Donald Trump and Kamala Harris met for the first time on the presidential debate stage in Philadelphia on Tuesday night.

They may have shaken hands, but they did not hit it off.

In a fiery 90 minutes, Harris frequently rattled the former president with personal attacks that threw him off message and raised the temperature of this highly-anticipated contest.

Her pointed digs on the size of his rally crowds, his conduct during the Capitol riot, and on the officials who served in his administration who have since become outspoken critics of his campaign repeatedly left Trump on the back foot.

The pattern for much of this debate was Harris goading her Republican rival into making extended defences of his past conduct and comments. He gladly obliged, raising his voice at times and shaking his head.

Americans should go to a Trump rally, Harris said during an early question about immigration, because they were illuminating. “People start leaving the rallies early out of exhaustion and boredom,” she said.

That barb clearly rattled the former president, as he then spent most of his answer – on a topic that should have been one of his main areas of strength – defending his rally sizes and belittling hers.

Trump went from there to an extended riff on a debunked report that Haitian immigrants in the town of Springfield, Ohio, were abducting and eating their neighbours’ pets.

If debates are won and lost on which candidate best takes advantage of issues where they are strong – and defends or deflects on areas of weakness – Tuesday night tilted in favour of the vice-president.

A snap CNN poll of voters watching said that Harris performed better and betting markets said the same.

This is a snapshot that could be momentary but the Harris tactic of putting Trump on the defensive was clear early in the evening when the topics covered were the economy and abortion.

Public opinion surveys indicate many Americans are unhappy with how the Biden administration – of which Harris is a key member – has handled inflation and the economy.

• WATCH: Key moments from presidential debate
• LIVE: Kamala Harris puts Donald Trump on defensive
• VERIFY: Eating pets, inflation, abortion – claims fact-checked
• TRACKER: Who is winning US election polls, Trump or Harris?
• LISTEN: Americast on the Harris-Trump showdown

But Harris turned the topic to Trump’s proposed across-the-board tariffs, which she labelled a “Trump sales tax”, and then brought up Project 2025, the controversial independent conservative plan for a future Republican administration.

As he has in the past, Trump distanced himself from the project and defended his tariff plan, noting that the Biden administration had kept many of the tariffs in his first presidency. They were valid points, but it kept him from hammering the vice-president on inflation and consumer prices.

On abortion, Trump defended his handling of the issue, saying that Americans across the spectrum wanted Roe v Wade abortion protections overturned by the Supreme Court – a statement that polling does not support. He struggled to make his position clear and his answer was at times rambling.

Harris, meanwhile, took the opportunity to make an impassioned, personal appeal to families who have faced severe pregnancy complications and have been unable to receive abortion care in states that have banned the procedure – states with “Trump abortion bans”, as she called them.

“It’s insulting to the women of America,” she concluded.

It was a carefully modulated message in an area in which she has a double-digit advantage over Trump.

Time and time again as the evening progressed, Harris put Trump on the defensive with jabs and barbs that he could have ignored but seemingly felt compelled to address.

At one point, Harris was asked about the liberal positions, such as those on oil shale fracking, that she took during her failed 2019 presidential campaign and has since abandoned. Her deliberate prodding continued and she ended her answer by noting that she did not take handouts from her wealthy father.

Again, the former president took the bait. Instead of hitting the vice-president on her shifting views – a clear area of weakness – he opened his response by talking about the “tiny fraction” of money he took from his father.

On the Afghanistan withdrawal, another weak point for Harris, the vice-president shifted the conversation to Trump’s negotiations with Taliban officials and inviting them to Camp David. It was a pattern that played out over and over and proved very effective.

Republicans are already complaining about what they say was the favouritism the ABC moderators, David Muir and Linsey Davis, showed toward Harris. Both of them pushed back and fact-checked assertions made by Trump on several occasions.

In the end, however, it was Trump’s responses and eagerness to take and devour whatever bait Harris set out for him that was the story of the evening.

And that played out in the faces of the two candidates. Whenever her opponent was talking, Harris took on a studied look of bemusement or incredulity. Trump, for his part, mostly scowled.

Up until now, the Harris campaign had been coy about whether she would agree to another debate. Almost immediately after this one ended, they called for a second presidential debate before November.

That alone should indicate how well the Democrats think Tuesday night went for Harris.

• SIMPLE GUIDE: Everything you need to know about the vote
• EXPLAINER: Seven swing states that could decide election
• FACT CHECK: Was US economy stronger under Biden or Trump?
• IMMIGRATION: Could Trump really deport a million migrants?

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.

Donald Trump and Kamala Harris went head to head in their first televised debate in the US election campaign.

In 90 minutes of often fiery exchanges, the Republican and Democratic presidential candidates traded claims over key election issues including the economy, immigration and abortion.

BBC Verify has been examining them.

CLAIM: Trump: “In Springfield, they’re [immigrants] eating the dogs, the people that came in, they’re eating the cats, they’re eating the pets of people that live there”.

VERDICT: There is no evidence that this is happening.

Trump’s comment followed a baseless claim – which was shared by his vice-presidential candidate JD Vance – that immigrants from Haiti who have recently settled in Springfield, Ohio, have been eating pets.

Springfield city officials told BBC Verify: “There have been no credible reports or specific claims of pets being harmed, injured or abused by individuals within the immigrant community.”

You can read more here.

CLAIM: Harris: “Donald Trump left us the worst unemployment since the Great Depression”.

VERDICT: This is false.

At the end of Trump’s term of office in January 2021, the unemployment rate was 6.4%.

But it has been higher since the Great Depression.

In October 2009, unemployment peaked at 10% in a period of deep economic recession.

It has fallen steadily since, apart from a sharp peak during the Covid pandemic, and in the most recent data for August 2024, unemployment stood at 4.2%.

CLAIM: Trump: “We have millions of people pouring into our country from prisons and jails, from mental institutions and insane asylums”.

VERDICT: There is no evidence for these kind of numbers.

There have been about 10 million encounters with migrants crossing over the US border since January 2021.

There are no publicly available figures on how many of them have served time in prison or come from mental institutions but there is some data on how many have previous criminal convictions.

Of the 1.4 million apprehensions of people crossing the border illegally so far this financial year (to September 2024) – and where the Border Patrol was able to check against law enforcement databases – about 14,700 people had previous criminal convictions.

That’s equivalent to roughly 1% of all border apprehensions in this period and doesn’t amount to the “millions” Trump is claiming.

CLAIM: Harris: “If Donald Trump were to be re-elected, he will sign a national abortion ban”.

VERDICT: This is misleading. Trump has denied that he would sign a national ban if elected president.

He has said that he would leave limits on abortion access up to individual states to decide.

Here, Harris also talked about “his Project 2025” – a reference to a document published by the right-wing Heritage Foundation outlining a list of policy proposals that they believe a Trump presidency should implement.

It doesn’t propose a national ban either, but it does recommend limiting abortion access.

Trump has distanced himself from the document, saying: “I know nothing about Project 2025. I have no idea who is behind it.”

Many former Trump administration officials are associated with Project 2025.

CLAIM: Trump: “The worst inflation we’ve ever had” [was under Biden].

VERDICT: This is false.

Under President Biden, inflation peaked at 9.1% in June 2022, at a time when prices were rising sharply in many countries.

Inflation was last above 9% in 1981, but it has been significantly higher than that at several other points in US history.

Since its peak in mid-2022, inflation has dropped to 2.9%, for the year to July 2024. But prices are still rising and it is a key issue for many voters.

CLAIM: Harris: “Economists have said that that Trump sales tax would actually result for middle class families in about $4,000 more a year”.

VERDICT: Harris calls Trump’s proposed tax on imports a sales tax. Some economists have estimated that these tariffs could cost families this much. Others have lower estimates.

Trump insists the cost would be felt by foreign countries but economists believe there would be an economic cost for US importers and consumers.

The $4,000 figure comes from analysis – by the left-of-centre think tank the Centre for American Progress – of Trump’s pledge to increase tariffs on all imported goods to 10-20% and all goods imported from China to 60%.

They took the amount the US buys in goods from abroad annually, figured out how much the new taxes on these goods would be and divided this by the number of households in the US.

It works out at $4,600 per household, but when you look at “middle income” families you get a figure of $3,900 a year.

Other estimates are lower. The Peterson Institute thinks the impact would be closer to $1,700 a year (for tariffs at 10%) or $2,500 (at 20%).

CLAIM: Trump: “Crime in Venezuela… is way down because they have taken their criminals off the streets and given them to her [Harris] to put into our country”.

VERDICT: There is no evidence that Venezuela is doing this. Crime levels are down but experts say this is because of the state of the economy.

The Venezuelan government does not publish reliable crime figures, but the independent Venezuelan Observatory of Violence does.

The Observatory’s 2023 annual report said that violent deaths that year – such as homicides – were down by a quarter compared to 2022.

The Observatory told BBC Verify: “Crime is reduced in Venezuela by a reduction in crime opportunities: bank robberies disappear because there is no money to steal; kidnappings are reduced because there is no cash to pay ransoms.”

It said it had seen no evidence that the Venezuelan government was sending criminals to the US.

• ANALYSIS: Who won the Harris-Trump debate?
• WATCH: Key moments from presidential debate
• LIVE: Kamala Harris puts Donald Trump on defensive
• LISTEN: Americast on the Harris-Trump showdown
• TRACKER: Who is winning US election polls, Trump or Harris?

What do you want BBC Verify to investigate?

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.

Taylor Swift endorsed Kamala Harris for president moments after the end of Tuesday night’s presidential debate against Donald Trump.

The pop star made her announcement in an Instagram post signed as “Childless Cat Lady” – a reference to comments by Trump’s running mate JD Vance.

Her post, breaking her silence on the 2024 vote, explained: “I’m voting for @kamalaharris because she fights for the rights and causes I believe need a warrior to champion them.”

Swift, who also backed Democratic President Joe Biden in 2020, went on to call Harris a “steady-handed, gifted leader”.

She added: “I believe we can accomplish so much more in this country if we are led by calm and not chaos.”

Swift’s text was accompanied by a photo of her with a cat. Her “Childless Cat Lady” comment was a nod to remarks made in 2021 by Vance, who is Trump’s candidate for vice-president.

• Ancient Egypt to Taylor Swift: The historic roots of the ‘cat lady’

Vance, the Ohio senator, has faced a backlash for a clip in which he called several prominent Democrats – including Harris – “a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives”. He recently said his comments were “sarcastic”.

Swift went on to compliment Harris’s choice of vice-presidential candidate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, who she said had been “been standing up for LGBTQ+ rights, IVF, and a woman’s right to her own body for decades”.

The singer said she was in part motivated to share her voting decision with the public after an AI image of her falsely endorsing Trump was posted on his website.

“It really conjured up my fears around AI, and the dangers of spreading misinformation,” she said. “It brought me to the conclusion that I need to be very transparent about my actual plans for this election as a voter.”

Trump went on to embrace the fake images in a post that sparked a backlash among Swift’s fans – or Swifties – who accused Trump of spreading misinformation.

In response to Swift’s endorsement of Harris, Trump told Fox News that “was not a Taylor Swift fan.”

He called her a “very liberal person” and said that she will “pay the price for it in the marketplace.”

• ANALYSIS: Who won the Harris-Trump debate?
• WATCH: Key moments from presidential debate
• LIVE: Kamala Harris puts Donald Trump on defensive
• VERIFY: Eating pets, inflation, abortion – claims fact-checked
• TRACKER: Who is winning US election polls, Trump or Harris?

Trump supporter Elon Musk, known to be the father of 12 children, posted on his social-media platform X (formerly Twitter): “Fine Taylor … you win … I will give you a child and guard your cats with my life.”

Meanwhile, Harris’s running mate Walz told MSNBC on Tuesday night after learning about the endorsement he was grateful to Swift “as a fellow cat owner.”

Swift is one of several celebrities to endorse Harris, including singers John Legend and Olivia Rodrigo, actor George Clooney and director Spike Lee.

Meanwhile, former wrestler Hulk Hogan, TV star Amber Rose and billionaire Elon Musk have endorsed Trump.

Swift’s intervention came after a fiery 90-minute presidential debate, during which the two candidates sparred over issues such as abortion rights, the economy and immigration.

It is not the first time the pop star has endorsed the Democratic nominee in a race against Trump. Swift announced her support for President Joe Biden and Harris as his vice-president a month before the 2020 election.

Swift was also a vocal critic of Trump during his presidency surrounding the nationwide protests over the police murder of George Floyd.

“After stoking the fires of white supremacy and racism your entire presidency, you have the nerve to feign moral superiority before threatening violence?” she posted on Twitter/X. “We will vote you out in November.”

Noting Swift’s political past, one academic who studies the intersection of media and politics suggested that the endorsement was unlikely to move the needle in Harris’s favour.

“No surprise at all, she endorsed Biden and Harris in 2020 so we already knew her politics,” said Lauren Rosewarne, a University of Melbourne professor.

Swift’s endorsement could impact voter registration, Ms Rosewarne told the BBC. But because her fan-base skews young and female – and that is already the Harris supporter base – her endorsement may not have a big impact come November.

The singer has 283 million followers on Instagram. Her endorsement has received more than 4.5 million likes on Instagram less than three hours after she posted it.

In her post, Swift urged first-time voters to register and said she would post a link with more voting information on her page.

“I’ve done my research, and I’ve made my choice,” she said. “Your research is all yours to do, and the choice is yours to make.”

• SIMPLE GUIDE: Everything you need to know about the vote
• EXPLAINER: Seven swing states that could decide election
• FACT CHECK: Was US economy stronger under Biden or Trump?
• IMMIGRATION: Could Trump really deport a million migrants?

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.

With only weeks left until the US presidential election, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are in a battle to win the support of those who are yet to commit to either candidate.

The BBC has spoken to seven undecided voters who saw Tuesday night’s 90-minute debate as being crucial in working out who to pick in November’s ballot.

I don’t think the debate changed my opinion on voting for Trump, but I definitely am less fearful if [Harris] wins because I think she can handle herself and debate well.

I’m overall unchanged, but I like her better now.

I lost a lot of faith in the Democratic Party when they told us Joe Biden was fine, and then it turns out he’s not, and so it’s hard to trust that same administration going forward.

I do not want to vote for Trump, but I do not like this current administration. I won’t change my mind before November, I’d just be less worried if she were to win.

Tonight was the first night where genuinely, I would say I felt, like, scared at the prospect of a second Trump presidency.

His answers where he would fear monger about immigrants killing dogs, fear monger about World War III multiple times. Every time he spoke, it was frightening to a level that I have not felt from him before.

And while I don’t love Harris, and I think she’s very wishy-washy, she does not pose an existential threat to America like he does.

I thought both candidates spoke fairly well, but I thought Kamala answered more of the questions than Trump did.

I had never really seen anything about [Harris] so I was looking for basically an opinion on her. So I was rather pleased with some of what she had to say and actually what ex-President Trump had to say, but I get a very shifty vibe from him.

I don’t trust [Trump]. I don’t think he wants to run the country, I think he wants to own the country.

The debate was something.

Kamala Harris definitely did very well. I think Trump kind of did not. He lost his focus and kept rambling on where it was kind of incoherent.

After last night, I think I’ll vote for Kamala Harris. I don’t know if I’ll be very enthusiastic about it but I will probably be voting for her.

There’s still a little bit of time until November, but she very likely has my vote.

Trump was all over the place. He was lured into a lot of questions that he should have answered perfectly like immigration and abortion, but he was caught off guard with statements about crowd size, which was really revealing.

I felt like Kamala was far more prepared for this than Donald Trump.

I personally want to see her in more one-on-one interviews after this, this is the first time I’m seeing her without Tim Walz and she did fine, in my opinion.

If she went out there more, spoke to the nation one-on-one more, she’d receive my vote at that point.

The debate did very little to change my perspective of Trump. This was more an audition for Kamala Harris to just kind of see who she is, where she stands on policies and her command of the stage.

She came across pretty rehearsed to me, but she dropped a lot of, sort of, baited statements that I think Trump bit on really hard – rattled him a bit, made him pretty angry.

All of this seemed pretty calculated to me, and that’s not exactly what I was looking for out of her. I was looking for her to be a little more personable, a little more natural.

I didn’t feel like the topics were discussed in depth, it was mostly the candidates talking at each other.

I was disappointed, really.

I personally wished they would go in depth about their policy, instead of attacking the other person for something about their policy.

I’m personally not a fan of either of them, but if I was going to choose one or the other, I would probably choose Harris.

• ANALYSIS: Who won the Harris-Trump debate?
• WATCH: Key moments from presidential debate
• LIVE: Kamala Harris puts Donald Trump on defensive
• VERIFY: Eating pets, inflation, abortion – claims fact-checked
• TRACKER: Who is winning US election polls, Trump or Harris?
• US VOTERS: We want to hear from you

Midwife Siro Devi is clinging to Monica Thatte, sobbing. Monica, in her late 20s, has returned to her birthplace – the Indian town where Siro has delivered hundreds of babies.

But this is no straightforward reunion. There is a painful history behind Siro’s tears. Shortly before Monica was born, Siro and several Indian midwives like her were regularly pressured to murder newborn girls.

Monica, evidence suggests, is one they saved.

I have been following Siro’s story for 30 years, ever since I went to interview her and four other rural midwives in India’s Bihar state in 1996.

They had been identified by a non-governmental organisation as being behind the murder of baby girls in the district of Katihar where, under pressure from the newborns’ parents, they were killing them by feeding them chemicals or simply wringing their necks.

Hakiya Devi, the eldest of the midwives I interviewed, told me at the time she had killed 12 or 13 babies. Another midwife, Dharmi Devi, admitted to killing more – at least 15-20.

It is impossible to ascertain the exact number of babies they may have killed, given the way the data was gathered.

But they featured in a report published in 1995 by an NGO, based on interviews with them and 30 other midwives. If the report’s estimates are accurate, more than 1,000 baby girls were being murdered every year in one district, by just 35 midwives. According to the report, Bihar at the time had more than half a million midwives. And infanticide was not limited to Bihar.

Refusing orders, Hakiya said, was almost never an option for a midwife.

“The family would lock the room and stand behind us with sticks,” says Hakiya Devi. “They’d say: ‘We already have four-five daughters. This will wipe out our wealth. Once we give dowry for our girls, we will starve to death. Now, another girl has been born. Kill her.’

“Who could we complain to? We were scared. If we went to the police, we’d get into trouble. If we spoke up, people would threaten us.”

The role of a midwife in rural India is rooted in tradition, and burdened by the harsh realities of poverty and caste. The midwives I interviewed belonged to the lower castes in India’s caste hierarchy. Midwifery was a profession passed on to them by mothers and grandmothers. They lived in a world where refusing orders of powerful, upper-caste families was unthinkable.

The midwife could be promised a sari, a sack of grain or a small amount of money for killing a baby. Sometimes even that was not paid. The birth of a boy earned them about 1,000 rupees. The birth of a girl earned them half.

The reason for this imbalance was steeped in India’s custom of giving a dowry, they explained. Though the custom was outlawed in 1961, it still held strong in the 90s – and indeed continues into the present day.

A dowry can be anything – cash, jewellery, utensils. But for many families, rich or poor, it is the condition of a wedding. And this is what, for many, still makes the birth of a son a celebration and the birth of a daughter a financial burden.

Siro Devi, the only midwife of those I interviewed who is still alive, used a vivid physical image to explain this disparity in status.

“A boy is above the ground – higher. A daughter is below – lower. Whether a son feeds or takes care of his parents or not, they all want a boy.”

The preference for sons can be seen in India’s national-level data. Its most recent census, in 2011, recorded a ratio of 943 women to every 1,000 men. This is nevertheless an improvement on the 1990s – in the 1991 census, the ratio was 927/1,000.

By the time I finished filming the midwives’ testimonies in 1996, a small, silent change had begun. The midwives who once carried out these orders had started to resist.

This change was instigated by Anila Kumari, a social worker who supported women in the villages around Katihar, and was dedicated to addressing the root causes of these killings.

Anila’s approach was simple. She asked the midwives, “Would you do this to your own daughter?”

Her question apparently pierced years of rationalisation and denial. The midwives got some financial help via community groups and gradually the cycle of violence was interrupted.

Siro, speaking to me in 2007, explained the change.

“Now, whoever asks me to kill, I tell them: ‘Look, give me the child, and I’ll take her to Anila Madam.’”

The midwives rescued at least five newborn girls from families who wanted them killed or had already abandoned them.

One child died, but Anila arranged for the other four to be sent to Bihar’s capital, Patna, to an NGO which organised their adoption.

The story could have ended there. But I wanted to know what had become of those girls who were adopted, and where life had taken them.

The Midwife’s Confession

Thirty years ago, a journalist in the Indian state of Bihar filmed a series of shocking confessions: midwives admitting they routinely murdered new-born baby girls. BBC Eye explores the disturbing story.

Watch on iPlayer (UK only), or if you are outside the UK watch on YouTube

The Midwife’s Confession

BBC Eye finds a woman who was possibly one of the girls abandoned in Bihar. What will happen when she returns to meet the only surviving midwife?

Listen on BBC Sounds or outside the UK, listen here

Anila’s records were meticulous but they had few details about post-adoption.

Working with a BBC World Service team, I got in touch with a woman called Medha Shekar who, back in the 90s, was researching infanticide in Bihar when the babies rescued by Anila and the midwives began arriving at her NGO. Remarkably, Medha was still in touch with a young woman who, she believed, was one of these rescued babies.

Anila told me that she had given all the girls saved by the midwives the prefix “Kosi” before their name, a homage to the Kosi river in Bihar. Medha remembered that Monica had been named with this “Kosi” prefix before her adoption.

The adoption agency would not let us look at Monica’s records, so we can never be sure. But her origins in Patna, her approximate date of birth and the prefix “Kosi” all point to the same conclusion: Monica is, in all probability, one of the five babies rescued by Anila and the midwives.

When I went to meet her at her parents’ home some 2,000km (1,242 miles) away in Pune, she said she felt lucky to have been adopted by a loving family.

“This is my definition of a normal happy life and I am living it,” she said.

Monica knew that she had been adopted from Bihar. But we were able to give her more details about the circumstances of her adoption.

Earlier this year, Monica travelled to Bihar to meet Anila and Siro.

Monica saw herself as the culmination of years of hard work by Anila and the midwives.

“Someone prepares a lot to do well in an exam. I feel like that. They did the hard work and now they’re so curious to meet the result… So definitely, I would like to meet them.”

Anila wept tears of joy when she met Monica. But Siro’s response felt different.

She sobbed hard, holding Monica close and combing through her hair.

“I took you [to the orphanage] to save your life… My soul is at peace now,” she told her.

But when, a couple of days later, I attempted to press Siro about her reaction, she resisted further scrutiny.

“What happened in the past is in the past,” she said.

But what is not in the past is the prejudice some still hold against baby girls.

Reports of infanticide are now relatively rare, but sex-selective abortion remains common, despite being illegal since 1994.

If one listens to the traditional folk songs sung during childbirth, known as Sohar, in parts of north India, joy is reserved for the birth of a male child. Even in 2024, it is an effort to get local singers to change the lyrics so that the song celebrates the birth of a girl.

While we were filming our documentary, two baby girls were discovered abandoned in Katihar – one in bushes, another at the roadside, just a few hours old. One later died. The other was put up for adoption.

Before Monica left Bihar, she visited this baby in the Special Adoption Centre in Katihar.

She says she was haunted by the realisation that though female infanticide may have been reduced, abandoning baby girls continues.

“This is a cycle… I can see myself there a few years ago, and now again there’s some girl similar to me.”

But there were to be happier similarities too.

The baby has now been adopted by a couple in the north-eastern state of Assam. They have named her Edha, which means happiness.

“We saw her photo, and we were clear – a baby once abandoned cannot be abandoned twice,” says her adoptive father Gaurav, an officer in the Indian air force.

Every few weeks Gaurav sends me a video of Edha’s latest antics. I sometimes share them with Monica.

Looking back, the 30 years spent on this story were never just about the past. It was about confronting uncomfortable truths. The past cannot be undone, but it can be transformed.

And in that transformation, there is hope.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy have arrived in Kyiv on a joint visit as Ukraine continues to press for the right to use US and British long-range missiles against Russia.

The two men travelled together to the Ukrainian capital after talks in London. They are due to meet President Volodymr Zelensky, who has repeatedly called on Washington to loosen the limits on US-supplied weapons.

Blinken said one of their goals was to “hear directly from the Ukrainian leadership” about their “objectives and what we can do to support those needs”.

Earlier, US President Joe Biden said his administration was “working” on whether to lift the restrictions.

The policy will come under further scrutiny when UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer meets Biden at the White House on Friday.

Ukraine’s Prime Minister, Denys Shmyhal, thanked Lammy for the UK’s military support for Ukraine throughout the war.

But he added: “We hope that long-range equipment for strikes on the territory of our enemy will be reached and we will have it and we hope for your help and support in this issue.”

At the moment, the US and UK have not given Ukraine permission to use long-range missiles against targets inside Russia for fear of escalation.

The UK has given Ukraine Storm Shadow missiles, which have a range of about 250km (155 miles). So far, they have been used only against Russian targets in occupied Ukrainian territory.

But Ukrainian leaders say they need the missiles to target air bases used by Russian warplanes to launch devastating glide bombs against Ukraine. These weapons are often launched from deep inside Russian territory.

The Kremlin said on Wednesday that Russia would respond “appropriately” if the US were to allow Ukrainian missile strikes on its territory.

• Ukraine in maps: Tracking the war with Russia
• What arms are the UK and other countries supplying?

Asked by reporters on Tuesday if the US would lift restrictions on Ukraine’s use of long-range weapons, President Biden said his administration was “working that out now”.

Earlier this year, the US loosened some of the restraints, allowing Ukraine to use long-range missiles to strike areas along Russia’s border where troops are firing from.

Kyiv’s other allies have also been supplying some long-range weapons – with restrictions on how and when they can be used inside Russia, out of concern such strikes could prompt retaliation that draws Nato countries into the war or provokes a nuclear conflict.

During a visit to the UK before travelling to Kyiv, Blinken accused Iran of supplying short-range ballistic missiles to Russia, saying they could be deployed against Ukrainians within weeks. Lammy described Iran’s move as “a significant and dangerous escalation”.

The missiles are likely to boost Russia’s arsenal, enabling it to hit Ukrainian cities close to Russia’s borders or areas it already controls at the same time as it deploys its longer-range missiles deeper into Ukrainian territory.

Iran has repeatedly denied supplying such self-guided weapons to Russia.

Separately on Tuesday, the US, UK, France and Germany imposed fresh sanctions on Iran for supplying Russia with ballistic missiles for use in Ukraine.

Measures included restrictions on national carrier Iran Air’s ability to fly to the UK and Europe – as well as travel bans and asset freezes on a number of Iranians accused of facilitating military support for Russia.

Top executives at the 155-year old Campbell Soup Company plan to change the iconic firm’s name to The Campbell’s Company.

Chief executive Mark Clouse said the move aims to better reflect Campbell’s growing product line, which currently also includes sauces, snacks and beverages.

Investors are set to vote on the name change at the company’s annual meeting in November.

While canned soup remains a key part of the Campbell’s business, the company has sought to adapt to a changing market by acquiring other businesses such as Rao’s sauces maker, Sovos Brands.

“We will always love soup, and we’ll never take our eye off of this critical business,” Mr Clouse said during the company’s investor day. “But today, we’re so much more than soup.”

In addition to its most famous line of products, Campbell’s portfolio includes other offerings such as Goldfish crackers, Cape Cod crisps, V8 beverages, Prego sauces.

Mr Clouse said Campbell will only need its soup sales to remain stable for the company to meet its financial targets.

Other executives noted, however, that soup sales are set to benefit from an aging population in the US, as older people are more likely to eat soup.

Campbell was the first company to sell canned soup more than a century ago.

The product served as inspiration for one of American artist Andy Warhol’s most iconic pop art works.

The company estimates its net sales will rise between 9% and 11% in its 2025 fiscal year.

Campbell’s leaders expect its Goldfish crackers to be a key driver of growth and to ultimately become its largest brand by 2027.

Medical staff on the front line of the battle against mpox in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo have told the BBC they are desperate for vaccines to arrive so they can stem the rate of new infections.

At a treatment centre in South Kivu province that the BBC visited in the epicentre of the outbreak, they say more patients are arriving every day – especially babies – and there is a shortage of essential equipment.

Mpox – formerly known as monkeypox – is a highly contagious disease and has killed at least 635 people in DR Congo this year.

Even though 200,000 vaccines, donated by the European Commission, were flown into the capital, Kinshasa, last week, they are yet to be transported across this vast country – and it could be several weeks before they reach South Kivu.

“We’ve learned from social media that the vaccine is already available,” Emmanuel Fikiri, a nurse working at the clinic that has been turned into a specialist centre to tackle the virus, told the BBC.

He said this was the first time he had treated patients with mpox and every day he feared catching it and passing it on to his own children – aged seven, five and one.

“You saw how I touched the patients because that’s my job as a nurse. So, we’re asking the government to help us by first giving us the vaccines.”

The reason it will take time to transport the vaccines is that they need to be stored at a precise temperature – below freezing – to maintain their potency, plus they need to be sent to rural areas of South Kivu, like Kamituga, Kavumu and Lwiro, where the outbreak is rife.

The lack of infrastructure and bad roads mean that helicopters could possibly be used to drop some of the vaccines, which will further drive up costs in a country that is already struggling financially.

At the community clinic, Dr Pacifique Karanzo appeared fatigued and downbeat having been rushed off his feet all morning.

Although he wore a face shield, I could see the sweat running down his face. He said he was saddened to see patients sharing beds.

“You will even see that the patients are sleeping on the floor,” he told me, clearly exasperated.

“The only support we have already had is a little medicine for the patients and water. As far as other challenges are concerned, there’s still no staff motivation.”

Another problem, he said, was that there was not enough personal protective equipment [PPE] for the medics.

“We try to do what we can to look after the sick and not put ourselves at risk either. We’re not spared from disease.”

As you enter Lwiro community hospital, which is about an hour’s drive north of South Kivu’s main city of Bukavu, two main things hit you.

First the resounding and loud cries of babies. The second is the stench – a mix of urine and stagnant water.

The clinic is running out of clean water, meaning they have to ration what they have in the small jerrycans underneath their beds.

Within the last three weeks, the clinic, which usually treats about 80 patients a month, has been inundated with nearly 200 patients – who are getting younger.

“It’s sad to see my firstborn suffering from this strange disease. I have a lot of pain in my heart,” 18-year-old Faraja Rukara said.

Her son, Murhula, is currently the youngest mpox case at the clinic – at only four weeks old. This is the first time she, like many others here, have encountered mpox, which is caused by a virus in the same family as smallpox.

The disease causes a loss of appetite, leaving many of the children malnourished.

In an adjacent room, several women and children – nearly 20 – were crammed inside, sharing only seven beds and two mattresses that were laid on the floor.

The hospital’s first mpox case did recover – 10-month-old Amenipa Kabuya. But not long after being discharged, her mother, Yvette Kabuya, returned as she too has fallen ill with mpox.

Witnessing what the disease does to the body – the painful puss-filled lesions, the fever and the weight loss – means people are keen for the vaccines – unusual in an area that has witnessed vaccine hesitancy in the past.

Beatrice Kachera, 50, gently caressed the cheek of her three-year-old granddaughter who she had rushed here in a panic: “I just saw the child get sick, I didn’t even know the name of the disease.

“We can’t wait for children and even adults to die. Bring on the vaccines,” she told the BBC.

But some fear the ongoing armed conflict in eastern DR Congo between the army and several armed groups, most notably the M23 rebels, is not going to make this easy.

“The conflict is having a profound effect on the vaccination programme in general,” Dr Gaston Bulambo, head of North Kivu Provincial Health Division, told the BBC.

“It’s not just vaccination against mpox, but all vaccination programmes are suffering because of difficulties in getting vaccines to health zones. This is due to the insecurity.”

South Kivu’s governor, who hails from Lwiro himself, told the BBC the intense fighting was driving many from their homes to his province, which was exacerbating the spread of the disease.

“We are accommodating thousands of IDPs [internally displaced people], and still struggling with many issues,” Jean-Jacques Purusi Sadiki said.

“Most of the money is being injected in tackling the war which is going on, to buy military equipment, to feed the military,” he said.

“The country is losing a lot of money in trying to address this war, rather than injecting [this money] into social development including the health sector.”

However, the governor believed that the rebel groups would not disrupt vaccine deliveries as mpox was also affecting people in the areas they controlled.

He said the government was doing its best to get medics what they need: “In the next two days, I am going to Lwiro myself. I will deliver definitely what is available in terms of urgent assistance for the population, until the government in Kinshasa can offer more support.”

The authorities say vaccinations will begin in October, with children under the age of 17, as well as those who have been in close contact with infected patients, first in line.

Governor Purusi Sadiki is convinced the outbreak in his province will be contained: “It’s a matter of political will. I am confident that we will succeed.”

It is a sentiment not yet shared by exhausted medics, like Dr Karanzo, at Lwiro hospital – but they are at least heartened that mpox awareness appears to be growing in their region.

People appear to be coming to the clinic as soon as they get symptoms rather than first going to traditional healers, which means the hospital is yet to experience an mpox fatality.

Yet with 5,049 confirmed cases since the start of the year in DR Congo, the clinic’s staff say speed is of the essence – only with a combination of vaccines, medicine and other supplies to allow for better hygiene, will the outbreak be curbed.

• The children bearing the brunt of the mpox outbreak
• ‘Mpox made my throat so painful I couldn’t sleep’
• How worried should we be about mpox?
• What is mpox and how is it spread?

Thousands of people have been evacuated from low-lying areas in the Vietnamese capital, Hanoi, as the Red River surges to its highest level in two decades, flooding the streets.

By Wednesday, flood waters from the swollen river reached a metre high in parts of the city, forcing some residents to navigate their neighbourhoods by boat.

Power has been cut to some districts because of safety concerns, while 10 of Hanoi’s 30 administrative districts are on “flood alert”, state media reported.

Vietnam is suffering the aftermath of Typhoon Yagi, which battered the north, killing at least 179 people. Floods and landslides across northern Vietnam have been the main causes of death, the government said.

“This is the worst flood I have seen,” Hanoi resident Tran Le Quyen told Reuters news agency. “It was dry yesterday morning. Now the entire street is flooded. We couldn’t sleep last night.”

Yagi, which was initially categorised as a super typhoon – the equivalent of a category 5 hurricane – but later downgraded to a tropical depression, has continued to wreak havoc in Vietnam since making landfall on Saturday.

It has been described as Asia’s most powerful typhoon this year.

“My home is now part of the river,” Nguyen Van Hung, who lives in a neighbourhood on the banks of the Red River, told Reuters.

An entire village, Lang Nu in the northern Lao Cai province, was swept away on Tuesday amid flash floods. At least 30 people have been confirmed dead, while hundreds of soldiers have been deployed to the village in search of those still missing.

Hoang Thi Bay, one of 63 survivors in the remote mountain community, told the AFP news agency that she avoided being swept away by holding on to a pillar.

“I looked out of the window and saw a huge amount of land coming towards me,” she said.

“I ran out to our kitchen, and clung tightly to a concrete pole. Our wooden stilt house was destroyed.”

Authorities are also paying careful attention on a hydropower plant in the northwestern Yen Bai province, as a huge inflow of water into the reservoir surrounding the dam raises concerns that it may collapse.

Deputy Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Hoang Hiep said on Wednesday that the hydropower plant is “safe”, but urged residents in the area to stay under shelter, as it may take up to two days for the water to recede to an “allowable level”.

Yagi has left a trail of destruction in the country’s northern region over the past four days. On Monday, it collapsed a busy bridge, plunging ten cars and two scooters into the Red River.

It also tore roofs from buildings, uprooted trees, and left widespread damage to infrastructure and factories in the north.

Before hitting Vietnam, the typhoon left 24 people dead across southern China and the Philippines.

Scientists have warned that as the world warms, typhoons can bring higher wind speeds and more intense rainfall, although the influence of climate change on individual storms is complicated.

Dozens of people have been arrested after clashing with police at an anti-war demonstration in Melbourne.

Police said they were “appalled” by the actions of some demonstrators targeting a military hardware sales show in Australia’s second largest city, accusing them of pelting officers with rocks, manure and bottles filled with acid.

By contrast, protestors said officers were heavy-handed and responded with flashbang grenades and irritant sprays to control the hostile crowd.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese condemned the violence, saying Australians had a right to protest – but had to do so in a peaceful manner.

“You don’t say you’re opposed to defence equipment by throwing things at police,” Mr Albanese told local media. “They’ve got a job to do and our police officers should be respected at all times.”

Authorities said about 1,200 people had taken part in the demonstration targeting the Land Forces International Land Defence Exposition, many of whom sported Palestinian flags and sang pro-Palestinian chants.

Police had anticipated unrest ahead of the event, which is expected to draw over 1,000 corporations from 31 countries in the coming days. The expo, which is not open to the public, brings together military, defence, government, scientific and industry delegations from around the world.

Local media reported military artillery, trucks and semi-automatic weapons have been on display during the convention. Activists had said they were protesting as they claim many of the weapons on-show have been used by Israeli forces in Gaza.

Footage showed dumpsters being pushed towards police lines during the clashes, with multiple fires being lit across the city and demonstrators blocking roads. One activist climbed on top of a stationary truck at a set of traffic lights.

About two dozen police officers were treated for injuries sustained during the unrest, Victoria state Police Chief Commissioner Shane Patton said. He told reporters 39 people had been arrested in Wednesday’s clashes.

Commissioner Patton accused those behind the violence of being “hypocrites”, adding demonstrators said they wanted to “protest against war, so presumably [were] anti-violence”.

But his officers have been criticised by demonstrators for being overly heavy-handed. Organisers said they were “appalled at the level of violence directed against community members protesting for peace”.

“The police have been extremely violent towards protestors today, actually in an unprecedented way,” Jasmine Duff, an activist from Students for Palestine, said.

“They used flashbang grenades, they’ve been pepper spraying people very viciously.”

Some journalists reported seeing police fire rubber bullets, but Commissioner Patton said the projectiles were actually hard foam baton rounds.

Officials say around A$10m (£7.6m) was spent on deploying extra police to protect the event, with officers reportedly drafted in from New South Wales.

“It’s absolutely outrageous that reportedly $10 million has been spent on this police presence,” one of the protest group organisers, Anneke Demanuele from Students for Palestine, told ABC News.

Victoria Premier Jacinta Allan defended the state’s handling of the event, saying delegates had the right to gather in Melbourne.

“Any industry deserves the right to have these sort of events in a peaceful and respectful way,” she said.

Rachael Gunn remains the number one female breakdancer in the world, despite a controversial Olympic performance for Team Australia that divided the internet and left her with a score of zero.

Responding to questions about its rankings, the sport’s governing body has issued a statement explaining its methodology to “address concerns” and “provide clarity”.

It said each athlete was assessed based on their top four performances in the last 12 months and that Olympic events, including qualifiers, were excluded.

Gunn, who performs as Raygun, has continued to defend her record as Australia’s best B-girl amid questions over her qualifications.

The 37-year-old university lecturer failed to score any points in all three of her competition rounds in Paris, with a routine that included unorthodox moves, such as the sprinkler and the kangaroo hop.

“The record is there. But anything can happen in a battle,” she said in an interview last week, when asked about her polarising performance.

The World DanceSport Federation (WDSF) has also come under intense public scrutiny not just for its rankings, but its “credibility” as a voice for the sport.

In Tuesday’s statement the WDSF tried to address criticisms that had been swirling online over the transparency of its rankings head on.

It explained that “ranking events” had intentionally not been held between the end of 2023 and the start of the Olympics, to allow athletes to “focus solely” on the Games.

That had created a set of “unique circumstances” which meant that some athletes had been ranked based only on a single event.

In Gunn’s case the 1,000 points, which place her at the top of the table, come from a first-place finish at the Oceania continental championships which were held in October of 2023.

“The world rankings as they currently stand should be interpreted in conjunction with results from recent global breaking competitions for a more accurate reflection of the global competitive landscape,” the WDSF statement added.

The weeks-long saga over Raygun’s performance has split opinion within the breakdancing community, with some throwing their support behind the embattled athlete, while others have publicly accused her of making a mockery of the sport.

It has also sparked questions over whether breaking – which debuted in Paris but is not on the programme for the 2028 Games in Los Angeles – should have ever been included in the Olympics, due to the organic nature of the genre, which doesn’t necessarily suit organised competition.

In an interview with the Associated Press, vice-president of Breaking for Gold USA Zack Slusser argued the WDSF didn’t have “any real merit” with the breaking community, and that it had failed to organise events that would “contribute to creating an accurate world ranking”.

Breakers were only performing at WDSF organised events to secure points to qualify for the Olympics, he claimed, adding that they had “no incentive” or “desire” to continue participating in WDSF events post-Paris.

Indians in West Bengal may face a shortage of hilsa, their favourite fish, as millions gear up to celebrate the state’s biggest festival, Durga Puja, in October.

That is because Bangladesh, the world’s largest producer of the fish, has intensified its crackdown on the transportation of hilsa to neighbouring India, reinforcing a long-standing ban on exports.

The renewed effort, which came a month after a new government took office in Dhaka, is to ensure that the prized fish remains more accessible to consumers in Bangladesh, according to Farida Akhter, adviser to the Bangladesh ministry of fisheries and livestock.

“A lot of fish is [still] going from Bangladesh to India [despite the ban]. This time we will not allow the hilsa to cross the border,” she told the BBC.

Hilsa is Bangladesh’s national fish but it is a luxury, affordable only for the rich and middle class; the poor can’t buy it.

“The previous government would lift the ban during the Durga Puja festival. They used to call it a gift. This time I don’t think we need to give a gift because [if we do it] our people will not be able to eat the fish while it is allowed to be exported to India in large numbers,” Ms Akhter said.

This stand marks a clear departure from deposed former prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s renowned “hilsa diplomacy” with India, where she often allowed consignments of the fish to be transported to India during the festival season.

Hasina has sent hilsa to West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on a number of occasions. Hoping to resolve a long-standing water dispute, she also gifted 30kg of hilsa to the then Indian president Pranab Mukherjee in 2017.

Hasina was removed dramatically on 5 August after weeks of student-led protests that escalated into deadly nationwide unrest. Initially expected to stay in India briefly, her attempts to secure asylum in the UK, US and UAE have so far failed.

• India’s Bangladesh dilemma: What to do about Sheikh Hasina?

Her continued presence in India has also complicated Delhi’s efforts to build a strong relationship with the new interim government in Dhaka. For India, Bangladesh is a key strategic partner and ally, vital for border security, especially in its north-eastern states.

Asked whether the new interim government could have made a goodwill gesture to India by allowing supply of hilsa, Ms Akhter said: “We will have goodwill gestures in all other ways. They are our friends. But we should not do anything by depriving our people.

“The question of goodwill is separate from this.”

Bangladesh is the leading producer of hilsa (Tenualosa ilisha), a kind of species of fish related to the herring, abundant in the Bay of Bengal and also thriving in rivers.

The fish accounts for about 12% of the country’s total fish production and contributes around 1% to its GDP. Fishermen catch up to 600,000 tonnes of the fish annually, the majority of the haul coming from the sea. In 2017, hilsa was recognised as a geographical Indicator for the country.

In past years, the government permitted the export of 3,000-5,000 tonnes of hilsa annually during Durga Puja, senior fisheries official Nripendra Nath Biswas told The Daily Star newspaper.

“But considering the scarcity of fish in the country, the government has decided to impose a ban on hilsa exports this year,” he said.

But Bangladeshi media reports indicate that hilsa prices have surged in the local market despite the export ban.

A 1.5kg hilsa was selling for around 1,800 taka ($15; £11.50), 1.2kg for 1,600 taka, and one kg for 1,500 taka. These prices are 150-200 taka higher than last year, say traders.

Fishermen attribute the price increase to poor catches. “In the past three months, we tried to go to sea five times but had to turn back due to rough weather,” said Hossain Miah, a fisherman.

Hilsa holds an almost sacred status among Bengalis on both sides of the border, and its scarcity will frustrate many.

The fish is celebrated for its versatility, often cooked in a variety of ways such as steamed with mustard paste, which enhances its delicate flavour, or fried with a light coating of spices for a crispy texture.

Bengali-American food historian and author Chitrita Banerji is among the many writers who have raved about the fish.

“I think its enduring role as an icon of Bengali food is a combination of many elements, not the least being its physical beauty, which has led Bengali writers to describe it as the darling of the waters or a prince among fish,” she told an interviewer.

“And its tender flesh (bony though it may be), combined with an emollient texture and exquisite flavour, lends itself to an infinite variety of culinary preparations.”

Five Palestinians have been killed in an Israeli air strike in the north of the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry says.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said a drone targeted a group of five young men near a mosque in the city of Tubas at dawn on Wednesday, and an ambulance crew transferred the bodies to the local government hospital.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said an aircraft struck an “armed terrorist cell” during counter-terrorism activity by security forces in Tubas and the nearby town of Tamun.

An Israeli military official said later that a curfew had been declared in Tubas as part of the operation.

The government hospital has been surrounded and people can exit and enter only subject to being checked by forces, according to the official.

Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that Israeli forces were carrying out large-scale raids on the city’s outskirts and several neighbourhoods.

Wafa also said an Israeli military operation was continuing in the city of Tulkarm and its refugee camps for a second day.

On Tuesday, the Palestinian health ministry said a Palestinian man and woman were killed by gunfire from Israeli forces in Tulkarm. The IDF did not comment on the incident.

It comes days after the largest Israeli operation in the West Bank since Hamas’s attack on Israel on 7 October and the ensuing war in Gaza.

The health ministry said at least 36 Palestinians were killed during the nine-day operation in the Tubas, Tulkarm and Jenin areas. Most of the dead were claimed by armed groups as members, but the ministry said children were also among those killed.

An Israeli soldier was also killed during the fighting in Jenin.

Also on Wednesday, Israeli paramedics said an Israeli man was in a critical condition following a ramming attack by a lorry near the Jewish settlement of Givat Assaf.

The IDF said the attacker was “neutralised” at the scene.

Israeli media identified the lorry driver as a Palestinian man from Rafat, near Ramallah.

On Sunday, three Israeli security guards were shot dead by a Jordanian lorry driver at the Allenby Bridge border crossing between Jordan and the West Bank.

There has been a spike in violence in the West Bank since last October.

More than 690 Palestinians have been killed, the Palestinian health ministry says, as Israeli forces have intensified their nearly daily search and arrest raids.

Israel says it is trying to stem Palestinian attacks on Israelis in the West Bank and Israel, in which 28 Israelis had been killed as of 2 September, according to the UN.

The driver responsible for one of Australia’s deadliest road incidents – a wedding bus crash which killed 10 people – has been jailed for 32 years.

Twenty-five people were also injured when the coach overturned on 11 June 2023, while coming back from the celebration in the Hunter Valley wine region in New South Wales.

Brett Button, 59, was in the grips of a prescription opioid dependency and driving too fast at the time of the crash.

Initially charged with manslaughter, he instead pleaded guilty to a string of dangerous driving offences after taking a prosecution deal.

Surviving passengers and loved ones of those who died travelled from around the country to see Button sentenced, sobbing and hugging each other as the judge ruled he could not be released on parole until May of 2048.

Button had taken a large amount of Tramadol – a powerful drug which can cause drowsiness, brain fog and poor vision – to manage his chronic pain on the day of the crash but said that he did not realise he was impaired.

However passengers told the court they were terrified by his erratic driving, and some had urged him to slow down.

Shortly after, he lost control of the bus on a roundabout, causing it to tip on its side and slide along a guard rail.

It was carrying 35 passengers and everyone on board, except Button, was injured or killed.

Two whole days were devoted to listening to statements from more than 30 of those impacted in a hearing the judge called unprecedented in scale.

Several people spoke of their enduring grief and daily physical agony.

Graeme McBride suffered serious injuries in the crash, which also killed his wife Nadene, his only child Kyah, 22, and her partner Kane Symons, 21.

Crying, Mr McBride told the court “my family tree has been cut down”.

“I just want my old life back.

“I want to be able to sleep on a dry pillow… I just want to lay in a comfortable position without a broken neck and heart.”

Nick Dinakis, who lost his girlfriend Darcy Bulman that night, was also left on the brink of death – with a broken neck, debris throughout his face “like shrapnel”, and a brain injury he is unlikely to recover from.

“You’ve broken me physically, you’ve scarred my body, and worst of all you’ve broken my heart and mind,” the 30-year-old said.

Button sat silently as victims told him how he had orphaned kids, turned partners into widows, and forced parents to bury their adult children.

“Touching [your daughter’s] cold arm in a morgue is something a father can’t explain,” Matthew Mullen, father of 26-year-old Rebecca Mullen, said.

The court also heard some of those affected were now too scared to drive and too physically and mentally destroyed to ever work again.

Speaking for the first time, Button apologised and said he’d struggled to express his regret and grief.

“I’ve tried to figure out the words to say I’m sorry, but how do you say you’re sorry for such a horrible tragic event that has ruined the lives of hundreds of people,” he told the court.

“I live with this every day and I hate myself.”

Judge Roy Ellis told the court he had never seen a case which had caused such “extraordinary devastation to so many individuals and families” in his 50-year career.

“The court hopes that there will be some closure for at least some of you,” he said, while handing down his sentence.

Button was convicted of 10 charges of dangerous driving causing death, nine counts of dangerous driving causing grievous bodily harm, and 16 counts of causing bodily harm by furious driving.

The Hunter Valley in New South Wales is known for its vineyards and native bushland and has a reputation as a wedding hub.

The tragedy shocked the nation and shattered the small regional town of Singleton.

Six of those killed – Nadene and Kyah McBride; Andrew, 35, and Lynan Scott, 33; Tori Cowburn, 29; and Rebecca Mullen – were locals.

Also killed were Kane Symons, from Tasmania, Zach Bray, 29 from Byron Bay, Angus Craig, 28, from Queensland, and Bulman from Melbourne.

Louisiana is bracing for Hurricane Francine as the storm grows in power over the Gulf of Mexico before its expected landfall on Wednesday.

Francine strengthened from a tropical storm into a Category 1 hurricane on Tuesday and is expected to have reached Category 2 when it hits Louisiana, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.

Louisiana and neighbouring Mississippi have declared states of emergency in preparation for landfall.

Francine will bring 4-8 inches (10-20cm) of rainfall, potential tornadoes and damaging winds to much of central and eastern Louisiana, forecasters said.

The very wettest places could see up to 12in (300mm) of rain, bringing the risk of significant flash flooding.

Residents in eastern Louisiana, Mississippi, southern Alabama and western Florida were warned of a life-threatening storm surge and urged to finish their hurricane preparations by Tuesday evening.

A storm surge means there is a danger of water rising from the coastline and moving inland. In some places, water may rise up to 10ft (3m).

“You’re going to want to be in your safe space to ride out the storm likely by tonight,” said Michael Brennan, director of the NHC, in an update on Tuesday.

He added people should have a plan to shelter in place until Thursday.

The hurricane is expected to bring “considerable” flash and urban flooding in parts of Louisiana, including New Orleans, the NHC warned.

Several of the state’s coastal parishes are under voluntary or mandatory evacuation orders. Some schools and colleges have already closed, while US oil and gas companies on the Gulf of Mexico, including Exxon Mobil and Shell, have evacuated staff and paused some operations.

Mr Brennan said residents could expect widespread power outages, tree damage and structural damage inland up to the west of the New Orleans metropolitan area.

Louisiana recently marked the 19th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, which killed more than 1,800 people and caused widespread devastation.

Nearby Texas is also preparing for the storm. Governor Greg Abbott urged residents on Tuesday to heed guidance by local officials, including possible evacuation orders.

While the potential hurricane is expected to make landfall in Louisiana, Abbott warned “the predicted pathway of a storm like this doesn’t always turn out to be true.”

“As a result we need to be prepared for the possibility that conditions could change,” he said.

His state has mobilised resources and deployed water rescue teams, he said, and is prepared to call on the National Guard for support if needed.

Francine’s development follows a quiet August and early September during the Atlantic hurricane season, which typically lasts until November. Experts earlier this summer had predicted a busier season.

Sarah Keith-Lucas, a weather presenter with the BBC, said the hurricane followed “a very quiet spell of weather in the Atlantic basin”.

“The previous named storm in the region was Ernesto, back on 12 August,” she said.

“The last time we had no named storms during this same period was back in 1968. Usually, this time of the year is peak hurricane season. Last year nine named storms formed between 13 August and 8 September.”

As of Tuesday evening, Tropical Storm Francine, the sixth named storm of 2024, was about 360 miles (579km) southwest of Morgan City, Louisiana, a town overlooking the Gulf of Mexico.

Hurricanes are categorised on a scale of one to five. Category five storms are the most destructive, with winds in excess of 157mph (250km/h).

There were 19 named storms in last year’s hurricane season.

Voice actor Peter Renaday, best known for his role in the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles TV series, has died aged 89.

He was the voice of Master Splinter in the original popular animated show broadcast in the 1980s and 1990s.

Friend and co-star Townsend Coleman, who voiced Michealangelo in the series, announced Renaday’s death on social media, commenting: “I will miss him dearly.”

It’s reported Renaday died at his home in Burbank, California on Sunday of suspected natural causes.

Born in Louisiana in 1935, Renaday had a hugely successful career that spanned more than six decades, playing roles in nearly 200 films and TV shows.

He voiced characters in Disney animated films in the 1970s and 1980s including The Aristocrats, The Rescuers and the Black Cauldron.

His TV credits include Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo, Alvin & The Chipmunks, The Transformers, The Real Ghostbusters and Batman: The Animated Series.

He was also known for voicing the animatronic Abraham Lincoln at Walt Disney World’s Hall of Presidents.

Renaday voiced Splinter in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles from 1987 to 1996.

Coleman, his Ninja Turtles co-star, described Renaday as a “Disney Legend” in a post on X.

The 70-year-old called Renaday “one of the most genuine, salt-of-the-earth people I have ever known” saying he had “the privilege of visiting him a month ago and he was as vibrant as ever”.

Fans have also been paying tribute to him on social media. One posted: “I will always remember you for bringing Splinter to life”.

Los Angeles website TMZ reported Renaday was found unresponsive after police were called to his home for a welfare check.

The 89-year-old was married to Florence “Flo” Daniel – who worked as Walt Disney Studios’ music department secretary for 35 years – from 1979 until her death in 2011.

A film reboot of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was released last summer.

Midwife Siro Devi is clinging to Monica Thatte, sobbing. Monica, in her late 20s, has returned to her birthplace – the Indian town where Siro has delivered hundreds of babies.

But this is no straightforward reunion. There is a painful history behind Siro’s tears. Shortly before Monica was born, Siro and several Indian midwives like her were regularly pressured to murder newborn girls.

Monica, evidence suggests, is one they saved.

I have been following Siro’s story for 30 years, ever since I went to interview her and four other rural midwives in India’s Bihar state in 1996.

They had been identified by a non-governmental organisation as being behind the murder of baby girls in the district of Katihar where, under pressure from the newborns’ parents, they were killing them by feeding them chemicals or simply wringing their necks.

Hakiya Devi, the eldest of the midwives I interviewed, told me at the time she had killed 12 or 13 babies. Another midwife, Dharmi Devi, admitted to killing more – at least 15-20.

It is impossible to ascertain the exact number of babies they may have killed, given the way the data was gathered.

But they featured in a report published in 1995 by an NGO, based on interviews with them and 30 other midwives. If the report’s estimates are accurate, more than 1,000 baby girls were being murdered every year in one district, by just 35 midwives. According to the report, Bihar at the time had more than half a million midwives. And infanticide was not limited to Bihar.

Refusing orders, Hakiya said, was almost never an option for a midwife.

“The family would lock the room and stand behind us with sticks,” says Hakiya Devi. “They’d say: ‘We already have four-five daughters. This will wipe out our wealth. Once we give dowry for our girls, we will starve to death. Now, another girl has been born. Kill her.’

“Who could we complain to? We were scared. If we went to the police, we’d get into trouble. If we spoke up, people would threaten us.”

The role of a midwife in rural India is rooted in tradition, and burdened by the harsh realities of poverty and caste. The midwives I interviewed belonged to the lower castes in India’s caste hierarchy. Midwifery was a profession passed on to them by mothers and grandmothers. They lived in a world where refusing orders of powerful, upper-caste families was unthinkable.

The midwife could be promised a sari, a sack of grain or a small amount of money for killing a baby. Sometimes even that was not paid. The birth of a boy earned them about 1,000 rupees. The birth of a girl earned them half.

The reason for this imbalance was steeped in India’s custom of giving a dowry, they explained. Though the custom was outlawed in 1961, it still held strong in the 90s – and indeed continues into the present day.

A dowry can be anything – cash, jewellery, utensils. But for many families, rich or poor, it is the condition of a wedding. And this is what, for many, still makes the birth of a son a celebration and the birth of a daughter a financial burden.

Siro Devi, the only midwife of those I interviewed who is still alive, used a vivid physical image to explain this disparity in status.

“A boy is above the ground – higher. A daughter is below – lower. Whether a son feeds or takes care of his parents or not, they all want a boy.”

The preference for sons can be seen in India’s national-level data. Its most recent census, in 2011, recorded a ratio of 943 women to every 1,000 men. This is nevertheless an improvement on the 1990s – in the 1991 census, the ratio was 927/1,000.

By the time I finished filming the midwives’ testimonies in 1996, a small, silent change had begun. The midwives who once carried out these orders had started to resist.

This change was instigated by Anila Kumari, a social worker who supported women in the villages around Katihar, and was dedicated to addressing the root causes of these killings.

Anila’s approach was simple. She asked the midwives, “Would you do this to your own daughter?”

Her question apparently pierced years of rationalisation and denial. The midwives got some financial help via community groups and gradually the cycle of violence was interrupted.

Siro, speaking to me in 2007, explained the change.

“Now, whoever asks me to kill, I tell them: ‘Look, give me the child, and I’ll take her to Anila Madam.’”

The midwives rescued at least five newborn girls from families who wanted them killed or had already abandoned them.

One child died, but Anila arranged for the other four to be sent to Bihar’s capital, Patna, to an NGO which organised their adoption.

The story could have ended there. But I wanted to know what had become of those girls who were adopted, and where life had taken them.

The Midwife’s Confession

Thirty years ago, a journalist in the Indian state of Bihar filmed a series of shocking confessions: midwives admitting they routinely murdered new-born baby girls. BBC Eye explores the disturbing story.

Watch on iPlayer (UK only), or if you are outside the UK watch on YouTube

The Midwife’s Confession

BBC Eye finds a woman who was possibly one of the girls abandoned in Bihar. What will happen when she returns to meet the only surviving midwife?

Listen on BBC Sounds or outside the UK, listen here

Anila’s records were meticulous but they had few details about post-adoption.

Working with a BBC World Service team, I got in touch with a woman called Medha Shekar who, back in the 90s, was researching infanticide in Bihar when the babies rescued by Anila and the midwives began arriving at her NGO. Remarkably, Medha was still in touch with a young woman who, she believed, was one of these rescued babies.

Anila told me that she had given all the girls saved by the midwives the prefix “Kosi” before their name, a homage to the Kosi river in Bihar. Medha remembered that Monica had been named with this “Kosi” prefix before her adoption.

The adoption agency would not let us look at Monica’s records, so we can never be sure. But her origins in Patna, her approximate date of birth and the prefix “Kosi” all point to the same conclusion: Monica is, in all probability, one of the five babies rescued by Anila and the midwives.

When I went to meet her at her parents’ home some 2,000km (1,242 miles) away in Pune, she said she felt lucky to have been adopted by a loving family.

“This is my definition of a normal happy life and I am living it,” she said.

Monica knew that she had been adopted from Bihar. But we were able to give her more details about the circumstances of her adoption.

Earlier this year, Monica travelled to Bihar to meet Anila and Siro.

Monica saw herself as the culmination of years of hard work by Anila and the midwives.

“Someone prepares a lot to do well in an exam. I feel like that. They did the hard work and now they’re so curious to meet the result… So definitely, I would like to meet them.”

Anila wept tears of joy when she met Monica. But Siro’s response felt different.

She sobbed hard, holding Monica close and combing through her hair.

“I took you [to the orphanage] to save your life… My soul is at peace now,” she told her.

But when, a couple of days later, I attempted to press Siro about her reaction, she resisted further scrutiny.

“What happened in the past is in the past,” she said.

But what is not in the past is the prejudice some still hold against baby girls.

Reports of infanticide are now relatively rare, but sex-selective abortion remains common, despite being illegal since 1994.

If one listens to the traditional folk songs sung during childbirth, known as Sohar, in parts of north India, joy is reserved for the birth of a male child. Even in 2024, it is an effort to get local singers to change the lyrics so that the song celebrates the birth of a girl.

While we were filming our documentary, two baby girls were discovered abandoned in Katihar – one in bushes, another at the roadside, just a few hours old. One later died. The other was put up for adoption.

Before Monica left Bihar, she visited this baby in the Special Adoption Centre in Katihar.

She says she was haunted by the realisation that though female infanticide may have been reduced, abandoning baby girls continues.

“This is a cycle… I can see myself there a few years ago, and now again there’s some girl similar to me.”

But there were to be happier similarities too.

The baby has now been adopted by a couple in the north-eastern state of Assam. They have named her Edha, which means happiness.

“We saw her photo, and we were clear – a baby once abandoned cannot be abandoned twice,” says her adoptive father Gaurav, an officer in the Indian air force.

Every few weeks Gaurav sends me a video of Edha’s latest antics. I sometimes share them with Monica.

Looking back, the 30 years spent on this story were never just about the past. It was about confronting uncomfortable truths. The past cannot be undone, but it can be transformed.

And in that transformation, there is hope.

One year on, the images of the catastrophic deluge that swept through Libya’s coastal city of Derna, killing thousands, linger in the memories of those who survived.

“Life stopped. It’s only the body that is still alive. I’m not the same person,” says Abdul Aziz Aldali, a young resident.

He lost his mother, father and nephews, who had come for a sleepover at their home, when Storm Daniel hit the city on the night of 10 September.

“I consider them martyrs. My neighbours, the Nasser family, lost 24 martyrs. The water reached them first,” Mr Aldali says.

Derna is built on the delta of the Wadi Derna river. The stream flows through two dams before crossing the city and emptying into the sea.

The unseasonably heavy rains – along with the failure to do maintenance work on ageing infrastructure – overwhelmed the dams, which eventually ruptured at around 02:00 local time on 11 September.

“A huge wave came through [the house]. Water filled up two floors in less than a second. The water was moving us around the house in the darkness,” Mr Aldali recalls.

“The water was taking me up and down. I swim very well, but it’s hard to control when the water keeps flipping you.”

Eventually, the waves propelled him outside.

“I spotted a network tower. A wave came and pushed me towards it, so I clung to it and tried to resist as much as I could.”

A deluge of water struck the city with an estimated force of 24 million tonnes, sparing no one.

“I looked at the people – small children who couldn’t save themselves. Those who were destined to live survived. Those who weren’t passed away,” Mr Aldali recalls.

Like many other residents, Mr Aldali has left the city. He has now relocated to Umm al-Rizam, a quaint village which is a 40-minute drive south of Derna.

More than 5,900 people died, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha), and 2,380 more are reported missing in a city with a population of about 90,000.

Locals believe the number of people killed in the flood is much higher.

“Almost all of my friends lost a family member. People in Derna believe more than 10,000 died in the flood,” says Dernawi journalist Johr Ali, who is now based in Turkey’s main city, Istanbul, and has been following developments in his home town.

For many Dernawis, the trauma of the loss is compounded by the agonising uncertainty of not knowing the fate of their missing relatives.

“I only found [the bodies] of my nephews,” says Mr Aldali says. “This world is worth nothing without my parents. I only ask Allah to reunite me with them in heaven”.

• PODCAST: How are survivors of the Derna flood coping?

The General Authority for Search and Identification of Missing Persons (Gasimp) has spent the past 12 months collecting DNA samples from human remains in the hope of finding matches with surviving family members.

“We collected the bodies, took samples from the teeth and other bones, issued reports with the cause of death, and buried the bodies,” Gasimp director Dr Kamal Sewi says.

But finding the remains of the victims has been difficult, with some body parts discovered as far as 60km (37 miles) out to sea or under collapsed buildings.

A special cemetery on the outskirts of Derna has been set up for the victims, but the graves are still nameless because most bodies have not been officially identified, leaving thousands of families without the closure they desperately yearn for.

Numeric codes are kept inside and outside each burial spot. These will eventually be assigned a name if the DNA of the deceased person is matched with that of a living relative.

However, the scale of displacement caused by the deluge has complicated this step of identification.

“It is easier to match DNA samples from direct relatives like parents or siblings,” Dr Sewi says, but finding those close family members has been a challenge.

“People moved from the city because they no longer have a home, but they did not come to report the missing,” Dr Sewi says.

This has further delayed the identification process because the teams have to search for second- or third-generation relatives, which makes DNA matching more complicated.

“[Identification] is not a process that will take one or two months to complete,” Dr Sewi says.

But while the lives of many Dernawis remain in limbo as they await news of their loved ones, the city’s reconstruction is well under way.

Roads have been cleared, schools and mosques are being repaired, and new homes have sprung up.

The so-called Korean buildings, a complex of towering apartment blocks painted in white have become the pride of local authorities, who have also organised press tours to display the finished work.

It has been completed more than a decade after then-ruler Muammar Gaddafi’s government commissioned a South Korean company to build the complex.

Construction work was suspended after the outbreak of a civil war in 2011, but resumed after the flood.

Some displaced families have also returned to Derna, attracted by the opportunity to receive compensation of up to 100,000 Libyan dinars ($21,000; £16,000) and subsidised rent.

But financial help to some families – along with the reconstruction effort – has been delayed by bureaucratic bottlenecks, and allegations of financial mismanagement.

A source with the investigative news organisation The Sentry told the BBC that the process appeared to be “opaque”, and lacked clear rules.

“Some families who thought they were eligible are still waiting,” he added.

There are also mounting concerns that the victims of the floods have become pawns in the power struggle between Libya’s rival governments – headquartered in the capital, Tripoli, and in the eastern city, Bengazi.

Belqasem Haftar – a son of military strongman Gen Khalifa Haftar, who governs the eastern part of Libya – is leading the recovery efforts through the Derna Reconstruction Fund.

With more than $2bn allocated to the fund, it gives the Haftars enormous influence to extend their power base.

“It is a blank cheque with zero oversight,” Libya analyst Anas El Gomati, who heads the Sadeq Institute think-tank, told the AFP news agency.

A spokesman for Gen Hatar’s Libyan National Army did not respond to a BBC request for comment.

The source at The Sentry, who preferred to remain anonymous because of the sensitivities around the issue, pointed out that the governor of Libya’s central bank had fled the country after a fall-out with the government there.

“Money allocated to the reconstruction of Derna contributed to making the central bank in Tripoli closer to the Haftar family, but the government in Tripoli was bitterly against this,” he added.

As the power struggles and chaos continue to rage, Dernawis like Mr Aldali are warily trying to rebuild their lives.

“We ask the people to pray for those who are behind the maintenance we’re witnessing now and to make the country look better than it was. May Allah have mercy upon them,” he says.

• Why damage to Derna was so catastrophic
• The bodies left unrecognisable by Derna disaster
• A barren wasteland with a lingering smell of death

India had a lone shining moment at the 2012 London Paralympics when Girisha Hosanagara Nagarajegowda won a silver medal in the men’s high jump.

The country hadn’t won any medal at the 2008 edition in Beijing, so it felt special to millions of Indians.

But Nagarajegowda’s win also sparked discussions on whether a lone medal was enough for a country that has millions of people with disabilities.

It also raised questions around India’s attitudes to para sport and disability in general. But something seems to have clicked for the country since 2012.

India won four medals in Rio in 2016 and 20 at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics.

And it closed the Paris Paralympics with an impressive tally of 29 medals. There have been so many moments to savour for India in Paris – from Sheetal Devi, who competes without arms, winning a bronze with Rakesh Kumar in a mixed compound archery event to Navdeep Singh registering a record throw of 47.32m in javelin to win a gold in the F41 category (athletes with short stature compete in this class).

These achievements are special given the leap of growth Indian para athletes have shown in just over a decade.

India still has a long way to go to take on countries like China (220 medals), Great Britain (124) and the US (105) but supporters of para sports in the country say the tide may be turning.

So what changed in this relatively short period of time?

Plenty.

Several government agencies, coaches and corporate firms came together to invest in para athletics.

And as they helped more heroes emerge, more children and their parents felt confident to take up para sport as a profession.

Gaurav Khanna, the head coach of the Indian para badminton team, says having people to look up to has changed mindsets:

“This has increased the number of athletes who are participating and who are having confidence that they can do better. When I joined the para badminton team in 2015, there were only 50 athletes in the national camp. Now that figure has gone up to 1,000.”

This is a stark change from the time he began training para athletes. Earlier, Khanna used to spot young talent in strange places like shopping malls, corner shops and even on roads while driving in the country’s rural areas.

“It used to be tough to convince parents to send their children for something they knew little about. Just imagine convincing the parents of a young girl to send her to a faraway camp and trust somebody they didn’t know. But that’s how earlier champions came to the fore,” he adds.

Technology has also played a crucial part. With India’s growing economic prowess, Indian para athletes now have access to world-class equipment.

Khanna says each category in different disability sports requires specific equipment, which is often designed to meet the needs of an individual athlete.

“We didn’t have access to good equipment earlier and we used whatever we could get. But now it’s a different world for our athletes,” he says.

Disability rights activist Nipun Malhotra also acknowledges the change in mindset. He says the biggest change he has noticed is that parents now believe that children with disabilities can also become heroes:

“I think families have started playing a much more important role, and people with disabilities have got integrated much more into families today than they were 20 years ago. This also affects how society looks at disability as well. The fact that there are people with disabilities who are excelling in sports also gives hope to the future generations.”

Khanna and Malhotra both give credit to government schemes like TOPS (Target Olympic Podium Scheme) for identifying and supporting young talent.

Private organisations like the Olympic Gold Quest, which is funded by corporate houses, have also helped para athletes realise their full potential.

And then there are people like Khanna who started talent scouting and coaching using their own money, and continue to do so.

Sheetal Devi’s journey wouldn’t be possible without the support she got from a private organisation. Born in a small village in Jammu district, she didn’t know much about archery until two years ago.

She visited the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board sports complex in Jammu’s Katra on a friend’s advice and met her coach Kuldeep Vedwan there.

• The Indian archer without arms shooting for a gold

Now she is as popular in India as Manu Bhaker, who won two bronze medals in shooting at the Paris Olympics.

Brands are already lining up to sign Devi, and a jewellery advert featuring her has gone viral.

Social media has helped para athletes connect with people directly and tell them their stories. Experts hope that this will help them build a brand and eventually take them to commercial success as well. Stars like Devi are already there and there is hope that many more will follow.

But there is plenty of work left to do.

India has a long way to go to become disability-friendly, with most public places still lacking basic facilities to help people navigate everyday life.

Malhotra, who was born with arthrogryposis – a rare congenital disorder that meant that the muscles in his arms and legs didn’t fully develop – found that many didn’t want to hire him despite his degree in economics from a prestigious college in India.

He hopes the triumph of India’s para athletes will slowly help in opening those shut doors.

“The upside of this [India’s medal tally in Paris] is pretty high. Disabled people, including those with degrees from Oxford, struggle to get jobs in India. What our Paralympics triumph will do is that it will open the minds of employers about employing disabled people without any fear,” he says.

While India’s impressive showing in Paris has delighted many, coaches like Khanna believe grassroots facilities for para athletes are still poor even in big Indian cities.

He points out that classifications in para sports are very technical and trained coaches are essential to identify raw talent and guide them towards the right categories – all this even before a young person can start training.

Sports facilities have improved drastically even in small Indian cities in the past two decades but para sport still lags behind by quite a distance.

“You will not find well-trained para sport coaches even in most prominent schools in cities like Delhi and Mumbai and this has to change,” says Malhotra.

For Khanna, change has to start at entry level and he urges government and private players to train more coaches.

He argues that players can hope for stardom today only if they are spotted and then supported by organisations.

“But we won’t get to the top of the table like this. We have to ensure that a disabled child even in the remotest part of the country should have access to a good coach and facilities,” the para badminton coach adds.

There’s nothing new about genetic engineering. By cross-breeding plants and animals, our Stone Age ancestors realised they could boost the amount of food they produced.

Modern genetics has enabled scientists to do much more: to make precise, targeted changes to the DNA of organisms in a lab. And that, they claim, will lead to new, more productive, disease-resistant crops and animals.

The science is still in its infancy, but gene-edited foods are already on the shelves in Japan: tomatoes rich in a chemical that supposedly promotes calmness; red sea bream with extra edible flesh; and puffer fish that grow more quickly.

In the US, too, firms are developing heat-resistant cattle, pit-less cherries and seedless blackberries.

Supporters of the technology say it could reduce animal diseases and suffering and lead to the use of fewer antibiotics. They also believe it could tackle climate change by lowering emissions of the greenhouse gas methane – produced by livestock such as cows, goats and deer when their stomachs are breaking down hard fibres like grass for digestion.

But opponents say gene editing is still not proven to be safe and that they remain concerned about the implications for animal welfare.

Now a law permitting gene-edited food to be sold in the UK has been paused and some British scientists warn they could be overtaken by other countries.

The new Labour government has pledged closer alignment with the European Union, particularly on regulations that might affect trade. And currently, the EU has much stricter rules around the commercial sale of gene-edited and genetically modified crops.

The EU set stringent regulations on genetically modified (GM) crops decades ago because of safety concerns and public opposition to the technology. Gene-edited crops are covered by the same regulations.

But to scientists, the terms “gene editing” and “GM” refer to different things.

GM, a much older technology, involves adding new genes to plants and animals to make them more productive or disease-resistant. Sometimes these new genes were from entirely different species – for example, a cotton plant with a scorpion gene to make it taste unpleasant to insects.

By contrast, gene editing involves making more precise changes to the plant or the animal’s DNA. These changes are often quite small ones, which involve editing sections of the DNA into a form that, its advocates say, could be produced through natural means like traditional cross-breeding, only much faster.

Along with the US and China, the UK is among the countries that lead the world in gene editing. Last year the previous government passed the Precision Breeding Act, which paved the way for the commercial sale of gene-edited food in England.

At the time, many scientists working in the field were overjoyed.

“I thought: ‘Great, this is going to uncork a whole area of activity in the public and private sector’ and we could build an entrepreneurial community for gene editing in the UK,” says Prof Jonathan Napier of Rothamsted Research, a government agricultural research institute in Harpenden.

But he says his hopes were soon dashed.

For the law to come into effect, secondary legislation was required, and this was due to be passed by Parliament this July. But the earlier-than-expected election meant that it was not voted on by MPs and the Act is currently in limbo.

Prof Napier was among 50 leading scientists to write to the newly appointed ministers at the Department for Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) at the end of July asking them to act “quickly and decisively” to pass the secondary legislation.

The Defra minister responsible, Daniel Zeichner, responded to the scientists’ plea last week by stating that the government was “now considering how to take forward the regulatory framework outlined in the Act and will share our plans with key interested parties soon”.

One of the prime movers behind the scientists’ letter, leading expert Prof Tina Barsby, described the minister’s response as a “encouraging” but said that his promise of clarity “soon” had to mean soon.

Other countries, she said, were pressing ahead with their plans for gene edited-crops at great speed. Thailand recently joined Canada, Australia, Japan, Brazil, Argentina and the USA in adopting regulations around gene editing.

Even New Zealand, which according to Prof Barsby “has historically taken a more cautious regulatory approach to genetic technologies”, has announced that it will also introduce new legislation.

Prof Barsby added: “With our world-leading science base in genetic research, we cannot afford to be left behind.”

But Defra ministers also have to consider the views of environmental campaigners, such as Dr Helen Wallace of Genewatch UK, who have concerns about the “unwanted consequences” of the Precision Breeding Act.

“If you remove these plants and animals from GM regulations then you don’t have the same degree of risk assessment, you don’t have labelling and you risk markets because many of them regulate them as GMOs,” she says.

Dr Peter Stevenson, who is the chief policy advisor to UK-based Compassion in World Farming (CIWF), also fears that the technology will further add to the intensification of animal farming – with negative consequences.

“The use of selective breeding over the past 50 years has brought a huge number of animal welfare problems,” he says.

“Chickens have been bred to grow so quickly that their legs and hearts can’t properly support the rapidly developing body and as a result millions of animals are suffering from painful leg disorders, while others succumb to heart disease.

“Do we really want to accelerate this process with gene editing?”

CIWF’s biggest fear is that gene-editing animals to make them more resistant to diseases will mean that the industry will not be motivated to deal with the conditions that lead to the animals getting ill in the first place – such as crowded, unsanitary conditions.

The intensity of the production of milk, meat, and eggs currently leaves many animals “exhausted and broken”, Mr Stevenson told BBC News.

Any genetic alteration to an animal has the potential to have negative effects. But advocates say that for any commercial application, firms have to demonstrate to the regulator that their changes do not harm the animal and back this up with data.

Indeed, many of those who argue for the use of gene-editing technology do so partly on animal welfare grounds – because it could make farm animals more resistant to disease and, since fewer would die as a result, fewer would be needed in the first place.

Another of the letter’s signatories is Prof Helen Sang, who has laid the foundations for using gene editing to develop bird flu resistance in chickens.

“With a virulent strain of (the pig disease) PRRS wiping out pig herds in Spain, African Swine Fever on the march north through Europe, and bird flu virus detected in both dairy cattle and their milk in the US, the importance of enabling all possible solutions, including precision breeding, cannot be overstated,” she said in response to Mr Zeichner.

Some of the solutions to the problems Prof Sang mentions are already waiting in the wings. She works at the Roslin Institute, where Dolly the Sheep was cloned nearly 30 years ago. It now leads the world in developing gene-edited animals.

Prof Sang’s colleagues at Roslin developed a strain of pig that is resistant to the PRRS pig disease six years ago.

They can’t yet be commercially sold to UK pig farmers – but Genus, a British company that has commercialised the PRRS-resistant pigs, has received regulatory approval for their use in Colombia.

The firm also has an application for permission to introduce the pigs to the US market which, if given the green light, could be approved as early as next spring. Genus is also planning to seek approval for the commercial use of their gene-edited pigs in Canada, Mexico and Japan.

Despite the strong opinions on both sides, there appears to be scope for consensus around some applications of the technology.

For instance, Mr Stevenson of CIWF does think it’s at least possible that gene editing could be applied in an ethical way.

To do so, he says, it would need to meet three criteria: that any change it brings about is unlikely to cause animal welfare problems; that its objectives cannot be met by any less intensive means; and that it will not have the effect of entrenching industrialised livestock production.

The PRRS-resistant pigs may tick all three boxes in specific circumstances, according to Mr Stevenson, as do efforts to use gene editing to enable the egg-production industry to produce female-only chicks to avoid the need for billions of male chicks being killed each year when they are just a day old.

Likewise, Prof Mizeck Chagunda, who is the director of the Centre for Tropical Genetics and Health, which is also based at the Roslin Institute, believes both in the positive potential of gene editing and that it needs to be carefully overseen.

He says the technology could improve the lives of the poorest farmers in the world: “70% to 80% of farmers are smallholding farms with two to three animals.” A devastating disease can leave a farmer and their family with nothing.

“So, giving them animals that have been prepared with these technologies would help to protect them from this huge risk to their livelihoods,” says Prof Chagunda.

However, Prof Chagunda warns that there needs to be good, strong regulations in place if this technology is to be accepted by the public.

“Some changes can be too experimental, and we should not be doing them,” he says.

“Scientists should be working with the regulatory authorities to achieve the good products that the farmers and consumers are looking for. We should be doing science that is ethical and at the same time helping humanity.”

The gene editing work at Roslin is led by its director, Prof Bruce Whitelaw, who was a scientist at the institute when Dolly the sheep was cloned. In the past he has been through the process of explaining the potential benefits of seemingly alarming technological developments and he believes there is an urgent need to do so again now.

“We are world leaders in the technology and sitting at top table in terms of developing it,” he says. “If we don’t have the legislation to do that, then our credentials to sit there will slowly wither away and we will lose investment, scientific talent and the boost to our economy to other countries.”

There are lessons here from the past. Genetic modification was rejected by many consumers in the UK, the European Union and other countries 30 years ago because of its perceived unnaturalness. GM crops were publicly trampled by protestors who saw this as a technology that they didn’t need, want or consider safe.

At the same time, scientists were angry and upset that what they believed to be their world-saving technology was being destroyed by, in their view, a wave of anti-scientific hysteria fuelled by the media.

Gene editing seems to be a more palatable version of GM to some, arriving at a time when the debate is less polarised, the need for environmental solutions is even more urgent and there seems to be a greater readiness for some scientists and campaigners to see each other’s perspectives.

Mr Stevenson of CWIF believes that in the long run, there has to be “huge reductions” in global livestock production to deal with climate change, but pragmatically, the fact that climate change is already destroying so many lives, the use of gene editing could be “legitimate”. But he is wary.

“It is hard for me to trust that part of the scientific world who say: ‘Hey now, we have a new way to alter animals.’

“The danger is of animals being thought of as things, units of production, more so than they are now, because we can modify them to make them more amenable to our uses and taking us away from this notion of animals as sentient beings.”

What happens next, not just in the UK, but the rest of the world, depends on whether the advocates of gene editing can convince the open-minded, but wary, such as Mr Stevenson, that they can act safely, ethically and in a way that makes lives better, not worse – for people and animals alike.

A new statue designed to commemorate Elizabeth II – the UK’s longest-serving monarch – has received a mixed reception.

The bronze sculpture, created by north Belfast artist Anto Brennan, was unveiled in Antrim Castle Gardens on Friday.

Since then, the statue of the late queen, Prince Philip and two corgis has attracted some criticism on social media and commentary from visitors to the County Antrim gardens.

Antrim and Newtownabbey councillor Vera McWilliam told BBC News NI: “We have to be honest, it does not resemble the queen in any shape or form.”

Richard from Antrim said he was “really disappointed” after seeing the statue online and then coming to see it with his wife.

“Whoever signed that off needs their eyes tested. It’s not good,” he added.

“I would take it away. It doesn’t do anything in memory for Her Majesty, so definitely I would remove it.”

Brenda from Lisburn thinks that the statue should have been “made to look older” but “on the whole it is really nice” and “you still get what it represents and what it is about”.

“It caught my eye right away,” she continued.

“You can see who they are, but I think definitely it should have been her just before she died to capture the whole meaning of who she was and what she represented.”

Alejandro from London was visiting Antrim Castle Gardens with two friends from El Salvador.

He thought the statue didn’t “seem like the queen”.

“As it is in her memory I guess it is a good thing but it doesn’t look like her.

“The dogs and Prince Philip look nice, but the queen, it doesn’t look like her,” he added.

Cheryl and Gordon from Saintfield said they liked the sculpture but had some ideas about how it could have been improved.

Cheryl said there is “something not right about her upper body posture and her right arm but it’s still lovely to see her”.

Gordon added: “I wouldn’t have noticed that it didn’t look like the queen but with seeing it on Facebook and now that I see it yes, it probably isn’t a true reflection of her.

“It’s just the face, the rest of the character of her looks correct but the face is maybe not a true reflection of her.

“It is what it is, we all know who she is and what it’s meant to be so I would just leave it the way it is.”

Francis and Marie from Magherafelt were very positive about the sculpture.

“It’s great, I think they have it down to the tee,” Francis told BBC News NI.

“They’ve got the queen as she’s young. I think the two would be very pleased with it. And they’ve got the corgis all round.

“That is the queen, she loved being outside and that’s why there’s a smile on her face.”

Marie added that the statue “looks like her when you see her out with the horses and dogs. It’s more of her private life, more down to earth”.

The debate over the sculpture began on the comments section of a social media post by Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council featuring the first photos of the sculpture.

Comments have since been turned off.

The proposal to commission a sculpture of the late queen and her two corgis came in January 2023.

There was already a bronze statue of Prince Philip in the Parterre Garden.

The Deputy Mayor of Antrim and Newtownabbey Paul Dunlop attended the unveiling of the new statue.

He told BBC News NI: “It’s down to personal taste, everyone has their own opinion but it is what the sculpture represents that is important.”

When the sculpture was unveiled, Mayor of Antrim and Newtownabbey Neil Kelly described it as a “beautiful statue”.

Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council said they are “delighted with the generally positive response to the new Queen Elizabeth II sculpture in Antrim Castle Gardens”.

In a statement, it added it acknowledged “that art can sometimes spark diverse opinions, but it’s important to emphasise that the sculpture has been warmly received by most who have seen it in person”.

“The statue beautifully captures Her Majesty’s grace and steadfastness, standing as a fitting tribute to her extraordinary life and reign, it added.

Its creator, Anthony ‘Anto’ Brennan, is best known for his chess sets of prominent Northern Irish political figures.

BBC News NI has approached Brennan for comment.

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Indians in West Bengal may face a shortage of hilsa, their favourite fish, as millions gear up to celebrate the state’s biggest festival, Durga Puja, in October.

That is because Bangladesh, the world’s largest producer of the fish, has intensified its crackdown on the transportation of hilsa to neighbouring India, reinforcing a long-standing ban on exports.

The renewed effort, which came a month after a new government took office in Dhaka, is to ensure that the prized fish remains more accessible to consumers in Bangladesh, according to Farida Akhter, adviser to the Bangladesh ministry of fisheries and livestock.

“A lot of fish is [still] going from Bangladesh to India [despite the ban]. This time we will not allow the hilsa to cross the border,” she told the BBC.

Hilsa is Bangladesh’s national fish but it is a luxury, affordable only for the rich and middle class; the poor can’t buy it.

“The previous government would lift the ban during the Durga Puja festival. They used to call it a gift. This time I don’t think we need to give a gift because [if we do it] our people will not be able to eat the fish while it is allowed to be exported to India in large numbers,” Ms Akhter said.

This stand marks a clear departure from deposed former prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s renowned “hilsa diplomacy” with India, where she often allowed consignments of the fish to be transported to India during the festival season.

Hasina has sent hilsa to West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on a number of occasions. Hoping to resolve a long-standing water dispute, she also gifted 30kg of hilsa to the then Indian president Pranab Mukherjee in 2017.

Hasina was removed dramatically on 5 August after weeks of student-led protests that escalated into deadly nationwide unrest. Initially expected to stay in India briefly, her attempts to secure asylum in the UK, US and UAE have so far failed.

• India’s Bangladesh dilemma: What to do about Sheikh Hasina?

Her continued presence in India has also complicated Delhi’s efforts to build a strong relationship with the new interim government in Dhaka. For India, Bangladesh is a key strategic partner and ally, vital for border security, especially in its north-eastern states.

Asked whether the new interim government could have made a goodwill gesture to India by allowing supply of hilsa, Ms Akhter said: “We will have goodwill gestures in all other ways. They are our friends. But we should not do anything by depriving our people.

“The question of goodwill is separate from this.”

Bangladesh is the leading producer of hilsa (Tenualosa ilisha), a kind of species of fish related to the herring, abundant in the Bay of Bengal and also thriving in rivers.

The fish accounts for about 12% of the country’s total fish production and contributes around 1% to its GDP. Fishermen catch up to 600,000 tonnes of the fish annually, the majority of the haul coming from the sea. In 2017, hilsa was recognised as a geographical Indicator for the country.

In past years, the government permitted the export of 3,000-5,000 tonnes of hilsa annually during Durga Puja, senior fisheries official Nripendra Nath Biswas told The Daily Star newspaper.

“But considering the scarcity of fish in the country, the government has decided to impose a ban on hilsa exports this year,” he said.

But Bangladeshi media reports indicate that hilsa prices have surged in the local market despite the export ban.

A 1.5kg hilsa was selling for around 1,800 taka ($15; £11.50), 1.2kg for 1,600 taka, and one kg for 1,500 taka. These prices are 150-200 taka higher than last year, say traders.

Fishermen attribute the price increase to poor catches. “In the past three months, we tried to go to sea five times but had to turn back due to rough weather,” said Hossain Miah, a fisherman.

Hilsa holds an almost sacred status among Bengalis on both sides of the border, and its scarcity will frustrate many.

The fish is celebrated for its versatility, often cooked in a variety of ways such as steamed with mustard paste, which enhances its delicate flavour, or fried with a light coating of spices for a crispy texture.

Bengali-American food historian and author Chitrita Banerji is among the many writers who have raved about the fish.

“I think its enduring role as an icon of Bengali food is a combination of many elements, not the least being its physical beauty, which has led Bengali writers to describe it as the darling of the waters or a prince among fish,” she told an interviewer.

“And its tender flesh (bony though it may be), combined with an emollient texture and exquisite flavour, lends itself to an infinite variety of culinary preparations.”

Billionaire Jared Isaacman has taken off in a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket for what he hopes will be the first ever privately funded spacewalk.

The mission, called Polaris Dawn, is the first of three funded by the founder of payments processing business Shift4.

He is onboard as commander alongside his close friend Scott ‘Kidd’ Poteet, who is a retired air force pilot, and two SpaceX engineers Anna Menon and Sarah Gillis.

The spacecraft, called Resilience, will go into an orbit that will eventually take them up to 870 miles (1,400km) above the planet. No human has been that far since Nasa’s Apollo programme ended in the 1970s.

The astronauts will pass through a region of space known as the Van Allen belt, which has high levels of radiation, but the crew will be protected by the spacecraft and their newly upgraded spacesuits.

A few passes of the belt will expose them to the equivalent of three months of the radiation astronauts experience on the International Space Station, which is within acceptable limits. They aim to study the effects that a relatively short but safe exposure has on the human body.

The crew will spend their second day in space at their maximum altitude, conducting up to 40 experiments, including intersatellite laser communication between the Dragon Spacecraft and Space X’s Starlink satellite constellation.

If all goes to plan, on day three into the mission, Mr Isaacman and Sarah Gillis are expected to attempt the first ever privately funded spacewalk, which is scheduled to last two hours.

This will be while they are 700km in orbit. The astronauts will be testing new extravehicular activity (EVA) astronaut suits which, as their name suggests, have been upgraded from Space X’s intravehicular activity (IVA) suits for working outside of spacecraft.

The EVA suit incorporates a heads-up display in its helmet, which provides information about the suit while it is being used. The EVA suits are said to be comfortable and flexible enough to be worn during launch and landing, eliminating the need to have separate IVA suits.

In an interview given while she was training for the spacewalk Ms Gillis said that it was a necessary part of Space X’s plans to send people to other worlds.

“So far only countries have been able to perform a spacewalk. Space X has huge ambitions to get to Mars and make life multiplanetary. In order to get there, we need to start somewhere. And the first step is testing out the first iteration of the EVA spacesuit so that we can make spacewalks and future suit designs even better.”

It was a sentiment echoed by Mr Isaacman.

“Space X know they need EVA capability if they are going to realise their long-term dream of populating another planet someday.”

The aim is to make spacesuits less of a tailor-made garment, more able to accommodate a wider range of commercial astronaut shapes and sizes in order to reduce costs as human spaceflight becomes more commonplace.

A unique aspect of the spacewalk is that the Dragon spacecraft, called Resilience, does not have an airlock, which is a sealed room between the doorway into the vacuum outside and the rest of the spacecraft.

Normally the airlock is depressurised before the astronauts step in and out, but in the case of Resilience, the entire craft will have to be depressurised and the non-spacewalking astronauts will have to be fully suited up.

The spacecraft has been adapted to withstand the vacuum. Extra nitrogen and oxygen tanks have been installed and all four astronauts will wear EVA suits, although only two will exit the spacecraft. The mission will therefore break the record for the most people in the vacuum of space at once.

The flight team has taken the challenge as an opportunity to do tests on the impact of decompression sickness, also known as the “bends” and the blurry vision astronauts can sometimes experience in space called spaceflight associated neuro-ocular syndrome.

Tests on the impact of radiation from the Van Allen belts as well as the spacewalk are intended to lay the ground for further high-altitude missions by the private sector possibly to the Moon or Mars.

There are an awful lot of firsts for the rookie crew to achieve. Isaacman has been in space only once before and the other three have never flown in space.

“There’s a feeling that there are a great many risks here,” according to Dr Adam Baker, a rocket propulsion specialist at Cranfield University.

“They have set themselves a lot of ambitious objectives and they have relatively limited spaceflight experience.”

“But in counter to that, they have spent several thousand hours simulating the mission. So, they are doing their best to mitigate the risks.”

If the mission is a success, some analysts believe that it will be the start of an explosion of ever greater and cheaper private sector missions taking more people further than government space agencies have.

But Dr Baker takes a more cautious approach.

“The record so far has been a huge amount of money spent by the private sector, lots of dribs and drabs of publicity, but much less than 100 additional people on top of the 500 or so government-funded astronauts travelling to space and back, and many of those only for very brief periods.

“Spaceflight is difficult, expensive and dangerous, so expecting to see large numbers of even just well-off members of the population, as opposed to the ultra-rich, flying into space soon, or expecting you might be among them, is unlikely.”

Some find the idea of billionaires paying for themselves to go into space distasteful, and some eyebrows are being raised over a mission where the person paying for the trip is also the commander.

But this shouldn’t be brushed off as a vanity project, according to Dr Simeon Barber, a space scientist at the Open University, who develops scientific instruments on spacecrafts, almost entirely for government-funded projects.

“Isaacman is actually the most experienced astronaut of the crew – he alone has been to space before, on another self-funded mission with SpaceX, where he also took the position of Commander. In the context of the mission, he is the natural choice,” he told BBC News.

“More widely, the proceeds from selling this stellar class ticket to ride will remain on Earth – the money will buy materials and services, it will pay salaries and in turn will generate taxes. Not to mention the charitable funds the mission will raise.”

He says that many in the space sector believe the involvement of wealthy individuals to be a good thing.

“If they wish to venture off-planet, and one day to the Moon or even Mars, then that will create opportunities to do science along the way. And the more diverse the reasons there are to explore space, the more resilient the programme becomes.”

A man that sued American rapper Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs over an alleged sexual assault has won $100m (£76.6m) by default after Combs failed to respond.

Derrick Lee Cardello-Smith, 51, accused Combs of drugging him and sexually assaulting him at a party in Detroit, Michigan, in 1997. Lawyers for Combs have denied the allegations.

Cardello-Smith is a convicted felon currently serving a prison sentence and is known for his long history of filing civil lawsuits, according to a local newspaper.

Lawyers for Combs said Cardello-Smith was committing “fraud on the court” and told the BBC that the rapper will fight the ruling.

Courts issue default judgements against people when they do not respond to a lawsuit.

Combs and his lawyers told the BBC they had not been aware of the lawsuit because Combs was not properly served notice of it, and that they will be seeking to vacate Monday’s judgment.

The lawsuit is among a string of sexual assault allegations that have been recently made against Combs, one of the most successful moguls in the history of rap music.

The award to Cardello-Smith was issued on Monday by Judge Anna Marie Anzalone of the Lenawee County Circuit Court, after Combs failed to appear for a 9 September hearing over the lawsuit.

According to the local newspaper, the Detroit Metro Times, Cardello-Smith crossed paths with Combs in the 1990s while he was working in the restaurant and hospitality industry in Detroit.

He told the court that Combs recently offered him $2.3m to drop the lawsuit, but he rejected that offer. He also said that he continues to know Combs, and had produced documents showing Combs’s name in a prison visitation log.

Combs’s lawyer, Marc Agnifilo, denied that the rapper ever knew Cardello-Smith in a statement to the BBC.

Cardello-Smith is serving time for unrelated convictions of sexual misconduct and kidnapping, according to court documents.

The Detroit Metro Times reported that he taught himself criminal and civil law during his time in prison, and had since developed “a long history of challenging the judicial system” by filing multiple lawsuits.

Others have sued Combs for sexual and physical abuse, including his long-time partner Casandra “Cassie” Ventura.

Combs paid Ventura an undisclosed sum of money, which settled the matter outside of court.

The rapper had repeatedly denied the allegations, but later apologised after CCTV footage from 2016 was released in May appearing to show Combs throwing and kicking Ventura in a hotel hallway.

In March, federal agents raided two houses owned by the star “as part of an ongoing investigation” into sex trafficking.

At the time, Combs’ lawyer had called the raid an “unprecedented ambush” and said his client was innocent.

From the moment she blew bubblegum in Crazy In Love to the day she destroyed a fleet of cars with a baseball bat in Hold Up, Beyoncé has created some of pop’s most memorable music videos.

Her mastery of the medium matched that of Madonna and Michael Jackson in the 1980s – with the videos for her Lemonade album acting as a powerful celebration of black womanhood and female power.

Then, all of a sudden, she stopped. Her last two albums, Renaissance and Cowboy Carter, have been bereft of visuals, leaving fans perplexed.

Now, Beyoncé has explained her decision in a rare interview with GQ magazine, saying she didn’t want her videos to become a “distraction from the quality of the voice and the music”.

“I thought it was important that during a time where all we see is visuals, that the world can focus on the voice,” the star said.

She explained that her recent records – which seek to contextualise black musicians’ often overlooked contributions to genres like house, disco and country – needed to stand on their own.

“The music is so rich in history and instrumentation. It takes months to digest, research, and understand,” she said.

“The music needed space to breathe on its own.”

She added that, for Renaissance in particular, the live concert experience was more important than filming music videos.

The album, released in 2022, was written during the pandemic and was conceived as “a place to dream and to find escape during a scary time for the world”. The subsequent tour, and the tour film released in cinemas last year, was intended as a moment of community and catharsis for her followers.

“The fans from all over the world became the visual,” Beyoncé told GQ.

“We all got the visual on tour.”

The interview, which took place to promote the star’s new whiskey brand, is the first time Beyoncé has spoken at length about her career since a joint interview with her sister Solange in 2017.

She largely withdrew from interviews around 2013-2014, opting instead to write personal essays for publications like Vogue, or addressing fans directly on social media.

The GQ article did not reveal a great deal about the notoriously private star.

She revealed that she gave up meat (except turkey) over the summer, and briefly addressed the threat of artificial intelligence, saying she recently heard an AI-generated track “that sounded so much like me it scared me”.

The star also talked about her efforts to shield her family from the press.

“One thing I’ve worked extremely hard on is making sure my kids can have as much normalcy and privacy as possible, ensuring my personal life isn’t turned into a brand.

“It’s very easy for celebrities to turn our lives into performance art. I have made an extreme effort to stay true to my boundaries and protect myself and my family. No amount of money is worth my peace.”

The article was published a day after it was revealed that Beyoncé had been snubbed by the Country Music Awards, with Cowboy Carter failing to land a single nomination at the genre’s most prestigious ceremony.

Her music was overlooked despite it becoming the first album by a black woman to reach number one on the US country albums chart, and the song Texas Hold ‘Em spending two weeks at the top of the country singles chart.

With the interview taking place before the CMA nominations were announced, Beyoncé is simply quoted as saying she was “hyped” to see her country experiment “gain worldwide acceptance”.

However, the singer’s father and former manager, Matthew Knowles, criticised the award show organisers, saying the decision to overlook Cowboy Carter “speaks for itself”.

Talking to TMZ, he said: “There’s more white people in America and unfortunately they don’t vote based on ability and achievements, it’s still sometimes a white and black thing.”

1) Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)

Sometimes the simplest ideas are the best. This black and white clip, directed by Jake Nava, simply features Beyoncé, a plain background and some Bob Fosse-inspired choreography.

2) Formation

Her most powerful and pointed video, summing up decades of black American history and culture. Set in New Orleans, it references slave plantations, segregation, Hurricane Katrina and police brutality, while simultaneously celebrating southern culture – from Mardi Gras and step-dancing to black cowboys and marching bands.

A document of resilience, it was the first chapter in the star’s ongoing attempts to preserve and re-contextualise black American history.

3) Countdown

A kaleidoscope of colour and pop culture references, Beyoncé co-directed this video while pregnant with her first daughter, Blue Ivy.

It references to Audrey Hepburn and British supermodel Twiggy, and the frenetic editing and jitterbug choreography make it a unique entry in her videography.

4) Crazy In Love

The video that launched her solo career, Crazy In Love ticks off all of the early 2000s music video clichés – fur coats, exploding cars, big hair and bullet time sequences.

But what it really does is inform the viewer that Beyoncé is a star. The camera loves her from the moment she struts towards the centre of the frame. As soon as this clip dropped, Destiny’s Child must have known their days were numbered.

5) Get Me Bodied (Extended Version)

We nearly put Hold Up in fifth place. The image of Beyoncé brandishing that baseball bat has been copied and parodied a million times, but never bettered.

In the end, though, we couldn’t resist the fun factor of Get Me Bodied – a big Hollywood production, with choreography inspired by Bob Fosse’s Sweet Charity, and cameos from Kelly Rowland, Michelle Williams and Solange Knowles.

Like Crazy In Love, it harks back to a time when Beyoncé’s only goal was pop domination – but it’s still a feast for the eyes.

Officials from a zoo in north-east Nigeria have confirmed that some wild animals had escaped from captivity after flooding hit Borno state.

Videos of some of the creatures on the streets of the state capital, Maiduguri, have been widely shared on social media.

Ali Donbest, who runs the Sanda Kyarimi Zoo, told the BBC that he does not know exactly how many animals are free but a hunt is on to locate them. One ostrich has been found but he advised residents to be careful.

Local media are reporting that Maiduguri is experiencing flooding on a scale that has not been seen for three decades with many forced to leave their homes.

Mr Donbest said that there had been some success in finding some of those that had escaped.

“We’ve been able to recapture the ostrich seen on the street and we also got a call that a crocodile had been found in another location but we cannot get there due to the floods,” he said.

He also said the cages where the lions and hyenas were kept had been submerged by floodwaters but cannot tell if they had escaped.

The zoo boss explained that the flood had damaged some of its walls enabling the animals to roam free.

However, not all the creatures spotted on the streets may be from the zoo.

“We got a report that a hippo was seen somewhere and we don’t have hippos in the zoo, so the waters might also disperse animals from other locations too,” he said.

Maiduguri resident Ishaq Sani told the BBC his biggest fear at the moment is to come across a wild animal.

He abandoned his home due to the floods and is now staying with a friend in another location.

Up to now. there have not been any reports of animals attacking humans.

This is the latest incident in a series of floods that have hit Nigeria recently. More than 170 people have died and tens of thousands have been forced from their homes across the country, Nigeria’s National Emergency Management Agency has said.

• Is Nigeria on the right track after a year of Tinubu?
• Should I stay or should I go? The dilemma for young Nigerians
• The Nigerian professor who makes more money welding

HBO’s upcoming Harry Potter series has launched a casting call for young actors.

The casting call was opened earlier this week, and the TV network has confirmed its authenticity to Variety.

To be eligible for the roles of Harry, Ron or Hermione, children must be between the ages of nine and 11 in April 2025 and be residents of the UK or Ireland.

The casting call also says it is “committed to inclusive, diverse casting”.

It continues: “For every role, please submit qualified performers, without regard to ethnicity, sex, disability, race, sexual orientation, gender identity, or any other basis protected by law unless otherwise specifically indicated.”

For those who wish to apply, they must send two self-tapes, which are videos of those auditioning.

It asks that one video be “a short poem or story” (though nothing from Harry Potter) and the second “telling us a bit about yourself, including your date of birth, height and where you live”.

It also asks for children to use their own accents.

There is no release date yet for the series, but the call notes that the series is expected to film in the UK during 2025-26.

Francesca Gardiner and Mark Mylod, who worked on Succession, will serve as writer and director respectively.

It is also expected that there will be seven series of the show, each season adapting one of the Harry Potter books by JK Rowling.

In August 2000, Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint were picked to play Harry, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley in the original films.

Grint, who was 12, applied for the role after seeing a Newsround report about the open casting.

Radcliffe has previously said that while he is “excited” to watch the new adaptation, he doesn’t think he’ll make a cameo.

“I think they very wisely want a clean break,” he told E! News.

“And I don’t know if it would work to have us do anything in it. I’m very happy to just watch along with everyone else.”

Donald Trump and Kamala Harris met for the first time on the presidential debate stage in Philadelphia on Tuesday night.

They may have shaken hands, but they did not hit it off.

In a fiery 90 minutes, Harris frequently rattled the former president with personal attacks that threw him off message and raised the temperature of this highly-anticipated contest.

Her pointed digs on the size of his rally crowds, his conduct during the Capitol riot, and on the officials who served in his administration who have since become outspoken critics of his campaign repeatedly left Trump on the back foot.

The pattern for much of this debate was Harris goading her Republican rival into making extended defences of his past conduct and comments. He gladly obliged, raising his voice at times and shaking his head.

Americans should go to a Trump rally, Harris said during an early question about immigration, because they were illuminating. “People start leaving the rallies early out of exhaustion and boredom,” she said.

That barb clearly rattled the former president, as he then spent most of his answer – on a topic that should have been one of his main areas of strength – defending his rally sizes and belittling hers.

Trump went from there to an extended riff on a debunked report that Haitian immigrants in the town of Springfield, Ohio, were abducting and eating their neighbours’ pets.

If debates are won and lost on which candidate best takes advantage of issues where they are strong – and defends or deflects on areas of weakness – Tuesday night tilted in favour of the vice-president.

A snap CNN poll of voters watching said that Harris performed better and betting markets said the same.

This is a snapshot that could be momentary but the Harris tactic of putting Trump on the defensive was clear early in the evening when the topics covered were the economy and abortion.

Public opinion surveys indicate many Americans are unhappy with how the Biden administration – of which Harris is a key member – has handled inflation and the economy.

• WATCH: Key moments from presidential debate
• LIVE: Kamala Harris puts Donald Trump on defensive
• VERIFY: Eating pets, inflation, abortion – claims fact-checked
• TRACKER: Who is winning US election polls, Trump or Harris?
• LISTEN: Americast on the Harris-Trump showdown

But Harris turned the topic to Trump’s proposed across-the-board tariffs, which she labelled a “Trump sales tax”, and then brought up Project 2025, the controversial independent conservative plan for a future Republican administration.

As he has in the past, Trump distanced himself from the project and defended his tariff plan, noting that the Biden administration had kept many of the tariffs in his first presidency. They were valid points, but it kept him from hammering the vice-president on inflation and consumer prices.

On abortion, Trump defended his handling of the issue, saying that Americans across the spectrum wanted Roe v Wade abortion protections overturned by the Supreme Court – a statement that polling does not support. He struggled to make his position clear and his answer was at times rambling.

Harris, meanwhile, took the opportunity to make an impassioned, personal appeal to families who have faced severe pregnancy complications and have been unable to receive abortion care in states that have banned the procedure – states with “Trump abortion bans”, as she called them.

“It’s insulting to the women of America,” she concluded.

It was a carefully modulated message in an area in which she has a double-digit advantage over Trump.

Time and time again as the evening progressed, Harris put Trump on the defensive with jabs and barbs that he could have ignored but seemingly felt compelled to address.

At one point, Harris was asked about the liberal positions, such as those on oil shale fracking, that she took during her failed 2019 presidential campaign and has since abandoned. Her deliberate prodding continued and she ended her answer by noting that she did not take handouts from her wealthy father.

Again, the former president took the bait. Instead of hitting the vice-president on her shifting views – a clear area of weakness – he opened his response by talking about the “tiny fraction” of money he took from his father.

On the Afghanistan withdrawal, another weak point for Harris, the vice-president shifted the conversation to Trump’s negotiations with Taliban officials and inviting them to Camp David. It was a pattern that played out over and over and proved very effective.

Republicans are already complaining about what they say was the favouritism the ABC moderators, David Muir and Linsey Davis, showed toward Harris. Both of them pushed back and fact-checked assertions made by Trump on several occasions.

In the end, however, it was Trump’s responses and eagerness to take and devour whatever bait Harris set out for him that was the story of the evening.

And that played out in the faces of the two candidates. Whenever her opponent was talking, Harris took on a studied look of bemusement or incredulity. Trump, for his part, mostly scowled.

Up until now, the Harris campaign had been coy about whether she would agree to another debate. Almost immediately after this one ended, they called for a second presidential debate before November.

That alone should indicate how well the Democrats think Tuesday night went for Harris.

• SIMPLE GUIDE: Everything you need to know about the vote
• EXPLAINER: Seven swing states that could decide election
• FACT CHECK: Was US economy stronger under Biden or Trump?
• IMMIGRATION: Could Trump really deport a million migrants?

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.

Voters in the US go to the polls on 5 November to elect their next president.

The election was initially a rematch of 2020 but it was upended in July when President Joe Biden ended his campaign and endorsed Vice-President Kamala Harris.

The big question now is – will the result mean a second Donald Trump term or America’s first woman president?

As election day approaches, we’ll be keeping track of the polls and seeing what effect big events like Tuesday’s presidential debate have on the race for the White House.

Trump and Harris met for the first time as candidates at the TV debate in Pennsylvania on Tuesday night, with the BBC’s Anthony Zurcher saying the Democrat came out on top in the fiery encounter.

But what do the polls tell us? We will have to wait a few days until the bigger national and state-level polls reflect any changes, but we did get one limited snap poll immediately after the debate.

In a CNN/SSRS poll of 600 registered voters who watched the debate, 63% said Harris was the better performer while 37% went with Trump. Prior to the debate, the same voters were evenly split on who they thought would perform best.

That does not necessarily translate to votes though – only 4% said the debate changed their minds about who they might vote for. So we will have to wait and see how big an effect it has on the polling numbers in the coming days.

• Anthony Zurcher analysis: Who won the Harris-Trump debate?

In the months leading up to Biden’s decision to drop out of the race, polls consistently showed him trailing former president Trump. Although hypothetical at the time, several polls suggested Harris wouldn’t fare much better.

But the race tightened after she hit the campaign trail and she developed a small lead over her rival in an average of national polls that she has maintained since. The latest national polling averages for the two candidates are shown below, rounded to the nearest whole number.

In the poll tracker chart below, the trend lines show how those averages have changed since Harris entered the race and the dots show the spread of the individual poll results.

Harris hit 47% during her party’s four-day convention in Chicago, which she brought to a close on 22 August with a speech promising a “new way forward” for all Americans. Her numbers have moved very little since then.

Trump’s average has also remained relatively steady, hovering around 44%, and there was no significant boost from the endorsement of Robert F Kennedy, who ended his independent candidacy on 23 August.

While these national polls are a useful guide as to how popular a candidate is across the country as a whole, they’re not necessarily an accurate way to predict the result of the election.

That’s because the US uses an electoral college system to elect its president, so winning the most votes can be less important than where they are won.

There are 50 states in the US but because most of them nearly always vote for the same party, in reality there are just a handful where both candidates stand a chance of winning. These are the places where the election will be won and lost and are known as battleground states.

• What is the electoral college?

Right now, the polls are very tight in the seven battleground states, which makes it hard to know who is really leading the race. There are fewer state polls than national polls so we have less data to work with and every poll has a margin of error that means the numbers could be higher or lower.

As is stands, recent polls suggest there is less than one percentage point separating the two candidates in several states. That includes Pennsylvania, which is key as it has the highest number of electoral votes on offer and therefore makes it easier for the winner to reach the 270 votes needed.

Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin had all been Democratic strongholds before Trump turned them red on his path to winning the presidency in 2016. Biden retook them in 2020 and if Harris can do the same this year then she will be on course to win the election.

In a sign of how the race has changed since Harris became the Democratic nominee, on the day Joe Biden quit the race he was trailing Trump by nearly five percentage points on average in these seven battleground states.

The figures we have used in the graphics above are averages created by polling analysis website 538, which is part of American news network ABC News. To create them, 538 collect the data from individual polls carried out both nationally and in battleground states by lots of polling companies.

As part of their quality control, 538 only include polls from companies that meet certain criteria, like being transparent about how many people they polled, when the poll was carried out and how the poll was conducted (telephone calls, text message, online, etc).

You can read more about the 538 methodology here.

At the moment, the polls suggest that Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are within a couple of percentage points of each other both nationally and in battleground states – and when the race is that close, it’s very hard to predict winners.

Polls underestimated support for Trump in both 2016 and 2020. Polling companies will be trying to fix that problem in a number of ways, including how to make their results reflect the make-up of the voting population.

Those adjustments are difficult to get right and pollsters still have to make educated guesses about other factors like who will actually turn up to vote on 5 November.

• SIMPLE GUIDE: Everything you need to know about the vote
• ANALYSIS: Harris goads Trump into flustered performance
• EXPLAINER: Seven swing states that could decide election
• IMMIGRATION: Could Trump really deport a million migrants?
• FACT CHECK: Was US economy stronger or weaker under Trump?
• Read more about: Kamala Harris | Donald Trump | US election

A “fabulous moment” has been captured as tiger cubs explored a new area of their safari park for the first time.

Along with mum Yana, the four rare Amur tigers ventured into the drive-through Tiger Territory section at Longleat Safari Park in Wiltshire.

Amy Waller, from Longleat, said: “The four of them cautiously followed mum into the drive-through and then grew in confidence to explore the area.”

The four female cubs were born in May, making Longleat home to the largest number of tigers in the UK, as they joined Yana, their dad, Red, and their older sister, Yuki.

“We have always said it will be a gradual process led by Yana and the guidance of the keepers as it is really important we make sure Yana, and the cubs, are confident about where they are and what they are experiencing,” Ms Waller added.

“Yana decided when she’d had enough and led them back indoors.”

Amur tigers, also known as Siberian tigers, are native to the far east of Russia.

They are one of the most endangered species in the world and it is estimated that only 450 of them are left in the wild.

The species was on the brink of extinction in the 1940s, due to hunting and logging.

At one stage, it is believed the population fell to only 20 to 30 animals.

Visitors to the safari park will have the chance to see them in their paddock everyday.

Taylor Swift endorsed Kamala Harris for president moments after the end of Tuesday night’s presidential debate against Donald Trump.

The pop star made her announcement in an Instagram post signed as “Childless Cat Lady” – a reference to comments by Trump’s running mate JD Vance.

Her post, breaking her silence on the 2024 vote, explained: “I’m voting for @kamalaharris because she fights for the rights and causes I believe need a warrior to champion them.”

Swift, who also backed Democratic President Joe Biden in 2020, went on to call Harris a “steady-handed, gifted leader”.

She added: “I believe we can accomplish so much more in this country if we are led by calm and not chaos.”

Swift’s text was accompanied by a photo of her with a cat. Her “Childless Cat Lady” comment was a nod to remarks made in 2021 by Vance, who is Trump’s candidate for vice-president.

• Ancient Egypt to Taylor Swift: The historic roots of the ‘cat lady’

Vance, the Ohio senator, has faced a backlash for a clip in which he called several prominent Democrats – including Harris – “a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives”. He recently said his comments were “sarcastic”.

Swift went on to compliment Harris’s choice of vice-presidential candidate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, who she said had been “been standing up for LGBTQ+ rights, IVF, and a woman’s right to her own body for decades”.

The singer said she was in part motivated to share her voting decision with the public after an AI image of her falsely endorsing Trump was posted on his website.

“It really conjured up my fears around AI, and the dangers of spreading misinformation,” she said. “It brought me to the conclusion that I need to be very transparent about my actual plans for this election as a voter.”

Trump went on to embrace the fake images in a post that sparked a backlash among Swift’s fans – or Swifties – who accused Trump of spreading misinformation.

In response to Swift’s endorsement of Harris, Trump told Fox News that “was not a Taylor Swift fan.”

He called her a “very liberal person” and said that she will “pay the price for it in the marketplace.”

• ANALYSIS: Who won the Harris-Trump debate?
• WATCH: Key moments from presidential debate
• LIVE: Kamala Harris puts Donald Trump on defensive
• VERIFY: Eating pets, inflation, abortion – claims fact-checked
• TRACKER: Who is winning US election polls, Trump or Harris?

Trump supporter Elon Musk, known to be the father of 12 children, posted on his social-media platform X (formerly Twitter): “Fine Taylor … you win … I will give you a child and guard your cats with my life.”

Meanwhile, Harris’s running mate Walz told MSNBC on Tuesday night after learning about the endorsement he was grateful to Swift “as a fellow cat owner.”

Swift is one of several celebrities to endorse Harris, including singers John Legend and Olivia Rodrigo, actor George Clooney and director Spike Lee.

Meanwhile, former wrestler Hulk Hogan, TV star Amber Rose and billionaire Elon Musk have endorsed Trump.

Swift’s intervention came after a fiery 90-minute presidential debate, during which the two candidates sparred over issues such as abortion rights, the economy and immigration.

It is not the first time the pop star has endorsed the Democratic nominee in a race against Trump. Swift announced her support for President Joe Biden and Harris as his vice-president a month before the 2020 election.

Swift was also a vocal critic of Trump during his presidency surrounding the nationwide protests over the police murder of George Floyd.

“After stoking the fires of white supremacy and racism your entire presidency, you have the nerve to feign moral superiority before threatening violence?” she posted on Twitter/X. “We will vote you out in November.”

Noting Swift’s political past, one academic who studies the intersection of media and politics suggested that the endorsement was unlikely to move the needle in Harris’s favour.

“No surprise at all, she endorsed Biden and Harris in 2020 so we already knew her politics,” said Lauren Rosewarne, a University of Melbourne professor.

Swift’s endorsement could impact voter registration, Ms Rosewarne told the BBC. But because her fan-base skews young and female – and that is already the Harris supporter base – her endorsement may not have a big impact come November.

The singer has 283 million followers on Instagram. Her endorsement has received more than 4.5 million likes on Instagram less than three hours after she posted it.

In her post, Swift urged first-time voters to register and said she would post a link with more voting information on her page.

“I’ve done my research, and I’ve made my choice,” she said. “Your research is all yours to do, and the choice is yours to make.”

• SIMPLE GUIDE: Everything you need to know about the vote
• EXPLAINER: Seven swing states that could decide election
• FACT CHECK: Was US economy stronger under Biden or Trump?
• IMMIGRATION: Could Trump really deport a million migrants?

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.

Rachael Gunn remains the number one female breakdancer in the world, despite a controversial Olympic performance for Team Australia that divided the internet and left her with a score of zero.

Responding to questions about its rankings, the sport’s governing body has issued a statement explaining its methodology to “address concerns” and “provide clarity”.

It said each athlete was assessed based on their top four performances in the last 12 months and that Olympic events, including qualifiers, were excluded.

Gunn, who performs as Raygun, has continued to defend her record as Australia’s best B-girl amid questions over her qualifications.

The 37-year-old university lecturer failed to score any points in all three of her competition rounds in Paris, with a routine that included unorthodox moves, such as the sprinkler and the kangaroo hop.

“The record is there. But anything can happen in a battle,” she said in an interview last week, when asked about her polarising performance.

The World DanceSport Federation (WDSF) has also come under intense public scrutiny not just for its rankings, but its “credibility” as a voice for the sport.

In Tuesday’s statement the WDSF tried to address criticisms that had been swirling online over the transparency of its rankings head on.

It explained that “ranking events” had intentionally not been held between the end of 2023 and the start of the Olympics, to allow athletes to “focus solely” on the Games.

That had created a set of “unique circumstances” which meant that some athletes had been ranked based only on a single event.

In Gunn’s case the 1,000 points, which place her at the top of the table, come from a first-place finish at the Oceania continental championships which were held in October of 2023.

“The world rankings as they currently stand should be interpreted in conjunction with results from recent global breaking competitions for a more accurate reflection of the global competitive landscape,” the WDSF statement added.

The weeks-long saga over Raygun’s performance has split opinion within the breakdancing community, with some throwing their support behind the embattled athlete, while others have publicly accused her of making a mockery of the sport.

It has also sparked questions over whether breaking – which debuted in Paris but is not on the programme for the 2028 Games in Los Angeles – should have ever been included in the Olympics, due to the organic nature of the genre, which doesn’t necessarily suit organised competition.

In an interview with the Associated Press, vice-president of Breaking for Gold USA Zack Slusser argued the WDSF didn’t have “any real merit” with the breaking community, and that it had failed to organise events that would “contribute to creating an accurate world ranking”.

Breakers were only performing at WDSF organised events to secure points to qualify for the Olympics, he claimed, adding that they had “no incentive” or “desire” to continue participating in WDSF events post-Paris.

Millions of viewers in the US watched Kamala Harris and Donald Trump duel for the first time, during a 90-minute debate broadcast live on ABC News on Tuesday night.

Others are waking up to the aftermath of the presidential showdown. In case you missed the televised spectacle, here are the some of the highlights:

As they walked out, Harris strode across the stage to Trump as he approached his podium.

“Kamala Harris,” she said, offering a handshake as the pair met for the first time ever. “Let’s have a good debate.”

“Nice to see you. Have fun,” the former Republican president said.

It was the first handshake in a presidential debate in eight years.

Harris spent the majority of the debate looking directly at her opponent, often smirking, laughing out loud, or shaking her head incredulously while he answered questions.

The split screen showed Trump staring mostly straight ahead as she spoke, while occasionally shaking his head.

Vice-President Harris, a Democrat, went on the offensive from the outset, goading her Republican rival and assailing him over his criminal trials and his handling of the Covid-19 pandemic.

She also accused her opponent of consistently using the issue of race to “divide the American people”. The barb followed a question from the moderators about one recent attack in which he said Harris had “become a black person”.

Trump turned the subject repeatedly back to inflation and immigration, political vulnerabilities for Harris.

He argued that the Biden-Harris administration had “destroyed” the country, and labelled her a “Marxist”, nodding to her father, a professor of economics.

Harris poked fun at crowd sizes at his rallies. “People start leaving his rallies early out of exhaustion and boredom,” she said.

Trump hit back: “People don’t go to her rallies. There’s no reason to go.”

At one stage, when Harris interrupted Trump, he said: “I’m talking now. Does that sound familiar?” He was referring to a similar riposte she made in a 2020 vice-presidential debate against Mike Pence.

Later, as Harris spoke over him, Trump said: “Quiet please.”

Trump also blamed heated Democratic rhetoric for the assassination attempt against him in July by a gunman whose motives are unknown.

“I probably took a bullet to the head because of the things they said about me,” he said.

In the hours before the debate, social media was filled with reports of unsubstantiated claims – repeated by JD Vance, Trump’s running mate, that Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio, had been stealing pets and eating them.

Despite city officials telling the BBC there are no credible reports to support these claims, Trump brought up the matter in the debate.

“They’re eating the dogs, they’re eating the cats, they’re eating the pets of the people that live there. This is a shame,” he said.

“Talk about extreme,” Harris said of her rival.

Read more on the BBC fact-check on the Springfield claims here.

• ANALYSIS: Who won the Harris-Trump debate?
• WATCH: Key moments from presidential debate
• LIVE: Kamala Harris puts Donald Trump on defensive
• VERIFY: Eating pets, inflation, abortion – claims fact-checked
• TRACKER: Who is winning US election polls, Trump or Harris?

Some of Harris’s most aggressive attacks on Trump came as they clashed on abortion, one of the biggest issues for Democrats since the US Supreme Court overturned a constitutional right to the procedure in 2022.

“One does not have to abandon their faith or deeply held beliefs to agree the government – and Donald Trump, certainly – should not be telling a woman what to do with her body,” Harris said.

She said Trump would “sign an abortion ban” if re-elected and cited conservative states that prohibit the procedure while allowing limited exceptions.

Trump, for whom the issue is a political liability, countered: “What she says is an absolute lie. I am not in favour of an abortion ban.”

Trump reiterated that he supports exceptions for cases of rape, incest or when the life of the mother is at risk.

At one point Trump claimed that some babies were being subjected to “executions” after birth.

One of the ABC moderators interceded to fact-check him, saying: “There is no state in this country where it is legal to kill a baby after it’s born.”

Trump said Harris had no policies, accusing her of copying some of his own ideas on the campaign trial and that he was “going to send her a Maga hat”, while also arguing she would be no different from President Biden.

“She has no policy,” he said.

“Remember this, she is Biden,” he said at another point.

Harris countered: “Clearly, I am not Joe Biden.”

Trump, who while president tried to overturn to Obamacare, was asked what would be his plan now to replace the Affordable Care Act.

He said he had “concepts of a plan” that would be “something that’s better”, if elected.

On the economy, an issue that opinion polls show favours Trump, Harris repeatedly stated: “I have a plan.”

In the exchange that followed Harris’s insistence that she had a plan for the economy, Trump sought to depict his rival as a radical liberal who was also opposed to gun ownership.

He said: “She has a plan to defund the police. She has a plan to confiscate everyone’s guns. She has a plan to ban fracking in Pennsylvania and everywhere else.”

Harris denied all this.

“[Running mate] Tim Walz and I are both gun owners,” she said. “We’re not taking anybody’s guns away.”

She has spoken of her gun ownership in the past – but is a supporter of tougher laws.

• SIMPLE GUIDE: Everything you need to know about the vote
• EXPLAINER: Seven swing states that could decide election
• FACT CHECK: Was US economy stronger under Biden or Trump?
• IMMIGRATION: Could Trump really deport a million migrants?
• POLLS: Who is winning the race for the White House?

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.

Donald Trump and Kamala Harris went head to head in their first televised debate in the US election campaign.

In 90 minutes of often fiery exchanges, the Republican and Democratic presidential candidates traded claims over key election issues including the economy, immigration and abortion.

BBC Verify has been examining them.

CLAIM: Trump: “In Springfield, they’re [immigrants] eating the dogs, the people that came in, they’re eating the cats, they’re eating the pets of people that live there”.

VERDICT: There is no evidence that this is happening.

Trump’s comment followed a baseless claim – which was shared by his vice-presidential candidate JD Vance – that immigrants from Haiti who have recently settled in Springfield, Ohio, have been eating pets.

Springfield city officials told BBC Verify: “There have been no credible reports or specific claims of pets being harmed, injured or abused by individuals within the immigrant community.”

You can read more here.

CLAIM: Harris: “Donald Trump left us the worst unemployment since the Great Depression”.

VERDICT: This is false.

At the end of Trump’s term of office in January 2021, the unemployment rate was 6.4%.

But it has been higher since the Great Depression.

In October 2009, unemployment peaked at 10% in a period of deep economic recession.

It has fallen steadily since, apart from a sharp peak during the Covid pandemic, and in the most recent data for August 2024, unemployment stood at 4.2%.

CLAIM: Trump: “We have millions of people pouring into our country from prisons and jails, from mental institutions and insane asylums”.

VERDICT: There is no evidence for these kind of numbers.

There have been about 10 million encounters with migrants crossing over the US border since January 2021.

There are no publicly available figures on how many of them have served time in prison or come from mental institutions but there is some data on how many have previous criminal convictions.

Of the 1.4 million apprehensions of people crossing the border illegally so far this financial year (to September 2024) – and where the Border Patrol was able to check against law enforcement databases – about 14,700 people had previous criminal convictions.

That’s equivalent to roughly 1% of all border apprehensions in this period and doesn’t amount to the “millions” Trump is claiming.

CLAIM: Harris: “If Donald Trump were to be re-elected, he will sign a national abortion ban”.

VERDICT: This is misleading. Trump has denied that he would sign a national ban if elected president.

He has said that he would leave limits on abortion access up to individual states to decide.

Here, Harris also talked about “his Project 2025” – a reference to a document published by the right-wing Heritage Foundation outlining a list of policy proposals that they believe a Trump presidency should implement.

It doesn’t propose a national ban either, but it does recommend limiting abortion access.

Trump has distanced himself from the document, saying: “I know nothing about Project 2025. I have no idea who is behind it.”

Many former Trump administration officials are associated with Project 2025.

CLAIM: Trump: “The worst inflation we’ve ever had” [was under Biden].

VERDICT: This is false.

Under President Biden, inflation peaked at 9.1% in June 2022, at a time when prices were rising sharply in many countries.

Inflation was last above 9% in 1981, but it has been significantly higher than that at several other points in US history.

Since its peak in mid-2022, inflation has dropped to 2.9%, for the year to July 2024. But prices are still rising and it is a key issue for many voters.

CLAIM: Harris: “Economists have said that that Trump sales tax would actually result for middle class families in about $4,000 more a year”.

VERDICT: Harris calls Trump’s proposed tax on imports a sales tax. Some economists have estimated that these tariffs could cost families this much. Others have lower estimates.

Trump insists the cost would be felt by foreign countries but economists believe there would be an economic cost for US importers and consumers.

The $4,000 figure comes from analysis – by the left-of-centre think tank the Centre for American Progress – of Trump’s pledge to increase tariffs on all imported goods to 10-20% and all goods imported from China to 60%.

They took the amount the US buys in goods from abroad annually, figured out how much the new taxes on these goods would be and divided this by the number of households in the US.

It works out at $4,600 per household, but when you look at “middle income” families you get a figure of $3,900 a year.

Other estimates are lower. The Peterson Institute thinks the impact would be closer to $1,700 a year (for tariffs at 10%) or $2,500 (at 20%).

CLAIM: Trump: “Crime in Venezuela… is way down because they have taken their criminals off the streets and given them to her [Harris] to put into our country”.

VERDICT: There is no evidence that Venezuela is doing this. Crime levels are down but experts say this is because of the state of the economy.

The Venezuelan government does not publish reliable crime figures, but the independent Venezuelan Observatory of Violence does.

The Observatory’s 2023 annual report said that violent deaths that year – such as homicides – were down by a quarter compared to 2022.

The Observatory told BBC Verify: “Crime is reduced in Venezuela by a reduction in crime opportunities: bank robberies disappear because there is no money to steal; kidnappings are reduced because there is no cash to pay ransoms.”

It said it had seen no evidence that the Venezuelan government was sending criminals to the US.

• ANALYSIS: Who won the Harris-Trump debate?
• WATCH: Key moments from presidential debate
• LIVE: Kamala Harris puts Donald Trump on defensive
• LISTEN: Americast on the Harris-Trump showdown
• TRACKER: Who is winning US election polls, Trump or Harris?

What do you want BBC Verify to investigate?

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.

Midwife Siro Devi is clinging to Monica Thatte, sobbing. Monica, in her late 20s, has returned to her birthplace – the Indian town where Siro has delivered hundreds of babies.

But this is no straightforward reunion. There is a painful history behind Siro’s tears. Shortly before Monica was born, Siro and several Indian midwives like her were regularly pressured to murder newborn girls.

Monica, evidence suggests, is one they saved.

I have been following Siro’s story for 30 years, ever since I went to interview her and four other rural midwives in India’s Bihar state in 1996.

They had been identified by a non-governmental organisation as being behind the murder of baby girls in the district of Katihar where, under pressure from the newborns’ parents, they were killing them by feeding them chemicals or simply wringing their necks.

Hakiya Devi, the eldest of the midwives I interviewed, told me at the time she had killed 12 or 13 babies. Another midwife, Dharmi Devi, admitted to killing more – at least 15-20.

It is impossible to ascertain the exact number of babies they may have killed, given the way the data was gathered.

But they featured in a report published in 1995 by an NGO, based on interviews with them and 30 other midwives. If the report’s estimates are accurate, more than 1,000 baby girls were being murdered every year in one district, by just 35 midwives. According to the report, Bihar at the time had more than half a million midwives. And infanticide was not limited to Bihar.

Refusing orders, Hakiya said, was almost never an option for a midwife.

“The family would lock the room and stand behind us with sticks,” says Hakiya Devi. “They’d say: ‘We already have four-five daughters. This will wipe out our wealth. Once we give dowry for our girls, we will starve to death. Now, another girl has been born. Kill her.’

“Who could we complain to? We were scared. If we went to the police, we’d get into trouble. If we spoke up, people would threaten us.”

The role of a midwife in rural India is rooted in tradition, and burdened by the harsh realities of poverty and caste. The midwives I interviewed belonged to the lower castes in India’s caste hierarchy. Midwifery was a profession passed on to them by mothers and grandmothers. They lived in a world where refusing orders of powerful, upper-caste families was unthinkable.

The midwife could be promised a sari, a sack of grain or a small amount of money for killing a baby. Sometimes even that was not paid. The birth of a boy earned them about 1,000 rupees. The birth of a girl earned them half.

The reason for this imbalance was steeped in India’s custom of giving a dowry, they explained. Though the custom was outlawed in 1961, it still held strong in the 90s – and indeed continues into the present day.

A dowry can be anything – cash, jewellery, utensils. But for many families, rich or poor, it is the condition of a wedding. And this is what, for many, still makes the birth of a son a celebration and the birth of a daughter a financial burden.

Siro Devi, the only midwife of those I interviewed who is still alive, used a vivid physical image to explain this disparity in status.

“A boy is above the ground – higher. A daughter is below – lower. Whether a son feeds or takes care of his parents or not, they all want a boy.”

The preference for sons can be seen in India’s national-level data. Its most recent census, in 2011, recorded a ratio of 943 women to every 1,000 men. This is nevertheless an improvement on the 1990s – in the 1991 census, the ratio was 927/1,000.

By the time I finished filming the midwives’ testimonies in 1996, a small, silent change had begun. The midwives who once carried out these orders had started to resist.

This change was instigated by Anila Kumari, a social worker who supported women in the villages around Katihar, and was dedicated to addressing the root causes of these killings.

Anila’s approach was simple. She asked the midwives, “Would you do this to your own daughter?”

Her question apparently pierced years of rationalisation and denial. The midwives got some financial help via community groups and gradually the cycle of violence was interrupted.

Siro, speaking to me in 2007, explained the change.

“Now, whoever asks me to kill, I tell them: ‘Look, give me the child, and I’ll take her to Anila Madam.’”

The midwives rescued at least five newborn girls from families who wanted them killed or had already abandoned them.

One child died, but Anila arranged for the other four to be sent to Bihar’s capital, Patna, to an NGO which organised their adoption.

The story could have ended there. But I wanted to know what had become of those girls who were adopted, and where life had taken them.

The Midwife’s Confession

Thirty years ago, a journalist in the Indian state of Bihar filmed a series of shocking confessions: midwives admitting they routinely murdered new-born baby girls. BBC Eye explores the disturbing story.

Watch on iPlayer (UK only), or if you are outside the UK watch on YouTube

The Midwife’s Confession

BBC Eye finds a woman who was possibly one of the girls abandoned in Bihar. What will happen when she returns to meet the only surviving midwife?

Listen on BBC Sounds or outside the UK, listen here

Anila’s records were meticulous but they had few details about post-adoption.

Working with a BBC World Service team, I got in touch with a woman called Medha Shekar who, back in the 90s, was researching infanticide in Bihar when the babies rescued by Anila and the midwives began arriving at her NGO. Remarkably, Medha was still in touch with a young woman who, she believed, was one of these rescued babies.

Anila told me that she had given all the girls saved by the midwives the prefix “Kosi” before their name, a homage to the Kosi river in Bihar. Medha remembered that Monica had been named with this “Kosi” prefix before her adoption.

The adoption agency would not let us look at Monica’s records, so we can never be sure. But her origins in Patna, her approximate date of birth and the prefix “Kosi” all point to the same conclusion: Monica is, in all probability, one of the five babies rescued by Anila and the midwives.

When I went to meet her at her parents’ home some 2,000km (1,242 miles) away in Pune, she said she felt lucky to have been adopted by a loving family.

“This is my definition of a normal happy life and I am living it,” she said.

Monica knew that she had been adopted from Bihar. But we were able to give her more details about the circumstances of her adoption.

Earlier this year, Monica travelled to Bihar to meet Anila and Siro.

Monica saw herself as the culmination of years of hard work by Anila and the midwives.

“Someone prepares a lot to do well in an exam. I feel like that. They did the hard work and now they’re so curious to meet the result… So definitely, I would like to meet them.”

Anila wept tears of joy when she met Monica. But Siro’s response felt different.

She sobbed hard, holding Monica close and combing through her hair.

“I took you [to the orphanage] to save your life… My soul is at peace now,” she told her.

But when, a couple of days later, I attempted to press Siro about her reaction, she resisted further scrutiny.

“What happened in the past is in the past,” she said.

But what is not in the past is the prejudice some still hold against baby girls.

Reports of infanticide are now relatively rare, but sex-selective abortion remains common, despite being illegal since 1994.

If one listens to the traditional folk songs sung during childbirth, known as Sohar, in parts of north India, joy is reserved for the birth of a male child. Even in 2024, it is an effort to get local singers to change the lyrics so that the song celebrates the birth of a girl.

While we were filming our documentary, two baby girls were discovered abandoned in Katihar – one in bushes, another at the roadside, just a few hours old. One later died. The other was put up for adoption.

Before Monica left Bihar, she visited this baby in the Special Adoption Centre in Katihar.

She says she was haunted by the realisation that though female infanticide may have been reduced, abandoning baby girls continues.

“This is a cycle… I can see myself there a few years ago, and now again there’s some girl similar to me.”

But there were to be happier similarities too.

The baby has now been adopted by a couple in the north-eastern state of Assam. They have named her Edha, which means happiness.

“We saw her photo, and we were clear – a baby once abandoned cannot be abandoned twice,” says her adoptive father Gaurav, an officer in the Indian air force.

Every few weeks Gaurav sends me a video of Edha’s latest antics. I sometimes share them with Monica.

Looking back, the 30 years spent on this story were never just about the past. It was about confronting uncomfortable truths. The past cannot be undone, but it can be transformed.

And in that transformation, there is hope.

Dozens of people have been arrested after clashing with police at an anti-war demonstration in Melbourne.

Police said they were “appalled” by the actions of some demonstrators targeting a military hardware sales show in Australia’s second largest city, accusing them of pelting officers with rocks, manure and bottles filled with acid.

By contrast, protestors said officers were heavy-handed and responded with flashbang grenades and irritant sprays to control the hostile crowd.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese condemned the violence, saying Australians had a right to protest – but had to do so in a peaceful manner.

“You don’t say you’re opposed to defence equipment by throwing things at police,” Mr Albanese told local media. “They’ve got a job to do and our police officers should be respected at all times.”

Authorities said about 1,200 people had taken part in the demonstration targeting the Land Forces International Land Defence Exposition, many of whom sported Palestinian flags and sang pro-Palestinian chants.

Police had anticipated unrest ahead of the event, which is expected to draw over 1,000 corporations from 31 countries in the coming days. The expo, which is not open to the public, brings together military, defence, government, scientific and industry delegations from around the world.

Local media reported military artillery, trucks and semi-automatic weapons have been on display during the convention. Activists had said they were protesting as they claim many of the weapons on-show have been used by Israeli forces in Gaza.

Footage showed dumpsters being pushed towards police lines during the clashes, with multiple fires being lit across the city and demonstrators blocking roads. One activist climbed on top of a stationary truck at a set of traffic lights.

About two dozen police officers were treated for injuries sustained during the unrest, Victoria state Police Chief Commissioner Shane Patton said. He told reporters 39 people had been arrested in Wednesday’s clashes.

Commissioner Patton accused those behind the violence of being “hypocrites”, adding demonstrators said they wanted to “protest against war, so presumably [were] anti-violence”.

But his officers have been criticised by demonstrators for being overly heavy-handed. Organisers said they were “appalled at the level of violence directed against community members protesting for peace”.

“The police have been extremely violent towards protestors today, actually in an unprecedented way,” Jasmine Duff, an activist from Students for Palestine, said.

“They used flashbang grenades, they’ve been pepper spraying people very viciously.”

Some journalists reported seeing police fire rubber bullets, but Commissioner Patton said the projectiles were actually hard foam baton rounds.

Officials say around A$10m (£7.6m) was spent on deploying extra police to protect the event, with officers reportedly drafted in from New South Wales.

“It’s absolutely outrageous that reportedly $10 million has been spent on this police presence,” one of the protest group organisers, Anneke Demanuele from Students for Palestine, told ABC News.

Victoria Premier Jacinta Allan defended the state’s handling of the event, saying delegates had the right to gather in Melbourne.

“Any industry deserves the right to have these sort of events in a peaceful and respectful way,” she said.

Indians in West Bengal may face a shortage of hilsa, their favourite fish, as millions gear up to celebrate the state’s biggest festival, Durga Puja, in October.

That is because Bangladesh, the world’s largest producer of the fish, has intensified its crackdown on the transportation of hilsa to neighbouring India, reinforcing a long-standing ban on exports.

The renewed effort, which came a month after a new government took office in Dhaka, is to ensure that the prized fish remains more accessible to consumers in Bangladesh, according to Farida Akhter, adviser to the Bangladesh ministry of fisheries and livestock.

“A lot of fish is [still] going from Bangladesh to India [despite the ban]. This time we will not allow the hilsa to cross the border,” she told the BBC.

Hilsa is Bangladesh’s national fish but it is a luxury, affordable only for the rich and middle class; the poor can’t buy it.

“The previous government would lift the ban during the Durga Puja festival. They used to call it a gift. This time I don’t think we need to give a gift because [if we do it] our people will not be able to eat the fish while it is allowed to be exported to India in large numbers,” Ms Akhter said.

This stand marks a clear departure from deposed former prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s renowned “hilsa diplomacy” with India, where she often allowed consignments of the fish to be transported to India during the festival season.

Hasina has sent hilsa to West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on a number of occasions. Hoping to resolve a long-standing water dispute, she also gifted 30kg of hilsa to the then Indian president Pranab Mukherjee in 2017.

Hasina was removed dramatically on 5 August after weeks of student-led protests that escalated into deadly nationwide unrest. Initially expected to stay in India briefly, her attempts to secure asylum in the UK, US and UAE have so far failed.

• India’s Bangladesh dilemma: What to do about Sheikh Hasina?

Her continued presence in India has also complicated Delhi’s efforts to build a strong relationship with the new interim government in Dhaka. For India, Bangladesh is a key strategic partner and ally, vital for border security, especially in its north-eastern states.

Asked whether the new interim government could have made a goodwill gesture to India by allowing supply of hilsa, Ms Akhter said: “We will have goodwill gestures in all other ways. They are our friends. But we should not do anything by depriving our people.

“The question of goodwill is separate from this.”

Bangladesh is the leading producer of hilsa (Tenualosa ilisha), a kind of species of fish related to the herring, abundant in the Bay of Bengal and also thriving in rivers.

The fish accounts for about 12% of the country’s total fish production and contributes around 1% to its GDP. Fishermen catch up to 600,000 tonnes of the fish annually, the majority of the haul coming from the sea. In 2017, hilsa was recognised as a geographical Indicator for the country.

In past years, the government permitted the export of 3,000-5,000 tonnes of hilsa annually during Durga Puja, senior fisheries official Nripendra Nath Biswas told The Daily Star newspaper.

“But considering the scarcity of fish in the country, the government has decided to impose a ban on hilsa exports this year,” he said.

But Bangladeshi media reports indicate that hilsa prices have surged in the local market despite the export ban.

A 1.5kg hilsa was selling for around 1,800 taka ($15; £11.50), 1.2kg for 1,600 taka, and one kg for 1,500 taka. These prices are 150-200 taka higher than last year, say traders.

Fishermen attribute the price increase to poor catches. “In the past three months, we tried to go to sea five times but had to turn back due to rough weather,” said Hossain Miah, a fisherman.

Hilsa holds an almost sacred status among Bengalis on both sides of the border, and its scarcity will frustrate many.

The fish is celebrated for its versatility, often cooked in a variety of ways such as steamed with mustard paste, which enhances its delicate flavour, or fried with a light coating of spices for a crispy texture.

Bengali-American food historian and author Chitrita Banerji is among the many writers who have raved about the fish.

“I think its enduring role as an icon of Bengali food is a combination of many elements, not the least being its physical beauty, which has led Bengali writers to describe it as the darling of the waters or a prince among fish,” she told an interviewer.

“And its tender flesh (bony though it may be), combined with an emollient texture and exquisite flavour, lends itself to an infinite variety of culinary preparations.”