Russia and Ukraine have carried out their largest drone attacks against each other since the start of the war.

Russia’s defence ministry said it intercepted 84 Ukrainian drones over six regions, including some approaching Moscow, which forced flights to be diverted from three of the capital’s major airports.

Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched 145 drones towards every part of the country on Saturday night, with most shot down.

The barrages come amid expectations that US president-elect Donald Trump may put pressure on both sides to end the conflict.

Ukraine’s attempted strike on Moscow was also its biggest attack on the capital since the war began, and was described as “massive” by the region’s governor.

Most of the drones were downed in the Ramenskoye, Kolomna and Domodedovo districts, officials said.

In Ramenskoye, south-west of Moscow, five people were injured and four houses caught fire due to falling debris, the Russian Ministry of Defense said. It added that 34 drones had been shot down over the town.

In September, a woman was killed in a drone attack that hit Ramenskoye. In May last year, two drones were destroyed near the Kremlin in central Moscow and there were several drone attacks on the Moscow City business district.

In Ukraine, at least two people were injured after a drone hit the Odesa region. Images showed flames rising from some buildings, as well as aftermath damage.

The Ukrainian air force said 62 of Russia’s Iranian-made drones were shot down, while 67 were “lost”. A further 10 left Ukraine’s airspace heading back towards Russia, as well as neighbouring Belarus and Moldova, it added.

The drone barrages comes as Russian troops reportedly made their largest territorial gains in October since March 2022, according to analysis of Institute for the Study of War data by the AFP news agency.

However, Sir Tony Radakin, the UK’s chief of defence staff, told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme that Russia had suffered its worst month for casualties since the start of the war.

Russian forces suffered an average of about 1,500 dead and injured “every single day” in October, he said.

There has been intense speculation about how Trump will approach the conflict since his election win in the US.

The president-elect regularly said in his election campaign that he could end the war “in a day”, but has not offered details on how he would do that.

A former adviser to Trump, Bryan Lanza, told the BBC that the incoming administration would focus on achieving peace rather than enabling Ukraine to gain back territory from Russia.

In response, a spokesperson for Trump distanced the president-elect from the remarks, saying Mr Lanza “does not speak for him”.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov spoke via state media on Sunday of “positive” signals from the incoming US administration.

He claimed that Trump spoke during his election campaign about wanting peace and not a desire to inflict defeat on Russia.

Trump has spoken to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky since his election win, a source telling the BBC that the conversation lasted “about half an hour”.

Zelensky has previously warned against conceding land to Russia and has said that without US aid, Ukraine would lose the war.

Haitian Prime Minister Garry Conille has been fired by the country’s ruling council less than six months after he took office.

An executive order, signed by eight of the council’s nine members, named businessman and former Haiti Senate candidate Alix Didier Fils-Aime as Conile’s replacement.

Conille, a former United Nations official, was brought in to lead Haiti through an ongoing, gang-led security crisis and had been expected to help pave the way for the country’s first presidential elections since 2016.

He described his ousting as illegal, saying in a letter – seen by Reuters news agency – that it raised “serious concerns” about Haiti’s future.

Haiti currently has neither a president nor parliament and, according to its constitution, only the latter can sack a sitting prime minister.

Conille was sworn in on 3 June.

“This resolution, taken outside any legal and constitutional framework, raises serious concerns about its legitimacy,” Conille’s letter was quoted as saying.

Haiti’s transitional presidential council (TPC) was created in April after Ariel Henry, Conille’s predecessor, was forced from office by a network of gangs that had taken over parts of the capital Port-au-Prince.

• The gangsters and rebels jostling over power in Haiti

Henry left Haiti to attend a summit in Guyana on 25 February 2024 and gang members subsequently seized the city’s international airport, preventing him from returning.

The TPC was tasked with restoring democratic order to the Caribbean country, where such violence is rife.

More than 3,600 people have been killed in Haiti since January and more than 500,000 have had to leave their homes, according to the UN, which describes Haiti as being one of the poorest countries in the world.

Two million Haitians currently face emergency levels of hunger, UN data shows, while almost half the population “do not have enough to eat”.

One of the country’s most powerful gang leaders, Jimmy Chérizier, also known as Barbecue, previously said he would be prepared to end the violence if armed groups were allowed to be involved in talks to establish a new government.

Presidential elections were last held in Haiti eight years ago, when Jovenel Moïse of the Tèt Kale party was elected.

Since his murder in July 2021, the post of president has been vacant.

Gangs in Haiti have capitalised on the power vacuum and expanded their control over swathes of the country, which has effectively been rendered lawless in places.

Last month, it was reported that hundreds of police officers had been deployed to Haiti from Kenya, with hundreds more set to join them.

Rita Ora has paid an emotional tribute to Liam Payne as she hosted this year’s MTV Europe Music Awards (EMAs) in Manchester, almost a month after the One Direction star’s death.

Ora collaborated with Payne on their 2018 hit single For You, and her voice faltered as she remembered him, calling him “one of the kindest people that I knew”.

She delivered the tribute dressed in a dark suit in a poignant moment that was in contrast to the upbeat tone of the rest of the ceremony.

The night also saw Taylor Swift continue her world domination by making history as the first person to win best artist three times in the 30-year history of the EMAs.

The other winners included Raye, Sabrina Carpenter, Tyla and Benson Boone.

Sunday’s ceremony was the first time the event has been held in the UK since 2017, and the third time Ora has acted as host.

Towards the end of the show, she switched from her high-energy persona to speak about Payne.

“I just want to take a moment to remember someone that was very, very dear to us,” she told the audience.

“We lost him recently, and he was a big part of the MTV world and my world, and I think a lot of yours at home and everybody in here tonight.”

She continued: “Liam Payne was one of the kindest people that I knew. And, you know, there were so many ways that we were talking about honouring him, and I think sometimes just simply speaking is enough.

“He had the biggest heart, and was always the first person to offer help in any way that he could.

“He brought so much joy to every room he walked into, and he left such a mark on this world. So let’s just take a moment to remember our friend.”

She then introduced a short video featuring photos of Payne and a snippet of One Direction song Night Changes.

Elsewhere during the night, Swift won four awards – best artist, video (for Fortnight), live act and US artist – but was not in Manchester to accept them.

She is preparing to resume the last leg of her Eras tour in Canada this week, and on Sunday was cheering on boyfriend Travis Kelce as the Kansas City Chiefs beat the Denver Broncos.

In a video acceptance speech, she said: “I am coming to you from the Eras tour, and I’m so sad that I can’t be with you tonight. But thank you so much for these amazing awards.

“The fact that you have honoured the tour [and] everything that’s happened with the album this year, the video, it’s just unbelievable.”

She thanked Post Malone, who featured on Fortnight, and her fans for voting for her.

“I had the best time touring in Europe this summer, so it just is wonderful for you to do this,” she added.

Sabrina Carpenter won best song for her hit Espresso but she too was absent, performing on her Short n’ Sweet tour in San Diego on Sunday.

Raye was among the stars who were in Manchester – she picked up the award for best UK and Ireland act and performed two songs at the ceremony.

US singer-songwriter Benson Boone was also in town, opening the show by playing the piano while suspended above the crowd at the Co-op Live arena, before picking up the prize for best new artist.

“I was extremely unprepared for this, but I will say I’ve not been doing music a crazy long time,” he said in his speech.

“I didn’t know this is where my life would go. And a couple years ago, I found my voice and I found my passion and my career.”

South African star Tyla won best R&B, best Afrobeats and best African artist, telling BBC News she was “honoured and humbled”.

She was among the night’s other performers, as were Shawn Mendes, Teddy Swims and the Pet Shop Boys, who were named pop pioneers.

US rapper Busta Rhymes received the global icon award, telling the BBC beforehand: “Tonight is a dream come true. I’m honoured. I feel tremendously blessed.”

It was a return to north-west England for Rhymes, who spent two summers living with his Aunt Velma in Morecambe as a child.

“I went to school, went to karate school, and we illegally went to clubs, breakdancing to make a little money, and it was fun,” he recalled of those trips.

Morecambe is also the adopted hometown of boxer Tyson Fury who moved there after his marriage to wife Paris in 2008.

Oasis frontman Liam Gallagher was the only Mancunian winner, scooping the award for best rock act – but he was not there and the prize was not announced on stage, instead being revealed as part of a brief round-up of several categories.

The absence of any members of Oasis left it to Rita Ora to lead the crowd in a brief sing-along of their hit Wonderwall.

Another veteran Manchester band did turn up, however, with Shaun Ryder and Bez from Happy Mondays threatening to steal the show in an unpredictable interview with Ora.

Ryder stayed largely straight-faced but his enthusiastic sidekick ended up with his arm around Boone interrupting Ora’s introduction of K-pop girl group Le Sserafim.

The ceremony also gave nods to the host city with the use of Blue Monday by New Order to introduce the nominees, and by borrowing the diagonal black and yellow motif of the former Hacienda nightclub.

The night’s presenters included singer Mabel and her mother Neneh Cherry, who was among the winners at the first EMAs in 1994, when 7 Seconds, her duet with Youssou N’Dour, was named best song.

• Best artist – Taylor Swift
• Best song – Sabrina Carpenter, Espresso
• Best video – Taylor Swift ft Post Malone, Fortnight
• Best collaboration – Lisa ft Rosalía, New Woman
• Best UK and Ireland act – Raye
• Best US act – Taylor Swift
• Best live – Taylor Swift
• Best pop – Ariana Grande
• Best hip-hop – Eminem
• Best K-pop – Jimin
• Best rock – Liam Gallagher
• Best alternative – Imagine Dragons
• Best electronic – Calvin Harris
• Best R&B – Tyla
• Best Afrobeats – Tyla
• Best Latin – Peso Pluma
• Best new – Benson Boone
• Best push – Le Sserafim
• Biggest fans – Lisa
• Global icon – Busta Rhymes
• Pop pioneers – Pet Shop Boys

The last time Chaw Su saw her husband was in March, when he was forcibly conscripted to fight for the army in Myanmar’s civil war.

Four months later, she found out he had been killed at the frontline.

“We were always poor and struggled,” she says. “But life was much more bearable with him.”

The 25-year-old widow, who had depended on her husband as the breadwinner, now has three young children to care for.

In February, Myanmar’s military regime, known as the junta, announced compulsory conscription, meaning all men aged 18 to 35 and women aged 18 to 27 would be forced to serve for up to two years.

Since launching the 2021 coup that toppled Aung San Suu Kyi’s democratically-elected government, the junta has faced an uprising on multiple fronts – including from volunteer People’s Defence Forces (PDFs) and ethnic armed groups. That uprising has since escalated into a full-blown civil war.

Last year marked a turn of the tide, as the junta saw a fresh wave of attacks from insurgents that have since pushed the military government to breaking point. As a result, up to two-thirds of the country, which has had decades of military rule and repression, fell under the control of resistance groups.

The increasingly embattled junta responded in part by pushing forward with mandatory conscription, despite warnings from experts that it could exacerbate the nation’s civil conflict. The first training began in April.

In July, Chaw Su received a call from her husband who was one of two men from their village sent for training.

He told her he had been deployed to Karen state, where some of the most intense fighting between the junta and ethnic armed groups was taking place.

“He said that he would be sent to the frontline for two weeks and that he would call me when he returned to base,” Chaw Su tells the BBC. “It was the first and last message I received from him.”

At the end of July, a military officer called to inform Chaw Su her husband was dead.

“I was completely out of my mind. The officer tried to console me with his words, but I felt that my life was over.”

Like many others, Chaw Su was promised a salary for her husband’s service, but she claimed she only received 70,000 kyats (around $21) from the village official when her husband was first conscripted.

After the initial payment, months went by without any financial support.

The military says conscripts are entitled to salary and compensation upon death in service, as with full-rank soldiers. But junta spokesperson Major General Zaw Min Tun told the BBC “there could be a delay if the necessary documents are incomplete”.

Across Myanmar, conscripted soldiers – often untrained and unprepared – are sent to conflict zones with little support. Their families are often left in the dark about their whereabouts.

Soe Soe Aye, a widow in her 60s, has been left without word from her son, who was conscripted six months ago. She says he had no desire to serve in the military.

“[My son] joined the military to feed his mother,” she adds tearfully. “I regret letting him go.”

Now, she struggles with poor health and depends on her youngest daughter to support their household. But she is trying to remain hopeful.

“I just want to see my son. I don’t have enough strength to face this.”

Many young Burmese have taken drastic measures to resist the conscription order.

Kan Htoo Lwin, a 20-year-old from Myannmar’s commercial hub, Yangon, was conscripted and trained for three months along with 30 others.

He says the training was gruelling and they were threatened that if anyone tried to escape, their homes would be burned.

“After the training, I hated the army even more,” he says.

During a journey to the frontline in the eastern part of the country, Kan Htoo saw a chance to escape with two others when their convoy stopped halfway.

“We ran once it got dark, while they were busy with security checks. We didn’t stop until nightfall,” he recalls. “At some point we were exhausted and stopped to rest. We took turns sleeping and keeping watch.”

At dawn, the three young men hitched a ride from a truck driver and made it to Aung Ban, a township in the southern Shan state. Here, Kan Htoo joined a PDF, one of the many resistance groups that have been growing as more young people, disillusioned with the military junta, take up arms.

The other two men are currently in hiding, Kan Htoo says. For safety reasons, he doesn’t want to reveal what they are doing now.

While men have been the primary focus of the conscription efforts, women have also been affected.

Zue Zue, a 20-year-old from Yangon, abandoned her dream of becoming a Chinese translator to join the Special Operation Force (SOF), a unit within the PDFs.

“Now my goal is to end this era of military dictatorship and make peace for our generation,” she tells the BBC.

While Zue Zue chose to stay, others have fled the country.

Engineer Min Min left for Thailand when conscription began. He’s now staying there on an education visa, but claims he has been struggling to find legal work that suits his qualifications in Bangkok.

Many who flee to Thailand, like Min Min, end up in low-wage jobs. Thai authorities have also become stricter in catching illegal migrants, and many are now facing deportation if caught.

Min Min worries that when his visa expires, he will have to stay illegally in the country.

“I’m worried about the living costs,” says the 28-year-old. “I have no choice but to find manual labour jobs.”

He also says priority is given to Thai nationals, whose rights are protected, while Thai business owners often exploit migrants working illegally.

“I have also seen that Burmese engineers are working illegally and only paid around 12,000 Thai baht ($355), similar to the salary of migrant manual workers,” he says.

Back in Myanmar, Chaw Su now works odd jobs in the village, earning barely enough to feed her children.

“It’s hard to explain to other people the struggle I’m going through,” she says.

When I ask the creator of the hit Korean drama Squid Game about reports that he was so stressed while shooting the first series he lost six teeth, he quickly corrects me. “It was eight or nine,” he laughs.

Hwang Dong-hyuk is speaking to me on set as he films the second series of his dystopian Netflix thriller, which sees hundreds of debt-laden contestants fight it out for a whopping cash prize, by playing a string of life-or-death children’s games.

But another series was not always on the cards. At one point, he swore against making one.

Given the stress it has caused him, I ask what changed his mind.

“Money,” he answers, without hesitation.

“Even though the first series was such a huge global success, honestly I didn’t make much,” he tells me. “So doing the second series will help compensate me for the success of the first one too.”

“And I didn’t fully finish the story,” he adds.

The first series was Netflix’s most successful show to date, thrusting South Korea and its home-grown television dramas into the spotlight. Its dark commentary on wealth inequality touched a nerve with audiences around the globe.

But having killed off almost every character, Hwang has had to start from scratch, with a new cast and set of games, and this time audience expectations are sky high.

“The stress I feel now is much greater,” he says.

Three years after the first series aired, Hwang is even more pessimistic about the state of the world.

He points to current wars, climate change and a widening global wealth gap. Conflicts are no longer confined between the rich and poor, they are playing out intensely between different generations, genders and political camps, he says.

“New lines are being drawn. We’re in an era of us vs them. Who’s right and who’s wrong?”

As I toured the show’s playful set, with its distinctive brightly-coloured staircase, I picked up a few clues as to how the director’s despair will be reflected this time around.

In this series, the previous winner, Gi-hun, re-enters the game on a quest to bring it down and save the latest round of contestants.

According to Lee Jung-jae, who plays the leading character, he is “more desperate and determined” than before.

The floor of the dormitory, where the contestants sleep at night, has been divided in two.

One half is branded with a giant red neon X symbol, the other with a blue circle.

Now, after every game, the players must pick a side, depending on whether they want to end the contest early and survive, or keep playing, in the knowledge all but one of them will die. The majority decision rules.

This, I am told, will lead to more factionalism and fights.

It is part of director Hwang’s plan to expose the dangers of living in an increasingly tribal world. Forcing people to pick sides, he believes, is fuelling conflict.

For all those who were captivated by the shocking storytelling of Squid Game, there were others who found it gratuitously violent and difficult to watch.

But it is clear from talking to Hwang, that the violence is fully thought out. He is a man who thinks and cares deeply about the world and is motivated by a mounting unease.

“When making this series, I constantly asked myself ‘do we humans have what it takes to steer the world off this downhill path?’. Honestly, I don’t know,” he says.

While viewers of the second series might not get the answers to these big life questions, they can at least be comforted that some plot holes will be filled in – like why the game exists, and what is motivating the masked Front Man running it.

“People will see more of the Front Man’s past, his story and his emotions,” reveals the actor Lee Byung-hun, who plays the mysterious role.

“I don’t think this will make viewers warm to him, but it may help them better understand his choices.”

As one of South Korea’s most famous actors, Lee admits that having his face and eyes covered and his voice distorted throughout the first series, was “a little bit dissatisfying”.

This series he has relished having scenes without a mask, in which he can fully express himself – a chance he nearly did not get.

Hwang tried for 10 years to get Squid Game made, taking out large loans to support his family, before Netflix swooped in.

They paid him a modest upfront amount, leaving him unable to cash in on the whopping £650m it is estimated to have made the platform.

This explains the love-hate relationship South Korea’s film and television creators currently have with international streaming platforms.

Over the past few years, Netflix has stormed the Korean market with billions of dollars of investment, bringing the industry global recognition and love, but leaving creators feeling short-changed.

They accuse the platform of forcing them to relinquish their copyright when they sign contracts – and with it, their claim to profit.

This is a worldwide problem.

In the past, creators could rely on getting a cut of box office sales or TV re-runs, but this model has not been adopted by streaming giants.

The issue is compounded in South Korea, creators say, due to its outdated copyright law, which does not protect them.

This summer, actors, writers, directors and producers teamed up to form a collective, to fight the system together.

“In Korea, being a movie director is just a job title, it’s not a way to earn a living,” the vice-president of the Korean Film Directors Guild, Oh Ki-hwan, tells the audience at an event in Seoul.

Some of his director friends, he says, work part-time in warehouses and as taxi drivers.

Park Hae-young is a writer at the event. When Netflix bought her show, ‘My Liberation Notes’, it became a global hit.

“I’ve been writing my whole life. So, to get global recognition when competing with creators from across the world, has been a joyful experience,” she tells me.

But Park says the current streaming model has left her reluctant to “pour her all” into her next series.

“Usually, I’ll spend four or five years making a drama in the belief that, if it’s successful, it could somewhat secure my future, that I’ll get my fair share of compensation. Without that, what’s the point of working so hard?”

She and other creators are pushing the South Korean government to change its copyright law to force production companies to share their profits.

In a statement, the South Korean government told the BBC that while it recognised the compensation system needed to change, it was up to the industry to resolve the issue. A spokesperson for Netflix told us it offers “competitive” compensation, and guarantees creators “solid compensation, regardless of the success or failure of their shows”.

Squid Game’s Hwang hopes his candor over his own pay struggles will initiate that change.

He has certainly sparked the fair pay conversation, and this second series will surely give the industry another bump.

But when we catch up after filming has wrapped, he tells me his teeth are aching again.

“I haven’t seen my dentist yet, but I’ll probably have to pull out a few more very soon.”

Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver has pulled his new children’s book from the shelves after complaints that it stereotyped Indigenous Australians.

The 400-page fantasy novel Billy and the Epic Escape, which was published earlier this year, features an Aboriginal girl with mystical powers living in foster care who is abducted from her home in central Australia.

Some First Nations leaders have called the book “offensive”, saying it contains language errors and contributes to the “erasure, trivialisation, and stereotyping of First Nations peoples and experiences”.

Oliver – who is currently in Australia promoting his newest cookbook – has apologised and said he is “devastated” to have caused hurt.

“It was never my intention to misinterpret this deeply painful issue,” he said in a statement.

The book’s publisher, Penguin Random House UK, said Oliver had requested Indigenous Australians be consulted over the book, but an “editorial oversight” meant that did not happen.

Among the complaints is that the character is given the ability to read people’s minds and communicate with animals and plants because “that’s the Indigenous way”, which Sharon Davis from the national First Nations’ education body said reduces “complex and diverse belief systems” to “magic”.

The girl is also at the centre of an abduction plot – something community leader Sue-Anne Hunter called a “particularly insensitive choice”, given the “painful historical context” of the Stolen Generations. For decades in Australia, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander kids were removed from their families as part of an assimilation policy from successive governments.

The girl, who is from Mparntwe or Alice Springs, also uses vocabulary from the Gamilaraay people of NSW and Queensland, which Ms Davis said showed “complete disregard for the vast differences among First Nations languages, cultures, and practices”.

“There is no space in Australian publishing (or elsewhere) for our stories to be told through a colonial lens, by authors who have little if any connection to the people and place they are writing about,” Dr Anita Heiss, a Wiradyuri author and publisher told the Guardian Australia.

Oliver said he and his publishers had decided to withdraw the book from sale around the world.

A statement from Penguin Random House UK added: “It is clear that our publishing standards fell short on this occasion, and we must learn from that.”

Indian full-service carrier Vistara will operate its last flight on Monday, after nine years in existence.

A joint venture between Singapore Airlines and the Tata Sons, Vistara will merge with Tata-owned Air India to form a single entity with an expanded network and broader fleet.

This means that all Vistara operations will be transferred to and managed by Air India, including helpdesk kiosks and ticketing offices. The process of migrating passengers with existing Vistara bookings and loyalty programmes to Air India has been under way over the past few months.

“As part of the merger process, meals, service ware and other soft elements have been upgraded and incorporates aspects of both Vistara and Air India,” an Air India spokesperson said in an email response.

Amid concerns that the merger could impact service standards, the Tatas have assured that Vistara’s in-flight experience will remain unchanged.

Known for its high ratings in food, service, and cabin quality, Vistara has built a loyal customer base and the decision to retire the Vistara brand has been criticised by fans, branding experts, and aviation analysts.

The consolidation was effectively done to clean up Vistara’s books and wipe out its losses, said Mark Martin, an aviation analyst.

Air India has essentially been “suckered into taking a loss-making airline” in a desperate move, he added.

“Mergers are meant to make airlines powerful. Never to wipe out losses or cover them.”

To be sure, both Air India and Vistara’s annual losses have reduced by more than half over the past year, and other operating metrics have improved too. But the merger process so far has been turbulent.

The exercise has been riddled with problems – from pilot shortages that have led to massive flight cancellations, to Vistara crew going on mass sick leave over plans to align their salary structures with Air India.

There have also been repeated complaints about poor service standards on Air India, including viral videos of broken seats and non-functioning inflight entertainment systems.

The Tatas have announced a $400m (£308m) programme to upgrade and retrofit the interiors of its older aircraft and also a brand-new livery. They’ve also placed orders for hundreds of new Airbus and Boeing planes worth billions of dollars to augment their offering.

But this “turnaround” is still incomplete and riddled with problems, according to Mr Martin. A merger only complicates matters.

Experts say that the merger strikes a dissonant chord from a branding perspective too.

Harish Bijoor, a brand strategy specialist, told the BBC he was feeling “emotional” that a superior product offering like Vistara which had developed a “gold standard for Indian aviation” was ceasing operations.

“It is a big loss for the industry,” said Mr Bijoor, adding it will be a monumental task for the mother brand Air India to simply “copy, paste and exceed” the high standards set by Vistara, given that it’s a much smaller airline that’s being gobbled up by a much larger one.

Mr Bijoor suggests a better strategy would have been to operate Air India separately for five years, focusing on improving service standards, while maintaining Vistara as a distinct brand with Air India prefixed to it.

“This would have given Air India the time and chance to rectify the mother brand and bring it up to the Vistara level, while maintaining its uniqueness,” he adds.

Beyond branding, the merged entity will face a slew of operational challenges.

“Communication will be a major challenge in the early days, with customers arriving at the airport expecting Vistara flights, only to find Air India branding,” says Ajay Awtaney, editor of Live From A Lounge, an aviation portal. “Air India will need to maintain clear communication for weeks.”

Another key challenge, he notes, is cultural: Vistara’s agile employees may struggle to adjust to Air India’s complex bureaucracy and systems.

But the biggest task for the merged carrier would be offering customers a uniform flying experience.

These are “two airlines with very different service formats are being integrated into one airline. It is going to be a hotchpotch of service formats, cabin formats, branding, and customer experience. It will involve learning and unlearning, and such a process has rarely worked with airlines and is seldom effective,” said Mr Martin.

Still, many believe Vistara had to go – now or some years later.

A legacy brand like Air India, with strong global recognition and ‘India’ imprinted in its identity, wouldn’t have allowed a smaller, more premium subsidiary to overshadow its revival process.

Financially too, it makes little sense for the Tatas to have two loss-making entities compete with one another.

The combined strength of Vistara and Air India could also place the Tatas in a much better position to compete with market leader Indigo.

The unified Air India group (including Air India Express, which completed its merger with the former Air Asia India in October) “will be bigger and better with a fleet size of nearly 300 aircraft, an expanded network and a stronger workforce”, an Air India spokesperson said.

“Getting done with the merger means that Air India grows overnight, and the two teams start cooperating instead of competing. There will never be one right day to merge. Somewhere, a line had to be drawn,” said Mr Awtaney.

But for many Vistara loyalists, its demise leaves a void in India’s skies for a premium, full-service carrier – marking the third such gap after the collapse of Kingfisher Airlines and Jet Airways.

It’s still too early to say if Air India, which often ranks at the bottom of airline surveys, can successfully fill that void.

An Australian soldier has been posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross – the Commonwealth’s highest military honour – for bravery during the Vietnam War.

The then 19-year-old Private Richard Norden ran into enemy fire to reach a wounded comrade and retrieve the body of another during a battle north-east of the capital, then known as Saigon, in 1968.

He survived the battle but died at the age of 24 in a traffic accident while on duty as a police officer in Canberra

More than 60,000 Australians – about a quarter of them conscripted – served in controversial Vietnam War from 1962 to 1973, as part of an allied force led by the US.

“Private Richard Norden is a true Australian hero… [He] demonstrated extraordinary courage and selflessness by putting his own life at risk to save and protect his fellow comrades,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said after the announcement, on Remembrance Day.

Pte Norden’s company was ambushed by North Vietnamese Army soldiers on 14 May, 1968, with a scout immediately killed and the section Commander gravely injured.

Described as having a “complete disregard for his own personal safety”, he ran forward under heavy enemy fire to reach the two soldiers and carried the severely wounded section Commander back to his group.

Himself seriously wounded by that point, Pte Norden then went back for the scout. Finding him dead, he then returned to the group to collect grenades before pushing into the battlefield for a third time, to clear the area so the scout’s body could be recovered.

Australia’s Governor-General Sam Mostyn said it was a “historic” day for the country and a “significant” moment for Pte Norden’s family.

“We are honoured that His Majesty has approved the Victoria Cross for Australia for Richard, recognising his gallantry actions whilst serving in Vietnam,” his widow, Robynn Freeman said in a statement.

A formal ceremony to present the medal to Pte Norden’s family will take place at a later date, yet to be announced.

Like in many other allied countries, the war was very divisive in Australia and thousands of Australians protested against it.

By the time the conflict ended in 1975, an estimated three million Vietnamese people had died, with the US losing over 58,000 people and Australia 521.

Dozens of pro-Palestinian demonstrators have been detained by police in Amsterdam after defying a ban on public protests in the Dutch capital.

Hundreds gathered in Dam Square on Sunday, calling for an end to the conflict in Gaza and expressing dissent towards the ban.

Demonstrations were temporarily banned by the mayor after Israeli football fans were targeted in what she called “hit-and-run” attacks on Thursday night after a match between Maccabi Tel Aviv and Ajax Amsterdam.

The Israeli government has advised its citizens to “categorically avoid” Israeli sports and cultural events while abroad – specifically the football match between France and Israel in Paris on Thursday.

Authorities say Thursday’s attacks – which caused five people to be hospitalised – were motivated by antisemitism as the fans were sought out across the city.

The violence – which led to at least 62 arrests – was condemned by leaders in Europe, the US and in Israel.

The outcry was exacerbated by the attacks occurring on the eve of commemorations of Kristallnacht – Nazi pogroms against German Jews that took place in 1938.

Three-quarters of Jewish people in the Netherlands were murdered during the Holocaust in World War Two.

Amsterdam police said there had also been trouble the night before the match. Police chief Peter Holla said there had been incidents “on both sides”, including Israeli supporters removing a Palestinian flag from a wall and setting it alight, and attacking a taxi.

The city’s Mayor Femke Halsema announced a ban on public assembly on Friday lasting at least until the end of the weekend, deeming the city a “high-risk security area”.

But protesters on Sunday argued they should be free to voice their disapproval of Israel’s actions in Gaza and the actions of the Maccabi supporters.

“This protest has nothing to do with antisemitism,” Alexander van Stokkum, one of the demonstrators, told the AFP news agency on Sunday. “It is against Israeli hooligans who were destroying our city.”

Others told a Reuters journalist: “We refuse to let the charge of antisemitism be weaponised to suppress Palestinian resistance.”

The news agency reported that more than 100 people were detained for attending the protest. Police in Amsterdam confirmed there had been arrests, but have yet to say how many.

Following the protest ban, Dutch activist Frank van der Linde applied for an urgent permit so Sunday’s demonstration could go ahead.

On X, he said that he wanted to protest what he described as “the genocide in Gaza”, adding: “We will not let our right to demonstrate be taken away.”

Mr Van der Linde was overruled by Amsterdam’s district court, which wrote on Sunday that “the mayor has rightly determined that there is a ban on demonstrating in the city this weekend”.

Dutch national newspaper De Telegraaf reports Mr Van der Linde was among those arrested.

The Israeli embassy in the Netherlands earlier warned Israelis in Amsterdam to avoid Dam square, saying the event “may flare up into significant violent incidents”.

Israel’s National Security Council has told its citizens to avoid public demonstrations “of any kind” and conceal “anything that could identify you as Israeli/Jewish”, citing Thursday’s attacks.

“Preparations to harm Israelis have been identified in several European cities, including Brussels (Belgium), major cities in the UK, Amsterdam (Netherlands), and Paris,” it claimed.

Paris’s police chief has pledged that 4,000 officers would be deployed in the stadium and across the French capital for the Nations League match on 14 November.

Toy manufacturer Mattel has said it “deeply regrets” a misprint on packaging for dolls inspired by the new Wicked movie which listed the address for an adult website.

The company recently released the singing dolls ahead of the long-awaited film starring Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande.

But eagle-eyed fans posted images on social media showing the packaging had a pornography website on it, instead of the movie’s web address.

In a statement, Mattel apologised for the “unfortunate error” and advised parents that the misprinted website “is not appropriate for children”.

The BBC has seen online instructions on Mattel’s website, for both the Glinda and Elphaba dolls, listing the erroneous website underneath the Universal Pictures logo – the film studio behind the movie.

Mattel recommends the dolls for children aged four and above.

Fans who bought the doll posted about their surprise on social media.

“I purchased the Singing Elphaba doll and upon inspection, the website printed on the back side [of the] Mattel box, right above the barcode is listed as… an unaffiliated adult [not safe for work] 18+ website,” one person posted on Reddit.

“Anyone else seeing this!?”

In another post, a US-based woman said: “Went to Target and Walmart today and yeah, the Wicked dolls have the [porn] website listed.”

Mattel said the dolls had primarily been sold in the US.

It added: “We deeply regret this unfortunate error and are taking immediate action to remedy this.”

“Consumers who already have the product are advised to discard the product packaging or obscure the link and may contact Mattel customer service for further information.”

The Wicked movie comes after two decades of the musical on stage.

Set in the Land of Oz before Dorothy Gales’ arrival from Kansas, the movie covers the musical’s first act.

British actress Erivo plays Elphaba, a young woman misunderstood because of her green skin and who is yet to discover her power which will eventually lead her to becoming the Wicked Witch of the West.

She strikes up an unlikely friendship with classmate Glinda, played by Grammy-winning singer Grande, who will go on to become the Good Witch of the North.

The movie is set to be released in the US and UK on 22 November.

Israeli strikes on northern Lebanon and Gaza have killed dozens of people including several children, rescuers and officials say.

The Lebanese health ministry said at least 23 people including seven children were killed on Sunday in Almat near Byblos, to the north of the capital Beirut.

In northern Gaza, the civil defence agency said at least 30 people were killed in Israeli strikes on two houses in the besieged enclave.

The first strike early Sunday hit a house in Jabalia, killing “at least 25” people, including 13 children, and injuring more than 30, according to the agency.

Another five people were killed in the Sabra neighbourhood of Gaza City and some are still missing in the aftermath, the civil defence agency said.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said Hezbollah had stored weapons at, and were operating from, the site it had targeted in Lebanon.

It added “numerous steps were taken to mitigate the risk of harm to civilians, including the use of aerial surveillance and precise intelligence”.

The IDF said it struck a site in Jabalia where “terrorists were operating” and in the case of that strike as well, steps had been taken to mitigate civilian harm.

The details of both incidents were under review, it said.

The Lebanese health ministry said rescue workers were still searching the rubble after the strike in Almat.

Israel has escalated its campaign against Iran-backed Lebanese armed group Hezbollah. Its main focus had been southern Lebanon, aiming to weaken the group’s capacity to launch rockets across the border. But in recent weeks, operations have targeted cities and towns throughout Lebanon.

In a separate incident to the south, three medical workers were killed when an Israeli strike hit an Islamic Health Authority building in Adloun, the health ministry said.

In a further update, the Lebanese health ministry said in a statement on Sunday that 53 people were killed on Saturday, including 28 in the south and 17 in Baalbek.

The IDF said it had intercepted Hezbollah rockets on Saturday after the militant group launched 70 projectiles, according to Israel’s military.

Since the escalation of the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah seven weeks ago, at least 3,189 people have been killed,14,078 injured and more than 1.2 million displaced across Lebanon, according to Lebanese authorities.

In Gaza, aid groups say Jabalia and other parts of northern Gaza have been under siege since early October when Israel launched a new ground offensive against the Palestinian armed group Hamas.

Dr Fadel Naim, director of the Al-Ahly Hospital in Gaza City, told AP news agency that his facility had received 17 bodies from Jabalia so far, including those of nine women, and the death toll was likely to rise.

Eyewitnesses described the Israeli strike as an “earthquake”.

“We were just sitting peacefully. These are innocent citizens who don’t belong to any military organisation or faction,” eyewitness and relative to the victims Hamza Alloush told Reuters.

The house “was bombed over the residents’ heads without warning, which led to the martyrdom of everyone inside. Those who were lucky enough to survive were thrown onto the trees, onto the neighbours, and the remains are still scattered under the rubble”, he said.

Videos and images showed multiple bodies wrapped in blankets in the back of cars and laid to the ground at a hospital.

Another strike in Gaza City killed a welfare ministry official and seven members of his family, including his wife and children, medics and relatives said.

Israel is facing a US deadline that expires within days to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza or face potential restrictions on military cooperation.

The UN previously said the “darkest moment” of the war in Gaza was unfolding in the northern part of the territory.

Meanwhile, news agency AFP reported that the Syrian defence ministry said an Israeli air strike on a residential building south of the capital Damascus had killed seven civilians on Sunday.

The fatalities included women and children, with 20 people also injured, the ministry said in a statement to AFP.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told the news agency the attack targeted members of Hezbollah.

The UK-based monitoring group said the strike targeted “the building where Lebanese families and members of the movement live”.

There was no immediate comment from the IDF, AFP reported.

On Saturday, Israel rejected warnings of famine in northern Gaza from global food security experts, saying the group relied on “partial, biased data and superficial sources with vested interests”.

The independent Famine Review Committee (FRC) said there was a strong likelihood of imminent famine and that immediate action was required to ease a catastrophic situation.

Israel said it had increased aid efforts, including opening an additional crossing on Friday to get more aid into southern Gaza.

The IDF later said it had delivered 11 trucks of food, water and medical aid into Jabalia and Beit Hanoun on Thursday.

Meanwhile, efforts to reach a ceasefire have stalled, with Qatar suspending its work as a mediator until Hamas and Israel “show their willingness” to negotiate.

Israel launched its current military offensive in Gaza after Hamas’ attack on 7 October 2023 that killed about 1,200 people in Israel and took 251 hostages back to Gaza.

Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry, whose figures the UN sees as reliable, has reported a death toll of more than 43,600 people since the start of the war. Many more bodies are believed to remain under the rubble of bombarded buildings.

In Lebanon, Israel went on the offensive against Hezbollah after almost a year of cross-border fighting sparked by the war in Gaza.

Israeli air strikes have eliminated most of the group’s leadership and caused widespread destruction in parts of southern and eastern Lebanon and Beirut’s southern suburbs – areas where Hezbollah has a strong presence.

Israeli authorities say more than 70 people have been killed by Hezbollah attacks in Israel and the occupied Golan Heights over the past year.

Over the past few months the BBC has been exploring a dark, hidden world – a world where the very worst, most horrifying, distressing, and in many cases, illegal online content ends up.

Beheadings, mass killings, child abuse, hate speech – all of it ends up in the inboxes of a global army of content moderators.

You don’t often see or hear from them – but these are the people whose job it is to review and then, when necessary, delete content that either gets reported by other users, or is automatically flagged by tech tools.

The issue of online safety has become increasingly prominent, with tech firms under more pressure to swiftly remove harmful material.

And despite a lot of research and investment pouring into tech solutions to help, ultimately for now, it’s still largely human moderators who have the final say.

Moderators are often employed by third-party companies, but they work on content posted directly on to the big social networks including Instagram, TikTok and Facebook.

They are based around the world. The people I spoke to while making our series The Moderators for Radio 4 and BBC Sounds, were largely living in East Africa, and all had since left the industry.

Their stories were harrowing. Some of what we recorded was too brutal to broadcast. Sometimes my producer Tom Woolfenden and I would finish a recording and just sit in silence.

“If you take your phone and then go to TikTok, you will see a lot of activities, dancing, you know, happy things,” says Mojez, a former Nairobi-based moderator who worked on TikTok content. “But in the background, I personally was moderating, in the hundreds, horrific and traumatising videos.

“I took it upon myself. Let my mental health take the punch so that general users can continue going about their activities on the platform.”

There are currently multiple ongoing legal claims that the work has destroyed the mental health of such moderators. Some of the former workers in East Africa have come together to form a union.

“Really, the only thing that’s between me logging onto a social media platform and watching a beheading, is somebody sitting in an office somewhere, and watching that content for me, and reviewing it so I don’t have to,” says Martha Dark who runs Foxglove, a campaign group supporting the legal action.

In 2020, Meta then known as Facebook, agreed to pay a settlement of $52m (£40m) to moderators who had developed mental health issues because of their jobs.

The legal action was initiated by a former moderator in the US called Selena Scola. She described moderators as the “keepers of souls”, because of the amount of footage they see containing the final moments of people’s lives.

The ex-moderators I spoke to all used the word “trauma” in describing the impact the work had on them. Some had difficulty sleeping and eating.

One described how hearing a baby cry had made a colleague panic. Another said he found it difficult to interact with his wife and children because of the child abuse he had witnessed.

I was expecting them to say that this work was so emotionally and mentally gruelling, that no human should have to do it – I thought they would fully support the entire industry becoming automated, with AI tools evolving to scale up to the job.

But they didn’t.

What came across, very powerfully, was the immense pride the moderators had in the roles they had played in protecting the world from online harm.

They saw themselves as a vital emergency service. One says he wanted a uniform and a badge, comparing himself to a paramedic or firefighter.

“Not even one second was wasted,” says someone who we called David. He asked to remain anonymous, but he had worked on material that was used to train the viral AI chatbot ChatGPT, so that it was programmed not to regurgitate horrific material.

“I am proud of the individuals who trained this model to be what it is today.”

But the very tool David had helped to train, might one day compete with him.

Dave Willner is former head of trust and safety at OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT. He says his team built a rudimentary moderation tool, based on the chatbot’s tech, which managed to identify harmful content with an accuracy rate of around 90%.

“When I sort of fully realised, ‘oh, this is gonna work’, I honestly choked up a little bit,” he says. “[AI tools] don’t get bored. And they don’t get tired and they don’t get shocked…. they are indefatigable.”

Not everyone, however, is confident that AI is a silver bullet for the troubled moderation sector.

“I think it’s problematic,” says Dr Paul Reilly, senior lecturer in media and democracy at the University of Glasgow. “Clearly AI can be a quite blunt, binary way of moderating content.

“It can lead to over-blocking freedom of speech issues, and of course it may miss nuance human moderators would be able to identify. Human moderation is essential to platforms,” he adds.

“The problem is there’s not enough of them, and the job is incredibly harmful to those who do it.”

We also approached the tech companies mentioned in the series.

A TikTok spokesperson says the firm knows content moderation is not an easy task, and it strives to promote a caring working environment for employees. This includes offering clinical support, and creating programs that support moderators’ wellbeing.

They add that videos are initially reviewed by automated tech, which they say removes a large volume of harmful content.

Meanwhile, Open AI – the company behind Chat GPT – says it’s grateful for the important and sometimes challenging work that human workers do to train the AI to spot such photos and videos. A spokesperson adds that, with its partners, Open AI enforces policies to protect the wellbeing of these teams.

And Meta – which owns Instagram and Facebook – says it requires all companies it works with to provide 24-hour on-site support with trained professionals. It adds that moderators are able to customise their reviewing tools to blur graphic content.

Donald Trump swept to victory on Tuesday by chipping away at groups of voters which Democrats once believed would help them win the White House for a generation.

After Barack Obama’s victory in 2008, many triumphantly claimed that the liberal voting coalition which had elected the first black president was growing more powerful, as the makeup of America changed.

Older, white conservatives were reducing in number, and non-white Americans were projected to be in the majority by 2044. College-educated professionals, younger people, black Americans, Latinos and other ethnic minorities, and blue-collar workers were part of a “coalition of the ascendant”.

These voters were left-leaning on cultural issues and supportive of an active federal government and a strong social safety net. And they constituted a majority in enough states to ensure a Democratic lock on the Electoral College – and the presidency.

“Demography,” these left-wing optimists liked to say, “is destiny.” Sixteen years later, however, that destiny appears to have turned to dust.

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Cracks began forming when non-college educated voters slipped away from the Democrats in midterm elections in 2010 and 2014. They then broke en masse to Trump in 2016. While Joe Biden, with his working-class-friendly reputation built over half a century, won enough back to take the White House in 2020, his success proved to be only a temporary reprieve.

This year, Trump supplemented his gains with the blue-collar workers by also cutting into the Democratic margins among young, Latino and black voters. He has carved up the coalition of the ascendant.

According to exit polls, Trump won:

– 13% of the black vote in 2024 compared to Republican John McCain’s 4% against Obama

– 46% of the Latino vote this time, while McCain got 31% in 2008

– 43% of voters under 30 against the 32% for McCain

– 56% of those without a college degree – back in 2008, it was Obama who won a majority

Speaking on Thursday after his comeback victory, Trump celebrated his own diverse coalition of voters.

“I started to see realignment could happen because the Democrats are not in line with the thinking of the country,” the president-elect told NBC News.

Trump did it with a hard-line message on immigration that included border enforcement and mass deportations – policies that Biden and the Democrats recoiled from when they took power back from Trump in 2021, lest they anger immigrant rights activists in their liberal base.

Illegal border crossings reached record levels under the Biden administration, with more than eight million encounters with migrants at the border with Mexico.

“If you watch a video from Hillary Clinton back in 2008 in the primaries, she talks about making sure there’s wall-building, making sure that immigrants who violate the law get deported, making sure everybody learns English,” said Kevin Marino Cabrera, a Republican commissioner in Miami-Dade County. “It’s funny how far to the left [the Democrats] have gone.”

This week, Trump became the first Republican since 1988 to win that heavily Latino county in Florida. He also won Starr County in south Texas, with its 97% Latino population, with 57% of the vote. In 2008, only 15% of the county voted for McCain, the Republican.

Mike Madrid, an anti-Trump Republican strategist who specialises in Latino voting trends, told the BBC that the problem with “demography is destiny” was that it risked treating all non-white Americans as an “aggrieved racial minority”. “But that is not and nor has it ever been the way Latinos have viewed themselves,” he added.

“I hate that if you’re black, you’ve got to be a Democrat or you hate black people and you hate your community,” Kenard Holmes, a 20-year-old student in South Carolina, told the BBC during the presidential primaries earlier this year. He said he agreed with Republicans on some things and felt Democratic politicians took black voters for granted.

With some states still tabulating their results, Trump currently has improved on his electoral margins in at least 2,367 US counties, while slipping in just 240.

It wasn’t just the number of counties that Trump won that made a difference, either. Kamala Harris needed to post significant margins in the cities to offset Republican strength in rural areas. She consistently fell short.

In Detroit’s Wayne County, for example, which the latest US Census reports is 38% black, Harris won 63% of the vote – significantly lower than Joe Biden’s 68% in 2020 and Obama’s 74% in 2008.

Polls consistently suggested that the economy, along with immigration, were the two issues of highest importance to voters – and where polls indicated Trump had an advantage over Harris.

His economic message cut across racial divides.

“We’re just sick of hearing about identity politics,” said Nicole Williams, a white bartender with a black husband and biracial children in Las Vegas, Nevada – one of the key battleground states that Trump flipped this year.

“We’re just American, and we just want what’s best for Americans,” she said.

Democrats are already engaged in considerable soul-searching, as they come to grips with an election defeat that has delivered the White House, the Senate and, perhaps, the House of Representatives to Republican control.

Various elements within the party are offering their own, often conflicting, advice on the best path from the wilderness back to power.

Left-wing Senator Bernie Sanders, who twice ran for the Democratic presidential nomination, also criticised identity politics and accused the party of abandoning working-class voters.

Some centrist Democrats, meanwhile, have argued that the struggle to connect with voters goes beyond the economy and immigration. They point to how the Trump campaign was also able to use a cultural message as a wedge to fracture the Democratic coalition.

Among the positions that Republicans targeted in this year’s election were calls to shift funding away from law enforcement, decriminalise undocumented border-crossings and minor crimes like shoplifting, and provide greater protections for transgender Americans.

Many arose after the murder of George Floyd in 2020 and the resulting rise of the Black Lives Matter movement, as well as other efforts to advance social justice and acknowledge darker parts of American history.

Within a few years, however, some of those positions proved a liability for Democrats when trying to win over persuadable voters and keep their coalition from fraying. Harris, for example, backed away from some positions she’d taken when she first ran for president in 2019.

In the last month of the presidential campaign, the Trump team made the vice-president’s past support for taxpayer-funded gender transition surgeries for federal prisoners and detained immigrants a central focus.

One advert ended with the line: “Kamala is for they/them. President Trump is for you.”

The Trump campaign spent more than $21m on transgender issue ads in the first half of October – about a third of their entire advertising expenditures and nearly double what they spent on spots on immigration and inflation, according to data compiled by AdImpact.

It’s the kind of investment a campaign makes if it has hard data showing an advert is moving public opinion.

After Trump’s convincing win, Congressman Seth Moulton, a moderate from Massachusetts, said his party needed to rethink its approach on cultural issues.

“Democrats spend way too much time trying not to offend anyone rather than being brutally honest about the challenges many Americans face,” Moulton told the New York Times. “I have two little girls, I don’t want them getting run over on a playing field by a male or formerly male athlete, but as a Democrat I’m supposed to be afraid to say that.”

Progressive Democrats, meanwhile, reject that characterisation, and argue that standing up for the rights of minorities has always been a core value of the party. Congressman John Moran wrote on X in response: “You should find another job if you want to use an election loss as an opportunity to pick on our most vulnerable.”

Mike Madrid, the political strategist, has a brutal assessment of where the Democratic coalition is today.

“The Democratic Party was predicated on what really is an unholy alliance between working-class people of colour and wealthier white progressives driven and animated by cultural issues,” Madrid said. “The only glue holding that coalition together was anti-Republicanism.”

Once that glue came unstuck, he said, the party was ripe for defeat.

Future elections are sure to be held in a friendlier political environment for Democrats. And Trump, who has shown a unique ability to attract new and low-propensity voters to the polls, has run his last campaign.

But 2024’s results will provide plenty of fuel for Democratic angst in the days to come.

The Harris campaign itself believes she lost to Trump because she was facing a restive public angry over the economic and social turbulence in the aftermath of the Covid pandemic.

“You stared down unprecedented headwinds and obstacles that were largely out of our control,” campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon wrote in a letter to her staff. “The whole country moved to the right, but compared to the rest of the country, the battleground states saw the least amount of movement in his direction. It was closest in the places we competed.”

Moses Santana, a Puerto Rican living in Philadelphia, is from a demographic which seemed reliably Democratic a decade or so ago. But when he spoke to the BBC this week, he was not so convinced the Democrats had delivered when in power – or that their message today connected with Americans like him.

“You know, Joe Biden promised a lot of progressive things, like he was going to cancel student debt, he was going to help people get their citizenship,” he said. “And none of that happened. Donald Trump is bringing [people] something new.”

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Donald Trump has made the first official hire of his incoming administration, announcing 2024 campaign co-chair Susan Summerall Wiles as his chief of staff.

The president-elect’s transition team is already vetting a series of candidates ahead of his return to the White House on 20 January 2025.

Many who served under Trump in his first term do not plan to return, although a handful of loyalists are expected to make a comeback.

The 78-year-old Republican is also surrounded by new allies who could fill his cabinet, staff his White House and take up other key roles across government.

Here is a closer look at names in the mix for the top jobs.

Susie Wiles and campaign co-chair Chris LaCivita were the masterminds behind Trump’s victory over Kamala Harris.

In his victory speech on Wednesday, he called her “the ice maiden” – a reference to her composure – and said she “likes to stay in the background”.

Wiles was confirmed the next day as the first appointee of his second term – as his White House chief of staff. She will be the first woman ever to hold that job.

Chief of staff is often a president’s top aide, overseeing daily operations in the West Wing and managing the boss’s staff.

Wiles, 67, has worked in Republican politics for decades, from Ronald Reagan’s successful 1980 presidential campaign to electing Rick Scott and Ron DeSantis as governors of Florida.

Republicans have said she commands respect and has an ability to corral the big egos of those in Trump’s orbit, which could enable her to impose a sense of order that none of his four previous chiefs of staff could.

No personnel decision may be more critical to the trajectory of Trump’s second term than his appointee to lead the Department of Justice.

After uneven relationships with both Jeff Sessions and William Barr, the attorneys general during his first term, Trump is widely expected to pick a loyalist who will wield its prosecutorial power in the manner of an “attack dog”.

Among the names being floated for the cabinet post are Aileen Cannon, the Trump-nominated federal judge who threw out his classified documents case; ex- justice department lawyer Jeffrey Clark, who is alleged to have aided Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election results; Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who has been both indicted and impeached like Trump; Matthew Whitaker, the man who took over for three months as acting attorney general after Sessions stepped down at Trump’s request; Mike Davis, a right-wing activist who once clerked for Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch and has issued bombastic threats against Trump critics and journalists; and Mark Paoletta, who served in Trump’s budget office and argues there is no legal requirement for a president to stay out of justice department decisions.

The secretary of homeland security will take the lead in enforcing Trump’s promises of deporting undocumented migrants en masse and “sealing” the US-Mexico border, as well as leading the government response to natural disasters.

Tom Homan, Trump’s former acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice), stands out as the most likely pick.

Homan, 62, supported separating migrant children from their parents as a means to deter illegal crossings and has said politicians who support migrant sanctuary policies should be charged with crimes. Though he resigned in 2018, midway through the Trump presidency, he remains a proponent of the Trump approach on immigration.

Chad Wolf, who served as acting homeland secretary from 2019-20 until his appointment was ruled unlawful, and Chad Mizelle, the homeland department’s former acting general counsel, are also potential contenders.

Stephen Miller, widely considered to be the architect of Trump’s immigration agenda, is expected once again to play a senior advisory role with the White House.

The US secretary of state is the president’s main adviser on foreign affairs, and acts as America’s top diplomat when representing the country overseas.

Florida Senator Marco Rubio – who was most recently under consideration to be Trump’s vice-president – is a major name being floated for the key cabinet post.

Rubio, 53, is a China hawk who opposed Trump in the 2016 Republican primary but has since mended fences. He is a senior member of the Senate foreign relations committee and vice-chairman of the chamber’s select intelligence panel.

Other contenders for the job include biotech entrepreneur and 2024 Republican presidental candidate Vivek Ramaswamy; Trump’s former national security adviser Robert O’Brien; Tennessee Senator Bill Hagerty, who was previously Trump’s ambassador to Japan; and Brian Hook, the hawkish special envoy to Iran in Trump’s first term and the man who is leading the transition effort at the State Department.

A dark horse for the nomination, however, is Richard Grenell, a loyalist who served as ambassador to Germany, special envoy to the Balkans and acting national intelligence chief. Grenell, 58, was heavily involved in Trump’s efforts to overturn his 2020 election defeat and even sat in on his private meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in September.

Grenell’s combative style may make him a better fit for national security adviser – a position that does not require Senate confirmation – than secretary of state.

Also in line for major posts in a second Trump term are former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe; Keith Kellogg, a national security adviser to Trump’s first Vice-President Mike Pence; former defence department official Eldridge Colby; and Kash Patel, a loyalist who staffed the national security council and became chief of staff to the acting secretary of defence in Trump’s final months in office.

Patel, 44, who helped block the transition to the incoming Joe Biden administration in the latter role, is tipped to become the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) chief.

Trump has also said he would fire Federal Bureau of Intelligence (FBI) Director Chris Wray, who he nominated in 2017 but has since fallen out with. Jeffrey Jensen, a former Trump-appointed US attorney, is under consideration to replace Wray.

Trump has previously singled out Christopher Miller, his final acting defence secretary, as a candidate who could be nominated to lead the military.

Miller, a retired Army Special Forces colonel, ran the National Counterterrorism Center and – more recently – authored the defence chapter of the controversial Project 2025 wish list for a second Trump term, though Trump has distanced himself from the document.

Other names being discussed include Michael Waltz, a Florida lawmaker who sits on the armed services committee in the US House of Representatives, and Robert O’Brien.

During Trump’s first term, New York Congresswoman Elise Stefanik transformed from a moderate to a vocal backer. The fourth-ranking House Republican leader has remained one of Trump’s most fiercely loyal defenders on Capitol Hill – which makes her a leading contender to represent him in unfriendly territory at the United Nations.

But she may find herself competing for the position with the likes of former State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus; David Friedman, Trump’s ambassador to Israel; and Kelly Craft, who served as UN ambassador at the end of Trump’s term.

Trump is reportedly considering Robert Lighthizer, a free trade sceptic who led the tariff war with China as the US trade representative, as his chief financial officer.

But at least four others may be under consideration for the role, including Scott Bessent, a billionaire hedge fund manager who has become a major fundraiser and economic adviser to the president-elect; John Paulson, another megadonor from the hedge fund world; former Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chair Jay Clayton; and Fox Business Network financial commentator Larry Kudlow, who ran Trump’s national economic council during his first term.

The woman co-chairing Trump’s transition team, Linda McMahon, is tipped as a key contender to represent US businesses and job creation in his cabinet – after previously serving as small business administrator during his first term.

Others who could fill this vacancy include Brooke Rollins; Robert Lighthizer; and Kelly Loeffler, a wealthy businesswoman who briefly served in the US Senate.

South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem – who was passed over to be Trump’s running mate in part over a bizarre admission that she killed her pet dog – could see her loyalty to him pay off with the leadership of the interior department, which manages public land and natural resources.

She may compete with North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum for the role.

Doug Burgum is also a contender to lead the energy department, where he would implement Trump’s pledges to “drill, baby, drill” and overhaul US energy policy.

A software entrepreneur who sold his small company to Microsoft in 2001, Burgum briefly ran in the 2024 Republican primary before dropping out, endorsing Trump and quickly impressing him with his low-drama persona and sizeable wealth.

Former energy secretary Dan Brouillette is also reportedly in the running.

Karoline Leavitt, 27, who impressed Trump as his campaign’s national press secretary, has already served as an assistant White House press secretary and may be a shoo-in to be the administration’s spokesperson.

RFK Jr, as he is known, is an environmental lawyer by trade, a vaccine sceptic by fame and the nephew of former President John F Kennedy.

He is on a shortlist to run the health and human services department, multiple people close to the president-elect’s campaign told CBS News, the BBC’s US news partner.

Despite having no medical qualifications to his name, Kennedy, 70, is expected to become a kind of “public health tsar” in the Trump administration.

There has been speculation about his inability to pass a background check for security clearance due to past controversies, including dumping a bear carcass in New York’s Central Park.

Besides a new job at the health and human services department, Kennedy could also influence policy at the agriculture department, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the Food and Drug Safety Administration (FDA).

The world’s richest man poured millions of dollars into re-electing Trump and critics say he will now have the power to shape the regulations that affect his companies Tesla, SpaceX and X.

Both he and Trump have focused on the idea of him leading a new “Department of Government Efficiency”, where he would cut costs and streamline what he calls a “massive, suffocating federal bureaucracy”.

The would-be agency’s acronym – DOGE – is a playful reference to a “meme-coin” cryptocurrency Musk has previously promoted.

But Musk, 53, could also play a role in global diplomacy. He participated in Trump’s first call with Ukraine’s Zelensky on Wednesday.

On Saturday, Trump announced on his Truth Social platform that he “will not be inviting former [UN] Ambassador Nikki Haley, or former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo” to work for him again.

It came one day after long-time ally Roger Stone identified the two as “neocons” likely to form a “sinister fifth column” against the Trump agenda. Haley also challenged, and harshly criticised, Trump during the 2024 Republican primary. Pompeo was considered a top contender to be defence secretary.

Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton has ruled himself out for a job as he expects to hold the third-highest rank in the new Senate Republican majority.

Also rumoured to be in the running was Utah Senator Mike Lee, who told Deseret News “I have the job I want” and Republicans must “take full advantage” of their return to power in Washington.

A day after her husband’s big election night win, Melania Trump took to social media to address the nation.

“The majority of Americans have entrusted us with this important responsibility,” Mrs Trump said.

“We will safeguard the heart of the republic – freedom,” she vowed, and urged Americans to rise above ideology for the sake of the country.

It was a brief message, but suggested a shift in how the former first lady will approach the role this second time around.

When Trump won his first presidency in 2016, his wife was initially absent from the White House, instead staying in New York with their young son. She appeared reticent, at times, with the traditions set out by first ladies that preceded her.

But experts say that this time, Mrs Trump will likely be more deliberate with her approach to the largely undefined role of being America’s First Lady.

Born Melanija Knavs, the 54-year-old Slovenian-American former fashion model eventually traded a glamorous life in the gilded walls of Manhattan’s Trump Tower for the confines of political life that came with the Oval Office, during a presidency that was often mired in controversy.

Described by some as an “enigma”, Mrs Trump has preferred to be less public than her predecessors, giving fewer speeches both in the White House and on the campaign trail.

“She’s been unique among modern first ladies,” said Tammy Vigil, an associate professor of communications at Boston University and author of a book on Michelle Obama and Melania Trump.

“She does things the way she wants to do them, as opposed to the way she has to do them. But she fulfils the base expectations.”

In recent years, she avoided the spotlight as her husband challenged several legal cases against him while he campaigned for a second term.

Her absence inspired several news articles this summer asking: “Where is Melania?”

Mrs Trump did appear on key occasions, like when her husband announced in late 2022 that he would be running again.

She also attended the Republican National Convention in July wearing a bright red Christian Dior suit, but did not deliver a speech – another break from tradition.

When she does speak, her words appear carefully chosen, offering hints to her point of view.

At her husband’s Madison Square Garden rally just weeks before Election Day, she delivered short but pointed remarks in line with the Trump campaign’s law and order messaging, painting New York City as a “great metropolis” in decline due to rampant crime.

She also spoke after the first assassination attempt on her husband, calling for unity and labelling the perpetrator a “monster”.

In a rare interview on Fox, she later accused his political opponents and the media of “fuelling a toxic atmosphere” that led to the attack.

Mrs Trump declared her pro-choice stance in her recent memoir, putting her at odds with anti-abortion activists within the Republican Party – though the remarks prompted speculation due to their timing, as her husband was struggling to campaign on the issue after the overturning of Roe v Wade.

• Melania Trump is latest Republican First Lady to back abortion

Mrs Trump wrote about her modelling career, her admiration for her husband and their past political disagreements, but chose to keep details of those disputes private.

She has, however, publicly stood by Trump on controversial stances like his false claim that the 2020 presidential election was stolen.

“I am not the only person who questions the results,” she wrote in her book. On the Capitol Riots on 6 January, 2021, she wrote that she “wasn’t aware” of what was taking place because she was preoccupied with her duties.

Her former press secretary, Stephanie Grisham, wrote in her own memoir that Mrs Trump refused to issue a statement condemning the violence, leading Ms Grisham to resign.

Some commentators have questioned whether she enjoyed the role of first lady at all.

One of her biographers, former CNN reporter Kate Bennett, maintains she did despite her early reluctance.

“She liked all the accoutrements that go with being first lady and living in the White House,” Ms Bennett told People magazine in 2021. “I think she actually really enjoyed it.”

In her memoir, Mrs Trump wrote that she has a “strong sense of duty to use the platform as First Lady for good”.

And she said in a 1999 interview that if her then-boyfriend Trump ever ran for president, she would use former first ladies Jacqueline Kennedy and Betty Ford as role models, calling them “very traditional”.

• Five takeaways from Melania Trump’s new book

Mrs Kennedy was a fashion icon who was dedicated to the preservation of the White House, while Mrs Ford was known as a trailblazer who advocated for abortion rights and women’s rights.

After relocating to Washington, Mrs Trump started taking on first lady duties, such as hosting luncheons and state dinners for visiting world leaders. She also focused on White House aesthetics, ordering extensive renovations and overseeing ambitious Christmas decorations (and was once secretly recorded complaining about that last task).

Her clothing was the subject of media fascination and controversy, particularly after she was spotted wearing a jacket with the phrase “I really don’t care, do you?” during a trip to a migrant child detention centre in 2018.

She said the jacket was a message for “the people and the left-wing media” who were criticising her.

Mrs Trump came under fire again after being secretly recorded by her former friend and senior advisor. She was heard expressing her frustration at being criticised for her husband’s policy to separate migrant children from their families.

She later revealed that she had been blindsided by the policy, and had told Trump privately that she did not support it. The policy was dropped by the president in June 2018 after a firestorm of controversy.

Prof Vigil says one of the biggest challenges that Mrs Trump faced in her first term was her political inexperience as well as a revolving door of staff, who were equally inexperienced and at times disloyal.

But Mrs Trump kept quietly busy regardless, Prof Vigil adds, advocating for issues like children’s welfare through her Be Best campaign against online bullying.

She was forced to defend that campaign given her own husband’s aggressive use of social media, telling CBS in 2016 that how he conducted himself online got him in trouble – and boosted his followers.

She also advocated for children affected by the opioid crisis, and has since started a foundation that raises education funds for children in foster care.

Many expect for that work to continue once she moves back to Washington, though it remains unclear if she will live there full-time.

Prof Vigil says the role of first lady has evolved over the years and Mrs Trump will “make choices about how active in public she wants to be”.

“And I think she’ll do that much more intentionally.”

The party that will control the US House of Representatives for the next two years is not yet decided – but the Republicans look to be inching towards a majority that would hand them full control of the US government.

On Saturday morning, the party was a handful of seats short of the 218 needed to take control of the lower chamber of Congress.

The Senate, or upper chamber, and the White House have already flipped to Republicans – meaning President-elect Donald Trump could have significant power to carry out his political agenda after he is sworn in on 20 January 2025.

Control of the House gives a party the power to initiate spending legislation and launch impeachment proceedings against officials.

• Follow live updates: Trump plans White House transition
• Results: Who did each state vote for?
• In maps and charts: How small gains delivered Trump a big win
• These are the seven things Trump says he will do as president
• Analysis – Why Kamala Harris lost: A flawed candidate or doomed campaign?

Under Trump, a unified Republican Party could more easily push through tax cuts and introduce border control measures.

Here are some of the races that have yet to be called.

Democrats are closely monitoring five seats in California they see as crucial to winning back the House.

Challengers are hoping to defeat the incumbent Republicans and flip the seats blue, but polling has shown incumbents holding onto their seats by narrow margins.

The key races to watch are:

• California’s 45th congressional district: Republican Congresswoman Michelle Steel, the incumbent, has been leading against Democrat Derek Tran
• California’s 27th: Democrat George Whitesides is challenging incumbent Republican Congressman Mike Garcia. Garcia has been leading by a narrow margin
• California’s 41st: Incumbent Republican Congressman Ken Calvert is running against Democrat Will Rollins, and has also been leading by a narrow margin
• California’s 22nd: Democrat Rudy Salas is challenging incumbent Republican Congressman David Valadao, who has been enjoying a lead
• California’s 13th: Incumbent Republican Congressman John Duarte is running against Democrat Adam Gray, and has been leading

There are two closely-watched races in this swing state.

Republican Juan Ciscomani, the Republican, appears to be neck and neck with his Democratic challenger, Kirsten Engel, in Arizona’s 6th district, located in the south-east corner of the state.

In Arizona’s 1st district, David Schweikert has a slight lead over Democratic challenger Amish Shah. This district covers north-eastern Maricopa County, outside Phoenix.

Incumbent Democratic Congressman Jared Golden is fighting to keep his seat in Maine’s 2nd congressional district – one of two congressional districts in the state. This encompasses the majority of the state north of Augusta and Portland.

Golden is currently leading in the race against his Republican challenger, Austin Theriault. Almost all votes have been counted.

Democrats are looking to hold onto one seat in Ohio’s 9th congressional district, which encompasses Toledo in the state’s north.

Incumbent Democratic Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur, who has served in Congress since 1983, narrowly leads in the race against her Republican challenger, Derek Merrin.

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

Herders scooping murky water from a small pond in grasslands in South Sudan are well aware of the dangers they face if they drink it.

“The water is dirty because this place has oil – it has chemicals in it,” says their chief, Chilhok Puot.

Nyatabah, a woman from this community raising cows in the heart of oil fields in Unity State, adds: “If you drink it, it makes you pant and cough.

“We know it’s bad water, but we don’t have anywhere else, we’re dying of thirst.”

A former oil engineer, David Bojo Leju, has told the BBC that flooding in the area is washing pollution into water sources.

Large swathes of the state have been under water for several years after unprecedented flooding, which scientists say has been worsened by climate change.

Mr Bojo Leju says the floods are a “disaster” and that pollution from mismanaged oil facilities is a “silent killer” spreading across the state.

South Sudan is the world’s youngest country and one of its poorest, with a government hugely dependent on oil revenue.

Unity State, a major oil-producing state, has always experienced seasonal flooding. But in 2019, extreme rains brought a deluge that engulfed villages, grasslands and forests. Year after year of intense rainfall followed. The water built up, trapped on the clay soil.

At the worst point in 2022, two-thirds of Unity State were submerged, according to the UN World Food Programme (WFP) – even now, it says about 40% is still under water.

Mr Bojo Leju worked for eight years for the oil consortium Greater Pioneer Operating Company (GPOC), a joint venture between Malaysian, Indian and Chinese oil companies – with South Sudan’s government owning 5%.

After a major pipeline rupture five years ago, he started photographing and filming pools of oily water and heaps of blackened soil in locations in Unity State, including sites near Roriak, where the herders live.

He says spills from oil wells and pipelines were “a recurring situation”, and that he was involved in transporting contaminated soil away from roads, so it would not be seen.

He tried to raise his concerns with company managers, but he says little was done and “there was no treatment plan for soil”.

Mr Bojo Leju also says “produced water” – water released from the ground when oil is extracted and often containing hydrocarbons and other pollutants – was not properly treated.

There were reports of high oil content, above international standards, in the produced water “every day in our morning meeting”, he says, “and this water is injected back into the environment”.

“The question is where does water flow?” he says.

“Up to the river, up to the water source where people drink, up to ponds where people catch fish.”

Mr Bojo Leju explains that “some of the oil chemicals seeped down” into the groundwater, where they will flow into boreholes.

“The water table is contaminated,” he says.

When intense rains began in 2019, earth dykes were put around some spilled oil “but it was not enough to withstand the volume of water”, he adds.

In Roriak, there is no data available about the quality of the water the herders drink, but they fear pollution is making their cattle sick.

They say calves have been born without heads or without limbs.

Unity State’s agriculture minister blames the deaths of more than 100,000 cattle in the last two years on the floods combined with oil pollution.

In a forest close to Roriak, a group of men and women chop down trees to make charcoal.

They have walked for eight hours along dirt roads flanked by flood water to reach the forest.

They say the only water they can find here is polluted.

Even boiled “it causes diarrhoea and abdominal pain”, says one woman, Nyakal.

Another, Nyeda, wipes away tears, saying she needs the charcoal to sell, but is worried about her seven children, left with her mother for a week.

“She has nothing either,” she says.

Nyeda lives near the state capital, Bentiu, in a reed hut squeezed into a camp housing 140,000 people who have fled conflict or the floods. It is completely surrounded by flood water and protected only by earth dykes.

There is some food aid, but many in the area survive by foraging for water lily roots and fish to supplement their rations.

Safe water is scarce. Nyeda uses water from a borehole for washing and cooking, but needs money to buy drinking water.

Health professionals and politicians in the area have told the BBC they fear pollution and the lack of clean water are taking a toll on human health.

In a hospital in Bentiu, a mother has just given birth. Her new-born baby’s nose and mouth are joined.

“They have no access to clean water,” says Dr Samuel Puot, one of the doctors caring for the baby.

“They just drink from the river where water and oil are mixed. That might be the problem.”

He says there are “many” cases of children born with abnormalities, such as no limbs or a small head, in Bentiu and also Ruweng, an oil-producing area north of Unity State.

They often die within days or months, he adds.

Genetic testing can give clues about the causes of congenital abnormalities, but the hospital does not have the facilities, and results are often not conclusive.

Dr Puot wants the government to keep a register of cases.

As the data is not recorded systematically, it is not clear whether these anecdotal reports indicate an unusually high prevalence of congenital abnormalities.

“It is plausible that oil-related pollution could contribute to an increased risk of birth defects,” says Dr Nicole Deziel, an environmental health specialist at Yale University.

Environmental pollution is a risk factor for congenital abnormalities, alongside genetics, maternal age, infection and nutrition, she says.

Some compounds released during the production of oil can affect foetal development, Dr Deziel adds.

“Anecdotal reports can serve as important indicators of environmental health problems,” she says, but stresses that without systematic data collection, establishing evidence of a causal relationship is difficult.

In 2014 and 2017, the German-based non-governmental organisation Sign of Hope carried out peer-reviewed studies close to other oil fields in Unity State.

They found increased salinity and high concentrations of heavy metals in water nearer oil wells, as well as high concentrations of lead and barium in human hair samples.

The researchers concluded these were indicators of pollution from oil production.

Life at 50C Water Crisis: Poisoned Floods – extreme flooding has affected hundreds of thousands in South Sudan. Now with added fears of oil pollution.

Find it on iPlayer (UK only) or on the BBC Africa YouTube channel (outside the UK)

The government has commissioned an environmental audit of the impact of the oil industry, but the results are yet to be made public more than a year later than expected.

Mary Ayen Majok, a senior politician from the ruling party, has been raising concerns about oil pollution for more than a decade.

She is a member of the government and deputy speaker in the upper house of the South Sudanese parliament, and is from Ruweng.

She says one of her own relatives has had a child “born with deformities” and believes many such cases are not reported because of fear of stigma or lack of access to medical facilities.

Ms Majok says South Sudan “inherited an industry that was based on bad practices” when the country was formed in 2011 after it gained independence from Sudan.

A five-year civil war broke out in 2013. For a nation facing conflict and heavily dependent on oil revenues, improving environmental responsibility has been “at the tail of our priorities”, she says.

Laws and institutions have been established but “accountability is not that strong”, she says.

“Talking about oil is like touching the heart of the government,” says Mr Bojo Leju.

He spoke to the BBC in Sweden, where he has been granted asylum.

In 2020 he was approached by South Sudanese lawyers who wanted to sue the government over oil pollution.

He agreed to testify as a witness. But he says security personnel detained him, hit him on the head with a pistol and forced him to sign a document recanting his evidence.

He fled the country soon afterwards. The lawyers did not pursue their case.

The BBC asked the oil consortium GPOC and the South Sudanese president’s office to comment on the allegations in this report, but they did not respond.

Scientists are not sure whether the floods in Unity State will ever recede.

Dr Chris Funk, director of the Climate Hazards Center at University of Carolina, Santa Barbara, says 2019 saw record sea surface temperatures in the west Indian Ocean, which “would have been impossible in a world without climate change”.

Warmer air can hold more moisture, and he says there was a “strong link” between these sea temperatures and the 2019 extreme rains over East Africa.

Dr Funk says higher rainfall has continued since then over the Lake Victoria basin that feeds into South Sudan, but it is not clear whether this is a permanent new pattern.

Temperatures in South Sudan have risen and are expected to rise further, he adds.

This means extreme precipitation “will be more extreme” and, under some global warming scenarios, heat and humidity could mean some parts of the country “would not be liveable”, he says.

However, despite the floods and pollution fears, many here hope to return to a life of raising animals and living off the land.

In Roriak, children fashion a miniature village out of the clay on the ground, complete with model huts and cows.

And near Bentiu, an elderly woman grinds water lily roots next to the flood water. She says she would like to a have a cow again, one day.

“When the water goes down, I’ll grow grain, even if it’s years,” she adds.

Life at 50C Water Crisis: Poisoned Floods – blood, pollution and oil in South Sudan. BBC Eye investigates the legacy of oil and asks who is responsible?

Find it on BBC Sounds if you’re in the UK, or if you’re outside the UK click here.

• Extreme drought areas treble in size since 80s – study
• This year set to be first to breach 1.5C global warming limit
• Deadliest weather made worse by climate change – scientists
• South Sudan floods: Fleeing Nile waters to a minefield

Donald Trump’s Florida residence and private club Mar-a-Lago is once again the Winter White House – the place to be seen for West Wing hopefuls as the US president-elect assembles a new administration behind its opulent doors.

While President Joe Biden will remain in office until January, this part of Florida has become a rival centre of political power in America.

Just two years after an FBI raid found classified documents about US nuclear weapons and spy satellites stored in a bathroom, an eclectic mix of insiders are swarming to Mar-a-Lago, which is patrolled by robot dogs and armed guards on boats.

North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, rumoured as a potential energy secretary, was there on election night. So was former US Defence Department chief of staff Kash Patel.

Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, has been alongside Donald Trump in Mar-a-Lago during family dinners and calls with world leaders.

Musk has been photographed inside the private club with his son and on the runway of Palm Beach International Airport, as he shuttles back and forth to be by the president-elect’s side.

For those not blessed with an invitation to stay at Mar-a-Lago itself, the hotels and restaurants around nearby West Palm Beach are packed with office-seekers jostling for influence in the new administration and supporters celebrating Trump’s victory.

Robert F Kennedy Jr, vaccine sceptic and scion of the one of the most famous US political dynasties, was by the swanky pool bar of The Ben hotel, where a fake ice rink and Christmas tree greet guests.

Giant, golden Great Dane dog sculptures adorn the lobby and every floor outside the lifts.

He is part of the transition team and the one-time presidential candidate is vying for a role with influence over health policy.

Speaking even before the election, alongside the former congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, a Democrat-turned-Republican, he said: “There’s people of all different kinds of ideology and people that we’re going to have to go up against in that transition team and fight for our vision.”

Also spotted at The Ben was outspoken Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene, the Georgia congresswoman who recently blamed the Biden administration for causing flooding in Republican areas of North Carolina. She is believed to be jockeying for a cabinet position.

At The Breakers, an opulent Italian Renaissance-style oceanfront hotel, the young valets were most star struck by the visit of Ultimate Fighting Championship CEO Dana White, who joined his friend Trump on stage on election night, but who says he has no personal political aspirations.

The same cannot be said for others. One GOP insider that the BBC ran into in the corridors said the transition was “a free for all”, as different factions of the party battle for dominance.

“Trump loves to see people scramble and suck up.”

But the insider noted with a hint of worry that some “minimally acceptable people are starting to say they don’t want a role”.

Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton, for one, has conveyed that he isn’t interested in working in the administration and would prefer a Senate leadership position.

Donald Trump is expected to focus less on elected officials to fill senior positions.

His son, Don Jr, said during an interview on Fox News that he wants people who “don’t think they know better” than his father and that he’s prepared to block anyone he thinks would be a disaster.

The president-elect has been vocal about doing things differently this time around, feeling his biggest mistake during his first presidency was hiring “bad people, or disloyal people”.

Back in 2016, plans for the transition that had been prepared by former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie in concert with the outgoing Obama administration were laid to waste.

Once the Trump team won what was seen as an improbable victory, they decided on an unconventional approach and fired Christie.

What ensued was an Apprentice-style parade of people to Trump Tower in New York that played out in front of the cameras.

Back then, news crews packed into the lobby to capture everyone headed up the golden elevator to see Donald Trump on the 26th floor.

While the world was still trying to understand what a Trump presidency would look like, those with influence in Wall Street, media, politics and entertainment all sought an audience, including Bill Gates, Al Gore and even Kanye West.

This time around, Trump seems to be prioritising loyalty, tallying up who has been with him since day one.

And the world’s media are crammed onto hotel balconies and the parks and beaches surrounding Mar-a-Lago, where security is at fortress levels.

The transition process is still unconventional by design, but so far it is far more behind the scenes than in 2016.

Trump’s first appointment – Florida political consultant Susie Wiles as White House chief of staff – does offer one clue that a well-built Florida conservative political operation could be ready to replicate its success in the White House.

• Who is in the frame to join Trump’s new top team?

Slater Bayliss, co-founder of a Florida-based lobbying firm, Advocacy Partners, has worked both for and against Ms Wiles during election battles in the state and much prefers to be on her side.

“I would say, borrowing a nickname from our friends across the pond, Susie is the Iron Lady of American electoral politics.”

He says offers have been flooding in from talent across the state, which has served as a “stronghold of resistance for smart conservative thinkers who love our country and desire to play a role in making it more reflective of our electorate”.

Republican political consultant Max Goodman says there is anticipation of a Florida wave crashing into Washington.

He expects Trump’s team will be mining staffers in Susie Wiles’s team and in the state, whose congressional and Senate delegations came out early for Trump.

“There is no hotter political farm system in the country than the state of Florida, when you have a president and the most prolific political consultant turned chief of staff calling Florida home,” he said.

Despite having the second largest Republican congressional delegation in the country, Mr Goodman says Florida has “notoriously been snubbed” when it comes to having a seat at the leadership table.

He believes that could change with Ms Wiles leading the charge, and with key Floridians such as Rick Scott potentially in line as Senate Majority leader and Senator Marco Rubio in contention for a high-profile cabinet position.

One person who has thrown his hand up to work in the transition is Joe Gruters, who is waiting to see how that shapes up.

He was the 2016 co-chairman of Trump’s Florida campaign with Ms Wiles, then the chairman of the Republican state party, and is now a state senator.

Mr Gruters describes himself as a “loyal foot soldier”, who was the only member of the Florida legislature to immediately endorse Trump’s 2024 bid and appear at Mar-a-Lago for his announcement.

He is counting on Ms Wiles taking her “battle-tested” lieutenants up with her to Washington to fill out positions.

“They know who the true believers are… and they probably have a clear idea of who they’re going to put in most of these positions,” Mr Gruters said.

Palm Beach didn’t exactly roll out the red carpet for Donald Trump when he first arrived on the scene with his purchase of Mar-a-Lago in the 1980s.

But walking around town now, it’s obvious that this is firmly Maga country – Trump-branded bikinis and hats are a common sight.

Next week, Argentina’s President Javier Milei is expected to visit Mar-a-Lago to meet Trump and Elon Musk.

Also next week, CPAC, or the Conservative Political Action Conference, is hosting its annual investors summit at Mar-a-Lago with tickets costing up to $25,000 (£19,350).

And it’s unlikely the migration south will stop once Donald Trump is inaugurated and occupies the Oval Office once more.

Slater Bayliss – the Florida lobbyist – thinks Trump will want to spend as much time in Florida as possible during his second term.

That will go some way, he said, in “making the 62,500 square feet of Mar-a -Lago the most sacred real-estate in the political universe”.

‘Thomas’ – not his real name – was 13 years old when he began his first stint in prison.

Following the sudden death of his father, he had robbed a shop in Australia’s Northern Territory (NT). He was detained for a week but, within a month, he was back in custody for another burglary.

Five years on, the Aboriginal teenager has spent far more of that time inside prison than out.

“It’s hard changing,” Thomas tells me. “[Breaking the law] is something that you grow up your whole life doing – it’s hard to [stop] the habit.”

His story – a revolving door of crime, arrest and release – is not an isolated one in the Northern Territory.

For many, over the years the crimes get more serious, the sentences longer and the time spent between prison spells ever briefer.

The Northern Territory is the part of Australia with the highest rate of incarceration: more than 1,100 per 100,000 people are behind bars, which is greater than five times the national average.

It’s also more than twice the rate of the US, which is the country with the highest number of people behind bars.

But the issue of jailing children in particular has been thrust into the spotlight here, after the territory’s new government controversially lowered the age of criminal responsibility from 12 back to 10.

The move, which defies a UN recommendation, means potentially locking up even more young people.

It’s not just an issue of incarceration. It’s one of inequalities too.

While around 30% of the Northern Territory’s population is Aboriginal, almost all young people locked up here are Indigenous.

So, Aboriginal communities are by far the most affected by the new laws.

The Country Liberal Party (CLP) government says it has a mandate after campaigning to keep Territorians safe. It helped the party claim a landslide victory in August’s elections.

Among those voting for the CLP was Sunil Kumar.

The owner of two Indian restaurants in Darwin, he’s had five or six break-ins this past year and wants politicians to take more action.

“It’s young kids doing [it] most of the time – [they] think it’s fun,” explains Mr Kumar.

He says he’s improved his locks, put in cameras and even offered soft drinks to kids loitering outside in a bid to win them over.

“How come they are out and parents don’t know?” he says. “There should be a punishment for the parents.”

But while the political rhetoric around crime is powerful, critics say it actually has little to do with real numbers.

Youth offender rates have risen since Covid. Last year, there was a 4% rise nationally.

But the rates are about half of what they were 15 years ago in the Northern Territory, Australian Bureau of Statistics figures show.

Politicians, though, are playing to residents’ fears.

As well as lowering the age of criminal responsibility, they have also introduced tougher bail legislation known as Declan’s Law, after Declan Laverty, a 20-year-old who was fatally stabbed last year by someone on bail for a previous alleged assault.

“I never want another family to experience what we have,” said his mother Samara Laverty.

“The passing of this legislation is a turning point for the Territory, which will become a safer, happier, and more peaceful place.”

On the day the laws started to be debated in Darwin last month, a small crowd of demonstrators stood outside parliament in a last-ditch effort to turn the political tide.

One woman held up a placard that read: ’10 year olds still have baby teeth’. Another asked: ‘What if it was your child?’

“Our young people in Don Dale need to have opportunity for hope,” said Aboriginal elder, Aunty Barb Nasir, addressing the demonstrators.

She was referring to a notorious youth detention centre just outside Darwin, where evidence of abuse – including video of a child wearing a spit hood and shackled to a chair – outraged many in Australia and led to a royal commission inquiry.

“We need to always stand for them because they are lost in there,” Aunty Barb said.

Kat McNamara, an independent politician who opposed the bill, told the crowd: “The idea that in order to support a 10-year-old you have to criminalise them is irrational, ineffective and morally bankrupt.”

After a ripple of applause, she added: “We are not going to stand for it.”

But with a large majority in parliament, the CLP easily managed to pass the laws.

Lowering the age of criminal responsibility undid legislation passed just last year that had briefly lifted the threshold to 12.

And while other Australian states and territories have been under pressure to raise the age from 10 to 14, for now it is once again 10 across the country, with the exception of the Australian Capital Territory.

Australia is not alone – in England and Wales, for instance, it is also set at 10.

But in comparison, the majority of European Union members make it 14, in line with UN recommendations.

The Northern Territory’s Chief Minister, Lia Finocchiaro, argues that by lowering the age of criminal responsibility, authorities can “intervene early and address the root causes of crime”.

“We have this obligation to the child who has been let down in a number of ways, over a long period of time,” she said last month.

“And we have [an obligation to] the people who just want to be safe, people who don’t want to live in fear any more.”

But for people like Thomas, now 18, prison didn’t fix anything. His crimes just got worse, and his time inside increased.

He says he finds prison oddly comforting. It’s not that he likes it, but with custody comes familiarity.

“Most of my family has been in and out of jail. I felt like I was at home because all the boys took care of me.”

His two younger brothers are also stuck in a similar cycle. At one point, their mother was catching a bus to visit all three in prison every week.

Thomas still wears an ankle bracelet issued by authorities but he has been out of prison for nearly three months now – his longest spell of freedom since becoming a teenager.

He’s been helped by Brother 2 Another – an Aboriginal-led project that mentors and supports First Nations children caught up in the justice system.

“Locking these kids up is just a reactive way to go about it,” says Darren Damaso, a youth leader for Brother 2 Another.

“There needs to be more rehabilitative support services, more funding towards Aboriginal-led programmes, because they actually understand what’s happening for these families. And then we’re going to slowly start to see change. But if it’s just a ‘lock them up’ default action, it’s not going to work.”

Mr Damaso is from the Larrakia Aboriginal people, the ancestral owners of the region of Darwin, and he also has connections to the Yanuwa and Malak Malak people.

His organisation brings young people to a refashioned unit on an industrial estate on the outskirts of Darwin, providing a space to relax, a sensory room and a gym.

Brother 2 Another also works in schools and tries to help young people find work – opportunities that many who’ve been involved with police and prisons struggle to engage with.

“It’s a self-perpetuating cycle,” says John Lawrence, a Scottish criminal barrister who’s been based in Darwin for more than three decades.

He’s represented many young people and argues more money needs to go into schooling than the prison system, to prevent incarceration in the first place.

Aboriginal people “have no voice, and so they suffer great injustice and harm”, says Mr Lawrence.

“The fact that this can happen reveals very graphically and obviously how racist this country is.”

The tough talk on crime isn’t particular to politics in the Northern Territory.

In Queensland’s recent elections, the winning campaign by the Liberal National Party played heavily on its slogan: “Adult crime, adult time.”

In a recent report by the Australian Human Rights Commission, Anne Hollonds, the National Children’s Commissioner, argued that by criminalising vulnerable children – many of them First Nations children – the country is creating “one of Australia’s most urgent human rights challenges”.

“The systems that are meant to help them, including health, education and social services, are not fit-for-purpose and these children are falling through the gaps,” she said.

“We cannot police our way out of this problem, and the evidence shows that locking up children does not make the community safer.”

Which is why there’s a growing push to fund early intervention through education, not incarceration, and trying to reduce marginalisation and disadvantage in the first place.

“What are the cultural strengths of people? What are the community strengths of people? We are building on that,” says Erin Reilly, a regional director for Children’s Ground.

Her organisation works with communities and schools on their ancestral lands, learning about foods and medicines from the bush and about the Aboriginal ‘kinship’ system – how people fit in with their community and family.

“We centre Indigenous world views and Indigenous values and we work in a way that works for Aboriginal people,” explains Ms Reilly.

“We know that the education system and health systems don’t work for our people.”

For Thomas, life on the inside was hard, involving weeks at a time spent in isolation. But on the outside, he says, there’s little understanding of the circumstances he’s lived through.

“I felt like no one cared. Nobody wanted to listen,” he says.

He points out the bite marks on his forearms and adds: “So, I hurt myself all the time – see the scars here?”

The MTV Europe Awards have taken place in the UK for the first time in seven years, and stars turned out in force at Manchester’s Co-op Live arena.

A hologram of a young sex worker haunts Amsterdam’s red light district.

Dressed in faded denim hotpants, a leopard-print bra, with a tattoo snaking up her stomach and across her chest, the 3D computer-generated image reaches out and appears to knock on the window to attract attention.

She leans forward, breathes on the glass and writes the word “help”.

The hologram is designed to represent Bernadette “Betty” Szabo, a 19-year-old woman from Hungary who was murdered a few months after giving birth in 2009.

Her fatal stabbing has baffled police for 15 years. Dutch cold case detectives are using the innovative technology for the first time in an effort to solve the case.

The murdered teenager’s image is being projected from behind a window, alongside hundreds of young women who continue to make a living in this notoriously risky industry.

Investigators hope the lifelike hologram will help jog memories and draw attention to the unsolved murder.

Until now, Betty’s killer has eluded justice and cold case detective Anne Dreijer-Heemskerk is determined to change that: “A young woman, only 19, taken from life in such a horrific way.”

Szabo had a tough life and her story was one of hardship and resilience, according to the detective.

She had moved to Amsterdam aged 18 and became pregnant soon afterwards. She carried on working throughout her pregnancy, returning to the job shortly after her son was born.

It was in the early hours of 19 February 2009, when two sex workers went to check on the teenage mother during a break between clients, because they realised her usual music was not playing.

When they entered her brothel, a small room with a plastic-covered bed, vanity table and sink, they discovered Betty Szabo’s body.

She had been murdered three months after giving birth, the victim of a savage knife attack.

Her baby was placed in foster care and never got to know his mother – a fact that motivates detectives.

Although police immediately launched a murder investigation, her killer was never found. They combed through CCTV footage and questioned potential witnesses.

The majority of people eyeing the scantily dressed women behind the red neon windows are tourists. Police suspect the perpetrator came from abroad.

Now they are urging people who may have visited Amsterdam to think back, with a €30,000 reward to encourage witnesses to come forward.

As Amsterdam grapples with controversial plans to relocate its famous brothels to an out-of-town “erotic zone”, Betty Szabo’s hologram offers a poignant reminder of the vulnerability of sex workers in an area that, despite a range of security measures, remains perilous.

Sex workers have voiced concerns that removing the women who sell sex from public view could expose them to even greater danger.

The fact that such a violent crime could occur in one of the Netherlands’ busiest nightspots without witnesses coming forward continues to confound investigators.

In the historic red-light district where she once lived and worked, the teenage sex worker’s digital presence reminds passers-by that her case is yet to be solved.

Malevolent spirits, spooky zombies and vengeful witches are making a comeback to Bollywood this year, with horror films emerging as some of the biggest earners of 2024. The BBC looks at how these modest-budget films are earning impressive returns.

Earlier this month, Bollywood witnessed a dramatic showdown between the big and the not-so-big.

On one side was the star-studded high-budget action film Singham Again, and on the other, Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3, the latest instalment of a mid-budget three-part horror-comedy series by the same name.

Singham Again, which featured five of Bollywood’s biggest stars – Ajay Devgn, Akshay Kumar, Kareena Kapoor, Deepika Padukone, and Ranveer Singh – managed to pull in 1.86bn rupees ($22.05m; £17.06) worldwide in four days, according to film analytics tracker Sacnilk.

While Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3, which features the relatively young and new Kartik Aryan, earned slightly less in the same period (1.63bn rupees), its smaller budget meant that its performance was even more impressive

The film brings back Aaryan, who also featured in the second part, as a conman exorcist who is hired by a royal family to purge their palace of an evil spirit.

Packed with adventure and hilarity, the film’s racy plot has been drawing audiences to theatres in droves.

The film’s success marks a continuation of a new trend in Bollywood, where horror and horror-comedy films – once relegated to the fringes – are now leading the box office.

The trend began with Shaitaan, a psychological horror film starring Ajay Devgn, which earned over $25m worldwide despite a modest budget. Following that, Munjya and Stree 2: Sarkate Ka Aatank continued the success, with the latter becoming the highest-grossing Hindi film of 2024, grossing over $103mn.

The film, Stree 2: Sarkate Ka Aantank, set in the fictional town of Chanderi, features the mysterious Stree, who once targeted patriarchal men, now facing off against a monster that abducts free-thinking women.

The film sold out shows for months while other major Bollywood productions struggled to find an audience.

The industry has gone through through a slump post the Covid-19 pandemic, with most films tanking at the box-office, trade figures show.

What’s interesting is that a lot of these horror films did not receive glowing reviews – in fact, some critics have criticised the films for their “lousy” plotlines.

Yet their back-to-back successes seem to have given Bollywood a new lease of life.

So what’s driving this trend?

“Horror-comedy plays on the most primal instinct of the audience – alternating between fear and humour,” says Mayank Shekhar, a senior film critic.

“Both are infectious. You audibly sense the shrieks and the laughs in the hall.”

Films like Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 and Stree 2 have also benefited from the success of their prequels.

People come to watch these films simply because they enjoyed the films that came before it, making them somewhat “critic-proof”, Shekhar adds.

“I think we go because we loved the original film and want to feel the same magic in the sequels,” says Apurva, a radio jockey, who watched both films recently.

Horror as a genre in Bollywood has also reinvented itself over the years.

Unlike the horror films of the 1980s, which were designed for an adult audience, horror films nowadays have become a collective cinematic experience, fit for family viewing.

In the 1970s and 1980s, the Ramsay Brothers ruled the Hindi horror scene with hits like Do Gaz Zameen Ke Neeche (1972) and Purana Mandir (1984), built on a formula of exaggerated ghosts, witches, gore, and titillation.

“The films were profitable but lacked the legitimacy and appeal that could attract big actors and wider viewership,” says Taran Adarsh, a trade analyst.

In the new millennium, producer brothers Mahesh and Mukesh Bhatt, along with director Vikram Bhatt, took the reins of the genre.

Their Raaz series (The first film released in 2002) – a sleeker reimagining of the Ramsay Brothers’ formula, featuring chart-topping songs and sensual scenes – achieved significant success.

But apart from a few exceptions, the charm of horror films remained limited.

The turning point came in 2007, when Bhool Bhulaiyaa’s first part, starring Akshay Kumar and Vidya Balan, hit theatres.

Adapted from the 1993 Malayalam blockbuster Manichitrathazhu, the movie offered a perfect blend of humour and horror and became an instant hit with the audiences.

The genre – with its newfound family-friendly approach, which tones down explicit content – gained more popularity with the release of Stree in 2018, which combined horror with social themes like patriarchy and feminism.

Anees Bazmee, the director of Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 and 3, says a big part of his vision was to ensure his films are enjoyable for children. “I wanted them to be on the edge of their seats but never truly scared, like a roller-coaster ride – happy on the ascent, with a thrill of fear on the descent,” he told the BBC.

And it’s not just humour, there are other common elements as well – most of these films are set in small towns and cities and combine local folklore with universal themes of kindness, bravery and the eventual triumph of good over evil.

Take the film Tumbbad, a bold blend of mythology, horror and moral lessons.

The film follows Vinayak, who discovers a treasure guarded by a cursed creature and attempts to steal it, only to realise greed is a deadly trap. Originally released in 2018, the film was re-released in cinemas earlier this year, managing to earn more than its original collection.

Mr Adarsh says there is no doubt that horror is enjoying a “revival” at the box office this year.

But others warn against the oversimplification of the trend.

“Bhool Bhulaiyaa was our first horror-comedy success that established a successful formula,” says Munjya director Aditya Sarpotdar.

“But it took more than a decade to come up with the next big hit (Stree),” he adds.

Bazmee says that often, it’s the plot and not the genre that determines a film’s popularity.

“In the end, it’s always the well-made films that work. That’s always going to be a fundamental factor,” he says.

Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver has pulled his new children’s book from the shelves after complaints that it stereotyped Indigenous Australians.

The 400-page fantasy novel Billy and the Epic Escape, which was published earlier this year, features an Aboriginal girl with mystical powers living in foster care who is abducted from her home in central Australia.

Some First Nations leaders have called the book “offensive”, saying it contains language errors and contributes to the “erasure, trivialisation, and stereotyping of First Nations peoples and experiences”.

Oliver – who is currently in Australia promoting his newest cookbook – has apologised and said he is “devastated” to have caused hurt.

“It was never my intention to misinterpret this deeply painful issue,” he said in a statement.

The book’s publisher, Penguin Random House UK, said Oliver had requested Indigenous Australians be consulted over the book, but an “editorial oversight” meant that did not happen.

Among the complaints is that the character is given the ability to read people’s minds and communicate with animals and plants because “that’s the Indigenous way”, which Sharon Davis from the national First Nations’ education body said reduces “complex and diverse belief systems” to “magic”.

The girl is also at the centre of an abduction plot – something community leader Sue-Anne Hunter called a “particularly insensitive choice”, given the “painful historical context” of the Stolen Generations. For decades in Australia, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander kids were removed from their families as part of an assimilation policy from successive governments.

The girl, who is from Mparntwe or Alice Springs, also uses vocabulary from the Gamilaraay people of NSW and Queensland, which Ms Davis said showed “complete disregard for the vast differences among First Nations languages, cultures, and practices”.

“There is no space in Australian publishing (or elsewhere) for our stories to be told through a colonial lens, by authors who have little if any connection to the people and place they are writing about,” Dr Anita Heiss, a Wiradyuri author and publisher told the Guardian Australia.

Oliver said he and his publishers had decided to withdraw the book from sale around the world.

A statement from Penguin Random House UK added: “It is clear that our publishing standards fell short on this occasion, and we must learn from that.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin has offered what he called “total support” for Africa, including in the struggle against terrorism and extremism.

The speech was read out at a summit in the Black Sea resort of Sochi by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to his African counterparts.

Several African governments have cut ties with traditional Western allies and are looking to Moscow for help in tackling frequent attacks by jihadists.

During the summit, Burkina Faso’s Foreign Minister Karamoko Jean-Marie Traoré said Russia was a more suitable international partner than the former colonial power, France.

• How Russia is trying to influence Africa
• How Wagner has rebranded in Africa

It is a view shared by several of France’s former colonies – and was reiterated by Mali’s Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop, who contrasted the Kremlin’s “sincere” partnership to the “neo-colonial” relationship of Western powers.

He said that as well as military co-operation, Mali was exploring other joint projects in the energy, telecommunications, technology and mining sectors.

“Russian companies are working in all these areas with the Malian government and [private] partners in Mali to provide solutions to the challenges facing the Malian people. The two parties have agreed to step up the pace to ensure rapid results,” he said on the second and final day of the conference of African foreign ministers.

Wagner mercenary fighters – now rebranded under the Africa Corps banner by Russia’s defence ministry – were the preferred choice for the military leaders who ordered French and UN troops to leave.

Russia’s help, often in exchange for access to raw materials, also comes with a promise that there will be no meddling in a country’s internal affairs or lessons on how to run an election.

However, Russia’s military expeditions to Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger have helped protect the junta leaders there, but have failed to make much progress in the fight against Islamist militants.

Nonetheless, the Kremlin is trumpeting about these new-found friends, with foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova saying the conference had dashed Western hopes for Russia’s isolation.

And Lavrov said Russia’s relations with Africa were strengthening “more and more” with progress “on all axes”.

Putin’s speech underlined this point.

“I would like to reiterate that our country will continue to provide total support to our African friends in different sectors: ensuring sustainable development, the struggle against terrorism and extremism, combating epidemics, food problems and the consequences of natural disasters,” it said.

Emanuela Del Re, the EU special representative for the Sahel region of West Africa, told the BBC the West needed to accept the shifting sands of allegiances.

While Russia was “certainly a very malicious actor”, the Italian diplomat explained it had a strong bond with Africa going back to before independence and was not alone in its interest in the Sahel.

“It’s largely a desert but in reality the region is very crowded: because at the moment you see Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Iran… all member states of the EU and the UK,” she said.

In fact, African leaders were pragmatic about their need to “diversify their partnerships”, Ms Del Re said, adding it was not a time for the EU to abandon what she called the “three difficult countries” of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, which have all experienced coups in recent years.

Her point was that it should not be seen as a competition.

Rwanda, which has strong ties with the UK and the West, is one of several African countries that have already signed deals with Moscow to get help building a nuclear power plant.

Rwandan Foreign Minister Olivier Nduhungirehe, who is also in Sochi, told the AFP news agency hundreds of Rwandan students had graduated from Russian universities, including “those who specialise in nuclear science”.

“We hope to be able to train a certain number of scientific managers specialising in this field,” he added.

Five years ago, Putin promised to double trade with Africa – this has not happened.

But using other means, which the West sees as destabilising the continent, Russia’s influence has grown significantly.

• Was Ukraine’s role in big Wagner defeat an own goal in Africa?
• Why Wagner is winning hearts in the Central African Republic
• Wagner – built by blood and treasure in Africa

A 37-year-old Irish man has been arrested in connection with the murder of an American nurse in Hungary, police say.

Mackenzie Michalski, 31, from Portland, Oregon, was reported missing after a night out in Hungary’s capital, Budapest, on Tuesday.

Officers said the suspect was identified through CCTV footage and later confessed to killing Ms Michalski, but claimed her death had been an accident.

In a statement, put out on Saturday, police said the man had attempted to conceal Ms Michalski’s death by renting a car, putting her body in a suitcase and hiding it in woodland near the village of Szigliget in the country’s west.

Officers said Ms Michalski was killed during an “intimate encounter” with the suspect, but did not provide any further details.

They were able to establish that the pair had met at a nightclub, danced together and then travelled to the man’s rented apartment.

He was arrested there on Thursday evening, and has been remanded in custody.

After being questioned, the suspect showed detectives where he had disposed of Ms Michalski’s body, the police statement said.

It added that the man had placed the nurse’s body in a wardrobe while he cleaned his apartment – in a bid to “remove traces” of the alleged murder – before driving to the woods.

Ms Michalski was reported missing by friends when she failed to return to their accommodation.

During the course of their investigation, police said they uncovered evidence which “gave rise to the suspicion of murder”.

Following Ms Michalski’s disappearance, the man made a series of online searches – including “what does a dead body smell like after it decomposes?”, “how do the police handle missing person cases?”, and “removing rotting meat smell”.

He is also alleged to have searched whether pigs eat dead bodies and about the appearance of wild boar along Lake Balaton – a body of water near Szigliget.

In footage released by Hungarian police, a man in handcuffs can be seen guiding officers through woodland. Sniffer dogs and forensic investigators are present.

A Facebook group, called Find Mackenzie Michalski, says the 31-year-old often went by the nickname Kenzie.

On Saturday, her friends held a candlelit vigil close to the US embassy in Budapest.

Paralympians have criticised the decision by Fortnum & Mason to hold an event for Olympians but neglect to invite any Paralympic athletes.

Team GB and Paralympics GB medallists attended a reception at Buckingham Palace on Thursday, but Paralympians were not invited to an after-party hosted by the luxury department store.

Zac Shaw, a Paralympic visually impaired sprinter, called it “hurtful” and said it was part of a “wider issue” in how disabled athletes are treated.

Fortnum & Mason has apologised for the “mistake” and said a separate Paralympics event is being organised.

“It’s a sad reality that we always have to fight for equality,” Shaw, 29, said. “The thing that hurt the most was that we were both at the palace at the same time so it wasn’t a case of us being at different locations. It was one event and we didn’t get invited.”

Shaw, who won silver in the mixed 4x100m and bronze in the 100m T12 in Paris, said he only realised after one of his friends in Team GB asked if he needed a lift to the after-party, but after a trawl of his emails, Shaw and his partner Ali Smith – also a Paralympic sprinter – did not find an invite.

After contacting Fortnum & Mason twice in a 24 hour period and not receiving a response, he decided to post publicly on X.

Once his post gained traction, he said he was messaged by representatives of the London upmarket department store.

Fortnum & Mason then sent Smith a private message, saying that there was a “separate reception for Paralympians in the works” which would be announced soon.

The store apologised for the “failure of communication”.

The message read: “We are really sorry that we could not do both of the planned parties together, which would have been our preference, but we are restricted on space and simply could not have fitted everyone in at the same time.”

But Shaw said the response appeared “reactionary” and “very much reads as an excuse”.

“It doesn’t seem like it was even thought of until there was a backlash.”

He added: “If they had wanted to do an event for us, we would have known about it before. And if they really wanted us there, the venue could have been bigger.”

Shaw also said that hosting a separate event at a later date did not take into account the difficulty for many disabled athletes in travelling to London.

“Accessibility is difficult for people with disabilities and it’s just ignorant and upsetting that they even had the thought to do it after.

“And in this situation, even if you only have room for a certain number of athletes, why would you not prioritise the ones with accessibility needs?”

Shaw said it was a symptom of a “wider issue” in how disabled athletes are treated differently in sport.

“Why is it Team GB and Paralympics GB? Why don’t we compete under the same name like Team France did at the Olympics/Paralympics? And why were we at Buckingham Palace in tracksuits, when the Olympians were provided suits?”

He said Paralympians were instructed to wear their tracksuits and trainers to the reception hosted by the King, while Team GB athletes were given “fresh suits”.

“And that just made the Buckingham Palace experience feel a bit strange,” he added.

When he queried the request and said he would like to wear a suit, he was met with silence, he said.

“You have situations like this so frequently, whether it’s brands or funding,” he continued.

“The Paralympics are amazing but they happen once every four years and in between brands don’t show the same support to disabled athletes, which speaks volumes about the culture.”

Archie Atkinson, who won a silver in cycling for Paralympics GB in Paris, said he was told suits were not given to the Paralympic squad to meet the King for “environmental reasons”.

The 20-year-old said he told the head of Paralympics GB that he thought it was “disrespectful” having Paralympic athletes go to Buckingham Palace in a tracksuit “making us stand out and feel inferior to the Olympic athletes were were dressed smartly”.

“Lots of athletes complained or joined in with wearing suits to say not gonna be made to look lower then the Olympic athletes,” he told the BBC.

He said he wore a suit to meet the King and later snuck into the Fortnum & Masons party with some of his friends on the Team GB team, who he said they felt it was “shocking” there was no party for Paralympic athletes.

In a statement, Fortnum & Mason said: “We entered into this with good intentions but recognise that we have made a mistake here for which we fully apologise.

“We have been planning for, and of course will be honoured to host, a ParalympicsGB celebratory event at Fortnum’s and an invitation to do that has been made, but we do understand the hurt we have caused by not making our plans clear to the athletes earlier.”

But Shaw said it was unlikely he would attend such an event.

“The day’s been and gone,” he said.

“It doesn’t feel right that this has come on by pity and like I said it’s not easy for people with disabilities to travel and I think it’s unfair they’d even ask us to do that.”

The British Olympic Association and The British Paralympic Association have been approached for comment.

Donald Trump is projected to have won Arizona in the US presidential election, giving him a clean sweep of all seven battleground states.

Securing the south-western state, which was the last to declare its result after days of counting, has given Trump the final 11 electoral college votes up for grabs – taking him to a total of 312 compared with Vice-President Kamala Harris’s 226. A candidate needs 270 to win the White House.

The Republican Party has already secured the Senate – the upper chamber of the US Congress – but the race for the House of Representatives is ongoing.

Trump is yet to comment on the update from Arizona, which came late on Saturday.

Arizona had previously been a Republican stronghold, voting red for more than 20 years before Trump lost it to outgoing President Joe Biden in the 2020 election. Just over 10,000 votes separated the two candidates.

During this year’s campaign, the president-elect promised mass deportations of undocumented migrants living in the US, and has pledged to seal the border.

He also said he would complete construction of a wall between the US and Mexico, which was started during his first presidency. Mexico borders Arizona for hundreds of miles.

Both Trump and Vice-President Harris visited the state several times, with the former focusing heavily on deportation and the latter on tighter border security and pathways to US citizenship.

• Live updates: Trump’s clean sweep of swing states
• Analysis: Democrats’ bet on a generation of liberal voters has backfired badly

The number of crossings at the US southern border hit record levels at the end of last year, during the Biden-Harris administration, before falling in 2024.

There are an estimated 12 million undocumented migrants in the US, and many have lived and worked in the country for decades.

Experts have told the BBC that deportations on the scale Trump has promised would face huge challenges and slow economic growth – he also promised to “end inflation”.

In the run up to US election day, polls had suggested it would be a very tight election – but Trump’s vote share ultimately grew across key demographics.

Earlier on Saturday, Trump announced that Nikki Haley and Mike Pompeo – who both served in the president-elect’s previous administration – would not be offered new positions when he returns to the White House in January.

He wrote in a social media post that he “very much enjoyed working with them previously” and thanked them for their service.

Some of Trump’s closest allies have accused Haley and Pompeo of being so-called deep state moles, arguing they would plot to undermine his ‘America First’ agenda.

Former South Carolina Governor Haley had been the main challenger to Trump for the Republican presidential nomination – she strongly criticised her former boss during primaries, calling him “unhinged”.

She eventually endorsed Trump, though he did not call on her to help with his campaign on the final stretch of the election.

While it is little surprise that Haley did not make the shortlist for a role, former CIA director Pompeo had been widely tipped as a contender for secretary of defence.

The former Kansas congressman led Trump’s diplomatic blitz in the Middle East and often tangled with the press in defence of his boss.

But influential voices within the Trump-world have been lobbying against Pompeo and Haley.

They include veteran political strategist Roger Stone, who wrote on his website on Friday that Trump ought to beware of “neocons” who might form “a sinister fifth column” within his new administration. Stone singled out Haley and Pompeo.

It was also announced over the weekend that Biden will host the president-elect in the Oval Office on Wednesday.

The meeting will bring together two bitter rivals for a display of national unity after one of the most rancorous American election campaigns in living memory.

Such moments are a tradition between the outgoing and incoming presidents – though when Trump lost his re-election bid in 2020 amid the Covid pandemic he did not invite Biden. Nor did he attend his successor’s inauguration, as is customary.

Incoming First Lady Melania Trump has also been invited to the White House to meet Jill Biden, an East Wing official told CNN, though it is unclear when that might happen.

Russia and Ukraine have carried out their largest drone attacks against each other since the start of the war.

Russia’s defence ministry said it intercepted 84 Ukrainian drones over six regions, including some approaching Moscow, which forced flights to be diverted from three of the capital’s major airports.

Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched 145 drones towards every part of the country on Saturday night, with most shot down.

The barrages come amid expectations that US president-elect Donald Trump may put pressure on both sides to end the conflict.

Ukraine’s attempted strike on Moscow was also its biggest attack on the capital since the war began, and was described as “massive” by the region’s governor.

Most of the drones were downed in the Ramenskoye, Kolomna and Domodedovo districts, officials said.

In Ramenskoye, south-west of Moscow, five people were injured and four houses caught fire due to falling debris, the Russian Ministry of Defense said. It added that 34 drones had been shot down over the town.

In September, a woman was killed in a drone attack that hit Ramenskoye. In May last year, two drones were destroyed near the Kremlin in central Moscow and there were several drone attacks on the Moscow City business district.

In Ukraine, at least two people were injured after a drone hit the Odesa region. Images showed flames rising from some buildings, as well as aftermath damage.

The Ukrainian air force said 62 of Russia’s Iranian-made drones were shot down, while 67 were “lost”. A further 10 left Ukraine’s airspace heading back towards Russia, as well as neighbouring Belarus and Moldova, it added.

The drone barrages comes as Russian troops reportedly made their largest territorial gains in October since March 2022, according to analysis of Institute for the Study of War data by the AFP news agency.

However, Sir Tony Radakin, the UK’s chief of defence staff, told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme that Russia had suffered its worst month for casualties since the start of the war.

Russian forces suffered an average of about 1,500 dead and injured “every single day” in October, he said.

There has been intense speculation about how Trump will approach the conflict since his election win in the US.

The president-elect regularly said in his election campaign that he could end the war “in a day”, but has not offered details on how he would do that.

A former adviser to Trump, Bryan Lanza, told the BBC that the incoming administration would focus on achieving peace rather than enabling Ukraine to gain back territory from Russia.

In response, a spokesperson for Trump distanced the president-elect from the remarks, saying Mr Lanza “does not speak for him”.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov spoke via state media on Sunday of “positive” signals from the incoming US administration.

He claimed that Trump spoke during his election campaign about wanting peace and not a desire to inflict defeat on Russia.

Trump has spoken to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky since his election win, a source telling the BBC that the conversation lasted “about half an hour”.

Zelensky has previously warned against conceding land to Russia and has said that without US aid, Ukraine would lose the war.

Donald Trump’s Florida residence and private club Mar-a-Lago is once again the Winter White House – the place to be seen for West Wing hopefuls as the US president-elect assembles a new administration behind its opulent doors.

While President Joe Biden will remain in office until January, this part of Florida has become a rival centre of political power in America.

Just two years after an FBI raid found classified documents about US nuclear weapons and spy satellites stored in a bathroom, an eclectic mix of insiders are swarming to Mar-a-Lago, which is patrolled by robot dogs and armed guards on boats.

North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, rumoured as a potential energy secretary, was there on election night. So was former US Defence Department chief of staff Kash Patel.

Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, has been alongside Donald Trump in Mar-a-Lago during family dinners and calls with world leaders.

Musk has been photographed inside the private club with his son and on the runway of Palm Beach International Airport, as he shuttles back and forth to be by the president-elect’s side.

For those not blessed with an invitation to stay at Mar-a-Lago itself, the hotels and restaurants around nearby West Palm Beach are packed with office-seekers jostling for influence in the new administration and supporters celebrating Trump’s victory.

Robert F Kennedy Jr, vaccine sceptic and scion of the one of the most famous US political dynasties, was by the swanky pool bar of The Ben hotel, where a fake ice rink and Christmas tree greet guests.

Giant, golden Great Dane dog sculptures adorn the lobby and every floor outside the lifts.

He is part of the transition team and the one-time presidential candidate is vying for a role with influence over health policy.

Speaking even before the election, alongside the former congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, a Democrat-turned-Republican, he said: “There’s people of all different kinds of ideology and people that we’re going to have to go up against in that transition team and fight for our vision.”

Also spotted at The Ben was outspoken Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene, the Georgia congresswoman who recently blamed the Biden administration for causing flooding in Republican areas of North Carolina. She is believed to be jockeying for a cabinet position.

At The Breakers, an opulent Italian Renaissance-style oceanfront hotel, the young valets were most star struck by the visit of Ultimate Fighting Championship CEO Dana White, who joined his friend Trump on stage on election night, but who says he has no personal political aspirations.

The same cannot be said for others. One GOP insider that the BBC ran into in the corridors said the transition was “a free for all”, as different factions of the party battle for dominance.

“Trump loves to see people scramble and suck up.”

But the insider noted with a hint of worry that some “minimally acceptable people are starting to say they don’t want a role”.

Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton, for one, has conveyed that he isn’t interested in working in the administration and would prefer a Senate leadership position.

Donald Trump is expected to focus less on elected officials to fill senior positions.

His son, Don Jr, said during an interview on Fox News that he wants people who “don’t think they know better” than his father and that he’s prepared to block anyone he thinks would be a disaster.

The president-elect has been vocal about doing things differently this time around, feeling his biggest mistake during his first presidency was hiring “bad people, or disloyal people”.

Back in 2016, plans for the transition that had been prepared by former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie in concert with the outgoing Obama administration were laid to waste.

Once the Trump team won what was seen as an improbable victory, they decided on an unconventional approach and fired Christie.

What ensued was an Apprentice-style parade of people to Trump Tower in New York that played out in front of the cameras.

Back then, news crews packed into the lobby to capture everyone headed up the golden elevator to see Donald Trump on the 26th floor.

While the world was still trying to understand what a Trump presidency would look like, those with influence in Wall Street, media, politics and entertainment all sought an audience, including Bill Gates, Al Gore and even Kanye West.

This time around, Trump seems to be prioritising loyalty, tallying up who has been with him since day one.

And the world’s media are crammed onto hotel balconies and the parks and beaches surrounding Mar-a-Lago, where security is at fortress levels.

The transition process is still unconventional by design, but so far it is far more behind the scenes than in 2016.

Trump’s first appointment – Florida political consultant Susie Wiles as White House chief of staff – does offer one clue that a well-built Florida conservative political operation could be ready to replicate its success in the White House.

• Who is in the frame to join Trump’s new top team?

Slater Bayliss, co-founder of a Florida-based lobbying firm, Advocacy Partners, has worked both for and against Ms Wiles during election battles in the state and much prefers to be on her side.

“I would say, borrowing a nickname from our friends across the pond, Susie is the Iron Lady of American electoral politics.”

He says offers have been flooding in from talent across the state, which has served as a “stronghold of resistance for smart conservative thinkers who love our country and desire to play a role in making it more reflective of our electorate”.

Republican political consultant Max Goodman says there is anticipation of a Florida wave crashing into Washington.

He expects Trump’s team will be mining staffers in Susie Wiles’s team and in the state, whose congressional and Senate delegations came out early for Trump.

“There is no hotter political farm system in the country than the state of Florida, when you have a president and the most prolific political consultant turned chief of staff calling Florida home,” he said.

Despite having the second largest Republican congressional delegation in the country, Mr Goodman says Florida has “notoriously been snubbed” when it comes to having a seat at the leadership table.

He believes that could change with Ms Wiles leading the charge, and with key Floridians such as Rick Scott potentially in line as Senate Majority leader and Senator Marco Rubio in contention for a high-profile cabinet position.

One person who has thrown his hand up to work in the transition is Joe Gruters, who is waiting to see how that shapes up.

He was the 2016 co-chairman of Trump’s Florida campaign with Ms Wiles, then the chairman of the Republican state party, and is now a state senator.

Mr Gruters describes himself as a “loyal foot soldier”, who was the only member of the Florida legislature to immediately endorse Trump’s 2024 bid and appear at Mar-a-Lago for his announcement.

He is counting on Ms Wiles taking her “battle-tested” lieutenants up with her to Washington to fill out positions.

“They know who the true believers are… and they probably have a clear idea of who they’re going to put in most of these positions,” Mr Gruters said.

Palm Beach didn’t exactly roll out the red carpet for Donald Trump when he first arrived on the scene with his purchase of Mar-a-Lago in the 1980s.

But walking around town now, it’s obvious that this is firmly Maga country – Trump-branded bikinis and hats are a common sight.

Next week, Argentina’s President Javier Milei is expected to visit Mar-a-Lago to meet Trump and Elon Musk.

Also next week, CPAC, or the Conservative Political Action Conference, is hosting its annual investors summit at Mar-a-Lago with tickets costing up to $25,000 (£19,350).

And it’s unlikely the migration south will stop once Donald Trump is inaugurated and occupies the Oval Office once more.

Slater Bayliss – the Florida lobbyist – thinks Trump will want to spend as much time in Florida as possible during his second term.

That will go some way, he said, in “making the 62,500 square feet of Mar-a -Lago the most sacred real-estate in the political universe”.

Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver has pulled his new children’s book from the shelves after complaints that it stereotyped Indigenous Australians.

The 400-page fantasy novel Billy and the Epic Escape, which was published earlier this year, features an Aboriginal girl with mystical powers living in foster care who is abducted from her home in central Australia.

Some First Nations leaders have called the book “offensive”, saying it contains language errors and contributes to the “erasure, trivialisation, and stereotyping of First Nations peoples and experiences”.

Oliver – who is currently in Australia promoting his newest cookbook – has apologised and said he is “devastated” to have caused hurt.

“It was never my intention to misinterpret this deeply painful issue,” he said in a statement.

The book’s publisher, Penguin Random House UK, said Oliver had requested Indigenous Australians be consulted over the book, but an “editorial oversight” meant that did not happen.

Among the complaints is that the character is given the ability to read people’s minds and communicate with animals and plants because “that’s the Indigenous way”, which Sharon Davis from the national First Nations’ education body said reduces “complex and diverse belief systems” to “magic”.

The girl is also at the centre of an abduction plot – something community leader Sue-Anne Hunter called a “particularly insensitive choice”, given the “painful historical context” of the Stolen Generations. For decades in Australia, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander kids were removed from their families as part of an assimilation policy from successive governments.

The girl, who is from Mparntwe or Alice Springs, also uses vocabulary from the Gamilaraay people of NSW and Queensland, which Ms Davis said showed “complete disregard for the vast differences among First Nations languages, cultures, and practices”.

“There is no space in Australian publishing (or elsewhere) for our stories to be told through a colonial lens, by authors who have little if any connection to the people and place they are writing about,” Dr Anita Heiss, a Wiradyuri author and publisher told the Guardian Australia.

Oliver said he and his publishers had decided to withdraw the book from sale around the world.

A statement from Penguin Random House UK added: “It is clear that our publishing standards fell short on this occasion, and we must learn from that.”

Toy manufacturer Mattel has said it “deeply regrets” a misprint on packaging for dolls inspired by the new Wicked movie which listed the address for an adult website.

The company recently released the singing dolls ahead of the long-awaited film starring Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande.

But eagle-eyed fans posted images on social media showing the packaging had a pornography website on it, instead of the movie’s web address.

In a statement, Mattel apologised for the “unfortunate error” and advised parents that the misprinted website “is not appropriate for children”.

The BBC has seen online instructions on Mattel’s website, for both the Glinda and Elphaba dolls, listing the erroneous website underneath the Universal Pictures logo – the film studio behind the movie.

Mattel recommends the dolls for children aged four and above.

Fans who bought the doll posted about their surprise on social media.

“I purchased the Singing Elphaba doll and upon inspection, the website printed on the back side [of the] Mattel box, right above the barcode is listed as… an unaffiliated adult [not safe for work] 18+ website,” one person posted on Reddit.

“Anyone else seeing this!?”

In another post, a US-based woman said: “Went to Target and Walmart today and yeah, the Wicked dolls have the [porn] website listed.”

Mattel said the dolls had primarily been sold in the US.

It added: “We deeply regret this unfortunate error and are taking immediate action to remedy this.”

“Consumers who already have the product are advised to discard the product packaging or obscure the link and may contact Mattel customer service for further information.”

The Wicked movie comes after two decades of the musical on stage.

Set in the Land of Oz before Dorothy Gales’ arrival from Kansas, the movie covers the musical’s first act.

British actress Erivo plays Elphaba, a young woman misunderstood because of her green skin and who is yet to discover her power which will eventually lead her to becoming the Wicked Witch of the West.

She strikes up an unlikely friendship with classmate Glinda, played by Grammy-winning singer Grande, who will go on to become the Good Witch of the North.

The movie is set to be released in the US and UK on 22 November.

When I ask the creator of the hit Korean drama Squid Game about reports that he was so stressed while shooting the first series he lost six teeth, he quickly corrects me. “It was eight or nine,” he laughs.

Hwang Dong-hyuk is speaking to me on set as he films the second series of his dystopian Netflix thriller, which sees hundreds of debt-laden contestants fight it out for a whopping cash prize, by playing a string of life-or-death children’s games.

But another series was not always on the cards. At one point, he swore against making one.

Given the stress it has caused him, I ask what changed his mind.

“Money,” he answers, without hesitation.

“Even though the first series was such a huge global success, honestly I didn’t make much,” he tells me. “So doing the second series will help compensate me for the success of the first one too.”

“And I didn’t fully finish the story,” he adds.

The first series was Netflix’s most successful show to date, thrusting South Korea and its home-grown television dramas into the spotlight. Its dark commentary on wealth inequality touched a nerve with audiences around the globe.

But having killed off almost every character, Hwang has had to start from scratch, with a new cast and set of games, and this time audience expectations are sky high.

“The stress I feel now is much greater,” he says.

Three years after the first series aired, Hwang is even more pessimistic about the state of the world.

He points to current wars, climate change and a widening global wealth gap. Conflicts are no longer confined between the rich and poor, they are playing out intensely between different generations, genders and political camps, he says.

“New lines are being drawn. We’re in an era of us vs them. Who’s right and who’s wrong?”

As I toured the show’s playful set, with its distinctive brightly-coloured staircase, I picked up a few clues as to how the director’s despair will be reflected this time around.

In this series, the previous winner, Gi-hun, re-enters the game on a quest to bring it down and save the latest round of contestants.

According to Lee Jung-jae, who plays the leading character, he is “more desperate and determined” than before.

The floor of the dormitory, where the contestants sleep at night, has been divided in two.

One half is branded with a giant red neon X symbol, the other with a blue circle.

Now, after every game, the players must pick a side, depending on whether they want to end the contest early and survive, or keep playing, in the knowledge all but one of them will die. The majority decision rules.

This, I am told, will lead to more factionalism and fights.

It is part of director Hwang’s plan to expose the dangers of living in an increasingly tribal world. Forcing people to pick sides, he believes, is fuelling conflict.

For all those who were captivated by the shocking storytelling of Squid Game, there were others who found it gratuitously violent and difficult to watch.

But it is clear from talking to Hwang, that the violence is fully thought out. He is a man who thinks and cares deeply about the world and is motivated by a mounting unease.

“When making this series, I constantly asked myself ‘do we humans have what it takes to steer the world off this downhill path?’. Honestly, I don’t know,” he says.

While viewers of the second series might not get the answers to these big life questions, they can at least be comforted that some plot holes will be filled in – like why the game exists, and what is motivating the masked Front Man running it.

“People will see more of the Front Man’s past, his story and his emotions,” reveals the actor Lee Byung-hun, who plays the mysterious role.

“I don’t think this will make viewers warm to him, but it may help them better understand his choices.”

As one of South Korea’s most famous actors, Lee admits that having his face and eyes covered and his voice distorted throughout the first series, was “a little bit dissatisfying”.

This series he has relished having scenes without a mask, in which he can fully express himself – a chance he nearly did not get.

Hwang tried for 10 years to get Squid Game made, taking out large loans to support his family, before Netflix swooped in.

They paid him a modest upfront amount, leaving him unable to cash in on the whopping £650m it is estimated to have made the platform.

This explains the love-hate relationship South Korea’s film and television creators currently have with international streaming platforms.

Over the past few years, Netflix has stormed the Korean market with billions of dollars of investment, bringing the industry global recognition and love, but leaving creators feeling short-changed.

They accuse the platform of forcing them to relinquish their copyright when they sign contracts – and with it, their claim to profit.

This is a worldwide problem.

In the past, creators could rely on getting a cut of box office sales or TV re-runs, but this model has not been adopted by streaming giants.

The issue is compounded in South Korea, creators say, due to its outdated copyright law, which does not protect them.

This summer, actors, writers, directors and producers teamed up to form a collective, to fight the system together.

“In Korea, being a movie director is just a job title, it’s not a way to earn a living,” the vice-president of the Korean Film Directors Guild, Oh Ki-hwan, tells the audience at an event in Seoul.

Some of his director friends, he says, work part-time in warehouses and as taxi drivers.

Park Hae-young is a writer at the event. When Netflix bought her show, ‘My Liberation Notes’, it became a global hit.

“I’ve been writing my whole life. So, to get global recognition when competing with creators from across the world, has been a joyful experience,” she tells me.

But Park says the current streaming model has left her reluctant to “pour her all” into her next series.

“Usually, I’ll spend four or five years making a drama in the belief that, if it’s successful, it could somewhat secure my future, that I’ll get my fair share of compensation. Without that, what’s the point of working so hard?”

She and other creators are pushing the South Korean government to change its copyright law to force production companies to share their profits.

In a statement, the South Korean government told the BBC that while it recognised the compensation system needed to change, it was up to the industry to resolve the issue. A spokesperson for Netflix told us it offers “competitive” compensation, and guarantees creators “solid compensation, regardless of the success or failure of their shows”.

Squid Game’s Hwang hopes his candor over his own pay struggles will initiate that change.

He has certainly sparked the fair pay conversation, and this second series will surely give the industry another bump.

But when we catch up after filming has wrapped, he tells me his teeth are aching again.

“I haven’t seen my dentist yet, but I’ll probably have to pull out a few more very soon.”

Dozens of pro-Palestinian demonstrators have been detained by police in Amsterdam after defying a ban on public protests in the Dutch capital.

Hundreds gathered in Dam Square on Sunday, calling for an end to the conflict in Gaza and expressing dissent towards the ban.

Demonstrations were temporarily banned by the mayor after Israeli football fans were targeted in what she called “hit-and-run” attacks on Thursday night after a match between Maccabi Tel Aviv and Ajax Amsterdam.

The Israeli government has advised its citizens to “categorically avoid” Israeli sports and cultural events while abroad – specifically the football match between France and Israel in Paris on Thursday.

Authorities say Thursday’s attacks – which caused five people to be hospitalised – were motivated by antisemitism as the fans were sought out across the city.

The violence – which led to at least 62 arrests – was condemned by leaders in Europe, the US and in Israel.

The outcry was exacerbated by the attacks occurring on the eve of commemorations of Kristallnacht – Nazi pogroms against German Jews that took place in 1938.

Three-quarters of Jewish people in the Netherlands were murdered during the Holocaust in World War Two.

Amsterdam police said there had also been trouble the night before the match. Police chief Peter Holla said there had been incidents “on both sides”, including Israeli supporters removing a Palestinian flag from a wall and setting it alight, and attacking a taxi.

The city’s Mayor Femke Halsema announced a ban on public assembly on Friday lasting at least until the end of the weekend, deeming the city a “high-risk security area”.

But protesters on Sunday argued they should be free to voice their disapproval of Israel’s actions in Gaza and the actions of the Maccabi supporters.

“This protest has nothing to do with antisemitism,” Alexander van Stokkum, one of the demonstrators, told the AFP news agency on Sunday. “It is against Israeli hooligans who were destroying our city.”

Others told a Reuters journalist: “We refuse to let the charge of antisemitism be weaponised to suppress Palestinian resistance.”

The news agency reported that more than 100 people were detained for attending the protest. Police in Amsterdam confirmed there had been arrests, but have yet to say how many.

Following the protest ban, Dutch activist Frank van der Linde applied for an urgent permit so Sunday’s demonstration could go ahead.

On X, he said that he wanted to protest what he described as “the genocide in Gaza”, adding: “We will not let our right to demonstrate be taken away.”

Mr Van der Linde was overruled by Amsterdam’s district court, which wrote on Sunday that “the mayor has rightly determined that there is a ban on demonstrating in the city this weekend”.

Dutch national newspaper De Telegraaf reports Mr Van der Linde was among those arrested.

The Israeli embassy in the Netherlands earlier warned Israelis in Amsterdam to avoid Dam square, saying the event “may flare up into significant violent incidents”.

Israel’s National Security Council has told its citizens to avoid public demonstrations “of any kind” and conceal “anything that could identify you as Israeli/Jewish”, citing Thursday’s attacks.

“Preparations to harm Israelis have been identified in several European cities, including Brussels (Belgium), major cities in the UK, Amsterdam (Netherlands), and Paris,” it claimed.

Paris’s police chief has pledged that 4,000 officers would be deployed in the stadium and across the French capital for the Nations League match on 14 November.

The last time Chaw Su saw her husband was in March, when he was forcibly conscripted to fight for the army in Myanmar’s civil war.

Four months later, she found out he had been killed at the frontline.

“We were always poor and struggled,” she says. “But life was much more bearable with him.”

The 25-year-old widow, who had depended on her husband as the breadwinner, now has three young children to care for.

In February, Myanmar’s military regime, known as the junta, announced compulsory conscription, meaning all men aged 18 to 35 and women aged 18 to 27 would be forced to serve for up to two years.

Since launching the 2021 coup that toppled Aung San Suu Kyi’s democratically-elected government, the junta has faced an uprising on multiple fronts – including from volunteer People’s Defence Forces (PDFs) and ethnic armed groups. That uprising has since escalated into a full-blown civil war.

Last year marked a turn of the tide, as the junta saw a fresh wave of attacks from insurgents that have since pushed the military government to breaking point. As a result, up to two-thirds of the country, which has had decades of military rule and repression, fell under the control of resistance groups.

The increasingly embattled junta responded in part by pushing forward with mandatory conscription, despite warnings from experts that it could exacerbate the nation’s civil conflict. The first training began in April.

In July, Chaw Su received a call from her husband who was one of two men from their village sent for training.

He told her he had been deployed to Karen state, where some of the most intense fighting between the junta and ethnic armed groups was taking place.

“He said that he would be sent to the frontline for two weeks and that he would call me when he returned to base,” Chaw Su tells the BBC. “It was the first and last message I received from him.”

At the end of July, a military officer called to inform Chaw Su her husband was dead.

“I was completely out of my mind. The officer tried to console me with his words, but I felt that my life was over.”

Like many others, Chaw Su was promised a salary for her husband’s service, but she claimed she only received 70,000 kyats (around $21) from the village official when her husband was first conscripted.

After the initial payment, months went by without any financial support.

The military says conscripts are entitled to salary and compensation upon death in service, as with full-rank soldiers. But junta spokesperson Major General Zaw Min Tun told the BBC “there could be a delay if the necessary documents are incomplete”.

Across Myanmar, conscripted soldiers – often untrained and unprepared – are sent to conflict zones with little support. Their families are often left in the dark about their whereabouts.

Soe Soe Aye, a widow in her 60s, has been left without word from her son, who was conscripted six months ago. She says he had no desire to serve in the military.

“[My son] joined the military to feed his mother,” she adds tearfully. “I regret letting him go.”

Now, she struggles with poor health and depends on her youngest daughter to support their household. But she is trying to remain hopeful.

“I just want to see my son. I don’t have enough strength to face this.”

Many young Burmese have taken drastic measures to resist the conscription order.

Kan Htoo Lwin, a 20-year-old from Myannmar’s commercial hub, Yangon, was conscripted and trained for three months along with 30 others.

He says the training was gruelling and they were threatened that if anyone tried to escape, their homes would be burned.

“After the training, I hated the army even more,” he says.

During a journey to the frontline in the eastern part of the country, Kan Htoo saw a chance to escape with two others when their convoy stopped halfway.

“We ran once it got dark, while they were busy with security checks. We didn’t stop until nightfall,” he recalls. “At some point we were exhausted and stopped to rest. We took turns sleeping and keeping watch.”

At dawn, the three young men hitched a ride from a truck driver and made it to Aung Ban, a township in the southern Shan state. Here, Kan Htoo joined a PDF, one of the many resistance groups that have been growing as more young people, disillusioned with the military junta, take up arms.

The other two men are currently in hiding, Kan Htoo says. For safety reasons, he doesn’t want to reveal what they are doing now.

While men have been the primary focus of the conscription efforts, women have also been affected.

Zue Zue, a 20-year-old from Yangon, abandoned her dream of becoming a Chinese translator to join the Special Operation Force (SOF), a unit within the PDFs.

“Now my goal is to end this era of military dictatorship and make peace for our generation,” she tells the BBC.

While Zue Zue chose to stay, others have fled the country.

Engineer Min Min left for Thailand when conscription began. He’s now staying there on an education visa, but claims he has been struggling to find legal work that suits his qualifications in Bangkok.

Many who flee to Thailand, like Min Min, end up in low-wage jobs. Thai authorities have also become stricter in catching illegal migrants, and many are now facing deportation if caught.

Min Min worries that when his visa expires, he will have to stay illegally in the country.

“I’m worried about the living costs,” says the 28-year-old. “I have no choice but to find manual labour jobs.”

He also says priority is given to Thai nationals, whose rights are protected, while Thai business owners often exploit migrants working illegally.

“I have also seen that Burmese engineers are working illegally and only paid around 12,000 Thai baht ($355), similar to the salary of migrant manual workers,” he says.

Back in Myanmar, Chaw Su now works odd jobs in the village, earning barely enough to feed her children.

“It’s hard to explain to other people the struggle I’m going through,” she says.

Rita Ora has paid an emotional tribute to Liam Payne as she hosted this year’s MTV Europe Music Awards (EMAs) in Manchester, almost a month after the One Direction star’s death.

Ora collaborated with Payne on their 2018 hit single For You, and her voice faltered as she remembered him, calling him “one of the kindest people that I knew”.

She delivered the tribute dressed in a dark suit in a poignant moment that was in contrast to the upbeat tone of the rest of the ceremony.

The night also saw Taylor Swift continue her world domination by making history as the first person to win best artist three times in the 30-year history of the EMAs.

The other winners included Raye, Sabrina Carpenter, Tyla and Benson Boone.

Sunday’s ceremony was the first time the event has been held in the UK since 2017, and the third time Ora has acted as host.

Towards the end of the show, she switched from her high-energy persona to speak about Payne.

“I just want to take a moment to remember someone that was very, very dear to us,” she told the audience.

“We lost him recently, and he was a big part of the MTV world and my world, and I think a lot of yours at home and everybody in here tonight.”

She continued: “Liam Payne was one of the kindest people that I knew. And, you know, there were so many ways that we were talking about honouring him, and I think sometimes just simply speaking is enough.

“He had the biggest heart, and was always the first person to offer help in any way that he could.

“He brought so much joy to every room he walked into, and he left such a mark on this world. So let’s just take a moment to remember our friend.”

She then introduced a short video featuring photos of Payne and a snippet of One Direction song Night Changes.

Elsewhere during the night, Swift won four awards – best artist, video (for Fortnight), live act and US artist – but was not in Manchester to accept them.

She is preparing to resume the last leg of her Eras tour in Canada this week, and on Sunday was cheering on boyfriend Travis Kelce as the Kansas City Chiefs beat the Denver Broncos.

In a video acceptance speech, she said: “I am coming to you from the Eras tour, and I’m so sad that I can’t be with you tonight. But thank you so much for these amazing awards.

“The fact that you have honoured the tour [and] everything that’s happened with the album this year, the video, it’s just unbelievable.”

She thanked Post Malone, who featured on Fortnight, and her fans for voting for her.

“I had the best time touring in Europe this summer, so it just is wonderful for you to do this,” she added.

Sabrina Carpenter won best song for her hit Espresso but she too was absent, performing on her Short n’ Sweet tour in San Diego on Sunday.

Raye was among the stars who were in Manchester – she picked up the award for best UK and Ireland act and performed two songs at the ceremony.

US singer-songwriter Benson Boone was also in town, opening the show by playing the piano while suspended above the crowd at the Co-op Live arena, before picking up the prize for best new artist.

“I was extremely unprepared for this, but I will say I’ve not been doing music a crazy long time,” he said in his speech.

“I didn’t know this is where my life would go. And a couple years ago, I found my voice and I found my passion and my career.”

South African star Tyla won best R&B, best Afrobeats and best African artist, telling BBC News she was “honoured and humbled”.

She was among the night’s other performers, as were Shawn Mendes, Teddy Swims and the Pet Shop Boys, who were named pop pioneers.

US rapper Busta Rhymes received the global icon award, telling the BBC beforehand: “Tonight is a dream come true. I’m honoured. I feel tremendously blessed.”

It was a return to north-west England for Rhymes, who spent two summers living with his Aunt Velma in Morecambe as a child.

“I went to school, went to karate school, and we illegally went to clubs, breakdancing to make a little money, and it was fun,” he recalled of those trips.

Morecambe is also the adopted hometown of boxer Tyson Fury who moved there after his marriage to wife Paris in 2008.

Oasis frontman Liam Gallagher was the only Mancunian winner, scooping the award for best rock act – but he was not there and the prize was not announced on stage, instead being revealed as part of a brief round-up of several categories.

The absence of any members of Oasis left it to Rita Ora to lead the crowd in a brief sing-along of their hit Wonderwall.

Another veteran Manchester band did turn up, however, with Shaun Ryder and Bez from Happy Mondays threatening to steal the show in an unpredictable interview with Ora.

Ryder stayed largely straight-faced but his enthusiastic sidekick ended up with his arm around Boone interrupting Ora’s introduction of K-pop girl group Le Sserafim.

The ceremony also gave nods to the host city with the use of Blue Monday by New Order to introduce the nominees, and by borrowing the diagonal black and yellow motif of the former Hacienda nightclub.

The night’s presenters included singer Mabel and her mother Neneh Cherry, who was among the winners at the first EMAs in 1994, when 7 Seconds, her duet with Youssou N’Dour, was named best song.

• Best artist – Taylor Swift
• Best song – Sabrina Carpenter, Espresso
• Best video – Taylor Swift ft Post Malone, Fortnight
• Best collaboration – Lisa ft Rosalía, New Woman
• Best UK and Ireland act – Raye
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An Australian soldier has been posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross – the Commonwealth’s highest military honour – for bravery during the Vietnam War.

The then 19-year-old Private Richard Norden ran into enemy fire to reach a wounded comrade and retrieve the body of another during a battle north-east of the capital, then known as Saigon, in 1968.

He survived the battle but died at the age of 24 in a traffic accident while on duty as a police officer in Canberra

More than 60,000 Australians – about a quarter of them conscripted – served in controversial Vietnam War from 1962 to 1973, as part of an allied force led by the US.

“Private Richard Norden is a true Australian hero… [He] demonstrated extraordinary courage and selflessness by putting his own life at risk to save and protect his fellow comrades,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said after the announcement, on Remembrance Day.

Pte Norden’s company was ambushed by North Vietnamese Army soldiers on 14 May, 1968, with a scout immediately killed and the section Commander gravely injured.

Described as having a “complete disregard for his own personal safety”, he ran forward under heavy enemy fire to reach the two soldiers and carried the severely wounded section Commander back to his group.

Himself seriously wounded by that point, Pte Norden then went back for the scout. Finding him dead, he then returned to the group to collect grenades before pushing into the battlefield for a third time, to clear the area so the scout’s body could be recovered.

Australia’s Governor-General Sam Mostyn said it was a “historic” day for the country and a “significant” moment for Pte Norden’s family.

“We are honoured that His Majesty has approved the Victoria Cross for Australia for Richard, recognising his gallantry actions whilst serving in Vietnam,” his widow, Robynn Freeman said in a statement.

A formal ceremony to present the medal to Pte Norden’s family will take place at a later date, yet to be announced.

Like in many other allied countries, the war was very divisive in Australia and thousands of Australians protested against it.

By the time the conflict ended in 1975, an estimated three million Vietnamese people had died, with the US losing over 58,000 people and Australia 521.

Over the past few months the BBC has been exploring a dark, hidden world – a world where the very worst, most horrifying, distressing, and in many cases, illegal online content ends up.

Beheadings, mass killings, child abuse, hate speech – all of it ends up in the inboxes of a global army of content moderators.

You don’t often see or hear from them – but these are the people whose job it is to review and then, when necessary, delete content that either gets reported by other users, or is automatically flagged by tech tools.

The issue of online safety has become increasingly prominent, with tech firms under more pressure to swiftly remove harmful material.

And despite a lot of research and investment pouring into tech solutions to help, ultimately for now, it’s still largely human moderators who have the final say.

Moderators are often employed by third-party companies, but they work on content posted directly on to the big social networks including Instagram, TikTok and Facebook.

They are based around the world. The people I spoke to while making our series The Moderators for Radio 4 and BBC Sounds, were largely living in East Africa, and all had since left the industry.

Their stories were harrowing. Some of what we recorded was too brutal to broadcast. Sometimes my producer Tom Woolfenden and I would finish a recording and just sit in silence.

“If you take your phone and then go to TikTok, you will see a lot of activities, dancing, you know, happy things,” says Mojez, a former Nairobi-based moderator who worked on TikTok content. “But in the background, I personally was moderating, in the hundreds, horrific and traumatising videos.

“I took it upon myself. Let my mental health take the punch so that general users can continue going about their activities on the platform.”

There are currently multiple ongoing legal claims that the work has destroyed the mental health of such moderators. Some of the former workers in East Africa have come together to form a union.

“Really, the only thing that’s between me logging onto a social media platform and watching a beheading, is somebody sitting in an office somewhere, and watching that content for me, and reviewing it so I don’t have to,” says Martha Dark who runs Foxglove, a campaign group supporting the legal action.

In 2020, Meta then known as Facebook, agreed to pay a settlement of $52m (£40m) to moderators who had developed mental health issues because of their jobs.

The legal action was initiated by a former moderator in the US called Selena Scola. She described moderators as the “keepers of souls”, because of the amount of footage they see containing the final moments of people’s lives.

The ex-moderators I spoke to all used the word “trauma” in describing the impact the work had on them. Some had difficulty sleeping and eating.

One described how hearing a baby cry had made a colleague panic. Another said he found it difficult to interact with his wife and children because of the child abuse he had witnessed.

I was expecting them to say that this work was so emotionally and mentally gruelling, that no human should have to do it – I thought they would fully support the entire industry becoming automated, with AI tools evolving to scale up to the job.

But they didn’t.

What came across, very powerfully, was the immense pride the moderators had in the roles they had played in protecting the world from online harm.

They saw themselves as a vital emergency service. One says he wanted a uniform and a badge, comparing himself to a paramedic or firefighter.

“Not even one second was wasted,” says someone who we called David. He asked to remain anonymous, but he had worked on material that was used to train the viral AI chatbot ChatGPT, so that it was programmed not to regurgitate horrific material.

“I am proud of the individuals who trained this model to be what it is today.”

But the very tool David had helped to train, might one day compete with him.

Dave Willner is former head of trust and safety at OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT. He says his team built a rudimentary moderation tool, based on the chatbot’s tech, which managed to identify harmful content with an accuracy rate of around 90%.

“When I sort of fully realised, ‘oh, this is gonna work’, I honestly choked up a little bit,” he says. “[AI tools] don’t get bored. And they don’t get tired and they don’t get shocked…. they are indefatigable.”

Not everyone, however, is confident that AI is a silver bullet for the troubled moderation sector.

“I think it’s problematic,” says Dr Paul Reilly, senior lecturer in media and democracy at the University of Glasgow. “Clearly AI can be a quite blunt, binary way of moderating content.

“It can lead to over-blocking freedom of speech issues, and of course it may miss nuance human moderators would be able to identify. Human moderation is essential to platforms,” he adds.

“The problem is there’s not enough of them, and the job is incredibly harmful to those who do it.”

We also approached the tech companies mentioned in the series.

A TikTok spokesperson says the firm knows content moderation is not an easy task, and it strives to promote a caring working environment for employees. This includes offering clinical support, and creating programs that support moderators’ wellbeing.

They add that videos are initially reviewed by automated tech, which they say removes a large volume of harmful content.

Meanwhile, Open AI – the company behind Chat GPT – says it’s grateful for the important and sometimes challenging work that human workers do to train the AI to spot such photos and videos. A spokesperson adds that, with its partners, Open AI enforces policies to protect the wellbeing of these teams.

And Meta – which owns Instagram and Facebook – says it requires all companies it works with to provide 24-hour on-site support with trained professionals. It adds that moderators are able to customise their reviewing tools to blur graphic content.