X, formerly Twitter, has been banned in Brazil after failing to meet a deadline set by a Supreme Court judge to name a new legal representative in the country.

Alexandre de Moraes ordered the “immediate and complete suspension” of the social media platform until it complies with all court orders and pays existing fines.

The row began in April, with the judge ordering the suspension of dozens of X accounts for allegedly spreading disinformation.

Reacting to the decision, X owner Elon Musk said: “Free speech is the bedrock of democracy and an unelected pseudo-judge in Brazil is destroying it for political purposes.”

It is the latest in a series of rows involving Mr Musk – he has clashed with the with EU over the regulation of X and earlier this month became embroiled in a war of words with UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer.

The head of Brazil’s telecommunications agency, which has been tasked with suspending the platform, said he is “proceeding with the compliance” to do so, according to Reuters news agency.

The platform is expected to be unavailable in the country within the next 24 hours.

Justice Moraes has given companies such as Apple and Google a five-day deadline to remove X from its application stores and block its use on iOS and Android systems.

He added that people or businesses using means such as VPNs (virtual private network) to access the platform could be fined R$50,000 (£6.7k).

According to the judge’s order, a ban will be in effect until X names a new legal representative in the country and pays fines for violating Brazilian law.

In a previous post from one of its official accounts, X had said it would not comply with the demands.

“Soon, we expect Judge Alexandre de Moraes will order X to be shut down in Brazil – simply because we would not comply with his illegal orders to censor his political opponents,” the post said.

“The fundamental issue at stake here is that Judge de Moraes demands we break Brazil’s own laws. We simply won’t do that.”

Justice Moraes had ordered that X accounts accused of spreading disinformation – many supporters of the former right-wing president Jair Bolsonaro – must be blocked while they are under investigation.

He said the company’s legal representatives would be held liable if any accounts were reactivated.

Meanwhile, the bank accounts of Mr Musk’s satellite internet firm Starlink have been frozen in Brazil following an earlier order by the country’s Supreme Court.

Starlink responded with a post on X which said the “order is based on an unfounded determination that Starlink should be responsible for the fines levied – unconstitutionally – against X.”

Mr Musk also said on X that “SpaceX and X are two completely different companies with different shareholders.”

Starlink is a subsidiary of Mr Musk’s rocket firm SpaceX.

In 2022, the government of then-President Bolsonaro gave Starlink the green light to operate in Brazil.

As South America’s largest country, Brazil and its remote regions in the Amazon have huge potential for Starlink, which specialises in providing internet services to isolated areas.

Justice Moraes gained prominence after his decisions to restrict social media platforms in the country.

He is also investigating Mr Bolsonaro and his supporters for their roles in an alleged attempted coup on 8 January last year.

X is not the first social media company to come under pressure from authorities in Brazil.

Last year, Telegram was temporarily banned over its failure to cooperate with requests to block certain profiles.

Meta’s messaging service Whatsapp also faced temporary bans in 2015 and 2016 for refusing to comply with police requests for user data.

A 14-year-old girl has been killed after a Russian guided bomb strike on the north-eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv hit a playground, local officials say.

At least six other people were killed and 59 injured as a 12-storey residential building was also hit in the city near the Russian border.

Pictures showed flames and thick black smoke coming from the upper part of the building as firefighters carried people to safety.

President Volodymyr Zelensky renewed his calls for all Ukraine’s international partners to allow it to hit targets inside Russia in order to prevent such attacks. His office said Moscow’s forces had fired more than 400 drones and missiles at Ukraine over the past week.

The attack came just hours before Mr Zelensky dismissed the head of his air force, Lt Gen Mykola Oleshchuk.

Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, sits around 35km (22 miles) from the Russian border and has been the target of frequent attacks since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Regional head Oleh Sinehubov said on Telegram that at least 59 people – including nine children – had been wounded, with 20 in a serious condition and some requiring amputations. Nine children were also injured in the strikes, he said.

Further photos showed part of the building’s outer wall collapsed and numerous cars outside it on fire.

Mr Sinehubov said the strikes had been launched from Russia’s Belgorod region, which sits just across the border.

“Let’s say unequivocally that there were guidance systems [on the missiles]. We draw one conclusion,” he said.

“These streets are exclusively parks with large gatherings of civilians. This is a residential building. This is, again, mass terror against our civilian population.”

Mr Zelensky said Russia had targeted “ordinary” people and the strikes could have been prevented if Ukraine “had the capability to destroy Russian military aircraft at their bases”.

“This is an absolutely legitimate need. There is no rational reason to limit Ukraine’s defence,” he said.

Ukraine’s Western allies have partly withheld permission for it to use their weapons to strike Russian territory for fear of escalating the conflict.

The UK has allowed much of the equipment it has supplied to be used to hit Russia, though maintains an exception for long-range Storm Shadow missiles.

In May, the US allowed Ukraine to hit targets inside Russia, but only near the Kharkiv region and only to “hit back at Russian forces hitting them or preparing to hit them”.

It continues to refuse permission for strikes deeper into Russian territory.

“We need long-range capabilities and the full implementation of air defence agreements for Ukraine. These are life-saving measures,” Mr Zelensky said.

Responding to Friday’s attacks, the US ambassador to Ukraine, Bridget Brink, said: “Our thoughts are with the people of Kharkiv as rescue operations are under way.

“Russia must be held accountable for these war crimes.”

Earlier this week, numerous sources told the BBC that Western technology and finance was helping Ukraine carry out hundreds of long-range strikes in Russia using Ukrainian-produced drones.

The targets included air force bases, oil and ammunition depots and command centres.

Elsewhere, Russian officials said five people were killed by Ukrainian strikes in the western Belgorod region.

Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said a further 37 civilians were wounded in the strikes, which he said were caused by the use of “cluster munitions” by Ukrainian forces.

An extensive search for an Indian woman who disappeared into a pavement sinkhole in Kuala Lumpur hit a snag on its eighth day, as authorities now say it is “too risky” to continue deploying divers.

The incident has gripped Malaysia, with some 110 rescuers working around the clock this past week in search of Vijaya Lakshmi Gali, 48.

But apart from a pair of slippers found in an initial 17-hour search, their efforts have been unsuccessful.

Two divers who entered via a sewer network at 04:00 local time on Friday (21:00 GMT Thursday) were confronted with strong water currents and hard debris, the Fire and Rescue Department said.

The pair, comprising a firefighter and a sewer worker, also had to “lie flat” as the space was narrow, according to the department’s director-general Nor Hisham Mohammad.

“It was found to be impossible, extremely difficult, to break the solidified [debris] which are like concrete blocks,” he told reporters on Friday.

“Even [when we tried] pulling at them with ropes using up to eight people, [it] was unsuccessful.”

Divers who earlier descended into the sewer in full scuba gear said they had to fight zero visibility and heavy rain.

“When going down into the hole… it was really scary, but this is indeed the duty of a firefighter; we have to overcome the fear and surrender to God,” firefighter Alimaddia Bukri told local newspaper Simar Harian earlier this week.

“It is pitch black in that pipe,” another diver told The Straits Times on Wednesday.

“You don’t want to know what’s in there. It’s full of human waste and other garbage. We decontaminate immediately after each dive.”

Ms Gali, who was visiting from India’s Andhra Pradesh state, was reportedly heading towards a nearby temple with her family when she was swallowed by the 8m (26ft) deep sinkhole on the street of Jalan Masjid India.

Excavators were deployed shortly after the incident to dig up the area around the sinkhole, while rescuers used sniffer dogs and crawler cameras – robotic cameras used to inspect pipes – to get a better sense of what was happening underground.

They have also tried to break apart hardened debris using high-pressure water jets, iron hooks and rope.

On Tuesday, officials wheeled a ground-penetrating radar device onto the site, to help them pinpoint changes in material density underground.

The next day, a second sinkhole appeared just 50m from the first one. A Malaysian geologist, speaking to local newspaper Malaysiakini, attributed it to the ongoing search and rescue operation.

Search efforts in the last few days have focused on clearing a 15m blockage in the sewer lines below Wisma Yakin, an office building about 44m from the first sinkhole.

Reports said the blockage was made of human waste, tyres, hair and solidified used cooking oil, among other things.

Some parts of Jalan Masjid India have been cordoned off as the search continues.

The area, normally popular with tourists, has become unusually quiet in the last few days. Traders have experienced a 50% to 70% drop in sales, with some considering closures to cut their losses, according to local reports.

The Malaysian government has extended the visas for Ms Gali’s family for a month while they await news of her whereabouts. They were due to return to India last Saturday.

Kuala Lumpur’s City Hall has also cancelled National Day celebrations out of respect for the family.

The incident has sparked fear and anger among Malaysians, many of whom are questioning what might have caused the sinkhole.

Authorities said they would carry out an “integrity audit” to determine the cause. An official from the Minerals and Geosciences Department said initial observations suggested it could have been due to a combination of human activities and climate change.

The US says its military forces in Iraq have killed 15 Islamic State (IS) “operatives” in a joint operation with Iraqi Security Forces that targeted the militant group’s leadership.

US Central Command said that it had performed the joint operation early on Thursday.

American and Iraqi troops were met by IS members equipped with “numerous weapons, grenades and explosive ‘suicide’ belts”, according to the US military command group that is focused on the Middle East and South Asia.

“There is no indication of civilian casualties,” it said in a statement. It is unclear whether the US or Iraqi service members suffered any casualties, however.

The Iraqi military said in an earlier statement that “airstrikes targeted the hideouts, followed by an airborne operation” in the country’s “desert and caves”.

“All hideouts, weapons, and logistical support were destroyed, explosive belts were safely detonated and important documents, identification papers and communication devices were seized.”

The White House National Security Council and the Pentagon referred the BBC to US Central Command for comment.

US Central Command said that it had targeted members of IS leadership in an effort to “disrupt and degrade” the group’s ability to plan, organise and attack Americans, Iraqis and allies within and outside the region.

There are approximately 2,500 US troops currently in Iraq, though they remain there in an “advise and assist” capacity since the US military announced the end of its combat effort in the country in December 2021.

Iraq announced on 15 August that it would postpone a planned end-date for the US military operations in the country.

Thursday’s operation follows a recent attack in Germany and a plot in Austria that are being investigated for their links to IS.

Authorities said that the suspect behind the planned attack on a Taylor Swift concert in Vienna – a 19-year-old Austrian citizen – had pleged allegiance to the Islamic State before targeting the singer’s Eras tour.

Intelligence provided by the CIA to Austrian authorities allowed them to disrupt the plot and save “hundreds of lives” , the agency’s deputy director David Cohen said on Wednesday.

It also follows an attack in Solingen, Germany, in which three people died and eight others were wounded.

The attack has caused outrage in Germany ahead of state elections, and the murder suspect – Issa Al H, 26 – is being investigated for his links to IS.

Earlier this summer, the militant group took some responsibility for a rare shooting attack near a Shia Muslim mosque in Oman’s capital, Muscat. Six people – including a policeman – were killed and 28 others injured.

The Islamic State once had a strong foothold in Iraq and Syria, but a US-led coalition of more than 70 countries largely drove them out from the physical caliphate they had created there.

The BBC’s Frank Gardner reported in June that intelligence-sharing between police forces and security agencies had largely quelled IS’s co-ordinated attacks in European cities.

But the jihadist propaganda it continues to produce online still has the ability to motivate extremists who are radicalised by it, he reported.

A senior Whitehall official in London described the status of the group as “down but not out”.

During a pivotal debate in the 2020 US presidential election, one candidate seemed to dominate the stage. They interrupted their rivals at strategic moments, sometimes speaking over them.

They directly confronted an opponent, Joe Biden, generating headlines for days and had critics questioning whether they had breached some sort of unspoken political decorum.

That candidate, however, wasn’t Donald Trump. It was Kamala Harris.

On 10 September, Ms Harris will once again take to the debate stage. But this time, having gone one step further than 2020 by becoming the Democratic candidate for president, she will face Trump in a showdown that poses the toughest challenge of her campaign so far.

Debates have played a major role in Ms Harris’s political career, from her run for California attorney general to her ascent to the vice-presidency. In watching four of her key debates back, it is clear that Ms Harris knows when to seize the spotlight, but also when to stand by as a rival administers a self-inflicted blow.

Ms Harris will be hoping to utilise these instincts against the notoriously combative Trump. Her campaign will also want to dispel longstanding concerns about her political messaging skills that began with her failed run for the White House in 2020, and were only heightened by her fumbling some interviews in recent years.

There is no room for error given how these events are defined by viral clips, so it is just as important for the Harris campaign that she avoids stumbling as it is for her to land a highlight-reel blow.

“She needs to hold her own,” said Aimee Allison, founder of She The People, an organisation that supports women of colour in politics. “And she needs to communicate on the debate stage what she’s fighting for.”

In her earliest debate appearances, Ms Harris found success by letting her opponents dismantle themselves.

In a 2010 debate for the position of California attorney general, moderators asked Ms Harris and her Republican opponent Steve Cooley about a controversial practice known as double-dipping, which allows a public official to draw from their government salary as well as a pension.

“Do you plan to double-dip by taking both a pension and your salary as attorney general?” a moderator asked the candidates.

“Yes, I do,” Mr Cooley replied. “I earned it.”

For a while, Ms Harris said nothing as he defended his position.

“Go for it, Steve,” she eventually retorted. “You earned it!”

Ms Harris’s campaign swifty cut the moment into an advertisement they used to hammer Mr Cooley as out of touch. She won the election by a razor-thin margin.

And during a 2016 debate for a California US Senate seat, Ms Harris’s opponent inexplicably punctuated her closing statement with a dab – a dance move that was popular at the time.

Ms Harris, who looked taken aback, waited a few beats before quipping: “So, there’s a clear difference between the candidates in this race.”

Voters again backed Ms Harris.

Both examples demonstrate Ms Harris’s eye for opportunity on the debate stage, as well as a sense for knowing when it is best to step back. “I think she is someone who uses silence incredibly well,” said Maya Rupert, a Democratic strategist who worked on Julián Castro and Elizabeth Warren’s 2020 presidential campaigns.

As she entered the national stage, Ms Harris proved adept at claiming the floor for herself, even amid a crowded field. One of her tried-and-tested tactics involves openly declaring her intention to speak, compelling her opponents – and the audience – to listen.

The 2020 vice-presidential debate is remembered primarily for one line she directed at Mike Pence as he began to interrupt: “Mr Vice-President, I’m speaking.”

And just weeks ago – illustrating that the riposte was more than a one-off – Ms Harris used the same line on Gaza protesters who interrupted her rally in Detroit. “I’m speaking now,” she told them. “If you want Donald Trump to win, then say that. Otherwise, I’m speaking.”

“She’s using something that a lot of black women have used effectively, which is to insist on their time, and to insist to be heard,” said Ms Allison. “She’s very effective in making sure that she is heard, and respected.”

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But perhaps her most memorable debate moment came in 2019, when Ms Harris, then a US senator, stopped all crosstalk during the Democratic primary debate in Miami to challenge Mr Biden over his past position on a policy known as bussing.

She criticised Mr Biden for working with lawmakers who opposed the Civil Rights Era policy of transporting students to schools in different neighbourhoods in an effort to address racial segregation.

“There was a little girl in California who was part of the second class to integrate her public schools, and she was bussed to school every day,” Ms Harris said.

She paused for effect before telling Mr Biden: “And that little girl was me.”

Nina Smith, who was the travelling press secretary for presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg at the time, said the moment made rival campaigns sit up and pay attention.

“What it showed us as a team is if she sees an opening she’s going to go after it,” Ms Smith recalled to the BBC. “I think it made her a rather skilled debater in that regard. It’s definitely something we watched out for, any sort of unexpected punch that could come from Senator Harris at the time.”

“It showed that prosecutorial ability… to really highlight weaknesses in her opponents,” she said.

By the end of the debate, Ms Harris had spoken more than any other candidate except Mr Biden. Her campaign announced it raised $2 million in 24 hours after the debate.

But despite the breakthrough moment and subsequent surge in the polls, Ms Harris later struggled to articulate her own position on bussing. It only served to underscore the concerns with her messaging and ability to articulate a consistent policy position.

The episode was one of many messaging stumbles Ms Harris made that ultimately sank her first presidential bid. Her failure to articulate a consistent policy agenda was one of the most common reasons cited, and it is an issue she needs to clarify quickly at the debate when she will almost certainly be pressed on policy specifics.

Republicans have circulated clips of Ms Harris’ public remarks for years to ridicule her speaking style and cast her as inept. She has used verbose phrases when speaking off the cuff, and while a few turns of phrase have been embraced by her supporters, opponents have often criticised her for a lack of clarity.

In a recent CNN interview, her first since becoming the nominee, she gave an answer on climate change which illustrated the issue. “It is an urgent matter to which we should apply metrics that include holding ourselves to deadlines around time,” Ms Harris said.

On a debate stage, however, speaking time is limited and clarity of message is crucial.

The looming debate on ABC News will be her biggest chance yet to reset public opinion, and past debates show that Ms Harris often brings a sharp toolkit to these events and is able to land blows.

But the pressure of those past debates will pale in comparison to the stakes when she comes face-to-face with Trump for the first time.

Even for the most experienced politicians, Trump presents a formidable challenge, the strategists agreed. In a 2016 debate against his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, he famously stalked her around the stage, drawing all attention to him even when it was her turn to answer.

His first 2020 presidential debate against Mr Biden devolved into an unintelligible melee when Trump kept interrupting. At one point, Mr Biden grew so irritated he snapped: “Will you shut up, man?”

“Donald Trump is a unique and special case in that you never really know what’s coming,” said Ms Smith, who has prepared Democratic candidates for debates. “During debate prep, I would not allow her to get comfortable, in order for her to develop some sort of instinct, or callousness, to anything that could come up.”

Ms Harris, a former prosecutor, is skilled at back-and-forth exchanges on the debate stage. It is something she has also demonstrated during heated Senate hearings when she has grilled Trump officials and Supreme Court nominees.

But the format of the upcoming ABC debate may limit her ability to flex her prosecutorial skills, as the microphones will reportedly be muted when it is the other person’s turn to speak.

This likely means, based on the Biden-Trump debate in June which had the same rules, that she will be fielding tricky questions from moderators as opposed to clashing with Trump.

And when Ms Harris is on the end of prosecutorial questions, as opposed to giving them, she has floundered in the past, such as in a notorious 2021 interview with NBC News’ Lester Holt in which she struggled when pressed on the issue of illegal immigration.

One pitfall that Ms Rupert could envision for the Harris camp is their candidate being drawn into a lengthy debate over facts with Trump. That could muddle the debate for voters, and leave viewers with an impression that he has dominated the conversation.

She suggested a third tactic for Ms Harris to add to her arsenal – not to prosecute, or remain silent, but to ignore.

“She has an important opportunity here to get her point across,” Ms Rupert said, “And not be overly burdened by what he is doing next to her.”

North America correspondent Anthony Zurcher makes sense of the race for the White House in his weekly US Election Unspun newsletter. Readers in the UK can sign up here. Those outside the UK can sign up here.

In a short time, Indian rapper Hanumankind has rapidly risen as a standout in the country’s burgeoning hip-hop scene. His track Big Dawgs not only topped global charts but also briefly outpaced Kendrick Lamar’s diss track Not Like Us. The BBC explores the rapper’s meteoric rise to fame.

In the video for Big Dawgs, 31-year-old Sooraj Cherukat, also known as Hanumankind, exudes boundless energy.

Shot inside a maut ka kuan (well of death) – a jaw-dropping show where drivers perform gravity-defying stunts inside a giant wooden barrel-like structure – he stomps around the pit as a group of motorists zip past him.

The song, a collaboration with producer Kalmi Reddy and director Bijoy Shetty, has earned over 132 million streams on Spotify and 83 million views on YouTube since its July release, catapulting Cherukat to global fame.

On the outside, Cherukat’s music follows the hip-hop template of delivering hard-edged stories of street life through explicit lyrics and raw prose.

But a closer inspection reveals a rapper, who uses his music to straddle his distinct identities.

Born in the southern Indian state of Kerala, Cherukat spent his childhood crisscrossing the world – mostly because of his father who works with a leading oil company – and has lived in France, Nigeria, Egypt and Dubai.

But he spent his formative years in Houston, Texas – and it was here that his musical career took shape.

Unlike the well-known East and West Coast rap rivalry in the US, Houston also has a distinctive hip-hop culture that stands out in its own right.

In Houston’s hip-hop scene, cough syrup is the drug of choice. Its dizzying effect led to the creation of the “screwed-up” remix, where tracks are slowed down to reflect the syrup’s influence.

Cherukat has often talked about how his music is an implicit nod to Texas hip-hop legends such as DJ Screw, UGK, Big Bunny and Project Pat, who he grew up listening to.

Although their influence is clear in his rap, his style evolved further after he returned to India in 2021 after dropping out of college.

He earned a business degree and worked at firms like Goldman Sachs before realising it wasn’t for him. That’s when he decided to pursue rapping full-time, a passion he had previously only pursued on the side.

Much like his personal life, Cherukat’s music also reflects his effort to shed his cosmopolitan identity and reconnect with his Indian roots.

His songs often boldly explore the struggles of southern Indian street life, blending hard-hitting vocal delivery with catchy rhythms. Occasionally, tabla beats and synthesisers complement his verses.

“We got issues in our nation cause there’s parties at war,” he sneers in a song called Genghis, which was shot in the lanes of Bengaluru, where he lives.

In Big Dawgs, Cherukat offers an alternative to the bling and opulence associated with mainstream rap by ditching flashy cars and choosing to focus on small city stuntmen, who come from poor families and are part of a dying art-form in India.

“These are the people that are the real risk-takers…Those are the big dogs, for real,” he told Complex website.

But even though the combative energy of his music has managed to turn heads, he has received criticism too.

Some feel his songs are less impactful for Indian listeners. Unlike many peers who rap in vernacular languages, Cherukat sings in English, which may limit his resonance with non-English-speaking audiences.

Others criticise him for mimicking Western artists too closely and adopting a tokenistic approach to his Indian identity.

“His song cast Indians and South Asians as serious players in the Western rap scene which is great,” said Abid Haque, a PhD student in New Jersey.

“But he sounds too much like an American rapper lifted out of context into the Indian scene. While the Big Dawgs music video relied on an Indian aesthetic, the lyrics and music feel divorced from an Indian reality,” he added.

It’s a duality that’s, arguably, also found in Cherukat’s own understanding of his work.

On one hand, returning to India has been a way of navigating his sense of belonging: “I think it really moulded me as someone who never really had a place to call home… and that kind of shaped the way I perceive music, people, and culture,” he told Complex.

But he also insists on viewing himself from a wider vantage: “I’m not an Indian rapper, but I’m a rapper from India,” he’s said in earlier interviews, explaining that he places himself outside of the country’s thriving hip-hop scene.

The rapper has faced a barrage of racist comments online for his unique style. Some international listeners struggle to accept that he is from India because he doesn’t “look or sound” like their expectations. Meanwhile, his Indian audience pillories him for the same reasons, wishing he conformed more to their image of Indian identity.

But it is this exact placelessness of his work that fans have come to love so much.

To them, he is a genre-hopping street poet who took the old hip hop traditions he grew up with and injected it with fresh social commentary.

“He isn’t trying to cater to an Indian audience, which shows in his music and he is unapologetic about it,” said Arnab Ghosh, a psychiatrist based in Delhi who recently discovered Hanumankind through Big Dawgs.

“When I listen to his music it can be from anywhere in the world. That sort of universality is appealing to me.”

Overcoming expectations of what a South Asian rapper can achieve and establishing himself on his own terms might be Cherukat’s greatest triumph – and challenge.

As he once said: “You keep certain things as your roots, but it’s up to you to adapt to the environment and go with the flow, as long as you don’t compromise on integrity.”

Donald Trump has said he will vote against a ballot measure in his home state of Florida that would protect abortion rights after facing backlash from conservative supporters.

The former president’s announcement came one day after an NBC News interview in which he appeared to support the measure – a statement that caused anti-abortion activists to openly criticise him.

On Friday, Trump told Fox News that he still thinks Florida’s ban on abortions after six weeks is too strict.

However he said would still vote “no” on a measure that would amend the state’s constitution to protect abortion rights.

“You need more time than six weeks,” Trump said. “I’ve disagreed with that right from the early primaries when I heard about it.”

He then falsely alleged that Democrats in the US supported allowing abortions at any point during a pregnancy, which he used as his explanation for deciding to vote against the ballot measure in Florida as a voter in the state.

Abortion laws vary widely in states across the US, but procedures after 21 weeks of pregnancy are rare and are often related to foetal anomalies or threats to the mother’s life, according to the non-profit health organisation KFF.

The Republican presidential nominee’s decision to vote against the Florida abortion measure comes just one day after he was asked by NBC News how he would vote.

“I think the six week is too short,” Trump said in the interview on Thursday. “It has to be more time. I told them that I want more weeks.”

“I am going to be voting that we need more than six weeks,” he said when pressed.

His Democratic opponent, Vice-President Kamala Harris, quickly responded to Trump’s announcement that he would support continuing Florida’s abortion ban as indicative of him continuing his anti-abortion stance.

“Donald Trump just made his position on abortion very clear: He will vote to uphold an abortion ban so extreme it applies before many women even know they are pregnant,” she said in a statement.

Thursday’s comments – in which Trump appeared to be open to voting in favour of the constitutional amendment – were heavily criticised by leaders in the anti-abortion movement, which plays a critical role in shaping conservative politics in the US.

“If Donald Trump loses, today is the day he lost,” conservative pundit Erick Erickson wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

“The committed pro-life community could turn a blind eye, in part, to national abortion issues. But for Trump to weigh in on Florida as he did will be a bridge too far for too many.”

Albert Mohler Jr, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, wrote on X that Trump’s comments on reproductive rights, including on the six-week ban, “seem almost calculated to alienate prolife voters”.

“Pro-life Christian voters are going to have to think clearly, honestly, and soberly about our challenge in this election – starting at the top of the ticket,” he said.

After the Thursday NBC interview, the Trump campaign and his running mate JD Vance made public statements emphasising that the former president had not yet made up his mind on the ballot initiative.

Mr Vance said the former president will “make his own announcement on how he’s going to vote” on the Florida measure that will be based on “his own judgement”.

Trump has criticised Florida’s six-week abortion ban before.

Last September he said Florida Governor Ron DeSantis made a “terrible mistake” signing the ban into law.

Mr DeSantis was challenging the former president in the Republican primary at the time.

Responding to Trump’s comments, the Harris campaign made clear that they would make abortion rights central to their election effort.

Kevin Munoz, a campaign spokesperson, told reporters that they would continue to frame it around the concept of freedom, a campaign theme: “Kamala Harris is going to fight for your rights. Donald Trump will take them away.”

In 2022, the US Supreme Court struck down the right to abortion nationwide, leaving the decision to states. As a result, Florida banned abortion after six weeks of pregnancy.

The proposed constitutional amendment sought by reproductive rights advocates in Florida does not specify a number of weeks, but would protect abortion access in the state until the point of foetal viability, which is about 23-25 weeks of pregnancy.

As it stands, the state has a near-total ban on abortion, as many women do not know they are pregnant at six weeks.

Opinion polling indicates that a majority of Americans support abortion access.

A July poll from the University of North Florida suggested that 69% of likely voters supported the Florida ballot measure, and 23% opposed it.

The political backlash after the Supreme Court brought an end to Roe v Wade has presented Trump with a political conundrum he has yet to fully solve.

Trump rose to power with the help of the religious right, which broadly supports restrictions on the procedure.

In his first run for president, he pledged to appoint Supreme Court justices who would overturn the constitutional right to abortion in the US.

He kept the promise by appointing three conservative jurists who ultimately voted to overturn Roe v Wade.

Trump has taken the position in his 2024 campaign that abortion policy should be left to individual states, which has put him at odds with many conservatives who seek to restrict the procedure nationwide.

Nevertheless, rank-and-file party members fell in line behind the former president at the Republican National Convention in July.

Further complicating Trump’s standing is his new proposal to make the government or insurance companies pay for in-vitro fertilisation (IVF).

Some anti-abortion and religious groups object to IVF due to its use of embryos.

A military alliance between Somalia and Egypt is ruffling feathers in the fragile Horn of Africa, upsetting Ethiopia in particular – and there are worries the fallout could become more than a war of words.

The tensions ratcheted up this week with the arrival of two Egyptian C-130 military aeroplanes in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, signalling the beginning of the deal signed earlier in August during a state visit by the Somali president to Cairo.

The plan is for up to 5,000 Egyptian soldiers to join a new-look African Union force at the end of the year, with another 5,000 reportedly to be deployed separately.

Ethiopia, which has been a key ally of Somalia in its fight against al-Qaeda-linked militants and is at loggerheads with Egypt over a mega dam it built on the River Nile, said it could not “stand idle while other actors take measures to destabilise the region”.

Somalia’s defence minister hit back, saying Ethiopia should stop “wailing” as everyone “will reap what they sowed” – a reference to their diplomatic relations that have been on a downward spiral for months.

It all comes down to the ambitions of Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who wants his landlocked country to have a port. Ethiopia lost its access to the sea when Eritrea seceded in the early 1990s.

On New Year’s Day, Mr Abiy signed a controversial deal with the self-declared republic of Somaliland to lease a 20km (12-mile) section of its coastline for 50 years to set up a naval base.

It could also potentially lead to Ethiopia officially recognising the breakaway republic – something Somaliland is pushing hard for.

Somaliland broke away from Somalia more than 30 years ago, but Mogadishu regards it very much as part of its territory – and described the deal as an act of “aggression”.

Somalia fears such a move might set a precedent and encourage other countries to recognise Somaliland’s independence, geopolitical analyst Jonathan Fenton-Harvey told the BBC.

He added that neighbouring Djibouti was also worried it could harm its own port-dependent economy, as Ethiopia has traditionally relied on Djibouti for imports.

In fact in an attempt to deescalate tensions, Djibouti’s foreign minister has told the BBC his country is ready to offer Ethiopia “100%” access to one of its ports.

“It will be in the port of Tadjoura – 100km [62 miles] from the Ethiopia border,” Mahmoud Ali Youssouf told BBC Focus on Africa TV.

This is definitely a change of tune for as recently as last year, a senior presidential adviser said Djibouti was reluctant to offer its neighbour unfettered access to the Red Sea.

Attempts so far to calm tensions – by Turkey – have failed, with Somalia insisting it will not budge until Ethiopia recognises its sovereignty over Somaliland.

Somalia has not only brought its Nile enemy Egypt into the mix, but also announced that Ethiopian troops would not be part of the AU force from next January.

This is when the AU’s third peace support operation begins – the first one was deployed in 2007 months after Ethiopian troops crossed over the border to help fight al-Shabab Islamist militants, who then controlled the Somali capital.

There are at least 3,000 Ethiopian troops under the current AU mission, according to the Reuters news agency.

Last week, the Somali prime minister also said Ethiopia would have to withdraw its other 5-7,000 soldiers stationed in several regions under separate bilateral agreements – unless it withdrew from the port deal with Somaliland.

Ethiopia sees this as a slap in the face for, as its foreign minister put it, “the sacrifices Ethiopian soldiers have paid” for Somalia.

The withdrawal of troops would also leave Ethiopia vulnerable to jihadist attacks, Christopher Hockney, a senior researcher at the Royal United Services Institute, told the BBC.

The planned deployment of Egyptian troops along its eastern border would also make Ethiopia particularly apprehensive, he added.

Egypt sees Ethiopia’s Nile dam – in the west of the country – as an existential threat – and has warned in the past that it will take “measures” should its security be threatened.

Egypt accuses Ethiopia of threatening its supply of water with the construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (Gerd).

This began in 2011 on the Blue Nile tributary in Ethiopia’s northern-western highlands, from where 85% of the Nile’s water flow.

Egypt said Ethiopia pushed forward with the project in complete “disregard” of the interests and rights of downstream countries and their water security.

It also argued that a 2% reduction in water from the Nile could result in the loss of around 200,000 acres (81,000 hectares) of irrigated land.

For Ethiopia the dam is seen as a way of revolutionising the country by producing electricity for 60% of the population and providing a constant flow of electricity for businesses.

The latest diplomatic efforts to work out how the dam should operate – and determine how much water will flow downstream to Sudan and Egypt – fell apart last December.

Egypt sees its military deal with Somalia as “historic” – in the words of Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi – and a possible chance to settle scores over the mega dam.

Indeed the Nile dispute may well play out in Somalia, warns Dr Hassan Khannenje, the director of the Horn International Institute for Strategic Studies.

It could potentially lead to a “low-scale inter-state conflict” between Ethiopia and Egypt if their troops meet at the Somalia border.

Somaliland has also warned that the establishment of Egyptian military bases within Somalia could destabilise the region.

Both Ethiopia and Somalia are already coping with their own internal strife – Ethiopia with low-level rebellions in several regions and Somalia, recovering from a destructive 30-year civil war, still has al-Shabab to contend with.

Experts say neither can afford further warfare – and more unrest would inevitably lead to further migration.

Dr Khannenje told the BBC that if a conflict broke out, it could further complicate the geopolitics of the Red Sea by drawing in other players and further affect global trade.

At least 17,000 ships go through the Suez Canal each year, meaning that 12% of annual global trade passes through the Red Sea, amounting to $1tn (£842bn) worth of goods, according to shipping monitor Lloyd’s List.

For this reason, countries like Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Turkey have been keen to forge partnerships with African nations like Somalia that border the Red Sea.

According to Mr Harvey, Turkey and the UAE stand a better chance at mediating and finding a middle ground.

The UAE has heavily invested in Somaliland’s Berbera port and holds significant influence over Ethiopia because of its investments there.

All eyes will be on the next diplomatic push by Turkey, which has ties with both Ethiopia and Somalia. Talks are due to start in mid-September.

• Why is Egypt worried about Ethiopia’s dam on the Nile?
• Can the Horn of Africa rift be healed?
• Ethiopia PM eyes Red Sea port, inflaming tensions

The far right is on the cusp of winning the most votes in German state elections for the first time since the Nazis.

For some in Germany, the rise of Alternative for Germany (AfD) is a literal nightmare.

But others, particularly in the east, say the AfD is a chance for change.

All year, the temperature has been rising in German politics and Sunday’s vote in Thuringia and Saxony may be the boiling point.

“Liar!” shouted a small group of people in Thuringia this week, as Chancellor Olaf Scholz took the stage in the city of Jena.

Chants of “Volksverräter” also punctured through the wider applause; a phrase that means “traitor of the people” and is seen by many as having Nazi connotations.

Chancellor Scholz’s Social Democratic Party, along with his Green and Liberal coalition partners, are doing so badly in Thuringia they may not even get a single seat in the state parliament – while the AfD is polling top.

In neighbouring Saxony, the AfD is running neck and neck with the conservative CDU.

Last week’s knife attack, in which a Syrian asylum seeker and suspected Islamist is accused of killing three people, has fuelled fierce criticism of how successive governments have handled migration.

A hasty – you could even say panicked – response has seen ministers announce tougher asylum and knife crime laws.

But it’s unlikely to overturn a broader discontent that – for many AfD supporters – isn’t just based on anger about “mass” immigration.

People also talk of wanting to fight what they see as over-zealous green policies, state interference and ill-advised military support for Ukraine.

In the east that all combines with a despondency and frustration that’s been brewing for years, even decades – about the results of German reunification.

“You can constantly see where the east begins and where the west begins,” says 16-year-old Constantin, who rides into the town of Meiningen on his East German Simson S50 moped.

“The east and the west, it’s true it’s connected now. It’s one Germany. But we see, in the difference, it’s big.”

The trainee car mechanic’s view is one that echoes through the streets of towns, cities and villages that once made up the communist GDR.

A feeling of being “looked down on” has combined with resentment at the west’s stronger industrial base, higher wages and historic pension inequalities.

“We are getting forgotten,” says Constantin who is firm in his support for the AfD – as are many young people, according to polls.

He, like every AfD supporter I’ve ever spoken to, is dismissive about allegations of extremism that have increasingly dogged the party.

A BBC investigation, earlier this year, found clear links between party figures and networks deemed extremist by state authorities.

In Thuringia, the party is officially classed as right-wing extremist while its highly controversial leader in the state, Björn Höcke, was recently fined for using a Nazi slogan – though he denies doing so knowingly.

But party backers often say that they believe both domestic intelligence and the mainstream media are actively seeking to smear their movement.

Some will judge this as being either a dishonest or deluded defence but there is – in the east – an ingrained suspicion of the state amongst communities that once endured the activities of the Stasi, the loathed secret police in communist East Germany.

“The people who live here have already experienced what it is like when the government starts to interfere too much,” says Vivien Rottstedt, a 31-year-old lawyer and AfD candidate in Thuringia.

Restrictions during the Covid pandemic and a perception that people are being forced to adhere to “politically correct” viewpoints seems to have boosted public distrust.

“People from eastern Germany know exactly what it’s like when you’re no longer allowed to express your own opinion,” she tells me as she shelters under a campaign umbrella in 30C-plus heat in Meiningen.

Meanwhile another insurgent party – the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) – has catapulted itself in the polls up to third place in this state.

Ms Wagenknecht, a former communist and long one of the most prominent politicians in eastern Germany, has had success in blending cultural conservatism with economically left-wing policies.

But it’s the AfD which appears to have the best chance of winning the most votes here, while it’s also set to perform strongly in Saxony and in elections in another eastern state, Brandenburg later this month.

While such an outcome would send shockwaves through Germany, it doesn’t mean the AfD will take power as other parties are likely to band together as part of an ongoing “firewall” against the far right.

Nevertheless, it all spells trouble for the struggling Chancellor Scholz and his constantly bickering coalition.

“It’s new to Germany that we have that three-party coalition and it hurts a lot when you have a lot of disputes,” says SPD activist Levi Schlegtendal.

He’s manning a stall in Jena and recalls how things seemed different when Olaf Scholz entered the chancellery three years ago.

“It was said at that time, 2021, we need someone like [ex-Chancellor Angela] Merkel and that was him,” says Levi – as he recalls the desire for a “calm” and anti-populist candidate.

“Now the times have changed with coronavirus, the Ukraine crisis and he appears to be out of time.”

The results of these elections aren’t just crucial for the people of Thuringia, Saxony and Brandenburg.

They will be judged as a litmus test of public opinion, a year out from federal elections where few are predicting that this traffic light coalition experiment can – or will – be repeated.

The CDU appears most likely to take the chancellery under the leadership of Friedrich Merz but he has notably been striking a more right-wing tone as establishment parties desperately seek to reverse the rise of the AfD.

About nine months ago while researching a story, I found myself added to a large Telegram channel which was focused on selling drugs.

I was then added to one about hacking and then one about stolen credit cards.

I realised my Telegram settings had made it possible for people to add me to their channels without me doing anything. I kept the settings the same to see what would happen.

Within a few months, I had been added to 82 different groups.

I changed my settings to stop it, but now every time I log on I am treated to thousands of new messages across dozens of extremely active illegal groups.

The arrest of Telegram’s billionaire chief executive in France has ignited a debate about moderation on his app.

Pavel Durov has been charged for suspected complicity in allowing illicit transactions, drug trafficking, fraud and the spread of child sex abuse images to flourish on his site.

There is no doubt that criminality is happening on other social networks too, but my experiment hints at a broader problem that many in law enforcement have been concerned about for years.

Here is a flavour of some of the groups to which I have found myself added.

My Telegram app has become a one-stop shop for illegal goods, all without me actively searching for new sellers.

All the images were posted to the groups, and we have altered the names of the channels so as not to advertise them.

It is no wonder some people, like cyber-security podcaster Patrick Gray, have been describing Telegram for months as “the dark web in your pocket”.

The dark web is a part of the internet that can only be accessed using specialist software and knowledge. Ever since the launch of the Silk Road marketplace in 2011, there has been a steady conveyor belt of websites selling illegal goods and services.

Speaking about the shock arrest of Mr Durov, Mr Gray said on his podcast Risky Business that Telegram has been a haven for crime for a long time.

“We are talking about child sexual abuse material, we’re talking about drug sales, we’re talking about absolutely dark web levels of criminality that they’re just doing nothing about,” he said.

Criminals like the dark web because of the anonymity it provides – internet traffic is bounced around the world, obscuring people’s locations. Pinpointing who is behind certain usernames is extremely challenging.

Researchers at cyber-security company Intel471 say that “pre-Telegram this activity was predominantly done in online markets hosted using hidden dark web services” but for lower-level, lesser-skilled cyber-criminals, “Telegram has become one of the most popular online destinations”.

The hacker group Qilin, which held NHS hospitals to ransom earlier this summer, notably chose to publish stolen blood test data on its Telegram channel before its dark web website. The deepfake service used to create fake nudes of schoolgirls in Spain and South Korea also runs its full service, including payment, on Telegram.

There is no doubt that some of this criminality is happening on other platforms as reported previously.

Some of the Telegram criminal channels I was added to seem to have a presence on Snapchat, for example, and drug dealers can be found on Instagram too, where deals are no doubt being made in private chats.

But drug dealers can often be seen advertising their Telegram channels on those other sites to funnel people to that platform.

In January, state police in Latvia set up a separate unit specialising in monitoring chat apps for drug trafficking and communication, and officials have named Telegram as a particular concern.

Telegram says that its moderation is “within industry standards”, but this week we have seen evidence to the contrary related to an area of criminality far less visible (and one I did not search for) – child sexual abuse material.

On Wednesday, the BBC learned that while Telegram does respond to some takedown requests from police and charities, it is not participating in programmes aimed to proactively prevent the spread of images and videos of child sexual abuse.

The app is not a member of either the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children or the Internet Watch Foundation – both of which work with all major social networks to find, report and remove such material.

Not doing enough to police child sexual abuse material (CSAM) is one of the chief allegations from French prosecutors.

“At the heart of this case is the lack of moderation and co-operation of the platform, in particular in the fight against crimes against children,” said Jean-Michel Bernigaud, the secretary general of French child protection agency Ofmin, on LinkedIn.

Telegram told the BBC it does proactively search for illegal activity, including child sexual abuse, on its site. It said undisclosed action was taken against 45,000 groups in August alone.

The press office did not respond to follow-up questions about this or anything else in this article.

In June Pavel Durov told journalist Tucker Carlson that he only employs “about 30 engineers” to run his platform.

Moderation is only part of the problem for Telegram. Its approach to police requests to remove illegal content and pass on evidence is another criticism.

As Brian Fishman, a co-founder of Cinder, a software platform for trust and safety, posted: “Telegram is another level: it has been the key hub for Isis for a decade. It tolerates CSAM. It’s ignored reasonable law enforcement engagement for years. It’s not ‘light’ content moderation; it’s a different approach entirely.”

Some might argue that Telegram’s privacy features mean that the company does not have much data about this activity to report to police. This is the case with ultra-private apps like Signal and WhatsApp.

Telegram offers users similar levels of privacy if they opt to create a “Secret Chat” which uses the same end-to-end encryption that those apps do. It means the activity inside a conversation is completely private and not even Telegram itself can view the contents.

However, this function is not set as default on Telegram, and it seems that most of the activity on the app – including on those illicit channels I was added to – are not set as “secret”.

Telegram could read all content and pass it on to police if it wanted to, but it states in its terms and conditions that it does not.

“All Telegram chats and group chats are private amongst their participants. We do not process any requests related to them,” the company’s terms and condition read.

Telegram’s cold approach to law enforcement is something that I have been told about on the fringes of press events by frustrated police officers.

French authorities noted in their statements about Mr Durov’s charges that police there and in Belgium had historically an “almost total lack of response from Telegram to legal requests”.

Authorities in other countries including Germany have been vocal about a lack of co-operation from the app over the removal of illegal content.

In spite of all the criticism against Telegram’s approach to moderation, there are some who are concerned that Mr Durov’s arrest is a troubling time.

Digital rights organisation Access Now says it is watching developments with great concern.

In a statement, the campaigners for an open internet said that Telegram is “no model for corporate responsibility” and that the group had criticised the app many times in the past.

Access Now warns, however, that “detaining the staff of platforms that people use to exercise their rights to free expression and peaceful assembly, without demonstrable alignment with human rights principles, may result in over-censorship, and could further shrink civic spaces”.

Telegram itself has repeatedly said that “it is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner is responsible for the abuse of that platform”.

Elon Musk, fellow billionaire and owner of X (formerly Twitter), has condemned the arrest and described it as an attack on freedom of speech. He is calling for Mr Durov to be released.

So too are some of the criminals on the Telegram groups I am now a member of, with FreeDurov imagery being shared in English and Russian widely.

Oasis have issued a warning against reselling tickets to their comeback tour, after some were listed for thousands of pounds within minutes of a pre-sale.

A limited number of fans were able to buy the first batch of tickets during a three-hour window on Friday evening.

Shortly after, tickets were being listed online for more than £6,000 – around 40 times the face value of a standing ticket.

Oasis urged people not to resell tickets at higher prices on websites not linked to their promoter, and said they would be “cancelled”.

Fans who missed out on pre-sale tickets will be attempting to secure their place at the band’s reunion concerts during Saturday’s general sale, which starts at 09:00 BST in the UK and 08:00 in Ireland.

Consumer law expert Lisa Webb from Which? told BBC News fans should be strongly advised “against buying any of the resale tickets currently popping up online at inflated prices”.

“Not only is there a chance that some of these listings could be scam attempts, but even legitimate tickets could be cancelled, rendering them invalid, if they are sold outside of the official resale platforms or at above face value,” she said.

Meanwhile, Adam Webb, campaign manager at FanFair Alliance, which was set up to help customers and artists tackle the issue of ticket touting, called on ministers to act.

“We need some action from government, ” he told the BBC.

“Sir Keir Starmer made an announcement in March, suggesting that Labour – if they came into power – would cap resell price. That’s something we hope they’re going to move ahead with.”

In that speech, the prime minister said access to culture could not be “at the mercy of ruthless ticket touts who drive up the prices”.

Soon after Friday’s pre-sale began, ticket listings appeared on resale websites like StubHub and Viagogo, including:

• £6,000 for Oasis’s show at Wembley Stadium in London on 26 July
• Between £916 and £4,519 for the first concert of the tour at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium on 4 July
• Over £4,000 for standing tickets at Edinburgh’s Murrayfield Stadium on 12 August
• More than £2,500 for the band’s homecoming concert at Manchester’s Heaton Park on 12 July

Ahead of the pre-sale, promoters said standing tickets will cost about £150, while standard seated tickets range from £73 to about £205. Prices for official premium packages go up to £506.

About 1.4 million tickets are expected to be available for the 17 outdoor concerts in the UK and Ireland next July and August.

Oasis intervened on Friday evening while the pre-sale was still ongoing, issuing a statement which read: “We have noticed people attempting to sell tickets on the secondary market since the start of the pre-sale.

“Please note, tickets can ONLY be resold, at face value, via Ticketmaster and Twickets.

“Tickets sold in breach of the terms and conditions will be cancelled by the promoters.”

Oasis’s promoters had issued a similar warning prior to the pre-sale, saying tickets sold through “unauthorised resale platforms” will breach terms and conditions and “may be cancelled”.

Meanwhile, Viagogo issued a statement in which it said “resale is legal in the UK” and insisted the platform was “fully compliant with all UK laws and regulations”.

The company said that listing tickets on its platform was permitted once they become available to the public – including following a pre-sale event.

“We oppose anti-competitive actions taken by event organisers to restrict purchasing and resale options to certain platforms in an attempt to control the market as they ultimately harm fans by limiting their choice”, its statement continued, claiming such action leads to a “surge in scams.”

StubHub have also been contacted for comment.

On Thursday, Oasis’s promoters said there had been “unprecedented demand” for the ballot to enter the pre-sale, and added three extra dates to the 14 that were initially announced.

Hundreds of people who managed to secure a ticket ahead of Saturday’s general sale celebrated on social media.

“I’m actually going to see my favourite band of all time! Didn’t think I’d ever see this,” wrote one user.

Another said: “I have two very excited daughters. Almost got deafened by the screaming when the purchase was verified.”

One said he had secured tickets to the opening night of the tour and joked: “They should still be together then”.

To enter the ballot, fans had to say who the band’s original drummer was and were offered the options of Chris Sharrock, Alan White and the correct answer, Tony McCarroll, who played with the band from their formation until 1995. Entrants were also asked how many times they had seen the band.

On Tuesday, Noel and Liam Gallagher announced that they had put their acrimonious split behind them, confirming the band’s long-awaited reunion.

The move came 15 years after the group disbanded following a backstage brawl at the Rock en Seine festival in Paris.

As anticipation for the gigs builds, sales and streams of the band’s back catalogue have surged, with three albums going back into the top five of the UK charts on Friday.

Greatest hits collection Time Flies is at number three, 1995’s What’s The Story Morning Glory is at four, and debut Definitely Maybe – released on 29 August 1994 – is in fifth place.

A 30th anniversary edition of Definitely Maybe was released on Friday.

Oasis were formed in Manchester in 1991 – their original line-up comprised of Liam and Noel Gallagher, guitarist Paul “Bonehead” Arthurs, bassist Paul “Guigsy” McGuigan and drummer Tony McCarroll.

The band officially split in 2009 after an altercation backstage at the Rock en Seine festival in Paris.

For the Pacific Islands, climate change, geopolitics and security have often been the bread and butter of any summit.

But at this year’s Pacific Island Forum Leader’s Meeting – the region’s biggest diary event – there was another hot topic thrown into the mix: that of New Caledonia and the unrest that hit the French overseas territory back in May.

A controversial French proposal to extend voting rights to people who had lived on the islands for more than 10 years sparked deadly protests. Eleven people have since died – nine civilians and two French gendarmes – and there are still French police on the ground.

President Emmanuel Macron visited New Caledonia and, in June, halted the reform. But tensions remain high, with a growing push towards independence among the Indigenous Kanaks, who make up 41% of the population.

The French have said they want to set the record straight. They were on a PR mission in Tonga, where leaders from all 18 island nations and territories gathered this past week, including New Caledonia’s President Louis Mapou.

But small island nations were sceptical – the violence in New Caledonia had seen support for the French wane. And many saw it as an attempt by France to hold on to a strategic part of the world where the US and China were fighting for sway.

“We’ve seen lots of nice press about the French delegation throughout this week,” Véronique Roger-Lacan, France’s ambassador to the Pacific, said on Thursday, breaking into an ironic laugh.

She was holding a press briefing that had been heavily publicised, her team consistently encouraging media to attend. She made it clear they were there to answer questions and show transparency in what had been a bruising few months not just for New Caledonia but for France’s reputation in the region.

The French delegation attended as a “dialogue partner” – one of 21 such countries with interests in the region, inlcuding Washington and Beijing.

As an overseas French territory, New Caledonia’s defence, foreign affairs and policing are coordinated by France. To many here, it looked like France was chaperoning the pro-independence leader.

“Being a country in the Pacific we can feel that we are part of a community of challenges,” François-Xavier Léger, the French Ambassador to Fiji, said at the briefing. And before that, Ambassador Roger-Lacan said that “New Caledonia is France”.

These comments ruffled feathers at the forum, where there was much discussion of decolonisation and independence.

“In making this kind of statement, it’s not really helping the discussion,” said Reverend Billy Wetewea, a pastor at the Protestant Church of Kanaky who also attended the forum.

Reverend Wetewea has worked with many of the Kanaky youth in New Caledonia who led the protests. “I don’t justify the violence, but I think it can be explained through social dynamics,” he said, adding that years of inequality in education, health and social issues had taken their toll.

New Caledonia is on the United Nation’s list of non-self-governing territories – countries the UN monitors in their progress towards independence.

France has been clear it is following the steps towards decolonisation. The Nouméa Accord, signed in 1998, put the territory onto a path of more autonomy. The intention was that over a 20-year period, a more independent New Caledonia would emerge.

Three referendums were also tabled. In the first, held in 2018, voters rejected independence by 56.7%. Then in 2020, there was a narrower victory for the anti-independence side – 53%. In 2021, independence parties boycotted the final referendum, arguing that the vote was being rushed through. The Covid pandemic had made campaigning impossible and Indigenous Kanaks were still taking part in rituals to bury their dead.

Unsurprisingly, the pro-France side won with an overwhelming majority. That last referendum has set the tone for the past few years of strain between France and the Kanaks, who feel that France playing isn’t fair in their path to decolonisation.

When asked by the BBC what France could do to change that view, Ambasssador Roger-Lacan was resolute they are doing everything by the book.

“This is the ongoing job in New Caledonia with you all in the press,” she said. “Things have to be portrayed in a neutral manner, everywhere, disinformation has to be stopped, right information has to be put to the people on this self-determination and democratic process.”

While France may blame the media for not reporting their side, many here blamed France’s tone – and questioned their interests.

“They want to maintain their presence in the Pacific geopolitically [with] the fear of China taking over the Pacific,” Reverend Billy Wetewea said.

China sent its largest-ever delegation to the forum this year. And the US delegation was led by Kurt Campbell, President Joe Biden’s Deputy Secretary of State, widely credited as the architect of Washington’s recent alliance-building in Asia.

France’s position in the Pacific was brought into sharp focus in 2021, when Australia cancelled a multi-billion dollar contract with a French firm to build nuclear submarines. Instead it signed a new, key defence pact with the US and the UK.

This, researcher Benoît Trépied said, altered France’s approach with New Caledonia: “Suddenly there was a huge new interest of French officials in the Pacific. [The] colonial, imperial reflex which was – no, if we want to be powerful in the Pacific, New Caledonia has to stay French. Period.”

Despite the stand-off, this week’s meeting was fruitful. Leaders endorsed a planned fact-finding mission to visit New Caledonia, which was meant to happen earlier but disagreements over who was in control of the mission made the timing slip.

But for Reverend Wetewea, there needs to be more dialogue.

“They cannot take decisions without consulting the people,” he said. “If they make their own decisions, it will be really tense again. Now the youth want their voice to be heard.”

“My heart is filled with so much pain. Even today, I cry when I think about how that one encounter destroyed my life.”

The year was 1992. Sushma* said she was 18 when a man she knew took her to an abandoned warehouse under the pretext of watching video tapes. There, six to seven men tied her up, raped her and took photographs of the act.

The men belonged to rich, influential families in Ajmer, a city in the western Indian state of Rajasthan.

“After they raped me, one of them gave me 200 rupees [$2; £1] to buy lipstick. I didn’t take the money,” she said.

Last week, 32 years later, Sushma saw a court convict her rapists and sentence them to life imprisonment.

“I am 50 years old today and I finally feel like I got justice,” she said. “But it cannot bring back all that I have lost.”

She said she had endured years of slander and taunts from society because of what happened to her, and both her marriages ended in divorce when her husbands discovered her past.

Sushma is one of 16 survivors – all schoolchildren or students – who were raped and blackmailed by a group of powerful men in different places in Ajmer city over several months in 1992. The case became a massive scandal and sparked huge protests.

Last week, the court handed out life sentences to six of the 18 accused: Nafis Chishty, Iqbal Bhat, Saleem Chishty, Sayed Jamir Hussain, Naseem – also known as Tarzan – and Suhail Ghani.

They have not confessed to the crime and their lawyers said they will appeal the verdict in a higher court.

So what happened to the remaining 12 accused?

Eight were sentenced to life in 1998, but four were acquitted by a higher court, and the others had their sentences reduced to 10 years.

Of the remaining four, one died by suicide. Another was sentenced to life in 2007 but was acquitted six years later. One was convicted in a related minor case but later acquitted, and one of the accused is still absconding.

“Can you even call this [the 20 August verdict] justice? A judgement is not justice,” said Santosh Gupta, a journalist who had written about the case and has appeared as a witness for the prosecution.

It is a thought echoed by Supreme Court lawyer Rebecca John, who called it yet another case of “justice delayed is justice denied”.

“This points to a problem that extends far beyond the legal system. Our patriarchal society is broken. What we need is a mindset change, but how long is that going to take?”

The accused men used their power and influence to deceive, threaten and lure their victims, said prosecution lawyer Virendra Singh Rathore.

They took compromising photographs and videos of their victims and used them to blackmail them into silence or bring in more victims, he added.

“In one instance, the accused invited a man they knew to a party and got him drunk. They took compromising photos of him and threatened to make them public if he didn’t bring his female friends to meet them,” he said. “That’s how they kept getting victims.”

The accused also had strong political and social connections. Some of them were associated with a famous dargah (Muslim religious shrine) in the city.

“They roamed around on bikes and cars in what was a small-town city at the time,” Mr Gupta said. “Some people were afraid of these men, some wanted to get closer to them and some wanted to be like them.”

He said that it was their power and connections that had helped keep the case under wraps for months. But there were people – like those working at the studio where the photos were developed and even some police officers – who were aware of what was going on.

One day, some of the photographs taken by the accused reached Mr Gupta. They had a chilling effect on him.

“Here were some of the city’s most powerful men committing heinous acts with innocent, young girls – and there was proof of it. But there was no major reaction from the police or the public,” he said.

He wrote a few reports about it but none managed to blow the case wide open.

Then one day, his paper “made a daring decision”, he said.

It published a photo that showed a young girl, naked to the waist, pressed between two men who were fondling her breasts. One of the men was smiling at the camera. Only the girl’s face was blurred.

The report sent shock waves through the city. The public was outraged and shut the city down in protest for days. Anger spread through Rajasthan like raging fire.

“Finally, there was some concrete action from the government. Police registered a case of rape and blackmail against the accused and it was handed over to the the state’s Criminal Investigation Department [CID],” Mr Rathore said.

Mr Rathore explained that the trial had dragged on for 32 years because of several factors, including the staggered arrests of the accused, alleged delaying tactics by the defence, an underfunded prosecution and systemic issues within the justice system.

When police filed the initial charges in 1992, six of the accused – who were only convicted last week – were left out because they were absconding.

Mr Rathore believes this was a mistake, as when the police finally filed charges against the six in 2002, they were still on the run. Two of them were arrested in 2003, another in 2005 and two more in 2012, while the last one was apprehended in 2018.

Every time one of the accused was arrested, the trial would begin afresh with the defence recalling survivors and witnesses brought by the prosecution to give their testimonies.

“Under the law, the accused has the right to be present in court when witnesses are testifying and the defence has the right to cross-examine them,” explained Mr Rathore.

This put the survivors in the horrifying position of having to relive their trauma over and over again.

Mr Rathore recalled how often the survivors, who were now in their 40s and 50s, would scream at the judge, asking why there were being dragged to court, years after they had been raped.

As time passed, the police also found it challenging to track down witnesses.

“Many didn’t want to be associated with the case as their lives had moved on,” Mr Rathore said.

“Even now, one of the accused is absconding. If he is arrested, or if the other accused appeal against the verdict in a higher court, the survivors and witnesses will be called to testify again.”

Sushma – who was one of three survivors whose testimony played a key role in convicting the six accused – said that she had been talking to the media about her ordeal because she was telling the truth.

“I never changed my story. I was young and innocent when these people did this to me. It robbed me of everything. I have nothing to lose now,” she said.

There’s something missing from Gary Oldman’s trophy cabinet.

One of the most decorated actors of his generation, he won a best actor Oscar, Bafta and Golden Globe for playing Sir Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour, plus two Baftas for Nil by Mouth, which he wrote and directed.

Next month he could pick up his first Emmy award, for his role as Jackson Lamb in Slow Horses, a man who spends a lot more time insulting his MI5 colleagues than he does on his personal hygiene.

However, unlike those acting knights of the realm, such as Sir Anthony Hopkins, Sir Daniel Day Lewis and Sir Kenneth Branagh, he says that he has been completely overlooked by the honours system.

“I don’t know why. You should ask them. No nod from the royals, but there we are,” he tells the BBC.

In recent years, Oscar wins in major categories have tended to be quickly followed up with royal recognition.

Mark Rylance was knighted the year after he won best supporting actor for Bridge of Spies, while Olivia Colman, Colin Firth and Eddie Redmayne were all honoured in the months following their triumphs.

In fact, Oldman is the only British winner of best actor or best actress this century not to be the recipient of some kind of honour, but he strongly refutes any suggestion that he has turned one down, by repeating “no” four times in succession.

“Maybe it’s in my future,” he adds wistfully.

Oldman has not exactly been short of plaudits during a career lasting more than 40 years, in which he has played Sid Vicious, Lee Harvey Oswald, Dracula, Gotham City’s police commissioner Jim Gordon and even made a cameo as President Truman in Oppenheimer.

But for the first time in his career, he is part of what is becoming a long-running TV show. Apple TV+’s Slow Horses is about to start its fourth series and is a real genuine word of mouth hit.

Speaking down the line from Palm Springs, where he now lives, Gary Oldman shares how he describes the show to people who have yet to see it: “The sort of slightly shady, dirty side of espionage. It’s your PG Tips, Tescos version of it I guess.”

Slow Horses focuses on the agents who have been discarded or are in trouble with the British Secret Service, and have been left to rot at Slough House, an establishment run by Oldman’s Jackson Lamb, a character so shabby and dishevelled, that the actor has given a lot of thought to how he smells.

“He’s a whisky drinker, so obviously, that’s sort of coming out of the pores.

“It’s that stale booze and cigarettes and some B.O., a bit of underarm thrown in.”

Lamb’s trademark move is breaking wind. A lot of discussion goes into how many farts he should have each series, and what they should sound like. Season five does get off to a windy start.

“These are the conversations and email exchanges that you have with the director,” Oldman laughs.

“You know: ‘This one is on a leather chair, so it should be more robust’. We have these ridiculous conversations about the frequency.”

With chat like this, surely the knighthood is now secured.

Slow Horses is often described as the “anti-Bond” and Gary Oldman could have had an 007 past of his own. He turned down the chance to be a Bond baddie in the pre-Daniel Craig era.

“I was asked quite a few years ago,” he confirms, although claims to have forgotten which film it was.

“The Bond villain didn’t ring with me,” he says without a hint of regret.

His Slow Horses co-star Jack Lowden, agent River Cartwright in the series, is one of the names which gets mentioned during discussions on who could be the next James Bond, and Oldman has an idea.

“I’d like to see a sort of prequel with him (Bond) in the Navy or something and becoming 007.”

It is clear he has given this a lot of prior thought.

“Jack’s probably a little young at the minute, but he could be a young Bond coming up through the ranks.”

One hugely successful British film series in which Oldman did star was Harry Potter, playing Sirius Black, and there is something he would like to clear up.

“I know fans got terribly upset saying: ‘Oh he couldn’t be bothered’ and ‘he didn’t read the books’. That’s not true.”

The point which Oldman wants to clarify, is that when he started filming his role, JK Rowling was still finishing off the books, and everything was “shrouded in such secrecy that you could only read the current book and you could never know what the next chapter and the next episode would be.

“If I had been able to read the books, I may have seen that arc and I would have known where Sirius Black was heading.

“I would have maybe approached the character a little differently, but there were no more books.”

“So I have hopefully put that to bed,” he says with a flourish of which Sirius Black himself would have been proud.

It should be pointed out that Slow Horses is based on a series of books by Mick Herron and Oldman has read all eight.

Starring in a long-running TV series may be a new experience for Oldman, but it is not for another member of his family.

His big sister, Laila Morse, made her acting debut at the age of 51, in the only film Oldman has ever directed, Nil by Mouth.

Since then, for almost a quarter of a century, Morse has, on and off, played Big Mo in EastEnders, returning to Albert Square once again this May.

Oldman is adamant that his sister has no problems with him now treading on her small screen turf. “She took a break and is back. I don’t see the show,” he admits, before adding with a laugh: “But then Mo doesn’t really look at my stuff either. I don’t think she’s running out to see Oppenheimer.”

Sadly, the idea of Oldman making a cameo on EastEnders holds no appeal to him.

“I don’t think that’ll be on the cards,” he flat bats, before continuing:

“But, we’re happy. She’s got the Square, and I’ve got Slough House, so we’re quite happy where we are.”

And with that there is just time for Gary Oldman to say that series five of Slow Horses has already been filmed and as for the future, he is “in it for the long run” if they want him.

Slow Horses seems set to bring him more honours, just perhaps not of the royal variety.

Majdi was in his house at the entrance of Nur Shams refugee camp when the Israeli armoured bulldozers came.

He told his three children not to be scared as the bulldozer pushed up against their front wall, smashing through the staircase and balcony.

“The bulldozer kept coming closer to the house,” he said. “It lifted the rubble near those two windows above. It was trying to hit them.”

Residents living near the entrances to Nur Shams often leave when they hear the Israeli army is coming. I asked Majdi why he stayed.

“Why would I leave?” he said.

“We won’t leave. We are staying here. We either go back to our lands [in what is now Israel] or stay here and die. There are no other options.”

At least four men were killed in the Tulkarm area, which includes Nur Shams, during Israel’s two-day military operation here, including at least two who were fighting Israeli forces.

“Every time one of us is killed, 10 more are born. We are crushing them, and hopefully, our children will also crush them,” Majdi said.

Israel’s army pulled out of Nur Shams camp on Friday morning, but its wider operation across the north of the occupied West Bank continues – with the aim, Israel says, of dismantling the armed groups there.

One of the men killed during the operation was 69-year-old Ayed Abu Hajja, who was disabled and a long-term resident of Nur Shams. He was shot by a sniper, neighbours said, when he opened a window in his house.

On Friday, his body was carried through the narrow streets to his mother’s home, before burial.

A large crowd of young men gathered to escort his body to the cemetery – but others were there to honour someone else.

Groups of young men filed silently past the crowd with their weapons – to a separate, symbolic burial for their leader, Mohammed Jaber – also killed during the Israeli operation in this city

The fighter and the civilian, living for years side by side in Nur Shams, remembered side by side in death. One with prayers; the other with bursts of automatic gunfire – a show of force from Tulkarm’s armed fighters, less than a day after Israel’s army withdrew.

Inside Nur Shams, Israel’s operation has left war-like destruction in parts of the camp: houses burned out, walls sheared off.

Whole buildings collapsed into rubble have opened up new, sloping and precarious routes between the camp’s main streets.

A child of six or seven, dwarfed by a mountain of concrete boulders, reaches gently in to pick out a bright yellow toy walkie-talkie from the remains of his grandmother’s house.

Standing nearby is his grandmother’s next-door neighbour, Fadwa Abu Ayad, her path to the street cut off by the rubble mountain. The army also came to her house, she said.

“They told us that we have tunnels like in Gaza, and smuggle the armed groups to this house,” Fadwa said.

I asked her if that was true.

“It’s impossible,” she replied. “He brought a drill and dug into the floor. All he found was a sewer hole.”

Fadwa takes us through another entrance to her house, and shows us the broken floor – beneath it is a small pipe and what appears to be a sewer drain. It’s too small for a person to fit through.

“What is happening in the [West Bank] camps now is like a small version of Gaza,” Fadwa said. “Ever since 7 October,” she added, referring to the day of Hamas’s deadly attack on Israel, which triggered the war in Gaza.

Down another shattered street, paved with broken glass and burned pieces of rubble, I hear a voice at the window above me. It turns out to be Umm Yazan.

She says the army laid wires from her home to blow up two of the houses opposite – families she has known for decades.

“I have 10-year-old triplets, and they trapped us in a room,” she told me. “Then they started the explosions – five explosions in total. Imagine the walls shaking and your young children clinging to you. It feels like we’re in Gaza.”

Israel says this is a counter-terrorist operation, to dismantle Palestinian armed groups it says are funded and armed by Iran.

But Umm Yazan replies that it is the army’s responsibility to target fighters, and not involve families like hers.

“Are there fighters in my house? I have young children, my husband has an Israeli work permit. My house is a safe house.”

You hear comparisons with Gaza a lot here now.

The grinding conflict between Israel and armed Palestinian groups in the West Bank is still very different to the Gaza war, but that war has changed attitudes and tactics here – on both sides.

It has changed how Israel views the threat from armed groups here – and, some say, it is also changing its response on the ground.

The BBC’s Anna Doble was 17 when she saw Oasis play at Knebworth. Almost three decades on, she speaks to a new group of young, hardcore – and often female – fans who are drawn to a band who peaked before they were even born.

Jasmine Griffin-Jones, whose prized possession is a Liam Gallagher set list, still can’t believe it’s true. “I was sat in shock for quite a while,” she explains about hearing news of the Oasis reunion.

She is 19 and lives in Widnes in Cheshire, 30 miles west of Burnage, where the Gallagher brothers – Noel and Liam – grew up on the outskirts of Manchester.

Her mum is a fan of fellow Mancunian band the Stone Roses, which could hold a clue to her passion for Oasis. But she also loves Taylor Swift, Charli XCX and – gasp – Britpop rivals Blur.

Half a world away, in St Petersburg, Russia, 23-year-old Yulia Markovskaia stands in her bedroom surrounded by Oasis posters and her own drawings of the band. She is feeling like she might “explode” while frantically trying to work out how to get to one of the UK concerts in 2025.

“I’m going to sob so hard if they sing Acquiesce together,” she says of the fan-favourite song sung by both Gallagher brothers.

This new Oasis scene seems to feature fewer blokes with sideburns, baggy nylon football shirts and those loud burps that follow swiftly-downed cans of Carling. Instead, this 21st Century fanbase congregates more politely on TikTok, Instagram and X, where the hashtag that brings fans, Liam memes, and Bonehead jokes together, is #oasistwt.

It features a near-constant stream of positive speculation and good-natured appreciation of Liam’s beautiful eyebrows. The Spice Girls, Blur and Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker’s pointy fingers make regular appearances too, and there is an overriding sense that these fans would dearly love to be transported back in time to the hot, hazy tambourine summers of the late 1990s.

The thing is, I was there. It was me in the hyperactive queue of bucket hat-wearing teenagers waiting to get into the Oasis concert at Knebworth. It was me listening to Shakermaker on dedicated station Supernova Radio as its opening drum beats wafted from the speakers that lined our route into the park venue. And it was me hoping my Blur T-shirt, beneath a zip-up Adidas top, wasn’t a completely stupid move among 125,000 lagered-up Liam and Noel fans.

I was 16 in 1995, the perfect age for Britpop. I had the ticket stubs on my wall, the shoebox filled with Longpigs and Cast cassettes, and the wannabe Elastica haircut that finally made me look old enough to sit by the pool table in the pub.

My copy of Definitely Maybe was purchased on the £3 stall of my hometown market in Knaresborough, North Yorkshire; a strange illicit version acquired on the cheap, its track listing not quite right.

I later realised I’d stumbled upon a Gulf countries-only edition of the album, where the single Cigarettes & Alcohol was rendered simply “Cigarettes”. I listened anyway, washing down its controlled sense of rage with regular swigs of cider.

I watched Gazza flick the ball over Colin Hendry’s head at Euro 96 while learning Radiohead chords on my left-handed guitar.

And in 1997, I cast my first vote in a general election – one that, like this year, saw a Labour government come to power.

Many at the time felt optimistic about the future.

“It does feel like a bit of a ’90s throwback with the Labour government, Oasis mania, and the recent football final,” says Jasmine about the timing of the Oasis reunion. Her parents, like me, experienced the era first-hand.

“Music has always brought people together and this is what we need right now,” says Emma Arenstarr, from Swanage in Dorset.

The 19-year-old says she felt “absolute elation” when the Oasis comeback gigs – their first for 15 years – became a certainty. She hopes to “finally get the chance” to see her favourite band live.

Like Charlotte, she’s hopeful the relationship between the Gallagher brothers is “finally being mended” and that “the music will remind them of what they love most”.

“All I can say is that if the Gallagher brothers can reunite, after everything that has happened, there’s more than enough hope for the country,” adds 24-year-old Beatrice Steele from Guildford, Surrey. She says the excitement around the reunion “proves that their music is still relevant to the experience of youth”.

“I don’t think there has to be a conflict between nostalgia and new music,” says Andy Walker, singer and guitarist in current Britpop-punk band Attendant.

He describes their debut album as “a Britrock soap opera set in a collapsing society” and thinks there are similarities between the mood of the nation in recent years – frustration followed by creativity and hope – and the way things were in the late 1990s.

High streets are full of 90s rave-era fashions and stonewashed jeans, and Liam’s Lennon-esque sunglasses never really went out of fashion. “The big difference is that the 90s Cool Britannia optimism has been replaced by 21st Century post-Brexit nihilism,” Andy says.

“Britpop itself was 60s revivalism,” he adds. “Oasis were inspired by The Beatles. Blur by The Kinks. They took that inspiration and made it new.

“Now we’re at the same point [after] another 30-year cycle. Bands who grew up with Britpop are turning that influence into something different. Our thing is to mix it with punk and post-hardcore.”

So where do Oasis fans hang out these days? “I always seem to meet them in record stores,” says Emma. “Though most of my friends I’ve met online. Some are my age and some are older. It’s always really great to meet others who share that love.

“I think Oasis fans are just lurking. A lot of them wait for someone to give them ‘the look’. I’ll be buying a CD in a shop and we’ll just look over at each other, suss each other out, and start chatting as if we’ve known each other for years. It’s nice like that.”

This new fandom is united by many of the same things that appealed to Oasis fans in the 1990s – the sense that the naughtiest boys in school have invited us to trash the common room with them, and the simple pleasure of belting out songs that combine both raw power and tender melody.

Slide Away is “so beautiful”, says Yulia. “There is so much emotion in this song and the way Liam sings so passionately just gives me goosebumps every time.”

Jasmine says she first listened to Definitely Maybe five years ago, at the age of 14. She thinks despite the brothers being no strangers to controversy – Liam has used homophobic slurs on Twitter while Noel was criticised for moaning about Jay-Z, a hip-hop artist, headlining Glastonbury – the band’s fans have moved beyond the laddish reputation.

“Now in the fandom, especially on Twitter and at the [Liam solo] gigs, there is large number of women and girls, probably an even split with the males.”

Liam’s younger good looks are a regular source of discussion among this group of fans, but it’s the sense of being in a “club” with other believers that shines through.

At 15, Scarlett Allen, from Kent, not only missed the Britpop years by a lifetime, she was only just born when Oasis were breaking up. It was doing schoolwork at home during the Covid-19 pandemic that allowed her to immerse herself in their songs. She also loves the Stone Roses, Kasabian and Fontaines DC, but it’s Oasis who she keeps coming back to.

“It’s rare finding Oasis fans in real life, especially ones the same age as me,” she explains. “There are a couple of people at school who are big fans, though, and I go to concerts with them as much as possible.”

She saw Liam performing Definitely Maybe in full at the O2 in London in June. “At events like that, you find huge numbers of people just like you.”

The Oasis reunion gigs might just be Scarlett’s Knebworth. She now has months of excitement and anticipation to come. “It feels completely unreal and I didn’t imagine it on this scale.”

“Sending money back home or to your extended family is such a common African practice that I absolutely hate,” said Kenyan influencer Elsa Majimbo earlier this month in a now-deleted TikTok rant that sparked a furious debate on social media.

The 23-year-old, who shot to fame during the covid pandemic with her comedic videos, touched a nerve when it came to discussing with her 1.8 million followers what is known as “black tax”.

This is when black Africans who achieve a modicum of success, whether at home or abroad, find themselves having to support less well-off family members.

Giving back is seen as an intrinsic part of the African philosophy of ubuntu, which stresses the importance of the family and community, rather than the individual.

The question for many is whether this is an unnecessary and unwelcome burden or part of a community obligation to help pull others up.

But Ms Majimbo, now based in the US, is pushing back against the practice.

In the video she said her father had supported members of the extended family for years and now they were looking to her for help. She turned her anger on one particular unnamed relative.

“You’ve been asking my dad for money since before I was born. I was born, I was raised, I grew up, now you’re asking me for money – you lazy [expletive]. I’m not feeding your habits.”

While some have agreed, others have taken issue with her position. It is not clear why the video was removed from TikTok and Ms Majimbo’s management team declined the BBC’s request for comment.

But for many, regardless of what they might personally think, it is just not possible to refuse to help relatives because of the sense of community in which they were raised.

There can be a sense of pride in helping take care of the family although it can become too much.

A former teacher in Zimbabwe in her 50s, who asked to remain anonymous, told the BBC that 30 years ago almost her entire first pay cheque of 380 Zimbabwe dollars went straight to her nine siblings.

“After I finished buying [school] uniforms, clothes and groceries, I had $20 left,” she told the BBC in a voice that suggested both honour and annoyance.

Although this meant she had to buy food on credit, she said that as the eldest child it was expected she would hand over cash the moment she began to start earning.

Her salary did not belong to her alone but to her family as well.

When she got married, her responsibilities extended even further. At one point, she had to take out a loan to pay her brother-in-law’s tuition fees after she was pickpocketed on her way to deposit a cheque at the bank. It took her two years to pay off.

Sandra Ajalo, a 28-year-old hairstylist in Uganda, is grateful for the help that relatives extended to her family when she was growing up.

Ms Ajalo and her three siblings were raised by a single mother and relatives assisted her with various things, from paying school fees, to groceries and even medical expenses.

“It’s not a burden, it’s a communal helping,” she told the BBC.

But when she saw Ms Majimbo’s video she understood where the social media star was coming from, especially as the Ugandan was now in a position to help other family members.

“It can be straining, it can be frustrating, but we need it. No man is an island. We have to help each other however we can.”

Dr Chipo Dendere, an assistant professor in Africana studies at Wellesley College in the US, argues that the necessity of “black tax” is rooted in colonialism.

The system of oppression that concentrated resources in the hands of the colonial power or a tiny minority of settlers made it impossible for the majority to accumulate assets.

This “left many black families with no generational wealth”, Prof Dendere said.

In many cases, after independence, rather than being upended, the inequalities were replicated.

Dr Dendere added that the payment of “black tax” can often become a “never-ending cycle” as the money sent to family members often only temporarily plugs a hole which will later re-open.

Another factor is that, unlike in richer countries, many African states are unable to pay for healthcare beyond the basics, a decent pension or cover tuition fees. As a result it falls on the most well-off in a family to fork out for these expenses, Dr Dendere said.

“There is no pension fund from the state – we are the pension. Families are stepping in to do the job of the government.

“We give because of ubuntu. We are forced to take care of each other.”

In 2023, funds sent home by African migrants amounted to about $95bn (£72bn), according to the International Fund for Agricultural Development, which is almost the size of the Kenyan economy.

For Africans abroad the strain can be even greater as people expect more due to a belief that those overseas make a lot of money.

Gabe Mutseyekwa, 35, is a Zimbabwean man who has lived in Germany for over five years. He put his foot down and told his family he would stop sending monthly payments because it was preventing him from saving up for his own future.

His family did not react well – but they eventually came around.

“They realised that I was all alone and I needed to make something of myself,” he said.

At one point he sent home about €2,000 ($2,200; £1,700) for a family emergency when he was still a student doing part-time jobs.

“There needs to be a balance between bearing this financial responsibility and your personal financial health,” he told the BBC.

Many people have noted that family members can feel a sense of entitlement to your money especially when the person is rich.

This particularly irked former Nigerian footballer Mikel John Obi. Last year, he spoke about “black tax” during his appearance on the Rio Ferdinand Presents podcast.

“When you come from Africa, when you make money, it’s not your money. It’s not just your money. You have all these relatives, cousins, whatever you call it,” he said.

He added that relatives kept having so many kids and expected him to take care of them.

While not everyone agreed with Elsa Majimbo’s rant, it seems to have touched a nerve, especially among the younger generation.

But Dr Dendere argues that unless Africa can truly develop, “black tax will be here in perpetuity”.

• PODCAST: The ‘black tax’ debate
• LISTEN: Elsa Majimbo: life beyond social media
• Should I stay or should I go? The dilemma for young Nigerians
• African brain drain: ‘90% of my friends want to leave’

A man in Singapore who attempted to frame his estranged wife by planting cannabis in her car has been sentenced to almost four years in jail.

Tan Xianglong, 37, planted what he thought was more than half a kilo of cannabis between the rear passenger seats of his wife’s car, assuming it was enough to warrant the death penalty for drug trafficking.

Singapore has some of the world’s toughest anti-drug laws, which the government says are necessary to deter drug-related crimes.

Less than half of the substance Tan planted turned out to be cannabis, though. The rest was filler.

Tan “intended to scare the involved party and to also get her in trouble with the law,” according to court documents.

“He understood that the involved party would be wrongly arrested and charged with a serious crime if his plan succeeded.”

He was sentenced on Thursday to three years and 10 months in prison for cannabis possession. The court also considered a second charge of illegal planting of evidence.

Tan and his wife married in 2021 and separated a year later. They could not file for divorce because Singapore allows it only for couples who have been married for at least three years.

Tan believed he might be granted to exception to that rule if his wife had a criminal record.

In Telegram chats with his girlfriend last year, he said he had hatched the “perfect crime” to frame his wife.

On 16 October, he bought a brick of cannabis from a Telegram chat group, weighing it to make sure it exceeded 500g (1.1lbs), and placed it in her car the next day.

What Tan seemingly didn’t account for was the fact that his wife’s car was equipped with a camera, which sent her a phone notification alerting her to a “parking impact”.

When she checked the live footage, she saw her estranged husband walking around her vehicle and reported him to the police for harassment.

In the course of their investigation, police searched the car, found the drugs and arrested Tan’s wife.

But after finding no incriminating evidence against her, they then turned their investigation towards Tan himself, and arrested him.

Tan’s lawyer tried to argue that he was suffering from depression when he committed the crime, but the court rejected this, citing doctors’ findings that he was not suffering from any mental disorder.

Depending on the substance and the amount seized, drug possession in Singapore is punishable by imprisonment while drug trafficking can be punishable by death.

Although Tan was liable to be sentenced to five years in prison, he got a lower term because he co-operated in the proceedings and pleaded guilty early in the trial, according to court documents.

Last year, Singapore executed two convicted drug traffickers over a five-month period, defying opposition from international human rights groups.

National Hockey League star Johnny Gaudreau and his brother were killed in a car accident in New Jersey on Thursday night.

The Columbus Blue Jackets player – who was 31 – and his younger brother Matthew, 29, were riding their bicycles on a rural road in Oldsman Township when a car struck them, New Jersey police told the BBC.

The driver of the car, Sean Higgins, 43, has been arrested and charged with two counts of death by auto, according to officials.

As of Friday, he is being held without bond at the Salem County Correctional Facility.

Gaudreau’s team called the incident an “unimaginable tragedy”.

“Johnny was not only a great hockey player, but more significantly a loving husband, father, son, brother and friend,” the Columbus Blue Jackets said.

In a statement on behalf of the family from Jim Gaudreau, Johnny and Matthew’s uncle, he thanked people for their love and support.

“Last night we lost two husbands, two fathers, two sons and two brothers-in-law, two nephews, two cousins, two family members, two teammates, two friends but truly two amazing humans,” he said.

Gaudreau’s brother Matthew was also a professional hockey player who previously played for the Reading Royals team in Pennsylvania.

The Gaudreau brothers were in New Jersey to attend their sister’s wedding on Friday in Philadelphia, where they were supposed to be groomsmen, according to the Columbus Dispatch, a local outlet.

Police said Mr Higgins hit the brothers with his car from behind as he attempted to pass two other vehicles on the road.

Mr Higgins is suspected of driving while under the influence of alcohol and currently is in the Salem County Correctional Facility, New Jersey police said.

Nicknamed “Johnny Hockey”, Gaudreau was the Blue Jackets’ forward who scored 243 goals over the course of his 11-year NHL career.

Johnny Gaudreau joined the Ohio team in 2022 after previously playing for the Calgary Flames in Canada.

Gaudreau “played the game with great joy which was felt by everyone that saw him on the ice”, the Columbus Blue Jackets said in their statement.

“He thrilled fans in a way only Johnny Hockey could,” the team added.

Brian Burke, a career NHL executive said on X, formerly Twitter, that Gaudreau brought ”kindness that radiated out through the locker room every day”.

“Few players in hockey history who matched his passion and love for the game,” he said.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in a statement that while Johnny Gaudreau may have come from the US, “hockey fans in Calgary, and across Canada, will remember him as one of our own”.

A hiker was rescued from a mountain in the US state of Colorado after being apparently left behind the previous day by his colleagues during an office retreat.

The unnamed man got lost and found himself without phone signal after being left by colleagues who went ahead without him, the Chaffee County Search and Rescue team said.

He endured stormy weather and multiple falls before being found in a “large search effort” the next morning. He was stabilised and taken to hospital, but there has been no further update on his condition.

The officials suggested the incident “might cause some awkward encounters at the office in the coming days and weeks”.

The drama unfolded on Friday as a 15-strong group from the company – which has also not been named – ventured along a trail up Mt Shavano, which is 14,000ft (4,300m) high.

In their statement, officials said the hiker was left to reach the summit on his own at about 11:30 local time (17:30 GMT).

Evan Brady, the public information officer for Chaffee County Search and Rescue South, told the New York Times the man had stopped for a break while his co-workers continued on the route.

“He’s lucky to be alive,” Mr Brady said.

The man became disoriented on the descent, “finding belongings left in the boulder field to mark the descent by the previous group having been picked up as they hiked down”.

Concerned, he sent a pin drop to colleagues, who are said to have told him that he was on the wrong route, and suggested that he climb back up to the right trail.

Shortly after sending them a second message, a strong storm passed through the area, bringing “high winds and freezing rain” and leaving him without a signal.

Chaffee County Search and Rescue received an alert at 21:00 that evening, dispatching two teams and a drone pilot who were thwarted by the bad weather.

A helicopter was also sent, but despite tracing the man’s last known movements, the rescuers could not find him. He was wearing dark clothing.

Extra help was summoned from multiple agencies in neighbouring areas on Saturday morning, resulting in what the officials called a “large search effort”.

Eventually, the missing man recovered enough phone signal to make an emergency call, and he was located in a gully.

He reported that he had fallen at least 20 times and was left unable to get up.

His rescue ultimately involved technical rope lowers and “phenomenal cooperation and teamwork”, the officials added.

Mr Brady also told the New York Times that the suggestion the hiker had been abandoned by colleagues was overblown.

The man’s health remains unknown after being taken for hospital care. The BBC has contacted Chaffee County Search and Rescue for further comment.

In their statement, they warned people never to hike alone, and to pack bright clothing and essential supplies.

“This hiker was phenomenally lucky to have regained cell service when he did, and to still have enough consciousness and wherewithal to call 911,” they said.

Festivities have begun for the wedding of Norwegian Princess Märtha Louise and her American partner, self-styled shaman Durek Verrett.

Hundreds of guests arrived in the town of Alesund, in western Norway, on Thursday for a “meet and greet” in a historic hotel.

On Friday, they were travelling by sea to the scenic town of Geiranger, on the shores of a fjord designated a Unesco World Heritage Site. The wedding programme says guests will enjoy a “light lunch on the boat while witnessing the majestic mountains and waterfalls”.

The couple will then tie the knot at a private event on Saturday.

Members of the Swedish royal family are said to be attending alongside various social media influencers and TV personalities, including US reality star and model Cynthia Bailey.

According to Norwegian media, guests have been asked not to use mobile phones or cameras during the celebrations and not to post anything on social media.

Princess Märtha Louise, 52, and Mr Verrett, 49, announced their engagement in 2022.

The princess – a former equestrian and the eldest of Norwegian King Harald’s two children – was previously married to the late writer and artist Ari Behn, with whom she had three daughters – Maud, Leah and Emma. The two divorced in 2017. Mr Behn, who had discussed suffering from depression, died on Christmas Day 2019.

Märtha Louise has long attracted controversy in Norway for decades for her involvement in alternative treatments. She lost her honorific “Her Royal Highness” title in 2002 so as to be allowed to start her own business. In 2007, she announced she was clairvoyant and, until 2018, ran a school which she said taught students to “create miracles” and talk to angels.

Last year, Märtha Louise told the BBC’s Katty Kay that there had been so much “turmoil” concerning her decision to take a different path than that of a “traditional royal”.

“There’s been a lot of criticism over the years, especially with me being spiritual – and in Norway, that’s taboo,” she said.

Meanwhile, Mr Verrett says on his site that he is a sixth generation shaman, “servant of god and energy activator” who “demystifies spirituality” through his “no-nonsense teachings”.

In an interview with Vanity Fair magazine, he claimed to have risen from the dead and said that when he was a child a relative had predicted he would one day marry the princess of Norway.

Princess Märtha Louise announced her relationship with Mr Verrett with an Instagram post in 2019. Perhaps hoping to pre-empt potential criticism, she wrote: “To those of you who feel the need to criticise: Hold your horses. It is not up to you to choose for me or to judge me. Shaman Durek is merely a man I love spending my time with and who fulfils me.”

However, many Norwegians have not yet fully accepted Mr Verrett. “They think he has said very strange things and there are many cultural differences,” said royal correspondent for Norway’s NRK TV Kristi Marie Skrede. ”Many people here are very critical of what Mr Verrett says and does in his role as a shaman.”

Despite the couple’s spiritual beliefs, this weekend’s wedding ceremony will follow a more traditional canon, with Parish Priest Margit Lovise Holte officiating according to the Norwegian Church’s wedding liturgy.

When the engagement was first announced, Norway’s state broadcaster NRK reported Mr Verrett would move to Norway and join the royal family without holding a title. He and Märtha Louise have now reportedly bought a house in Norway.

In 2022, the Norwegian palace announced Märtha Louise would “relinquish her patronage role” as she and Mr Verrett sought to “distinguish more clearly between their activities and the Royal House of Norway” and to “prevent misunderstandings regarding the Royal House”.

It added that King Harald had decided she would keep her title but that the princess would not use it in her commercial endeavours.

At the time, King Harald told Norwegian reporters that Mr Verrett was “a great guy” and that the two of them “laughed a lot, even in this difficult time. I think both we and he have gained a greater understanding of what this is about, and we’ve agreed to disagree.”

However, over the summer Märtha Louise came under fire after her name and royal title appeared on the label of a commemorative wedding gin created to mark her nuptials.

Ms Skrede said many Norwegians are “tired of this behaviour”, which some feel shows the princess “disrespects” her father. Beloved King Harald, 88, ascended to the throne in 1991 and is one of Europe’s longest-serving monarchs. In April, plans were announced to reduce his public engagements “out of consideration for his age”.

Locals are also upset that Norwegian media is excluded from covering the wedding as the couple has signed deals with Hello! magazine for exclusive coverage. “This means the public won’t know or see anything about it unless they buy the magazine,” Ms Skrede said.

On Wednesday, it was also revealed that the couple has been working with Netflix for a year on what the streaming giant called an “in-depth and moving documentary” on their relationship.

“We’re going more global and there’s nothing more powerful than the love that fuels us,” Mr Verrett wrote on Instagram.

Princess Märtha Louise is King Harald’s eldest child and fourth in line to the throne. Her younger brother, Crown Prince Haakon, will succeed his father as king.

Noel Gallagher’s daughter has said there is “ageism and the misogyny” from long-time Oasis fans who feel they deserve tickets to the band’s reunion tour more than young women who have discovered them more recently.

Anais Gallagher’s dad has buried the hatchet with her uncle Liam to announce the Britpop giants’ first tour for 15 years.

The 24-year-old posted on TikTok after some fans complained about young people now jumping on the Oasis bandwagon.

Anais wrote: “One thing I won’t stand for is the ageism and the misogyny around people getting tickets.

“Sorry if a 19-year-old girl in a pink cowboy hat wants to be there, I will have my friendship bracelets ready.”

She was responding to a video posted by another user, Josie, who said she had seen people online complaining that “everyone now suddenly loves Oasis”.

“What do you mean everyone suddenly loves them? Everyone has always loved them,” Josie said in the video.

“They’re one of the most famous bands in the whole entire world.”

In a follow-up, she said her video was meant to be “a fun little laugh, and people are getting very, very heated in my comments section”.

She added: “It was just a point in that don’t try and gatekeep Oasis because you can’t gatekeep probably the most famous band to come out of the UK, if we’re disregarding The Beatles and stuff like that, but definitely the most famous Britpop band. You can’t gatekeep them.”

As well as Anais Gallagher’s response, the replies to the original video included one saying: “I don’t think it’s a case of ageism; it’s would just be disappointing if long-time fans miss the chance, because some people who barely know them go for the sake of it – without being fans.”

Another said they went to see Liam Gallagher’s recent solo tour performing Oasis’ debut album Definitely Maybe, and “the amount of people around me that didn’t know half the songs was amazing, while loads of my family that are die-hard fans couldn’t get tickets”.

However, one wrote: “I think it’s actually impossible to be born in Britain and not know Oasis like regardless of age.”

Another said: “Literally the entirety of Britain are Oasis fans.”

Demand for tickets is expected to be huge to see the Gallagher brothers at 17 major outdoor shows in Cardiff, Manchester, London and Edinburgh next summer.

More dates could be added when tickets go on general sale at 09:00 BST on Saturday.

A family’s dream holiday turned into a nightmare when severe sunburn left a 10-year-old boy requiring hospital treatment.

Hector had been enjoying a sunshine break with his loved ones in Cape Verde, when he decided he wanted to enjoy a final few hours of fun by the hotel pool before they left for the airport.

His mother Natalie said their suncream had run out so they purchased an extra bottle of high factor cream at the resort and applied that.

However shortly after leaving the pool, his back and shoulders turned bright red and huge blisters started to appear.

Natalie has decided to speak about Hector’s experience to warn other families going abroad about only using suncreams they know and trust.

Natalie told the BBC the family, from Chilwell, Nottinghamshire, had enjoyed a “fantastic” holiday in the African destination before things turned sour.

She said Hector had been “sprayed from top to toe” with the new suncream before heading out for about two hours to splash around with friends made during the holiday.

She thought the suncream was re-applied about four times during his time outside.

It was only once they had left the hotel and arrived at the airport that it became apparent something was wrong.

“He started to feel tired and he became very red,” Natalie said.

Aloe vera cream and ice wrapped in a towel helped to sooth Hector at the airport and during the flight.

However when they arrived home, things took another turn for the worse.

“When he took his t-shirt off, he’d started to blister,” Natalie said.

“Two of them were about 8cm and full of water. It was the most horrific sight you could see.”

Hector was rushed to hospital where the blisters were popped before his wounds were cleaned under general anaesthetic to prevent infection.

Now heavily bandaged, he is recovering well but the family have been warned they will need to be extra vigilant about his skin over the next two years.

Natalie fears the extra suncream they bought may have been out-of-date, mislabelled or counterfeit, and has warned other holidaymakers to be careful about products they buy abroad.

“I would advise anybody to not buy a suncream you’re not familiar with. Use something you know, use something you trust,” she said.

Sunday Nwose, a plastic surgery registrar at Nottingham’s Children’s Hospital, said his team usually saw about two or three cases of this severity per year.

He agreed with the family that holidaymakers should aim to use sun protection products they are familiar with when they are abroad.

In addition, he suggested limiting how much time was spent in the sun between 11:00 and 16:00, when it has the potential to cause more damage.

An extensive search for an Indian woman who disappeared into a pavement sinkhole in Kuala Lumpur hit a snag on its eighth day, as authorities now say it is “too risky” to continue deploying divers.

The incident has gripped Malaysia, with some 110 rescuers working around the clock this past week in search of Vijaya Lakshmi Gali, 48.

But apart from a pair of slippers found in an initial 17-hour search, their efforts have been unsuccessful.

Two divers who entered via a sewer network at 04:00 local time on Friday (21:00 GMT Thursday) were confronted with strong water currents and hard debris, the Fire and Rescue Department said.

The pair, comprising a firefighter and a sewer worker, also had to “lie flat” as the space was narrow, according to the department’s director-general Nor Hisham Mohammad.

“It was found to be impossible, extremely difficult, to break the solidified [debris] which are like concrete blocks,” he told reporters on Friday.

“Even [when we tried] pulling at them with ropes using up to eight people, [it] was unsuccessful.”

Divers who earlier descended into the sewer in full scuba gear said they had to fight zero visibility and heavy rain.

“When going down into the hole… it was really scary, but this is indeed the duty of a firefighter; we have to overcome the fear and surrender to God,” firefighter Alimaddia Bukri told local newspaper Simar Harian earlier this week.

“It is pitch black in that pipe,” another diver told The Straits Times on Wednesday.

“You don’t want to know what’s in there. It’s full of human waste and other garbage. We decontaminate immediately after each dive.”

Ms Gali, who was visiting from India’s Andhra Pradesh state, was reportedly heading towards a nearby temple with her family when she was swallowed by the 8m (26ft) deep sinkhole on the street of Jalan Masjid India.

Excavators were deployed shortly after the incident to dig up the area around the sinkhole, while rescuers used sniffer dogs and crawler cameras – robotic cameras used to inspect pipes – to get a better sense of what was happening underground.

They have also tried to break apart hardened debris using high-pressure water jets, iron hooks and rope.

On Tuesday, officials wheeled a ground-penetrating radar device onto the site, to help them pinpoint changes in material density underground.

The next day, a second sinkhole appeared just 50m from the first one. A Malaysian geologist, speaking to local newspaper Malaysiakini, attributed it to the ongoing search and rescue operation.

Search efforts in the last few days have focused on clearing a 15m blockage in the sewer lines below Wisma Yakin, an office building about 44m from the first sinkhole.

Reports said the blockage was made of human waste, tyres, hair and solidified used cooking oil, among other things.

Some parts of Jalan Masjid India have been cordoned off as the search continues.

The area, normally popular with tourists, has become unusually quiet in the last few days. Traders have experienced a 50% to 70% drop in sales, with some considering closures to cut their losses, according to local reports.

The Malaysian government has extended the visas for Ms Gali’s family for a month while they await news of her whereabouts. They were due to return to India last Saturday.

Kuala Lumpur’s City Hall has also cancelled National Day celebrations out of respect for the family.

The incident has sparked fear and anger among Malaysians, many of whom are questioning what might have caused the sinkhole.

Authorities said they would carry out an “integrity audit” to determine the cause. An official from the Minerals and Geosciences Department said initial observations suggested it could have been due to a combination of human activities and climate change.

X, formerly Twitter, has been banned in Brazil after failing to meet a deadline set by a Supreme Court judge to name a new legal representative in the country.

Alexandre de Moraes ordered the “immediate and complete suspension” of the social media platform until it complies with all court orders and pays existing fines.

The row began in April, with the judge ordering the suspension of dozens of X accounts for allegedly spreading disinformation.

Reacting to the decision, X owner Elon Musk said: “Free speech is the bedrock of democracy and an unelected pseudo-judge in Brazil is destroying it for political purposes.”

It is the latest in a series of rows involving Mr Musk – he has clashed with the with EU over the regulation of X and earlier this month became embroiled in a war of words with UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer.

The head of Brazil’s telecommunications agency, which has been tasked with suspending the platform, said he is “proceeding with the compliance” to do so, according to Reuters news agency.

The platform is expected to be unavailable in the country within the next 24 hours.

Justice Moraes has given companies such as Apple and Google a five-day deadline to remove X from its application stores and block its use on iOS and Android systems.

He added that people or businesses using means such as VPNs (virtual private network) to access the platform could be fined R$50,000 (£6.7k).

According to the judge’s order, a ban will be in effect until X names a new legal representative in the country and pays fines for violating Brazilian law.

In a previous post from one of its official accounts, X had said it would not comply with the demands.

“Soon, we expect Judge Alexandre de Moraes will order X to be shut down in Brazil – simply because we would not comply with his illegal orders to censor his political opponents,” the post said.

“The fundamental issue at stake here is that Judge de Moraes demands we break Brazil’s own laws. We simply won’t do that.”

Justice Moraes had ordered that X accounts accused of spreading disinformation – many supporters of the former right-wing president Jair Bolsonaro – must be blocked while they are under investigation.

He said the company’s legal representatives would be held liable if any accounts were reactivated.

Meanwhile, the bank accounts of Mr Musk’s satellite internet firm Starlink have been frozen in Brazil following an earlier order by the country’s Supreme Court.

Starlink responded with a post on X which said the “order is based on an unfounded determination that Starlink should be responsible for the fines levied – unconstitutionally – against X.”

Mr Musk also said on X that “SpaceX and X are two completely different companies with different shareholders.”

Starlink is a subsidiary of Mr Musk’s rocket firm SpaceX.

In 2022, the government of then-President Bolsonaro gave Starlink the green light to operate in Brazil.

As South America’s largest country, Brazil and its remote regions in the Amazon have huge potential for Starlink, which specialises in providing internet services to isolated areas.

Justice Moraes gained prominence after his decisions to restrict social media platforms in the country.

He is also investigating Mr Bolsonaro and his supporters for their roles in an alleged attempted coup on 8 January last year.

X is not the first social media company to come under pressure from authorities in Brazil.

Last year, Telegram was temporarily banned over its failure to cooperate with requests to block certain profiles.

Meta’s messaging service Whatsapp also faced temporary bans in 2015 and 2016 for refusing to comply with police requests for user data.

President Volodymyr Zelensky has sacked the commander of Ukraine’s air force, Lt Gen Mykola Oleshchuk, amid debate over the destruction of one of the country’s valuable new F-16 fighter jets.

Mr Zelensky did not give a reason for the dismissal, but in a post to Telegram he said that it was his responsibility to “take care of all our warriors”.

On Monday, one of the US-made F-16 fighter jets delivered earlier this month from Ukraine’s Western allies went down during a barrage of Russian missiles, killing the pilot.

The cause of the crash was not a direct result of an enemy strike, Ukraine said, and Lt Gen Oleshchuk sparred with some politicians over who was to blame for the loss.

In his post to Telegram, Mr Zelensky said he had decided to replace Lt Gen Oleschuk, noting that “at the command level, we must strengthen ourselves and protect our people”.

“I am immensely grateful to all our military pilots, all engineers, all mobile fire group warriors, and all air defence personnel,” Mr Zelensky said.

“To everyone who is truly fighting for Ukraine, for results. And this is just as necessary at the command level, we must strengthen ourselves and protect our people. Protect the personnel, protect all our warriors.”

Ukraine’s air force earlier named the killed pilot as Col Oleksiy Mes.

“He fought heroically his last battle in the skies,” it said, adding that he had shot down three cruise missiles and a drone on 26 August.

Mes, whose call sign was Moonfish, was one of Ukraine’s most experienced pilots. He had been trained abroad for F-16 missions.

Lt Gen Anatolii Kryvonozhko was appointed interim commander of Ukraine’s air force, the army’s general staff said in a statement. The officer previously oversaw the central air command, leading operations in the centre of the country.

He takes charge as officials have clashed over the loss of the F-16 jet, which has ignited fierce debate in Ukraine.

Ukrainian politician Mariana Bezuhla, who sits on a parliamentary defence committee, claimed on Thursday that the jet was downed by Ukraine’s Patriot air defence system.

Mr Oleshchuk responded earlier on Friday that an investigation was under way and no one was hiding anything. He accused Ms Bezuhla of discrediting military leadership and said the time would come for an apology.

After the announcement of his dismissal, Ms Bezuhla posted on social media that truth would prevail.

Around 65 F-16s have been pledged by Nato countries since US President Joe Biden first authorised willing European allies to send them to Ukraine in August 2023.

Mr Zelensky has dismissed multiple military commanders since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.

In February this year, he sacked the commander-in-chief of the country’s armed forces, Valerii Zaluzhnyi.

And in June, he dismissed Lt Gen Yuriy Sodol after public criticism about the top general’s excessive casualties and accusations of incompetence.

Lt Gen Oleshchuk came as Ukraine continues its incursion into Russia’s western Kursk region, which started with a surprise offensive on 6 August.

The commander of Ukraine’s armed forces, Gen Oleksandr Syrskyi, said on Friday his troops had advanced a further 2 km (1.2 miles) into Kursk over the past day.

Also on Friday, a Ukrainian delegation met US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin in Washington.

The head of the Ukrainian president’s office, Andriy Yermak, and Defence Minister Rustem Umerov spoke about the situation on the battlefield, the need for weapons and equipment, and recent attacks on the energy system, the office said.

The Ukrainians said the country needs to strengthen its air defence in order to protect people and critical infrastructure.

In a short time, Indian rapper Hanumankind has rapidly risen as a standout in the country’s burgeoning hip-hop scene. His track Big Dawgs not only topped global charts but also briefly outpaced Kendrick Lamar’s diss track Not Like Us. The BBC explores the rapper’s meteoric rise to fame.

In the video for Big Dawgs, 31-year-old Sooraj Cherukat, also known as Hanumankind, exudes boundless energy.

Shot inside a maut ka kuan (well of death) – a jaw-dropping show where drivers perform gravity-defying stunts inside a giant wooden barrel-like structure – he stomps around the pit as a group of motorists zip past him.

The song, a collaboration with producer Kalmi Reddy and director Bijoy Shetty, has earned over 132 million streams on Spotify and 83 million views on YouTube since its July release, catapulting Cherukat to global fame.

On the outside, Cherukat’s music follows the hip-hop template of delivering hard-edged stories of street life through explicit lyrics and raw prose.

But a closer inspection reveals a rapper, who uses his music to straddle his distinct identities.

Born in the southern Indian state of Kerala, Cherukat spent his childhood crisscrossing the world – mostly because of his father who works with a leading oil company – and has lived in France, Nigeria, Egypt and Dubai.

But he spent his formative years in Houston, Texas – and it was here that his musical career took shape.

Unlike the well-known East and West Coast rap rivalry in the US, Houston also has a distinctive hip-hop culture that stands out in its own right.

In Houston’s hip-hop scene, cough syrup is the drug of choice. Its dizzying effect led to the creation of the “screwed-up” remix, where tracks are slowed down to reflect the syrup’s influence.

Cherukat has often talked about how his music is an implicit nod to Texas hip-hop legends such as DJ Screw, UGK, Big Bunny and Project Pat, who he grew up listening to.

Although their influence is clear in his rap, his style evolved further after he returned to India in 2021 after dropping out of college.

He earned a business degree and worked at firms like Goldman Sachs before realising it wasn’t for him. That’s when he decided to pursue rapping full-time, a passion he had previously only pursued on the side.

Much like his personal life, Cherukat’s music also reflects his effort to shed his cosmopolitan identity and reconnect with his Indian roots.

His songs often boldly explore the struggles of southern Indian street life, blending hard-hitting vocal delivery with catchy rhythms. Occasionally, tabla beats and synthesisers complement his verses.

“We got issues in our nation cause there’s parties at war,” he sneers in a song called Genghis, which was shot in the lanes of Bengaluru, where he lives.

In Big Dawgs, Cherukat offers an alternative to the bling and opulence associated with mainstream rap by ditching flashy cars and choosing to focus on small city stuntmen, who come from poor families and are part of a dying art-form in India.

“These are the people that are the real risk-takers…Those are the big dogs, for real,” he told Complex website.

But even though the combative energy of his music has managed to turn heads, he has received criticism too.

Some feel his songs are less impactful for Indian listeners. Unlike many peers who rap in vernacular languages, Cherukat sings in English, which may limit his resonance with non-English-speaking audiences.

Others criticise him for mimicking Western artists too closely and adopting a tokenistic approach to his Indian identity.

“His song cast Indians and South Asians as serious players in the Western rap scene which is great,” said Abid Haque, a PhD student in New Jersey.

“But he sounds too much like an American rapper lifted out of context into the Indian scene. While the Big Dawgs music video relied on an Indian aesthetic, the lyrics and music feel divorced from an Indian reality,” he added.

It’s a duality that’s, arguably, also found in Cherukat’s own understanding of his work.

On one hand, returning to India has been a way of navigating his sense of belonging: “I think it really moulded me as someone who never really had a place to call home… and that kind of shaped the way I perceive music, people, and culture,” he told Complex.

But he also insists on viewing himself from a wider vantage: “I’m not an Indian rapper, but I’m a rapper from India,” he’s said in earlier interviews, explaining that he places himself outside of the country’s thriving hip-hop scene.

The rapper has faced a barrage of racist comments online for his unique style. Some international listeners struggle to accept that he is from India because he doesn’t “look or sound” like their expectations. Meanwhile, his Indian audience pillories him for the same reasons, wishing he conformed more to their image of Indian identity.

But it is this exact placelessness of his work that fans have come to love so much.

To them, he is a genre-hopping street poet who took the old hip hop traditions he grew up with and injected it with fresh social commentary.

“He isn’t trying to cater to an Indian audience, which shows in his music and he is unapologetic about it,” said Arnab Ghosh, a psychiatrist based in Delhi who recently discovered Hanumankind through Big Dawgs.

“When I listen to his music it can be from anywhere in the world. That sort of universality is appealing to me.”

Overcoming expectations of what a South Asian rapper can achieve and establishing himself on his own terms might be Cherukat’s greatest triumph – and challenge.

As he once said: “You keep certain things as your roots, but it’s up to you to adapt to the environment and go with the flow, as long as you don’t compromise on integrity.”

Donald Trump has said he will vote against a ballot measure in his home state of Florida that would protect abortion rights after facing backlash from conservative supporters.

The former president’s announcement came one day after an NBC News interview in which he appeared to support the measure – a statement that caused anti-abortion activists to openly criticise him.

On Friday, Trump told Fox News that he still thinks Florida’s ban on abortions after six weeks is too strict.

However he said would still vote “no” on a measure that would amend the state’s constitution to protect abortion rights.

“You need more time than six weeks,” Trump said. “I’ve disagreed with that right from the early primaries when I heard about it.”

He then falsely alleged that Democrats in the US supported allowing abortions at any point during a pregnancy, which he used as his explanation for deciding to vote against the ballot measure in Florida as a voter in the state.

Abortion laws vary widely in states across the US, but procedures after 21 weeks of pregnancy are rare and are often related to foetal anomalies or threats to the mother’s life, according to the non-profit health organisation KFF.

The Republican presidential nominee’s decision to vote against the Florida abortion measure comes just one day after he was asked by NBC News how he would vote.

“I think the six week is too short,” Trump said in the interview on Thursday. “It has to be more time. I told them that I want more weeks.”

“I am going to be voting that we need more than six weeks,” he said when pressed.

His Democratic opponent, Vice-President Kamala Harris, quickly responded to Trump’s announcement that he would support continuing Florida’s abortion ban as indicative of him continuing his anti-abortion stance.

“Donald Trump just made his position on abortion very clear: He will vote to uphold an abortion ban so extreme it applies before many women even know they are pregnant,” she said in a statement.

Thursday’s comments – in which Trump appeared to be open to voting in favour of the constitutional amendment – were heavily criticised by leaders in the anti-abortion movement, which plays a critical role in shaping conservative politics in the US.

“If Donald Trump loses, today is the day he lost,” conservative pundit Erick Erickson wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

“The committed pro-life community could turn a blind eye, in part, to national abortion issues. But for Trump to weigh in on Florida as he did will be a bridge too far for too many.”

Albert Mohler Jr, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, wrote on X that Trump’s comments on reproductive rights, including on the six-week ban, “seem almost calculated to alienate prolife voters”.

“Pro-life Christian voters are going to have to think clearly, honestly, and soberly about our challenge in this election – starting at the top of the ticket,” he said.

After the Thursday NBC interview, the Trump campaign and his running mate JD Vance made public statements emphasising that the former president had not yet made up his mind on the ballot initiative.

Mr Vance said the former president will “make his own announcement on how he’s going to vote” on the Florida measure that will be based on “his own judgement”.

Trump has criticised Florida’s six-week abortion ban before.

Last September he said Florida Governor Ron DeSantis made a “terrible mistake” signing the ban into law.

Mr DeSantis was challenging the former president in the Republican primary at the time.

Responding to Trump’s comments, the Harris campaign made clear that they would make abortion rights central to their election effort.

Kevin Munoz, a campaign spokesperson, told reporters that they would continue to frame it around the concept of freedom, a campaign theme: “Kamala Harris is going to fight for your rights. Donald Trump will take them away.”

In 2022, the US Supreme Court struck down the right to abortion nationwide, leaving the decision to states. As a result, Florida banned abortion after six weeks of pregnancy.

The proposed constitutional amendment sought by reproductive rights advocates in Florida does not specify a number of weeks, but would protect abortion access in the state until the point of foetal viability, which is about 23-25 weeks of pregnancy.

As it stands, the state has a near-total ban on abortion, as many women do not know they are pregnant at six weeks.

Opinion polling indicates that a majority of Americans support abortion access.

A July poll from the University of North Florida suggested that 69% of likely voters supported the Florida ballot measure, and 23% opposed it.

The political backlash after the Supreme Court brought an end to Roe v Wade has presented Trump with a political conundrum he has yet to fully solve.

Trump rose to power with the help of the religious right, which broadly supports restrictions on the procedure.

In his first run for president, he pledged to appoint Supreme Court justices who would overturn the constitutional right to abortion in the US.

He kept the promise by appointing three conservative jurists who ultimately voted to overturn Roe v Wade.

Trump has taken the position in his 2024 campaign that abortion policy should be left to individual states, which has put him at odds with many conservatives who seek to restrict the procedure nationwide.

Nevertheless, rank-and-file party members fell in line behind the former president at the Republican National Convention in July.

Further complicating Trump’s standing is his new proposal to make the government or insurance companies pay for in-vitro fertilisation (IVF).

Some anti-abortion and religious groups object to IVF due to its use of embryos.

Kamala Harris’s apparent reluctance to give an extended broadcast interview meant that her sit-down with CNN on Thursday night assumed an exaggerated significance. And placed her under greater scrutiny.

It was not a strong start.

Initially, Ms Harris struggled to lay out what she would do on day one of the job, talking in sweeping generalisations about creating an opportunity economy and trying to lower the cost of living.

Ms Harris has been prone to giving complex, detailed and often confusing answers. Her opponents like to mock her “word salads”. This wasn’t a major issue in this interview, but she will need to craft a more concise explanation of how she intends to make life more affordable for ordinary, working Americans if she wants her message on the economy to land.

Throughout the interview, which she did along with her vice-presidential pick Tim Walz, Ms Harris appeared calm and confident. And, crucially, didn’t score any own goals.

Asked about her shifting positions on some key policies since she last ran for president in 2019, Ms Harris said her values had not changed – before confirming that she no longer supports a ban on fracking for natural gas or decriminalising illegal immigration.

And when addressing Republicans’ claim that she is soft on border issues, she pointed to her previous experience as a prosecutor in California. It is experience that Ms Harris often leans on, including in her attacks on Donald Trump, whose criminal conviction she frequently points out.

“I’m the only person who has prosecuted transnational criminal organisations who are trafficking guns, drugs and human beings,” she told CNN’s Dana Bash. “I’m the only person in this race who actually served a border state as attorney general to enforce our laws.”

Immigration and the southern border is potentially Ms Harris’s greatest liability in this election. It is an issue many voters care about passionately right across the country – and one on which the Biden administration has had little to boast about given the high numbers of undocumented immigrants at the US southern border.

Joe Biden specifically tasked Ms Harris with addressing the “root causes” of Central American immigration. Republicans have used that brief to claim she was the “border tsar”, and therefore responsible for the record high rates of illegal border crossings in recent years.

When pressed on the issue, Ms Harris told CNN on Thursday that she would resurrect a recent border security bill that was agreed in congress but scuppered by Trump, who told Republicans not to support it. The former president was worried it would damage him politically if the Biden administration was seen to be taking action on immigration.

In reality, that move provided Democrats with a convenient talking point when challenged about why it has taken them so long to illegal border crossings. Ms Harris said she would push that legislation again and make sure it came to her desk so she could sign it.

As she continues to campaign over the coming weeks before the election on 5 November, Ms Harris will have to walk a careful line. Does she talk up her role in the Biden administration? Or present herself as a candidate for change who represents the future not the past?

• SIMPLE GUIDE: Everything you need to know about the vote
• ANALYSIS: Harris campaign light on policy so far
• EXPLAINER: Seven swing states that could decide election
• THIRD-PARTY: Will RFK Jr backing Trump make a difference?
• VOTERS: What young Democrats want from Harris

On Thursday, she was scrupulously loyal to President Biden and did not try to distance herself from his policies. The problem is that if she wants to take credit for lowering the cost of prescription drugs for pensioners, for example, then she also risks taking the blame for high inflation. It is tricky territory.

The Harris campaign often uses the phrase “we’re not going back”. And in this interview, while she was loyal to Mr Biden, she also repeatedly said it was time to “turn the page on the last decade”.

She then had to explain that she meant a decade of bitterness and division, not the last three and a half years of the Biden-Harris administration when she has been in power.

It was a moment that deftly illustrated the challenge Ms Harris faces in presenting herself as a candidate of change.

As Trump has struggled to find a consistent line of attack against Ms Harris, he has resorted to insults. He questioned her racial identity when he said at a recent event that “she happened to turn black and now she wants to be known as black”.

Given a chance to respond directly to that on Thursday, Ms Harris shrugged it off. She said her opponent was using “the same old, tired playbook”. It is almost certainly a deliberate strategy not to engage with Trump’s personal attacks on the first female candidate of colour to be the presidential nominee for one of the major parties.

Ms Harris does not talk about shattering the glass ceiling in the way Hillary Clinton did in 2016. And she says very little about the historic nature of a black woman running for president. She told CNN that she in the race because she believes she is the best person to do the job – regardless of race and gender

Trump, meanwhile, posted his one-word verdict of the interview on his social media platform – “BORING”.

The Harris campaign will have taken that as high praise. After all, her most important job was to ensure she did not give Republicans any new ammunition to use against her.

During a pivotal debate in the 2020 US presidential election, one candidate seemed to dominate the stage. They interrupted their rivals at strategic moments, sometimes speaking over them.

They directly confronted an opponent, Joe Biden, generating headlines for days and had critics questioning whether they had breached some sort of unspoken political decorum.

That candidate, however, wasn’t Donald Trump. It was Kamala Harris.

On 10 September, Ms Harris will once again take to the debate stage. But this time, having gone one step further than 2020 by becoming the Democratic candidate for president, she will face Trump in a showdown that poses the toughest challenge of her campaign so far.

Debates have played a major role in Ms Harris’s political career, from her run for California attorney general to her ascent to the vice-presidency. In watching four of her key debates back, it is clear that Ms Harris knows when to seize the spotlight, but also when to stand by as a rival administers a self-inflicted blow.

Ms Harris will be hoping to utilise these instincts against the notoriously combative Trump. Her campaign will also want to dispel longstanding concerns about her political messaging skills that began with her failed run for the White House in 2020, and were only heightened by her fumbling some interviews in recent years.

There is no room for error given how these events are defined by viral clips, so it is just as important for the Harris campaign that she avoids stumbling as it is for her to land a highlight-reel blow.

“She needs to hold her own,” said Aimee Allison, founder of She The People, an organisation that supports women of colour in politics. “And she needs to communicate on the debate stage what she’s fighting for.”

In her earliest debate appearances, Ms Harris found success by letting her opponents dismantle themselves.

In a 2010 debate for the position of California attorney general, moderators asked Ms Harris and her Republican opponent Steve Cooley about a controversial practice known as double-dipping, which allows a public official to draw from their government salary as well as a pension.

“Do you plan to double-dip by taking both a pension and your salary as attorney general?” a moderator asked the candidates.

“Yes, I do,” Mr Cooley replied. “I earned it.”

For a while, Ms Harris said nothing as he defended his position.

“Go for it, Steve,” she eventually retorted. “You earned it!”

Ms Harris’s campaign swifty cut the moment into an advertisement they used to hammer Mr Cooley as out of touch. She won the election by a razor-thin margin.

And during a 2016 debate for a California US Senate seat, Ms Harris’s opponent inexplicably punctuated her closing statement with a dab – a dance move that was popular at the time.

Ms Harris, who looked taken aback, waited a few beats before quipping: “So, there’s a clear difference between the candidates in this race.”

Voters again backed Ms Harris.

Both examples demonstrate Ms Harris’s eye for opportunity on the debate stage, as well as a sense for knowing when it is best to step back. “I think she is someone who uses silence incredibly well,” said Maya Rupert, a Democratic strategist who worked on Julián Castro and Elizabeth Warren’s 2020 presidential campaigns.

As she entered the national stage, Ms Harris proved adept at claiming the floor for herself, even amid a crowded field. One of her tried-and-tested tactics involves openly declaring her intention to speak, compelling her opponents – and the audience – to listen.

The 2020 vice-presidential debate is remembered primarily for one line she directed at Mike Pence as he began to interrupt: “Mr Vice-President, I’m speaking.”

And just weeks ago – illustrating that the riposte was more than a one-off – Ms Harris used the same line on Gaza protesters who interrupted her rally in Detroit. “I’m speaking now,” she told them. “If you want Donald Trump to win, then say that. Otherwise, I’m speaking.”

“She’s using something that a lot of black women have used effectively, which is to insist on their time, and to insist to be heard,” said Ms Allison. “She’s very effective in making sure that she is heard, and respected.”

• SIMPLE GUIDE: Everything you need to know about the vote
• ANALYSIS: Harris campaign light on policy so far
• EXPLAINER: Seven swing states that could decide election
• THIRD-PARTY: Will RFK Jr backing Trump make a difference?
• VOTERS: What young Democrats want from Harris

But perhaps her most memorable debate moment came in 2019, when Ms Harris, then a US senator, stopped all crosstalk during the Democratic primary debate in Miami to challenge Mr Biden over his past position on a policy known as bussing.

She criticised Mr Biden for working with lawmakers who opposed the Civil Rights Era policy of transporting students to schools in different neighbourhoods in an effort to address racial segregation.

“There was a little girl in California who was part of the second class to integrate her public schools, and she was bussed to school every day,” Ms Harris said.

She paused for effect before telling Mr Biden: “And that little girl was me.”

Nina Smith, who was the travelling press secretary for presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg at the time, said the moment made rival campaigns sit up and pay attention.

“What it showed us as a team is if she sees an opening she’s going to go after it,” Ms Smith recalled to the BBC. “I think it made her a rather skilled debater in that regard. It’s definitely something we watched out for, any sort of unexpected punch that could come from Senator Harris at the time.”

“It showed that prosecutorial ability… to really highlight weaknesses in her opponents,” she said.

By the end of the debate, Ms Harris had spoken more than any other candidate except Mr Biden. Her campaign announced it raised $2 million in 24 hours after the debate.

But despite the breakthrough moment and subsequent surge in the polls, Ms Harris later struggled to articulate her own position on bussing. It only served to underscore the concerns with her messaging and ability to articulate a consistent policy position.

The episode was one of many messaging stumbles Ms Harris made that ultimately sank her first presidential bid. Her failure to articulate a consistent policy agenda was one of the most common reasons cited, and it is an issue she needs to clarify quickly at the debate when she will almost certainly be pressed on policy specifics.

Republicans have circulated clips of Ms Harris’ public remarks for years to ridicule her speaking style and cast her as inept. She has used verbose phrases when speaking off the cuff, and while a few turns of phrase have been embraced by her supporters, opponents have often criticised her for a lack of clarity.

In a recent CNN interview, her first since becoming the nominee, she gave an answer on climate change which illustrated the issue. “It is an urgent matter to which we should apply metrics that include holding ourselves to deadlines around time,” Ms Harris said.

On a debate stage, however, speaking time is limited and clarity of message is crucial.

The looming debate on ABC News will be her biggest chance yet to reset public opinion, and past debates show that Ms Harris often brings a sharp toolkit to these events and is able to land blows.

But the pressure of those past debates will pale in comparison to the stakes when she comes face-to-face with Trump for the first time.

Even for the most experienced politicians, Trump presents a formidable challenge, the strategists agreed. In a 2016 debate against his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, he famously stalked her around the stage, drawing all attention to him even when it was her turn to answer.

His first 2020 presidential debate against Mr Biden devolved into an unintelligible melee when Trump kept interrupting. At one point, Mr Biden grew so irritated he snapped: “Will you shut up, man?”

“Donald Trump is a unique and special case in that you never really know what’s coming,” said Ms Smith, who has prepared Democratic candidates for debates. “During debate prep, I would not allow her to get comfortable, in order for her to develop some sort of instinct, or callousness, to anything that could come up.”

Ms Harris, a former prosecutor, is skilled at back-and-forth exchanges on the debate stage. It is something she has also demonstrated during heated Senate hearings when she has grilled Trump officials and Supreme Court nominees.

But the format of the upcoming ABC debate may limit her ability to flex her prosecutorial skills, as the microphones will reportedly be muted when it is the other person’s turn to speak.

This likely means, based on the Biden-Trump debate in June which had the same rules, that she will be fielding tricky questions from moderators as opposed to clashing with Trump.

And when Ms Harris is on the end of prosecutorial questions, as opposed to giving them, she has floundered in the past, such as in a notorious 2021 interview with NBC News’ Lester Holt in which she struggled when pressed on the issue of illegal immigration.

One pitfall that Ms Rupert could envision for the Harris camp is their candidate being drawn into a lengthy debate over facts with Trump. That could muddle the debate for voters, and leave viewers with an impression that he has dominated the conversation.

She suggested a third tactic for Ms Harris to add to her arsenal – not to prosecute, or remain silent, but to ignore.

“She has an important opportunity here to get her point across,” Ms Rupert said, “And not be overly burdened by what he is doing next to her.”

North America correspondent Anthony Zurcher makes sense of the race for the White House in his weekly US Election Unspun newsletter. Readers in the UK can sign up here. Those outside the UK can sign up here.

Oasis have issued a warning against reselling tickets to their comeback tour, after some were listed for thousands of pounds within minutes of a pre-sale.

A limited number of fans were able to buy the first batch of tickets during a three-hour window on Friday evening.

Shortly after, tickets were being listed online for more than £6,000 – around 40 times the face value of a standing ticket.

Oasis urged people not to resell tickets at higher prices on websites not linked to their promoter, and said they would be “cancelled”.

Fans who missed out on pre-sale tickets will be attempting to secure their place at the band’s reunion concerts during Saturday’s general sale, which starts at 09:00 BST in the UK and 08:00 in Ireland.

Consumer law expert Lisa Webb from Which? told BBC News fans should be strongly advised “against buying any of the resale tickets currently popping up online at inflated prices”.

“Not only is there a chance that some of these listings could be scam attempts, but even legitimate tickets could be cancelled, rendering them invalid, if they are sold outside of the official resale platforms or at above face value,” she said.

Meanwhile, Adam Webb, campaign manager at FanFair Alliance, which was set up to help customers and artists tackle the issue of ticket touting, called on ministers to act.

“We need some action from government, ” he told the BBC.

“Sir Keir Starmer made an announcement in March, suggesting that Labour – if they came into power – would cap resell price. That’s something we hope they’re going to move ahead with.”

In that speech, the prime minister said access to culture could not be “at the mercy of ruthless ticket touts who drive up the prices”.

Soon after Friday’s pre-sale began, ticket listings appeared on resale websites like StubHub and Viagogo, including:

• £6,000 for Oasis’s show at Wembley Stadium in London on 26 July
• Between £916 and £4,519 for the first concert of the tour at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium on 4 July
• Over £4,000 for standing tickets at Edinburgh’s Murrayfield Stadium on 12 August
• More than £2,500 for the band’s homecoming concert at Manchester’s Heaton Park on 12 July

Ahead of the pre-sale, promoters said standing tickets will cost about £150, while standard seated tickets range from £73 to about £205. Prices for official premium packages go up to £506.

About 1.4 million tickets are expected to be available for the 17 outdoor concerts in the UK and Ireland next July and August.

Oasis intervened on Friday evening while the pre-sale was still ongoing, issuing a statement which read: “We have noticed people attempting to sell tickets on the secondary market since the start of the pre-sale.

“Please note, tickets can ONLY be resold, at face value, via Ticketmaster and Twickets.

“Tickets sold in breach of the terms and conditions will be cancelled by the promoters.”

Oasis’s promoters had issued a similar warning prior to the pre-sale, saying tickets sold through “unauthorised resale platforms” will breach terms and conditions and “may be cancelled”.

Meanwhile, Viagogo issued a statement in which it said “resale is legal in the UK” and insisted the platform was “fully compliant with all UK laws and regulations”.

The company said that listing tickets on its platform was permitted once they become available to the public – including following a pre-sale event.

“We oppose anti-competitive actions taken by event organisers to restrict purchasing and resale options to certain platforms in an attempt to control the market as they ultimately harm fans by limiting their choice”, its statement continued, claiming such action leads to a “surge in scams.”

StubHub have also been contacted for comment.

On Thursday, Oasis’s promoters said there had been “unprecedented demand” for the ballot to enter the pre-sale, and added three extra dates to the 14 that were initially announced.

Hundreds of people who managed to secure a ticket ahead of Saturday’s general sale celebrated on social media.

“I’m actually going to see my favourite band of all time! Didn’t think I’d ever see this,” wrote one user.

Another said: “I have two very excited daughters. Almost got deafened by the screaming when the purchase was verified.”

One said he had secured tickets to the opening night of the tour and joked: “They should still be together then”.

To enter the ballot, fans had to say who the band’s original drummer was and were offered the options of Chris Sharrock, Alan White and the correct answer, Tony McCarroll, who played with the band from their formation until 1995. Entrants were also asked how many times they had seen the band.

On Tuesday, Noel and Liam Gallagher announced that they had put their acrimonious split behind them, confirming the band’s long-awaited reunion.

The move came 15 years after the group disbanded following a backstage brawl at the Rock en Seine festival in Paris.

As anticipation for the gigs builds, sales and streams of the band’s back catalogue have surged, with three albums going back into the top five of the UK charts on Friday.

Greatest hits collection Time Flies is at number three, 1995’s What’s The Story Morning Glory is at four, and debut Definitely Maybe – released on 29 August 1994 – is in fifth place.

A 30th anniversary edition of Definitely Maybe was released on Friday.

Oasis were formed in Manchester in 1991 – their original line-up comprised of Liam and Noel Gallagher, guitarist Paul “Bonehead” Arthurs, bassist Paul “Guigsy” McGuigan and drummer Tony McCarroll.

The band officially split in 2009 after an altercation backstage at the Rock en Seine festival in Paris.

“Sending money back home or to your extended family is such a common African practice that I absolutely hate,” said Kenyan influencer Elsa Majimbo earlier this month in a now-deleted TikTok rant that sparked a furious debate on social media.

The 23-year-old, who shot to fame during the covid pandemic with her comedic videos, touched a nerve when it came to discussing with her 1.8 million followers what is known as “black tax”.

This is when black Africans who achieve a modicum of success, whether at home or abroad, find themselves having to support less well-off family members.

Giving back is seen as an intrinsic part of the African philosophy of ubuntu, which stresses the importance of the family and community, rather than the individual.

The question for many is whether this is an unnecessary and unwelcome burden or part of a community obligation to help pull others up.

But Ms Majimbo, now based in the US, is pushing back against the practice.

In the video she said her father had supported members of the extended family for years and now they were looking to her for help. She turned her anger on one particular unnamed relative.

“You’ve been asking my dad for money since before I was born. I was born, I was raised, I grew up, now you’re asking me for money – you lazy [expletive]. I’m not feeding your habits.”

While some have agreed, others have taken issue with her position. It is not clear why the video was removed from TikTok and Ms Majimbo’s management team declined the BBC’s request for comment.

But for many, regardless of what they might personally think, it is just not possible to refuse to help relatives because of the sense of community in which they were raised.

There can be a sense of pride in helping take care of the family although it can become too much.

A former teacher in Zimbabwe in her 50s, who asked to remain anonymous, told the BBC that 30 years ago almost her entire first pay cheque of 380 Zimbabwe dollars went straight to her nine siblings.

“After I finished buying [school] uniforms, clothes and groceries, I had $20 left,” she told the BBC in a voice that suggested both honour and annoyance.

Although this meant she had to buy food on credit, she said that as the eldest child it was expected she would hand over cash the moment she began to start earning.

Her salary did not belong to her alone but to her family as well.

When she got married, her responsibilities extended even further. At one point, she had to take out a loan to pay her brother-in-law’s tuition fees after she was pickpocketed on her way to deposit a cheque at the bank. It took her two years to pay off.

Sandra Ajalo, a 28-year-old hairstylist in Uganda, is grateful for the help that relatives extended to her family when she was growing up.

Ms Ajalo and her three siblings were raised by a single mother and relatives assisted her with various things, from paying school fees, to groceries and even medical expenses.

“It’s not a burden, it’s a communal helping,” she told the BBC.

But when she saw Ms Majimbo’s video she understood where the social media star was coming from, especially as the Ugandan was now in a position to help other family members.

“It can be straining, it can be frustrating, but we need it. No man is an island. We have to help each other however we can.”

Dr Chipo Dendere, an assistant professor in Africana studies at Wellesley College in the US, argues that the necessity of “black tax” is rooted in colonialism.

The system of oppression that concentrated resources in the hands of the colonial power or a tiny minority of settlers made it impossible for the majority to accumulate assets.

This “left many black families with no generational wealth”, Prof Dendere said.

In many cases, after independence, rather than being upended, the inequalities were replicated.

Dr Dendere added that the payment of “black tax” can often become a “never-ending cycle” as the money sent to family members often only temporarily plugs a hole which will later re-open.

Another factor is that, unlike in richer countries, many African states are unable to pay for healthcare beyond the basics, a decent pension or cover tuition fees. As a result it falls on the most well-off in a family to fork out for these expenses, Dr Dendere said.

“There is no pension fund from the state – we are the pension. Families are stepping in to do the job of the government.

“We give because of ubuntu. We are forced to take care of each other.”

In 2023, funds sent home by African migrants amounted to about $95bn (£72bn), according to the International Fund for Agricultural Development, which is almost the size of the Kenyan economy.

For Africans abroad the strain can be even greater as people expect more due to a belief that those overseas make a lot of money.

Gabe Mutseyekwa, 35, is a Zimbabwean man who has lived in Germany for over five years. He put his foot down and told his family he would stop sending monthly payments because it was preventing him from saving up for his own future.

His family did not react well – but they eventually came around.

“They realised that I was all alone and I needed to make something of myself,” he said.

At one point he sent home about €2,000 ($2,200; £1,700) for a family emergency when he was still a student doing part-time jobs.

“There needs to be a balance between bearing this financial responsibility and your personal financial health,” he told the BBC.

Many people have noted that family members can feel a sense of entitlement to your money especially when the person is rich.

This particularly irked former Nigerian footballer Mikel John Obi. Last year, he spoke about “black tax” during his appearance on the Rio Ferdinand Presents podcast.

“When you come from Africa, when you make money, it’s not your money. It’s not just your money. You have all these relatives, cousins, whatever you call it,” he said.

He added that relatives kept having so many kids and expected him to take care of them.

While not everyone agreed with Elsa Majimbo’s rant, it seems to have touched a nerve, especially among the younger generation.

But Dr Dendere argues that unless Africa can truly develop, “black tax will be here in perpetuity”.

• PODCAST: The ‘black tax’ debate
• LISTEN: Elsa Majimbo: life beyond social media
• Should I stay or should I go? The dilemma for young Nigerians
• African brain drain: ‘90% of my friends want to leave’

Ukraine has urged Mongolia to arrest Russian President Vladimir Putin ahead of his visit to the country next week, his first to an International Criminal Court (ICC) member state since the body issued a warrant for his arrest.

The court alleges Mr Putin is responsible for war crimes, saying he failed to stop the unlawful deportation of children from Ukraine to Russia since the conflict began.

An ICC spokesperson told the BBC that Mongolian officials “have the obligation” to abide by ICC regulations, but clarified that this did not necessarily mean an arrest had to take place.

The Kremlin said it had “no worries” about the visit, which is slated to take place next Tuesday.

“We have an excellent rapport with our partners from Mongolia,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters in Moscow.

“Of course, all aspects of the president’s visit have been carefully prepared.”

Dr Fadi el-Abdallah, a spokesperson for the ICC, told the BBC on Friday that court States Parties – including Mongolia – “have the obligation to cooperate in accordance with the Chapter IX of the Rome Statute” – the agreement which set up the court.

The agreement says in some circumstances, states may be exempted from the obligation to carry out an arrest where they would be forced to “breach a treaty obligation” with another state or where it would violate “diplomatic immunity of a person or property of a third state”.

“In case of non-cooperation, ICC judges may make a finding to that effect and inform the Assembly of States Parties of it. It is then for the Assembly to take any measure it deems appropriate,” Dr el-Abdallah said.

The court alleged last year that the Russian president was responsible for war crimes, focusing on the unlawful deportation of children from Ukraine to Russia. It has also issued a warrant for the arrest of Russia’s commissioner for children’s rights, Maria Lvova-Belova, for the same crimes.

It said the crimes were committed in Ukraine from 24 February 2022 – when Russia launched its full-scale invasion.

Moscow has previously denied the allegations and labelled the warrants as “outrageous”.

The ICC has no powers to arrest suspects, and can only exercise jurisdiction within its member countries.

Ukraine’s foreign ministry said it hoped Mongolia was “aware of the fact that Vladimir Putin is a war criminal” and called on the country’s authorities to arrest the Russian leader and hand him over to prosecutors at The Hague, the seat of the ICC in the Netherlands.

The BBC has approached the Mongolian embassy in London for comment.

Last year, Mr Putin cancelled a visit to a summit in South Africa following the ICC warrant for his arrest.

As a signatory to the court, South Africa should detain suspects in its territory, but President Ramaphosa warned Russia would see this as a declaration of war.

Mr Ramaphosa said the decision for the Russian leader to not attend was “mutual”.

The BBC has contacted the Mongolian Embassy for a comment.