China and the Philippines have accused each other of ramming coast guard vessels in a disputed area of the South China Sea.

The Philippines has claimed a Chinese ship “directly and intentionally rammed” into its vessel, while Beijing has accused the Philippines of “deliberately” crashing into a Chinese ship.

Saturday’s collision near the Sabina Shoal is the latest in a long-running – and escalating – row between the two countries over various islands and zones in the South China Sea.

Within the past two weeks, there have been at least three other incidents in the same area involving ships belonging to the two countries.

The Sabina Shoal, claimed by China as Xianbin Jiao and as Escoda Shoal by the Philippines, is located some 75 nautical miles from the Philippines’ west coast and 630 nautical miles from China.

The South China Sea is a major shipping route through which $3 trillion worth of trade passes through a year. Beijing claims almost all of the South China Sea, including parts claimed by the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam.

Following the latest clash, China’s coast guard called on the Philippines to withdraw from the Sabina Shoal while pledging to “resolutely thwart all acts of provocation, nuisance and infringement”.

The Philippines coast guard said it would not move its vessel – the Teresa Magbanua – “despite the harassment, the bullying activities and escalatory action of the Chinese coast guard”.

There were no casualties following the crash but Philippines Coast Guard Commodore Jay Tarriela said that the 97-meter (318-feet) Teresa Magbanua had sustained some damage after being hit “several times” by the Chinese ship.

The US ambassador to the Phillipines, MaryKay L Carlson, criticised what she called China’s dangerous actions in the region.

“The US condemns the multiple dangerous violations of international law by the [People’s Republic of China], including today’s intentional ramming of the BRP Teresa Magbanua while it was conducting lawful operations within the[Philippines] EEZ.” she wrote in a post to X.

“We stand with the Philippines in upholding international law.”

China has repeatedly blamed the Philippines and its ally the US for the escalating tensions. Last week, a defence ministry spokesperson said Washington was “emboldening” Manila to make “reckless provocations”.

Observers worry the dispute could eventually spark a larger confrontation in the South China Sea.

A previous attempt by the Philippines to get the United Nations to arbitrate ended with the decision that China had no lawful claims within its so-called nine dash line, the boundary it uses to claim a large swathe of the South China Sea. Beijing has refused to recognise the ruling.

But in recent weeks both countries have made an attempt to de-escalate the immediate conflicts out at sea.

Last month they agreed to allow the Philippines to restock the outpost in the Second Thomas Shoal with food, supplies and personnel. Since then this has taken place with no reported clashes.

The Oasis comeback tour shows have started to sell out for some dates after fans have been scrambling to secure tickets.

Ticketmaster’s Irish site said tickets to see the band at Dublin’s Croke Park on two dates in August next year have sold out.

Thousands of people are still trying to access three websites – Ticketmaster, See Tickets and Gigsandtours – for tickets for the UK dates, with some sites now warning “inventory is low”.

“Dynamic pricing” on Ticketmaster, where prices rise in line with demand, has now set some remaining tickets to around £355 plus fees – up from £135 when the sale began.

Tens of thousands have been waiting in Ticketmaster’s queues to obtain tickets.

Earlier this week standing price tickets for Cardiff, London and Edinburgh were advertised as £135 plus fees. But angry fans on social said they noted “in demand” pricing on Ticketmaster had increased prices to £355 plus fees.

Ticketmaster say they do not set ticket prices.

A link on the ticketing website states: “Promoters and artists set ticket prices. Prices can be either fixed or market-based. Market-based tickets are labelled as ‘Platinum’ or ‘In Demand’.”

Ticketmaster confirmed that fans don’t get anything else for the price increase.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) told the BBC it could not pass comment on Ticketmaster’s pricing in this instance.

“We encourage anyone with concerns to get in touch with us and we’d carefully assess whether there were any grounds for action,” an ASA spokesperson said.

But they added: “Our rules (the Advertising Codes) are clear – quoted prices must not mislead.”

Within minutes of the sale starting on Saturday morning, some people looking for tickets for gigs at London’s Wembley Stadium in July and August found more than one million people ahead of them in the booking queue.

Others were put into what they described as a “queue for the queue” with all three ticket sellers redirecting people to a page saying their websites were experiencing high demand.

Tickets were on sale from 09:00 BST and an hour earlier for Ireland, where some also reported issues accessing the Ticketmaster website.

Some people trying to buy tickets have reported being kicked out of the queue after being accused of being a “bots”, which are automated computer programs set up to buy tickets for popular events.

They were told they were bots after waiting in the queue for more than two hours.

Ticketmaster’s website called for patience from fans, posting a message which read: “As expected Oasis is incredibly popular. We’re processing orders as quickly as possible so please keep your place in line.”

In a separate statement, the company said the queue was “moving along”, reporting millions of people were accessing their website.

“Fans are advised to hold their place in line, make sure they’re only using one tab, clear cookies, and ensure they aren’t using any VPN software on their device”, Ticketmaster added.

A later message said: “Tickets for Oasis are still available, but inventory is now limited and not all ticket prices are available.”

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

The group disbanded 15 years ago following a backstage brawl between the brothers at the Rock en Seine festival in Paris.

On Friday, shortly after a three-hour pre-sale for a limited number of fans began, tickets for the UK gigs were being listed on resale websites like StubHub and Viagogo for more than £6,000 – around 40 times the face value of a standing ticket.

They included:

• £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

Standing tickets for the shows 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.

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

It added that they could only be resold at face value on the websites Ticketmaster and Twickets.

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

Meanwhile, Viagogo issued a statement in which it said “resale is legal in the UK”.

Cris Miller, Viagogo global managing director, said “fans are always protected by our guarantee that they will receive their tickets”.

He added: “Demand will be at its peak when tickets hit the on-sale but it’s not a normal reflection of what tickets can and will go for.”

A consultation into ticket resale prices and “rip off” touts will be launched in the Autumn, the government has said.

The Department of Business and Trade (DBT) said it is looking to “introduce protections to prevent people from being ripped off by touts, and to put fans back at the heart of music”.

“Everyone deserves a fair chance to see their favourite artists live, but for too long fans have been taken advantage of”, a DBT spokesperson said.

Labour had previously pledged to cap the resale prices of tickets and regulate resale platforms if it won the general election.

There was joy for some fans who managed to get tickets.

Nayat Karakose, 41, from Istanbul got two tickets to see the band in Wembley in the pre-sale on Friday.

She told the BBC that when she found out she got the tickets, she said she felt “supersonic”.

“My heart was beating, I was super, super excited, I couldn’t believe it for the moment. I thought I’d have to pay a couple of thousands pounds,” she said.

Ms Karakose has been a fan since she was 13 and this will be her third time seeing the band live.

Six years ago she met Liam Gallagher in Istanbul and got a photograph with him as he was about to leave a hotel, but added “it would be a dream to meet Noel Gallagher”.

Rachael Board, 51, from Devon, got two tickets to see Oasis at Wembley – but paid more than £900 after failing to get cheaper tickets.

She told the BBC: “We got caught up in the vibe actually, if I’m being honest. I am a longstanding fan and loved all their stuff back in the 90s but would never think I was that person who would spend so much on a concert ticket, but we have.”

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.

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.

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.”

Jack Berman takes a long drag and then exhales, slowly, in the covered terrace of a 150-year-old pub in a Sydney beach suburb.

Around him are others like him: pub goers enjoying the winter sun, a beer glass in one hand, a cigarette in the other.

On the other side of the pub, patrons are tucking into their lunches. There’s no cloud of smoke around their heads, nor anyone angled away from their neighbour – it’s a no-smoking area.

This is how smoking is regulated at pubs in Australia, where bans at many outdoor spaces have been in place for two decades.

As the UK government looks to clamp down on outdoor smoking, could Australia – where smoking has plummeted over the past 25 years – be a model? And how have pubs there coped?

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer says his government is looking at tightening outdoor smoking rules to help reduce the number of preventable deaths linked to tobacco use and the burden on the NHS. We don’t know the scope of what the UK government is considering.

In Australia, rules vary from from state to state but, broadly speaking, at pub gardens and parks, designated smoking sections or zones are set up to protect non-smokers from secondhand smoke. At beaches and playgrounds, smoking is banned altogether.

Mr Berman has been smoking since he was 15 and has lived through all of Australia’s reforms.

“Back then you could smoke on trains, in cinemas, everywhere really,” he says.

But while pub culture has evolved, he doesn’t feel left behind – evidenced by the fact that he’s having a pint at midday with an old mate.

A short walk away, there’s a table of young men who are all self-confessed “social smokers”. They smoke when they’ve had a bit too much to drink, but not often, they say.

When that urge strikes, James Beltrame, 28, doesn’t mind having to move to another section of the pub. He likes the random social interactions in the smoking area: “You sort of meet new people… it creates a different atmosphere.”

But Kenny James, 26, finds it all a bit grim. “I feel like [smoking areas] are often away from everything and in some random spot, like it’s not an experience that you seek out.”

Having grown up in smoke-free environments though, everyone sitting around the table agrees on one thing: having to breathe in secondhand fumes in public would be “a bit bleak”.

“Travelling to Europe and seeing people smoke in restaurants outdoors, it’s a novelty and for a minute it was cool,” Kenny says. “But then after a while you realise… to have butts everywhere on the ground, it’s pretty gross.”

“Like right now for example, I’m pretty glad no one is blowing smoke in my face,” their other mate Ben adds.

Not everyone feels the same way about the rules in pubs.

A few blocks away 33-year-old security guard Rob – who would only give his first name – is on his break, smoking in an alleyway.

He still vividly remembers a time when, as he puts it, Australians loved to smoke.

“Back in the 80s teachers would smoke in classrooms, parents would smoke on public transport. Now they’re trying to police everything,” he says, taking a drag of his lunchtime cigarette, a large “No Smoking” sign hovering mere inches above his head.

“Smokers pay top dollar for cigarettes and we’re brutally discriminated against,” he says.

“Nine times out of ten, there’s no benefit to actually visiting a licensed venue because you won’t be able to enjoy a drink and a smoke at the same time,” he says.

While some pubs have big beer gardens, many don’t have any outdoor space so the smoking section is relegated to the gambling room – a controversial but common fixture in pubs across Sydney.

“It’s affecting licensed venues, they’re losing customers,” Rob says. “Now they try to keep them inside the VIP gambling lounge which leads to smokers spending money on gambling machines, and we all know gambling isn’t good for anyone.

“I’ve definitely noticed less people out and about smoking in public as a result of these laws.”

For public health experts, that’s exactly the goal.

Daily smoking rates in Australia are now down to 8.3% – from 16% in 2000 and 24% in 1991.

Experts attribute that to a mix of policies, including banning adverts for tobacco, health warnings and plain packaging on cigarettes, and high product taxes.

But smoke-free environments have been key to stamping out smoking in public, several researchers told the BBC.

Lawmakers took smoking bans outdoors in the 2000s. Health authorities were concerned about the impact of secondhand smoke, when a non-smoker breathes in smoke exhaled by others.

In its guidance about passive, or secondhand, smoking, Cancer Research UK says all forms of it are “unsafe”. The UK’s NHS says second-hand smoke “is a lethal cocktail of more than 4,000 irritants, toxins and cancer-causing substances”.

Regulating pub gardens and outdoor dining were a big focus in Australia’s changes.

“We ban smoking to protect the health – primarily – of the people who work there, but also for other people dining who are non-smokers,” tobacco control researcher and associate professor Becky Freeman, from the University of Sydney, told the BBC.

Meanwhile Australia’s bans in areas like beaches and parks aren’t necessarily about secondhand smoke “because there’s plenty of fresh air around”.

Instead it’s more about “preventing litter, keeping outdoor spaces safe and role-modelling”, she says.

In Sydney, home to over five million people, smoking and e-cigarettes are banned in many outdoor public areas, including within 10m of playgrounds, outside commercial outdoor dining areas and in public transport stops.

“In Australia we’ve been very successful in making smoking no longer socially acceptable, no longer normal.”

In the UK, leading figures in the hospitality sector worry that outdoor smoking restrictions could hinder some businesses, particularly pubs.

And for the pub trade in Australia there was definitely some initial pushback, figures from both the hospitality industry and medical profession recall.

“Pubs and clubs in Australia can sell tobacco, so there’s sort of a vested interest in prohibiting any restrictions that are going to limit consumers from purchasing [cigarettes] from them,” Alecia Brooks, from the nationally-funded charity the Cancer Council, says.

The research indicates smokers also tend to drink more, and some licensed premises noticed a dip in trading when the regulations first changed.

“[A few] publicans reported between 10%-15%,” says Craig Shannon, the head of Clubs ACT, the capital territory branch of the national body for licensed clubs.

But it levelled out over time, he says, and “the regulations always came in gradually which really helped”.

Mick Bain has been a publican for 15 years and runs two venues in the inner Sydney suburb of Glebe.

He agrees that smokers tend to drink more – “so maybe there was a bit of a loss of revenue there initially. But as more families started coming to us for pub meals, it sort of balanced itself out.”

A pint these days in Sydney might cost upwards of A$12 (£6.20), but a meal would be at least A$20 (£10.30).

So the long-term impact has been positive, he argues. “Having smoke-free outdoor dining tables actually invited more families into our spaces and changed the business… and smokers can still smoke outside in other areas.”

Enforcement of the rules is fairly simple, he says. “We just have to police the regulations. We can’t have ashtrays on dining tables, for example.”

Mr Shannon, the Clubs ACT chief executive, says that it does depend on what the smoking area is like and whether it leaves people feeling cut off from “the social or service aspects of the venue”.

“No one is going to a pub to smoke outside by themselves – as an ex-smoker I can tell you how lonely that can be, when you’ve got to go and smoke by yourself like a pariah.”

And he warns that any major reforms that are “done quickly without education” can “really impact trading”.

But the researcher, Prof Freeman, says businesses shouldn’t be too concerned.

“There’s often fear that when you ban smoking in licensed premises that revenue is going to plummet – but when you look globally at the research at smoking bans on hospitality venue revenue you actually see the opposite,” she says.

The World Health Organisation has come to a similar conclusion, labelling the economic harm argument a “myth” and pointing to data that suggests smoke-free policies have a positive long-term impact on the sector.

Ms Freeman also points out that the vast majority of people don’t smoke – in Australia, 65% of people aged over 14 have never smoked.

Plus: “Most smokers want to quit and I have never met a smoker who is interested in harming people with their second hand smoke,” she adds.

Jack Berman wholeheartedly agrees.

“Every pub’s pretty much got a smoking section,” he says.

“I think it’s good to keep it away from the food because even as a smoker, I can agree no one likes smoke near where they’re eating.”

US rapper Fatman Scoop has died aged 53 after collapsing at concert on Friday in Connecticut, his representative has told the BBC.

He was halfway through his set at the Town Center Park in the city of Hamden when he collapsed on stage.

Mayor Lauren Garrett said in a post to Facebook that the rapper was taken to a local hospital by ambulance.

But his booking agency, MN2S, confirmed his death in a statement to the BBC, saying the New York native’s “legacy will live on through his timeless music”.

“Scoop was a beloved figure in the music world, whose work was loved by countless fans across the globe,” an agency spokesperson.

“His iconic voice, infectious energy, and great personality made an indelible mark on the industry.”

In a tribute on social media, Scoop’s family said he was “a radiant soul, a beacon of light on the stage and in life.”

“FatMan Scoop was not just a world class performer, he was a father, brother, uncle and a friend,” his family said.

“He was the laughter in our lives, a constant source of support, unwavering strength and courage.”

Scoop, whose legal name is Isaac Freeman III, has been credited as an influential figure in New York City’s hip hop scene in the 1990s.

He has featured on popular songs including Grammy award-winning Lose Control by Missy Elliott and It’s Like That by Mariah Carey.

Scoop is also known for his sleeper hit Be Faithful, which was originally released in 1999 but garnered international success in 2003, topping the charts in Ireland and the UK.

In 2004, the rapper was featured in the UK TV series Chancers on Channel 4, which featured musicians mentoring aspiring UK artists looking to achieve success in the US.

Fatman Scoop was also a contestant on Celebrity Big Brother 16: UK vs USA, which was housed in the UK and aired in 2015. He was the third housemate to be evicted.

His tour manager, DJ Pure Cold, wrote in a post on Instagram that he was “lost for words” at the news of his friend’s death.

“You took me all over the world and had me performing alongside you on some of the biggest and greatest stages on this planet,” he wrote.

“The things you taught me have truly made me the man I am today.”

Fatman Scoop was due to perform at the UK’s Reminisce Festival on 7 September. In a post on Instagram, the festival called the news of his death “devastating”.

“He was not just one of our most popular performers, he was a cherished member of the Reminisce family,” the festival said.

“His energy, talent and infectious spirit will be missed more than words can express.”

Trains and flights have been cancelled in Japan as one of the strongest typhoons to hit the country in decades drenches cities in its path.

At least six people have been killed and more than 100 injured after Typhoon Shanshan made landfall in the south-western Japan on Thursday.

Now downgraded to a tropical storm, Shanshan is still packing winds of 90km/h (56mph).

Thousands of people remain without power.

The highest level-five order was issued to millions of residents in the southern island of Kyushu as the storm approached on Thursday, with winds of up to 252 km/h.

After making landfall, the typhoon weakened to a severe tropical storm, but it is still pummelling its way north-east. Up to 300mm (12in) of rainfall is expected in places in the next 24 hours.

Residents of the affected areas have been warned of landslides, flooding and large-scale damage.

A trail of destruction is visible across Shanshan’s path, with many buildings damaged by flying debris, trees uprooted and cars overturned or buried under floods.

Heavy rain was falling in Gifu and Mie prefectures on Saturday, as the Japan Meteorological Agency urged people “to remain vigilant for landslides, flooding and overflowing rivers”.

“This is the first time I saw a typhoon sweeping across all of Japan,” a resident in the capital, Tokyo, told Reuters news agency.

“Typhoons are supposed to go north from Okinawa. So, I didn’t expect it to be like this. I’m very surprised.”

All Nippon Airways and Japan Airlines have cancelled dozens of domestic flights.

Bullet train services between Tokyo and Osaka are among those affected throughout Saturday and Sunday.

Shinkansen bullet trains in the central city of Nagoya were also suspended – and there are warnings that more could be halted.

Special typhoon warnings, like the one issued for Shanshan, are declared in Japan in cases of extraordinarily powerful storms. The same warning was issued in September 2022 as Typhoon Nanmadol approached Kyushu – the first such warning declared for a region other than Okinawa.

Typhoons in the region have been forming closer to coastlines, intensifying more rapidly and lasting longer over land due to climate change, according to a study released last month.

Major book publishers have sued the US state of Florida over a law that allows schools to ban certain books from their student libraries.

The lawsuit, filed on Thursday by publishers including Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster, argues that Florida’s law violates First Amendment rights to free speech.

The suit names several books that have been removed from school libraries under the law, including works by renowned authors Maya Angelou and Ernest Hemingway.

Florida officials responded to the lawsuit by calling it a “stunt,” and have denied that the state has banned books.

“There are no books banned in Florida,” said Florida Department of Education spokesperson Sydney Booker. “Sexually explicit material and instruction are not suitable for schools.”

At the heart of the lawsuit is a bill passed in Florida last year that requires schools to develop a mechanism where parents could object to certain books found in libraries or classrooms.

It defines books subject to removal as any that “depict or describe sexual conduct” or that are “inappropriate for the grade level and age group” of students in the school.

According to a report released in April by Pen America, a non-profit advocating for free speech, Florida had 3,135 book bans recorded from July 2021 to December 2023 – the highest in the country.

Pen America has said that the majority of books removed are ones that “talk about LGBTQ+ identities, that includes characters of colour, that talk about race and racism, that include depictions of sexual experiences in the broadest interpretation of that understanding”.

Among the books removed are Ernest Hemingway’s For Whom the Bell Tolls, Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye, and Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina.

Bestselling authors including John Green and Jodi Picoult, as well as parents opposed to Florida’s law, have also joined the publishers’ lawsuit.

It argues that the state law allows schools to automatically prohibit books without consulting “trained professionals, such as teachers or media specialists, to determine which books are appropriate”.

It adds that some schools have banned books that include the phrase “made love”, for example, without considering the context of the book as a whole.

These restrictions “apply to all grades, kindergarten through twelfth grade”, the lawsuit states, arguing that the law has created a “regime of strict censorship” in schools.

In an interview with BBC’s US partner, CBS News, Judi Hayes, a Florida mother who joined the lawsuit, said the law has hurt her son’s ability to learn.

“We’re not talking about Playboy magazine, you know, we’re talking about Anna Karenina and War and Peace,” Ms Hayes said.

The lawsuit is seeking for the law to be amended.

The defendants named in the lawsuit include Ben Gibson, chair of the Florida State Board of Education, as well as other school board members.

It does not name Florida governor Ron DeSantis, who had previously championed the law.

In April, Mr DeSantis signed a bill that restricts objections to books in Florida schools, saying he is trying to “prevent abuse from activists” who have used the law to challenge books like The Giver and the Bible.

“I think what’s happened is you have some people who are taking the curriculum transparency, and they’re trying to weaponize that for political purposes,” he said at a news conference that month.

Under the new rules, Florida residents without children can object to only one book per month. Those with children will continue to have an unlimited number of challenges.

“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 did not respond to a BBC 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, provide 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’

One of the doctors charged in the drug-related death of actor Matthew Perry last year has appeared in a US court.

Mark Chavez was bailed at the hearing in Los Angeles on Friday during which he agreed to stop practising medicine. He is “incredibly remorseful”, his lawyer said.

Dr Chavez, one of five people charged over Perry’s death, has agreed a plea deal with prosecutors, but did not enter it formally during the hearing.

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

Police announced the results of their investigation and two weeks ago.

They said they had uncovered a “broad underground criminal network” of drug suppliers who distributed large quantities of ketamine.

• ‘Ketamine Queen’ and cover-ups: Five things discovered in the Matthew Perry probe
• Perry’s death reveals Hollywood’s ketamine ‘wild west’

Three of those charged – including Perry’s assistant – have already pleaded guilty to drug charges.

Dr Chavez has admitted one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine.

At Friday’s court hearing, bail was set at $50,000 (£38,000) with Mr Chavez ordered to surrender his passport and agree not to continue practising medicine.

“My client is accepting responsibility. He’s doing everything in his power to co-operate, to help in this situation,” defence lawyer Matt Binninger said.

Ketamine – a powerful anaesthetic – is used as a treatment for depression, anxiety and pain.

People close to Perry, who starred as one of the lead characters on the NBC television show Friends, told a coroner’s investigation after his death that he was undergoing ketamine infusion therapy.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.”

The social media network is said to be used by at least a 10th of the nation’s 200 million inhabitants.

By Saturday morning some users had reported access to the platform was no longer possible.

It closed its office in Brazil earlier this month, saying its representative had been threatened with arrest if she did not comply with orders it described as “censorship” – as well as illegal under Brazilian law.

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.

X has been threatened with fines for refusing to comply with this order, with the company and Mr Musk joining critics in Brazil in accusing the judge as being left-wing.

It is the latest in a series of rows involving the tech billionaire – who has clashed with the 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.

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 (£6,700).

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.”

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.”

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 search-and-rescue operation has been launched in Russia’s far-east following the disappearance of a helicopter with 22 people on board, most of them tourists.

The Mi-8T helicopter took off from a base near the Vachkazhets volcano in the Kamchatka peninsula, the emergencies ministry said on Saturday.

That area of the peninsula is a popular tourist destination, famous for its rich landscapes and active volcanoes.

Officials say the helicopter disappeared from radar shortly after take off, adding that thick fog is hampering rescuers’ efforts.

The helicopter, owned by Vityaz-Aero, was carrying out a trip to the volcano. Designed during the Soviet-era, the Mi-8 helicopter remains popular and widely used in Russia.

It disappeared from radar and crew members failed to make contact from around 16:15 (04:15 GMT), the governor of Kamchatka said. An emergencies ministry source told the state-owned news agency Tass that the crew did not report any difficulties before the disappearance.

Vladimir Solodov said it had 19 passengers and three crew members on board.

The aerial search continuing into the night but there was poor visibility.

Others have joined the search on foot, along the Bystraya River valley, along which the helicopter was supposed to move.

The mountainous Kamchatka peninsula – more than 6,000 km (3,730 miles) east of Moscow – is popular among tourists.

But there have been several air crashes over the years – two in just two months in 2021 alone.

A 32-year-old mother and a man who were attacked in separate incidents during the Notting Hill Carnival weekend have died, police said.

Cher Maximen, who was with her three-year-old daughter when she was stabbed on Sunday, died in hospital on Saturday morning, it was confirmed.

Mussie Imnetu, who worked as a chef and had been visiting London from Dubai, was found unconscious on Monday evening near Notting Hill, also died from his injuries on Friday, police said.

Metropolitan Police Commander Charmain Brenyah said the deaths had been “devastating for both families” and they were both now being treated by the force as murder investigations.

Notting Hill Carnival’s organisers said it was “shocked by these tragic deaths”.

”We stand together against all violence and condemn these acts, which are against all carnival values and the millions of people who come in celebration of them,” a spokesperson said.

The Met previously said Ms Maximen was attacked shortly before 18:00 BST on Sunday.

Westminster Magistrates’ Court heard on Wednesday that she had tried to intervene in a fight and was stabbed.

Speaking outside New Scotland Yard on Saturday afternoon, Ms Brenyah said Ms Maximen’s daughter was being supported.

“The news of Cher’s tragic death is devastating for her family, the wider community and all those involved in delivering the Notting Hill Carnival,” Ms Brenyah added.

The Met said Mr Imnetu, 41, had been visiting the UK from Dubai where he lived and worked.

He was found unconscious with a head injury in Queensway, at 23:22 BST and then taken to a west London hospital where he died.

Det Ch Insp Brian Howie, who is leading the investigation into Mr Imnetu’s death, said his “family, friends and colleagues in London, Dubai, Sweden and Eritrea are inconsolable after receiving the worst news imaginable”.

“Our investigation is well advanced, but we are still very keen to hear from anyone who can help piece together Mussie’s movements between 13:00 when we know he left The Arts Club in Dover Street, and when he arrived at Dr Power restaurant, in Queensway at 22:30,” he said.

“If you visited the restaurant between 22:00 and 23:30 on Monday night or were in the area and saw something, regardless of the reason you were there, please do get in touch.”

Mr Imnetu was the head chef at Arts Club in Dubai and had worked under Alain Ducasse, Gordon Ramsay and Marcus Wareing, according to the club’s website.

It said Mr Imnetu was a well-travelled chef, hailing from Eritrea who grew up in Sweden before taking positions in London and New York.

The Arts Club paid tribute to Mr Imnetu and said he was “known for his passion, calm demeanor and kindness”.

A spokeswoman said: “He was a keen footballer and famously counted on his now eight-year-old son to taste test his culinary masterpieces.

“Mussie will be dearly missed by the entire The Arts Club team. His legacy will live on through the passion and excellence he instilled in those around him. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and loved ones.”

Shakiel Thibou, 20, of Hammersmith, was charged with the attempted murder of Ms Maximen and he appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday.

In relation to Mr Imnetu, earlier this week Omar Wilson, 31, of Leytonstone, was charged with causing grievous bodily harm with intent.

He appeared at the same court on Friday and was remanded in custody to appear at Southwark Crown Court on 27 September.

Both cases would be reviewed in conjunction with the Crown Prosecution Service, police said.

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said it was “heartbreaking” to hear of Ms Maximen and Mr Imnetu’s deaths.

He said: “This violence is shocking, completely unacceptable and a betrayal of the values that Notting Hill Carnival was founded to celebrate.”

The Met said anyone with information should call the police on 101, message @MetCC on X or contact Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111 giving the reference 8020/26AUG.

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.

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.”

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.

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.

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.

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.

Some of the Telegram criminal channels I was added to seem to have a presence on Snapchat 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.

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.

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.

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

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”.

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.

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.

A drug used to treat Type 2 diabetes and obesity could also slow down the process of ageing, researchers believe.

Semaglutide, better known as Ozempic, “has far-reaching benefits beyond what we initially imagined,” Prof Harlan Krumholz, from the Yale School of Medicine, said following the publication of several new studies.

They found that the drug could be used to treat a wide range of illnesses linked to heart failure, arthritis, Alzheimer’s and even cancer.

“It wouldn’t surprise me that improving people’s health this way actually slows down the ageing process,” Prof Krumholz was quoted on Friday as telling the European Society of Cardiology Conference 2024, where the studies were presented.

The new data has been published in a number of medical journals, including the Journal of the American College of Cardiology (JACC), which Prof Krumholz edits.

“These ground-breaking medications are poised to revolutionise cardiovascular care and could dramatically enhance cardiovascular health,” he said.

The studies – part of the Select trial – tracked more than 17,600 people, aged 45 or older, as they were given either 2.4 mg of semaglutide or a placebo for more than three years.

Participants were obese or overweight and had cardiovascular disease but not diabetes.

Those who took the drug died at a lower rate from all causes, including cardiovascular issues and Covid-19, researchers found.

People using the weight-loss drug were just as likely to catch Covid but they were less likely to die from it, with 2.6% dying among those on semaglutide compared with 3.1% on the placebo.

And while women experienced fewer major adverse cardiovascular events, the drug “consistently reduced the risk” of adverse cardiovascular outcomes regardless of sex.

It also improved heart failure symptoms and cut levels of inflammation in the body regardless of whether or not people lost weight.

Dr Benjamin Scirica, lead author of one of the studies and a professor of cardiovascular medicine at Harvard Medical School, said the findings “reinforce that overweight and obesity increases the risk of death due to many etiologies”.

But, he told the PA news agency, this “can be modified with potent incretin-based therapies like semaglutide”.

The medication is a prescription drug offered by the NHS, which supresses appetite and is sold under the brand names Wegovy – used to treat obesity – and Ozempic, for diabetes.

It comes in the form of an injection and mimics the hormone GLP-1, making people feel fuller and less hungry.

Experts have warned in the past that the drug is not a quick fix or a replacement for eating well and exercising, and should only be offered under medical supervision.

Like any medication, there can be side effects and risks – the most common being nausea, an upset stomach, bloating and gas.

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.

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

Mr Zelensky did not specify the reason for dismissing Lt Gen Mykola Oleshchuk, but said he had a responsibility to “take care of all our warriors”.

The US-made F-16 – one of several delivered earlier this month by Ukraine’s Western allies – went down on Monday, killing the pilot.

Even though it happened during a barrage of Russian missiles, Ukraine said the cause of the crash was not a direct result of an enemy strike, and Lt Gen Oleshchuk sparred with some politicians over who was to blame for the loss.

Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and has seized a large part of territory in the east of the country.

But Ukraine also launched a surprise incursion into Russia’s western Kursk region early this month – and says its troops have been advancing deeper into Russia.

In response, Russia has intensified its attacks across Ukraine.

On Friday, a 14-year-old girl was killed after a Russian guided bomb hit a playground in the north-eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, 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 which is close to the Russian border.

President Zelensky renewed his calls for all Ukraine’s international partners to allow it to hit targets inside Russia to prevent such attacks.

His office said Moscow’s forces had fired more than 400 drones and missiles at Ukraine over the past week.

In a post on 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”.

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.

Col 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. He 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.

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 several 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 of excessive casualties and accusations of incompetence.

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 (Centcom) said it had performed the joint operation in western Iraq early on Thursday.

American and Iraqi troops were met by IS members equipped with “numerous weapons, grenades and explosive ‘suicide’ belts”, it said in a statement. “There is no indication of civilian casualties.”

Meanwhile, US media quoted US defence officials as saying that seven American troops were injured. Centcom has not commented on this.

The Iraqi military said in an earlier statement that “air strikes 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 Centcom for comment.

Centcom said 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”.

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.

US rapper Fatman Scoop has died aged 53 after collapsing at concert on Friday in Connecticut, his representative has told the BBC.

He was halfway through his set at the Town Center Park in the city of Hamden when he collapsed on stage.

Mayor Lauren Garrett said in a post to Facebook that the rapper was taken to a local hospital by ambulance.

But his booking agency, MN2S, confirmed his death in a statement to the BBC, saying the New York native’s “legacy will live on through his timeless music”.

“Scoop was a beloved figure in the music world, whose work was loved by countless fans across the globe,” an agency spokesperson.

“His iconic voice, infectious energy, and great personality made an indelible mark on the industry.”

In a tribute on social media, Scoop’s family said he was “a radiant soul, a beacon of light on the stage and in life.”

“FatMan Scoop was not just a world class performer, he was a father, brother, uncle and a friend,” his family said.

“He was the laughter in our lives, a constant source of support, unwavering strength and courage.”

Scoop, whose legal name is Isaac Freeman III, has been credited as an influential figure in New York City’s hip hop scene in the 1990s.

He has featured on popular songs including Grammy award-winning Lose Control by Missy Elliott and It’s Like That by Mariah Carey.

Scoop is also known for his sleeper hit Be Faithful, which was originally released in 1999 but garnered international success in 2003, topping the charts in Ireland and the UK.

In 2004, the rapper was featured in the UK TV series Chancers on Channel 4, which featured musicians mentoring aspiring UK artists looking to achieve success in the US.

Fatman Scoop was also a contestant on Celebrity Big Brother 16: UK vs USA, which was housed in the UK and aired in 2015. He was the third housemate to be evicted.

His tour manager, DJ Pure Cold, wrote in a post on Instagram that he was “lost for words” at the news of his friend’s death.

“You took me all over the world and had me performing alongside you on some of the biggest and greatest stages on this planet,” he wrote.

“The things you taught me have truly made me the man I am today.”

Fatman Scoop was due to perform at the UK’s Reminisce Festival on 7 September. In a post on Instagram, the festival called the news of his death “devastating”.

“He was not just one of our most popular performers, he was a cherished member of the Reminisce family,” the festival said.

“His energy, talent and infectious spirit will be missed more than words can express.”

China and the Philippines have accused each other of ramming coast guard vessels in a disputed area of the South China Sea.

The Philippines has claimed a Chinese ship “directly and intentionally rammed” into its vessel, while Beijing has accused the Philippines of “deliberately” crashing into a Chinese ship.

Saturday’s collision near the Sabina Shoal is the latest in a long-running – and escalating – row between the two countries over various islands and zones in the South China Sea.

Within the past two weeks, there have been at least three other incidents in the same area involving ships belonging to the two countries.

The Sabina Shoal, claimed by China as Xianbin Jiao and as Escoda Shoal by the Philippines, is located some 75 nautical miles from the Philippines’ west coast and 630 nautical miles from China.

The South China Sea is a major shipping route through which $3 trillion worth of trade passes through a year. Beijing claims almost all of the South China Sea, including parts claimed by the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam.

Following the latest clash, China’s coast guard called on the Philippines to withdraw from the Sabina Shoal while pledging to “resolutely thwart all acts of provocation, nuisance and infringement”.

The Philippines coast guard said it would not move its vessel – the Teresa Magbanua – “despite the harassment, the bullying activities and escalatory action of the Chinese coast guard”.

There were no casualties following the crash but Philippines Coast Guard Commodore Jay Tarriela said that the 97-meter (318-feet) Teresa Magbanua had sustained some damage after being hit “several times” by the Chinese ship.

The US ambassador to the Phillipines, MaryKay L Carlson, criticised what she called China’s dangerous actions in the region.

“The US condemns the multiple dangerous violations of international law by the [People’s Republic of China], including today’s intentional ramming of the BRP Teresa Magbanua while it was conducting lawful operations within the[Philippines] EEZ.” she wrote in a post to X.

“We stand with the Philippines in upholding international law.”

China has repeatedly blamed the Philippines and its ally the US for the escalating tensions. Last week, a defence ministry spokesperson said Washington was “emboldening” Manila to make “reckless provocations”.

Observers worry the dispute could eventually spark a larger confrontation in the South China Sea.

A previous attempt by the Philippines to get the United Nations to arbitrate ended with the decision that China had no lawful claims within its so-called nine dash line, the boundary it uses to claim a large swathe of the South China Sea. Beijing has refused to recognise the ruling.

But in recent weeks both countries have made an attempt to de-escalate the immediate conflicts out at sea.

Last month they agreed to allow the Philippines to restock the outpost in the Second Thomas Shoal with food, supplies and personnel. Since then this has taken place with no reported clashes.

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.”

Trains and flights have been cancelled in Japan as one of the strongest typhoons to hit the country in decades drenches cities in its path.

At least six people have been killed and more than 100 injured after Typhoon Shanshan made landfall in the south-western Japan on Thursday.

Now downgraded to a tropical storm, Shanshan is still packing winds of 90km/h (56mph).

Thousands of people remain without power.

The highest level-five order was issued to millions of residents in the southern island of Kyushu as the storm approached on Thursday, with winds of up to 252 km/h.

After making landfall, the typhoon weakened to a severe tropical storm, but it is still pummelling its way north-east. Up to 300mm (12in) of rainfall is expected in places in the next 24 hours.

Residents of the affected areas have been warned of landslides, flooding and large-scale damage.

A trail of destruction is visible across Shanshan’s path, with many buildings damaged by flying debris, trees uprooted and cars overturned or buried under floods.

Heavy rain was falling in Gifu and Mie prefectures on Saturday, as the Japan Meteorological Agency urged people “to remain vigilant for landslides, flooding and overflowing rivers”.

“This is the first time I saw a typhoon sweeping across all of Japan,” a resident in the capital, Tokyo, told Reuters news agency.

“Typhoons are supposed to go north from Okinawa. So, I didn’t expect it to be like this. I’m very surprised.”

All Nippon Airways and Japan Airlines have cancelled dozens of domestic flights.

Bullet train services between Tokyo and Osaka are among those affected throughout Saturday and Sunday.

Shinkansen bullet trains in the central city of Nagoya were also suspended – and there are warnings that more could be halted.

Special typhoon warnings, like the one issued for Shanshan, are declared in Japan in cases of extraordinarily powerful storms. The same warning was issued in September 2022 as Typhoon Nanmadol approached Kyushu – the first such warning declared for a region other than Okinawa.

Typhoons in the region have been forming closer to coastlines, intensifying more rapidly and lasting longer over land due to climate change, according to a study released last month.

Jack Berman takes a long drag and then exhales, slowly, in the covered terrace of a 150-year-old pub in a Sydney beach suburb.

Around him are others like him: pub goers enjoying the winter sun, a beer glass in one hand, a cigarette in the other.

On the other side of the pub, patrons are tucking into their lunches. There’s no cloud of smoke around their heads, nor anyone angled away from their neighbour – it’s a no-smoking area.

This is how smoking is regulated at pubs in Australia, where bans at many outdoor spaces have been in place for two decades.

As the UK government looks to clamp down on outdoor smoking, could Australia – where smoking has plummeted over the past 25 years – be a model? And how have pubs there coped?

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer says his government is looking at tightening outdoor smoking rules to help reduce the number of preventable deaths linked to tobacco use and the burden on the NHS. We don’t know the scope of what the UK government is considering.

In Australia, rules vary from from state to state but, broadly speaking, at pub gardens and parks, designated smoking sections or zones are set up to protect non-smokers from secondhand smoke. At beaches and playgrounds, smoking is banned altogether.

Mr Berman has been smoking since he was 15 and has lived through all of Australia’s reforms.

“Back then you could smoke on trains, in cinemas, everywhere really,” he says.

But while pub culture has evolved, he doesn’t feel left behind – evidenced by the fact that he’s having a pint at midday with an old mate.

A short walk away, there’s a table of young men who are all self-confessed “social smokers”. They smoke when they’ve had a bit too much to drink, but not often, they say.

When that urge strikes, James Beltrame, 28, doesn’t mind having to move to another section of the pub. He likes the random social interactions in the smoking area: “You sort of meet new people… it creates a different atmosphere.”

But Kenny James, 26, finds it all a bit grim. “I feel like [smoking areas] are often away from everything and in some random spot, like it’s not an experience that you seek out.”

Having grown up in smoke-free environments though, everyone sitting around the table agrees on one thing: having to breathe in secondhand fumes in public would be “a bit bleak”.

“Travelling to Europe and seeing people smoke in restaurants outdoors, it’s a novelty and for a minute it was cool,” Kenny says. “But then after a while you realise… to have butts everywhere on the ground, it’s pretty gross.”

“Like right now for example, I’m pretty glad no one is blowing smoke in my face,” their other mate Ben adds.

Not everyone feels the same way about the rules in pubs.

A few blocks away 33-year-old security guard Rob – who would only give his first name – is on his break, smoking in an alleyway.

He still vividly remembers a time when, as he puts it, Australians loved to smoke.

“Back in the 80s teachers would smoke in classrooms, parents would smoke on public transport. Now they’re trying to police everything,” he says, taking a drag of his lunchtime cigarette, a large “No Smoking” sign hovering mere inches above his head.

“Smokers pay top dollar for cigarettes and we’re brutally discriminated against,” he says.

“Nine times out of ten, there’s no benefit to actually visiting a licensed venue because you won’t be able to enjoy a drink and a smoke at the same time,” he says.

While some pubs have big beer gardens, many don’t have any outdoor space so the smoking section is relegated to the gambling room – a controversial but common fixture in pubs across Sydney.

“It’s affecting licensed venues, they’re losing customers,” Rob says. “Now they try to keep them inside the VIP gambling lounge which leads to smokers spending money on gambling machines, and we all know gambling isn’t good for anyone.

“I’ve definitely noticed less people out and about smoking in public as a result of these laws.”

For public health experts, that’s exactly the goal.

Daily smoking rates in Australia are now down to 8.3% – from 16% in 2000 and 24% in 1991.

Experts attribute that to a mix of policies, including banning adverts for tobacco, health warnings and plain packaging on cigarettes, and high product taxes.

But smoke-free environments have been key to stamping out smoking in public, several researchers told the BBC.

Lawmakers took smoking bans outdoors in the 2000s. Health authorities were concerned about the impact of secondhand smoke, when a non-smoker breathes in smoke exhaled by others.

In its guidance about passive, or secondhand, smoking, Cancer Research UK says all forms of it are “unsafe”. The UK’s NHS says second-hand smoke “is a lethal cocktail of more than 4,000 irritants, toxins and cancer-causing substances”.

Regulating pub gardens and outdoor dining were a big focus in Australia’s changes.

“We ban smoking to protect the health – primarily – of the people who work there, but also for other people dining who are non-smokers,” tobacco control researcher and associate professor Becky Freeman, from the University of Sydney, told the BBC.

Meanwhile Australia’s bans in areas like beaches and parks aren’t necessarily about secondhand smoke “because there’s plenty of fresh air around”.

Instead it’s more about “preventing litter, keeping outdoor spaces safe and role-modelling”, she says.

In Sydney, home to over five million people, smoking and e-cigarettes are banned in many outdoor public areas, including within 10m of playgrounds, outside commercial outdoor dining areas and in public transport stops.

“In Australia we’ve been very successful in making smoking no longer socially acceptable, no longer normal.”

In the UK, leading figures in the hospitality sector worry that outdoor smoking restrictions could hinder some businesses, particularly pubs.

And for the pub trade in Australia there was definitely some initial pushback, figures from both the hospitality industry and medical profession recall.

“Pubs and clubs in Australia can sell tobacco, so there’s sort of a vested interest in prohibiting any restrictions that are going to limit consumers from purchasing [cigarettes] from them,” Alecia Brooks, from the nationally-funded charity the Cancer Council, says.

The research indicates smokers also tend to drink more, and some licensed premises noticed a dip in trading when the regulations first changed.

“[A few] publicans reported between 10%-15%,” says Craig Shannon, the head of Clubs ACT, the capital territory branch of the national body for licensed clubs.

But it levelled out over time, he says, and “the regulations always came in gradually which really helped”.

Mick Bain has been a publican for 15 years and runs two venues in the inner Sydney suburb of Glebe.

He agrees that smokers tend to drink more – “so maybe there was a bit of a loss of revenue there initially. But as more families started coming to us for pub meals, it sort of balanced itself out.”

A pint these days in Sydney might cost upwards of A$12 (£6.20), but a meal would be at least A$20 (£10.30).

So the long-term impact has been positive, he argues. “Having smoke-free outdoor dining tables actually invited more families into our spaces and changed the business… and smokers can still smoke outside in other areas.”

Enforcement of the rules is fairly simple, he says. “We just have to police the regulations. We can’t have ashtrays on dining tables, for example.”

Mr Shannon, the Clubs ACT chief executive, says that it does depend on what the smoking area is like and whether it leaves people feeling cut off from “the social or service aspects of the venue”.

“No one is going to a pub to smoke outside by themselves – as an ex-smoker I can tell you how lonely that can be, when you’ve got to go and smoke by yourself like a pariah.”

And he warns that any major reforms that are “done quickly without education” can “really impact trading”.

But the researcher, Prof Freeman, says businesses shouldn’t be too concerned.

“There’s often fear that when you ban smoking in licensed premises that revenue is going to plummet – but when you look globally at the research at smoking bans on hospitality venue revenue you actually see the opposite,” she says.

The World Health Organisation has come to a similar conclusion, labelling the economic harm argument a “myth” and pointing to data that suggests smoke-free policies have a positive long-term impact on the sector.

Ms Freeman also points out that the vast majority of people don’t smoke – in Australia, 65% of people aged over 14 have never smoked.

Plus: “Most smokers want to quit and I have never met a smoker who is interested in harming people with their second hand smoke,” she adds.

Jack Berman wholeheartedly agrees.

“Every pub’s pretty much got a smoking section,” he says.

“I think it’s good to keep it away from the food because even as a smoker, I can agree no one likes smoke near where they’re eating.”

An animal park has said it is experiencing a “baby boom”, including new flamingo chicks that have hatched.

Longleat Safari Park in Wiltshire has also recently welcomed rare Amur tiger cubs and an endangered cotton top tamarin monkey baby.

Flamingos lay a single egg on top of a tall cone nest, keepers at the safari park said.

Darren Beasley, head of animal operations at Longleat, said: “It is proving to be an exciting year for new arrivals and the flamingo chicks should be relatively easy for people to spot.”

All flamingo chicks are born with white plumage, which they keep for about three years, and a straight bill which gradually droops down as the bird grows.

“It’s interesting to note that while the babies initially have white or grey feathers as they grow and develop, they will become pink. This is because the colour comes through from their diet,” said Mr Beasley.

“In the wild flamingos eat small crustaceans and other microscopic animals and plants which are obtained by filter feeding.

“At Longleat they eat a special flamingo diet that contains pigments essential for maintaining their distinct colour.”

Fully grown the birds are about 1.5m (4.9 ft) tall and can weigh anywhere up to 7kgs.

They live 15-20 years in the wild, however in captivity and safe from predators, they can reach ages of 70 years.

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.

Allegations. Resignations. Police complaints.

These words have been dominating headlines and shaking up a bustling film industry in the southern Indian state of Kerala since last week.

The state has been witnessing a flurry of sexual abuse allegations against some top male stars since a landmark report that looked into problems faced by women in the industry was released last week.

The industry, which makes around 150-200 Malayalam-language films a year, is a vital, vibrant business that has made some of the most critically acclaimed and progressive cinema emerging from India.

But the 290-page report by a three-member panel – called the Hema committee – detailed the problems faced by women in Malayalam cinema, including poor working conditions and rampant sexual harassment. Parts of the report have been redacted to hide the identities of the survivors as well as those accused of harassment.

• The Hema committee report slams Kerala’s film industry

Since its release, a number of women – some of whom have now given up acting – have publicly spoken about facing sexual assault and harassment in the industry.

More than a dozen police complaints have been filed against some male stars, two of whom have also filed counter-complaints.

The shake-up has been so huge that the entire top governing body of the state’s biggest film group – the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA) – was dissolved after its president, superstar Mohanlal, resigned on “moral grounds” after some members faced accusations.

“This is just the tip of the iceberg. Only a few have spoken up till now. More serious issues may emerge,’’ actor Mala Parvathy told BBC Hindi.

The reactions to the first-of-its-kind report are being closely watched by people in India’s many film industries, including Bollywood. During the #MeToo movement, several women had made sexual harassment allegations against actors and filmmakers in different states but few of these have been investigated.

• Indian actress breaks silence on sexual assault

The government set up the Hema committee, headed by a former judge of the Kerala High Court, in 2017 in the aftermath of the shocking sexual assault on a leading actress. One of Kerala’s biggest actors, Dileep, was named by police as an accused and charged with criminal conspiracy. He has denied the charges, but was arrested and held in custody for three months before being released on bail. The case is still being heard in court.

After the release of the report, the first public allegation came from Bengali actress Sreelekha Mitra, who accused well-known director Ranjith of sexually harassing her a few years ago. He has denied this but resigned as chairman of the state’s prestigious motion picture academy. Mitra has filed a police complaint.

Many of the other complaints echo some of the revelations made by unnamed women in the Hema committee report that they were repeatedly asked to “compromise” and “adjust” in exchange for opportunities.

Minu Muneer told BBC Hindi as well as several other news channels that an actor had hugged and kissed her without her consent while they were shooting a film. She has also detailed instances of sexual misconduct by others in the industry, including prominent actor and lawmaker Mukesh.

Mukesh has denied the allegations against him and accused Muneer of trying to blackmail him.

“I welcome any investigation into allegations made against me and others in the film industry,” he wrote in a Facebook post.

Two actresses have accused a director of knocking on the doors of their hotel rooms in the middle of the night. He has not responded to the allegation.

One actress has accused well-known actor Siddique of raping her in 2016 and filed a police complaint against him. Siddique, who resigned as AMMA general secretary after the accusation, has denied this and accused the complainant of trying to “tarnish his reputation”.

While the Kerala government had been praised for being the first to set up such a committee, the report’s release has also put it on the back foot.

The report, which was submitted in 2019, was released only last week after nearly five years of delay and multiple legal challenges by members of the film industry. The government then said that while it would investigate all complaints filed before the police, it would not take up any cases on its own. But as pressure mounted, it has set up a special team to investigate complaints.

The Kerala High Court has also asked the government to submit the entire report – including the 54 redacted pages – to it.

Within the Malayalam film industry, reactions to the report have been mixed. Superstars such as Mohanlal and Mammotty have been criticised for not making a public comment yet.

Some actors have welcomed the release of the report and called for the government to launch a proper investigation into the allegations. A prominent film employees’ federation has asked the government to disclose the names of those accused in the report.

Others have lamented that the report is being used to brand all men in the industry as abusers.

But many have also argued that the report and the subsequent shake-up are positive, much-needed changes in an industry often celebrated for making progressive films.

“I am not ok with people saying, ‘Malayalam industry is so rotten inside’. No, we are good inside, which is why we are fixing it,” actress Parvathy Thiruvothu, a founding member of the Women in Cinema Collective, an organisation formed in the aftermath of the 2017 assault, told a news channel.

It was the industries “you don’t hear anything about” that people should be “worried about”, she added.

The Oasis comeback tour shows have started to sell out for some dates after fans have been scrambling to secure tickets.

Ticketmaster’s Irish site said tickets to see the band at Dublin’s Croke Park on two dates in August next year have sold out.

Thousands of people are still trying to access three websites – Ticketmaster, See Tickets and Gigsandtours – for tickets for the UK dates, with some sites now warning “inventory is low”.

“Dynamic pricing” on Ticketmaster, where prices rise in line with demand, has now set some remaining tickets to around £355 plus fees – up from £135 when the sale began.

Tens of thousands have been waiting in Ticketmaster’s queues to obtain tickets.

Earlier this week standing price tickets for Cardiff, London and Edinburgh were advertised as £135 plus fees. But angry fans on social said they noted “in demand” pricing on Ticketmaster had increased prices to £355 plus fees.

Ticketmaster say they do not set ticket prices.

A link on the ticketing website states: “Promoters and artists set ticket prices. Prices can be either fixed or market-based. Market-based tickets are labelled as ‘Platinum’ or ‘In Demand’.”

Ticketmaster confirmed that fans don’t get anything else for the price increase.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) told the BBC it could not pass comment on Ticketmaster’s pricing in this instance.

“We encourage anyone with concerns to get in touch with us and we’d carefully assess whether there were any grounds for action,” an ASA spokesperson said.

But they added: “Our rules (the Advertising Codes) are clear – quoted prices must not mislead.”

Within minutes of the sale starting on Saturday morning, some people looking for tickets for gigs at London’s Wembley Stadium in July and August found more than one million people ahead of them in the booking queue.

Others were put into what they described as a “queue for the queue” with all three ticket sellers redirecting people to a page saying their websites were experiencing high demand.

Tickets were on sale from 09:00 BST and an hour earlier for Ireland, where some also reported issues accessing the Ticketmaster website.

Some people trying to buy tickets have reported being kicked out of the queue after being accused of being a “bots”, which are automated computer programs set up to buy tickets for popular events.

They were told they were bots after waiting in the queue for more than two hours.

Ticketmaster’s website called for patience from fans, posting a message which read: “As expected Oasis is incredibly popular. We’re processing orders as quickly as possible so please keep your place in line.”

In a separate statement, the company said the queue was “moving along”, reporting millions of people were accessing their website.

“Fans are advised to hold their place in line, make sure they’re only using one tab, clear cookies, and ensure they aren’t using any VPN software on their device”, Ticketmaster added.

A later message said: “Tickets for Oasis are still available, but inventory is now limited and not all ticket prices are available.”

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

The group disbanded 15 years ago following a backstage brawl between the brothers at the Rock en Seine festival in Paris.

On Friday, shortly after a three-hour pre-sale for a limited number of fans began, tickets for the UK gigs were being listed on resale websites like StubHub and Viagogo for more than £6,000 – around 40 times the face value of a standing ticket.

They included:

• £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

Standing tickets for the shows 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.

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

It added that they could only be resold at face value on the websites Ticketmaster and Twickets.

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

Meanwhile, Viagogo issued a statement in which it said “resale is legal in the UK”.

Cris Miller, Viagogo global managing director, said “fans are always protected by our guarantee that they will receive their tickets”.

He added: “Demand will be at its peak when tickets hit the on-sale but it’s not a normal reflection of what tickets can and will go for.”

A consultation into ticket resale prices and “rip off” touts will be launched in the Autumn, the government has said.

The Department of Business and Trade (DBT) said it is looking to “introduce protections to prevent people from being ripped off by touts, and to put fans back at the heart of music”.

“Everyone deserves a fair chance to see their favourite artists live, but for too long fans have been taken advantage of”, a DBT spokesperson said.

Labour had previously pledged to cap the resale prices of tickets and regulate resale platforms if it won the general election.

There was joy for some fans who managed to get tickets.

Nayat Karakose, 41, from Istanbul got two tickets to see the band in Wembley in the pre-sale on Friday.

She told the BBC that when she found out she got the tickets, she said she felt “supersonic”.

“My heart was beating, I was super, super excited, I couldn’t believe it for the moment. I thought I’d have to pay a couple of thousands pounds,” she said.

Ms Karakose has been a fan since she was 13 and this will be her third time seeing the band live.

Six years ago she met Liam Gallagher in Istanbul and got a photograph with him as he was about to leave a hotel, but added “it would be a dream to meet Noel Gallagher”.

Rachael Board, 51, from Devon, got two tickets to see Oasis at Wembley – but paid more than £900 after failing to get cheaper tickets.

She told the BBC: “We got caught up in the vibe actually, if I’m being honest. I am a longstanding fan and loved all their stuff back in the 90s but would never think I was that person who would spend so much on a concert ticket, but we have.”

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.

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.

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.”

The social media network is said to be used by at least a 10th of the nation’s 200 million inhabitants.

By Saturday morning some users had reported access to the platform was no longer possible.

It closed its office in Brazil earlier this month, saying its representative had been threatened with arrest if she did not comply with orders it described as “censorship” – as well as illegal under Brazilian law.

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.

X has been threatened with fines for refusing to comply with this order, with the company and Mr Musk joining critics in Brazil in accusing the judge as being left-wing.

It is the latest in a series of rows involving the tech billionaire – who has clashed with the 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.

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 (£6,700).

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.”

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.”

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.