At least 492 people have been killed in intense and wide-ranging Israeli air strikes targeting Hezbollah in Lebanon, the country’s health ministry says, in the deadliest day of conflict there in almost 20 years.

Thousands of families have also fled their homes as the Israeli military said it hit 1,300 Hezbollah targets in an operation to destroy infrastructure that the armed group had built up since the 2006 war.

Hezbollah, meanwhile, launched more than 200 rockets into northern Israel, according to the military. Paramedics said two people were injured by shrapnel.

World powers have been urging restraint as both sides appear to be spiralling closer towards all-out war.

Lebanon’s health ministry said 35 children and 58 women were among the dead, while 1,645 others had been wounded.

It did not report how many of the casualties were civilians or combatants.

Health Minister Firass Abiad said thousands of families had also been displaced by the strikes.

UN Secretary General António Guterres expressed alarm at the escalating situation and said he did not want Lebanon to “become another Gaza”.

EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell said the “escalation is extremely dangerous and worrying” ahead of a gathering of world leaders at the UN in New York, adding “we are almost in a full-fledged war”.

President Joe Biden said the US was “working to de-escalate in a way that allows people to return home safely”, while the Pentagon announced it was sending “a small number” of additional troops to the Middle East “out of an abundance of caution”.

Nearly a year of cross-border fighting between Israel and Hezbollah sparked by the war in Gaza has killed hundreds of people, most of them Hezbollah fighters, and displaced tens of thousands on both sides of the frontier.

Hezbollah has said it is acting in support of Hamas and will not stop until there is a ceasefire in Gaza. Both groups are backed by Iran and proscribed as terrorist organisations by Israel, the UK and other countries.

The Pentagon said it was sending “a small number” of additional US troops to the Middle East amid the growing crisis.

“In light of increased tension in the Middle East and out of an abundance of caution, we are sending a small number of additional US military personnel forward to augment our forces that are already in the region,” said Pentagon spokesman Maj Gen Pat Ryder in a briefing with reporters.

He would not answer any follow-up questions on the specifics.

Lebanese media said the first wave of Israeli air strikes began at around 06:30 local time (03:30 GMT) on Monday.

“It was horrifying, the missiles flew over our heads. We woke up to the sound of bombings, we didn’t expect this,” one woman said.

Dozens of towns, villages and open areas were targeted throughout the day in the districts of Sidon, Marjayoun, Nabatieh, Bint Jbeil, Tyre, Jezzine and Zahrani in southern Lebanon, as well as the Zahle, Baalbek and Hermel districts in the eastern Bekaa Valley, according to the state-run National News Agency (NNA).

In the evening, it reported that a building in the Bir al-Abed area of the southern suburbs of the capital, Beirut, was hit by several missiles.

Lebanese security sources said the strike targeted Hezbollah’s top commander in southern Lebanon, Ali Karaki, but that it was not clear whether he was killed. Hezbollah’s media office said Karaki was “fine” and had “moved to a safe place”.

From the south to Beirut, roads were congested as people desperately tried to leave amid the bombardment and after receiving audio and text messages from the Israeli military warning them to move away immediately from buildings where Hezbollah was storing weapons.

A family of four riding on a motorbike spoke to the BBC in Beirut during a brief stop on their way to the northern city of Tripoli. “What do you want us to say? We just had to flee,” the father said anxiously.

Information Minister Ziad Makary said his ministry had received an Israeli phone call urging it to evacuate its building in Beirut. However, he insisted that it would not comply with what he called “a psychological war”.

Prime Minister Najib Mikati, meanwhile, told a cabinet meeting: “The continued Israeli aggression on Lebanon is a war of extermination in every sense of the word.”

“We are working as a government to stop this new Israeli war and to avoid descending into the unknown,” he added.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement on Monday evening that its aircraft had carried out strikes on approximately 1,300 Hezbollah “terror targets” in southern Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley where it claimed that rockets, missiles, launchers, and drones were hidden.

“Essentially, we are targeting combat infrastructure that Hezbollah has been building for the past 20 years. This is very significant,” the IDF’s Chief of Staff, Lt Gen Herzi Halevi, told commanders in Tel Aviv.

“Ultimately, everything is focused on creating the conditions to return the residents of the north to their homes.”

IDF spokesman Rear Adm Daniel Hagari said videos from southern Lebanon showed “significant secondary explosions caused by Hezbollah’s weapons that were being stored inside the buildings”.

“It is likely that some of the casualties are from these secondary explosions,” he added.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged the people of Lebanon to “get out of harm’s way now”.

“For too long, Hezbollah has been using you as human shields. It placed rockets in your living rooms and missiles in your garage,” he said. “To defend our people against Hezbollah strikes, we must take out these weapons.”

A senior Israeli military official insisted that the IDF was “currently focusing on Israel’s aerial campaign only” after being asked by reporters if a ground invasion of southern Lebanon was imminent to create a buffer zone.

The official said Israel had three aims – to degrade Hezbollah’s ability to fire rockets and missiles over the Lebanon-Israel border, to push its fighters back from the frontier, and to destroy the infrastructure built by Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force which could be used to attack Israeli communities.

Hezbollah did not comment on the Israeli claims that it had hidden weapons in houses, and its media office had announced the death of only one fighter by Monday evening.

But in a sign that it is unlikely to back down, it said it had responded to the “Israeli enemy’s attacks” by firing barrages of rockets at several Israeli military bases in northern Israel, as well as a weapons manufacturing facility in the coastal Zvulun area, north of the city of Haifa.

The IDF said 210 projectiles had crossed from Lebanon by the evening, and that an unspecified number had landed in the Lower Galilee and Upper Galilee regions, in Haifa and the nearby areas of Carmel, HaAmakim and Hamifratz areas, and in the occupied Golan Heights.

One house was badly damaged by a rocket in Givat Avni, in the Lower Galilee.

Resident David Yitzhak told the BBC that he, his wife and six-year-old daughter were unharmed because they had managed to get behind the solid door of the house’s safe room seconds earlier, when a warning siren sounded.

“It’s a metre from life to death,” he said.

Israel’s ambulance service said it treated two people with shrapnel wounds in the Lower and Upper Galilee regions, and that another person was injured as they rushed to a shelter.

On Sunday, Hezbollah launched more than 150 rockets and drones across the border, while Israeli jets struck hundreds of targets across southern Lebanon.

Hezbollah remains a powerful force, despite being weakened by what Israel’s defence minister described as “the most difficult week” for the group since its establishment.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, 39 people were killed and thousands were wounded after thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah exploded. And on Friday, Hezbollah said at least 16 members, including top commanders of its elite Radwan Force, were among 45 people killed in an Israeli air strike in southern Beirut.

Speaking at a funeral on Sunday, Hezbollah’s deputy leader Naim Qassem said the group would not be deterred.

“We have entered a new phase,” he said, “the title of which is the open-ended battle of reckoning.”

On the streets of Beirut, one young man told the BBC that he was “very scared of the war escalating” because it would “ cause a lot of disaster, it will stop students going to university”.

But another man was defiant, saying: “We’re not scared, we have to stand tall, we have to defend ourselves.”

Across southern Lebanon, families scrambled together belongings and headed north in cars and trucks and on motorcycles as the Israeli military struck targets it said were linked to the Lebanese Shia armed group Hezbollah.

Some residents reported receiving warnings in the form of text messages and voice recordings from the Israeli military to leave areas near the Iran-backed group’s positions.

Zahra Sawli, a student in the southern town of Nabatieh told the BBC’s Newshour programme the bombardment was intense.

“I woke up at 6am to the sound of bombing. By noon it started to get really intense and I saw a lot of strikes in my area.”

“I heard a lot of glass shattering.”

Unlike many, she and those she was with did not leave the house – they didn’t dare, she said.

“Where are we supposed to go? A lot of people are still stuck on the streets. A lot of my friends are still stuck in traffic because a lot of people are trying to flee,” she said.

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By the middle of the day roads north towards Beirut were clogged with traffic, with vehicles heading towards the capital on both sides of a six-lane coastal highway.

Other images showed people walking along the beach in the southern city of Tyre as smoke rose from air strikes in the countryside inland.

The BBC spoke to one family of five who had arrived in Beirut on a single motorbike.

From a village in the south, they were heading to Tripoli in the north. They were exhausted.

“What do you want us to say? We just had to flee,” the father said.

By Monday evening the Lebanese health ministry reported that 492 people had been killed and more than 1,600 injured in the bombardment. It said at least 35 children were among those killed. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it had carried out 1,100 strikes over the previous 24 hours.

That included an air strike in southern Beirut that the IDF said had targeted a senior Hezbollah commander.

In Beirut too there was widespread anxiety. As people from the south arrived in the capital in cars with suitcases strapped to the top, some of the city’s residents were themselves leaving.

Israel has warned people to evacuate areas where it says Hezbollah is storing weapons – but it also sent recorded warnings to people in Beirut districts not considered Hezbollah strongholds including Hamra, an area home to government ministries, banks and universities.

Parents rushed to pick up their children from school after receiving more warnings to leave the area.

One father, Issa, took his son out of school, telling Reuters news agency: “[We’re here] because of the phone calls.

“They’re calling everyone and threatening people by phone. So we’re here to take my boy from school. The situation is not reassuring,” he said.

Mohammed, a Palestinian man on the road with his wife, spoke to the BBC on the way out of Beirut.

When asked if he would stay in the capital he said: “In Lebanon nowhere is safe, Israel is saying they are going to bombard everywhere. Now they threatened this neighbourhood, so where should we go?”

“It’s scary, I don’t know what to do – work, go home, no idea what to do.”

Meanwhile as a BBC crew set up on one side of the road, a taxi driver called out asking if they knew of a fuel crisis unfolding. “Too many people are coming to Beirut,” he said.

Schools have been hastily converted into shelters for the streams of evacuees coming from the south. On a government order, schools in Beirut and Tripoli as well as eastern Lebanon were established as shelters.

The BBC was at a classroom at a public school in Bir Hasan, west Beirut on Monday which was being prepared for people coming from the Bekaa Valley – a Hezbollah stronghold in north-eastern Lebanon which Israel said it was targeting too.

The classrooms were stacked with mattresses but would be fully occupied by the end of the day, workers said.

Meanwhile Lebanon’s hospitals were also ordered to cancel all non-elective surgeries on Monday as physicians braced for a wave of casualties and injuries.

Despite the tense and uncertain atmosphere in Beirut, some people were defiant.

“If a total war happens, we should stand as Lebanese people together regardless of our political affiliations because at the end of the day, our country is getting bombed,” one man told the BBC.

Others were simply resigned to the violence.

“If they want war, what can we do? It was imposed on us. We cannot do anything,” shop owner Mohammed Sibai told Reuters.

Mohammed, a 57-year-old in the southern Beirut suburb of Dahieyh – Hezbollah’s main power base in the capital – told the BBC he had “survived all the wars since 1975” so “it’s normal for me”.

“I will not leave, I will be in my house,” he said.

A suspected gunman arrested near Donald Trump’s golf-course wrote a note months earlier saying he intended to kill the former president, a court filing shows.

“This was an assassination attempt on Donald Trump,” the note says.

Prosecutors included the note in a court filing on Monday, and said they would try to charge 58-year-old Ryan Routh with the attempted assassination of a major political candidate.

Routh has been in custody since his arrest on 15 September in Florida.

US Federal Judge Ryon McCabe ordered that Routh remain behind bars without bail pending his trial, saying that the “weight of the evidence against the defendant is strong”.

Routh is so far facing two federal gun crime charges, including for possessing a firearm as a convicted felon.

Federal prosecutors, however, said in court that they would ask a grand jury in the coming days to also charge Routh with the more serious crime of plotting to assassinate a political candidate, saying that evidence suggests he had been plotting an attack on Trump.

In the pre-written letter, addressed to “The World” and sent to an unnamed witness months before the 15 September incident, Routh appears to pre-empt a failed assassination attempt on the former president.

“I tried my best and gave it all the gumption I could muster,” the letter reads.

Routh, who told a judge during his first court appearance last week that he had no funds and no savings, then says in the letter that he would pay a cash reward to anyone “who can complete the job”.

A box containing the letter – as well as ammunition, building materials, tools and four phones – were dropped off at the home of the witness before the incident, according to the court documents filed by prosecutors.

In the filing, prosecutors state that the witness, whose relation to Routh is unclear, opened the box after learning of the apparent assassination attempt and then contacted the authorities.

The documents were filed in support of Routh’s continued pre-trial detention.

Routh was arrested after a Secret Service agent spotted his face in foliage while securing the sixth hole of Trump’s golf course in West Palm Beach before noticing a rifle, prosecutors say.

The agent then jumped out of his golf cart, drew his gun and fired after seeing Routh allegedly move his gun, the court filing says. Routh did not fire his gun at any point during the incident, police have said.

The suspect managed to flee and left the weapon and some other items at the scene. He was arrested shortly afterwards after a witness spotted him on the Interstate 95, a major highway.

Court documents indicate he had 11 rounds of ammunition, one of which was chambered in the rifle.

Investigators also found a handwritten list in his vehicle of dates where Trump had public appearances scheduled between August and October.

Phone records show that Routh had been in the vicinity of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort for nearly a month between 18 August and 15 September.

Routh is originally from North Carolina and spent much of his life there, although he most recently lived in Hawaii. He has had numerous legal issues in the past, including multiple charges for stolen goods between 1997 and 2010.

In 2022, Routh went to Ukraine in a failed bid to recruit foreign soldiers for Ukraine’s military following the country’s invasion by Russian forces.

The American reportedly contacted the legion on a regular basis with ideas described by one Ukrainian soldier as “nonsensical” and “delusional”.

The suspect had also admitted to being turned down himself, claiming it was down to his age and lack of fighting experience.

Prosecutors have argued that he remain in custody pending his trial, saying he is a flight risk and a danger to the community.

Routh also has an arraignment hearing scheduled for 30 September, where is he is expected to either plead guilty or not guilty to the charges.

The US is planning to ban certain hardware and software made in China and Russia from cars, trucks and buses in the US due to security risks.

Officials said they were worried that the technology in question, used for autonomous driving and to connect cars to other networks, could allow enemies to “remotely manipulate cars on American roads”.

There is currently minimal use of Chinese or Russia-made software in American cars.

But Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said the plans were “targeted, proactive” steps to protect the US.

“Cars today have cameras, microphones, GPS tracking, and other technologies connected to the internet,” she said in a statement.

“It doesn’t take much imagination to understand how a foreign adversary with access to this information could pose a serious risk to both our national security and the privacy of US citizens.”

Chinese officials said the US was broadening “the concept of national security” to unfairly target Chinese firms.

“China opposes the US’s broadening of the concept of national security and the discriminatory actions taken against Chinese companies and products,” said Lin Jian, spokesman for China’s Foreign Ministry, in a statement.

“We urge the US side to respect market principles and provide an open, fair, transparent, and non-discriminatory business environment for Chinese enterprises.”

The proposal, which will now enter a comment period, is the latest from the White House aiming to limit China’s presence in the car manufacturing supply chain.

The White House has also raised tariffs on electric cars, batteries for electric vehicle and a range of other items. It has separately banned the import of Chinese-made cargo cranes, warning of cyber-security risk.

The US launched an investigation in February examining the cyber risks from so-called connected cars.

The prohibitions on software would go into effect with model year 2027, while the hardware rules would be effective three years later, giving the industry more time to re-work their supply chains.

John Bozzella, president and chief executive of Alliance for Automotive Innovation, which represents big car companies, said that though there was “very little technology – hardware or software in today’s connected vehicle supply chain that enters the US from China” the rule would force some firms to find new suppliers.

“I’ve said this in other contexts, but it applies here too: you can’t just flip a switch and change the world’s most complex supply chain overnight,” he said.

“The lead time included in the proposed rule will allow some auto manufacturers to make the required transition but may be too short for others,” he said.

He said association would continue to share its perspective as the final rules are developed.

Singapore’s former transport minister has been convicted of receiving gifts while in office, after he pleaded guilty before a local court.

Subramanian Iswaran, 62, was initially charged with corruption, but prosecutors amended these charges at what was supposed to be the start of his trial on Tuesday.

A corruption case involving a public official is rare in Singapore, a financial hub that prides itself with its squeaky clean image, and Iswaran’s case has gripped the nation.

Iswaran now faces a fine or up to two years in jail for each charge of receiving gifts or gratifications, compared to a corruption conviction that carries a fine of up to $100,000 or up to seven years in prison.

Iswaran is the first political office-holder in Singapore to be tried in court in the past 50 years.

He is best known for bringing the Formula 1 Grand Prix to the South East Asian island nation. The most recent edition wrapped up just days before his court appearance.

Charge sheets revealed that he was gifted more than S$403,000 ($311,882; £234,586) worth of flights, hotel stays, musicals and grand prix tickets.

Shortly after the charges were issued in January, Iswaran pleaded not guilty to all the allegations and quit his post in government, saying he would focus on clearing his name.

Property tycoon Ong Beng Seng was named in the charges, often as the party offering the alleged bribes.

Mr Ong owns the rights to the Singapore Grand Prix, while Iswaran was advisor to the race’s steering committee.

Mr Ong’s company Hotel Properties also has 38 hotels and resorts operating under brands including Four Seasons, Hard Rock Hotels and Concorde, according to the London Stock Exchange’s Refinitiv Eikon.

Mr Ong was arrested last year along with Iswaran but has not been charged with any offence. He was initially scheduled to take the stand as a prosecution witness in Iswaran’s trial.

In March of this year, Iswaran was handed eight additional charges that allege he obtained items such as a Brompton bicycle, a set of golf clubs and whisky from another figure: construction company boss Lum Kok Seng.

Mr Lum’s company is involved with a number of government infrastructure projects around Singapore, which were awarded while Iswaran was Transport Minister. He has not been charged either.

While in government, Iswaran held multiple portfolios in the prime minister’s office: in home affairs, communications and, most recently, the transport ministry.

But it was during his long stint in the trade and industry ministry that he gained prominence, playing a role in developing Singapore’s tourism landscape in the late 2000s and 2010s.

This was a time when the government poured in vast resources and courted billions in foreign investment to build casinos, hotels, tourist attractions and events like the F1 Grand Prix.

Iswaran was a familiar face on the podium, often handing out trophies to drivers amid celebratory sprays of champagne.

The case against Iswaran is one of a series of political scandals that have rocked the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP), which has long touted its strong stance against corruption and amoral behaviour.

In 2023, the government was rocked by a separate corruption probe into the properties of two other ministers, which eventually cleared them of wrongdoing, as well as two lawmakers’ resignation over an extramarital affair.

Singapore’s lawmakers are among the highest-paid in the world, with some ministers earning more than S$1 million ($758,000). Leaders justify the handsome salaries by saying it combats corruption.

Prior to last year, the most recent case of a politician facing a major corruption probe was in 1986, when national development minister Teh Cheang Wan was investigated for accepting bribes. He took his own life before he was charged.

Before that, former minister of state for environment Wee Toon Boon was sentenced to 18 months jail in 1975 for a case involving more than $800,000.

At first glance, Dunpo Elementary is no different from the thousands of elementary schools dotted across South Korea.

But look just beneath the surface and the differences are stark.

For one thing, most of the students in this school in Asan, an industrial city near the capital Seoul, may look ethnically Korean, but cannot speak the language.

“If I don’t translate into Russian for them, the other kids won’t understand any of the lessons,” says 11-year-old Kim Yana.

Yana speaks the best Korean in her class – but she and most of her 22 classmates are native Russian speakers.

Nearly 80% of the pupils at Dunpo are categorised as “multicultural students”, meaning they are either foreigners or have a parent who is not a Korean citizen.

And while the school says it is difficult to know exactly what these students’ nationalities are, most of them are believed to be Koryoins: ethnic Koreans typically hailing from countries in Central Asia.

Amid a plummeting birth rate and associated labour shortages, South Korea is touting the settlement of Koryoins and other ethnic Koreans as a possible solution to the nation’s population crisis. But discrimination, marginalisation, and the lack of a proper settlement programme are making it hard for many of them to integrate.

Koryoins are descendants of ethnic Koreans who migrated to the far east of the Russian Empire in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries – before many were forcibly transferred to Central Asia in the 1930s as part of Stalin’s “frontier-cleansing” policy.

They lived in former Soviet states such as Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan and, over the generations, assimilated into those cultures and stopped speaking Korean, which was forbidden.

South Korea started granting residency to Koryoins as well as ethnic Koreans in China after a landmark ruling by the country’s constitutional court in 2001. But the number of Koryoin migrants began growing rapidly from 2014 when they were allowed to bring their families into the country as well.

Last year, about 760,000 ethnic Koreans from China and Russian-speaking countries were living in South Korea, making up about 30% of the country’s foreign population. Many have settled in cities like Asan, which have more factories and therefore greater job opportunities.

Ni Denis, who migrated to South Korea from Kazakhstan in 2018, is one of them.

“These days, I don’t see Koreans in the factory [where I work],” he says. “They think the job’s difficult, so they leave quickly. More than 80% of the people I work with are Koryoins.”

It isn’t only Koryoins, however, who are benefitting from the immigration boost. The influx of ethnic Koreans from abroad is also helping to address a severe labour shortage in a country whose population continues to shrink.

South Korea has the world’s lowest fertility rate, which keeps dropping year on year. In 2023, the birth rate was 0.72 – far behind the 2.1 required to maintain a stable population in the absence of immigration.

Estimates suggest that if this trend continues, South Korea’s population could halve by the year 2100.

The country will need 894,000 more workers, especially in the service industry, to “achieve long-term economic growth projections” over the next decade, according to South Korea’s Ministry of Employment and Labour.

Workers from overseas are helping to bridge the gap.

“While the overseas Korean visa is often perceived as a form of support for ethnic Koreans, it has been primarily serving to provide stable labour for manufacturing,” says Choi Seori, a researcher at the Migration Research and Training Centre.

Mr Lee, a recruiter in Asan who asked to be identified only by his surname, highlighted the workforce’s dependence on immigration another way.

“Without Koryoins,” he said. “these factories wouldn’t run.”

Yet while immigration may be one solution to the country’s workforce problem, it comes with its own set of issues in this ethnically homogenous society.

Language is one of them.

“Korean kids only play with Koreans and Russian kids only play with Russians because they can’t communicate,” says 12-year-old student Kim Bobby.

In an attempt to overcome the language barrier, Dunpo Elementary School runs a two-hour Korean class for foreign students every day. Even so, teacher Kim Eun-ju is worried that many children “hardly understand the lessons” as they move up grades.

Academic competition in South Korea is notoriously rife and the school is losing local students, as parents worry their children’s education is being affected because lessons have to be conducted at a slower pace for Koryoins.

The high school enrolment rate for multicultural students is already slightly lower than for locals, according to an official national survey conducted in 2021. Park Min-jung, a researcher at the Migration Research and Training Centre, worries that more Koryoin students will drop out of school if they don’t get the support they need.

And language is not the only point of difference.

Mr Ni says he has noticed that many of his Korean neighbours have moved out of their building.

“Koreans seem to dislike having Koryoins as neighbours,” he says with an awkward laugh. “Sometimes Koreans ask us why we don’t smile at them. It’s just the way we are; it’s not that we’re angry.”

He says there have been disputes between children in his neighbourhood, and he has heard of cases where Koryoin children have been “rough” during arguments. “After that, Korean parents tell their kids not to play with Koryoin kids. I think that’s how segregation happens.”

“I am concerned about how Korea will be able to accept other immigrants,” says Seong Dong-gi, an expert of Koryoin at Inha University, explaining that there is already “significant resistance” to the influx of ethnic Koreans who “do not look different”.

The population crisis should be a “catalyst for society to look at immigration differently”, says Ms Choi. “It’s time to think about how to integrate them”.

In 2023 there were roughly 2.5 million foreigners living in South Korea, which is also a popular destination for migrant workers from places such as Nepal, Cambodia and Vietnam.

Most of them work in manual jobs, with only 13% in professional roles.

“There is no clear plan for immigration at the national government level,” says Lee Chang-won, the director of the Migration Research and Training Centre. “Solving the country’s population problem with foreigners has been an afterthought.”

Mr Lee adds that the current immigration policy is “heavily weighted towards low-skilled workers”, leading to a “common view” that foreigners only work in South Korea for a while and then leave. As a result, he says, there has been little discussion about long-term settlement for all immigrants.

According to current laws, the government is only required to provide support with things like vocational training for foreigners who marry locals. The same rights, however, are not extended to families entirely made up of foreigners.

Analysts say a new law for these families is urgently needed.

An Asan official, who requested anonymity, says it is difficult to secure funding for more supporting facilities for Koryoin families because there is no legal requirement to do so.

But despite these challenges, Mr Ni says he has not regretted the decision to move to South Korea. He still gets a better living environment and higher wages here.

“For my children, this is home,” he says. “When we visited Kazakhstan, they asked: ‘Why are we here? We want to go back to Korea.’”

The union representing thousands of striking Boeing workers has hit out at what the aircraft manufacturing giant called its “best and final” pay offer, which proposed a 30% rise over four years.

The new offer also included the reinstatement of a performance bonus and improved retirement benefits.

However, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) said the offer was not negotiated with the union and that “it was thrown at us without any discussion” – a claim Boeing denies.

More than 30,000 Boeing workers went on strike earlier this month after rejecting a 25% pay rise offer.

“After listening to our employees and their concerns, Boeing today presented our best and final offer,” the aircraft manufacturing giant said in a letter.

The proposal doubles the value of a one-off bonus for signing a new pay deal to $6,000 (£4,497).

Boeing said the offer is dependent on it being ratified by union members by midnight pacific time on Friday 27 September (7am GMT on Saturday 28 September).

But IAM said Boeing sent the new offer directly to union members and the media without telling the union’s representatives.

“This tactic is a blatant show of disrespect to you – our members – and the bargaining process,” IAM said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.

The union also said it would not hold a vote of its membership ahead of Boeing’s deadline.

In response, Boeing told the BBC: “We have bargained in good faith with the IAM since formal negotiations began in March.”

“We first presented the offer to the union and then transparently shared the details with our employees,” it added.

Boeing workers voted to strike on September 13 after rejecting a new contract deal, which included a 25% pay rise over four years.

The union had initially aimed for a number of improvements to workers’ packages, including a 40% pay rise.

Almost 95% of the union members – who produce planes including the 737 Max and 777 – voted to reject Boeing’s initial offer.

Of those who voted, 96% backed strike action until a new agreement could be reached.

The strike threatens to cost Boeing billions of dollars, deepening the crisis at a company already facing significant challenges.

Its impacts are already being felt across the industry and wider US economy too, as Boeing has halted shipments of most parts and taken other steps to save money.

The company has already suspended the jobs of tens of thousands of staff.

It has also said that US-based executives, managers and staff would be asked to take one week of furlough every four weeks for as long as the walkout lasts.

Government officials are now helping to mediate talks between the two sides.

A retired Indian high court judge will investigate allegations that a woman was physically and sexually assaulted by a group of police inside a police station in the eastern state of Odisha, the authorities say.

After the allegations, levelled last week by the 32-year-old woman and her fiancé – an army officer – led to a huge outcry, four police officials, including three women, were suspended. A fifth policeman was transferred. The action came after the state’s crime branch opened an inquiry into the case.

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A video of the woman, a law graduate who runs a restaurant in the state capital Bhubaneswar, detailing her alleged abuse by police early on the morning of 15 September has been shared many times on social media.

The footage makes for a difficult watch.

In a wheelchair, with a collar around her neck and one arm in a sling, the woman repeatedly breaks down while narrating to journalists what she says happened to her.

She said she had gone to Bharatpur police station with her fiance after closing her restaurant at around 01:00 because they had been harassed by a group of men on the road.

They asked police to send a patrol car quickly to intercept the men who couldn’t have gone far, she said.

“The police refused to take down our complaint, instead they abused us. When I told them that I was a law graduate and knew my rights, they got even more angry.”

The situation escalated after the police put her fiance in the lockup, she alleged.

“When I objected, two female officials started pulling my hair and beating me. I kept pleading with them to stop. But they dragged me through the corridor and one of them tried to strangle me. When I fought back, they tied my hands and legs and locked me up in a room,” she said, sobbing.

“One male officer came in and took off my bra and started kicking me in my breasts. At around 06:00, the officer in charge of the police station came into the room. He pulled my pants down. Then he lowered his pants and threatened to rape me multiple times unless I stopped screaming for help,” she alleged.

Reports in the Indian media last week quoted police as saying the army officer and his fiancee had arrived at the station drunk and the woman had been aggressive. They alleged that she had slapped a policewoman and bitten another officer.

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She was arrested and a magistrate placed her in custody.

But three days after the alleged assault, the high court freed the woman on bail and criticised the police and the lower court that jailed her.

“On careful examination of the record, it appears that the allegations are very serious in nature… They are anathema to the very concept of a democratic and orderly society,” Justice Aditya Kumar Mohapatra said, adding that the “police had failed to follow the procedure laid down in law while arresting her”.

“Drastic action has been taken against the erring police officers… and appropriate action shall be taken against those found guilty,” the judge’s order said.

The magistrate had also “failed to apply their judicial mind” in denying the woman bail, Justice Mohapatra added.

Since then, many in India have taken to social media to express their anger at alleged police brutality. A large number of former and serving army officials have shared the viral video of the woman and pledged support to her fight since her father is a retired army brigadier.

The Indian army has also written a letter to the chief justice of the high court in Odisha saying that a “serving officer had been kept in custody for nearly 14 hours without any charge” and because of “the grave incident… his prestige was demeaned”.

“The modesty and dignity of his fiancee, who also happens to be the daughter of a retired brigadier, was grossly outraged by the police authorities,” the letter adds.

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Her father, who told the BBC that he had spent hours frantically trying to locate his daughter that night, said the police had not even informed him or his family about the allegations against his daughter.

“Some army officers informed me that my daughter had been arrested and sent to jail. I was allowed to meet her only the next afternoon,” he said. “I hope we will get justice.”

The state government said it “respects the Indian army” and is “concerned about the dignity, safety and rights of women”. It has nominated retired Justice Chitta Ranjan Dash to hold an inquiry and submit a report within 60 days.

The woman’s allegations are being investigated and her statement has been recorded, crime branch official Narendra Behera told the media. The seven men accused of harassing the couple were arrested by police and released on bail.

On social media some have commented on the woman’s clothing while others have questioned “the character of a woman who argues with men and drinks alcohol”.

Namrata Chadha, lawyer and women’s rights activist who met the woman in hospital, told the BBC that it is “heart-breaking to see this kind of victim shaming”.

“She has an injured shoulder, a cut on her face and swelling around her eye. She is very traumatised. While talking to me, her eyes welled up several times. I told her, ‘You’ll have to be courageous and face it all.’ She said she will fight to the end.”

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Ms Chadha says the police have to follow a standard operating procedure when a woman lodges a complaint.

“It’s their duty to hear her patiently. They are trained to deal with a woman if she is aggressive or agitated. They have to offer her a glass of water, calm her down. But from what she has alleged, it appears that basic rules were not followed.

“Also, how come there were no CCTVs when the Indian Supreme Court mandates it for every police station?” she asks. The police station in question opened only four months ago and is supposed to be a role model for other stations in the area.

Ms Chadha says the case has received a lot of attention because the woman is from a privileged background.

“But no-one know what goes on in this – and other – police stations when ordinary women go to seek help.

“We tell our daughters that if you are in trouble, go to the nearest police station. We tell them it’s the second safest place – after their home. What do we tell them now? Where will a woman go now?”

GPs couldn’t treat patients, people were stranded as planes couldn’t get off the ground, and small businesses lost thousands in sales.

Two months on from the global IT outage on 19 July, the full impact is still only now becoming apparent.

A rogue software update by the US cybersecurity company CrowdStrike crippled up to eight and half million computers using Microsoft systems around the world.

Adam Meyers – a senior manager at CrowdStrike – will testify at the US Congress on Tuesday to explain what happened and how the company is going to prevent another disaster.

Dr David Wrigley, a GP for the past 22 years, tells the BBC that in the most serious cases, it resulted in possible delays for cancer treatments.

“It was a very difficult period of time with very little help and support,” he said.

For many GPs, they were unable to use the EMIS system – a digital way of managing appointment bookings and patient records, as well as sending prescriptions to pharmacies.

The BMA said the CrowdStrike outage was “one of the toughest single days in recent times for GPs across England”, with doctors forced to return to pen and paper.

At Dr Wrigley’s practice, computer problems continued between Friday and Monday.

He said this created a backlog that delayed urgent tasks such as writing referral letters for patients with suspected cancers.

In some cases, this would have been delayed by “three or four days”.

“You have to prioritise those and send them as soon as possible,” he said.

“All the referrals we do are done electronically – that couldn’t happen.”

Elsewhere, the BMA said there were also major problems in Northern Ireland.

Around 75% of GPs in Northern Ireland use the EMIS system according to Dr Frances O’Hagan, the chair of BMA’s Northern Ireland GP committee.

“We couldn’t do anything for most people,” she said.

“We just had to take it on the chin and get on with it.”

She said GPs in Northern Ireland faced similar backlogs to colleagues in England, including a delay to suspected cancer referrals.

The Department of Health told the BBC it is in discussion with “external suppliers” to strengthen “continuity arrangements” following the CrowdStrike outage.

It says GPs had access to “local copies” of patient data from EMIS during the outage, and all other systems worked.

Professor Kamila Hawthorne, Chair of the Royal College of GPs, told the BBC it was “crucial” that there should be “safeguards in place” in the future.

In Surrey, 50 patients who were due to receive radiotherapy treatment on the day of the outage were forced to reschedule.

A spokesperson from NHS Royal Surrey Trust said all urgent cases were seen within 24 hours.

NHS England did not comment.

The UK government told BBC News contingency plans were quickly enacted, and said it is working with NHS England to help prevent similar incidents.

Melanie Cree and her husband Alan, from Bangor in Northern Ireland, were due to fly home from Corfu Airport on the day of the outage.

Travel operators were forced to cancel thousands of flights across the world – and Melanie and Alan’s flight was axed.

After being taken to and from the airport several times in the next few days, they managed to fly home on Monday.

Melanie said passengers were given no food, and some ran out of medication.

“It totally ruined what should have been our dream holiday,” she said.

“We have lovely memories, but we came back absolutely shattered. It was complete chaos.”

Their provider Tui gave them a £400 voucher.

As Melanie and Alan struggled in Corfu, another UK family were caught up in the delays just over 500 miles (804km) away.

Laura and Malcolm Jones were struggling to return home after a holiday in Rhodes with their children.

When they were on the tarmac, the flight was cancelled. Laura told the BBC there was no information, no return of bags, and no plan.

They spent 16 hours at the airport before they were taken to a conference centre, where frustrated travellers used tablecloths as blankets.

The family paid £560 out of their own pockets to fly back to the UK a few days later.

Tui has given them a £600 voucher.

“I was looking forward to travelling abroad again after Covid, but I think I might just stick going to west Wales for a few years,” Laura joked.

In a statement, Tui apologised to its customers.

But the travel company was not the only one with problems. Delta Airlines in the United States faced a huge impact.

It cancelled around 7,000 flights over five days, faces an investigation from the US authorities and is involved in several legal actions.

Back in the UK, small business owner Dawn Watts was caught up in the outages in a different way – her website, which provides supplies to cleaning companies and hotels, was out of action.

She estimates to have lost about £600 in sales.

“It is extremely worrying,” she said.

“I am a sole trader – I can’t have this happening again.”

Hannah Al-Khaldi, who runs a boutique fitness studio in London, faced similar issues with a non-functional website.

She estimates the outage cost her £1,000.

“It showed how many systems worldwide had put their eggs in one basket,” she said.

“When one link in the chain fails, everything else goes down.

“Is there enough choice out there for providers, or was CrowdStrike the only option?”

A spokesperson from CrowdStrike told BBC News: “As we have said previously, we fully understand the gravity of the incident and apologise to everyone who was affected.

“We’re committed to using the lessons learned to better serve our customers and prevent anything like this from happening again.”

The messaging app Telegram has said it will hand over users’ IP addresses and phone numbers to authorities who have search warrants or other valid legal requests.

The change to its terms of service and privacy policy “should discourage criminals”, CEO Pavel Durov said in a Telegram post on Monday.

“While 99.999% of Telegram users have nothing to do with crime, the 0.001% involved in illicit activities create a bad image for the entire platform, putting the interests of our almost billion users at risk,” he continued.

The announcement marks a significant reversal for Mr Durov, the platform’s Russian-born co-founder who was detained by French authorities last month at an airport just north of Paris.

Days later, prosecutors there charged him with enabling criminal activity on the platform. Allegations against him include complicity in spreading child abuse images and trafficking of drugs. He was also charged with failing to comply with law enforcement.

Mr Durov, who has denied the charges, lashed out at authorities shortly after his arrest, saying that holding him responsible for crimes committed by third parties on the platform was both “surprising” and “misguided.”

Critics say Telegram has become a hotbed of misinformation, child pornography, and terror-related content partly because of a feature that allows groups to have up to 200,000 members.

Meta-owned WhatsApp, by contrast, limits the size of groups to 1,000.

Telegram was scrutinised last month for hosting far-right channels that contributed to violence in English cities.

Earlier this week, Ukraine banned the app on state-issued devices in a bid to minimise threats posed by Russia.

The arrest of the 39-year old chief executive has sparked debate about the future of free-speech protections on the internet.

After Mr Durov’s detention, many people began to question whether Telegram was actually a safe place for political dissidents, according to John Scott-Railton, senior researcher at the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab.

He says this latest policy change is already being greeted with even more alarm in many communities.

“Telegram’s marketing as a platform that would resist government demands attracted people that wanted to feel safe sharing their political views in places like Russia, Belarus, and the Middle East,” Mr Scott-Railton said.

“Many are now scrutinizing Telegram’s announcement with a basic question in mind: does this mean the platform will start cooperating with authorities in repressive regimes?”

Telegram has not given much clarity on how the company will handle the demands from leaders of such regimes in the future, he added.

Cybersecurity experts say that while Telegram has removed some groups in the past, it has a far weaker system of moderating extremist and illegal content than competing social media companies and messenger apps.

Before the recent policy expansion, Telegram would only supply information on terror suspects, according to 404 Media.

On Monday Mr Durov said the app was now using “a dedicated team of moderators” who were leveraging artificial intelligence to conceal problematic content in search results.

But making that type of material harder to find likely won’t be enough to fulfill requirements under French or European law, according to Daphne Keller at Stanford University’s Center for Internet and Society.

“Anything that Telegram employees look at and can recognize with reasonable certainty is illegal, they should be removing entirely,” Ms Keller said.

In some countries, they also need to notify authorities about particular kinds of seriously illegal content such as child sexual abuse material, she added.

Ms Keller questioned whether the company’s changes would be enough to satisfy authorities seeking information about targets of investigations, including who they are communicating with and the content of those messages.

“It sounds like a commitment that is likely less than what law enforcement wants,” Ms Keller said.

The Duke of Sussex’s US visa application should remain private despite him admitting taking drugs in his memoir, a judge has ruled.

Prince Harry wrote of using marijuana, cocaine and psychedelic mushrooms in his memoir Spare, which was released in January 2023.

A lawsuit, from the conservative Heritage Foundation, sought to compel the government to release the records to show whether drug use was disclosed.

But US judge Carl Nichols ruled on Monday that “the public does not have a strong interest in disclosure of the duke’s immigration records”.

“Like any foreign national, the duke has a legitimate privacy interest in his immigration status,” he added.

Prince Harry moved to the US in January 2020 after announcing that he and his wife, Meghan Markle, would step back from royal duties.

In a lawsuit last year, the prominent Washington DC-based think tank argued that “widespread and continuous” media coverage of Prince Harry’s admitted drug use called into question whether the government properly vetted the duke and followed proper procedures when it admitted him into the country.

Application forms for US visas specifically ask about current and past drug use.

Drug use can lead to non-immigrant and immigrant visa applications being rejected, although immigration officers have discretion to make a final decision based on a number of factors.

The Heritage Foundation’s lawsuit argued that US law “generally renders such a person inadmissible for entry” to the country.

In his memoir, the duke said cocaine “didn’t do anything for me”, adding: “Marijuana is different, that actually really did help me.”

But Judge Nichols said the public’s interest in disclosure of Prince Harry’s immigration records is “outweighed by the duke’s privacy interest”.

Harrods has revealed that it is investigating whether any current members of staff were involved in any of the allegations against the store’s former owner, Mohamed Al Fayed.

One former Harrods employee, known as Jessica, has told BBC News a manager, who still works at the store, failed to investigate when she complained about Fayed’s inappropriate behaviour.

Jessica alleges she was pushed against a wall and sexually assaulted by Fayed in 2008, when she was 22.

The store says there is an ongoing internal review which includes “looking at whether any current staff were involved in any of the allegations either directly or indirectly”.

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• Watch on iPlayer: Al Fayed – Predator at Harrods
• Listen on BBC Sounds: World of Secrets

It also says it is in direct communication with the Metropolitan Police.

Fayed, who died last year aged 94, is accused of multiple rapes and sexual assaults by several women who worked for him – many of whom felt unable to report what had happened until recently.

They made the claims in the BBC documentary and podcast Al-Fayed: Predator at Harrods. Dozens more women have been in touch since the programme aired last week.

Jessica, not her real name, said after she was sexually assaulted she went to HR to complain and to hand her notice in.

She said she felt too intimidated by Fayed to detail the sexual assault in the meeting, but she did complain about his inappropriate behaviour, including him giving her large sums of money.

She said she was left in no doubt the people in the meeting knew there was a sexual element to her complaint.

And she told the BBC one of the people in the room still worked at Harrods in a senior role.

She said she felt threatened and forced to sign a document that she believes was a non-disclosure agreement by “multiple people in the room”.

“There was no shock, no empathy… and it was made very clear they were not going to talk further on the topic,” she said.

Jessica is considering taking legal action but had never spoken about her experiences until the BBC documentary about Fayed was aired last week.

“I feel quite strongly that the people who facilitated this need to be brought to justice,” she said.

“And that is part of the reason why I am now speaking out about it.

“Those people I can see are still working either within the company or in other companies.

“I have no doubt they have to have been fully aware of what was happening.”

She added: “Yes obviously [Fayed] is gone, but his name can still be tarnished for what he did to all of these people. So I do feel like a certain amount of justice can be brought.”

In separate claims, Jessica said another manager at Harrods “cherry-picked” young girls for Fayed and “facilitated” his predatory behaviour towards them.

Jessica said she was “pimped” by the female manager, who she said felt Fayed would be attracted to her, and organised for him to meet her.

She said: “It’s quite clear to see the actions that happened to put me in front of him came directly from her.”

Harrods’ current owners have previously said they were “utterly appalled” by the allegations against Fayed and had been seeking to settle claims “in the quickest way possible” since “new information came to light” in 2023.

When BBC News put Jessica’s story to Harrods, the store confirmed there was an ongoing internal review which also began in 2023.

“The Harrods settlement process was designed in consultation with independent external counsel and experts in personal injury litigation,” the statement said.

“All claims settled to date and moving forwards will be based on the guidance of these external individuals to ensure swift and impartial outcomes for the victims.

“As part of our due diligence there is an ongoing internal review (supported by external counsel) including looking at whether any current staff were involved in any of the allegations either directly or indirectly.

“In addition, the Harrods board has established a non-executive committee of the board to further consider the issues arising from the allegations.

“Harrods is also in direct communication with the Metropolitan Police to ensure we are offering our assistance with any of their relevant inquiries.”

Al Fayed: Predator at Harrods

A BBC investigation into allegations of rape and attempted rape by Mohamed Al Fayed, the former owner of Harrods. Did the luxury store protect a billionaire predator?

Watch Al Fayed: Predator at Harrods on BBC iPlayer now

Listen to World of Secrets, Season 4: Al Fayed, Predator at Harrods on BBC Sounds. If you’re outside the UK, you can listen wherever you get your podcasts.

Monday was the bloodiest day in Lebanon since Hezbollah’s 2006 war with Israel.

Israel launched a massive series of air strikes this morning that have so far killed 492 people according to the Lebanese government and the Israelis are warning of more attacks to come.

The war is escalating fast, a process that is being driven by the scale of Israel’s air offensive.

They are warning civilians to leave the areas they’re targeting. The next, they’ve said, will be the Bekaa Valley in the north-east of Lebanon which is a Hezbollah stronghold.

• Live coverage of this story
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Even before the current escalation, well over 100,000 Lebanese had to leave their homes because of Israeli strikes, with no immediate expectation of being able to return.

We are seeing yet another very large escalation by the Israelis.

Perhaps their calculation is that they believe Hezbollah is in such a weakened position right now that this is their opportunity to really inflict some damage on it, and to change the strategic picture in the hills and towns on either side of the border between Israel and Lebanon.

While the Israeli-Hezbollah conflict has been going on for decades, the current war between them started the day after the Hamas attacks on 7 October last year.

Hezbollah started a limited but continuous campaign of rocket fire over the border, trying to tie down Israeli troops and damage Israeli property and people. Around 60,000 Israelis have been forced to evacuate to the centre of the country. In the last few days, returning them to their homes has been added to Israel’s list of war aims.

The US and UK, and other allies – and critics – of Israel believe that the only hope of cooling this dangerous crisis is to get a ceasefire in Gaza.

Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, has said attacks on Israel will go on until a Gaza ceasefire happens. But it seems pretty clear at this point that neither the leader of Hamas nor the leader of Israel is prepared to go for the deal the US has put on the table.

The war itself has overwhelming support from Israelis, although Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu remains unpopular with significant parts of Israel’s electorate, despite an improvement in his poll ratings.

Many Israelis also think Netanyahu is an appalling leader who tells lies and has abandoned the hostages in Gaza. So he is a very controversial character, but bolstered in the parliament by the right wingers who support him, he is politically secure.

His decision to go on the offensive is risky.

While Hezbollah is wounded, it has plenty of capacity to hit back. And that is why Israel’s friends and enemies are still preparing for the worst.

It seems hard to believe that it’s less than a week since Hezbollah’s communication devices started exploding all across Lebanon.

The days since have represented a series of catastrophic setbacks for the formidable, Iranian-backed Shia militia.

With its networks disrupted, its fighting men mutilated, its leadership assassinated and its military infrastructure under constant bombardment, Hezbollah is facing its worst crisis in four decades.

Now Israel’s defence minister says the campaign is “deepening”.

But it’s a high-risk strategy, in which Hezbollah’s ability to respond cannot be ignored.

With alerts constantly sounding across northern Israel, Yoav Gallant has told Israelis to “show composure, discipline and full obedience to the directives of Home Front Command”.

We found all on display in equal measure when we visited the small community of Givat Avni, a short distance west of Tiberias.

David Yitzhak showed us where a 120mm rocket tore through the roof of his family home at lunchtime on Monday.

With sirens blaring, David bundled his wife and six-year-old daughter into the house’s safe room, seconds before the explosion.

“It’s a metre from life to death,” David said, indicating the short distance between the safe room and the hole in his daughter’s bedroom.

He said he feels no animosity towards the people of Lebanon, but says Hezbollah started the war for no reason.

“So now we are giving back. And it will be OK.”

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But Givat Avni is 20 miles (30km) from the Lebanese border, far from the evacuation zone established by the authorities almost a year ago.

An hour later, as we arrived at nearby Kibbutz Lavi, home for the past year to families evacuated from further north, sirens sounded once more.

Rockets appeared in the sky overhead and as we were ushered into an underground shelter full of children and their artwork, we heard a series of deep resonant booms.

An hour later, more alerts, another safe room and more distant explosions.

Hezbollah had been firing rockets further into Israel, even before the latest escalation. But now an even larger swathe of northern Israel is in the firing line.

All of this is adding a sense of urgency to the government’s actions.

Speaking after a meeting with defence chiefs, the Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said Israel was changing the balance of power in the north.

“We are facing complex days,” he warned.

“We do not wait for a threat,” he said. “We anticipate it. Anywhere, in any arena, at any time. We eliminate senior officials, eliminate terrorists, eliminate missiles.”

Having seized the initiative, Israel’s military seems determined to keep Hezbollah on the back foot, in the hope of realising the government’s aim of returning civilians to homes evacuated along the northern border.

On Monday morning, it stepped up another gear, telling Lebanese villagers to leave places where they believe Hezbollah is concealing its bigger weapons.

Military officials showed journalists a video of an air strike in which Israel says it destroyed a modified Russian cruise missile, hidden inside a house.

In another “illustration”, we were shown a skeletal 3D mock-up of a village in southern Lebanon, full of concealed weapons and equipment.

The mock-up, and the instructions to civilians to leave, all carried echoes of Israel’s efforts to explain its actions in Gaza.

But military officials insist that, unlike Gaza, the warnings do not mean that the army is poised to move in on the ground in southern Lebanon.

“We are currently focusing on Israel’s aerial campaign only,” a senior official said on Monday.

It seems that for now, Israel will see what it can achieve from the air. A former commander, speaking on Israel’s Channel 12, said that so far, the air force had shown only a fraction of its capabilities.

But there’s only so much Israel can achieve from the air, even if, as seems possible, jets are about to lay waste to entire villages.

At some point, a ground invasion – however limited – seems unavoidable.

But would it be wise?

“That’s exactly what Hezbollah wants,” Dr Jacques Neria, a senior researcher at the Jerusalem Centre for Security and Foreign Affairs, told i24 News.

“The residents of southern Lebanon are Hezbollah soldiers,” he said. “And therefore we will have to fight against a mass that we do not know, under unfamiliar conditions.”

In his defiant speech last week, Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah dared Israel to attempt to create a buffer zone in southern Lebanon, something the head of Israel’s Northern Command is said to be pushing for.

Such an effort, he said, would have “dire consequences” for Israel.

At the moment, there’s no sign of a diplomatic off-ramp. US-led efforts to defuse the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah have run into the sand, along with negotiations aimed at securing a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of Israeli hostages.

Cold military logic – strike and counter-strike – appears to have taken over.

This is not a battle of equals. Israel knows it can beat Hezbollah.

There’s a complete asymmetry in the level of destruction and suffering that each side can inflict on the other.

But where the conflict is heading, and how much worse it will get before it ends, is anyone’s guess.

Left-leaning politician Anura Kumara Dissanayake has been elected as Sri Lanka’s next president after he won the debt-ridden country’s first election since its economy collapsed in 2022.

The 55-year-old beat off his nearest rival, opposition leader Sajith Premadasa, to emerge as the clear winner after a historic second round of counting, which included second-preference votes. Outgoing president Ranil Wikremesinghe trailed in third.

It’s a remarkable turnaround for a man who won just 3% of the votes in the 2019 election. Dissanayake, who contested as candidate for the National People’s Power (NPP) alliance, has drawn increasing support in recent years for his anti-corruption platform and pro-poor policies – particularly in the wake of the country’s worst ever economic crisis, which is still having an impact on millions.

He will now inherit governance of a nation that is struggling to emerge from the shadow of that crisis, and a populace that is desperate for change.

So who is president-elect Anura Kumara Dissanayake?

Dissanayake was born on 24 November, 1968 in Galewela, a multi-cultural and multi-religious town in central Sri Lanka.

Raised as a member of the middle-class, he is public school educated, has a degree in physics, and first entered politics as a student around the time when the Indo-Sri Lanka Agreement was signed in 1987: an event that would lead to one of Sri Lanka’s bloodiest periods.

From 1987 to 1989, the Janatha Vimukti Peramuna (JVP) – a Marxist political party with which Dissanayake would later become closely associated – spearheaded an armed revolt against the Sri Lankan government.

The insurrectionist campaign, spurred by discontent among the youth of the rural lower and middle classes, precipitated a conflict marked by raids, assassinations and attacks against both political opponents and civilians which claimed thousands of lives.

Dissanayake, who was elected to the JVP’s central committee in 1997 and became its leader in 2008, has since apologised for the group’s violence during this so-called “season of terror”.

“A lot of things happened during the armed conflict that should not have happened,” he said in a 2014 interview with the BBC.

“We are still shocked, and shocked that things happened at our hands that should not have happened. We are always deeply saddened and shocked about that.”

The JVP, which currently has just three seats in parliament, is part of the NPP coalition that Dissanayake now heads.

While campaigning for the presidential election, Dissanayake addressed another violent moment in Sri Lanka’s recent history: the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings.

On 21 April 2019, a succession of deadly blasts tore through churches and international hotels across the capital Colombo, killing at least 290 people and injuring hundreds more in what quickly became the worst attack in Sri Lanka’s history.

Five years later, however, investigations into how the co-ordinated attacks happened, and the security failures that led to them, have failed to provide answers.

Some have accused the former government, led by Gotabaya Rajapaksa, of obstructing investigations.

In a recent interview with BBC Sinhala, Dissanayake promised he would hold an investigation into the matter if elected – suggesting that authorities had avoided doing so because they were afraid of revealing “their own responsibility”.

It’s just one of many unfulfilled promises from Sri Lanka’s political elite, he added.

“It’s not just this investigation,” he said. “Politicians who promised to stop corruption have engaged in corruption; those who promised to create a debt-free Sri Lanka have only worsened the debt burden; people who promised to strengthen the law have broken it.

“This is exactly why the people of this country want different leadership. We are the ones who can provide it.”

Dissanayake was viewed as a strong contender in the lead-up to Saturday’s election, positioning himself as the candidate for change against a backdrop of simmering nationwide discontent.

Former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa was driven out of Sri Lanka in 2022 by mass protests sparked by the economic meltdown.

Years of under-taxation, weak exports and major policy errors, combined with the Covid-19 pandemic, dried up the country’s foreign exchange reserves. Public debt reached more than $83bn and inflation soared to 70%.

Rajapaksa and his government were blamed for the crisis. And though his successor, President Wickremesinghe, introduced economic reforms that brought down inflation and strengthened the Sri Lankan rupee, people continue to feel the pinch.

On a deeper level, the 2022 economic crisis and the circumstances surrounding it – including systemic corruption and political impunity – created demand for a different kind of political leadership. Dissanayake has leveraged that demand to his advantage.

He has cast himself as a potential disruptor to a status quo which critics say has long rewarded corruption and cronyism among the political elite.

Dissanayake has repeatedly said he plans to dissolve parliament after coming to power, in order to have a clean slate and a fresh mandate for his policies – suggesting in a recent interview with BBC Sinhala that he would do this within days of being elected.

“There is no point continuing with a parliament that is not in line with what the people want,” he said.

Among Dissanayake’s policy pledges are tough anti-corruption measures, bigger welfare schemes and a promise to slash taxes.

Tax hikes and welfare cuts were imposed by the current government as part of austerity measures aimed at steering the country’s economy back on track – but they also left many people unable to make ends meet.

Dissanayake’s promise to rein in those measures appears to have galvanised support among voters, in an election where analysts predicted economic concerns would be front of mind.

“The country’s soaring inflation, skyrocketing cost-of-living and poverty have left the electorate desperate for solutions to stabilise prices and improve livelihoods,” Soumya Bhowmick, an associate fellow at India-based think tank the Observer Research Foundation, told the BBC before the election.

“With the country seeking to emerge from its economic collapse, this election serves as a crucial moment for shaping Sri Lanka’s recovery trajectory and restoring both domestic and international confidence in its governance.”

Some onlookers, including investors and market participants, expressed concern that Dissanayake’s economic policies could have an impact on fiscal targets and disrupt Sri Lanka’s road to recovery.

The presidential candidate tempered his messaging during campaign speeches, however, insisting that he was committed to ensuring repayment of Sri Lanka’s debt.

He also noted that any changes would be imposed in consultation with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which has provided a buttress for the country’s still-embattled economy.

Many analysts think the next president’s main task is building a stable economy.

Athulasiri Samarakoon, senior lecturer in political science and international studies at the Open University of Sri Lanka, told the BBC that “the most serious challenge is how to restore this economy”, including managing public expenditure and increasing public revenue generation.

“Any future government will have to work with the International Monetary Fund,” he noted.

About 76% of Sri Lanka’s 17.1 million electorate turned out to vote in Saturday’s election, according to officials.

By mid-morning on Sunday, Dissanayake had already received messages of congratulations from supporters of his two main rivals, incumbent president Ranil Wickremesinghe and opposition leader Sajith Premadasa.

Foreign Minister Ali Sabry said on X that early results clearly pointed to a Dissanayake victory.

“Though I heavily campaigned for President Ranil Wickremesinghe, the people of Sri Lanka have made their decision, and I fully respect their mandate for Anura Kumara Dissanayake,” Sabry said.

MP Harsha de Silva, who supported Premadasa, said he had called Dissanayake to offer his congratulations.

“We campaigned hard for @sajithpremadasa but it was not to be. It is now clear @anuradisanayake will be the new President of #SriLanka,” said de Silva, who represents Colombo in parliament.

Another Premadasa supporter, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) spokesman MA Sumanthiran, said Dissanayake delivered an “impressive win” without relying on “racial or religious chauvinism”.

The Bird Photographer of the Year award has been announced, with Canadian photographer Patricia Homonylo scooping the top prize for her thought-provoking image titled When Worlds Collide.

The picture was taken in Toronto and beat more than 23,000 entries to claim the prize.

The photograph shows more than 4,000 birds that died colliding with windows and other reflective surfaces in the city.

“Each year more than one billion birds die in North America alone due to collisions with windows,” says Homonylo.

“I am a conservation photojournalist and have been working with the Fatal Light Awareness Program, where we save window-collision survivors in Toronto.

“Sadly, most of the birds we find are already dead.

“They are collected and at the end of the year we create this impactful display to honour the lives lost and increase public awareness.”

Homonylo’s entry was also among the winners selected for the Conservation (Single Image) category.

The Young Bird Photographer of the Year 2024 was awarded to 14-year-old Spanish photographer Andrés Luis Domínguez Blanco for his creative angle on a nuthatch scrambling down an oak tree.

Photographers competed in a eight of different categories in the adult competition, including a Conservation Award, Portfolio Award, and Video Award.

Here is a selection of the pictures that were awarded a gold, silver or bronze, with descriptions by the photographers.

“This Peregrine Falcon fledgling had been flying for over a week and his skills had improved by the day.

“While he still took food from parents, he had started to practise his hunting skills.

“He was not good enough to catch live birds in the air yet, so he took baby steps by chasing a fluttering butterfly.

“I have been photographing peregrines for years, and this was the first time I have seen fledglings play with butterflies.”

“For several weeks each year, Black Grouse gather at [the] leks on spring mornings for courtship and display.

“The males come down, each claiming their patch, and spend a couple of hours sizing each other up, charging at each other, engaging in mostly mock battles.

“Sometimes, however, the encounters escalate to real fights.

“The heated breath of a solitary fighter is steaming in the cold air, which I captured while sitting inside a small photography hide, revelling in the sounds and sights of this ancient play.”

“In the dead of winter, I marvel at the aerial ballet of the garden birds that come to visit my trees and to take advantage of the seeds that I put out for them.

“Discreetly hidden, I tried to immortalise their flight and its delicate trail using a flash and camera in ‘rear curtain’ mode.

“Hundreds of shots were required before I captured the perfect moment, which portrayed the fleeting magic of nature in winter.”

“Here we see a trio of northern gannets diving into the ocean on a sunny day in Shetland. .

“The species is Scotland’s largest seabird, and they are remarkably adept in the water, with the ability to dive to depths as far as 22 metres.

“I took this photo while scuba diving from a boat near Noss, which is home to the UK’s seventh largest colony of northern gannets.

“In the past the population has been estimated at around 25,000 birds, though their numbers were unfortunately severely reduced by the avian flu outbreak.

“It is unclear when, or if, their population will be able to recover. Dead herring from a local herring fishery were used to attract the birds to the boat.”

“This photograph shows a hoary-headed grebe as it disappears below the surface of the water to feed, pushing into the depths with its huge paddle-like feet.

“I took the image from a raised platform high above the wetland.

“With a little bit of imagination, the combination of bird and ripples look like the head of a hippo.”

“We were on a safari, and returning to camp in Sabi Sands, South Africa, on a dark March evening.

“We stopped, having picked up some unusual sounds, although unsure what they were.

“Then we heard chattering and fluttering high above us.

“When illuminated with the lamp on the vehicle, we saw these helmetshrikes huddling together against a night that was starting to turn colder.”

“Goosanders breed in the park about one kilometre from Poland’s life-giving River Vistula.

“Each mother has to move her brood to the river as quickly as possible due to lack of food and safety in the park.

“They make the journey through a series of underground passages and over a six-lane highway.

“Each year a group of volunteers help them cross this deadly road by stopping the traffic.

“This image shows a mother goosander crossing a smaller road because she decided not to use the scary and dark underground passage below it.”

“This poignant image captures the harsh reality in one of Bali’s bird markets.

“The pair of lovebirds face each other in separate cages, appearing to say their final farewells, not knowing if they will see each other again.

“Who knows what joys they would have experienced together in their lush native rainforests and whether they will ever experience that again.

“Their silent connection transcends physical barriers, emphasising the complex interaction between yearning for freedom and the urge to escape from captivity for human pleasure.”

“I took this photo on a beautiful beach on the Baltic Sea.

“There are a number of waders and other birds here, but also many visitors who enjoy the beautiful landscape.

“In this case there was also a dog who initially did not notice the grey plover. The grey plover, however, did notice the dog and flew away shortly after I took the photo.

“While I do not believe this incident greatly stressed the bird, it is crucial to acknowledge the potential impact of human activity and tourism on protected species and their habitats.”

“Lake Federsee is a famous wintering area for numerous migratory birds.

“From November to March, Eurasian bitterns are frequent visitors to this lake.

“As soon as the lake freezes over, these rare birds retreat to trenches through the reeds.

“Surprisingly, this individual was very close to the boardwalk that leads through the nature reserve.

“From there, I could easily watch its fishing campaign and take numerous photos.”

All photographs courtesy Bird Photographer of the Year

North Korea secured a record-equalling third victory in the Fifa Under-20 Women’s World Cup on Sunday, beating Japan 1-0 in Bogota.

They became the joint most successful side in the football tournament’s history, equalling powerhouse nations Germany and the United States.

Choe Il-son’s 15th minute winner capped a superb tournament for North Korea, who won every single game in Colombia.

The 17-year-old forward finished as the competition’s overall top scorer, winning the Golden Boot with six goals.

“It’s so hard to express ourselves right now – this has been a dream of so many of us for so long,” said North Korea’s captain, Chae Un-yong.

“The final match was tough, as we expected, and we had to remain calm and play according to the coach’s tactical instructions.”

North Korea stormed their way through the tournament, despatching the likes of Argentina, the Netherlands and Brazil en route to the semis.

A 1-0 victory over the United States set up an all-Asian final against Japan – who finished as runners-up in the previous tournament in 2022.

Choe’s goal – a slightly deflected left foot strike – was enough to secure a historic win for North Korea in the El Camin Stadium

She was named player of the match and won both the Golden Boot and the Golden Ball, the latter being awarded to the World Cup’s best overall player.

North Korea’s triumph is even more notable given the country withdrew from global sporting competition for several years due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Having not played a match since 2018, the North Korean Women’s U20 returned to the international stage in March this year to compete in the Asian Cup in Uzbekistan.

Despite the six-year-break, they won that tournament, beating Japan 2-1 to secure their second title.

“To firstly win the Asian Cup and now follow that with this success means that I’m so proud of the team,” said the team coach, Ri Song-ho, following their World Cup triumph.

“We have shown that we are very dangerous in the way that we build up attacks, it’s all about the speed of how we go forward.”

Unlike their male counterparts – who are ranked 111th in the world – North Korea’s women are a genuine force in world football.

The senior side is currently ninth in the Fifa world rankings, higher than countries such as France and Australia.

To date, they have won three Asian Cups, three Asian Games and three East Asian Championships.

North Koreans rarely get to see their national sides play at home, though.

The country’s limited transport connections with the outside world – as well as its poor diplomatic relations with many governments – mean that the vast majority of North Korea’s “home” matches are played at a neutral venue, often in China or the Middle East.

From finding an alligator in a car boot to being called out to an ostrich loose on the street in the middle of the night, the Scottish SPCA’s Mike Flynn MBE has seen it all.

After 37 years with the organisation, the chief superintendent retires on Monday as he turns 65. He was a zoo elephant keeper before joining the animal charity.

“Everyone always thinks the Scottish SPCA is all puppies and kittens, but it’s far from it,” he told BBC Scotland News of his varied animal encounters over the years.

As for his proudest work-related moment, he said that was the ban on the use of snares and glue traps being introduced earlier this year.

The alligator incident happened back in 2004 in Edinburgh, after the Scottish SPCA initially spotted an advert.

A man was trying to sell the 4ft (1.2m) reptile, after buying it over the internet. He had realised he could not care for it.

Posing as potential buyers, officers and plain-clothes police met him in a car park. The boot of the Vauxhall Cavalier was opened and they were confronted by the unrestrained and unmuzzled creature.

“He was keeping it in a bath on the fifth floor of a tenement in Leith,” Mr Flynn said.

“He advertised it. We got in touch pretending to be buyers and he turned up at a car park with this alligator in the back of the car. We caught him red-handed.

“So I ended up with my colleague getting the enviable task of taking this alligator to Torremolinos in Spain.

“It was transported in a purpose-built crate, it was flown from Edinburgh to London, then London to Madrid. It was then transported in the rear of a hire car by myself and a colleague from Madrid to Torremolinos.

“And he’s still there today – Jimmy the alligator from Leith in Edinburgh.”

Mr Flynn started with the Scottish SPCA back in 1987.

“Prior to that I worked seven years at Edinburgh Zoo as an elephant keeper,” he said. “So I’ve always enjoyed the animal background.

“I joined the society with the intention of being here until I dropped. But 65 is beckoning and I think that’s a fair enough stint – 37 years is long enough for anybody.

“Working with animals has always been a passion, but to be honest being an inspector isn’t always about working with animals. That’s a tiny part of it.

“Every animal you deal with, you’ve got to deal with a person. So for every animal we help, we’re helping a member of the public or other organisations. You’ve got to have an empathy with animals, but you’ve got to have a lot of people skills too.”

Mr Flynn still “vividly” remembers his first day at the animal charity.

“The chief inspector at the time, the first thing he did was take you into this old cupboard to give you second hand uniform,” he recalled.

“So first day on the street, I think I had a jacket that fitted somebody about six sizes bigger than me.

“In my day you had to carry about a pocket full of two pences if you had to phone back to the office – you had to find a phone box – to find out if there were any other jobs coming. Back in those days, trying to find a phone box in Edinburgh that worked was a bit of a miracle anyway.”

He described another memorable incident.

“We’ve had wild boar, ostriches – I remember getting a phone call one Sunday morning from someone I actually thought was drunk,” Mr Flynn said.

“He said that he had seen an ostrich on Leith Walk in Edinburgh, but he said it was limping.

“And lo and behold, I got there and the police are pointing at this ostrich which is walking down the street.

“It was a farmed ostrich which had fallen off the back of a lorry. The guy wasn’t that drunk after all.”

He spoke out about many high-profile criminal cases over the years, including what was believed to be Scotland’s biggest puppy farm, in the north east of Scotland.

More than 100 dogs, puppies, rabbits and ferrets were seized when Scottish SPCA officers and police raided the farm, near Fyvie, in November 2017.

In 2006 he was awarded an MBE in the Queen’s 80th birthday honours list for services to animal welfare in Scotland.

“That was fantastic,” he said. “It was surreal. It was a real privilege.

“It came totally out of the blue. I got the MBE, but that was for the work of the Scottish SPCA.

“Everyone in our organisation deserves that recognition.”

“Work-wise I think the biggest achievement – and it’s taken at least 15 years to get there – is getting snaring banned.

“That was first raised way back in 2010 and we’ve constantly been at that and it’s finally been passed by the Scottish Parliament that snaring of all forms will be banned.

“That’s been a personal passion of mine because I’ve pulled too many animals out of legal and illegal snares that have just suffered immensely.”

He added: “I’ve achieved all the things I wanted to achieve over the last 20 years that I was aiming for. And with the 65th birthday coming up, I thought well let’s go out on a high and enjoy what you’ve done.

“And honestly I’ve never had a bad day with the society. And that’s all down to the goodwill of the Scottish public because it’s all donations from the public and I just hope they will continue to support us because they do make a change.”

And as for the prospect of retired life?

“It will be strange,” he admitted. “I’ll be checking the phone isn’t broken because it won’t be ringing as much.

“I’m going to take it quietly. I’ve got a couple of projects I’m going to be helping other people with. I’ll still be on the Scottish government’s animal welfare commission.

“I’m not disappearing completely off the scene and I’ll still be in contact with my old colleagues.”

The lifelong animal lover added: “It will take a while to sink in. It’s been 37 glorious years. I can’t complain. I can honestly say that I haven’t had one bad day in all that time. I’ve loved it.”

A BBC investigation has exposed decades of serious sexual abuse allegations against Mohamed Al Fayed, the former owner of luxury department store Harrods.

The billionaire businessman, who died last year aged 94, is accused of multiple counts of rape and attempted rape by several women who worked for him – many of whom felt unable to report what had happened until recently.

At the time of many of the alleged attacks, Fayed was the owner of Harrods, the Ritz Paris hotel and football club Fulham FC.

He was a well-known public figure who had links to senior figures in Parliament and courted royalty and celebrities alike.

Here are some key dates spanning nearly 40 years where there were claims about his behaviour.

• Mohamed Al Fayed accused of multiple rapes by staff
• Timeline of sex abuse allegations
• How culture of fear at Harrods protected a predator
• Harrods investigating if current staff involved in Fayed allegations
• Watch on iPlayer: Al Fayed – Predator at Harrods

1985 – Mohamed Al Fayed buys Harrods department store in Knightsbridge, London, and becomes chairman.

1986 – “Alice”, who spoke in the 2024 BBC documentary, started working at Harrods when she was 16. She says she was sexually abused from 1987 and worked as a personal assistant to Fayed – a position she held until 1991.

1988-1991 – “He was vile,” says another one of the women, “Sophia”, who worked as his personal assistant during these years. She says he tried to rape her more than once.

1990s – “Rachel” – a woman who worked as a personal assistant for Fayed in the 90s – says in the same BBC documentary that the billionaire raped her in his luxury apartment overlooking Hyde Park in west London.

1994 – The “cash for questions” scandal erupts in Westminster. Fayed goes public and admits making payments to two Conservative MPs to ask questions in Parliament.

1994-1995 “Steve”, who worked for the billionaire during this time, tells the BBC in the 2024 documentary that security staff “did know that certain things were happening to certain female employees at Harrods and Park Lane”.

1995 – Vanity Fair publishes an article alleging racism, staff surveillance and sexual misconduct by Fayed against Harrods staff.

Fayed sues for libel, which sparks a two-year investigation from Vanity Fair editor Henry Porter. According to documents and statements compiled by Vanity Fair – that the BBC has seen – allegations of sexual harassment and assault were being made in relation to several women.

1997 – Fayed buys then third-division Fulham FC for a reported £30m.

In May, Fayed begins moves to drop his legal action against Vanity Fair, via negotiations between publisher Conde Nast UK and a Harrods executive, Michael Cole – an ex-BBC journalist.

Princess Diana and his son Dodi Al Fayed die in a car crash in Paris that August.

In a piece for the Observer on Sunday, Mr Porter says Conde Nast’s owner, Si Newhouse, agreed to close down the case “out of respect for the grieving father”.

Evidence on Fayed’s alleged activities collected by Vanity Fair is stored securely by Mr Porter, who has since allowed journalists – including the BBC documentary makers – access, he says in the Observer.

In December of that year, ITV’s The Big Story reported further serious allegations including sexual harassment and groping – which is classed as sexual assault.

Fayed issues angry statement saying claims were outrageous and untrue. He claims he did not contribute to the programme as he wasn’t able to hear allegations in advance.

1998 – Another former BBC journalist, biographer Tom Bower, publishes “Fayed: The Unauthorised Biography” with more women alleging sexual assault.

Fayed’s then official spokesperson, Michael Cole, calls it “a travesty of the truth”, saying: “We helped Tom, and then he betrayed all of that help”.

2008 – One of the women in the BBC investigation, “Ellie”, not her real name, was 15 in 2008 when she reported an assault to the police – an allegation that made headlines but did not result in any charge.

2009 – In the 2024 BBC documentary, Gemma, who worked as one of Fayed’s personal assistants between 2007-09, said his behaviour became more frightening during work trips abroad. She said that his attacks culminated in her rape at Villa Windsor in Paris’s Bois de Boulogne.

2010 – Mohamed Al Fayed sells Harrods for a reported £1.5bn to the Qatar Investment Authority. A Channel 4 Dispatches programme in which a number of women were going to make allegations was cancelled.

2013 – July: Fayed sells Fulham FC to Shahid Khan, owner of NFL side Jacksonville Jaguars in a deal said to be in the region of £150-£200m.

A woman in her twenties alleges Fayed raped her. Police investigate but no charges are brought against him.

2015 – The Mirror publishes an article about the 2013 allegations. The Met Police confirms it looked again at the case after new information came to light, but again no charges are brought.

2017 – A Channel 4 Dispatches is broadcast with three women alleging groping, assault, and sexual harassment. One woman waives her right to anonymity for the first time.

2018 – Channel 4 News follows up the Dispatches film after more women come forward, including an employee who was 15 at the time. Fayed’s lawyers dismiss the claims relating to the child as “false”, and say he was unable to comment on the other allegations.

2018-2023 – Police investigate claims by three other women during this period. The Crown Prosecution Service were called in to advise detectives but a full file of evidence was never passed on to prosecutors, as first reported by the Sunday Times in September 2024.

2023 – In July, Harrods begins settling claims with women who came forward alleging sexual assault by Fayed.

Mohamed Al Fayed dies in London aged 94 in August 2023.

2024 – The BBC Documentary “Al Fayed: Predator at Harrods” aired in September with a number of women alleging sexual abuse at the hands of Fayed.

The BBC heard testimony from more than 20 women with allegations ranging from sexual assault to rape. Five said they were raped.

Harrods has already reached financial settlements with the majority of people who have approached them since 2023, and has had new inquiries this week.

Harrods is accepting vicarious liability for the actions of Fayed, and there are no non-disclosure agreements attached to the settlements.

Harrods’ current owners said earlier this week they were “utterly appalled by the allegations of abuse perpetrated by Mohamed Al Fayed”.

“These were the actions of an individual who was intent on abusing his power wherever he operated and we condemn them in the strongest terms,” they said in a response to the BBC investigation.

“We also acknowledge that during this time his victims were failed and for this we sincerely apologise. We are doing everything we can to fix this.”

At a press conference on 20 September, lawyer Gloria Allred said the “ugly truth” was that under Mr Al Fayed’s chairmanship, Harrods was “a toxic, unsafe and abusive environment”.

She added: “The allegations against Mohamed Al Fayed include serial rape, attempted rape, sexual battery and sexual abuse of minors.

“The allegations involve cover-ups, threats and a quarter century of sexual abuse by Mohamed Al Fayed after he purchased Harrods and became its chairman.”

Al Fayed: Predator at Harrods

A BBC investigation into allegations of rape and attempted rape by Mohamed Al Fayed, the former owner of Harrods. Did the luxury store protect a billionaire predator?

Watch Al Fayed: Predator at Harrods on BBC iPlayer now

Listen to World of Secrets, Season 4: Al Fayed, Predator at Harrods on BBC Sounds. If you’re outside the UK, you can listen wherever you get your podcasts, external.

In Latino exile communities across the country, a question is being asked: is Kamala Harris really a communist?

The vice-president has been the subject of numerous misleading claims that she is a socialist or communist since becoming the Democratic candidate for president, according to the US’s largest Spanish-language fact-checker Factchequeado.

Experts say these claims capitalise on genuine fears held by some voters who fled repression in countries like Cuba and Venezuela.

In one viral video, Kamala Harris and her running mate Tim Walz appear to pose for a selfie in front of a sign for Revolutionary Communists of America, a far-left group.

The video is fake. The background was doctored by a group of Donald Trump’s supporters known as the Dilley Meme Team.

Their original post had more than 420,000 views, but it was shared by many Spanish accounts – and repeated offline.

“It’s everywhere, this doubt: ‘Is this person a communist?’” Evelyn Pérez-Verdía, a cultural context strategist from south Florida, told the BBC.

She was listening to the Spanish-language radio station La Nueva Poderosa in Miami when she heard the hosts discussing the false meme.

“Did you see them standing in front of that picture? They have no shame in who they are,” the hosts said.

She contacted the station to express concern. The hosts later said on air that they wanted to clarify the story was “not true” but that “doesn’t take away from the reality that Kamala is a Marxist”.

There are nearly 36.2 million eligible Latino voters in America, about 14.7% of the US electorate, and many live in key swing states like Nevada and Arizona, which makes them a coveted demographic for both campaigns.

They are by no means a homogeneous voting demographic, but historically, Latinos have tended to favour the Democrats. In 2020, 44% voted for Joe Biden, with only 16% voting for Trump. But polls suggest Republicans have gained ground this election cycle, with many factors cited including the economy, immigration, and abortion rights.

And for some immigrants, concerns about America today reflect their past experiences in their home countries.

Political messages warning about “socialism” or “communism” have been particularly prevalent in communities with large Cuban and Venezuelan populations, like in south Florida, experts noted.

These expats are especially vulnerable to misinformation about communism because of the trauma they experienced fleeing repression, said Samantha Barrios, a Venezuelan-American based in Miami, Florida, who votes Democrat.

She accused right-leaning Spanish media of using these terms to “scare Venezuelans, Cubans, Nicaraguans” because of “the main reason that we left our countries, trying to leave these regimes”.

For some, their criticism of the Democrats is grounded in opinions that the US government has not provided a tough enough response to political repression in Cuba or Venezuela.

But Ms Barrio is wary of the way these legitimate concerns are being weaponised through false claims that Kamala Harris herself is a communist.

Ms Pérez-Verdía agrees, but she also criticised the Democrat campaign for not doing enough to address their concerns.

“Don’t laugh off people’s fears. It’s really disrespectful. People have genuine fears, they came to the United States, they left everything behind. If they have doubts you should address their doubts.”

Not all claims exclusively target Latinos, said the Digital Democracy Institute of the Americas (DDIA), which monitors more than 1,300 WhatsApp groups and more than 200 Telegram channels in Spanish and Portuguese.

And notable right-wing and pro-Trump actors and influencers have pushed a “fear of socialism” since 2020, the organisation found.

But while Joe Biden was accused of being a communist when he ran for president, Factchequeado’s founder, Laura Zommer, said their fact checkers had “never” seen this volume of AI and doctored images before.

Some of this misinformation has been spread by Trump himself, or his high-profile supporters.

Elon Musk, who has endorsed Trump, posted a faked image of Kamala Harris in a red uniform emblazoned with the communist hammer and sickle, captioned “Kamala vows to be a communist dictator on day one. Can you believe she wears that outfit!?”

It had more than 83.9 million views. A reverse image search suggests this was the earliest posting of the image on X.

• Trump makes pitch to black and Latino voters in New York
• Major labour union declines to endorse Harris or Trump
• The political brawl brewing on Florida’s airwaves

Donald Trump shared an AI image of Harris addressing a communist crowd that had at least 81.5 million views on X, but it was not the first posting of this image.

Posts linking Harris to communism really took off online after the presidential debate, according a report by the DDIA prepared for the BBC.

During the debate, Donald Trump called Kamala Harris and her father a “Marxist” and suggested she would turn the US into “Venezuela on steroids” through her immigration policies.

After the debate, “Marxista” trended on social media and searches for “Marxist” on Google in the US jumped 1000% in 17 hours.

Factchequeado said the most searched question in Spanish after the debate was: “Who is Kamala Harris’s father?”

The DDIA said two claims especially gained traction in the week after the presidential debate. In one, a fabricated document falsely claiming Kamala Harris is a member of the Russian communist party went viral, according to Meta’s own metrics. Another claim, that Harris is “Kamarada [Comrade] Kamala”, arose from a Trump speech in which he portrays her as a “communist comrade”.

BBC Verify traced the membership card image to a website which allows people to make fake communist party documents.

The membership number, stamp and other details on the card were identical to a template on the site for making a party membership card.

Posts sharing the fake image, which was first shared in August, have been viewed more than half a million times.

The Democratic Party is not a socialist party, nor does it claim to support communist regimes. But some high-profile members like Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have described their political views as “democratic socialist”.

When she was a California senator, Harris co-sponsored Sanders’ Medicare for All bill, which would have brought a single-payer health care system to the US. She has since said she no longer supports a single-payer health-care system, which would have abolished private insurers.

She has never advocated for communist policies, such as the abolition or seizure of private property.

Kamala Harris’s plan to crackdown on “price gouging” at supermarkets has been cited in Spanish social media posts as “communist”. Mr Musk claimed it would mean “empty shelves, just like in Venezuela”.

Her proposal, which would involve asking the trade commission to investigate price spikes far above the increase in the cost of production, is a far cry from the widespread price controls seen in Cuba and Venezuela that were in part blamed for severe food shortages.

But for some voters who fled those countries, their fear lies in anything they feel remotely resembles policies from the countries they came from.

Duke Machado, who runs a Latino Republican Facebook page from Texas called Latino Strikeforce, said he fears that if the Democrats win, the country would be on a slippery slope to communism.

“If we’re not careful, we’ll slide into Cuba and Venezuela. Their ultimate goal is to destroy capitalism.”

When asked if it was responsible to share fears that the Democrats could turn the US into a communist country with his followers, including Latino exiles who had fled repression, he said: “It’s not irresponsible at all. I see it as a duty.”

• 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?
• POLICIES: What Harris or Trump would do in power
• 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.

The last time Oasis played Wembley Stadium, in 2009, a standing ticket cost exactly £44.04.

For their return next summer, the same ticket was priced at £150. Vastly more than the old ticket price which, when adjusted for inflation, would cost £68.

Not only that, but some fans were charged hundreds of pounds more than the face value, after so-called “dynamic pricing” boosted the cost in response to high demand.

But Oasis aren’t alone. If you’ve logged onto Ticketmaster over the last couple of years, you’ll know the cost of live music has soared.

Ticket prices shot up by 23% last year, having already risen 19% since the pandemic. Going to a gig can cost the same amount as taking a holiday, and prices are only rising.

At the most extreme end of the scale, Madonna charged £1,306.75 for VIP passes to her Celebration tour; and Beyoncé offered fans the chance to sit on the stage of her Renaissance concerts for the bargain price of £2,400.

Overall, the average ticket price for the top 100 tours around the world was £101 last year, up from £82 in 2022, according to Pollstar, a trade publication that tracks the concert industry.

In the UK, 51% of people say high prices have stopped them going to gigs at least once in the last five years. Among 16 to 34-year-olds, two-thirds of concert-goers say they’ve reduced the number of shows they attend. But despite this, tours with high-priced tickets keep selling out – but only for the biggest-name artists.

Abbi Glover, 33, from New Holland, Lincolnshire, said the cost of tickets “creates a divide” between those who can afford them and those who are “priced out”.

“I work hard and earn a decent wage. What do I have to do to be able to just enjoy these things when I’m doing everything I possibly can?”

UK prices are still below those in the US but, as ticketing expert Reg Walker told the BBC, “what happens there happens here five to 10 years later”.

So why have costs skyrocketed?

If your first thought was “greed”, well, that’s definitely part of it.

“It’s not speculation to think that some artists want to make as much money as they can,” says Gideon Gottfried, Pollstar’s European editor.

One musician who’s been bullish about the price hikes is Bruce Springsteen.

Fans were alarmed when some seats for his 2023 US tour were priced as high as $5,000 (£3,874), thanks to Ticketmaster’s dynamic pricing.

Speaking to Rolling Stone, Springsteen argued that most of the tickets were in an “affordable range”, but he was fed up with touts making money off his back, so he chose to match their prices.

“I’m going, ‘Hey, why shouldn’t that money go to the guys that are going to be up there sweating three hours a night for it?’” he said.

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Kiss star Gene Simmons also defended the system.

“Whatever the pricing is, it’s all academic,” he told Forbes. “Somebody sits in a room and tries to figure out how far the rubber band can stretch. And if you’re not selling tickets, guess what happens? The price goes down. Capitalism!

“Vote with [your] money,” he concluded. “You don’t like the ticket pricing? Don’t buy a ticket.”

Springsteen and Simmons are in good company. Other artists who’ve embraced dynamic pricing include Coldplay, Harry Styles, Olivia Rodrigo and Taylor Swift (although she ditched it for the Eras tour after significant fan backlash).

Following the Oasis debacle, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer vowed to get a “grip” on the situation and “make sure that tickets are available at a price that people can actually afford”.

But it might not be so simple…

Aside from the lure of a big payday, there are many reasons why artists are charging more.

Some are trying to combat the impact of streaming – the majority of musicians make just 5% of their income from streaming, a sharp decline from the years when vinyl and CD were king.

Others are worried about their longevity, in an era when entire careers can be measured in the span of a TikTok trend.

“Nobody really knows what the heck is going on, and how the economy will develop and what the next crisis is going to be,” says Gottfried, “so some artists are trying to milk the cow as much as possible, while it’s still possible.”

Not everyone thinks that way. Punk-pop star Yungblud organised his own festival in Milton Keynes this August, setting prices at a market-beating £49.50.

He was compelled to take action after noticing unsold seats on his US arena tour last year.

“Five hundred seats would be completely empty because they were $200 a ticket,” he told Music Week. “I’d have 1,000 kids outside the venue who couldn’t afford to come in and I was like, ‘Something’s got to change here.’”

But the festival didn’t go completely to plan. Heightened security after a stabbing in Milton Keynes the previous weekend led to delays of up to three hours for fans waiting to get into the venue. As temperatures soared above 30 degrees Celsius, some passed out in the queue. Others gave up and went home.

Higher-priced tickets could have paid for extra security staff and eased those pressures – illustrating the delicate balance that has to be struck when setting prices.

Still, Yungblud isn’t the only one trying to get a fair deal for concert-goers.

Paul Heaton capped prices for his upcoming tour at £35. Pop star Caity Baser set her 2023 concerts at just £11 – or “two meal deals”, as she put it – to help cash-strapped fans.

But these artists don’t require big productions full of pyrotechnics and jumbotron video screens.

For acts who do, the cost of touring has spiralled since the pandemic. Here are just a few examples:

• Transport Whether you’re in a minivan or a private jet, it costs more to travel these days. Fuel prices have risen by 20% since 2019 and a shortage of drivers post-Brexit means experienced crew can charge a premium.

• Freight costs A tour isn’t just about moving bodies – for big arena and stadium shows, the stage also has to be transported. According to the pop star Lorde, the cost of shipping her stage around the world increased by up to 300% after Covid. And logistics company Freightwaves says the cost of insuring one truck can be as high as $5m (£3.8m). For context, Taylor Swift’s Eras tour requires up to 50 trucks.

• Catering We’ve all seen our food bills increase, and touring artists are no exception. When you have hundreds of mouths to feed, the costs add up.

• Stage equipment From sound systems to lighting rigs, rental costs for tour gear have risen by 15-20%. And with more tours on the road, equipment is overbooked – which can push prices even higher.

• Accommodation Hotels and accommodation are a major cost. Beyoncé’s Renaissance Tour, for example, had more than 300 people on the road at any one time. With hotel prices doubling in the last five years, this adds another strain on tour finances.

“We’ve seen projects where the cost of overheads have increased by up to 35 to 40%,” says Stuart Galbraith, CEO of concert promoters Kilimanjaro Live, “and the only form of income that comes in to cover all of that is ticket money”.

Even when prices go up, the profit margins are minimal, according to Stephan Thanscheidt, CEO of FKP Scorpio, which organises more than 20 European festivals, as well as tours by Ed Sheeran, the Rolling Stones and Foo Fighters.

“The costs associated with our productions have doubled or tripled [but] we cannot and will not compensate for this by tripling the ticket prices,” he told Pollstar last year.

That means the artist’s share of the box office – roughly 56% of the money you pay – increasingly goes towards production costs, not profits.

The squeeze is particularly tight on UK festival organisers, which have also been hit by a ban on “red diesel”, a fuel tinted with red dye, which they previously used to power the generators and heavy vehicles needed to construct festival sites.

The move is part of the UK’s commitment to reduce greenhouse gases, and meant some organisers suddenly had to pay a higher rate of fuel duty from April 2022 – a big increase of 46 pence per litre.

Since then, the average cost of a UK festival ticket has shot up by 22%. Combined with other rising costs, more than 50 festivals went on hiatus or closed completely this summer.

Small venues are under pressure, too. Their prices might average between £7 and £10, but they’re struggling to sell shows – partly because fans have already spent their money on stadium tickets that cost the same as a games console.

Toni Coe-Brooker from the Music Venues Trust said this is down to “a culture in which people think that grassroots gigs should be free”.

In the past, that didn’t matter because owners made plenty of money behind the bar. But Gen Z are increasingly turning their backs on alcohol. One study says 26% of 16-to-25-year-olds are teetotal, and that leaves yet another hole in venues’ finances.

Combined with other pressures including higher rent and electricity bills, 125 music venues closed or stopped hosting live music in 2023.

In those that remain, costs are so tight that “a lot of venue operators aren’t even paying themselves, which is really worrying,” says Coe-Brooker.

The Music Venue Trust wants bigger concert halls to donate £1 from each ticket sold to the grassroots scene and the next generation of artists.

That wouldn’t necessarily push prices up again – the trust says the £1 fee would be factored into existing costs – but here’s the fascinating thing: If the artist is the right one, fans will pay regardless.

Live Nation is the world’s biggest concert promoter and it shifted a record 118 million tickets in the first six months of 2024.

According to its latest earnings report, sales for arenas, amphitheatres, theatre and club shows are all up double digits.

“People’s enthusiasm to go out has not been as curbed as we expected in the current economy,” says Gottfried.

“VIP ticket sales have definitely picked up. Every single promoter I’ve spoken to across the individual European markets, has seen an uptake in almost every case. And £1,000 for a VIP package is not at all unheard of.”

However, the same rules don’t apply to everyone.

The biggest names might get away with charging hundreds of pounds per show, but “the weaker tours are coming under more pressure,” says Galbraith.

In other words, with an ongoing squeeze on their disposable incomes, fans are cutting back on experiences that don’t seem unique or essential.

“We’re competing in a marketplace that isn’t just gig to gig,” says Galbraith. “It’s also, are we value for money versus a restaurant? Are we value for money versus a mini break? So every tour has to be as cost effective as they possibly can.”

There are some signs that we’ve reached a peak. Jennifer Lopez and the Black Keys both scrapped recent US arena tours, after fans baulked at average prices of around $150 (£116). And the most expensive tickets for Billie Eilish’s 2025 UK tour (£398, of which £151 goes to local charities) are still available, months after going on sale.

It’s hard to say whether this will change. But Leah Rafferty, 27, from Sheffield, is an example of a fan who will pay whatever is asked. She lives with her parents, which allows her to spend her disposable income on concerts – something she says she feels “extremely lucky” to do.

A devoted Swiftie, she has seen The Eras Tour six times: Once in Edinburgh, twice in Liverpool and three times in London, at a cost of £1,192.57.

“As long as it doesn’t bankrupt me, I’m happy to spend whatever it costs.”

That’s exactly what promoters are relying on, says Gottfried.

“One of the reasons you haven’t seen notable dips [in sales], despite people struggling economically, is that seeing their favourite artist means so much to them that they make irrational decisions.

“Any market will be distorted by people making irrational decisions. It might be a beautiful decision for them but it’s also an irrational one, because their emotions and their fandom will make them pay outrageous money.”

A retired Indian high court judge will investigate allegations that a woman was physically and sexually assaulted by a group of police inside a police station in the eastern state of Odisha, the authorities say.

After the allegations, levelled last week by the 32-year-old woman and her fiancé – an army officer – led to a huge outcry, four police officials, including three women, were suspended. A fifth policeman was transferred. The action came after the state’s crime branch opened an inquiry into the case.

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A video of the woman, a law graduate who runs a restaurant in the state capital Bhubaneswar, detailing her alleged abuse by police early on the morning of 15 September has been shared many times on social media.

The footage makes for a difficult watch.

In a wheelchair, with a collar around her neck and one arm in a sling, the woman repeatedly breaks down while narrating to journalists what she says happened to her.

She said she had gone to Bharatpur police station with her fiance after closing her restaurant at around 01:00 because they had been harassed by a group of men on the road.

They asked police to send a patrol car quickly to intercept the men who couldn’t have gone far, she said.

“The police refused to take down our complaint, instead they abused us. When I told them that I was a law graduate and knew my rights, they got even more angry.”

The situation escalated after the police put her fiance in the lockup, she alleged.

“When I objected, two female officials started pulling my hair and beating me. I kept pleading with them to stop. But they dragged me through the corridor and one of them tried to strangle me. When I fought back, they tied my hands and legs and locked me up in a room,” she said, sobbing.

“One male officer came in and took off my bra and started kicking me in my breasts. At around 06:00, the officer in charge of the police station came into the room. He pulled my pants down. Then he lowered his pants and threatened to rape me multiple times unless I stopped screaming for help,” she alleged.

Reports in the Indian media last week quoted police as saying the army officer and his fiancee had arrived at the station drunk and the woman had been aggressive. They alleged that she had slapped a policewoman and bitten another officer.

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She was arrested and a magistrate placed her in custody.

But three days after the alleged assault, the high court freed the woman on bail and criticised the police and the lower court that jailed her.

“On careful examination of the record, it appears that the allegations are very serious in nature… They are anathema to the very concept of a democratic and orderly society,” Justice Aditya Kumar Mohapatra said, adding that the “police had failed to follow the procedure laid down in law while arresting her”.

“Drastic action has been taken against the erring police officers… and appropriate action shall be taken against those found guilty,” the judge’s order said.

The magistrate had also “failed to apply their judicial mind” in denying the woman bail, Justice Mohapatra added.

Since then, many in India have taken to social media to express their anger at alleged police brutality. A large number of former and serving army officials have shared the viral video of the woman and pledged support to her fight since her father is a retired army brigadier.

The Indian army has also written a letter to the chief justice of the high court in Odisha saying that a “serving officer had been kept in custody for nearly 14 hours without any charge” and because of “the grave incident… his prestige was demeaned”.

“The modesty and dignity of his fiancee, who also happens to be the daughter of a retired brigadier, was grossly outraged by the police authorities,” the letter adds.

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Her father, who told the BBC that he had spent hours frantically trying to locate his daughter that night, said the police had not even informed him or his family about the allegations against his daughter.

“Some army officers informed me that my daughter had been arrested and sent to jail. I was allowed to meet her only the next afternoon,” he said. “I hope we will get justice.”

The state government said it “respects the Indian army” and is “concerned about the dignity, safety and rights of women”. It has nominated retired Justice Chitta Ranjan Dash to hold an inquiry and submit a report within 60 days.

The woman’s allegations are being investigated and her statement has been recorded, crime branch official Narendra Behera told the media. The seven men accused of harassing the couple were arrested by police and released on bail.

On social media some have commented on the woman’s clothing while others have questioned “the character of a woman who argues with men and drinks alcohol”.

Namrata Chadha, lawyer and women’s rights activist who met the woman in hospital, told the BBC that it is “heart-breaking to see this kind of victim shaming”.

“She has an injured shoulder, a cut on her face and swelling around her eye. She is very traumatised. While talking to me, her eyes welled up several times. I told her, ‘You’ll have to be courageous and face it all.’ She said she will fight to the end.”

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Ms Chadha says the police have to follow a standard operating procedure when a woman lodges a complaint.

“It’s their duty to hear her patiently. They are trained to deal with a woman if she is aggressive or agitated. They have to offer her a glass of water, calm her down. But from what she has alleged, it appears that basic rules were not followed.

“Also, how come there were no CCTVs when the Indian Supreme Court mandates it for every police station?” she asks. The police station in question opened only four months ago and is supposed to be a role model for other stations in the area.

Ms Chadha says the case has received a lot of attention because the woman is from a privileged background.

“But no-one know what goes on in this – and other – police stations when ordinary women go to seek help.

“We tell our daughters that if you are in trouble, go to the nearest police station. We tell them it’s the second safest place – after their home. What do we tell them now? Where will a woman go now?”

Australia’s consumer watchdog is suing the country’s two biggest supermarket chains, alleging they falsely claimed to have permanently dropped the prices of hundreds of items.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) claims Coles and Woolworths broke consumer law by temporarily raising prices before lowering them to a value either the same as or higher than the original cost.

Coles said it would defend itself against the allegations, while Woolworths said it would review the claims.

The grocery giants, which account for two thirds of the Australian market, have come under increasing scrutiny in the past year over alleged price gouging and anti-competitive practices.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the alleged conduct, if proven to be true, is “completely unacceptable”.

“This is not in the Australian spirit. Customers don’t deserve to be treated as fools,” he said at a press conference, at which he also revealed draft legislation for a previously promised “code of conduct” for supermarkets.

ACCC chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb said Coles and Woolworths have spent years marketing their ‘Prices Dropped’ and ‘Down Down’ promotions, which Australian shoppers now understand to represent a sustained reduction in the regular prices of products.

But in many cases “the discounts were, in fact, illusory”, she added.

The watchdog’s investigation – sparked by complaints and the ACCC’s own monitoring – found Woolworths had misled customers about 266 products over 20 months, and Coles for 245 products across 15 months.

The products included everything from pet food, Band-Aid plasters and mouthwash, to Australian favourites like Arnott’s Tim Tam biscuits, Bega Cheese and Kellogg’s cereal.

The ACCC estimated that the two companies “sold tens of millions” of the affected products and “derived significant revenue from those sales”.

“Many consumers rely on discounts to help their grocery budgets stretch further, particularly during this time of cost of living pressures,” Ms Cass-Gottlieb said.

“It is critical that Australian consumers are able to rely on the accuracy of pricing and discount claims.”

The ACCC is seeking that the Federal Court of Australia impose “significant” penalties on the two firms, and an order forcing them to increase their charitable meal delivery programs.

In a statement, Coles said the company’s own costs were rising which led to an increase in product prices.

It had “sought to strike an appropriate balance” between managing that and “offering value to customers” by restarting promotions “as soon as possible” after new prices were set, it said.

The company takes consumer law “extremely seriously” and “places great emphasis on building trust with all stakeholders”, it added.

Woolworths said in a statement that it would engage with the ACCC over the claims.

“Our customers are telling us they want us to work even harder to deliver meaningful value to them and it’s important they can trust the value they see when shopping our stores.”

Amid growing scrutiny of the supermarkets, the government commissioned a review of the country’s existing Food and Grocery Code of Conduct.

The review recommended a stronger, mandatory code of conduct be introduced and policed by the ACCC, so they can protect suppliers as well as consumers.

The new code will set out standards for the companies’ dealings with providers, who say they are being unfairly squeezed, and introduce massive fines for breaches.

At least 30 decomposing bodies have been found on a boat off the coast of Senegal, military authorities say.

The navy was informed of a vessel that was adrift about 70km (45 miles) from the capital Dakar, according to a military statement on X. They brought the wooden canoe, or pirogue, into port on Monday morning.

“Recovery, identification and transfer operations are being made extremely delicate by the advanced state of decomposition of the bodies,” the statement said.

There has been a recent increase in migrants setting off from Senegal for Spain’s Canary Islands – a journey of more than 1,500km (950 miles) across the Atlantic Ocean.

Given how decomposed the bodies were, the migrants were probably adrift on the Atlantic Ocean for many days before fishermen found them.

Investigations are underway to determine when and where the boat departed, and how many people were on board, the army said.

In August, at least 14 decomposing bodies, believed to have been Senegalese migrants, were found off the coast of the Dominican Republic by a local fisherman.

Senegal’s government announced a 10-year plan in August to tackle illegal migration amid a surge in migrant-related deaths.

The authorities have intercepted hundreds of migrants on boats off the country’s coast in recent weeks.

Despite frequent tragedies, unemployment, conflict and poverty drive young men to risk the route from West Africa to Spain’s Canary Islands.

Some Senegalese fishermen say they can’t survive by fishing any longer because of the presence of foreign trawlers off the coast, so they turn to either migration, or offering their boats to be used by people smugglers.

Young West African migrants have been increasingly using the Canary Islands route to reach Europe because it involves a single, albeit dangerous, journey rather than needing to cross both the Sahara Desert and the Mediterranean Sea.

Frontex, the European border agency, reported that in 2023 the Atlantic route saw a 161% increase compared to the previous year.

The UN says about 40,000 migrants made it to the Canary Islands last year.

Nearly 1,000 are known to have died or disappeared on the way. Although the real number is likely to be far higher.

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The boss of the clothing chain Superdry says its rival Shein is being allowed to “dodge tax”, and is urging the government to take action.

Julian Dunkerton told the BBC the fast fashion giant was enjoying an unfair advantage because import duties are not charged on the low-value parcels it sends direct to customers from overseas.

Shein declined to comment, but has previously said that its success was due to its “efficient supply chain”, not tax exemptions.

The Treasury said tax policies had to balance the interests of consumers and retailers.

However, Mr Dunkerton said it would be in the UK’s interests to get rid of this tax “loophole”.

“The rules weren’t made for a company sending individual parcels [and] having a billion-pound turnover in the UK without paying any tax,” said Mr Dunkerton, founder and chief executive of Superdry.

“We’re allowing somebody to come in and be a tax avoider, essentially.”

Shipments worth less than £135 that are sent directly to UK shoppers do not face import duties, but firms bringing in larger consignments do.

Before the arrival of a globalised online marketplace the exemption had limited impact, but retailers in the US and EU are now increasingly being undercut by low-cost Chinese rivals, and state treasuries are missing out on potential tax take.

Mr Dunkerton also described Shein as a “complete environmental disaster”.

“Personally, I would force them into paying import duty, VAT and possibly even an environmental tax,” he told the Today Programme on Radio 4.

Shein has previously said it complies fully with all its UK tax liabilities.

The company, which was founded in China but has relocated to Singapore, has been laying the groundwork for a potential sale of shares on the stock market, prompting closer scrutiny of its practices.

The BBC understands that the firm filed initial documents for a London listing earlier this year, after a potential New York listing came under fire from both Republican and Democrat politicians.

US lawmakers were concerned over the company’s “deep ties to the People’s Republic of China”. It has also been accused of using forced labour in parts of its supply chains, which it denies. It told the BBC it has a “zero tolerance for forced labour”.

Shein says its “test and repeat” approach, producing items in small batches and then reordering according to customer demand, means there is less waste, compared to traditional retailers.

But it has been criticised for encouraging shoppers to buy items to wear once and discard, through its low prices and “gamified” social media strategy.

The US and the EU are already looking at whether to tighten tax policies to bring Shein and other direct-to-consumer businesses, like Chinese retailer Temu, into the net.

Shein has previously argued its success was not down to tax exemptions but was due to providing customers with affordable fashion.

An HM Treasury spokesperson said: “Our customs and tax regime balances reducing burdens for businesses and consumers buying lower-value goods from overseas with the interests of UK businesses.”

VAT – value added tax – was charged at the same rate on all goods irrespective of their origin or value, they added.

Mr Dunkerton founded Superdry more than 20 years ago.

Its distinctive Japanese-style t-shirts were once worn by Hollywood actors and sports stars and, at the peak of its value in 2018, the company was worth £1.8bn.

But Superdry’s popularity has declined, and in July it de-listed from the London Stock Exchange after nearly 15 years.

Its shares now trade on an alternative exchange and the company is valued at less than £10m. Mr Dunkerton says he is still working to turn the firm’s fortunes around, and he confirmed he would try again to take the company private.

North Korea secured a record-equalling third victory in the Fifa Under-20 Women’s World Cup on Sunday, beating Japan 1-0 in Bogota.

They became the joint most successful side in the football tournament’s history, equalling powerhouse nations Germany and the United States.

Choe Il-son’s 15th minute winner capped a superb tournament for North Korea, who won every single game in Colombia.

The 17-year-old forward finished as the competition’s overall top scorer, winning the Golden Boot with six goals.

“It’s so hard to express ourselves right now – this has been a dream of so many of us for so long,” said North Korea’s captain, Chae Un-yong.

“The final match was tough, as we expected, and we had to remain calm and play according to the coach’s tactical instructions.”

North Korea stormed their way through the tournament, despatching the likes of Argentina, the Netherlands and Brazil en route to the semis.

A 1-0 victory over the United States set up an all-Asian final against Japan – who finished as runners-up in the previous tournament in 2022.

Choe’s goal – a slightly deflected left foot strike – was enough to secure a historic win for North Korea in the El Camin Stadium

She was named player of the match and won both the Golden Boot and the Golden Ball, the latter being awarded to the World Cup’s best overall player.

North Korea’s triumph is even more notable given the country withdrew from global sporting competition for several years due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Having not played a match since 2018, the North Korean Women’s U20 returned to the international stage in March this year to compete in the Asian Cup in Uzbekistan.

Despite the six-year-break, they won that tournament, beating Japan 2-1 to secure their second title.

“To firstly win the Asian Cup and now follow that with this success means that I’m so proud of the team,” said the team coach, Ri Song-ho, following their World Cup triumph.

“We have shown that we are very dangerous in the way that we build up attacks, it’s all about the speed of how we go forward.”

Unlike their male counterparts – who are ranked 111th in the world – North Korea’s women are a genuine force in world football.

The senior side is currently ninth in the Fifa world rankings, higher than countries such as France and Australia.

To date, they have won three Asian Cups, three Asian Games and three East Asian Championships.

North Koreans rarely get to see their national sides play at home, though.

The country’s limited transport connections with the outside world – as well as its poor diplomatic relations with many governments – mean that the vast majority of North Korea’s “home” matches are played at a neutral venue, often in China or the Middle East.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is set to present a “plan for victory” in the country’s war with Russia to President Joe Biden during this week’s visit to the US.

Zelensky also intends to present the plan to Congress and the two candidates in the US presidential election: Democrat Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump.

He is expected to ramp up efforts to persuade the US and its allies to allow Ukraine to fire the missiles they supplied deep into Russian territory for the first time in the war.

Zelensky’s visit to the US coincides with efforts from the White House to prepare a new $375m (£283m) military aid package for Ukraine.

This autumn would “determine the future of this war,” Zelensky wrote in a post on X.

In a statement ahead of the visit, the Ukrainian leader previewed three elements to his plan: further weapons donations, diplomatic efforts to force Russia to agree to peace, and holding Moscow accountable for its full-scale invasion in 2022.

Ukraine has been pleading for months for the US, UK and other Western allies to ease restrictions on the use of long-range missiles so it can strike targets in Russia which Kyiv says are used to launch attacks.

Earlier in September, Russian President Vladimir Putin warned Western countries that he would consider long-range missile strikes to be “direct participation” by the Nato military alliance in the war.

When asked by reporters on Sunday whether he had made a decision on allowing Ukraine to use US-made long-range weapons, Biden answered: “No.”

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Trump has previously criticised US support for Ukraine and spoken highly of Putin, but said he would “probably” meet Zelensky.

The ex-president previously flagged his own plan to end the war “within 24 hours” if re-elected in November, but has not given details.

According to Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who he met in March, Trump has vowed to “not give a penny in the Ukraine-Russia war. That is why the war will end”.

Zelensky’s statement also voiced gratitude for the support from Ukraine’s allies to date, singling out the US in particular as its “leading supporter”.

The US has been the largest foreign donor to Ukraine, and to date has provided $56bn for its defence.

After arriving in the US on Sunday, Zelensky stopped in Biden’s birth town of Scranton, Pennsylvania, to visit a munitions factory involved in supplying the Ukrainian war effort.

After Washington, Zelensky is expected to head to New York and the United Nations for a planned meeting of the Security Council on Tuesday and a speech at the General Assembly on Wednesday.

The union representing thousands of striking Boeing workers has hit out at what the aircraft manufacturing giant called its “best and final” pay offer, which proposed a 30% rise over four years.

The new offer also included the reinstatement of a performance bonus and improved retirement benefits.

However, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) said the offer was not negotiated with the union and that “it was thrown at us without any discussion” – a claim Boeing denies.

More than 30,000 Boeing workers went on strike earlier this month after rejecting a 25% pay rise offer.

“After listening to our employees and their concerns, Boeing today presented our best and final offer,” the aircraft manufacturing giant said in a letter.

The proposal doubles the value of a one-off bonus for signing a new pay deal to $6,000 (£4,497).

Boeing said the offer is dependent on it being ratified by union members by midnight pacific time on Friday 27 September (7am GMT on Saturday 28 September).

But IAM said Boeing sent the new offer directly to union members and the media without telling the union’s representatives.

“This tactic is a blatant show of disrespect to you – our members – and the bargaining process,” IAM said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.

The union also said it would not hold a vote of its membership ahead of Boeing’s deadline.

In response, Boeing told the BBC: “We have bargained in good faith with the IAM since formal negotiations began in March.”

“We first presented the offer to the union and then transparently shared the details with our employees,” it added.

Boeing workers voted to strike on September 13 after rejecting a new contract deal, which included a 25% pay rise over four years.

The union had initially aimed for a number of improvements to workers’ packages, including a 40% pay rise.

Almost 95% of the union members – who produce planes including the 737 Max and 777 – voted to reject Boeing’s initial offer.

Of those who voted, 96% backed strike action until a new agreement could be reached.

The strike threatens to cost Boeing billions of dollars, deepening the crisis at a company already facing significant challenges.

Its impacts are already being felt across the industry and wider US economy too, as Boeing has halted shipments of most parts and taken other steps to save money.

The company has already suspended the jobs of tens of thousands of staff.

It has also said that US-based executives, managers and staff would be asked to take one week of furlough every four weeks for as long as the walkout lasts.

Government officials are now helping to mediate talks between the two sides.

At least 492 people have been killed in intense and wide-ranging Israeli air strikes targeting Hezbollah in Lebanon, the country’s health ministry says, in the deadliest day of conflict there in almost 20 years.

Thousands of families have also fled their homes as the Israeli military said it hit 1,300 Hezbollah targets in an operation to destroy infrastructure that the armed group had built up since the 2006 war.

Hezbollah, meanwhile, launched more than 200 rockets into northern Israel, according to the military. Paramedics said two people were injured by shrapnel.

World powers have been urging restraint as both sides appear to be spiralling closer towards all-out war.

Lebanon’s health ministry said 35 children and 58 women were among the dead, while 1,645 others had been wounded.

It did not report how many of the casualties were civilians or combatants.

Health Minister Firass Abiad said thousands of families had also been displaced by the strikes.

UN Secretary General António Guterres expressed alarm at the escalating situation and said he did not want Lebanon to “become another Gaza”.

EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell said the “escalation is extremely dangerous and worrying” ahead of a gathering of world leaders at the UN in New York, adding “we are almost in a full-fledged war”.

President Joe Biden said the US was “working to de-escalate in a way that allows people to return home safely”, while the Pentagon announced it was sending “a small number” of additional troops to the Middle East “out of an abundance of caution”.

Nearly a year of cross-border fighting between Israel and Hezbollah sparked by the war in Gaza has killed hundreds of people, most of them Hezbollah fighters, and displaced tens of thousands on both sides of the frontier.

Hezbollah has said it is acting in support of Hamas and will not stop until there is a ceasefire in Gaza. Both groups are backed by Iran and proscribed as terrorist organisations by Israel, the UK and other countries.

The Pentagon said it was sending “a small number” of additional US troops to the Middle East amid the growing crisis.

“In light of increased tension in the Middle East and out of an abundance of caution, we are sending a small number of additional US military personnel forward to augment our forces that are already in the region,” said Pentagon spokesman Maj Gen Pat Ryder in a briefing with reporters.

He would not answer any follow-up questions on the specifics.

Lebanese media said the first wave of Israeli air strikes began at around 06:30 local time (03:30 GMT) on Monday.

“It was horrifying, the missiles flew over our heads. We woke up to the sound of bombings, we didn’t expect this,” one woman said.

Dozens of towns, villages and open areas were targeted throughout the day in the districts of Sidon, Marjayoun, Nabatieh, Bint Jbeil, Tyre, Jezzine and Zahrani in southern Lebanon, as well as the Zahle, Baalbek and Hermel districts in the eastern Bekaa Valley, according to the state-run National News Agency (NNA).

In the evening, it reported that a building in the Bir al-Abed area of the southern suburbs of the capital, Beirut, was hit by several missiles.

Lebanese security sources said the strike targeted Hezbollah’s top commander in southern Lebanon, Ali Karaki, but that it was not clear whether he was killed. Hezbollah’s media office said Karaki was “fine” and had “moved to a safe place”.

From the south to Beirut, roads were congested as people desperately tried to leave amid the bombardment and after receiving audio and text messages from the Israeli military warning them to move away immediately from buildings where Hezbollah was storing weapons.

A family of four riding on a motorbike spoke to the BBC in Beirut during a brief stop on their way to the northern city of Tripoli. “What do you want us to say? We just had to flee,” the father said anxiously.

Information Minister Ziad Makary said his ministry had received an Israeli phone call urging it to evacuate its building in Beirut. However, he insisted that it would not comply with what he called “a psychological war”.

Prime Minister Najib Mikati, meanwhile, told a cabinet meeting: “The continued Israeli aggression on Lebanon is a war of extermination in every sense of the word.”

“We are working as a government to stop this new Israeli war and to avoid descending into the unknown,” he added.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement on Monday evening that its aircraft had carried out strikes on approximately 1,300 Hezbollah “terror targets” in southern Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley where it claimed that rockets, missiles, launchers, and drones were hidden.

“Essentially, we are targeting combat infrastructure that Hezbollah has been building for the past 20 years. This is very significant,” the IDF’s Chief of Staff, Lt Gen Herzi Halevi, told commanders in Tel Aviv.

“Ultimately, everything is focused on creating the conditions to return the residents of the north to their homes.”

IDF spokesman Rear Adm Daniel Hagari said videos from southern Lebanon showed “significant secondary explosions caused by Hezbollah’s weapons that were being stored inside the buildings”.

“It is likely that some of the casualties are from these secondary explosions,” he added.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged the people of Lebanon to “get out of harm’s way now”.

“For too long, Hezbollah has been using you as human shields. It placed rockets in your living rooms and missiles in your garage,” he said. “To defend our people against Hezbollah strikes, we must take out these weapons.”

A senior Israeli military official insisted that the IDF was “currently focusing on Israel’s aerial campaign only” after being asked by reporters if a ground invasion of southern Lebanon was imminent to create a buffer zone.

The official said Israel had three aims – to degrade Hezbollah’s ability to fire rockets and missiles over the Lebanon-Israel border, to push its fighters back from the frontier, and to destroy the infrastructure built by Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force which could be used to attack Israeli communities.

Hezbollah did not comment on the Israeli claims that it had hidden weapons in houses, and its media office had announced the death of only one fighter by Monday evening.

But in a sign that it is unlikely to back down, it said it had responded to the “Israeli enemy’s attacks” by firing barrages of rockets at several Israeli military bases in northern Israel, as well as a weapons manufacturing facility in the coastal Zvulun area, north of the city of Haifa.

The IDF said 210 projectiles had crossed from Lebanon by the evening, and that an unspecified number had landed in the Lower Galilee and Upper Galilee regions, in Haifa and the nearby areas of Carmel, HaAmakim and Hamifratz areas, and in the occupied Golan Heights.

One house was badly damaged by a rocket in Givat Avni, in the Lower Galilee.

Resident David Yitzhak told the BBC that he, his wife and six-year-old daughter were unharmed because they had managed to get behind the solid door of the house’s safe room seconds earlier, when a warning siren sounded.

“It’s a metre from life to death,” he said.

Israel’s ambulance service said it treated two people with shrapnel wounds in the Lower and Upper Galilee regions, and that another person was injured as they rushed to a shelter.

On Sunday, Hezbollah launched more than 150 rockets and drones across the border, while Israeli jets struck hundreds of targets across southern Lebanon.

Hezbollah remains a powerful force, despite being weakened by what Israel’s defence minister described as “the most difficult week” for the group since its establishment.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, 39 people were killed and thousands were wounded after thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah exploded. And on Friday, Hezbollah said at least 16 members, including top commanders of its elite Radwan Force, were among 45 people killed in an Israeli air strike in southern Beirut.

Speaking at a funeral on Sunday, Hezbollah’s deputy leader Naim Qassem said the group would not be deterred.

“We have entered a new phase,” he said, “the title of which is the open-ended battle of reckoning.”

On the streets of Beirut, one young man told the BBC that he was “very scared of the war escalating” because it would “ cause a lot of disaster, it will stop students going to university”.

But another man was defiant, saying: “We’re not scared, we have to stand tall, we have to defend ourselves.”

A retired Indian high court judge will investigate allegations that a woman was physically and sexually assaulted by a group of police inside a police station in the eastern state of Odisha, the authorities say.

After the allegations, levelled last week by the 32-year-old woman and her fiancé – an army officer – led to a huge outcry, four police officials, including three women, were suspended. A fifth policeman was transferred. The action came after the state’s crime branch opened an inquiry into the case.

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A video of the woman, a law graduate who runs a restaurant in the state capital Bhubaneswar, detailing her alleged abuse by police early on the morning of 15 September has been shared many times on social media.

The footage makes for a difficult watch.

In a wheelchair, with a collar around her neck and one arm in a sling, the woman repeatedly breaks down while narrating to journalists what she says happened to her.

She said she had gone to Bharatpur police station with her fiance after closing her restaurant at around 01:00 because they had been harassed by a group of men on the road.

They asked police to send a patrol car quickly to intercept the men who couldn’t have gone far, she said.

“The police refused to take down our complaint, instead they abused us. When I told them that I was a law graduate and knew my rights, they got even more angry.”

The situation escalated after the police put her fiance in the lockup, she alleged.

“When I objected, two female officials started pulling my hair and beating me. I kept pleading with them to stop. But they dragged me through the corridor and one of them tried to strangle me. When I fought back, they tied my hands and legs and locked me up in a room,” she said, sobbing.

“One male officer came in and took off my bra and started kicking me in my breasts. At around 06:00, the officer in charge of the police station came into the room. He pulled my pants down. Then he lowered his pants and threatened to rape me multiple times unless I stopped screaming for help,” she alleged.

Reports in the Indian media last week quoted police as saying the army officer and his fiancee had arrived at the station drunk and the woman had been aggressive. They alleged that she had slapped a policewoman and bitten another officer.

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She was arrested and a magistrate placed her in custody.

But three days after the alleged assault, the high court freed the woman on bail and criticised the police and the lower court that jailed her.

“On careful examination of the record, it appears that the allegations are very serious in nature… They are anathema to the very concept of a democratic and orderly society,” Justice Aditya Kumar Mohapatra said, adding that the “police had failed to follow the procedure laid down in law while arresting her”.

“Drastic action has been taken against the erring police officers… and appropriate action shall be taken against those found guilty,” the judge’s order said.

The magistrate had also “failed to apply their judicial mind” in denying the woman bail, Justice Mohapatra added.

Since then, many in India have taken to social media to express their anger at alleged police brutality. A large number of former and serving army officials have shared the viral video of the woman and pledged support to her fight since her father is a retired army brigadier.

The Indian army has also written a letter to the chief justice of the high court in Odisha saying that a “serving officer had been kept in custody for nearly 14 hours without any charge” and because of “the grave incident… his prestige was demeaned”.

“The modesty and dignity of his fiancee, who also happens to be the daughter of a retired brigadier, was grossly outraged by the police authorities,” the letter adds.

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Her father, who told the BBC that he had spent hours frantically trying to locate his daughter that night, said the police had not even informed him or his family about the allegations against his daughter.

“Some army officers informed me that my daughter had been arrested and sent to jail. I was allowed to meet her only the next afternoon,” he said. “I hope we will get justice.”

The state government said it “respects the Indian army” and is “concerned about the dignity, safety and rights of women”. It has nominated retired Justice Chitta Ranjan Dash to hold an inquiry and submit a report within 60 days.

The woman’s allegations are being investigated and her statement has been recorded, crime branch official Narendra Behera told the media. The seven men accused of harassing the couple were arrested by police and released on bail.

On social media some have commented on the woman’s clothing while others have questioned “the character of a woman who argues with men and drinks alcohol”.

Namrata Chadha, lawyer and women’s rights activist who met the woman in hospital, told the BBC that it is “heart-breaking to see this kind of victim shaming”.

“She has an injured shoulder, a cut on her face and swelling around her eye. She is very traumatised. While talking to me, her eyes welled up several times. I told her, ‘You’ll have to be courageous and face it all.’ She said she will fight to the end.”

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Ms Chadha says the police have to follow a standard operating procedure when a woman lodges a complaint.

“It’s their duty to hear her patiently. They are trained to deal with a woman if she is aggressive or agitated. They have to offer her a glass of water, calm her down. But from what she has alleged, it appears that basic rules were not followed.

“Also, how come there were no CCTVs when the Indian Supreme Court mandates it for every police station?” she asks. The police station in question opened only four months ago and is supposed to be a role model for other stations in the area.

Ms Chadha says the case has received a lot of attention because the woman is from a privileged background.

“But no-one know what goes on in this – and other – police stations when ordinary women go to seek help.

“We tell our daughters that if you are in trouble, go to the nearest police station. We tell them it’s the second safest place – after their home. What do we tell them now? Where will a woman go now?”

Singapore’s former transport minister has been convicted of receiving gifts while in office, after he pleaded guilty before a local court.

Subramanian Iswaran, 62, was initially charged with corruption, but prosecutors amended these charges at what was supposed to be the start of his trial on Tuesday.

A corruption case involving a public official is rare in Singapore, a financial hub that prides itself with its squeaky clean image, and Iswaran’s case has gripped the nation.

Iswaran now faces a fine or up to two years in jail for each charge of receiving gifts or gratifications, compared to a corruption conviction that carries a fine of up to $100,000 or up to seven years in prison.

Iswaran is the first political office-holder in Singapore to be tried in court in the past 50 years.

He is best known for bringing the Formula 1 Grand Prix to the South East Asian island nation. The most recent edition wrapped up just days before his court appearance.

Charge sheets revealed that he was gifted more than S$403,000 ($311,882; £234,586) worth of flights, hotel stays, musicals and grand prix tickets.

Shortly after the charges were issued in January, Iswaran pleaded not guilty to all the allegations and quit his post in government, saying he would focus on clearing his name.

Property tycoon Ong Beng Seng was named in the charges, often as the party offering the alleged bribes.

Mr Ong owns the rights to the Singapore Grand Prix, while Iswaran was advisor to the race’s steering committee.

Mr Ong’s company Hotel Properties also has 38 hotels and resorts operating under brands including Four Seasons, Hard Rock Hotels and Concorde, according to the London Stock Exchange’s Refinitiv Eikon.

Mr Ong was arrested last year along with Iswaran but has not been charged with any offence. He was initially scheduled to take the stand as a prosecution witness in Iswaran’s trial.

In March of this year, Iswaran was handed eight additional charges that allege he obtained items such as a Brompton bicycle, a set of golf clubs and whisky from another figure: construction company boss Lum Kok Seng.

Mr Lum’s company is involved with a number of government infrastructure projects around Singapore, which were awarded while Iswaran was Transport Minister. He has not been charged either.

While in government, Iswaran held multiple portfolios in the prime minister’s office: in home affairs, communications and, most recently, the transport ministry.

But it was during his long stint in the trade and industry ministry that he gained prominence, playing a role in developing Singapore’s tourism landscape in the late 2000s and 2010s.

This was a time when the government poured in vast resources and courted billions in foreign investment to build casinos, hotels, tourist attractions and events like the F1 Grand Prix.

Iswaran was a familiar face on the podium, often handing out trophies to drivers amid celebratory sprays of champagne.

The case against Iswaran is one of a series of political scandals that have rocked the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP), which has long touted its strong stance against corruption and amoral behaviour.

In 2023, the government was rocked by a separate corruption probe into the properties of two other ministers, which eventually cleared them of wrongdoing, as well as two lawmakers’ resignation over an extramarital affair.

Singapore’s lawmakers are among the highest-paid in the world, with some ministers earning more than S$1 million ($758,000). Leaders justify the handsome salaries by saying it combats corruption.

Prior to last year, the most recent case of a politician facing a major corruption probe was in 1986, when national development minister Teh Cheang Wan was investigated for accepting bribes. He took his own life before he was charged.

Before that, former minister of state for environment Wee Toon Boon was sentenced to 18 months jail in 1975 for a case involving more than $800,000.

At first glance, Dunpo Elementary is no different from the thousands of elementary schools dotted across South Korea.

But look just beneath the surface and the differences are stark.

For one thing, most of the students in this school in Asan, an industrial city near the capital Seoul, may look ethnically Korean, but cannot speak the language.

“If I don’t translate into Russian for them, the other kids won’t understand any of the lessons,” says 11-year-old Kim Yana.

Yana speaks the best Korean in her class – but she and most of her 22 classmates are native Russian speakers.

Nearly 80% of the pupils at Dunpo are categorised as “multicultural students”, meaning they are either foreigners or have a parent who is not a Korean citizen.

And while the school says it is difficult to know exactly what these students’ nationalities are, most of them are believed to be Koryoins: ethnic Koreans typically hailing from countries in Central Asia.

Amid a plummeting birth rate and associated labour shortages, South Korea is touting the settlement of Koryoins and other ethnic Koreans as a possible solution to the nation’s population crisis. But discrimination, marginalisation, and the lack of a proper settlement programme are making it hard for many of them to integrate.

Koryoins are descendants of ethnic Koreans who migrated to the far east of the Russian Empire in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries – before many were forcibly transferred to Central Asia in the 1930s as part of Stalin’s “frontier-cleansing” policy.

They lived in former Soviet states such as Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan and, over the generations, assimilated into those cultures and stopped speaking Korean, which was forbidden.

South Korea started granting residency to Koryoins as well as ethnic Koreans in China after a landmark ruling by the country’s constitutional court in 2001. But the number of Koryoin migrants began growing rapidly from 2014 when they were allowed to bring their families into the country as well.

Last year, about 760,000 ethnic Koreans from China and Russian-speaking countries were living in South Korea, making up about 30% of the country’s foreign population. Many have settled in cities like Asan, which have more factories and therefore greater job opportunities.

Ni Denis, who migrated to South Korea from Kazakhstan in 2018, is one of them.

“These days, I don’t see Koreans in the factory [where I work],” he says. “They think the job’s difficult, so they leave quickly. More than 80% of the people I work with are Koryoins.”

It isn’t only Koryoins, however, who are benefitting from the immigration boost. The influx of ethnic Koreans from abroad is also helping to address a severe labour shortage in a country whose population continues to shrink.

South Korea has the world’s lowest fertility rate, which keeps dropping year on year. In 2023, the birth rate was 0.72 – far behind the 2.1 required to maintain a stable population in the absence of immigration.

Estimates suggest that if this trend continues, South Korea’s population could halve by the year 2100.

The country will need 894,000 more workers, especially in the service industry, to “achieve long-term economic growth projections” over the next decade, according to South Korea’s Ministry of Employment and Labour.

Workers from overseas are helping to bridge the gap.

“While the overseas Korean visa is often perceived as a form of support for ethnic Koreans, it has been primarily serving to provide stable labour for manufacturing,” says Choi Seori, a researcher at the Migration Research and Training Centre.

Mr Lee, a recruiter in Asan who asked to be identified only by his surname, highlighted the workforce’s dependence on immigration another way.

“Without Koryoins,” he said. “these factories wouldn’t run.”

Yet while immigration may be one solution to the country’s workforce problem, it comes with its own set of issues in this ethnically homogenous society.

Language is one of them.

“Korean kids only play with Koreans and Russian kids only play with Russians because they can’t communicate,” says 12-year-old student Kim Bobby.

In an attempt to overcome the language barrier, Dunpo Elementary School runs a two-hour Korean class for foreign students every day. Even so, teacher Kim Eun-ju is worried that many children “hardly understand the lessons” as they move up grades.

Academic competition in South Korea is notoriously rife and the school is losing local students, as parents worry their children’s education is being affected because lessons have to be conducted at a slower pace for Koryoins.

The high school enrolment rate for multicultural students is already slightly lower than for locals, according to an official national survey conducted in 2021. Park Min-jung, a researcher at the Migration Research and Training Centre, worries that more Koryoin students will drop out of school if they don’t get the support they need.

And language is not the only point of difference.

Mr Ni says he has noticed that many of his Korean neighbours have moved out of their building.

“Koreans seem to dislike having Koryoins as neighbours,” he says with an awkward laugh. “Sometimes Koreans ask us why we don’t smile at them. It’s just the way we are; it’s not that we’re angry.”

He says there have been disputes between children in his neighbourhood, and he has heard of cases where Koryoin children have been “rough” during arguments. “After that, Korean parents tell their kids not to play with Koryoin kids. I think that’s how segregation happens.”

“I am concerned about how Korea will be able to accept other immigrants,” says Seong Dong-gi, an expert of Koryoin at Inha University, explaining that there is already “significant resistance” to the influx of ethnic Koreans who “do not look different”.

The population crisis should be a “catalyst for society to look at immigration differently”, says Ms Choi. “It’s time to think about how to integrate them”.

In 2023 there were roughly 2.5 million foreigners living in South Korea, which is also a popular destination for migrant workers from places such as Nepal, Cambodia and Vietnam.

Most of them work in manual jobs, with only 13% in professional roles.

“There is no clear plan for immigration at the national government level,” says Lee Chang-won, the director of the Migration Research and Training Centre. “Solving the country’s population problem with foreigners has been an afterthought.”

Mr Lee adds that the current immigration policy is “heavily weighted towards low-skilled workers”, leading to a “common view” that foreigners only work in South Korea for a while and then leave. As a result, he says, there has been little discussion about long-term settlement for all immigrants.

According to current laws, the government is only required to provide support with things like vocational training for foreigners who marry locals. The same rights, however, are not extended to families entirely made up of foreigners.

Analysts say a new law for these families is urgently needed.

An Asan official, who requested anonymity, says it is difficult to secure funding for more supporting facilities for Koryoin families because there is no legal requirement to do so.

But despite these challenges, Mr Ni says he has not regretted the decision to move to South Korea. He still gets a better living environment and higher wages here.

“For my children, this is home,” he says. “When we visited Kazakhstan, they asked: ‘Why are we here? We want to go back to Korea.’”

Cathay Pacific has banned a Hong Kong couple from its flights after their row with a mainland Chinese traveller over her reclining seat.

The Chinese woman had complained on social media that she was harassed by the couple seated behind her on a Cathay flight after reclining her seat.

The Hong Kong flag carrier said on Sunday that it had added the couple to its no-fly list, saying it has “a strict zero-tolerance policy” towards behaviours that disrespect fellow passengers.

The Chinese woman’s post on social media platform Xiaohongshu, which captured part of the confrontation, had garnered 194,000 likes as of Monday morning and drawn mixed reactions online.

The incident took place on a flight from Hong Kong to London on 17 September.

In her post, the Chinese woman recalled how the middle-aged couple – a husband and wife – had accused her of obstructing their view of the in-flight television and asked her to straighten her seat.

When she refused, the wife stretched her legs and put them on the armrests of her seat, then started scolding her in Cantonese and slapping her arm, the woman said.

“When she realised I couldn’t speak Cantonese, she started calling me ‘mainland girl’ in a derogatory tone,” she said.

The husband, who was seated directly behind her, “frantically pushed” the back of her seat, the woman said. Her video showed the seat vibrating.

Another scene showed the wife raising her middle finger at the woman.

The woman then sought help from a flight attendant, who suggested that she straighten her seat.

“I was shocked because it was not meal time, yet the flight attendant wanted me to compromise,” the woman said. “I rejected the suggestion.”

Several passengers who witnessed the incident criticised the Hong Kong couple’s behaviour.

“Don’t call yourself a Hong Konger, you bully,” one passenger said.

Another said, “This is too much. How old are you? Why are you bullying a young girl?”

The woman’s post on Xiaohongshu sparked similar outrage.

“If they want more space, they should have paid for first-class seats,” one person wrote.

Several commenters were quick to defend Hong Kong’s reputation, with one saying “Most people in Hong Kong are kind, this couple is an exception.”

It has also triggered a debate on whether reclining one’s aeroplane seat is an acceptable practice.

Several users said that it should be acceptable, given that the ability to recline is a built-in function of the seats.

Others said it can get uncomfortable when passengers in front recline their seats too far back.

It seems hard to believe that it’s less than a week since Hezbollah’s communication devices started exploding all across Lebanon.

The days since have represented a series of catastrophic setbacks for the formidable, Iranian-backed Shia militia.

With its networks disrupted, its fighting men mutilated, its leadership assassinated and its military infrastructure under constant bombardment, Hezbollah is facing its worst crisis in four decades.

Now Israel’s defence minister says the campaign is “deepening”.

But it’s a high-risk strategy, in which Hezbollah’s ability to respond cannot be ignored.

With alerts constantly sounding across northern Israel, Yoav Gallant has told Israelis to “show composure, discipline and full obedience to the directives of Home Front Command”.

We found all on display in equal measure when we visited the small community of Givat Avni, a short distance west of Tiberias.

David Yitzhak showed us where a 120mm rocket tore through the roof of his family home at lunchtime on Monday.

With sirens blaring, David bundled his wife and six-year-old daughter into the house’s safe room, seconds before the explosion.

“It’s a metre from life to death,” David said, indicating the short distance between the safe room and the hole in his daughter’s bedroom.

He said he feels no animosity towards the people of Lebanon, but says Hezbollah started the war for no reason.

“So now we are giving back. And it will be OK.”

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But Givat Avni is 20 miles (30km) from the Lebanese border, far from the evacuation zone established by the authorities almost a year ago.

An hour later, as we arrived at nearby Kibbutz Lavi, home for the past year to families evacuated from further north, sirens sounded once more.

Rockets appeared in the sky overhead and as we were ushered into an underground shelter full of children and their artwork, we heard a series of deep resonant booms.

An hour later, more alerts, another safe room and more distant explosions.

Hezbollah had been firing rockets further into Israel, even before the latest escalation. But now an even larger swathe of northern Israel is in the firing line.

All of this is adding a sense of urgency to the government’s actions.

Speaking after a meeting with defence chiefs, the Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said Israel was changing the balance of power in the north.

“We are facing complex days,” he warned.

“We do not wait for a threat,” he said. “We anticipate it. Anywhere, in any arena, at any time. We eliminate senior officials, eliminate terrorists, eliminate missiles.”

Having seized the initiative, Israel’s military seems determined to keep Hezbollah on the back foot, in the hope of realising the government’s aim of returning civilians to homes evacuated along the northern border.

On Monday morning, it stepped up another gear, telling Lebanese villagers to leave places where they believe Hezbollah is concealing its bigger weapons.

Military officials showed journalists a video of an air strike in which Israel says it destroyed a modified Russian cruise missile, hidden inside a house.

In another “illustration”, we were shown a skeletal 3D mock-up of a village in southern Lebanon, full of concealed weapons and equipment.

The mock-up, and the instructions to civilians to leave, all carried echoes of Israel’s efforts to explain its actions in Gaza.

But military officials insist that, unlike Gaza, the warnings do not mean that the army is poised to move in on the ground in southern Lebanon.

“We are currently focusing on Israel’s aerial campaign only,” a senior official said on Monday.

It seems that for now, Israel will see what it can achieve from the air. A former commander, speaking on Israel’s Channel 12, said that so far, the air force had shown only a fraction of its capabilities.

But there’s only so much Israel can achieve from the air, even if, as seems possible, jets are about to lay waste to entire villages.

At some point, a ground invasion – however limited – seems unavoidable.

But would it be wise?

“That’s exactly what Hezbollah wants,” Dr Jacques Neria, a senior researcher at the Jerusalem Centre for Security and Foreign Affairs, told i24 News.

“The residents of southern Lebanon are Hezbollah soldiers,” he said. “And therefore we will have to fight against a mass that we do not know, under unfamiliar conditions.”

In his defiant speech last week, Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah dared Israel to attempt to create a buffer zone in southern Lebanon, something the head of Israel’s Northern Command is said to be pushing for.

Such an effort, he said, would have “dire consequences” for Israel.

At the moment, there’s no sign of a diplomatic off-ramp. US-led efforts to defuse the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah have run into the sand, along with negotiations aimed at securing a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of Israeli hostages.

Cold military logic – strike and counter-strike – appears to have taken over.

This is not a battle of equals. Israel knows it can beat Hezbollah.

There’s a complete asymmetry in the level of destruction and suffering that each side can inflict on the other.

But where the conflict is heading, and how much worse it will get before it ends, is anyone’s guess.

The Duke of Sussex’s US visa application should remain private despite him admitting taking drugs in his memoir, a judge has ruled.

Prince Harry wrote of using marijuana, cocaine and psychedelic mushrooms in his memoir Spare, which was released in January 2023.

A lawsuit, from the conservative Heritage Foundation, sought to compel the government to release the records to show whether drug use was disclosed.

But US judge Carl Nichols ruled on Monday that “the public does not have a strong interest in disclosure of the duke’s immigration records”.

“Like any foreign national, the duke has a legitimate privacy interest in his immigration status,” he added.

Prince Harry moved to the US in January 2020 after announcing that he and his wife, Meghan Markle, would step back from royal duties.

In a lawsuit last year, the prominent Washington DC-based think tank argued that “widespread and continuous” media coverage of Prince Harry’s admitted drug use called into question whether the government properly vetted the duke and followed proper procedures when it admitted him into the country.

Application forms for US visas specifically ask about current and past drug use.

Drug use can lead to non-immigrant and immigrant visa applications being rejected, although immigration officers have discretion to make a final decision based on a number of factors.

The Heritage Foundation’s lawsuit argued that US law “generally renders such a person inadmissible for entry” to the country.

In his memoir, the duke said cocaine “didn’t do anything for me”, adding: “Marijuana is different, that actually really did help me.”

But Judge Nichols said the public’s interest in disclosure of Prince Harry’s immigration records is “outweighed by the duke’s privacy interest”.

The US is planning to ban certain hardware and software made in China and Russia from cars, trucks and buses in the US due to security risks.

Officials said they were worried that the technology in question, used for autonomous driving and to connect cars to other networks, could allow enemies to “remotely manipulate cars on American roads”.

There is currently minimal use of Chinese or Russia-made software in American cars.

But Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said the plans were “targeted, proactive” steps to protect the US.

“Cars today have cameras, microphones, GPS tracking, and other technologies connected to the internet,” she said in a statement.

“It doesn’t take much imagination to understand how a foreign adversary with access to this information could pose a serious risk to both our national security and the privacy of US citizens.”

Chinese officials said the US was broadening “the concept of national security” to unfairly target Chinese firms.

“China opposes the US’s broadening of the concept of national security and the discriminatory actions taken against Chinese companies and products,” said Lin Jian, spokesman for China’s Foreign Ministry, in a statement.

“We urge the US side to respect market principles and provide an open, fair, transparent, and non-discriminatory business environment for Chinese enterprises.”

The proposal, which will now enter a comment period, is the latest from the White House aiming to limit China’s presence in the car manufacturing supply chain.

The White House has also raised tariffs on electric cars, batteries for electric vehicle and a range of other items. It has separately banned the import of Chinese-made cargo cranes, warning of cyber-security risk.

The US launched an investigation in February examining the cyber risks from so-called connected cars.

The prohibitions on software would go into effect with model year 2027, while the hardware rules would be effective three years later, giving the industry more time to re-work their supply chains.

John Bozzella, president and chief executive of Alliance for Automotive Innovation, which represents big car companies, said that though there was “very little technology – hardware or software in today’s connected vehicle supply chain that enters the US from China” the rule would force some firms to find new suppliers.

“I’ve said this in other contexts, but it applies here too: you can’t just flip a switch and change the world’s most complex supply chain overnight,” he said.

“The lead time included in the proposed rule will allow some auto manufacturers to make the required transition but may be too short for others,” he said.

He said association would continue to share its perspective as the final rules are developed.

The union representing thousands of striking Boeing workers has hit out at what the aircraft manufacturing giant called its “best and final” pay offer, which proposed a 30% rise over four years.

The new offer also included the reinstatement of a performance bonus and improved retirement benefits.

However, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) said the offer was not negotiated with the union and that “it was thrown at us without any discussion” – a claim Boeing denies.

More than 30,000 Boeing workers went on strike earlier this month after rejecting a 25% pay rise offer.

“After listening to our employees and their concerns, Boeing today presented our best and final offer,” the aircraft manufacturing giant said in a letter.

The proposal doubles the value of a one-off bonus for signing a new pay deal to $6,000 (£4,497).

Boeing said the offer is dependent on it being ratified by union members by midnight pacific time on Friday 27 September (7am GMT on Saturday 28 September).

But IAM said Boeing sent the new offer directly to union members and the media without telling the union’s representatives.

“This tactic is a blatant show of disrespect to you – our members – and the bargaining process,” IAM said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.

The union also said it would not hold a vote of its membership ahead of Boeing’s deadline.

In response, Boeing told the BBC: “We have bargained in good faith with the IAM since formal negotiations began in March.”

“We first presented the offer to the union and then transparently shared the details with our employees,” it added.

Boeing workers voted to strike on September 13 after rejecting a new contract deal, which included a 25% pay rise over four years.

The union had initially aimed for a number of improvements to workers’ packages, including a 40% pay rise.

Almost 95% of the union members – who produce planes including the 737 Max and 777 – voted to reject Boeing’s initial offer.

Of those who voted, 96% backed strike action until a new agreement could be reached.

The strike threatens to cost Boeing billions of dollars, deepening the crisis at a company already facing significant challenges.

Its impacts are already being felt across the industry and wider US economy too, as Boeing has halted shipments of most parts and taken other steps to save money.

The company has already suspended the jobs of tens of thousands of staff.

It has also said that US-based executives, managers and staff would be asked to take one week of furlough every four weeks for as long as the walkout lasts.

Government officials are now helping to mediate talks between the two sides.

Across southern Lebanon, families scrambled together belongings and headed north in cars and trucks and on motorcycles as the Israeli military struck targets it said were linked to the Lebanese Shia armed group Hezbollah.

Some residents reported receiving warnings in the form of text messages and voice recordings from the Israeli military to leave areas near the Iran-backed group’s positions.

Zahra Sawli, a student in the southern town of Nabatieh told the BBC’s Newshour programme the bombardment was intense.

“I woke up at 6am to the sound of bombing. By noon it started to get really intense and I saw a lot of strikes in my area.”

“I heard a lot of glass shattering.”

Unlike many, she and those she was with did not leave the house – they didn’t dare, she said.

“Where are we supposed to go? A lot of people are still stuck on the streets. A lot of my friends are still stuck in traffic because a lot of people are trying to flee,” she said.

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By the middle of the day roads north towards Beirut were clogged with traffic, with vehicles heading towards the capital on both sides of a six-lane coastal highway.

Other images showed people walking along the beach in the southern city of Tyre as smoke rose from air strikes in the countryside inland.

The BBC spoke to one family of five who had arrived in Beirut on a single motorbike.

From a village in the south, they were heading to Tripoli in the north. They were exhausted.

“What do you want us to say? We just had to flee,” the father said.

By Monday evening the Lebanese health ministry reported that 492 people had been killed and more than 1,600 injured in the bombardment. It said at least 35 children were among those killed. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it had carried out 1,100 strikes over the previous 24 hours.

That included an air strike in southern Beirut that the IDF said had targeted a senior Hezbollah commander.

In Beirut too there was widespread anxiety. As people from the south arrived in the capital in cars with suitcases strapped to the top, some of the city’s residents were themselves leaving.

Israel has warned people to evacuate areas where it says Hezbollah is storing weapons – but it also sent recorded warnings to people in Beirut districts not considered Hezbollah strongholds including Hamra, an area home to government ministries, banks and universities.

Parents rushed to pick up their children from school after receiving more warnings to leave the area.

One father, Issa, took his son out of school, telling Reuters news agency: “[We’re here] because of the phone calls.

“They’re calling everyone and threatening people by phone. So we’re here to take my boy from school. The situation is not reassuring,” he said.

Mohammed, a Palestinian man on the road with his wife, spoke to the BBC on the way out of Beirut.

When asked if he would stay in the capital he said: “In Lebanon nowhere is safe, Israel is saying they are going to bombard everywhere. Now they threatened this neighbourhood, so where should we go?”

“It’s scary, I don’t know what to do – work, go home, no idea what to do.”

Meanwhile as a BBC crew set up on one side of the road, a taxi driver called out asking if they knew of a fuel crisis unfolding. “Too many people are coming to Beirut,” he said.

Schools have been hastily converted into shelters for the streams of evacuees coming from the south. On a government order, schools in Beirut and Tripoli as well as eastern Lebanon were established as shelters.

The BBC was at a classroom at a public school in Bir Hasan, west Beirut on Monday which was being prepared for people coming from the Bekaa Valley – a Hezbollah stronghold in north-eastern Lebanon which Israel said it was targeting too.

The classrooms were stacked with mattresses but would be fully occupied by the end of the day, workers said.

Meanwhile Lebanon’s hospitals were also ordered to cancel all non-elective surgeries on Monday as physicians braced for a wave of casualties and injuries.

Despite the tense and uncertain atmosphere in Beirut, some people were defiant.

“If a total war happens, we should stand as Lebanese people together regardless of our political affiliations because at the end of the day, our country is getting bombed,” one man told the BBC.

Others were simply resigned to the violence.

“If they want war, what can we do? It was imposed on us. We cannot do anything,” shop owner Mohammed Sibai told Reuters.

Mohammed, a 57-year-old in the southern Beirut suburb of Dahieyh – Hezbollah’s main power base in the capital – told the BBC he had “survived all the wars since 1975” so “it’s normal for me”.

“I will not leave, I will be in my house,” he said.