Donald Trump has said it was an “honour” to meet Argentina’s President Javier Milei in Florida ahead of a conservative investment summit.

The right-wing leader is the first foreign leader to meet Trump since his US presidential election victory on 5 November.

At a gala at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort on Thursday, Milei congratulated the president-elect and said it proved “that the forces of heaven [were] on our side”.

Milei is expected to attend the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) Investor Summit on Friday.

On the eve of the summit, the BBC’s US partner CBS reported that an anonymous source confirmed the two leaders had met.

Addressing the America First Policy Institute gala that evening, the Argentinian leader said “the winds of freedom [were] blowing much stronger” since Trump’s victory.

Speaking in English and Spanish, the self-described “anarcho-capitalist” criticised unfair tax systems that caused “the redistribution of wealth at gunpoint”.

He also praised Elon Musk, the billionaire businessman who will run Trump’s new Department of Government Efficiency, claiming his social media site X was helping to “save humanity”.

Argentina’s president first met Trump at the annual CPAC in February – where he rushed to Trump backstage, shouting “president!”, and gave him a hug before they posed for pictures.

Following Milei’s speech on Thursday, Trump said it was an “honour” to welcome him to Mar-a-Lago – calling him “a MAGA person”.

“The job you’ve done is incredible.

“Make Argentina Great Again… he’s doing that.”

Argentinian media previously reported that Milei would be seeking a free trade agreement with the United States once Trump took office.

“The elected [Trump] government feels much more comfortable working with me than with other governments, and that has commercial and financial implications,” Milei said, according to La Nación.

Tickets to the CPAC Investor Summit, an event in addition to the annual conference, cost up to $25,000 (£19,350).

CPAC claims to be the biggest annual gathering of conservatives in the US and describes itself as the oldest conservative grassroots organisation in the country – with a mission to “preserve and protect the values of life, liberty, and property for every American”.

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage and former Prime Minister Liz Truss were among the speakers at the annual CPAC in February.

The Republican party won full control of the US government in the election earlier this month – something last achieved at the start of Trump’s first term in 2017.

Dozens of volunteers have entered an abandoned gold mine in South Africa to help what could be thousands of illegal miners who have been underground for a month.

Because the miners entered the shaft in Stilfontein deliberately, desperate to retrieve gold or mineral residues, the authorities have taken a hard line, blocking food and water supplies.

Earlier in the week, one government minister said: “We are going to smoke them out.”

The miners have refused to co-operate with the authorities as some are undocumented migrants and fear being deported or arrested.

There are reports that the miners have been eating vinegar and toothpaste to survive while underground.

It is feared that their health could be deteriorating, and they may be too weak and frail to leave the mine themselves.

The volunteers, who are organised into three groups of 50, say it takes about an hour to get one person out.

Lebogang Maiyane has been volunteering since the beginning of the week.

“The government doesn’t care about the impact on the right to life of the illegal miners who remain beneath the surface – this is tantamount to murder” he said.

Illegal miners are called “zama zama” (“take a chance” in Zulu) and operate in abandoned mines in the mineral-rich country. Illegal mining costs the South African government hundreds of millions of dollars in lost sales each year.

Many South African mines have closed down in recent years and workers have been sacked.

To survive, the miners and undocumented migrants go beneath the surface to escape poverty and dig up gold to sell it on the black market.

Some spend months underground – there is even a small economy of people selling food, cigarettes and cooked meals to the miners.

• WATCH: The dangerous world of illegal mining in South Africa
• South African miner feared for his life during ‘hostage situation’

Local residents have pleaded with the authorities to assist the miners, but they have refused.

“We are going to smoke them out. They will come out. We are not sending help to criminals. Criminals are not to be helped – they are to be persecuted [sic],” said Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni on Wednesday.

Relatives of the miners have been protesting near the mine site, holding placards with the words: “Smoke ANC out” and “Down with Minister in Presidency”.

Police Minister Senzo Mchunu visited the site on Friday, but as he tried to speak to community members waiting to hear news of their loved ones in the shaft, he was chased away.

Thandeka Tom, whose brother is in the mine, criticised the police for not sending help.

“They’re speaking from a point of privilege, there’s a problem of unemployment in the country and people are breaking the law as they try to put food on the table” she told the BBC.

Police are hesitant to go into the mine as some of those underground may be armed.

Some are part of criminal syndicates or “recruited” to be in one, Busi Thabane, from Benchmarks Foundation, a charity which monitors corporations in South Africa, told the BBC’s Newsday programme.

Without any access to supplies, conditions underground are said to be dire.

“It is no longer about illegal miners – this is a humanitarian crisis,” said Ms Thabane.

On Thursday, community leader Thembile Botman told the BBC that volunteers had used ropes and seat belts to pull a body out of the mine.

“The stench of decomposing bodies has left the volunteers traumatised,” he said.

It’s not clear how the person died.

Although the authorities have been blocking food and water, they have temporarily allowed local residents to send some supplies down by rope.

Mr Botman said they had been communicating with the miners by notes written on pieces of paper.

Police have blocked off entrances and exits in an effort to compel the miners to come out.

This is part of the Vala Umgodi, or “Close the Hole”, operation to curb illegal mining.

Five miners were pulled out on Wednesday by rope, but they were frail and weak. Paramedics attended to them, and then they were taken into police custody.

In the last week, 1,000 miners have emerged and been arrested.

Police and the army are still at the scene waiting to detain those who are not in need of medical care after resurfacing.

“It’s not as easy as the police make it seem – some of them are fearing for their lives,” said Ms Thabane.

Many miners spend months underground in unsafe conditions to provide for their families.

“For many of them it’s the only way they know how to put food on the table,” said Ms Thabane.

The South African Human Rights Commission says it will investigate the police for depriving the miners of food and water.

It said there is concern that the government’s operation could have an impact on the right to life.

Illegal mining is a lucrative business across many of South Africa’s mining towns.

Since December last year, nearly 400 high-calibre firearms, thousands of bullets, uncut diamonds and money have been confiscated from illegal miners.

This is part of an intensive police and military operation to stop the practice that has severe environmental implications.

• Beauty contest sparks row over who counts as South African
• Tyla’s racial identity: South African singer sparks culture war
• Chris Brown concert shines spotlight on violence against women in South Africa

Hollywood actress Eva Longoria has revealed that her family no longer lives in the United States, and is splitting time between Mexico and Spain.

In an interview with French magazine Marie Claire for its November cover story, Longoria attributed the decision to the country’s “changing vibe” after the Covid-19 pandemic, homelessness and high taxation in California, and the re-election of Donald Trump.

She also acknowledged she was “privileged” enough to move, saying: “Most Americans aren’t so lucky. They’re going to be stuck in this dystopian country.”

The Desperate Housewives star is viewed as a power broker for women and Latinos in Democratic Party politics.

With a keen interest in immigration policy, she has been visibly involved with Democratic candidates at the national and local level since at least 2012.

She spoke at the Democratic National Convention and hit the campaign trail on behalf of Kamala Harris this year, with a tagline for the 2024 presidential candidate that adopted the Spanish translation of Barack Obama’s famed “Yes, we can” slogan (“Si se puede”) into the phrase “She se puede”.

In her Marie Claire interview, published on Thursday, Longoria described being dispirited at Trump’s victory over Harris last week.

“If he keeps his promises, it’s going to be a scary place,” she said.

She added that Trump’s win in 2016 had crushed her belief that “the best person wins” in politics.

“I had my whole adult life here,” Longoria said of Los Angeles, adding that “it just feels like this chapter in my life is done now”.

Longoria is a ninth-generation Texan who moved to California in her twenties. In 2006, she earned a Golden Globe nomination in her starring role as Gabrielle Solis in Desperate Housewives.

More recently, she has hosted the CNN mini-series Searching for Mexico and Searching for Spain.

She is married to José “Pepe” Bastón, her third husband and the president of Mexican broadcaster Televisa.

The couple share a six-year-old boy, Santiago, while Bastón also has three children from a previous marriage.

The left-leaning alliance of Sri Lanka’s new leader has secured a landslide victory in the country’s snap parliamentary elections.

Official results show President Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s National People’s Power (NPP) coalition scored a two-thirds majority in parliament, with 159 seats.

President Dissanayake’s coalition got nearly 62% of the vote, winning even in the Tamil-dominated Jaffna Peninsula for the first time since independence from Britain in 1948.

“Thank you to all who voted for a renaissance,” Dissanayake said in a brief statement on social media platform X, previously knows as Twitter.

Correspondents say the victory has cemented a transformation of the island-nation’s political landscape which for decades was dominated by established political parties of family dynasties.

The landslide mandate will also allow him to push through economic and constitutional changes he had promised during the campaign.

In the outgoing assembly, Dissanayake’s party had just three seats.

The 55-year-old earlier told reporters that he believed this was “a crucial election that will mark a turning point in Sri Lanka”.

Sajith Premadasa, the man Dissanayake defeated in the presidential elections, led the opposition alliance.

Dissanayake called for snap elections shortly after he became president to seek a fresh mandate to pursue his policies. There was “no point continuing with a parliament that is not in line with what the people want”, he had said.

Nearly two-thirds of former MPs had chosen not to run for re-election, including prominent members of the former ruling Rajapaksa dynasty.

Out of the 225 seats in the parliament, 196 MPs were directly elected. The rest were nominated by parties based on the percentage of votes they get in what is known as proportional representation.

State of economy was one of the key issues for many voters.

High inflation, food and fuel shortages precipitated a political crisis in 2022 which led to the ousting of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. His successor Ranil Wickremesinghe managed to negotiate a bailout package worth $3bn with the International Monetary Fund – but many Sri Lankans continue to feel economic hardship.

The number of people living below the poverty line in Sri Lanka has risen to 25.9% in the past four years. The World Bank expects the economy to grow by only 2.2% in 2024.

The coalition will now be under massive pressure to perform and live up to their campaign promises. Dissanayake has promised to repay the country’s debt, reform its political culture, and punish members of past administrations for corruption.

Sri Lanka’s economic situation remains precarious – and the main focus is still on providing essential goods and services. How the country progresses from this point will be a real challenge for the new government.

Decades of caste discrimination have contributed to India having higher levels of child stunting rates than across Sub-Saharan Africa, new research has revealed.

The two regions together are home to 44% of the world’s under-five population but account for about 70% of stunted children globally – a key indicator of malnutrition.

But, while both have made significant strides in recent years, India’s rate stands at 35.7%, with the average across Sub-Saharan Africa’s 49 countries at 33.6%.

A child is considered stunted when they fall short of the expected height for their age – a clear sign of critical nutritional gaps.

However, the study by Ashwini Deshpande (Ashoka University) and Rajesh Ramachandran (Monash University, Malaysia) found that focusing only on the height gap – or why Indian children are shorter than children in Sub-Saharan Africa – overlooks an important factor: the crucial role of social identity, especially caste, in child malnutrition in India.

The first 1,000 days of a child’s life, often called the “golden period”, are pivotal: by age two, 80% of the brain develops, laying the foundation for lifelong potential. In these early years, access to healthcare, good nutrition, early learning, and a safe environment profoundly shapes a child’s future.

India and Sub-Saharan Africa, both with rapidly growing middle classes, young populations and significant workforce potential, share longstanding comparisons. In 2021, the World Bank reported, “Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia [including India] account for over 85% of the global poor,” underscoring similar challenges in poverty and development.

Using official data, the authors looked at the most recent estimates of the stunting gaps between India and a sample of 19 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Official data shows that more than 35% of India’s 137 million children under five are stunted, with over a third also underweight. Globally, 22% of children under five are stunted.

Then they examined six broad socially disadvantaged groups in India. Among them are adivasis (tribespeople living in remote areas) and Dalits (formerly known as untouchables), who alone comprise more than a third of the under-five population.

The economists found that children from higher-ranked, non-stigmatised caste groups in India stood at 27% – markedly lower than the Sub-Saharan African rate.

They also found that children from higher-ranking caste groups in India are some 20% less likely to experience stunting compared with those from marginalised groups, who occupy the lowest tiers of the caste hierarchy.

This conclusion remains significant even after accounting for factors like birth order, sanitation practices, maternal height, sibling count, education, anaemia and household socio-economic status.

This difference is despite seven decades of affirmative action, India’s caste system – a four-fold hierarchy of the Hindu religion – remains deeply entrenched.

“This should not be surprising given that children from better-off groups in India have access to more calories and face a better disease environment,” the authors say.

The reasons behind high stunting rates among Indian children have sparked a complex debate over the years.

Some economists have argued that the differences are genetic – that Indian children are genetically disposed to lower heights.

Others believe that improved nutrition over generations has historically closed height gaps thought to be genetic.

Some studies have found that girls fare worse than boys and others just the opposite, using different global standards.

To be sure, stunting has decreased across social groups – a separate 2022 study found that improvements in health and nutrition interventions, household living conditions and maternal factors led to reduction in stunting in four Indian states. (More than half of India’s under-five children were stunted, according to a federal family health survey of 1992-93).

Children from marginalised groups like adivasis are likely to be more malnourished.

In Africa, the rate of stunting has also fallen since 2010, although the absolute number increased.

But what is clear is that children from poor families, with less-educated mothers, or from marginalised groups, are especially vulnerable to stunting in India.

“The debate on the height gap between Indian and Sub-Saharan African children has resulted in overlooking the role of social identity, especially caste status,” the authors say.

“This is a crucial dimension to understanding the burden of child nutrition in India.”

The Chief of Staff to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is being investigated by police over allegations of altering documents relating to the 7 October Hamas attack to portray his boss in a more favourable light.

Tzachi Braverman, one of Netanyahu’s closest advisors, was questioned by the Israeli police Lahav 433 major crimes unit for over five hours on Thursday, according to reports in Israeli media.

Detectives have confirmed an investigation is under way.

The accusation is focused around two telephone calls that Netanyahu received as the Hamas cross border raid was unfolding on 7 October 2023.

• Israel’s Netanyahu shows who calls the shots with Gallant sacking

Braverman is suspected of having altered the documented time when Netanyahu first received an update on the attack via a telephone call from his military secretary at the time, Major General Avi Gil.

The chief of staff is accused of changing the time from 06:40 to 06:29.

He denies having altered the transcript of the call other than to change the time.

“I know that the first call was received at 06:29, that’s why I insisted on changing it,” he is reported to have told detectives during the interrogation.

While Gil had phoned Netanyahu at 06:29, as the Hamas attack began, Netanyahu did not give any instructions, telling him instead to phone again in 10 minutes, at 06:40, according to a report in the Haaretz newspaper,

It was only during the second phone call for which Braverman allegedly altered the time stamp to appear as though it was the first, that Netanyahu ordered Gil to hold a situational assessment on the developing Hamas invasion, Haaretz reported.

The allegation is that Braverman altered the time, in order to give the impression that the prime minister had acted more urgently and more decisively.

The chief of staff denies that.

The 7 October attack was the biggest military and intelligence failure in Israel’s history.

Several senior military officials have already resigned over it.

Netanyahu has consistently denied any personal failure.

His critics though, believe it is the prime minister who was ultimately responsible for the failure to prevent the deadliest attack on the country since the foundation of the State of Israel in 1948.

Various investigations are under way into the military and intelligence failures and Netanyahu has rejected claims he is stalling on demands for a full-scale inquiry.

This potential scandal is in its infancy, but it could go on to seriously undermine the Prime Minister’s position.

And it comes at a time when Netanyahu is mid-way through a trial facing corruption charges. He is due to testify in that trial next month, having failed to have the case thrown own, believing it is a political witch-hunt.

The Azerbaijani government is using COP29 to crack down on environmental activists and other political opponents, according to human rights groups.

This is the third year in a row a country hosting the climate summit has been accused of oppression and curtailing the legal right to protest.

Climate Action Network, a group of nearly 2,000 climate groups, told BBC News the protection of civil society is crucial if countries want to see progress on climate change.

The Azerbaijani government rejects the claims and says the government holds no political prisoners.

Global leaders are currently meeting in Azerbaijan to discuss solutions to a warming planet. But rights organisations have called for a review of how countries are selected to host the climate summit after what they say is a worrying increase in the number of environmental prisoners of conscience in Azerbaijan.

Natalia Nozadze from Amnesty International told BBC News that since Azerbaijan was announced as the host country for COP29 in November last year it has become harder to oppose the government.

“We’ve seen a dramatic increase in arrests and clamp down on all issues that the government may perceive critical or contrary to its political agenda,” she said.

For the first time since the early 2000s the number of political prisoners – including journalists, environmental activists and political opponents – has reached more than 300, according to The Union “For Freedom of Political Prisoners in Azerbaijan”.

Gubad Ibadoglu, a 53-year old professor at London university LSE, researches Azerbaijan’s oil and gas sectors and environmental issues but in summer 2023 he was arrested on charges of fraud.

More than a year later he remains under house arrest. Human Rights Watch called the charges “dubious” and Gubad Ibadoglu’s daughter has appealed to UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer for help in getting her father released.

“I think it is one of the rules of the authoritarian government, to arrest, to detain the people who have the power to impact opinion,” Mr Ibadoglu told the BBC in an interview this week.

He says his life is in danger due to health reasons.

Anar Mammadli was arrested in April on charges of smuggling, just two months after he co-founded an organisation calling for the Azerbaijani government to do more to align with the Paris agreement – a major international treaty on cutting fossil fuel emissions.

Environmental activists want Azerbaijan to reduce its reliance on oil and gas, which finance around 60% of the government’s budget.

But in January it was revealed Azerbaijan is planning on expanding production of natural gas – a fossil fuel – over the next decade, and on Tuesday President Ilham Aliyev told the COP29 climate conference that oil and gas are a “gift of god”.

“COP29 – which was meant to be an open and inclusive platform for climate action – is shaping up to be anything but,” a close friend of Mr Mammadli, Bashir Suleymanli, told the BBC.

“Civil society groups that should be playing a crucial role in holding governments accountable have been sidelined or repressed,” he said.

Nazim Beydemirli, 61, was sentenced to eight years in prison in October for extortion. He was arrested last year after he protested about gold mining operations near his village. No evidence was presented during his 15 months of pre-trial detention. His lawyer, Agil Lajic, insists the charges are baseless, and part of a broader pattern of silencing dissent in Azerbaijan ahead of COP29.

The United Arab Emirates and Egypt who hosted previous COP climate summits faced similar criticisms for their treatment of civil society groups.

“I think it’s a big mistake for countries – like Azerbaijan or United Arab Emirates or Egypt – who systematically violate human rights, to be accepted as eligible host countries,” said Azerbaijani journalist and environmental campaigner Emin Huseynov.

“President Aliyev isn’t connected with climate change, but he’s looking for COP29 as a unique opportunity to whitewash and greenwash himself, his toxic image,” he said.

Speaking before the start of the conference, the President’s Special Envoy Elchin Amirbayov, told the BBC: “I don’t accept these type of allegations, as they are not based on facts.

“Azerbaijan doesn’t [differentiate] in terms of participation in this global event of state and non-state actors, including civil society members.”

Each year the host is selected from a different region of the world, and all countries from that region have to agree on where the COP summit will be held. How they might be prevented from selecting a country that is hostile to civil society is unclear.

“All countries need to be included, that’s the point of the United Nations,” said Andreas Sieber, from climate campaign group 350.org. “The question is, what rules do you put in place?”

He has called on the UN to make sure the host country agreement – the contract between the UN and the host – contains a clause banning the use of spyware against attendees – which he says was a concern at previous conferences.

The UN does allow activists to protest at COP and in response the UNFCCC – the arm of the UN responsible for climate change – said: “This year’s Host Country Agreement for the first time includes provisions on the protection of human rights, which we welcome as a positive step forward.”

But Tasneem Essop, executive director of Climate Action Network, said: “The [UN] cannot tell the host country what they can and cannot do about their human rights situation – that’s the challenge.”

She said it is up to other countries to call this issue out, but Ms Essop and Mr Sieber both agreed that this is difficult considering the support for civil society is shrinking globally, not just in Azerbaijan.

• The Australian climate protesters cast as extremists

In October, members of the European Parliament condemned Azerbaijan’s “repression” of activists, journalists, and opposition figures, and deemed its human rights abuses incompatible with hosting COP29.

But Emin Huseynov thinks the international community has largely “given up” on this issue and cited the apparent silence from the UK government, in particular, compared with previous years when it publicly called out COP27 hosts Egypt on its human rights record.

On Tuesday, Mr Starmer met with the Azerbaijani President Aliyev at COP29 but he would not say if human rights or Mr Ibadoglu’s case was discussed.

A Foreign Office spokesperson said the issue is “regularly raised” by ministers.

Tasneem Essop said resolving this issue is critical because of the vital role civil society plays in progressing the climate change agenda.

“It was civil society that fought the battle to establish a loss and damage fund [to help poorer countries deal with the impact of climate change], after more than 30 years of countries, negotiating and fighting,” she said.

“Our presence really does hold their feet to the fire. We will hold them to account.”

An Israeli air strike on an emergency response centre in north-eastern Lebanon on Thursday killed at least 15 rescue workers, officials say, in one of the deadliest attacks of its kind involving Lebanese emergency responders in the war.

The strike in Douris, near the city of Baalbek, destroyed a building of the civil defence agency, which is linked to the Lebanese government and not affiliated with the Iranian-backed group Hezbollah. The regional governor, Bachir Khodr, said the victims included the city’s civil defence chief, Bilal Raad.

The Israeli military has not commented on the attack, which was described by the Lebanese health ministry as “barbaric”.

The Lebanese civil defence carries out emergency services including search and rescue work and fire-fighting response.

In the southern Nabatieh region, another Israeli air strike on Thursday destroyed the civil defence centre in the town of Arab Salim, killing six people, including five paramedics, the Lebanese state news agency NNA reported.

According to Lebanon’s health ministry, at least 192 emergency and health workers have been killed in Israeli air strikes across the country since the escalation of the conflict with Hezbollah in September.

The attacks come as Israel has intensified its air campaign across Lebanon in recent days, including on Beirut’s southern suburbs, where Hezbollah is based in the capital. The area was hit by air strikes for the fourth consecutive day on Friday following evacuation orders issued by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), which says it is targeting infrastructure linked to the group.

This comes amid renewed international efforts for a ceasefire, with American officials delivering the first official proposal of a deal to Lebanese authorities.

The Lebanese government says any agreement should be based on the United Nations Resolution 1701, which ended the 2006 war between Hezbollah and Israel. The resolution includes the removal of the group’s fighters and weapons in areas between the Blue Line – the unofficial frontier between Lebanon and Israel – and the Litani River, about 30km (20 miles) from the boundary with Israel.

A potential deal would likely include the deployment of additional troops of the Lebanese army to the area and a mechanism to monitor its implementation, although details remained unclear.

Israel, however, wants the right to act inside Lebanon if there is any violation of a deal. There are no signs that Hezbollah, or the Lebanese government, are willing to accept such a demand.

Hezbollah has been severely weakened after two months of intense air strikes that destroyed large parts of its infrastructure and killed many of its leaders. But after the initial shock, the group seems to have regrouped, according to analysts, and continues to carry out daily attacks on northern Israel, although not with the same intensity.

Speaking in Beirut during a visit of Ali Larijani, senior advisor to the Iranian Supreme Leader, Prime Minister Najib Mikati said the Lebanese government’s priority was to reach a ceasefire and implement Resolution 1701 in “its entirety, without any amendments or interpretations that differ from the content of the resolution and its provisions”. He added that negotiations to try to reach “an understanding” were continuing.

At least 10 people have been killed and others hurt in a fire that broke out at a care home near Zaragoza in north-eastern Spain, emergency services say.

The fire broke out in the town of Villafranca de Ebro early on Friday morning and local officials said 82 people were living in the home at the time.

The centre opened 16 years ago as a retirement home, according to local reports, but has since specialised in care for residents with dementia and mental health problems.

Emergency services were alerted at about 05:00 (04:00 GMT) on Friday and firefighters were able to put out the fire.

The ages of those who died are not yet known.

Two other people were taken to hospital, including one person whose condition was described as critical, the mayor of Villafranca de Ebro told Spanish radio.

Volga Ramírez told Cadena Ser that the tragedy may have been caused by a mattress on fire in one of the rooms.

Witnesses said there was little fire damage to the single-storey building and smoke inhalation is being blamed for the large number of fatalities.

“My husband went in to get people out. You couldn’t even breathe because of the smoke,” the mayor told reporters.

The Spanish government’s delegate in Aragón region, Fernando Beltrán, paid his condolences to the victims and said they would continue to monitor the progress of those in hospital and the investigation into the cause of the fire.

Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez also expressed his dismay and shock at the disaster.

Nine years ago a fatal fire left nine people dead at another retirement home in the Zaragoza area.

Have you been affected by the issues raised in this story? Get in touch.

Some football fans attending the European Nations League match in Paris between France and Israel whistled and booed as the Israeli anthem played at the start of the game.

Thursday’s match was played in front of scant crowds and heavy security a week after violence in Amsterdam between pro-Palestinian demonstrators and visiting Israeli fans.

Despite fears of a repeat of the Amsterdam violence, there were just a few brief scuffles in the stands during the first half of the game, which ended in a 0-0 draw.

President Emmanuel Macron – who attended the match with Prime Minister Michel Barnier – said beforehand that France would not give in to antisemitism.

Thousands of police were deployed to ensure security at the Stade de France in the northern Paris suburbs and on public transport, while an elite anti-terrorist police unit protected the visiting Israeli squad.

A reporter for France’s AFP news agency witnessed stewards intervening to stop clashes in the stands between rival fans.

According to Reuters news agency, some 100 Israel fans defied travel warnings from their government and sat in a corner of the 80,000-capacity stadium, which was barely a fifth full.

Waving yellow balloons, they chanted “Free the Hostages” in reference to Israelis held in Gaza by Hamas militants, the agency reports.

Before the match, several hundred demonstrators gathered in a square near the stadium to wave Palestinian, Lebanese and Algerian flags in protest at the war in Gaza.

“We don’t play with genocide,” one banner read.

Israel has denied allegations of genocide as baseless and grossly distorted.

It launched a campaign to destroy Hamas in response to the group’s unprecedented attack on southern Israel on 7 October last year when about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

More than 43,700 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.

Politicians across Europe decried a “return of antisemitism” after Israeli fans were chased through the streets of Amsterdam.

Maccabi fans were themselves involved in vandalism, tearing down a Palestinian flag, attacking a taxi and chanting anti-Arab slogans, according to city authorities. They were then targeted by “small groups of rioters… on foot, by scooter or car”, the city said in a 12-page report.

Violence between Israel and its neighbours in the Middle East has the potential to spread to Europe.

France, Belgium and the Netherlands all have large Muslim populations of North African origin and they live beside far smaller Jewish populations, who in the main identify strongly with Israel.

To express solidarity with European Jews after Amsterdam, President Emmanuel Macron attended Thursday’s match along with Prime Minister Michel Barnier and former presidents François Hollande and Nicolas Sarkozy.

Supporters were told to expect identity checks ahead of the game while bars and restaurants in the area were told to close from the afternoon.

The Stade de France was the scene of a dangerous breakdown in law and order at a Uefa Champions League final between Liverpool and Real Madrid in 2022. However since then the Rugby World Cup and Paris Olympics have both been peacefully staged there.

France’s far-left France Unbowed (LFI) party – which sides with Palestinians and Lebanese in the conflicts with Israel – called for Thursday’s match to be cancelled, or at least for Macron to refuse to attend.

• New arrests in Amsterdam over riots after Maccabi match

“We do not want our head of state honouring a country that commits genocide,” said LFI deputy David Guiraud.

But Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau said it was out of the question to cancel or relocate the match. “France does not give way to those who sow hatred,” he said.

France and Israel are in the same group in the Uefa competition, alongside Italy and Belgium. In their first leg – played in Budapest – France beat Israel 4-1.

Pre-match tensions were already in evidence on the eve of the match after a pro-Israeli “gala” event was given the go-ahead in Paris, which the far-right Israeli minister Bezalel Smotrich was at one point expected to attend – although it was later thought his “presence” would be by video-link.

Several thousand pro-Palestinian and anti-racist organisations also staged protests in the capital to coincide with the event. Clashes broke out and police used tear gas as protesters targeted a McDonald’s on the Boulevard Montmartre.

Relations between Macron and Benyamin Netanyahu have come under severe strain in recent weeks, after Macron accused the Israeli prime minister of “spreading barbarism” in Gaza and Lebanon.

French Jews were also upset when Macron was quoted as saying that Netanyahu should accept United Nations calls for a ceasefire because “his country was itself created by a decision of the UN”. This was interpreted in Israel as an insult to Jews who had lost their lives in their country’s war of independence.

France in turn was angered when two French officials were briefly detained by Israeli authorities at a holy site in East Jerusalem that is under French administration.

Macron has been described as pursuing a zigzag in his approach to the Middle East, as in many other domains, flipflopping inconsistently between outspoken statements of support for Israel and then its Arab neighbours.

Mia le Roux who was set to represent South Africa at the Miss Universe finals this weekend in Mexico has pulled out of the competition, organisers have announced, citing health concerns.

The 28-year-old made history as the first-ever deaf woman to be crowned Miss South Africa in August, following a controversy-hit competition which saw one finalist withdraw after being trolled over her Nigerian heritage.

She had spent weeks in Mexico preparing for the finale of the prestigious beauty contest.

The Miss South Africa organisation in a statement said Ms Le Roux’s health and well-being “are our utmost priority” and pledged to support her until she “returns to full health”.

The last-minute withdrawal means South Africa will not be represented at the 73rd Miss Universe pageant, where Ms Le Roux was among 120 beauty queens vying for the coveted title.

• Miss South Africa contestant pulls out amid nationality row
• Beauty contest sparks row over who counts as South African

“Making this decision has been incredibly challenging, knowing the dreams and hopes that have been placed upon me,” she said in the statement.

“However, I am deeply grateful to have the opportunity to focus on my health and recovery so that I may continue to serve my country with full strength.”

She has not disclosed the nature of the health problem.

The Miss South Africa organisation said Ms Le Roux had shown “incredible courage and grace throughout this difficult period”.

“Our hearts are with her as she takes the necessary steps toward recovery,” the organisation added.

Last month, Ms Le Roux expressed her excitement about the chance to represent South Africa on the Miss Universe stage terming it a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for my voice to be heard”.

She said then that she hoped to showcase her country’s “beautiful diversity”.

She was diagnosed with profound hearing loss at the age of one and has a cochlear implant to help her perceive sound.

In an earlier interview, she said it had taken two years of speech therapy before she was able to say her first words. She spoke passionately about her journey, acknowledging the challenges she has faced.

• Tyla’s racial identity: South African singer sparks culture war
• Nigerian anger over South African xenophobia
• South Africa’s radical opposition rocked by high-profile defections

A hacker has been sentenced to five years in a US prison for laundering the proceeds of one of the biggest ever cryptocurrency thefts.

Ilya Lichtenstein pleaded guilty last year in the case involving the Bitfinex cryptocurrency exchange being hacked in 2016 and the theft of almost 120,000 bitcoin.

He laundered the stolen cryptocurrency with the help of his wife Heather Morgan, who used the alias Razzlekhan to promote her hip hop music.

At the time of the theft, the bitcoin was worth around $70m (£55.3m), but had risen in value to more than $4.5bn by the time they were arrested. At today’s prices they would be worth more than double that.

The $3.6bn worth of assets recovered in the case was the biggest financial seizure in the Department of Justice’s history, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said at the time.

“It’s important to send a message that you can’t commit these crimes with impunity, that there are consequences to them,” district judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly said.

Lichtenstein, who has been in prison since his arrest in February 2022, expressed remorse for his actions.

He also said that he hopes to apply his skills to fight cybercrime after serving his sentence.

Morgan also pleaded guilty last year to one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. She is due to be sentenced on 18 November.

According court documents, Lichtenstein used advanced hacking tools and techniques to hack into Bitfinex.

Following the hack, he enlisted Morgan’s help to launder the stolen funds.

They “employed numerous sophisticated laundering techniques”, the Department of Justice said in a statement.

The methods included using fictitious identities, switching the funds into different cryptocurrencies and buying gold coins.

Lichtenstein, who was born in Russia but grew up in the US, would then meet couriers while on family trips and move the laundered money back home, prosecutors said.

Morgan’s Razzlekhan persona went viral on social media when the case emerged.

Even as the couple attempted to cover up the hack, she published dozens of expletive-filled music videos and rap songs filmed in locations around New York.

In her lyrics she called herself a “bad-ass money maker” and “the crocodile of Wall Street”.

In articles published in Forbes magazine, Morgan also claimed to be a successful technology businesswoman, calling herself an “economist, serial entrepreneur, software investor and rapper”.

Donald Trump has moved speedily since winning the US presidential election to set the foundations of his second term in the White House.

He has made his early priorities clear – and stunned some in Washington and around the world while doing so.

Here’s what we’ve learned from his rollercoaster first week as president-elect.

Trump started building his top team almost immediately, nominating cabinet picks for Senate approval and appointing White House advisers and other senior aides.

But that doesn’t tell the full story.

His selections make clear that he plans a radical shake up of government, eschewing more conventional and experienced picks for those who are loyal to him and share his vision for a second term that will upend the status quo in Washington.

His choice for defence secretary, for example, has called for a purge of military chiefs enacting “woke” policies. His nominee for health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, has said he wants to “clear out corruption” at America’s health agencies and cut “entire departments” at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

And that’s not to mention a promised “Department of Government Efficiency“ helmed by advisers Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, which Trump says will focus on slashing regulations and historic cost-cutting.

The bigger picture is that Trump’s proposed team is almost universally loyal, and favour overhauling their respective government departments.

You can take a deeper look at who’s in the frame for his top team here.

Republicans have won control of the House as well as the Senate, giving the party a crucial (albeit narrow) majority in both chambers for at least the next two years, when there will be the usual midterm elections.

This is a major boost to Trump’s agenda. It means he will be more easily able to pass legislation and gives his policy priorities a friendly path to becoming law.

The Democratic Party will, naturally, be less able to block and resist his agenda too. And Trump should for now be able to avoid the kind of congressional investigations he faced in the second half of his first term.

Ultimately, Republican control of Congress could prove key in pushing through his big pledges such as mass deportations, sweeping tariffs on foreign imports and the rolling back of environmental protections.

It won’t always be smooth sailing for Trump in Congress, however, as our correspondent Gary O’Donoghue explains here.

Trump’s influence was put to the test earlier this week when Republicans in the Senate picked their new leader.

While he did not weigh-in on the race directly, there had been a concerted effort from the president-elect’s most vocal allies as well as favourable ‘Maga’ media outlets to get hard-line Trump loyalist Rick Scott elected.

But he was defeated in the first round and Republicans opted for a more orthodox pick in John Thune, who has had a more rocky relationship with Trump.

It’s worth noting that this was a secret ballot, so it was far from a public repudiation of Trumpworld.

There will be sterner tests of Trump’s power on Capitol Hill to come, notably when confirmation hearings are held for his more divisive cabinet picks.

Some Senate Republicans, for example, have already signalled their opposition to Trump’s shock choice of Matt Gaetz to lead the justice department.

While much of the focus was on the president-elect’s nominations and appointments, we also had a reminder that his legal troubles have been upended by his victory.

In New York specifically, his criminal fraud conviction in the hush-money case lives on for at least a few more days.

But it could soon be consigned to history. Earlier this week a judge delayed his decision as to whether Trump’s conviction should be thrown out because of a Supreme Court ruling in the summer that expanded presidential immunity.

That decision is now expected to come next week. And while it’s not clear whether the conviction will be tossed out, Trump’s scheduled sentencing on 26 November is likely to be delayed regardless.

Here’s a reminder of how Trump’s election win impacts his cases.

It’s no secret that Trump views the world differently to Biden, and could drastically shift US foreign policy over the next few years.

One clear theme that’s emerged in recent days is the prominence of China hawks in his proposed team – those who believe Beijing poses a serious threat to US economic and military dominance and want to challenge this more forcefully.

And they are present from the top down.

His nomination for secretary of state – America’s most senior diplomat – Marco Rubio, has described China as the “most advanced adversary America has ever faced”.

Mike Waltz, his national security adviser, has said the US is in a “cold war” with China. Other nominees such as his proposed ambassador to the UN, Elise Stefanik, have directly accused China of election interference.

During Trump’s first administration, relations with Beijing were tense, and they barely warmed under Biden. With tariffs, export controls and pointed rhetoric, the president-elect appears ready to take an even tougher stance this time around.

Donald Trump has picked vaccine sceptic and former independent presidential candidate Robert F Kennedy Jr as his health secretary, as the president-elect continues to build his new administration.

Kennedy, commonly known by his initials RFK Jr, has a history of spreading health information that scientists say is false.

If his nomination is ratified by the Senate, he will lead a huge agency overseeing everything from food safety to medical research and welfare programmes.

The executive director of the American Public Health Association (APHA) said the organisation will “absolutely oppose” Kennedy’s nomination.

Speaking to BBC Newsday on Friday, Georges C Benjamin fiercely denounced Kennedy’s qualifications for the role.

“He is not competent by training, management skills, temperament or trust to have this job. He’s just absolutely the wrong guy for it,” Benjamin said.

“He is really just a person without a health background who’s already caused great damage in health in the country.”

Benjamin pointed to Kennedy’s previous comments questioning the safety and efficacy of vaccines, and what might happen if there were another pandemic during his tenure.

Benjamin continued: “We’re going advocate as loudly and as often as we can to make sure that people know what a risk he is to the public and to the public’s health.”

Kennedy’s nomination came amid a flurry of announcements on Thursday evening, with Trump also declaring his intention to nominate North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum as his interior secretary.

Trump said he would formally announce the selection of Burgum – a former businessman who ran against the president-elect for the Republican presidential nomination – on Friday.

• Follow live updates on this story
• Five takeaways from Trump’s first week

He had initially teased the move during a speech to supporters at Mar-a-Lago – his first since election night – saying he would be appointing Burgum to a “very big position”, before seemingly deciding to dispense with the suspense.

Other nominations announced on Thursday include:

• Former Georgia Congressman Doug Collins as secretary of veterans’ affairs.
• Todd Blanche, Trump’s defence lawyer in his “hush money” criminal trial, to serve as deputy attorney general.
• Dean John Sauer, who represented Trump in a US Supreme Court case earlier this year, as solicitor general. He will be charged with supervising and conducting government litigation in the Supreme Court.
• Jay Clayton, former chairperson of the US Securities and Exchange Commission, as US attorney for the Southern District of New York, one of the most influential federal trial courts.

Trump said in a statement he was “thrilled to announce” Kennedy’s nomination.

Speculation had grown that Trump planned to hand his former rival a key healthcare role.

He told supporters at his election night victory party that Kennedy wanted to “help make America healthy again”.

“For too long, Americans have been crushed by the industrial food complex and drug companies who have engaged in deception, misinformation, and disinformation when it comes to Public Health,” Trump said in his statement on Thursday.

“Mr Kennedy will restore these Agencies [Health and Human Services] to the traditions of Gold Standard Scientific Research, and beacons of Transparency, to end the Chronic Disease epidemic, and to Make America Great and Healthy Again!”

• How these new recruits will be vetted
• What Trump can and can’t do on day one
• Trump team so far – who’s in and who might be coming
• Why Musk will find it hard to cut $2tn
• What Trump picks say about Mid East policy

The nominee hails from one of the most famous families in Democratic politics as the son of US Attorney General Robert F Kennedy and nephew of President John F Kennedy, both of whom were assassinated in the 1960s.

Now aged 70, the environmental lawyer ran for president this year as an independent after initially launching a Democratic primary bid, but he eventually suspended his own campaign, endorsing Trump.

He is known for his criticism of childhood vaccines, claiming in an interview last year: “I do believe that autism comes from vaccines.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, America’s national public health agency which is one of the bodies the US health secretary oversees: “Many studies have looked at whether there is a relationship between vaccines and ASD [autism spectrum disorder]. To date, the studies continue to show that vaccines are not associated with ASD.”

Kennedy, who was addicted to heroin for 14 years in his youth, has also talked about wanting to help tackle America’s substance abuse crisis.

‘We’re now seeing an epidemic of addiction, alcoholism,” he told the Daily Mail last year. “But also just loneliness, despair, disassociation, alienation.”

During his campaign for the White House, tales of Kennedy’s personal life more often caught the news than any major policy proposals. His admission that he had suffered from a brain worm, and a separate story about his dumping of a dead bear in New York’s Central Park, dominated headlines for days.

Democrats have been quick to condemn the pick, with Senator Patty Murray calling the choice “catastrophic” and labelling Kennedy a “fringe conspiracy theorist”.

Republican Senator Susan Collins said she had found some of Kennedy’s “statements to be alarming” but said she would grant him a fair hearing during confirmation proceedings.

Trump has been selecting his top team since winning the US election last week. His party is projected to win the House of Representatives, meaning the Republicans will run the White House and all of Congress.

Marco Rubio has been nominated for secretary of state and former Democrat Tulsi Gabbard for director of national intelligence. But his decision to nominate controversial Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz has raised eyebrows on Capitol Hill.

Long an outspoken ally of Trump’s, Gaetz was the subject of an ongoing ethics investigation in the House of Representatives into allegations of sexual misconduct, illicit drug use and misuse of campaign funds.

Senator Dick Durbin, the sitting chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has asked for the findings of the report into the allegations to be published.

Gaetz is also divisive figure within his party after he forced out House Speaker Kevin McCarthy last year. Lisa Murkowski, a moderate Senate Republican, said Gaetz was not “a serious nomination for the attorney general”.

Meanwhile, Trump offered new details on the role Elon Musk will play in his administration, in his first public address since his election night victory speech.

The president-elect said Musk’s new Department of Government Efficiency would issue a series of reports in the coming weeks to streamline the US government.

One of the key promises President-elect Donald Trump made while campaigning for the White House was to abolish the US Department of Education.

The federal agency, established in 1979, oversees funding for public schools, administers student loans and runs programmes to help low-income students.

Trump has accused the agency of “indoctrinating young people with inappropriate racial, sexual, and political material”.

But in order to scrap the department, the incoming Republican president would need congressional approval – an uphill battle.

On his own, no.

Not only would Trump need congressional approval, but he would also probably need a supermajority – 60 out of 100 senators.

While Republicans have a majority in the Senate, they do not have 60 members in the upper chamber, so they would need a few Democrats to vote to abolish the agency. There’s zero chance of that.

• Follow live updates on this story
• Five takeaways from Trump’s first week

Even in the House of Representatives, Trump would struggle to gain necessary support.

A vote last year to abolish the education department – which was attached as an amendment to another bill – failed to pass as 60 Republicans joined all Democrats in the House to vote no. So Trump’s pledge could turn out to be largely symbolic.

The Department of Education oversees student loan programmes and administers Pell grants that help low-income students attend university.

The department also helps fund programmes to support students with disabilities and for students living in poverty.

And it enforces civil rights law that prevents race or sex-based discrimination in federally funded schools.

The department’s allocation was $238bn (£188bn) in fiscal year 2024 – under 2% of the total federal budget.

The idea has been floated by Republicans for decades. During Ronald Reagan’s 1980 presidential campaign, he pushed for it to be dismantled.

Republicans have accused the education department of pushing what they describe as “woke” political ideology on to children, including on gender and race. They want the agency’s authority handed to the US states, which run most education matters.

Conservatives also argue that other education department functions, such as administering loans, should be handled instead by the US Department of Treasury, and that civil rights infractions are the Department of Justice’s domain.

Trump’s allies also want to expand school choice, which would allow students and families to select alternatives to public schools.

• How these new recruits will be vetted
• What Trump can and can’t do on day one
• Trump team so far – who’s in and who might be coming
• Why Musk will find it hard to cut $2tn
• What Trump picks say about Mid East policy

For now, Mike Huckabee seems to be keeping his cards close to his chest.

Shortly after being announced as President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for US ambassador to Israel, the former Republican governor of Arkansas said: “I won’t make the policy. I will carry out the policy of the president.”

But he did give an indication of what he expected that policy to be, citing the previous Trump administration’s decision to move the US embassy to Jerusalem and to recognise the occupied Golan Heights as Israeli territory – decisions as warmly welcomed by the Israeli right wing as they were categorically rejected by Palestinians.

“No-one has done more,” he told an Israeli radio station. “President Trump and I fully expect that will continue.”

What approach Trump will take to the Israel-Gaza war is still unclear. But the right wing of Israeli politics has welcomed the president-elect’s appointment of Huckabee, seeing it as predicting another term of American policy highly favourable to their longstanding aims of holding on to territory in the West Bank and expanding settlements.

The appointment was greeted with joy by two far-right ministers in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government. On the social media platform X, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich messaged his congratulations to “a consistent and loyal friend”, while Itamar Ben-Gvir, the national security minister, wrote “Mike Huckabee” with heart emojis.

• Follow live updates on this story
• Who has Trump appointed to his top team so far?
• What top team picks tell us about Trump 2.0
• Trump picking Gaetz to head justice department stuns – but sends strong message
• Why is Elon Musk Trump’s efficiency tsar?

Smotrich and Ben-Gvir have reason to be cheered by Huckabee’s appointment. He has been a consistent supporter of many Israelis’ ambitions to expand into territories that would form part of any future Palestinian state.

Holding a press conference in 2017, shortly after a cornerstone-laying ceremony at one of the biggest Israeli settlements in the West Bank, Huckabee said: “There’s no such thing as a settlement. They’re communities, they’re neighbourhoods, they’re cities.

“There’s no such thing as an occupation.”

The following year, he said: “I think Israel has title deed to Judea and Samaria,” using the name used by many in Israel for the area which became the occupied West Bank when it was captured by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war.

The previous Trump administration declared in 2019 that it did not consider Israeli settlements illegal under international law, contradicting decades of US policy. Other decisions, including a 2020 peace plan greenlighting the annexation of Israeli settlements, were seen as more favourable to the settlers than any previous administration.

The Israeli far right has indicated that it sees Huckabee’s appointment as a sign that it will be able to further advance its agenda, including annexation of the West Bank, during the next Trump term.

On Monday, Smotrich said that 2025 would be “the year of sovereignty” in the West Bank, adding that he had instructed Israeli authorities to begin preparatory work for annexation of the occupied territory.

That happening is a genuine fear for Mustafa Barghouti, a West Bank-based veteran Palestinian politician who is leader of the Palestinian National Initiative political movement.

“You can imagine the reaction of other powerful countries in the world would be, when the idea of annexing occupied territories, obtained by war, becomes legal and acceptable,” he says. “So it’s not just about Palestinians and our suffering, it’s about the international order.”

Whether Smotrich will get his wish remains to be seen. Tal Schneider, a political correspondent at the Times of Israel, says it is not a foregone conclusion that a pro-settler US ambassador will result in pro-settler policies in Washington.

“Four years ago, some of the people that surrounded Trump were very much pro-settlements and pro-annexing, but it didn’t work like that last time. I predict it’s not going to work like that this time around.”

Huckabee was not the only appointee announced on Tuesday. The president-elect also said Steve Witkoff would serve as his special envoy to the Middle East.

As well as being a real estate developer, Witkoff is also a longtime golf buddy of Trump’s. The pair were playing together at the time of a second failed assassination attempt in September.

It is not clear what foreign policy experience Witkoff brings to the role, but he has previously praised Trump’s dealings with Israel.

In July, he argued that Trump’s “leadership was good for Israel and the entire region”.

“With President Trump, the Middle East experienced historic levels of peace and stability. Strength prevents wars. Iran’s money was cut off which prevented their funding of global terror,” he said.

Netanyahu’s decision to nominate a hardline settler leader for Israeli ambassador to Washington three days after Trump’s election also indicates that the prime minister believes the next administration will be receptive to right-wing arguments.

US-born Yechiel Leiter, who was Netanyahu’s chief of staff when he was finance minister, supports the annexation of the West Bank. According to the Haaretz newspaper, he was once active in the US-based Jewish Defence League, the organisation founded by far-right rabbi Meir Kahane. His son was killed fighting in Gaza.

He was also reported to support the Abraham Accords, Trump’s efforts to normalise relations between Israel and Arab states, which had some success. However, advancing that process has been derailed by the ongoing war in Gaza and Arab anger over the suffering of the Palestinians.

Palestinians, already disillusioned with the US over Joe Biden’s support for Israel during the war in Gaza, say Trump’s pick for ambassador suggests the next president will make the prospect of an eventual two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict even more remote.

“Mr Huckabee has said things that are absolutely contradictory to international law,” says Mustafa Barghouti, a West Bank-based Palestinian politician.

“It will be really bad news for the cause of peace in this region.”

New Zealand’s parliament was brought to a temporary halt by MPs performing a haka, amid anger over a controversial bill seeking to reinterpret the country’s founding treaty with Māori people.

Opposition party MP Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke began the traditional ceremonial group dance after being asked whether her party supported the bill, which faced its first vote on Thursday.

At the same time, a hīkoi – or peaceful protest march – organised by a Māori rights group is continuing to make its way towards the capital, Wellington.

Thousands have already joined the 10-day march against the bill, which reached Auckland on Wednesday, having begun in the far north of New Zealand on Monday.

The country is often considered a leader in indigenous rights, but opponents of the bill fear those same rights are being put at risk by this bill.

Act, the political party that introduced the bill, argues there is a need to legally define the principles of the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi, which has been fundamental to race relations in New Zealand.

The core values of the treaty have, over time, been woven into New Zealand’s laws in an effort to redress the wrong done to Māori during colonisation.

But Act – a minor party in the ruling centre-right coalition – say this has resulted in the country being divided by race, and the bill will allow the treaty to be interpreted more fairly through parliament, rather than the courts. The party’s leader, David Seymour, has dismissed opponents as wanting to “stir up” fear and division.

Critics, however, say the legislation will divide the country and lead to the unravelling of much-needed support for many Māori.

The first reading passed on Thursday after a 30-minute break, backed by all parties from the ruling coalition. Maipi-Clarke was suspended from the house.

It is unlikely to pass a second reading, as Act’s coalition partners have indicated they will not support it.

But this has not placated those worried about the bill, and its impact, with the hikoi still making progress along its 1,000km (621-mile) route.

In Auckland, it took an estimated 5,000 marchers two hours to cross the harbour bridge. Officials had closed two lanes, the New Zealand Herald reported, to allow them to continue along the route.

Danielle Moreau, who is Māori, walked over the Harbour Bridge with her two sons, Bobby and Teddy, and told the BBC she “was hoping it [the hīkoi] would be big but it was much more epic than I expected”.

“I marched to make the point that Te Tiriti [the Treaty of Waitangi] is very important to our national identity,” said Winston Pond, who also took part in the march on Wednesday.

“We are a multi-cultural society built on a bicultural base – something that cannot be altered.”

Juliet Tainui-Hernández, from the Māori tribe Ngāi Tahu, and her Puerto Rican partner Javier Hernández, brought their daughter Paloma to the hīkoi.

Ms Tainui-Hernández said those who turned out in support did so “for the respectful and inclusive nation we want Aotearoa [New Zealand] to be for our tamariki mokopuna – our children and grandchildren”.

Kiriana O’Connell, who is also Māori, said that the current treaty principles were already a compromise for her people, and she would not support a “rewrite”.

Under the proposed legislation, the treaty principles that would be defined in law are:

• that the government has a right to govern and that parliament has the full right to make laws
• that the rights of Māori are respected by the Crown
• that everyone is equal before the law and is entitled to equal protection under it.

Act leader Seymour – who is also New Zealand’s associate justice minister – argues that because the principles have never been properly defined legally, the courts “have been able to develop principles that have been used to justify actions that are contrary to the principle of equal rights”.

He says these include “ethnic quotas in public institutions” that go against the spirit of fairness for all New Zealanders.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, however, has called the bill “divisive” – despite being part of the same coalition.

Meanwhile, the Waitangi Tribunal, which was set up in 1975 to investigate alleged breaches of the Treaty of Waitangi, notes the bill “purposefully excluded any consultation with Māori, breaching the principle of partnership, the Crown’s good-faith obligations, and the Crown’s duty to actively protect Māori rights and interests”.

It also said that the principles of the bill misinterpreted the Treaty of Waitangi and that this “caused significant prejudice to Māori”.

The tabling of the Treaty Principles Bill comes following a series of measures introduced by the government that have affected Māori.

They include the closure of the Māori Health Authority, which was set up under Jacinda Ardern’s Labour government to help create health equity, and reprioritising English over Māori when it comes to the official naming of government organisations, for example.

While roughly 18% of New Zealand’s population consider themselves to be Māori, according to the most recent census, many remain disadvantaged compared with the general population when assessed through markers such as health outcomes, household income, education levels and incarceration and mortality rates. There remains a seven-year gap in life expectancy.

The Treaty of Waitangi is an agreement between the British and many, but not all, Māori tribes, which was signed in 1840.

It is contentious as it was written in both English and Māori – which had only been a spoken language until colonisation – and the two versions contain fundamental differences when it comes to issues such as sovereignty.

While the treaty itself is not enshrined in law, its principles have been adopted over time into various pieces of legislation.

The bill will now be sent to a select committee for a six-month public hearing process.

Forty years after they began the task – and nearly four hundred years after receiving their first commission – sages in Paris have finally produced a new edition of the definitive French dictionary.

The full ninth edition of the was formally presented to President Macron this afternoon in the plush surroundings of the 17th century Collège des Quatre-Nations on the left bank of the Seine.

This is where the 40 wise men and women of the French Academy – so-called (immortals) chosen for their contributions to French language and literature – have met since the body was first created by Cardinal Richelieu in 1635.

Their task at the start was to “give certain rules to our language, to render it pure and eloquent” – to which end they set about writing their first dictionary.

However, the job has proved so slow – the first book was not produced until 1694 and today it takes more than a year to get through a single letter of the alphabet – that the relevance of the enterprise is increasingly in question.

“The effort is praiseworthy, but so excessively tardy that it is perfectly useless,” a collective of linguists wrote in the Liberation newspaper on Thursday.

This ninth edition replaces the eighth, which was completed in 1935. Work started in 1986, and three previous sections – up to the letter R – have already been issued.

Today the end section (last entry Zzz) has been added, meaning the work is complete.

In its press release, the Academy said the dictionary is a “mirror of an epoch running from the 1950s up to today,” and boasts 21,000 new entries compared to the 1935 version.

But many of the “modern” words added in the 1980s or 90s are already out of date. And such is the pace of linguistic change, many words in current use today are too new to make it in.

Thus common words like, , and – which are all in the latest commercial dictionaries – do not exist in the Académie book. Conversely its “new” words include such go-ahead concepts as , , and (mini-supermarket).

For the latest R-Z section, the writers have included the new thinking on the feminisation of jobs, including female alternatives (which did not exist before) for positions such as and . However print versions of the earlier sections do not have the change, because for many years the Académie fought a rear-guard action against it.

Likewise the third section of the new dictionary – including the letter M – defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman, which in France it no longer is.

“How can anyone pretend that this collection can serve as a reference for anyone?” the collective asks, noting that online dictionaries are both bigger and faster-moving.

Under its president, the writer Amin Maalouf, the dictionary committee meets every Thursday morning and after discussion gives its ruling on definitions that have been drawn up in preliminary form by outside experts.

Among the “immortals” is the English poet and French expert Michael Edwards, who told Le Figaro newspaper how he tried to get the Academy to revive the long-forgotten word (undeep).

“French needs it, because as every English student of French knows, there is no word for ‘shallow’,” he said. Sadly, he failed.

Discussions – lengthy ones – are already under way for the commencement of edition 10.

Indian women on average hit menopause a few years earlier than their counterparts in the West, studies show. A recent paper found that women experiencing premature menopause, particularly in the age group of 30–39 years, is also on the rise. Yet there are few resources to help them deal with it.

“In some studies, the average age of menopause in India is 47 – meaning some women can hit it by 44-45 while others by 50 and this is considered normal,” says Dr Ruma Satwik, a gynaecologist and obstetrician at Delhi’s Sir Gangaram Hospital.

This is several years earlier than, for example, the US where the average age is 51.

Doctors say the earlier menopause is a result of nutritional and environmental circumstances as well as genetic factors.

But in a country where conversation on menstruation still comes with stigma and taboo, menopause awareness is lagging.

Sangeeta, who goes by one name, is overwhelmed every day as she juggles work, household chores and childcare while enduring severe hot flushes, fatigue, insomnia, backache and abdominal pain.

“What’s the point of living like this?” the 43-year-old asks. “Sometimes I feel my pain will end when I die.”

A janitor at Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, a government-run facility in the capital, Delhi, Ms Sangeeta hit menopause a year ago but did not know until recently that the hospital had a dedicated clinic to address the health concerns it raised.

Hundreds of miles away in the financial capital, Mumbai, Mini Mathur says she felt like she was experiencing “every possible” symptom after she turned 50.

The TV host says she had never had any medical concerns and followed a healthy lifestyle. The onslaught of symptoms reminded her of the advice a friend had given her years ago.

“It’s coming for everyone. Please hit the ground running.”

India’s 2011 Census data showed the country had 96 million women above 45 years. By 2026, that number is projected to reach 400 million, says Dr Anju Soni, president of the Indian Menopause Society.

“Indian women live one-third of their life after menopause,” she says.

Women are considered to have hit menopause when they haven’t menstruated for a year. But this is preceded by perimenopause, a phase of gradual decline in reproductive hormones that can last from anywhere between two to 10 years.

The symptoms are wide ranging: from affecting mood, memory, focus, libido to effects on bone, brain, muscle, skin and hair. Depending on its severity, women may find their quality of life decline.

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Most symptoms are manageable with supplements, changes in diet, exercise and, if necessary, hormone replacement therapy, doctors say. But there are no tests to determine the condition and they usually rely on eliminating other causes for the symptoms.

Doctors say menopause and perimenopause are under-researched across the world with very little taught about it in medical school.

This can make the process of getting a diagnosis quite frustrating for women, Dr Satwik says.

Ms Mathur says it took visits to several healthcare centres across the country and abroad over the past two years before she received the care she needed.

She was stunned to find that a lot of her symptoms – which included brain fog, low mood, joint pain and anxiety – became “vastly better” when she began using progesterone cream topically.

“I had to go to Austria to find a doctor who wouldn’t negate my symptoms and feelings and say ‘sabko hota hai [it happens to everyone]’.”

The refrain is all too familiar for 60-year-old activist Atul Sharma who was so worried about the changes menopause brought in her mood and sex drive that she hid the condition from her husband for nearly six years.

Ms Sharma, who works with women in rural areas on health and economic empowerment in northern Uttar Pradesh state, found there was barely any provision for menopausal women at rural government clinics. Primary healthcare workers who wanted to help did not have any specialised training.

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“Even the nurse who comes here says, ‘Ab iske liye bhi davai mangogi [now you will seek medicine for this also]? Just bear it with. It happens to every woman’.”

In 2022-24, Dr Satwik surveyed over 370 women between the ages of 40 and 60 on their symptoms and its severity.

“About 20% experienced nothing at all. The rest experienced one or more symptoms mildly while 15-20% were experiencing it to a severe degree.”

While information within India remains scarce, many women say they are turning to social media and that online resources are often more illuminating than conversations with their doctors.

Many follow American specialists like Dr Mary Claire Haver who shares latest research on social media and celebrities like Hollywood actresses Naomi Watts and Halle Berry who have been promoting the documentary The M Factor: Shredding the Silence on Menopause. Watts is herself writing a book on menopause while Berry is pushing for new legislation to promote its research, training and education.

Ms Mathur says she feels privileged that she was able to get treatment. “How are women who are bringing up families, kids, going to work, travelling in packed local trains dealing with it?

“We are not up to date with the West,” she says. “We don’t have enough brands of oestrogen patches and progesterone creams that we need in India.”

She’s now studying a course in the US, certified by the National Board of Health and Wellness Coaches, hoping to eventually bridge the gap between information, resources and access to specialists for women from all kinds of backgrounds in India.

“The cost of this treatment is out of reach for many poor women in India,” Ms Sharma says. Ms Sangeeta says she is resigned to living with pain.

Increased awareness has to come from the medical fraternity, says Dr Satwik, adding that there need to be as many talks on menopause or perimenopause as there are on fertility and adolescent health.

Dr Soni says the government already has a network of healthcare workers in rural and remote areas.

“They already give supplements and provide health care services to pregnant women. Now extend that to menopausal women.”

The boss of Tesla and the social media site X, Elon Musk, suggested last month at Donald Trump’s rally in New York City that it would be possible to cut “at least $2 trillion” from US government spending by eradicating “waste”.

Musk has now been appointed to co-head a new Department of Government Efficiency by the incoming US president, giving him an opportunity to try to put his plans into action.

In the most recent fiscal year (from October 2023 to September 2024) the US federal government spent $6.75 trillion (£5.3 trillion) according to the US Treasury.

This means Musk’s proposed cuts of $2 trillion would represent around a cut of around 30% of total federal government spending — also known as national spending in other countries.

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How realistic is that proposal?

To answer that, it’s helpful to break down the total spending figure.

Around $880bn (13% of total US government spending) goes on interest payments on the national debt, which means that line of expenditure cannot be reduced without putting the US government in default.

Around $1.46 trillion (22%) goes on Social Security, which primarily means pensions for Americans over the retirement age. This is a line of spending which is “mandatory”, meaning it must be spent by law on those eligible.

Other large mandatory lines of government expenditure include Medicare – a government-funded health insurance program primarily serving Americans aged over 65.

So-called “discretionary” US government spending – outlays that are not permanently enshrined in law but have to be voted on annually by US lawmakers – includes defence ($874bn, 13%), transportation ($137bn, 2%) and education, training, employment and social services ($305bn, 5%).

Altogether, discretionary spending accounted for around 25% of the total in the 2023 financial year according to the Congressional Budget Office, with more than half of that going to defence.

In theory, discretionary spending would be easier for the incoming Trump administration to cut than mandatory spending.

Donald Trump has said that Musk – and his co-head at the new Department of Government Efficiency, Vivek Ramaswamy – will achieve the savings from dismantling government bureaucracy, slashing excess regulations and restructuring government agencies. In an interview with the BBC in April 2023 Musk claimed to have reduced the staff of Twitter (now X) from 8,000 to 1,500 after acquiring the social network in 2022.

Yet if all of the $2 trillion in US government expenditure savings now being targeted by Musk were to come from discretionary spending, analysts calculate that entire agencies – from transport, to agriculture, to Homeland Security – would have to be entirely closed down. Discretionary spending accounted for only $1.7 trillion in 2023.

Musk did not specify if he would aim to deliver $2 trillion in savings in a single year, or over a longer period, but many US public finance experts, including those who are in favour in principle of reductions in US government spending, are sceptical savings on such a scale can be found in the near term without either a collapse in the delivery of important government functions or sparking major public resistance.

After taking control of the House of Representatives in 2022, Republican lawmakers have struggled to pass legislation to deliver considerably smaller cuts of $130bn in discretionary government spending after meeting opposition from other Republicans.

It’s also important to note that Donald Trump campaigned on a platform of making Social Security more financially generous, not less, by removing the income tax payable on it. And, on defence, Trump said he would build an “iron dome missile defence shield” around America, implying greater spending in this area, not cuts.

Total US federal government spending as a share of the US economy in 2024 was around 23% according to the US Treasury.

That’s a considerably smaller share than national government spending in other developed countries.

However, a large share of government spending in the US, including almost all school spending, is done at a state rather than a federal level, and states are funded by local sales and property taxes.

The International Monetary Fund has projected that total US “general government expenditure”, which includes spending by individual states, will be around 37.5% of its GDP in 2024.

That compares with 43% in the UK, 48% in Germany and 57% in France.

The US government is currently running an annual deficit – a shortfall between its spending and tax revenues – equal to around 6% of its economy. And America’s national debt held by the public is currently equal to around 97% of the size of the economy.

The non-partisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB) think tank has projected that this is currently set to climb to 125% by 2035.

The CRFB has projected that absent major spending reductions, Donald Trump’s planned tax cuts would considerably widen the US deficit in the coming decade and push up the US national debt to 143% by the middle of the next decade.

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Floods and torrential rain returned to the Valencia region on Wednesday night, but this time they were ready for it, and the areas hit two weeks ago escaped further disaster.

More than 220 people died in this eastern coastal area at the end of October, and the town of Paiporta was hit hardest with the loss of 60 lives.

In the midst of despair the local population are understandably searching for beacons of hope, for example the remarkable story of what happened at the Whitby English language school.

As the whole road became engulfed in water, the college’s co-director, Daniel Burguet, repeatedly pounded against a door with a chair leg that he’d just picked up.

Filmed from a 3rd floor balcony across the street, Daniel is seen smashing constantly against the glass.

He is trapped with his 11-year-old daughter, Noa, and three younger children inside the school, unable to reach a higher floor.

Eventually, Danny breaks down the door of the next building along and, one by one, he pulls the children to safety.

“When I got through that door, I felt so relieved. Finally, we were safe,” Daniel tells me as he carries on repairs to the school.

In the quest for fragments of solace, it’s also perhaps understandable that when tales of bravery are found, they are celebrated unashamedly.

Local media have hailed Danny as the “Hero of Pairporta”.

“There are a lot of people who did the same thing that day, many ‘heroes’ like me, if you want to call us that,” he says.

“I feel good about it. I feel the love of people around here. I was the one who was filmed, but there were many other heroes.”

Rebuilding Spain’s shattered and traumatised communities will require an heroic effort that goes on for months.

The threat hasn’t gone away.

A fortnight after the worst floods to hit a single European country this century, Paiporta is still full of firefighters, police officers as well as the Red Cross and an army of daily volunteers.

But many residents feel the unofficial community-generated effort is not being matched by the authorities – either at the regional or national level.

“It was a tsunami,” declares Juan José Montane.

He shows me the video he took from his apartment as floating cars were hurled against the walls below him.

“It was only thanks to God that I survived,” he exclaims, furiously making the sign of the cross three times.

Divine intervention aside, it’s the lack of intervention from the Valencia and central government which is now infuriating him.

“This is shameful, we feel abandoned,” says Juan José.

“For four days we didn’t see the army coming to help. We need more troops here.”

His sister, Lourdes, fears for how the town will re-build with so much lost and now a severe lack of infrastructure.

“We feel imprisoned here. There are no roads, it is horrible,” she explains.

“We lost everything in this town, everything.”

Although the vast majority of houses are still standing, there is a lack of electricity, hot or drinking water in the streets that were the worst hit.

In Paiporta, piles of mangled cars have been created on roundabouts and at other places out of the way of traffic.

It’s estimated as many as 100,000 cars were destroyed during the floods.

Some abandoned vehicles that look pretty much intact, apart from a dented bonnet here or a flat tyre there, are not spared either.

Instead, they are grabbed by giant claw cranes that smash down through the windscreen and lift the vehicles away.

The loss of possessions has been immense in this region. The loss of life crushing.

And the trauma’s not over.

The mayor has urged people to stay inside, as the local population waits for the latest flood alert to subside.

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From his wheelchair, Michael Northey watches quietly over his father’s grave, and lays a flower for the very first time.

“This is the closest I’ve been to him in 70 years, which is ridiculous,” he jokes poignantly.

Born into a poor family in the backstreets of Portsmouth, Michael was still a baby when his father, the youngest of 13 children, left to fight in the Korean War. He was killed in action, his body never identified.

For decades, it lay in an unmarked grave in the UN cemetery in Busan, on Korea’s south coast, adorned with the plaque ‘Member of the British Army, known unto God’.

Now it bears his name – Sergeant D. Northey, died 24 April 1951, age 23.

Sergeant Northey, along with three others, are the first unknown British soldiers killed in the Korean War to be successfully identified, and Michael is attending a ceremony, along with the other families, to rename their graves.

Michael had spent years doing his own research, hoping to find out where his father was buried, but had eventually given up.

“I’m ill and don’t have a lot of time left myself, so I’d written it off. I thought I’d never find out,” he says.

But a couple of months ago, Michael received a phone call. Unknown to him, researchers at the Ministry of Defence had been conducting their own investigation. When he heard the news, he “wailed like a banshee for 20 minutes”.

“I can’t describe the emotional release,” he says, smiling. “This had haunted me for 70 years. The poor lady who phoned me, I felt sorry for her!”

The woman on the other end of the phone was Nicola Nash, a forensic researcher from the Joint Casualty and Compassionate Centre in Gloucester, who ordinarily works to identify victims from the First and Second World Wars.

Tasked for the first time with finding the Korean War dead, she had to start from scratch – by first compiling a list of the 300 British soldiers still missing, of whom 76 were buried in the cemetery in Busan.

Nicola went through their burial reports, and found just one man had been buried wearing sergeant stripes from the Gloucester Regiment, as well as one major.

After trawling the national archives and cross referencing eyewitness accounts, family letters and war office reports, Ms Nash was able to identify these men as Sergeant Northey and Major Patrick Angier.

Both were killed in the famous Battle of Imjin River, in April 1951, as the Chinese Army – which had joined the war on the North Korean side – tried to push the allied forces down the peninsula to retake the capital Seoul.

Despite being hugely outnumbered, the men held their position for three days, giving their comrades enough time to retreat and successfully defend the city.

The issue at the time, Ms Nash explains, is that because the battle was so bloody, most of the men were either killed or captured, leaving no one to identify them.

The enemy had removed and scattered their dog tags. It was not until the prisoners of war were released that they were able share their accounts of the battle. No one had thought to go back and piece the puzzles together – until now.

For Ms Nash, this has been a six-year “labour of love”, made slightly easier, she admits, by having some of the men’s children still alive to draw on, something that has also made the process more special.

“The children have spent their whole lives not knowing what happened to their fathers, and for me to be able to do this work and bring them here to their graves, to say their goodbyes and have that closure, means everything,” she says.

At the ceremony, the families sit on chairs amidst the long rows of small stone graves which mark the thousands of foreign soldiers who fought and died in the Korean War. They are accompanied by serving soldiers from their loved ones’ former regiments.

Major Angier’s daughter, Tabby, now 77, and his grandson Guy, stand to read excerpts of letters he wrote from the front line.

In one of his final letters, he writes to his wife: “Lots of love to our dear children. Do tell them how much Daddy misses them and will come back as soon as he has finished his work.”

Tabby was three years old when her father left for the war, and her memories of him are fractured: “I can remember someone standing in a room and canvas bags piling up, which must have been his equipment to go to Korea. But I can’t see his face,” she says.

At the time of her father’s death, people didn’t like to talk about wars, Tabby says. Instead, people in her small Gloucestershire village used to remark: “Oh, those poor children, they’ve lost their father.”

“I used to think that if he’s lost, they’re going to find him,” says Tabby.

But as the years passed, and she learnt what had happened, Tabby was told her father’s body would never be found. The last record of his whereabouts suggested his body had been left under an upturned boat on the battlefield.

Tabby had twice previously visited the cemetery in Busan, in an attempt to get as close to her father as she thought possible – not knowing his actual grave was here all along.

“I think it will take some time to sink in,” she says, from his newly-adorned graveside.

The shock has been even greater for 25-year-old Cameron Adair, from Scunthorpe, whose great, great uncle, Corporal William Adair, is one of two soldiers from the Royal Ulster Rifles identified by Ms Nash. The other is Rifleman Mark Foster, from County Durham.

Both men were killed in January 1951 as they were forced to retreat by a platoon of Chinese soldiers.

Corporal Adair did not have children, and when his wife died so did his memory, leaving Cameron and his family unaware of his existence.

Finding out his relative “helped bring freedom to so many people” has brought Cameron “a real sense of pride,” he says.

“Coming here and witnessing this firsthand has really brought it home”.

Now a similar age to his uncle when he was killed, Cameron feels inspired and says he would like to serve should the need arise.

Ms Nash is now gathering DNA samples from the relatives of the other 300 missing soldiers, in the hope she can give more families the same peace and joy she has brought to Cameron, Tabby and Michael.

“If there are still British personnel missing, we will keep trying to find them,” she says.

Holly was just 16 when someone asked her if she could have sex because she was disabled.

She has been asked many other questions over the years, such as if she “can have rough sex” or if it needs to be in a wheelchair.

“People think they’re doing you a favour, almost like a sacrifice. The worst thing is I’m not surprised or offended anymore.”

Holly, now 26, has chronic pain and hypermobility syndrome and is one of a number of disabled women who have spoken out to challenge negative stereotypes and stigma when it comes to dating and relationships.

Holly Greader said it was important that happy relationships for those who were disabled were represented.

She started dating her now husband James when she was a teenager, and has been with him for nine years, getting married earlier this year.

“Often in the media disabled people have miserable lives, we’re just a sad story,” she said.

She added she has always felt supported by him, but felt stereotyped by others.

“I was told by people when we first moved in together, that if my health declines he’d leave me.

“For being a burden or too much to handle.”

She said there were assumptions people made about her in school, which some asked to her face.

“When it comes to wheelchair users, it’s always without a doubt almost the first question, can that person have sex?”

She said the boys in her class at school would ask personal and intrusive questions.

“I got asked things like, can you only have sex in a wheelchair? Will your joints dislocate? If I wanted to have rough sex with you, would I be able to?”

Holly said people have also messaged her on social media about sex, an offer she was often made to feel she should be “lucky” for.

Holly would like to see better positive representation in the media, citing that the character Isaac Goodwin in the programme Sex Education was the only good example she has been aware of recently.

Nicola Thomas, 38, from Caerphilly, who is registered blind, said: “One of the more common things people will ask is, how do you have sex? It kind of takes your breath back, it’s such an invasive and personal question.”

Nicola has an auto immune disease – neuromyelitis optica – and she lost her sight in one eye 15 years ago and the other five years ago.

“A lot of people see barriers with blindness and I’m definitely one to break those down.”

Nicola’s hobbies include sailing, paddleboarding and travelling, and her next trip is to Hong Kong.

Nicola had a boyfriend when she lost her sight but the relationship broke down.

“I was treated like a burden, people would say you can’t be a carer for her, but I didn’t need a carer.”

She now has a boyfriend who is also visually impaired.

“Even though we’re both blind, we’ll navigate our way round a city, or go on a date on our own. Nothing holds us back.”

Nicola also said she feels stereotyped when people show an interest in her.

“People message on social media asking for dates, their attention shifts or acts differently when I tell them I’m blind.”

“You’re definitely treated like they’re doing you a favour. It puts you off instantly.”

Nicola added: “People do pigeon hole us. I want to breakdown that stereotype, I have a full and happy life.”

Kat Watkins said disabled people have a right to explore their sexual identity and develop relationships just like anybody else.

She is the access to politics project officer for Disability Wales.

“Why are sex and relationships such a taboo for disabled people? There is much more to us than just being able to eat and having a roof over our heads.”

“Living your life and enjoying yourself that’s just part of life, and it doesn’t get highlighted enough for people with disabilities.”

Kat said hearing examples of how people message disabled women was “sadly normalised.”

She said adaptable sex toys and aids can help give people confidence and would like to see them on more mainstream sex sites and outlets.

“You’ve got to be comfortable with yourself and understand your body, so you can tell others how it works. Self love is also really important.”

For more on this story, watch Wales Live on BBC iPlayer.

A brief yearly silence has once again enveloped South Korea, as half a million students across the country sit for the most important test of their lives.

Planes were grounded, construction work halted, and car honking discouraged as the Suneung, an eight-hour university placement exam billed as one of the toughest in the world, kicked off on Thursday.

But this year, there was one sound that students were especially scared of: “APT”.

The global hit by Blackpink’s Rosé and Bruno Mars emerged as a “forbidden” song among students who feared that its catchiness could cause them to lose focus during the test.

No distractions are too minor when it comes to the Suneung, which many see as a culmination of years of formal education – and a turning point that determines their university placements, careers, and social statuses.

“I’m worried that the song will play in my head even during the exam,” one student told Yonhap News of the chart-topper. “Adults might laugh and say, ‘Why stress over something like that?’ But for us, with such an important test ahead, it can feel unsettling.”

Suneung students have previously been encouraged to avoid other so-called earworms, with songs such as “Go Go” by BTS and “Ring Ding Dong” by SHINee repeatedly cited online as tracks that should be forbidden.

Ensuring that the exam runs smoothly is a nationwide effort. Shops and the stock market opened late on Thursday to reduce traffic congestion, and authorities adjusted public transport operating hours and put more than a dozen spare trains on standby in case of breakdowns.

More than 10,000 police officers were deployed, including some tasked to ferry students to school during emergencies.

Besides grounding planes to minimise noise disturbances during the 20-minute English listening test, authorities have also asked bus and taxi drivers to refrain from honking while the tests are taking place.

Disruptions to the Suneung are treated as a serious matter. Last December, dozens of students sued the government after teachers accidentally cut their test short by 90 seconds.

There are a record number of candidates retaking the exam this year, after authorities announced they would expand enrolment in medical schools – a move that was met with widespread protests among trainee doctors while being welcomed by aspiring medical students.

Conor McGregor has admitted taking cocaine on the night it is alleged he raped a Dublin woman.

In court on Thursday, the Irish mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter replied “correct” when John Gordon SC stated he had cocaine in his car along with the alleged victim and another witness.

The court also heard Mr McGregor answered “no comment” to over 100 questions in his first police interview and said he did so under advice of his lawyer because he was in a state of “shock and fear”.

Dublin woman Nikita Hand has accused the sportsman of rape after a Christmas night out in December 2018. He denies all allegations.

The trial is a civil case in Dublin High Court after the Director of Public Prosecutions in Ireland refused to charge Mr McGregor criminally.

The interview, held in January 2019, saw Mr McGregor attend Dundrum Garda Station attend an interview with his solicitor and handed over a prepared written statement.

After this, Mr McGregor said “no comment” to such questions as if he and Nikita Hand were from the same area of Crumlin in Dublin.

The judge reminded the eight women and four men of the jury that no inference can be made by Mr McGregor’s refusal to comment. It is his legal right.

Mr McGregor said the statement was “to the point” when it was put to him it was “short”.

“I would have loved to go to a top of the mountain with a microphone and shout from the hilltops but because of the seriousness of the allegation I went to my lawyer and I took their advice,” he said.

Mr McGregor also said he had been “beyond petrified” during the garda interview, because it was the first time anything like that had happened to him.

“I feel I was as good, as cooperative, I took their advice, I put myself in their hands, this is alien to me, it’s the first time anything like that has ever happened to me in my life.”

Later Mr McGregor added: “These allegations are false, I’m here to say my piece and my truth, these allegations are lies, they’re false.”

Mr McGregor claims Nikita Hand had consensual sex with him twice. He also claimed in court that Hand had sex with his associate and co-defendant James Lawrence. Nikita Hand says she never had sex with Mr Lawrence.

Mr McGregor said he had one of his staff book the Beacon Hotel

John Gordon SC representing Ms Hand later brought up evidence from Ms Hand’s gynaecological assessments.

Forceps were used to remove a tampon which had become wedged inside Ms Hand’s vagina.

Mr McGregor claims Ms Hand was not wearing a tampon while she had sex with him. When asked how he thought it got there, Mr McGregor said: “Not with me”.

Mr McGregor was also asked if he had paid Mr Lawrence’s legal fees.

“I believe I did,” he said.

Later, when asked under cross-examination whether Ms Hand had been in fear, Mr McGregor said there had been “no sign of distress, fear, anything other than enjoyment, elations and excitement”.

Ms Hand, a former hair colourist from Dublin, is seeking financial damages including loss of earnings for the distress she suffered as a result of the alleged sex attacks.

Giving evidence during earlier hearings, she claimed Mr McGregor placed her in a choke hold and choked her three times before raping her.

A paramedic who examined Ms Hand on the day after the alleged attacks told the court on Tuesday that she had not seen such bruising on a patient in a long time.

Mr McGregor’s co-defendant, Mr Lawrence took the stand on Thursday afternoon.

He claimed he had consensual sex with Ms Hand twice in the hotel room when Mr McGregor left the hotel.

Mr Lawrence said Ms Hand was flirtatious and initiated the sex.

He added that she was only upset in the room about one small bruise and what she was going to tell her boyfriend about it.

Ms Hand previously told the court she has no memory of ever having sex with Mr Lawrence, but remembered telling him that she had been raped by the MMA fighter and became distressed.

Her claim is that Mr Lawrence was shocked at her allegations and sought to comfort her at the time.

When asked if he was the “fall guy” for Mr McGregor, Mr Lawrence said “not in a million years”.

He added he has six sisters and nieces and would not defend such actions if they had occurred.

In a Republic of Ireland civil action – as opposed to a criminal case – neither the complainant nor the accused are entitled to automatic anonymity during the court proceedings.

Satirical news publication The Onion has bought Infowars, the media organisation headed by right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, for an undisclosed price at a court-ordered auction.

The Onion said that the bid was secured with the backing of families of victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, who won a $1.5bn (£1.18bn) defamation lawsuit against Jones for spreading false rumours about the massacre.

A judge in Texas ordered the auction in September, and various groups – both Jones’s allies and detractors – had suggested they would bid for the company.

Jones founded Infowars in 1999. He has vowed to continue broadcasting using a different platform.

In a rambling video message posted on Thursday morning, Jones called the takeover a “total attack on free speech”.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen but I’m going to be here until they come in and turn the lights off,” he said. “This is the tyranny of the New World Order, desperate to silence the American people, the mandate of Trump against all the lawfare – they don’t care.”

The Onion plans to rebuild the website and feature well-known internet humour writers and content creators.

“We are planning on making it a very funny, very stupid website,” said Ben Collins, a former NBC News journalist who is chief executive of The Onion’s parent company, in a statement.

The website also posted a jokey article, saying that Infowars “has shown an unswerving commitment to manufacturing anger and radicalizing the most vulnerable members of society”.

The article went on to say that the satirical publication “has outwitted the hapless owner of InfoWars” and “forced him to sell it at a steep bargain: less than one trillion dollars”.

A lawyer for families of eight of the Sandy Hook victims said the bid had their support.

“By divesting Jones of Infowars’ assets, the families and the team at The Onion have done a public service and will meaningfully hinder Jones’ ability to do more harm,” lawyer Chris Mattei said in a statement.

Robbie Parker, whose daughter Emilie died in the Sandy Hook attack, said: “The world needs to see that having a platform does not mean you are above accountability – the dissolution of Alex Jones’ assets and the death of Infowars is the justice we have long awaited and fought for.”

Everytown for Gun Safety, a gun control not-for-profit organisation, said it had reached an agreement to advertise on the new site.

• Alex Jones assets liquidated to pay Sandy Hook debt
• How Sandy Hook families fought back
• Father of Sandy Hook victim fights conspiracy theorists

Jones was a fringe figure broadcasting in Austin, Texas in the 1990s and later built an audience of millions with a mix of opinion, speculation and outright fabrication. The company makes most of its money through an online shop selling vitamins and other products.

Over time Infowars was increasingly embraced by Donald Trump’s allies and his supporters. During his first run for president, Trump appeared on Infowars and told Jones: “Your reputation is amazing. I will not let you down.”

The company’s – and Jones’s – financial difficulties stem from broadcasts made after the December 2012 attack on Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.

Twenty young children and six school staff were killed in the attack.

After the killings, Jones and guests on his broadcasts repeatedly called into question whether the massacre actually occurred, floating conspiracy theories about whether the murders were faked or carried out by government agents.

At one point Jones called the attack “a giant hoax” and in 2015 he said: “Sandy Hook is a synthetic, completely fake with actors, in my view, manufactured… I knew they had actors there clearly, but I thought they killed some real kids, and it just shows how bold they are, that they clearly used actors.”

Believers in the web of conspiracy theories that Jones spun harassed the families of the Sandy Hook victims, in some cases sending them pictures of their dead children or of gravestones and posting their personal information online.

Some travelled to Newtown to “investigate”, and several people have been arrested in connection with harassment of the victims.

Jones later acknowledged that the killings were real and insisted his statements were covered by US free speech protections.

But relatives of the victims won defamation judgements against Jones and his company over his false statements.

He declared bankruptcy in 2022 as the Sandy Hook case made its way to court, and in June 2024, a judge ordered the liquidation of Jones’s personal assets. This included a multimillion-dollar ranch, other properties, cars, boats and guns, in all totalling around $8.6m according to a court filing.

Anyone But You star Sydney Sweeney has said the idea of women supporting each other in the film and TV industry is “fake”.

In an interview with Vanity Fair, the actress, who’s also known for Euphoria and White Lotus, said: “This entire industry, all people say is ‘women empowering other women’.

“None of it’s happening. All of it is fake and a front for all the other [stuff] that they say behind everyone’s back.”

Earlier this year, the star hit back at “shameful” comments made about her by a female Hollywood producer who said: “She’s not pretty, she can’t act. Why is she so hot?”

Asked about the incident for the latest issue of Vanity Fair, Sweeney said: “It’s very disheartening to see women tear other women down, especially when women who are successful in other avenues of their industry see younger talent working really hard – hoping to achieve whatever dreams that they may have – and then trying to bash and discredit any work that they’ve done.”

Sweeney, one of Hollywood’s biggest breakout stars of recent years, went on to discuss why this might be the case.

“I’ve read that our entire lives, we were raised – and it’s a generational problem – to believe only one woman can be at the top,” she said.

“There’s one woman who can get the man. There’s one woman who can be, I don’t know, anything.

“So then all the others feel like they have to fight each other or take that one woman down instead of being like, let’s all lift each other up.

“I’m still trying to figure it out. I’m just trying my best over here. Why am I getting attacked?”

In April, Carol Baum, who produced films including Dead Ringers and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, spoke about Sweeney after a film screening.

According to Variety, Baum had said: “There’s an actress who everybody loves now – Sydney Sweeney. I don’t get Sydney Sweeney. I was watching on the plane Sydney Sweeney’s movie [Anyone But You] because I wanted to watch it.

“I wanted to know who she is and why everybody’s talking about her. I watched this unwatchable movie – sorry to people who love this… romantic comedy where they hate each other.”

Baum, who also teaches at the University of Southern California, added: “I said to my class, ‘Explain this girl to me. She’s not pretty, she can’t act. Why is she so hot?’ Nobody had an answer.”

In response, Sweeney’s representative told Variety: “How sad that a woman in the position to share her expertise and experience chooses instead to attack another woman.”

The number of people dying because of the civil war in Sudan is significantly higher than previously reported, according to a new study.

More than 61,000 people have died in Khartoum state, where the fighting began last year, according to a report by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine’s Sudan Research Group.

Of these, 26,000 people were killed as a direct result of the violence, it said, noting that the leading cause of death across the Sudan was preventable disease and starvation.

Many more people have died elsewhere in the country, especially in the western region of Darfur, where there have been numerous reports of atrocities and ethnic cleansing.

Aid workers say the 19-month conflict in Sudan has created the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, with many thousands at risk of famine.

Until now, the UN and other aid agencies have been using the figure of 20,000 confirmed deaths.

Because of the fighting and chaos in the country, there has been no systematic recording of the number of people killed.

In May, US special envoy for Sudan Tom Perriello said that some estimates suggested up to 150,000 people had been killed.

The Sudan Research Group study comes as Amnesty International said French military technology was being used in the conflict, in violation of a UN arms embargo.

On Thursday, the rights group said the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia, which is battling the army, was using vehicles in Darfur supplied by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) that are fitted with French hardware.

“Our research shows that weaponry designed and manufactured in France is in active use on the battlefield in Sudan,” said Amnesty’s Secretary General Agnès Callamard.

The BBC has asked for comment from France and the UAE, which has previously denied arming the RSF.

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The Galix defence system – made in France by companies KNDS and Lacroix – is used for land forces to help counter close-range attacks.

Amnesty said the weapons could be used to commit or facilitate serious rights violations, adding that the French government must ensure the companies “immediately stop the supply of this system to the UAE”.

The rights group shared images, which it said it had verified, of destroyed vehicles on the ground that had the Galix system visible on them.

It said that the UAE and France had a long-standing partnership in the defence sector and cited a parliamentary report indicating that French companies had delivered about 2.6bn euros ($2.74bn; £2.16bn) in military equipment to the UAE between 2014 and 2023.

It said the companies had a responsibility to respect human rights and to conduct “due diligence throughout their entire value chain”.

Amnesty says that it had contacted the affected companies and the French authorities regarding the use of the defence system but had received no response.

“If France cannot guarantee through export controls, including end user certification, that arms will not be re-exported to Sudan, it should not authorise those transfers,” it said.

The UN first imposed an arms embargo in Darfur in 2004, following allegations of ethnic cleansing against the region’s non-Arabic population.

Amnesty has called for the embargo to be expanded to the rest of Sudan, and to strengthen its monitoring mechanism following the outbreak of the civil war.

Amnesty has urged all countries to stop directly and indirectly supplying arms to Sudan’s fighting factions.

The paramilitary RSF, led by general Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, has been at war with Sudan’s regular army under Abdel Fattah al-Burhan since April 2023 when the two former allies took up arms against each other in a ferocious power struggle.

The RSF has been accused of ethnic cleansing in Darfur, which it has denied, blaming local militias.

Both parties have been accused of committing war crimes, with the ongoing fighting leaving thousands dead and millions displaced.

In August, a UN-backed committee of experts declared famine conditions in parts of Darfur.

The head of the UN World Health Organization (WHO) said starvation was “almost everywhere” following a visit to the country a month later.

“The situation in Sudan is very alarming… the massive displacement – it’s now the largest in the world, and, of course, famine,” director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus then told the BBC.

The confluence of war, hunger, displacement and disease in Sudan has however been overshadowed internationally by the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East.

The Sudan Research Group research found that 90% of the deaths in Khartoum were unrecorded, pointing to a potentially similar situation in other regions.

However, Mayson Dahab, the lead researcher, said they did not have sufficient data to estimate mortality levels in other parts of the country or determine how many deaths in all could be linked to the war.

• Watch: ‘They ransacked my home and left my town in ruins’
• Women raped in war-hit Sudan die by suicide, activists say
• ‘Our future is over’: Forced to flee by a year of war
• Starvation in war-hit Sudan ‘almost everywhere’ – WHO
• Hundreds die from cholera as war rages in Sudan

A Chinese influencer, with a huge global following and the approval of the Communist Party, has returned to the internet after a three-year hiatus.

Famous for idyllic videos of life with her grandmother in a village in Sichuan province, the 34-year-old has released three videos since Tuesday – and they have millions of views already.

Li first rose to fame in 2016 when China’s fast-growing social media users found comfort in her slow-paced videos about cooking and traditional handicraft.

Her return, welcomed by fans around the world, comes amid a government crackdown on influencers whose content they deem “inappropriate”.

Li’s hiatus followed a dispute with the agency that managed her accounts. In late 2021, she filed a lawsuit against the company over rights to her brand and stopped uploading new videos. They settled in 2022, but Li didn’t return to the internet until Tuesday.

In recent months, several influencers disappeared from Chinese internet as officials stepped up efforts to “rectify” online culture by targeting those accused of tax evasion, spreading disinformation and flaunting wealth.

But Li is among those who has survived official censure. Her huge following on YouTube and TikTok, which are banned in China, has led to questions about whether her videos are akin to soft propaganda.

She certainly appears to have the approval of the Party. State-run Xinhua news agency released an interview with her the day after her return. It’s rare for state media to interview influencers.

In the interview, Li said she had spent the past three years “catching up on sleep” and taking her grandmother to see the “outside world”. Now she has “a higher goal”, she added, and would “try her best”.

Li has always been a darling of state media. Xinhua called her the “vlogger who amazes the world with China’s countryside life” and China Daily praised her for “spreading Chinese culture to the world”.

For Beijing, Li’s rose-tinted videos encourage tourism and echo President Xi Jinping’s call for a Chinese culture renaissance. A Chinese soup noodle dish known for its distinctive smell became a hit after it was featured in a video.

Her videos also offer a distraction from the realities of rural China, which is poorer and older than the country’s bustling cities.

Li shot to fame internationally during the pandemic, when China’s relationship with the West began to sour. Locked in their homes, millions of people abroad were fascinated with her videos. China’s lockdowns, while harsh and sweeping, were largely enforced in the cities.

As Li’s brand thrived, she began selling food and sauces under her name on the Chinese e-commerce platform Taobao. In 2020, local media reported that sales of her products exceeded 1.6bn yuan ($220m; £172m).

By 2021 then she had become the most popular Chinese-language vlogger on YouTube, where she has more than 20 million followers. Another three million follow her on TikTok.

On Tuesday, she announced her return with a 14-minute video on all her social media accounts – including Chinese platforms Weibo, Douyin, Xiaohongshu, as well as YouTube and TikTok.

The video, which shows her making a wardrobe for her grandmother using the traditional lacquering technique, has been viewed more than 10 million times on YouTube and more than three million times on TikTok.

“I missed you very much,” she told her fans in a post.

And they felt the same: “When the world needed her [the] most, she returned. Welcome back,” a top-liked YouTube comment reads.

Another comment liked more than 13,000 times on Weibo says: “We need the slow-paced Li Ziqi in this age of information explosion.”

“Did anyone else literally cry happy tears?,” says another comment. “I’m so glad to see her gran doing so well! So happy to see you back.”

A man suspected of being a significant supplier of small boats equipment to people smugglers has been arrested in Amsterdam following a joint operation by the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) and Dutch and Belgian police.

The man is alleged to have supplied engines and boats to smugglers in northern France, according to the NCA.

The Turkish national, 44, was arrested at Schiphol Airport on Wednesday and will be extradited to Belgium to face charges of human smuggling.

NCA director general for operations Rob Jones called the arrest a milestone in one of the agency’s “most significant investigations into organised immigration crime”.

He said the man was thought to be a “major supplier” of “highly dangerous” boats and engines to smugglers operating in Belgium and northern France. The NCA said it has been investigating for several years.

Authorities said the man, who has not been named, shipped supplies from Turkey, stored them in Germany, then transported them to northern France.

He was arrested after authorities learned he was travelling from Turkey to the Netherlands.

The man is likely to face legal proceedings in Belgium because the offences he is suspected of committing took place there.

A spokesperson for the public prosecutor’s office of West-Flanders said international cooperation is “crucial in the fight against human smuggling”.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer described the arrest as a “significant piece of the jigsaw” in tackling Channel crossings, but said he was “not pretending it [was] the silver bullet”.

“Criminal gangs have been getting away with this for far too long,” he added.

Earlier this month Sir Keir announced an extra £75m to police the UK’s borders, vowing to “treat people smugglers like terrorists”.

• How many people cross the Channel and how many claim asylum?

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said the case demonstrated how important it was for UK agencies to work alongside international partners.

“The excellent work of the UK’s National Crime Agency has been critical to this. We will stop at nothing to root out criminal networks wherever we find them,” she said.

The NCA is leading some 70 investigations into networks or individuals in the top tier of organised immigration crime or human trafficking, the organisation said.

The arrest comes nearly a week after a man known as the “best smuggler”, who advertised small boat Channel crossings on Facebook, was jailed for 17 years.

Amanj Hasan Zada, a 34-year-old Iranian national living in Lancashire, ran “a sophisticated enterprise” which “for him it was all about profit”, the NCA said.

More than 50 people have died trying to cross the English Channel in 2024.

Over 32,000 people have made the crossing in 2024 so far – more than the total figure of 29,437 for 2023.

Hollywood actress Eva Longoria has revealed that her family no longer lives in the United States, and is splitting time between Mexico and Spain.

In an interview with French magazine Marie Claire for its November cover story, Longoria attributed the decision to the country’s “changing vibe” after the Covid-19 pandemic, homelessness and high taxation in California, and the re-election of Donald Trump.

She also acknowledged she was “privileged” enough to move, saying: “Most Americans aren’t so lucky. They’re going to be stuck in this dystopian country.”

The Desperate Housewives star is viewed as a power broker for women and Latinos in Democratic Party politics.

With a keen interest in immigration policy, she has been visibly involved with Democratic candidates at the national and local level since at least 2012.

She spoke at the Democratic National Convention and hit the campaign trail on behalf of Kamala Harris this year, with a tagline for the 2024 presidential candidate that adopted the Spanish translation of Barack Obama’s famed “Yes, we can” slogan (“Si se puede”) into the phrase “She se puede”.

In her Marie Claire interview, published on Thursday, Longoria described being dispirited at Trump’s victory over Harris last week.

“If he keeps his promises, it’s going to be a scary place,” she said.

She added that Trump’s win in 2016 had crushed her belief that “the best person wins” in politics.

“I had my whole adult life here,” Longoria said of Los Angeles, adding that “it just feels like this chapter in my life is done now”.

Longoria is a ninth-generation Texan who moved to California in her twenties. In 2006, she earned a Golden Globe nomination in her starring role as Gabrielle Solis in Desperate Housewives.

More recently, she has hosted the CNN mini-series Searching for Mexico and Searching for Spain.

She is married to José “Pepe” Bastón, her third husband and the president of Mexican broadcaster Televisa.

The couple share a six-year-old boy, Santiago, while Bastón also has three children from a previous marriage.

One of the key promises President-elect Donald Trump made while campaigning for the White House was to abolish the US Department of Education.

The federal agency, established in 1979, oversees funding for public schools, administers student loans and runs programmes to help low-income students.

Trump has accused the agency of “indoctrinating young people with inappropriate racial, sexual, and political material”.

But in order to scrap the department, the incoming Republican president would need congressional approval – an uphill battle.

On his own, no.

Not only would Trump need congressional approval, but he would also probably need a supermajority – 60 out of 100 senators.

While Republicans have a majority in the Senate, they do not have 60 members in the upper chamber, so they would need a few Democrats to vote to abolish the agency. There’s zero chance of that.

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Even in the House of Representatives, Trump would struggle to gain necessary support.

A vote last year to abolish the education department – which was attached as an amendment to another bill – failed to pass as 60 Republicans joined all Democrats in the House to vote no. So Trump’s pledge could turn out to be largely symbolic.

The Department of Education oversees student loan programmes and administers Pell grants that help low-income students attend university.

The department also helps fund programmes to support students with disabilities and for students living in poverty.

And it enforces civil rights law that prevents race or sex-based discrimination in federally funded schools.

The department’s allocation was $238bn (£188bn) in fiscal year 2024 – under 2% of the total federal budget.

The idea has been floated by Republicans for decades. During Ronald Reagan’s 1980 presidential campaign, he pushed for it to be dismantled.

Republicans have accused the education department of pushing what they describe as “woke” political ideology on to children, including on gender and race. They want the agency’s authority handed to the US states, which run most education matters.

Conservatives also argue that other education department functions, such as administering loans, should be handled instead by the US Department of Treasury, and that civil rights infractions are the Department of Justice’s domain.

Trump’s allies also want to expand school choice, which would allow students and families to select alternatives to public schools.

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The left-leaning alliance of Sri Lanka’s new leader has secured a landslide victory in the country’s snap parliamentary elections.

Official results show President Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s National People’s Power (NPP) coalition scored a two-thirds majority in parliament, with 159 seats.

President Dissanayake’s coalition got nearly 62% of the vote, winning even in the Tamil-dominated Jaffna Peninsula for the first time since independence from Britain in 1948.

“Thank you to all who voted for a renaissance,” Dissanayake said in a brief statement on social media platform X, previously knows as Twitter.

Correspondents say the victory has cemented a transformation of the island-nation’s political landscape which for decades was dominated by established political parties of family dynasties.

The landslide mandate will also allow him to push through economic and constitutional changes he had promised during the campaign.

In the outgoing assembly, Dissanayake’s party had just three seats.

The 55-year-old earlier told reporters that he believed this was “a crucial election that will mark a turning point in Sri Lanka”.

Sajith Premadasa, the man Dissanayake defeated in the presidential elections, led the opposition alliance.

Dissanayake called for snap elections shortly after he became president to seek a fresh mandate to pursue his policies. There was “no point continuing with a parliament that is not in line with what the people want”, he had said.

Nearly two-thirds of former MPs had chosen not to run for re-election, including prominent members of the former ruling Rajapaksa dynasty.

Out of the 225 seats in the parliament, 196 MPs were directly elected. The rest were nominated by parties based on the percentage of votes they get in what is known as proportional representation.

State of economy was one of the key issues for many voters.

High inflation, food and fuel shortages precipitated a political crisis in 2022 which led to the ousting of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. His successor Ranil Wickremesinghe managed to negotiate a bailout package worth $3bn with the International Monetary Fund – but many Sri Lankans continue to feel economic hardship.

The number of people living below the poverty line in Sri Lanka has risen to 25.9% in the past four years. The World Bank expects the economy to grow by only 2.2% in 2024.

The coalition will now be under massive pressure to perform and live up to their campaign promises. Dissanayake has promised to repay the country’s debt, reform its political culture, and punish members of past administrations for corruption.

Sri Lanka’s economic situation remains precarious – and the main focus is still on providing essential goods and services. How the country progresses from this point will be a real challenge for the new government.

Dozens of volunteers have entered an abandoned gold mine in South Africa to help what could be thousands of illegal miners who have been underground for a month.

Because the miners entered the shaft in Stilfontein deliberately, desperate to retrieve gold or mineral residues, the authorities have taken a hard line, blocking food and water supplies.

Earlier in the week, one government minister said: “We are going to smoke them out.”

The miners have refused to co-operate with the authorities as some are undocumented migrants and fear being deported or arrested.

There are reports that the miners have been eating vinegar and toothpaste to survive while underground.

It is feared that their health could be deteriorating, and they may be too weak and frail to leave the mine themselves.

The volunteers, who are organised into three groups of 50, say it takes about an hour to get one person out.

Lebogang Maiyane has been volunteering since the beginning of the week.

“The government doesn’t care about the impact on the right to life of the illegal miners who remain beneath the surface – this is tantamount to murder” he said.

Illegal miners are called “zama zama” (“take a chance” in Zulu) and operate in abandoned mines in the mineral-rich country. Illegal mining costs the South African government hundreds of millions of dollars in lost sales each year.

Many South African mines have closed down in recent years and workers have been sacked.

To survive, the miners and undocumented migrants go beneath the surface to escape poverty and dig up gold to sell it on the black market.

Some spend months underground – there is even a small economy of people selling food, cigarettes and cooked meals to the miners.

• WATCH: The dangerous world of illegal mining in South Africa
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Local residents have pleaded with the authorities to assist the miners, but they have refused.

“We are going to smoke them out. They will come out. We are not sending help to criminals. Criminals are not to be helped – they are to be persecuted [sic],” said Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni on Wednesday.

Relatives of the miners have been protesting near the mine site, holding placards with the words: “Smoke ANC out” and “Down with Minister in Presidency”.

Police Minister Senzo Mchunu visited the site on Friday, but as he tried to speak to community members waiting to hear news of their loved ones in the shaft, he was chased away.

Thandeka Tom, whose brother is in the mine, criticised the police for not sending help.

“They’re speaking from a point of privilege, there’s a problem of unemployment in the country and people are breaking the law as they try to put food on the table” she told the BBC.

Police are hesitant to go into the mine as some of those underground may be armed.

Some are part of criminal syndicates or “recruited” to be in one, Busi Thabane, from Benchmarks Foundation, a charity which monitors corporations in South Africa, told the BBC’s Newsday programme.

Without any access to supplies, conditions underground are said to be dire.

“It is no longer about illegal miners – this is a humanitarian crisis,” said Ms Thabane.

On Thursday, community leader Thembile Botman told the BBC that volunteers had used ropes and seat belts to pull a body out of the mine.

“The stench of decomposing bodies has left the volunteers traumatised,” he said.

It’s not clear how the person died.

Although the authorities have been blocking food and water, they have temporarily allowed local residents to send some supplies down by rope.

Mr Botman said they had been communicating with the miners by notes written on pieces of paper.

Police have blocked off entrances and exits in an effort to compel the miners to come out.

This is part of the Vala Umgodi, or “Close the Hole”, operation to curb illegal mining.

Five miners were pulled out on Wednesday by rope, but they were frail and weak. Paramedics attended to them, and then they were taken into police custody.

In the last week, 1,000 miners have emerged and been arrested.

Police and the army are still at the scene waiting to detain those who are not in need of medical care after resurfacing.

“It’s not as easy as the police make it seem – some of them are fearing for their lives,” said Ms Thabane.

Many miners spend months underground in unsafe conditions to provide for their families.

“For many of them it’s the only way they know how to put food on the table,” said Ms Thabane.

The South African Human Rights Commission says it will investigate the police for depriving the miners of food and water.

It said there is concern that the government’s operation could have an impact on the right to life.

Illegal mining is a lucrative business across many of South Africa’s mining towns.

Since December last year, nearly 400 high-calibre firearms, thousands of bullets, uncut diamonds and money have been confiscated from illegal miners.

This is part of an intensive police and military operation to stop the practice that has severe environmental implications.

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The Chief of Staff to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is being investigated by police over allegations of altering documents relating to the 7 October Hamas attack to portray his boss in a more favourable light.

Tzachi Braverman, one of Netanyahu’s closest advisors, was questioned by the Israeli police Lahav 433 major crimes unit for over five hours on Thursday, according to reports in Israeli media.

Detectives have confirmed an investigation is under way.

The accusation is focused around two telephone calls that Netanyahu received as the Hamas cross border raid was unfolding on 7 October 2023.

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Braverman is suspected of having altered the documented time when Netanyahu first received an update on the attack via a telephone call from his military secretary at the time, Major General Avi Gil.

The chief of staff is accused of changing the time from 06:40 to 06:29.

He denies having altered the transcript of the call other than to change the time.

“I know that the first call was received at 06:29, that’s why I insisted on changing it,” he is reported to have told detectives during the interrogation.

While Gil had phoned Netanyahu at 06:29, as the Hamas attack began, Netanyahu did not give any instructions, telling him instead to phone again in 10 minutes, at 06:40, according to a report in the Haaretz newspaper,

It was only during the second phone call for which Braverman allegedly altered the time stamp to appear as though it was the first, that Netanyahu ordered Gil to hold a situational assessment on the developing Hamas invasion, Haaretz reported.

The allegation is that Braverman altered the time, in order to give the impression that the prime minister had acted more urgently and more decisively.

The chief of staff denies that.

The 7 October attack was the biggest military and intelligence failure in Israel’s history.

Several senior military officials have already resigned over it.

Netanyahu has consistently denied any personal failure.

His critics though, believe it is the prime minister who was ultimately responsible for the failure to prevent the deadliest attack on the country since the foundation of the State of Israel in 1948.

Various investigations are under way into the military and intelligence failures and Netanyahu has rejected claims he is stalling on demands for a full-scale inquiry.

This potential scandal is in its infancy, but it could go on to seriously undermine the Prime Minister’s position.

And it comes at a time when Netanyahu is mid-way through a trial facing corruption charges. He is due to testify in that trial next month, having failed to have the case thrown own, believing it is a political witch-hunt.

Decades of caste discrimination have contributed to India having higher levels of child stunting rates than across Sub-Saharan Africa, new research has revealed.

The two regions together are home to 44% of the world’s under-five population but account for about 70% of stunted children globally – a key indicator of malnutrition.

But, while both have made significant strides in recent years, India’s rate stands at 35.7%, with the average across Sub-Saharan Africa’s 49 countries at 33.6%.

A child is considered stunted when they fall short of the expected height for their age – a clear sign of critical nutritional gaps.

However, the study by Ashwini Deshpande (Ashoka University) and Rajesh Ramachandran (Monash University, Malaysia) found that focusing only on the height gap – or why Indian children are shorter than children in Sub-Saharan Africa – overlooks an important factor: the crucial role of social identity, especially caste, in child malnutrition in India.

The first 1,000 days of a child’s life, often called the “golden period”, are pivotal: by age two, 80% of the brain develops, laying the foundation for lifelong potential. In these early years, access to healthcare, good nutrition, early learning, and a safe environment profoundly shapes a child’s future.

India and Sub-Saharan Africa, both with rapidly growing middle classes, young populations and significant workforce potential, share longstanding comparisons. In 2021, the World Bank reported, “Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia [including India] account for over 85% of the global poor,” underscoring similar challenges in poverty and development.

Using official data, the authors looked at the most recent estimates of the stunting gaps between India and a sample of 19 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Official data shows that more than 35% of India’s 137 million children under five are stunted, with over a third also underweight. Globally, 22% of children under five are stunted.

Then they examined six broad socially disadvantaged groups in India. Among them are adivasis (tribespeople living in remote areas) and Dalits (formerly known as untouchables), who alone comprise more than a third of the under-five population.

The economists found that children from higher-ranked, non-stigmatised caste groups in India stood at 27% – markedly lower than the Sub-Saharan African rate.

They also found that children from higher-ranking caste groups in India are some 20% less likely to experience stunting compared with those from marginalised groups, who occupy the lowest tiers of the caste hierarchy.

This conclusion remains significant even after accounting for factors like birth order, sanitation practices, maternal height, sibling count, education, anaemia and household socio-economic status.

This difference is despite seven decades of affirmative action, India’s caste system – a four-fold hierarchy of the Hindu religion – remains deeply entrenched.

“This should not be surprising given that children from better-off groups in India have access to more calories and face a better disease environment,” the authors say.

The reasons behind high stunting rates among Indian children have sparked a complex debate over the years.

Some economists have argued that the differences are genetic – that Indian children are genetically disposed to lower heights.

Others believe that improved nutrition over generations has historically closed height gaps thought to be genetic.

Some studies have found that girls fare worse than boys and others just the opposite, using different global standards.

To be sure, stunting has decreased across social groups – a separate 2022 study found that improvements in health and nutrition interventions, household living conditions and maternal factors led to reduction in stunting in four Indian states. (More than half of India’s under-five children were stunted, according to a federal family health survey of 1992-93).

Children from marginalised groups like adivasis are likely to be more malnourished.

In Africa, the rate of stunting has also fallen since 2010, although the absolute number increased.

But what is clear is that children from poor families, with less-educated mothers, or from marginalised groups, are especially vulnerable to stunting in India.

“The debate on the height gap between Indian and Sub-Saharan African children has resulted in overlooking the role of social identity, especially caste status,” the authors say.

“This is a crucial dimension to understanding the burden of child nutrition in India.”

Donald Trump has moved speedily since winning the US presidential election to set the foundations of his second term in the White House.

He has made his early priorities clear – and stunned some in Washington and around the world while doing so.

Here’s what we’ve learned from his rollercoaster first week as president-elect.

Trump started building his top team almost immediately, nominating cabinet picks for Senate approval and appointing White House advisers and other senior aides.

But that doesn’t tell the full story.

His selections make clear that he plans a radical shake up of government, eschewing more conventional and experienced picks for those who are loyal to him and share his vision for a second term that will upend the status quo in Washington.

His choice for defence secretary, for example, has called for a purge of military chiefs enacting “woke” policies. His nominee for health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, has said he wants to “clear out corruption” at America’s health agencies and cut “entire departments” at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

And that’s not to mention a promised “Department of Government Efficiency“ helmed by advisers Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, which Trump says will focus on slashing regulations and historic cost-cutting.

The bigger picture is that Trump’s proposed team is almost universally loyal, and favour overhauling their respective government departments.

You can take a deeper look at who’s in the frame for his top team here.

Republicans have won control of the House as well as the Senate, giving the party a crucial (albeit narrow) majority in both chambers for at least the next two years, when there will be the usual midterm elections.

This is a major boost to Trump’s agenda. It means he will be more easily able to pass legislation and gives his policy priorities a friendly path to becoming law.

The Democratic Party will, naturally, be less able to block and resist his agenda too. And Trump should for now be able to avoid the kind of congressional investigations he faced in the second half of his first term.

Ultimately, Republican control of Congress could prove key in pushing through his big pledges such as mass deportations, sweeping tariffs on foreign imports and the rolling back of environmental protections.

It won’t always be smooth sailing for Trump in Congress, however, as our correspondent Gary O’Donoghue explains here.

Trump’s influence was put to the test earlier this week when Republicans in the Senate picked their new leader.

While he did not weigh-in on the race directly, there had been a concerted effort from the president-elect’s most vocal allies as well as favourable ‘Maga’ media outlets to get hard-line Trump loyalist Rick Scott elected.

But he was defeated in the first round and Republicans opted for a more orthodox pick in John Thune, who has had a more rocky relationship with Trump.

It’s worth noting that this was a secret ballot, so it was far from a public repudiation of Trumpworld.

There will be sterner tests of Trump’s power on Capitol Hill to come, notably when confirmation hearings are held for his more divisive cabinet picks.

Some Senate Republicans, for example, have already signalled their opposition to Trump’s shock choice of Matt Gaetz to lead the justice department.

While much of the focus was on the president-elect’s nominations and appointments, we also had a reminder that his legal troubles have been upended by his victory.

In New York specifically, his criminal fraud conviction in the hush-money case lives on for at least a few more days.

But it could soon be consigned to history. Earlier this week a judge delayed his decision as to whether Trump’s conviction should be thrown out because of a Supreme Court ruling in the summer that expanded presidential immunity.

That decision is now expected to come next week. And while it’s not clear whether the conviction will be tossed out, Trump’s scheduled sentencing on 26 November is likely to be delayed regardless.

Here’s a reminder of how Trump’s election win impacts his cases.

It’s no secret that Trump views the world differently to Biden, and could drastically shift US foreign policy over the next few years.

One clear theme that’s emerged in recent days is the prominence of China hawks in his proposed team – those who believe Beijing poses a serious threat to US economic and military dominance and want to challenge this more forcefully.

And they are present from the top down.

His nomination for secretary of state – America’s most senior diplomat – Marco Rubio, has described China as the “most advanced adversary America has ever faced”.

Mike Waltz, his national security adviser, has said the US is in a “cold war” with China. Other nominees such as his proposed ambassador to the UN, Elise Stefanik, have directly accused China of election interference.

During Trump’s first administration, relations with Beijing were tense, and they barely warmed under Biden. With tariffs, export controls and pointed rhetoric, the president-elect appears ready to take an even tougher stance this time around.

Donald Trump has said it was an “honour” to meet Argentina’s President Javier Milei in Florida ahead of a conservative investment summit.

The right-wing leader is the first foreign leader to meet Trump since his US presidential election victory on 5 November.

At a gala at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort on Thursday, Milei congratulated the president-elect and said it proved “that the forces of heaven [were] on our side”.

Milei is expected to attend the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) Investor Summit on Friday.

On the eve of the summit, the BBC’s US partner CBS reported that an anonymous source confirmed the two leaders had met.

Addressing the America First Policy Institute gala that evening, the Argentinian leader said “the winds of freedom [were] blowing much stronger” since Trump’s victory.

Speaking in English and Spanish, the self-described “anarcho-capitalist” criticised unfair tax systems that caused “the redistribution of wealth at gunpoint”.

He also praised Elon Musk, the billionaire businessman who will run Trump’s new Department of Government Efficiency, claiming his social media site X was helping to “save humanity”.

Argentina’s president first met Trump at the annual CPAC in February – where he rushed to Trump backstage, shouting “president!”, and gave him a hug before they posed for pictures.

Following Milei’s speech on Thursday, Trump said it was an “honour” to welcome him to Mar-a-Lago – calling him “a MAGA person”.

“The job you’ve done is incredible.

“Make Argentina Great Again… he’s doing that.”

Argentinian media previously reported that Milei would be seeking a free trade agreement with the United States once Trump took office.

“The elected [Trump] government feels much more comfortable working with me than with other governments, and that has commercial and financial implications,” Milei said, according to La Nación.

Tickets to the CPAC Investor Summit, an event in addition to the annual conference, cost up to $25,000 (£19,350).

CPAC claims to be the biggest annual gathering of conservatives in the US and describes itself as the oldest conservative grassroots organisation in the country – with a mission to “preserve and protect the values of life, liberty, and property for every American”.

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage and former Prime Minister Liz Truss were among the speakers at the annual CPAC in February.

The Republican party won full control of the US government in the election earlier this month – something last achieved at the start of Trump’s first term in 2017.

Mia le Roux who was set to represent South Africa at the Miss Universe finals this weekend in Mexico has pulled out of the competition, organisers have announced, citing health concerns.

The 28-year-old made history as the first-ever deaf woman to be crowned Miss South Africa in August, following a controversy-hit competition which saw one finalist withdraw after being trolled over her Nigerian heritage.

She had spent weeks in Mexico preparing for the finale of the prestigious beauty contest.

The Miss South Africa organisation in a statement said Ms Le Roux’s health and well-being “are our utmost priority” and pledged to support her until she “returns to full health”.

The last-minute withdrawal means South Africa will not be represented at the 73rd Miss Universe pageant, where Ms Le Roux was among 120 beauty queens vying for the coveted title.

• Miss South Africa contestant pulls out amid nationality row
• Beauty contest sparks row over who counts as South African

“Making this decision has been incredibly challenging, knowing the dreams and hopes that have been placed upon me,” she said in the statement.

“However, I am deeply grateful to have the opportunity to focus on my health and recovery so that I may continue to serve my country with full strength.”

She has not disclosed the nature of the health problem.

The Miss South Africa organisation said Ms Le Roux had shown “incredible courage and grace throughout this difficult period”.

“Our hearts are with her as she takes the necessary steps toward recovery,” the organisation added.

Last month, Ms Le Roux expressed her excitement about the chance to represent South Africa on the Miss Universe stage terming it a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for my voice to be heard”.

She said then that she hoped to showcase her country’s “beautiful diversity”.

She was diagnosed with profound hearing loss at the age of one and has a cochlear implant to help her perceive sound.

In an earlier interview, she said it had taken two years of speech therapy before she was able to say her first words. She spoke passionately about her journey, acknowledging the challenges she has faced.

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The largest coral ever recorded has been found by scientists in the southwest Pacific Ocean.

The mega coral – which is a collection of many connected, tiny creatures that together form one organism rather than a reef – could be more than 300 years old.

It is bigger than a blue whale, the team say.

It was found by a videographer working on a National Geographic ship visiting remote parts of the Pacific to see how it has been affected by climate change.

“I went diving in a place where the map said there was a shipwreck and then I saw something,” said Manu San Felix.

He called over his diving buddy, who is also his son Inigo, and they dived further down to inspect it.

Seeing the coral, which is in the Solomon Islands, was like seeing a “cathedral underwater”, he said.

“It’s very emotional. I felt this huge respect for something that’s stayed in one place and survived for hundreds of years,” he said.

“I thought, ‘Wow, this was here when Napoleon was alive’,” he added.

Scientists on the expedition measured the coral using a type of tape measure under water. It is 34m wide, 32m long and 5.5m high.

Globally coral is facing severe pressures as oceans warm with climate change.

Corals are made of hundreds of thousands of living organisms called polyps, each with its own body and mouth, which grow together as a colony.  Some corals grow hard, outer skeletons and when many of these fuse together they form a coral reef.

Some of these reefs can extend for huge distances, forming vast structures where fish and other species live.

Coral reefs also underpin the livelihoods of one billion people including by supporting tourism or fishing, according to the World Economic Forum.

This specimen was found in deeper waters than some coral reefs, which may have protected it from higher temperatures at the sea surface.

The discovery was announced at the same time as the UN climate talks COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan that are trying to make progress in tackling climate change.

Mr Trevor Manemahaga, climate minister for the Solomon Islands at the summit, told BBC News that his nation would be proud of the newly-found coral.

“We want the world to know that this is a special place and it needs to be protected,” he said.

“We rely mostly on marine resources for economic survival so coral is very, very important […] And it’s very crucial and critical for our economy to make sure our coral is not exploited,” he said.

Small island nations like the Solomon Islands are extremely vulnerable to climate change.

Mr Manemahaga said he’s seen first-hand the effects of global warming on his nation, as it causes more powerful cyclones and erodes the coastline causing homes to fall into the water.

Many developing countries at the talks are calling for more cash from richer nations to help them pay for their strategies to tackle climate change.

Mr Manemahaga said that more finance for the Solomon Islands would help the country create more varied jobs that would mean fewer people worked in industries that damage coral reefs.

Currently logging is a major part of the country’s economy – between 50-70% of the country’s annual export revenue – but it causes high levels of water pollution that damages coral in the area.

Eric Brown, who is a coral scientist on the National Geographic research trip, says that the health of the coral was “looking pretty good”.

“While the nearby shallow reefs were degraded due to warmer seas, witnessing this large healthy coral oasis in slightly deeper waters is a beacon of hope,” he said.

The coral is a species called Pavona clavus and provides a home to shrimp, crabs, fish and other marine creatures.

The age of the specimen also means it acts like a window into the history into oceanic conditions in the past. Scientists hope to study it to learn more about how it has grown.

A report this week found that 44% of corals living in warm waters are threatened with extinction, according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. That is an increase of a third since the species were last assessed in 2008.