the Taliban] saw images of me with presidents”. And the film comes with a prestigious pedigree, as it is co-produced by Canadian Odessa Rae, also behind the Oscar-winning documentary Navalny.

Nash’at argues that “for me, the name Hollywoodgate is a representation of what this movie is about. It’s a film about the Taliban trying to show that they understand propaganda.

“It’s also about the Hollywood stories that we’ve been told about this kind of military world. It has so many layers for me, I feel that it’s a scandal sponsored by Hollywood itself. It functions like a Greek theatre where the failure of the US-led occupation of Afghanistan is played out.”

Nash’at’s filming was restricted according to the orders of the Taliban commanders he filmed with. The New York Times review of the film calls it a “frustrating documentary” as a result.

“There is no question that the director… faced tremendous danger in shooting… but the risks required to make this documentary also highlight its limitations,” it says.

However, the Guardian’s review of the film points out: “If his finished film is light on probing interviews and rigorous analysis, there’s an obvious reason: his subjects all hate him.”

Ibrahim is philosophical about this. “I think with these kinds of situations, when you take such a risk, know that there’s risk involved, then you’ll live the rest of your life knowing that there’s a risk involved. And it’s something I’ve come to accept.”

He also emphasises that his voiceover at the start of the movie tells the audience that the Taliban wanted the audience to see some of the images he filmed.

“I ask the audience, despite that, ‘may I show you what I saw?’” he says. “My job as a filmmaker is to raise questions and hope the spectators will pick up these questions and try to find answers for them. My goal is that we can see through the ways they present themselves and understand the truth of their ambitions for control—of women, of their countrymen, of their larger geo-political region.”

Ordinary Afghans are usually portrayed in the film observed from a car or truck. There are no women in this film at all – just a couple filmed in passing.

One particularly poignant image is of a woman dressed in a burka, sitting in an icy road. Other women, shapes in burkas, sit outside a shop. It looks like, but it’s not clear, whether they are begging.

In the three years since the Taliban took control in Afghanistan restrictions on women’s lives have increased: girls have been excluded from secondary schools, prevented from sitting most university entrance exams and women restricted in the work they can do, with beauty salons being closed, as well as being stopped from going to parks, gyms and sport clubs. Mansour talks about how his wife was a doctor before their marriage, but that he made her give it up.

The UN estimates that more than two-thirds of the country does not have enough food, and that the situation has got worse because of the economic sanctions on women.

“It’s painful to watch these images and know this is the reality. It’s very ugly. What’s happening there, it’s just painful,” Nash’at says.

“When I left, I was haunted by the futility of the material I had, thinking I might not be able to convey the pain of the Afghan people.

“Even if I was with the Taliban, I can see in people’s eyes the fear they have, the sadness, the tiredness. The poverty levels are on a scale I’ve never seen in any other country, and I’ve travelled a lot. It’s really sad that this country is where it is today and that nobody really cares about what’s happening to it.”

“I did choose to go to Afghanistan. I did choose to make this from Afghanistan,” he admits.

“All of the suffering that I’ve gone through in making the film, this is nothing compared to the daily suffering of the Afghans.”

Sphen the gentoo penguin – one half of a world-famous same-sex “power couple” – has died in Australia, aged 11.

He and his partner Magic shot to global stardom in 2018 when they fell in love at the Sea Life Sydney Aquarium, later adopting and raising two chicks.

Their romance has inspired a Mardi Gras float, been referenced in Australia’s education syllabus, and even featured in the Netflix series Atypical.

The Sea Life Sydney Aquarium said Sphen had an “immeasurable” impact around the world as a symbol of equality and a conduit for the conservation cause.

The penguin’s health had deteriorated in the days leading up to his death, and the aquarium’s veterinary team made the difficult decision earlier this month to euthanise Sphen to end his pain and discomfort.

An investigation into the cause of his decline is underway.

“The loss of Sphen is heartbreaking to the penguin colony, the team, and everyone who has been inspired or positively impacted by Sphen and Magic’s story,” the aquarium’s general manager Richard Dilly said in a statement.

“We want to take this opportunity to reflect and celebrate Sphen’s life, remembering what an icon he was.”

A sub-Antarctic species, gentoo penguins on average live between 12 and 13 years and are famously romantic monogamists.

Magic, 8, has been taken to see Sphen’s body to help the penguin understand his partner will not return.

He immediately started singing, the aquarium said, which was reciprocated by the broader penguin colony.

“The team’s focus is now on Magic, who will soon prepare for his first breeding season without Sphen,” Mr Dilly said.

Sphen is also survived by Sphengic – known as Lara – and Clancy, the couple’s two fostered chicks.

Magic and Sphen had been together for six years. Staff first noticed an attraction between them when they saw them bowing to each other – a gentoo way of flirting.

Members of the public have paid tribute to Sphen in a condolence message board on the aquarium’s website.

“Sphen and Magic were equality icons. My heart breaks for the keepers and the whole Sea Life Sydney team,” wrote long-time fan Mark.

“You taught the world so much. We will never forget you, Habibi,” another user named Rach added, using an Arabic term of affection.

US prosecutors have filed criminal charges against a Chinese dissident living in the US, accusing him of being an agent of Beijing’s intelligence service.

Yuanjun Tang, 67, was arrested on Wednesday in the New York City, the US department of justice (DOJ) said in a statement.

He is alleged to have spied on US-based Chinese democracy activists and dissidents.

Mr Tang, now a naturalised US citizen, is also accused of making false statements to the FBI.

The BBC could not immediately identify a lawyer for Mr Tang.

In Wednesday’s statement, the DOJ said Mr Tang “was charged by criminal complaint with acting and conspiring to act in the United States as an unregistered agent of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and making materially false statements to the FBI”.

It also alleged that between 2018 and 2023 he acted as China’s agent on the orders of the country’s ministry of state security (MSS) – China’s principal civilian intelligence agency.

Mr Tang is accused of regularly receiving instructions via email, encrypted chats and other means of communications from the agency.

It is also alleged that he “regularly received instructions from and reported to an MSS intelligence officer regarding individuals and groups viewed by the PRC as potentially adverse to the PRC’s interests, including prominent US-based Chinese democracy activists and dissidents.”

“He also travelled at least three times for face-to-face meetings with MSS intelligence officers and helped the MSS infiltrate a group chat on an encrypted messaging application used by numerous PRC dissidents and pro-democracy activists to communicate about pro-democracy issues and express criticism of the PRC government,” the DOJ alleges.

He apparently agreed to work for China’s intelligence agency in a bid to see his family living in mainland China, according to CBS, the BBC’s US news partner, which cites US prosecutors.

According to court documents, Mr Tang was imprisoned in China for opposing the Chinese government.

He protested against the Chinese Communist Party during the 1989 Tiananmen Square demonstrations, CBS reports.

In about 2002, he managed to defect to Taiwan, and was later granted political asylum in the US, the DOJ said.

The rape and murder of a trainee doctor in India’s Kolkata city earlier this month has sparked massive outrage in the country, with tens of thousands of people protesting on the streets, demanding justice. BBC Hindi spoke to the doctor’s parents who remember their daughter as a clever, young woman who wanted to lead a good life and take care of her family.

“Please make sure dad takes his medicines on time. Don’t worry about me.”

This was the last thing the 31-year-old doctor said to her mother, hours before she was brutally assaulted in a hospital where she worked.

“The next day, we tried reaching her but the phone kept ringing,” the mother told the BBC at their family home in a narrow alley, a few kilometres from Kolkata.

The same morning, the doctor’s partially-clothed body was discovered in the seminar hall, bearing extensive injuries. A hospital volunteer worker has been arrested in connection with the crime.

The incident has sparked massive outrage across the country, with protests in several major cities. At the weekend, doctors across hospitals in India observed a nation-wide strike called by the Indian Medical Association (IMA), with only emergency services available at major hospitals.

The family say they feel hollowed out by their loss.

“At the age of 62, all my dreams have been shattered,” her father told the BBC.

Since their daughter’s horrific murder, their house, located in a respectable neighbourhood, has become the focus of intense media scrutiny.

Behind a police barricade stand dozens of journalists and camera crew, hoping to capture the parents in case they step out.

A group of 10 to 15 police officers perpetually stand guard to ensure the cameras do not take photos of the victim’s house.

The crime took place on the night of 9 August, when the woman, who was a junior doctor at the city’s RG Kar Medical College, had gone to a seminar room to rest after a gruelling 36-hour shift.

Her parents remembered how the young doctor, their only child, was a passionate student who worked extremely hard to become a doctor.

“We come from a lower middle-class background and built everything on our own. When she was little, we struggled financially,” said the father, who is a tailor.

The living room where he sat was cluttered with tools from his profession – a sewing machine, spools of thread and a heavy iron. There were scraps of fabrics scattered on the floor.

There were times when the family did not have money to even buy pomegranates, their daughter’s favourite fruit, he continued.

“But she could never bring herself to ask for anything for herself.”

“People would say, ‘You can’t make your daughter a doctor’. But my daughter proved everyone wrong and got admission in a government-run medical college,” he added, breaking down. A relative tried to console him.

The mother recalled how her daughter would write in her diary every night before going to bed.

“She wrote that she wanted to win a gold medal for her medical degree. She wanted to lead a good life and take care of us too,” she said softly.

And she did.

The father, who is a high blood-pressure patient, said their daughter always made sure he took his medicines on time.

“Once I ran out of medicine and thought I’d just buy it the next day. But she found out, and even though it was around 10 or 11pm at night, she said no-one will eat until the medicine is here,” he said.

“That’s how she was – she never let me worry about anything.”

Her mother listened intently, her hands repeatedly touching a gold bangle on her wrist – a bangle she had bought with her daughter.

The parents said their daughter’s marriage had almost been finalised. “But she would tell us not to worry and say she would continue to take care of all our expenses even after marriage,” the father said.

As he spoke those words, the mother began to weep, her soft sobs echoing in the background.

Occasionally, her eyes would wander to the staircase, leading up to their daughter’s room.

The door has remained shut since 10 August and the parents have not set foot there since the news of her death.

They say they still can’t believe that something “so barbaric” could happen to their daughter at her workplace.

“The hospital should be a safe place,” the father said.

Violence against women is a major issue in India – an average of 90 rapes a day were reported in 2022, according to government data.

The parents said their daughter’s death had brought back memories of a 2012 case when a 22-year-old physiotherapy intern was gang-raped on a moving bus in capital Delhi. Her injuries were fatal.

Following the assault – which made global headlines and led to weeks of protests – India tightened laws against sexual violence.

But reported cases of sexual assault have gone up and access to justice still remains a challenge for women.

Last week, thousands participated in a Reclaim the Night march held in Kolkata to demand safety for women across the country.

The doctor’s case has also put a spotlight on challenges faced by healthcare workers, who have demanded a thorough and impartial investigation into the murder and a federal law to protect them – especially women – at work.

Federal Health Minister JP Nadda has assured doctors that he will bring in strict measures to ensure better safety in their professional environments.

But for the parents of the doctor, it’s too little too late.

“We want the harshest punishment for the culprit,” the father said.

“Our state, our country and the whole world is asking for justice for our daughter.”