US President-elect Donald Trump’s campaign is circling the wagons round several of his cabinet nominees as they come under heavy scrutiny, including claims of misconduct.

His defence secretary pick Pete Hegseth denies a sexual assault allegation and potential attorney general Matt Gaetz is at the centre of an ethics investigation.

Trump’s health secretary nominee, Robert F Kennedy Jr, is facing severe criticism for his vaccine scepticism.

Trump will need the US Senate to confirm these nominees when he takes office in January, and though the chamber will be controlled by his fellow Republicans, his cabinet contenders will face an intense grilling during bipartisan hearings.

On Friday, police said that Hegseth, the Pentagon nominee, had been investigated for an alleged sexual assault in California in 2017.

Hegseth, a Fox News host and veteran of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, was never arrested and denies wrongdoing.

Trump spokesman Steven Cheung said: “Mr Hegseth has vigorously denied any and all accusations, and no charges were filed.”

Meanwhile, the BBC’s US partner CBS reported that Hegseth had once been flagged as a potential “insider threat” by fellow military personnel who thought he had a white-supremacist tattoo.

Hegseth has denied any connection to extremist groups.

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A former member of the Minnesota National Guard, he has a tattoo on his bicep reading “Deus Vult”, a latin phrase meaning “God wills it”, a rallying cry for Christian crusaders in the Middle Ages.

Retired Master Sgt DeRicko Gaither told CBS: “I looked it up and that tattoo had ties to extremist groups.” He said he had flagged the body ink to leadership.

US Vice-President-elect JD Vance rushed to Hegseth’s defence, saying the latin phrase is a nothing more than a Christian motto. He accused the Associated Press, which first reported the story on the tattoo, of “disgusting anti-Christian bigotry”.

Hegseth was stopped from serving as an officer in Washington DC during President Joe Biden’s inauguration in 2021. In a book published earlier this year he said he was turned down for the duty because of his tattoos.

Meanwhile, Trump’s pick for attorney general, Matt Gaetz, is battling allegations of misconduct while he was a congressman.

He resigned from his Florida seat in the US House of Representatives on Thursday within hours of Trump nominating him to lead the US Department of Justice.

His exit halted the release of a congressional report into allegations of sexual misconduct, illicit drug use and misuse of campaign funds.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican, asked on Friday that the report remain under wraps as Gaetz is no longer a member of the body – even amid bipartisan requests that it be shared as part of his vetting for the role of top prosecutor in the US.

Hours later, an attorney for two women who provided testimony to the House Ethics Committee about Gaetz urged lawmakers to release the panel’s report.

The lawyer, Joe Leppard, told CBS that one of his clients had witnessed Gaetz having sex with an underage girl in Florida in 2017. Mr Leppard urged lawmakers to release the House Ethics Committee report.

However, the justice department last year investigated the allegations and declined to press charges against Gaetz.

He has previously denied claims he had sex with a 17-year-old while he was an adult at a party in Orlando.

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The 42-year-old Florida lawmaker wrote on Friday on X that “lies were weaponised to try to destroy me”.

Robert F Kennedy Jr, Trump’s nominee to serve as the head of the US Department of Health and Human Services, is meanwhile facing backlash over his vaccine scepticism.

Shares in vaccine makers and healthcare firms around the world slid sharply on Friday, as investors reacted to the nomination of a campaigner who has vowed to crack down on “Big Pharma”.

The head of the American Public Health Association, which has a 25,000-strong membership of health professionals, told the BBC that Kennedy’s criticism of immunisations had “already caused great damage in health in the country”.

George C Benjamin added that Kennedy was “just absolutely the wrong guy for it”.

Trump himself has so far not directly addressed the criticism of his picks.

The president-elect is still hiring for his incoming administration, with posts such as FBI director and treasury secretary yet to be named.

As the world waits to see how the return of Donald Trump will reshape relations between Washington and Beijing, China has just taken decisive action to entrench its position in Latin America.

Trump won the US presidential election on a platform that promised tariffs as high as 60% on Chinese-made goods. Further south, though, a new China-backed megaport has the potential to create whole new trade routes that will bypass North America entirely.

President Xi Jinping himself attended the inauguration of the Chancay port on the Peruvian coast this week, an indication of just how seriously China takes the development.

Xi was in Peru for the annual meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation Forum (Apec). But all eyes were on Chancay and what it says about China’s growing assertiveness in a region that the US has traditionally seen as its sphere of influence.

As seasoned observers see it, Washington is now paying the price for years of indifference towards its neighbours and their needs.

“The US has been absent from Latin America for so long, and China has moved in so rapidly, that things have really reconfigured in the past decade,” says Monica de Bolle, senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington.

“You have got the backyard of America engaging directly with China,” she tells the BBC. “That’s going to be problematic.”

Even before it opened, the $3.5bn (£2.75bn) project, masterminded by China’s state-owned Cosco Shipping, had already turned a once-sleepy Peruvian fishing town into a logistical powerhouse set to transform the country’s economy.

China’s official Communist Party newspaper, the People’s Daily, called it “a vindication of China-Peru win-win co-operation”.

Peru’s President Dina Boluarte was similarly enthusiastic, describing the megaport as a “nerve centre” that would provide “a point of connection to access the gigantic Asian market”.

But the implications go far beyond the fortunes of one small Andean nation. Once Chancay is fully up and running, goods from Chile, Ecuador, Colombia and even Brazil are expected to pass through it on their way to Shanghai and other Asian ports.

China already has considerable appetite for the region’s exports, including Brazilian soybeans and Chilean copper. Now this new port will be able to handle larger ships, as well as cutting shipping times from 35 to 23 days.

However, the new port will favour imports as well as exports. As signs grow that an influx of cheap Chinese goods bought online may be undermining domestic industry, Chile and Brazil have scrapped tax exemptions for individual customers on low-value foreign purchases.

As nervous US military hawks have pointed out, if Chancay can accommodate ultra-large container vessels, it can also handle Chinese warships.

The most strident warnings have come from Gen Laura Richardson, who has just retired as chief of US Southern Command, which covers Latin America and the Caribbean.

She has accused China of “playing the ‘long game’ with its development of dual-use sites and facilities throughout the region”, adding that those sites could serve as “points of future multi-domain access for the [People’s Liberation Army] and strategic naval chokepoints”.

Even if that prospect never materialises, there is a strong perception that the US is losing ground in Latin America as China forges ahead with its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

Outgoing US President Joe Biden was among the leaders at the Apec summit, on his first and last visit to South America during his four-year term. Media commentators remarked that he cut a diminished figure next to China’s Xi.

Prof Álvaro Méndez, director of the Global South Unit at the London School of Economics, points out that while the US was taking Latin America for granted, Xi was visiting the region regularly and cultivating good relations.

“The bar has been set so low by the US that China only has to be a little bit better to get through the door,” he says.

Of course, Latin America is not the only part of the world targeted by the BRI. Since 2023, China’s unprecedented infrastructure splurge has pumped money into nearly 150 countries worldwide.

The results have not always been beneficial, with many projects left unfinished, while many developing countries that signed up for Beijing’s largesse have found themselves burdened with debt as a result.

Even so, left-wing and right-wing governments alike have cast aside their initial suspicions of China, because “their interests are aligned” with those of Beijing, says the Peterson Institute’s Ms de Bolle: “They have lowered their guard out of sheer necessity.”

Ms de Bolle says the US is right to feel threatened by this turn of events, since Beijing has now established “a very strong foothold” in the region at a time when president-elect Trump wants to “rein in” China.

“I think we will finally start to see the US putting pressure on Latin America because of China,” she says, adding that most countries want to stay on the right side of both big powers.

“The region doesn’t have to choose unless it’s put in a position where they are forced to, and that would be very dumb.”

Looking ahead, South American countries such as Peru, Chile and Colombia would be vulnerable to pressure because of the bilateral free trade agreements they have with the US, which Trump could seek to renegotiate or even tear up.

They will be watching keenly to see what happens to the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), which is up for review in July 2026, but will be subject to negotiations during 2025.

Whatever happens, Prof Méndez of the LSE feels that the region needs more co-operation.

“It shouldn’t be that all roads lead to Beijing or to Washington. Latin America has to find a more strategic way, it needs a coherent regional strategy,” he says, pointing to the difficulty of getting 33 countries to agree a joint approach.

Eric Farnsworth, vice-president at the Washington-based Council of the Americas, feels that there is still much goodwill towards the US in Latin America, but the region’s “massive needs” are not being met by its northern neighbour.

“The US needs to up its game in the region, because people would choose it if there was a meaningful alternative to China,” he tells the BBC.

Unlike many others, he sees some rays of hope from the incoming Trump administration, especially with the appointment of Marco Rubio as secretary of state.

“Rubio has a real sense of a need to engage economically with the Western Hemisphere in a way that we just haven’t done for a number of years,” he says.

But for successive US leaders, Latin America has been seen primarily in terms of illegal migration and illegal drugs. And with Trump fixated on plans to deport record numbers of immigrants, there is little indication that the US will change tack any time soon.

Like the rest of the world, Latin America is bracing itself for a bumpy four years – and if the US and China start a full-blown trade war, the region stands to get caught in the crossfire.

Donald Trump has announced that he will appoint Karoline Leavitt, his campaign spokeswoman, to serve as White House press secretary in his next administration.

At 27, Leavitt will be the youngest White House press secretary in US history.

The president-elect said in a statement that he was confident the onetime candidate for Congress – who also served in the White House press office during the first Trump administration – would “excel at the podium and help deliver our message to the American People as we Make America Great Again”.

“Karoline is smart, tough, and has proven to be a highly effective communicator,” Trump said.

A native of New Hampshire, Leavitt studied communications and political science at Saint Anselm College, a Catholic college in her home state.

While still in school, she interned at Fox News and in Trump’s White House press office. She told Politico in 2020 that she gained her “first glimpse into the world of press” through these experiences. They led to her decision to pursue a career in press relations, she said.

Leavitt began working for the first Trump White House shortly after graduating in 2019, first as presidential writer and later as assistant press secretary, according to the website for her 2022 run for Congress.

“I helped prepare Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany for high-pressure briefings [and] fought against the biased mainstream media,” her website stated.

After leaving the White House, Leavitt served as the communications director for Elise Stefanik, a senior Republican congresswoman whom President-elect Trump has nominated to serve as United Nations ambassador.

Leavitt departed that role to run for Congress, winning the Republican nomination for New Hampshire’s first congressional district in 2022, only to lose in the general election to Democrat Chris Pappas.

The policy positions she listed on her campaign website largely align with many of Trump’s priorities. On the economy, she pledged to “CUT taxes” and “champion pro-growth, free market policies”.

She presented herself as a strong backer of law enforcement and strong borders, including “ZERO tolerance for illegal immigration” and said she would work to ensure the completion of the border wall.

In January 2024, she joined Trump’s third bid for the US presidency as his campaign press secretary.

Now, she’s been chosen to serve as the youngest White House press secretary in US history. Ron Ziegler was the previous record holder. In 1969, he was appointed to the position by Richard Nixon when he was 29.

The public will soon see Leavitt in the iconic spot behind the podium in the White House briefing room – a space that led to countless tense exchanges between members of the press and officials in Trump’s first administration.

Trump ran through multiple press secretaries during his first four-year term, including Sean Spicer, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Stephanie Grisham and Kayleigh McEnany.

After departing the White House, Sanders went on to win the race for Arkansas governor.

Grisham resigned after the 6 January 2021 Capitol riot and has become a Trump critic. McEnany has continued to advocate for the president-elect as a Fox News personality.

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Since the start of the Israel-Hezbollah war, hundreds of thousands of Lebanese have fled their homes because of the fighting. But the residents of one town right in the combat zone have decided to stay.

Rmeish, just 2km (1.2 miles) from the border, is home to 7,000 Maronite Christians – and surrounded by firing on all sides.

“There’s lots of damage. Maybe 90% of houses have damage of some kind, glass smashed and cracks in the walls. I don’t know what’s going to happen when winter comes,” says Jiries al-Alam, a farmer who also works as an undertaker with the town’s church.

“We are determined to stay but hardly anyone sleeps at night because of the air strikes. Thankfully, there’s been no deaths among the residents so far, but 200 of my cattle died from the military flares,” he adds.

A day after Hamas launched its unprecedented attack on southern Israel from Gaza on 7 October 2023, its Lebanese ally Hezbollah began launching rockets into northern Israel, which in turn, started to strike Lebanon.

The residents of Rmeish began seeing rockets flying in both directions above them.

“Lots of families raised white flags on their homes and cars to say that they are peaceful and have no link to what is happening,” says Father George al-Ameel, 44, a priest and teacher in the town.

“We want to stay in our homes and don’t want any war in our town.”

After Israel began its ground invasion of Lebanon on 1 October this year, the war drew closer to Rmeish, with heavy fighting taking place in two villages both less than 1.6km away.

“We were staying in our house for months, then the air strikes started getting very close and suddenly our house was hit, we were forced to leave in the middle of the night,” says Rasha Makhbour, 38.

“People’s work has stopped and no-one goes out, our children’s school is shut, everything has changed.”

Rasha’s family of six moved to another house in the centre of town after theirs became uninhabitable.

“We believe the rockets that hit our home came from the south, not from our country,” she says.

The Israel Defense Forces told the BBC that there were “no known IDF strikes” on Rmeish during the dates Rasha Makhbour’s house was damaged, claiming it was a “failed launch by Hezbollah”.

Israel has issued a general evacuation order for the south of Lebanon since its ground invasion began. The UN says over 640,000 people have been displaced from there as they flee the fighting.

The Israeli government says that its military goals in southern Lebanon are to push back Hezbollah and return 60,000 Israelis displaced from its northern border towns to their homes.

On the border with Israel, Rmeish is the only Lebanese town that has not been directly ordered to leave.

While neither side has directly threatened the residents of Rmeish during the conflict, they have had their loyalty to Lebanon questioned.

“There’s been voices under the table spreading rumours that our presence here is evidence of our collaboration with Israel, the enemy. We completely reject this,” says Father al-Ameel.

It is a message reiterated by Rmeish’s mayor, Milad al-Alam.

“We’ve had no guarantees of safety from any side,” he says. “Our town is peaceful, and our only cause is to stay for our identity and our country.”

Until the start of Israel’s ground invasion, a Lebanese army unit had stayed in Rmeish and helped organise movement in and out of the town. But as Israeli forces moved to cross the border, the Lebanese army – which is not directly involved in the war – decided to pull out of Rmeish, much to the distress of locals.

The Lebanese army said it rejected the description that they have ‘withdrawn’ from border locations, referring the BBC to a statement that the army is “repositioning” a number of military units in the south.

Then at the end of October, the main route out of Rmeish itself was hit – leaving residents feeling further isolated and vulnerable. Since then, just one aid convoy has reached the town with the coordination of UN peacekeeping forces, the Unifil mission said.

“We have needs for fuel, foods and medicines, there was a delivery coming from Tyre that had to turn around,” says Father al-Ameel. “If someone is hurt, there’s no hospital for serious medical care.”

Mayor Al-Alam tells us he is optimistic that the route out of town will be regularly usable again soon, so they can fill up their fuel reserves, even if the route through an active warzone is dangerous.

Others in the town remain anxious.

“The situation is really bad. There are no goods, no food or fuel coming through. We’re starting to see items going missing from the shelves,” says Jiries al-Alam, the town undertaker.

“But we’ll find a way through. Now is the olive season and in the worst case we can just eat olives. We want to stay in our homes and so we will die in our homes if we have to.”

“You can be homesick at home, you know?”

That’s how Afreen Fatima, an activist from the northern Indian city of Prayagraj, finds herself feeling, every now and then.

In the summer of 2022, Ms Fatima’s childhood home – a yellow-brick two-storeyed house in the bustling depths of the city – was torn down by authorities overnight.

The house was demolished after her father, a local politician named Javed Mohammad, was arrested and named as the “key conspirator” of a protest by Muslims, which had turned violent.

He denies the allegations, and has never been found guilty of any crime linked to the June 2022 protests.

The family is just one of many who have found themselves at the mercy of so-called “bulldozer justice” – when authorities swiftly demolish the homes of those accused of crimes – but hopefully among the last.

On Wednesday, India’s top court banned the practice which has been on the rise in recent years, particularly in states governed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

While the victims include Hindu families, critics say the action is mostly targeted at India’s 200 million odd Muslims, especially after religious violence or protests – a charge the BJP denies.

Chief ministers of several states have linked such demolitions with their government’s tough stance on crime. Officially, however, the reason given is that these structures were illegally constructed.

Experts have repeatedly questioned this, saying that there is no legal justification for it and that punishing someone for an alleged crime using laws meant for another makes no sense.

Ms Fatima says that during the 20 months that Mr Mohammad spent in jail – he got bail earlier this year – she and her family moved houses twice in the city.

It took some effort, but they finally feel settled. Still, there are times when their new house feels strangely unfamiliar to her, she says, like an “adopted space” which has not been lived in enough.

“It’s not the same. I spent most of my life in our old house. There are no memories here, it feels empty,” she says.

So when the court was reading out its judgement this week, Ms Fatima was hopeful of finally getting some closure.

But the outcome turned out to be bittersweet.

Because, while the court has outlawed authorities from arbitrarily razing down homes and businesses of those accused or convicted of crimes, it did not mention any form of redressal to families like Ms Fatima’s, who’ve been the victims of such demolitions in the past.

“We welcome the judgement, but what about those of us who have already lost our homes?” she says.

The practice had become commonplace: in 2022, authorities in five states bulldozed 128 structures in just three months “as punishment”, a report by Amnesty international shows.

In its order, which ran over 95 pages, the court came down heavily on the state governments, saying it cannot “become a judge and decide that a person accused is guilty and, therefore, punish him”.

Giving out such punishment “reminds one of a lawless state of affairs, where might was right”, the judgement added.

The court then issued a set of guidelines, which make it mandatory for authorities to give at least 15 days’ advance notice to an occupant before an illegal structure is torn down and to publicly explain the reason for the demolition. All public officials will also be personally held responsible under Indian laws if a demolition is carried out wrongfully, the judgement added.

Rights groups, lawyers and opposition leaders have hailed the order as a “turning point” in tackling the unfair practice that has gone unchecked for years. “Late is the hour in which these guidelines chose to appear – but better late than never!” said Delhi-based lawyer Gautam Bhatia.

Govind Mathur, a judge and former chief justice of a high court, agrees that the order does not mention anything about the victims, but adds that “doesn’t restrict any claim of compensation by such persons”.

“If an act is illegal, then the victim can always demand for compensation. The wrong committed will remain a wrong and the cost of that has to be paid by the wrong doers,” he says.

The order, Justice Mathur adds, is a “strong message for state machinery to not align with political bosses but to act in accordance with law”.

Ms Fatima, however, points out that the reality is not that simple.

It’s been more than two years since her family first challenged the demolition in a high court. But there hasn’t been a single hearing, she says.

She still remembers the day it all happened. Onlookers glued themselves to the corner to watch for the excavator as it came down on their house. Many of them held cameras and phones. Ms Fatima, who watched the demolition on her own phone from a relative’s house, remembers going numb.

She thought of her room and the sheer volume of keepsakes and furniture stored there. There were stories everywhere – precious everyday memories, like the time she spent with her sister and the lively family discussions around the dinner table. “All of that was gone,” she says.

While Ms Fatima’s family was able to rebuild their lives in some capacity, others say they are still stuck in limbo.

“We are practically on the streets, with nothing and no one,” says Reshma, a daily wage worker in Rajasthan state. In September, Reshma’s house in Udaipur city was demolished on grounds of illegal encroachment, a day after her eight-year-old brother allegedly stabbed his classmate.

The child was taken into custody and sent to a juvenile home, while his father was arrested on the charges of abetment to murder. Since then, Reshma, her mother and sister have been living in a small shanty on the edges of the city.

To them, the court ruling is meaningless, she says. “We want actual help, some money or compensation to rebuild our lives, this changes nothing.”

Like Ms Fatima, Reshma’s family has also challenged the demolition in court. Legal experts say that the Supreme Court’s guidelines could potentially impact the way all such pending cases are heard in the future.

“This decision will change many things – courts will have to see whether legal processes were followed while carrying out these demolitions,” senior Supreme Court lawyer CU Singh told BBC Hindi.

Ms Fatima is not entirely sure whether the court’s order would actually halt the demolitions.

But her father, Mr Mohammad, is brimming with hope, she says.

Sometimes, she catches her father thinking about their old home – the sofas and the rugs, the rows of books on the shelves, which he had painstakingly put together, probably still lying in the rubble.

“He did most of the improvements, from the curtains to the cushion covers. Losing the house broke his heart more than anyone else’s,” she says.

But Mr Mohammad does not want to linger on the suffering and is already busy making fresh improvements to the house and his life. “He keeps telling me, this is a historic order and we have to talk about it as much as we can,” his daughter says.

“Just like this house, we are building lives again and renovating our memories.”

The first time Azaan made the jump across the wall, he broke his arm.

Braving the 20ft (6m) drop into a wide trench below is, for many Afghans, the only way to cross into Turkey from Iran – and yet hundreds risk it each day.

“I was in severe pain,” the former Afghan army officer told the BBC.

“Several others had broken limbs. The smuggler left us here and told us to run in the direction of the lights of Van city. Many of us were fading out of hunger. I fainted.”

The wall – which stretches for nearly 300km (185 miles) – was built to prevent illegal crossings, and is patrolled constantly by Turkish border forces.

Jumping off it is among the first of a series of extraordinary risks Afghan migrants take as they cross continents, countries and seas to reach the UK and other countries in Europe.

Over the past year, fleeing their country has become more perilous than ever before for Afghans, because Pakistan, Iran and Turkey have intensified their crackdown on illegal migration from Afghanistan along their borders, and have also carried out mass deportations.

Azaan couldn’t continue. He was in pain, and had barely eaten in days. The migrants were given just one boiled egg every morning and a cup of rice in the evening by smugglers who’d charged them nearly $4,000 (£3,150) for the journey to Europe.

“I had two friends – we had made a promise to not leave each other,” he says. His friends tied scarves around him, hoisted him up the wall, back into Iran. Iranian police deported him to Afghanistan.

It was Azaan’s second failed attempt. The first time he returned from the Afghanistan-Iran border because he’d taken his wife and young children along, and he realised they wouldn’t be able to endure the journey.

Azaan didn’t give up. Roughly a year later, once his arm had healed, he made a third attempt.

“I had sold my house earlier. This time I sold my wife’s jewellery,” he says.

In exchange for the money, migrants like Azaan are promised a route to Europe, handed over from one people smuggler to another along the way.

Back at the wall, the smuggler placed a ladder on the Iranian side, and cut the razor wire at the top to create a path for migrants.

“There were 60 to 70 of us,” Azaan recalls. “We climbed to the top and then the smuggler told us to jump.”

For the law and politics graduate, who served his country and led a dignified, comfortable life until August 2021 when the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan, it is a humiliating situation to be in.

In its three years in power, the Taliban government has imposed increasing, brutal restrictions on women. According to the UN, a third of the country’s people don’t know where their next meal will come from. And those who worked for the former military fear reprisal.

“The people I fought against for 20 years are now in power,” he explains. “Our lives are in danger. My daughter won’t be able to study once she turns 13. And I have no work. I’ll continue to try to leave even if it costs me my life.

“Here we are dying every moment. It’s better to die once, for good.”

Azaan is now back in Kabul with his family. The third attempt to flee ended with a beating and deportation.

“They beat me with the butt of a gun. One boy was hit on his genitals. He was in a terrible state. An old man’s leg was broken. There was a corpse in the trenches in Turkey. This is what I saw. But Iran is also treating us badly. I know Afghans have been severely beaten in Iran too,” he says.

After weeks of digging through people smuggling networks, the BBC established contact with an Afghan smuggler in Iran, aiming to get an insight into the increased dangers Afghans are facing.

“Iranian police are shooting a lot at the border with Afghanistan. One of my friends was killed recently,” the smuggler says, speaking to us over the phone from Iran.

In October, Iran was accused of firing indiscriminately at Afghans crossing over into Iran’s Sistan province from Balochistan in Pakistan. The UN has raised concerns and called for an investigation. The BBC has seen and verified videos of the dead and injured.

Sistan-Balochistan is one of the major routes taken by Afghan migrants to enter Iran, but given the increased risks as well as Pakistan’s mass deportation of Afghans, many are now opting for other routes, in particular, Islam Qala in Afghanistan’s Herat province.

Once in Iran, migrants move to Tehran before going towards the Macu or Khoy counties, to attempt the crossing into Turkey, handed over from one smuggler to another.

The Afghan smuggler says he hides migrants near the border wall, and then they wait until there’s less patrolling of a portion of the border wall to take a shot at the “game”. He carries a ladder, and a wire cutter to cut the razor wire at the top of the wall and make a path for migrants. He says crossings have become extremely challenging in recent months.

“The Turkish police catch 100 to 150 migrants every night. They have no mercy on them. They break their arms and legs,” he says.

The BBC has put the allegations to the governments of Turkey and Iran but has not yet received a response.

We asked the smuggler how he can justify his illegal business which endangers the lives of Afghans, while charging them thousands of dollars.

“We don’t force people to take these risks. We tell them that whether they get to their destination is 99% in God’s hands, and they could get killed or imprisoned. I don’t believe I’m guilty. What are we supposed to do when people tell us their family is going hungry in Afghanistan?” the smuggler says.

Those who make it past Turkish security forces move from Van towards Kayseri city and then to the Izmir, Canakkale or Bodrum coasts – the next point of peril on the migrant trail.

In Kabul, an elderly father took us to the grave of his son. In his twenties, Javid was a former soldier. Fearing for his life in Taliban controlled Afghanistan, he fled the country in an attempt to make it to the UK.

In March this year, he was among 22 people killed after the rubber dinghy they were in sank in the Aegean sea near Canakkale in Turkey, as they attempted to get to Greece. His pregnant wife was also among the 46 people squeezed on to the boat. They both managed to swim to the shore, but he died of hypothermia.

“From Istanbul, smugglers took us to Esenyurt. From there we were packed into cars like animals. We were dropped off in a forested area. We walked through it for four hours and then we reached the coast from where we were put on the boat,” Javid’s wife says, speaking to us over the phone from Turkey where she’s still living.

In Kabul, Javid’s father broke down inconsolably as he showed us photos of the young man with short black hair wearing track pants and a sweatshirt, posing on a park bench.

“Even now when I remember him the grief is such that it’s only with God’s blessing that I survive the torment,” he says.

He believes that foreign countries which fought in Afghanistan bear responsibility for what is happening to Afghans like his son.

“We fought alongside them in the war against terrorism. If we had known we would be betrayed and abandoned, no one would have agreed to join hands with foreign forces.”

According to the UN, Afghans are among the top asylum seekers in the world, and in the UK they are the second largest group arriving in the country in small boats, another journey fraught with peril.

The UK has two resettlement schemes for Afghans. One is for Afghans who worked directly for the British military and British government, and under the second scheme – the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS) – those who assisted the UK efforts in Afghanistan, stood up for values of democracy, women’s freedoms and people at risk can be eligible for relocation.

But after the first phase of evacuation in 2021-22, progress has been extremely slow.

This means women like Shahida, who worked in the former parliament of Afghanistan and participated in street protests against the Taliban after they seized power, could not find timely legal routes out of the country. Shahida feared the threat of detention and torture by the Taliban government in Afghanistan every day.

She arrived in the UK in a small boat in May this year, having begun the journey out of Afghanistan more than two years ago. Now in Liverpool, she has applied for asylum.

“I come from a well-known and well-respected family. I’ve never done anything illegal in my life. When authorities would apprehend us during the journey, I would look down out of shame,” she says.

Shahida describes how she crossed the English Channel on an inflatable dinghy, packed in with 64 people. This year has been the deadliest year for migrant crossings across the Channel. More than 50 people have died.

“There was water up to my waist. And because our guide lost the way we floated for hours. I thought this was going to be the end of my life. I’m diabetic so I had to urinate sitting there. And because I was thirsty I had to drink the water I had urinated in. Can you imagine? In Kabul I had everything. My whole life has been taken away from me because the Taliban took over,” she says.

Back in Kabul, Azaan, the former military officer, now wants to sell a small patch of land, the only asset he has left, to gather money to make another attempt.

“This is the only purpose of my life now, to get myself to a safer place.”

If personnel really does amount to policy, then we’ve learned a lot this week about how Donald Trump intends to govern in his second term.

More than a dozen major appointments, some of which will require Senate approval, offer a clearer picture of the team entrusted to drive his agenda as he returns to the White House.

On the outside they appear united by one thing – loyalty to the top man.

But beneath the surface, there are competing agendas.

Here are four factions that reveal both Trump’s ambition and potential tricky tests ahead for his leadership.

Who: Matt Gaetz, Tulsi Gabbard, RFK Jr

Their agenda: This trio have been among the most vocal politicians actively opposing US policies, particularly under President Biden. Choosing Gaetz as his attorney general nominee is possibly Trump’s most controversial pick.

Gaetz has represented Florida’s first congressional district since 2017. A graduate of William and Mary Law School, he led the removal of California congressman Kevin McCarthy as the sitting Speaker of the House in October 2023.

He has come under investigation by a House ethics committee for allegedly paying for sex with an underage girl, using illegal drugs and misusing campaign funds. He denies wrongdoing and no criminal charges have been filed.

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

Tulsi Gabbard, picked to be Trump’s director of national intelligence, is a military veteran who served with a medical unit in Iraq. She is a former Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii who switched parties to support Trump.

Gabbard has routinely opposed American foreign policy, blaming Nato for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and meeting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad – then casting doubt on US intelligence assessments blaming Assad for using chemical weapons.

Robert F Kennedy Jr, Trump’s nominee to oversee health, is a longtime lawyer and environmentalist. He also spread fringe theories – about vaccines and the effects of 5G phone signals.

What this tells us: Like Trump, Gaetz, Gabbard and Kennedy are aggressive challengers of the status quo. All three frequently tip over into conspiracy.

They may be among the most determined supporters of Trump’s plan to dismantle the bureaucratic “deep state”. The president-elect has picked particular fights in each of the areas they would oversee – law enforcement, intelligence and health.

But bomb-throwers can also make unruly subordinates. Kennedy wants stricter regulation across food and farming industries, which may collide with Trump’s government-slashing agenda.

Gaetz’s views on some issues – he favours legalisation of marijuana – are outside the Republican mainstream.

And Gabbard, a fierce critic of American power, will be working for a president who is not afraid to use it – for instance, against Iran.

• What RFK could do on vaccines, fluoride and drugs

Who: Tom Homan, Stephen Miller and Kristi Noem

Their agenda: The three hardliners tasked with carrying out Trump’s border and immigration policies have vowed to strengthen security and clamp down on undocumented immigrants crossing the US-Mexico border.

Domestically, they – and the wider incoming Trump administration – have called for a drastic uptick in deportations, beginning with those considered national security or public safety threats, and a return to workplace “enforcement operations” that were paused by the Biden administration.

What it tells us: Aside from the economy, polls repeatedly suggested that immigration and the border with Mexico were primary concerns for many voters.

The possibility of increased deportations and workplace raids, however, could put Trump on a collision course with Democratic-leaning states and jurisdictions that may decide to push back or not co-operate. Some Republican states – whose economies rely, in part, on immigrant labour – may also object.

• How would mass deportations work?

Who: Elon Musk, Vivek Ramaswamy

Their agenda: Trump has named the world’s richest person, Elon Musk, to lead a cost-cutting effort dubbed the “Department of Government Efficiency”.

He will share the role with 39-year-old investor-turned-politician Vivek Ramaswamy, who became an ardent Trump backer after bowing out as a candidate in the Republican primary.

The two men are among the loudest and flashiest tech bros, a group that swung towards Trump this year, seeking a champion to disavow “woke” political correctness and embrace a libertarian vision of small government, low taxes and light regulation.

Musk has floated a possible $2tn in spending cuts, vowing to send “shockwaves” through the government.

Ramaswamy, who has backed eliminating the tax-collecting agency, the IRS, and the Department of Education, among others, wrote after the announcement: “Shut it down.”

What it tells us: The appointments are an acknowledgment of the help Trump got on the campaign trail from Ramaswamy and Musk, the latter of whom personally ploughed more than $100m into the campaign.

But time will tell what power this faction goes on to have.

Despite its name, the department is not an official agency. The commission will stand outside the government to advise on spending, which is partly controlled by Congress.

Trump, who ran up budget deficits during his first term, has shown little commitment to cutting spending.

He has promised to leave Social Security and Medicare – two of the biggest areas of government spending – untouched, which could make cost-cutting difficult.

Who: Marco Rubio, Mike Waltz, John Ratcliffe.

Their agenda: These men will run Trump’s “America First” foreign policy. They are all hawks on China.

Rubio, nominee for secretary of state, is among Beijing’s harshest critics, having argued for travel bans on some Chinese officials and for the closure of Hong Kong’s US trade offices.

The three are likely to push through Trump’s pledge for much higher tariffs on Chinese imports. They see Beijing as the top economic and security threat to the US. Waltz – picked for national security adviser – has said the US is in a “Cold War” with the ruling communist party.

Ratcliffe, Trump’s nominee for CIA director who served as an intelligence chief in his first term, has likened countering China’s rise to the defeat of fascism or bringing down the Iron Curtain.

What it tells us: While Trump often signals his own hawkish economic views on China, he has also vacillated – which could spark tensions with his top foreign policy team.

In his first term, Trump triggered a trade war with Beijing (attempts to de-escalate this failed amid the pandemic) and relations slumped further when he labelled Covid the “Chinese Virus”.

But he also heaped praise on President Xi Jinping as a “brilliant” leader ruling with an “iron fist”.

This unpredictability could make managing America’s most consequential strategic relationship even harder. Rubio might also clash with Gabbard, Trump’s pick for director of intelligence, who previously criticised Rubio on foreign policy.

• 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

A fragile calm hangs over the Dutch capital, still reeling from the unrest that erupted a week ago when Israeli football fans came under attack in the centre of Amsterdam.

City officials described the violence as a “toxic combination of antisemitism, hooliganism, and anger” over the war in Gaza, Israel and elsewhere in the Middle East.

As the streets are cleared of Maccabi Ultras stickers and tensions linger, there is concern about the damage done to relations between Amsterdam’s Jewish and Muslim communities.

The tensions have spilled over into Dutch politics too.

The Netherlands’ coalition government has been left hanging by a thread after a Moroccan-born junior minister resigned because of language used by coalition colleagues.

Amsterdam had already seen protests and tensions because of the war in the Middle East, and local Rabbi Lody van de Kamp believes it was like a tinderbox: “If you put 2,000 [Israeli] football supporters on to the streets, you know you are in trouble.”

Maccabi Tel Aviv fans had arrived in the city for a Europa League match against Ajax and footage was widely shared the night before showing a group of fans climbing up a wall to tear down and burn a Palestinian flag.

An Amsterdam council report said taxis were also attacked and vandalised.

Emine Uğur, a well-known columnist in the Muslim community, says underlying tensions surrounding the war in Gaza meant that the ensuing violence was “a long time coming”.

She speaks of a lack of acknowledgement of the pain felt by communities affected by a conflict that had left many without an outlet for their grief and frustration.

The flag-burning incident as well as anti-Arab chants were seen as a deliberate provocation.

But then messages calling for retaliation appeared on social media, some using chilling terms such as “Jew hunt”.

On the evening of the match, a pro-Palestinian protest was moved away from the Johan Cruyff arena, but it was in the hours afterwards that the violence erupted.

The 12-page report by Amsterdam’s authorities describes some Maccabi supporters “committing acts of vandalism” in the centre.

Then it highlights “small groups of rioters… engaged in violent hit-and-run actions targeting Israeli supporters and nightlife crowd” in locations across the city centre. They moved “on foot, by scooter, or car… committing severe assaults”.

The mayor of Amsterdam, Femke Halsema, described the incidents as deeply alarming, and noted for some they were a reminder of historical pogroms against Jews.

For a few hours, swathes of the Jewish community in a European capital felt as though they were under siege.

These events coincided with the anniversary of the Nazi pogroms on Jews in 1938, also known as Kristallnacht.

That only intensified the fears of Amsterdam’s Jewish community, although local imams and other members of the Muslim community took part in the commemorations.

Senior members, including Esther Voet, editor of the Dutch Jewish Weekly, organised emergency shelters and coordinated rescue efforts for those fearing for their lives.

The Dutch government has responded by allocating €4.5m (£3.6m) to combat antisemitism and support victims.

Justice Minister David van Weel emphasised that Jewish people must feel safe in their own country and promised to deal severely with perpetrators.

However, the chairman of the Central Jewish Committee, Chanan Hertzberger, warned that these measures alone might not suffice.

He blamed in part an atmosphere where “antisemitic rhetoric has gone unchecked since 7 October”, adding: “Our history teaches us that when people say they want to kill you, they mean it, and they will try.”

The violence and its aftermath have also exposed political rifts, and some of the language from politicians has shocked the Netherlands’ Moroccan community.

Geert Wilders, whose far-right Freedom Party is the biggest of the four parties that make up the Dutch coalition government, has called for the deportation of dual nationals guilty of antisemitism.

Both he and coalition partner Caroline van der Plas, among others, have pointed the finger at young people of Moroccan or North African descent.

One Dutch-Moroccan commentator, Hassnae Bouazza, complained that her community had for years been accused of not being integrated, and was now being threatened with having their Dutch nationality taken away.

Nadia Bouras, a Dutch historian of Moroccan descent, told Amsterdam’s Het Parool newspaper that using the term “integration” for people who had already lived in the Netherlands for four generations was like “holding them hostage”.

“You are holding them in a constant state of being foreign, even though they are not.”

The junior minister for benefits, Nora Achahbar, who was born in Morocco but grew up in the Netherlands, said on Friday she was standing down from the government because of racist language she had heard during a cabinet meeting on Monday, three days after the violence in Amsterdam.

She may not be the last.

Rabbi van de Kamp has told the BBC he is concerned that antisemitism is being politicised to further Islamophobic agendas.

He warns against repeating the exclusionary attitudes reminiscent of the 1930s, cautioning that such rhetoric not only endangers Jewish communities but deepens suspicions within society: “We must show that we cannot be made into enemies.”

The impact on Amsterdam’s Muslim and Jewish residents is profound.

Many Jews have removed mezuzahs – the small Torah scrolls – from their doorposts, or they have covered them with duct tape out of fear of reprisal.

Esther Voet sees the emotional toll on her community: “It’s an exaggeration to say that the Netherlands now is like the 1930s, but we must pay attention and speak out when we see something that’s not right.”

Muslims, meanwhile, argue they are being blamed for the actions of a small minority, before the perpetrators have even been identified.

Columnist Emine Uğur has herself faced increased threats as a vocal Muslim woman: “People feel emboldened.”

She fears for her son’s future in a polarised society where the lines of division seem to be hardening.

Academics and community leaders have called for de-escalation and mutual understanding.

Bart Wallet, a professor of Jewish Studies at the University of Amsterdam, stresses the need for careful terminology, warning against equating the recent violence with pogroms of the past.

Like others, he hopes the violence was an isolated incident rather than a sign of worsening ethnic polarisation.

Mayor Femke Halsema is adamant that antisemitism should not be followed by other forms of racism, emphasising that the safety of one group must not come at the expense of another.

The violence has left Amsterdam questioning its identity as a diverse and tolerant city.

There is a collective recognition, in the Dutch capital and beyond, that as residents seek to rebuild trust, they must address the tensions that fuelled such unrest.

Rubbing his hands against the cold, as Amsterdam’s cyclists stream by, Rabbi van de Kamp recalls his mother’s words: “We are allowed to be very angry, but we must never hate.”

Warning: This story contains details some may find distressing.

“Prolific, brutal and horrific” – these words sum up four decades of abuse meted out by John Smyth and affecting scores of boys in the UK and Africa.

It was the description chosen by the independent review commissioned by the Church of England to investigate how Smyth was able to groom and abuse children at Christian camps and in schools for so long.

Almost as shocking is the church’s repeated lack of curiosity and inaction when people tried to warn about what he was doing, also described in the report. Smyth’s position within the church gave him a veneer of trustworthiness that opened doors for him to abuse.

One survivor, Mark Stibbe, told BBC Newsnight how he was groomed and beaten relentlessly by Smyth after joining his school’s Christian Forum in 1977. On the shelf in front of him during the abuse were adult nappies used to stem blood, alongside a leather-bound Bible.

It is a horrifying account of the power of an abuser in a trusted role and the damage that is done when opportunities to stop them are brushed aside. But abuse is not limited to the church.

“Most sexual abuse happens in domestic and family settings,” says Tom Squire, head of clinical engagement at The Lucy Faithful Foundation, which works with people who have sexually abused children or fear they may abuse. “But some abusers gravitate to places where they know they will have an opportunity to have contact with children – places like churches, sports organisations and schools.”

In the UK and abroad, there have been major controversies in football, swimming and gymnastics clubs, where allegations of physical, sexual and emotional abuse have been made against coaches by young athletes. One of of the most famous cases was that of Larry Nassar, a former doctor to the elite athletes of USA Gymnastics who was convicted of sexual assault in 2017. A judge handed him a 175 year jail sentence after hearing testimonies from more than 150 women and girls.

Separately, an independent review into British gymnastics found that physical and emotional abuse were “systemic”. The review, which focused on the period from 2008 to 2020, came after several gymnasts spoke out about bullying – with allegations of athletes being punished for needing the toilet. British Gymnastics said it wholeheartedly apologised.

Last year, several swimmers told the BBC they had suffered bullying, emotional abuse and body-shaming. A review commissioned by Swim England found that a toxic environment in swimming clubs had enabled abusive training practices and bullying to exist for years. The governing body has apologised.

Then there are scandals that have emerged involving boarding schools and children’s homes – the closed environments making children easy prey.

In 2018, an inquiry into Ampleforth College, a Roman Catholic boarding school in Yorkshire, found it had been the scene of decades of sexual abuse, with a report finding it “prioritised monks and their own reputations over the protection of children”.

Nine serious allegations of abuse were also recorded at the school as recently as between 2014 and 2016. The school says it has since put rigorous safeguarding measures in place.

But similar reports elsewhere date back decades. Earlier this year, Earl Spencer, brother of Diana, the late Princess of Wales, wrote about his experiences of abuse at Maidwell Hall School in Northamptonshire in the 1970s.

Hundreds of allegations have been made against the Scouts too, with most dating back to the 1960s to 1990s. In all more than £6 million has been paid in compensation over the last decade, with some 166 cases settled in that time.

Other large institutions such as the BBC and the NHS have held major inquiries into the abuse carried out over decades by the television and radio personality, Jimmy Savile. He died before his crimes were made public. All these organisations promised change and overhauled their safeguarding policies in the wake of the scandals.

Part of the reason we are hearing about these scandals is because people are more willing to speak up and campaign. Investigations then follow.

Even so, many big institutions remain slow to react – the question that remains is why?

Jane Chevous, a writer and campaigner, was sexually abused by two Church of England priests over a ten-year period. It began when she was a young adult and only stopped when she moved away. She went on to have a mental breakdown. This was not only because of the abuse, she says, but also the result of a lack of the support from the church that she trusted.

Her religion added a layer of complexity to what happened, she explains. She was groomed by someone who she believed was doing God’s work. “You are told this is God’s calling and this is what he wants,” she says.

In 2001, ten years after the abuse ended, she reported it to two bishops. “It was absolutely terrifying. I found it hard to hold any hope that I would be believed.”

One bishop suggested she meet her abuser to try to sort it out “because that is the Christian thing to do”. The other, she says, told her to go to the police because he couldn’t do anything. Afterwards her mental health deteriorated.

In 2019, she reported it again. This time there was a police investigation, during which time one of her alleged abusers died. She says the police concluded there was not enough evidence to take the case further. She is among a number of survivors who have asked the church to review their cases.

In the wake of the report into the abuse by John Smyth, the church has said that it and its associated organisations must implement “robust safeguarding procedures …that are governed independently.” It also said “there is never a place for covering up abuse.”

Jane has since co-founded a support and research group called Survivors Voices, set up to ensure that survivors are listened to. She says that in many institutions there may be people trying to do the right thing, but too often there is a failure to listen to and protect vulnerable people.

She has also been appointed to the Church of England National Safeguarding Panel. “The church has struggled to choose survivors,” she says, “instead it has chosen to protect the institution.”

This, she argues, is similar to other areas. “You are sacrificed for the good of the wider community.”

Joanna Nicolas, an independent social worker, has her own take on this. She has spent more than 30 years in child protection and adult safeguarding, and believes that people’s readiness to forgive or explain away what happened is one of the main reasons that abuse “gets swept under the carpet”.

Over the years she has worked with schools, churches, financial organisations, Parliament, as well as theatres, including the Old Vic. She is also called in to assess people in positions of trust in schools and churches when an allegation of historic abuse – whether sexual or emotional – has been made, including cases where there hasn’t been enough evidence to lead to police charges.

“People will often say to me ‘he is such a good egg’ and they will want to give me character references,” she explains.

Part of her role is to weigh up whether or not the person accused is safe to continue in their role.

“You have to be black-and-white about child abuse,” she continues. “I say to the alleged perpetrator, ‘It doesn’t matter if you have done 50 brilliant things, if you have abused a child’.

“You always go in with an open mind,” she adds. “And in emotional abuse cases, sometimes a teacher, for instance, is not aware of the power they have.”

Understanding and unpicking power structures is key to combatting sexual abuse and the secrecy that allows it to thrive, argues Tom Squire. “That means swimming against that power dynamic.”

If concerns aren’t acted on with “diligence and robustness,” that could, in his view, “potentially be interpreted by abusers as a bit of a green light”.

Overall, he believes that child protection has improved over the years but there is no room for complacency. “We need to open our eyes and our ears to what children and young people are telling us and to be curious.”

Joanna Nicolas agrees there have been improvements, pointing to boarding schools, which she believes have generally created more open cultures to keep pupils safe. But she also observes that many organisations have a long way to go – in tackling bullying and emotional abuse too.

One priority is ensuring that staff feel safer and able to report bad behaviour. “If you are in a big arts organisation or theatre and you have a visiting star who is being vile to young people, is anyone going to stop them?” she says.

“They are the person with the power who brings in the money.”

Speaking about this conundrum, she recalls “a lightbulb moment” at a financial company she worked with. One of the bosses had told her about a senior staff member who brought in lots of money, but was described as “handsy”. “Rather than addressing it, young female employees were warned away from him,” she recalls.

Only when a senior leader at the company found himself again telling young staff to avoid the man, did he suddenly think, “What am I saying? What am I doing?”

They decided things had to stop. The man left and the company culture began changing.

“Culture is incredibly important,” says Christian McMullen, director of professional services at the NSPCC. One of the difficulties for large organisations, he has found, is that “they have their own social structures or social norms which can have an impact when they need to take action”.

Contrary to the idea that a large company will have greater resources to tackle abuse, he says that its bureaucracy can sometimes get in the way, slowing down decision-making and making it harder to know who is accountable. But change starts at the top.

“The senior leadership team sets the right culture,” says Mr McMullen. “If staff don’t feel supported then they may hesitate to make a safeguarding referral.”

That hesitation can also mean children aren’t listened to. “It is so easy to blame the child,” says 19-year-old Poppy.

She was 11 when she found the words to tell her mother that she had been abused by her grandfather. Her parents believed her and eventually her grandfather was convicted and jailed.

She has spoken out about what happened in the hope that this would remove some of the stigma that prevents children asking for help. But many abuse survivors she has spoken to told her they weren’t believed.

“When you tell someone, you need to feel believed. It changes everything,” she says today. “[But] I’m the exception. And the impact on people who aren’t believed is huge.”

Along with her mother Miranda, Poppy has been working with the NSPCC on a campaign to change the law so there is a mandatory duty for those working or volunteering with children to report it if they are told that a child is being abused.

At present there is no such law. It was one of the recommendations made in the final report of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, which was published in October 2022.

In his evidence to the inquiry, Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, who resigned over the church response to the Smyth report, said he was “convinced that we need to move to mandatory reporting”.

It is argued that this removes any doubt about what to do if a concern is raised about the safety of a child.

Miranda understands how reporting abuse can “turn lives upside down” and why people may find it easier to ignore what they are being told. But she insists: “we’ve got to stop kidding ourselves and pretending abuse doesn’t happen.”

For Poppy there is a straightforward calculation: “If we are not reporting abuse as a society, we are actively supporting it.

“It causes damage down the generations and if we don’t stop it now, it will keep going.”

The Beaver Moon – the final supermoon of the year has made a dazzling appearance across parts of the UK on Friday night.

It’s not quite as bright as last month’s Hunter’s supermoon but should still provide an impressible spectacle for sky gazers, although clouds may obscure the view in some places.

However with the next supermoon not until October 2025, it’s worth capturing a glimpse of this one if you can.

Here are some of the best images sent in to BBC Weather Watchers, along with some agency pictures.

Full Moons throughout the year are given names that reflect what is happening in nature.

November’s full Moon is called the Beaver Moon, probably because beavers are particularly active at this time of year as they prepare for the winter months ahead.

Another interpretation is that Native American tribes would set beaver traps before the swamps froze, ensuring a supply of warm winter furs.

There are about three or four supermoons each year.

This year has already brought three – the Blue moon in August, September’s Harvest moon and the Hunter’s moon in October.

Astronomers say Friday’s Beaver moon will look around 14% larger and 30% brighter than usual.

If you would like to submit your pictures, you can join the BBC Weather Watchers community here.

There is something quite bold about telling people you look like someone famous – especially if your supposed doppelganger is one of the world’s biggest heartthrobs.

But that hasn’t put off the hundreds of men in the UK and US who have taken part in a recent craze for lookalike competitions.

It all started with the Timothée Chalamet competition in New York three weeks ago, which even attracted the real actor himself.

Since then, similar contests have attracted crowds of young people hoping to get a glimpse of someone who vaguely resembles Harry Styles, Dev Patel or Paul Mescal.

With eternal bragging rights, five minutes of fame and (paltry) cash prizes up for grabs, the winners and organisers explain why these events have taken off.

Our fascination with celebrity lookalikes is nothing particularly new – Stars in Their Eyes, a show in which amateur lookalikes impersonate singers, ran on ITV for 16 years. The format was revived as Starstruck in 2022.

But the latest competitions all have one thing in common: the celebrities are all young, attractive and male.

Avani Johnson, who was at the Timothée Chalamet contest, says she believes the latest trend has taken off because “women are relishing the opportunity to objectify men in a complete switch in power dynamics”.

She adds that it also gives us a chance “to laugh at the absurdity of pageantry”.

Miles Mitchell, a 20-year-old student, picked up the prize for the best Timothée Chalamet lookalike last month at the competition that set this trend alight.

Miles was first told he looked like Chalamet when studying in South Korea.

“I was there at the time Dune was released, so people kept asking me in shops and restaurants if I was Timothée on a press tour.”

He says he was drawn to the competition because, as a university student in New York, “socialising can be really expensive so my friends and I loved the fact this was a free and fun event”.

“It was also just something a bit different and wacky that I wanted to be part of.”

The event took social media by storm, with one person commenting on X it was “a historic pop culture moment”, while another said the competition “shows that the people yearn for weird town events”.

Although the real Timothée turned up and took pictures with some of the lookalikes, Miles didn’t get a chance to meet the American actor.

“He arrived at the same time the police did to shut down the event so I had already moved to the secondary location for the event. I’m gutted I didn’t get to meet him.”

Oscar Journeaux, a 22-year-old musician, recently won a Harry Styles lookalike competition in central London and admits he entered “for publicity”.

“I thought I could get a bit of fame and promo for my music and the industry is so hard to break into, you really have to get yourself out there.”

Oscar, who says he once missed his train because an insistent fan made him sign an autograph, adds: “People want to think there’s a deeper meaning to these events, but really we’re all just bored millennials and Gen Z looking for something to do.”

Keenan Gregor, who entered as a blond Harry, says he went along because he “wanted to be part of something that could go viral”.

Journalist Katrina Mirpuri says she organised the lookalike contest because “people need to have some fun after all the dreary news we’re having”.

Despite worrying that “no-one would turn up”, she says half of Soho Square was packed with lookalikes and fans.

Even though most of the contestants didn’t quite look like Harry, “the girls were screaming for each man as they got up to twirl, so they were doing something right”.

“Really it wasn’t about who looked most like Harry,” Katrina explains. “It was a way for people to just be positive and celebratory about each other, which is what we need when everyone is so nasty and negative on social media.”

She has now got her eye on hosting another competition but this time “for someone older, like Hugh Grant”.

Jaipreet Hundal had a pretty good weekend when he was crowned the most convincing Dev Patel lookalike in San Francisco.

“The best bit was that when I turned up, some people thought I was the real Dev Patel and they were so excited that he had come to the event,” he tells the BBC.

The 25-year-old says looking like the Slumdog Millionaire actor has “given him a glimpse of what it’s like to be a celebrity”.

He explains that the trend is popular now because “it’s a great way to get people together to have a wholesome time”.

Sudev Namboodiri, who drove hours to enter the competition and gets told he looks like Dev on an almost daily basis, says it “wasn’t about winning”.

“It’s nice to meet new people and it was cool that hundreds of young people decided to turn up and hang out.”

After the recent all-consuming election in the US, “people really need to disconnect from everything and have a bit of fun”, he adds.

Julyus Odreman has spent a decade being mistaken for Zayn Malik, but cannot see it himself because he says he is “nowhere near as handsome”.

Julyus, from Venezuela, says his friends think he looks so much like Zayn that “people don’t even call me by my real name any more”.

The resemblance to the former One Direction star means he often gets “stopped by groups of girls on the subway or the street”.

He also once had to pretend to be the British singer when he met his friend’s four-year-old son, who was “so insistent that I was really him”.

“I didn’t want to burst his bubble because he was so excited to meet a celebrity, so I just went with it.”

He’ll be channelling Zayn on Saturday at a lookalike competition in New York, organised by Jaz Arnold, who was inspired by the Timothée Chalamet contest.

“Zayn is super hot and it’s hard to imagine we can find someone as beautiful as him,” she says.

She adds that it’s “hilarious and brave” that lots of people think they look as good as Zayn and she can’t wait to see who shows up.

For Jaz, the competition is also about bringing people together.

“In big cities, it’s hard to feel part of a community so I wanted to do something fun that is welcoming and accepting.”

She also says young people “are so tired of social media and the state of the world” that a silly event like this “is pure escapism, even if it is just for an hour or two”.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday that Russia’s deployment of North Korean troops against Ukraine was a “grave escalation” of the conflict, according to government sources.

In the first phone call between the leaders in nearly two years, Scholz called on Putin to end the war and pull Russian troops out of Ukraine.

The Kremlin described the conversation as “a detailed and frank exchange of opinions on the situation in Ukraine”, adding “the very fact of dialogue is positive”.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the call was a “Pandora’s box” and argued it weakens Putin’s isolation.

According to government sources, the chancellor condemned Russia’s attack on Ukraine and called on Moscow to negotiate with Kyiv to come to a “fair and lasting peace”.

He also stressed “Germany’s unwavering determination to support Ukraine in its defensive struggle against Russian aggression for as long as necessary”.

Scholz condemned in particular the Russian air strikes on civilian infrastructure.

The phone conversation lasted about an hour and both leaders agreed to stay in contact. Russian media is reporting that according to the Kremlin, the call was initiated by Germany.

The German government will be keen to avoid any accusations that Berlin is trying to strike a deal with Moscow over Ukraine’s head, particularly given painful 20th century memories in eastern Europe of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union carving up the region between them.

In a written statement, the chancellor’s office highlighted that Scholz also talked to Zelensky before the call to Putin. Scholz also planned to talk to Zelensky again once the call was over to give details about the conversation with the Russian president.

In a statement from the Kremlin to Russian media, Putin reportedly told Scholz that Russian-German relations had suffered “an unprecedented degradation across the board as a result of the German authorities “unfriendly course”.

According to the Kremlin, Putin told Scholz that any potential peace agreement must “be based on the new territorial realities” — in other words the Ukrainian territory that Russia has occupied since 2022.

Putin also said a peace deal could only happen by removing “the root causes of the conflict”. The Kremlin justifies its invasion of Ukraine with the accusation of Nato “expansion” into eastern Europe.

In the call, Putin reportedly said “the current crisis was a direct result of Nato’s years-long aggressive policy aimed at creating in Ukrainian territory an anti-Russian bridgehead”.

In an interview on German television last Sunday, Scholz said he was planning to talk to Putin to push for peace talks. He said he was not acting on his own, but rather in consultation with others.

There is speculation that Scholz is planning to also talk to the Chinese president Xi Jinping, a lukewarm supporter of Russia, about the war in Ukraine at the G20 next week in Rio de Janeiro.

The last time Scholz talked to Putin on the phone was on 2 December 2022. They last met in person a week before the full invasion of Ukraine.

At the time, Scholz returned to Berlin with promises from Putin that Russia did not intend to invade Ukraine. The attack a week later was the final break in trust between Germany and Russia.

For decades, Berlin had tried to ensure peace with Moscow by binding the two countries together with trade and energy links. That aspiration shattered overnight when Russia launched its full invasion of Ukraine.

Today, Germany is the largest donor of military and financial aid to Ukraine after the US, and mainstream politicians from across the political spectrum, as well as most voters, favour supporting Ukraine.

But with elections in Germany now due in February, pressure is growing for serious peace negotiations to end the war in Ukraine.

The far-right AfD and the new far-left populist BSW, which together could win between a quarter and third of votes in the election, accuse the government of not doing enough to bring about a peace deal.

Scholz’s governing coalition collapsed last week and he now runs a minority government until the elections. Both he and his party are doing badly in the polls.

Germany has been hit hard by the war in Ukraine, both politically and economically.

So any sign that Scholz is helping to end the conflict could turn around his fortunes at the ballot box.

Robert F Kennedy Jr has been nominated by Donald Trump to be the next US health secretary, a post that oversees everything from medical research to food safety and public welfare programmes.

Speaking in an NPR interview this week, Kennedy said Trump had given him three “instructions”: to remove “corruption” from health agencies, to return these bodies to “evidence-based science and medicine”, and “to end the chronic disease epidemic”.

Some of Kennedy’s own stated aims for government are bound up with misinformation – and many medical experts have expressed serious concerns about his nomination, citing his views on vaccines and other health matters.

On other matters he has more support, for example in scrutinising the processing of food and the use of additives.

Kennedy said in his NPR interview that vaccines were “not going to be taken away from anybody”.

He says he wants to improve the science on vaccine safety which he believes has “huge deficits” and that he wants good information so people “can make informed choices“.

But his critique of the vaccine safety regime has been roundly dismissed by experts.

While Kennedy has denied on several occasions that he is anti-vaccination and said he and his children are vaccinated, he has repeatedly stated widely debunked claims about vaccine harm.

One of his main false claims – repeated in a 2023 interview with Fox News, was that “autism comes from vaccines”.

This theory was popularised by discredited UK doctor Andrew Wakefield.

But Wakefield’s 1998 study was later retracted by the Lancet medical journal. Multiple studies since, across many countries, have concluded there is no link between vaccines and autism.

Dr David Elliman, a consultant in community child health at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London, said RFK Jr has perpetuated myths around vaccination with “an utter disregard for the evidence”.

“If he is appointed and continues in the same mode, I fear not just for the vaccination programme in the US, but similar programmes around the world, and for healthcare in general,” says Dr Elliman.

“Vaccination has probably saved more lives and is better researched than most, if not all, aspects of healthcare. RFK Jr could set this back and be responsible for the death and disability of myriads of people, particularly children.”

• What RFK could do on vaccines, fluoride and drugs

Fluoride – a naturally occurring mineral recognised to protect teeth against decay – is added to water supplies in many countries, including the US, where around 63% of the population have fluoridated water.

Kennedy has long campaigned against the practice, and claimed in a recent post on X that Trump, as president, would be advising ”all US water systems to remove fluoride from public water”.

The president-elect told the NBC network: “Well, I haven’t talked to [Kennedy] about it yet, but it sounds OK to me. You know, it’s possible.”

In his post on X, Kennedy said fluoride was “associated with arthritis, bone fractures, bone cancer, IQ loss, neurodevelopmental disorders, and thyroid disease”.

But Prof Avijit Banerjee, chair of cariology and operative dentistry at King’s College London, said “the potential harmful effects of fluoride cited have not been associated with the very low levels of fluoride used in water fluoridation programmes”.

Kennedy cited a September 2024 ruling by a judge in California recommending further investigation into potential harms following the publication of a report suggesting possible links between exposure to higher levels of fluoride to lower IQ in children.

But that report has proved highly controversial. Dr Ray Lowry of the British Fluoridation Society notes that the ruling “was not an outright condemnation of fluoride; rather, it suggested that the EPA could investigate further to ensure an adequate safety margin.”

• Listen: Should fluoride be added to drinking water?

Kennedy has been outspoken about his concerns about additives in foods, and how big a part ultra-processed foods (UPFs) play in many people’s diets.

In October he said in a post on X that “ultra-processed food is driving the obesity epidemic.”

Kennedy has also linked UPFs with a range of medical conditions including cancers in young adults and mental health conditions.

There is a growing body of evidence that these foods aren’t good for us, and although recent research shows many pervasive health problems, including cancers, obesity and depression are associated with diet, there’s no clear evidence as yet that they are caused by UPFs.

Dr Nerys Astbury, a diet and obesity expert at the Nuffield Department of Primary Health Care Sciences at the University of Oxford, says that “while improving the diet and reducing body weight of the population will undoubtedly reduce the number of people who develop conditions like type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and certain cancers, the role of food processing in a healthy diet… is not clear”.

Dr David Nunan, from the Centre for Evidence Based Medicine (CEBM) says “multiple factors, including broader lifestyle, socioeconomic determinants, and healthcare access, need to be considered. Studies to date cannot reliably separate out the individual impact of UPFs from these other factors”.

A vocal critic of restrictions to limit the spread of Covid-19, Kennedy said at press event last year in a video posted by the New York Post that “Covid-19 is targeted to attack Caucasians and black people. The people who are most immune are Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese.”

Health specialists say these claims are false and that the virus does not target any specific ethnic group.

“The claims of Robert F Kennedy Jr are very damaging given they do not follow scientific evidence,” says Prof Melinda Mills at Oxford University’s Nuffield Department of Population Health.

“As many credible peer-reviewed Covid-19 studies have shown, differences in Covid infections and deaths between socioeconomic and ethnic groups is related to inequalities, deprivation and living in larger or intergenerational households.”

Following widespread criticism of his remarks, Kennedy posted on X that he does not “believe and never implied that the ethnic effect was deliberately engineered”, and cited a study, claiming it supported his comments about genetic factors influencing immunity.

But one of the report authors responded by strongly rejecting this interpretation of the study and that its findings “never supported” Kennedy’s claims.

What do you want BBC Verify to investigate?

They fought the law for Donald Trump. Now, they will help him enforce it.

On Thursday, Trump announced he had chosen members of his defence team for senior justice department roles.

Todd Blanche, who represented Trump in multiple criminal cases, will be nominated for the second most powerful post at the Justice Department – deputy attorney general. Emil Bove, an attorney on Trump’s New York hush-money case, also will take on a high-ranking post in the department.

D John Sauer, who won Trump’s historic presidential immunity case in the US Supreme Court this year, will be his nominee for US solicitor general.

If they’re all confirmed, they would report to Trump’s pick for US attorney general, Matt Gaetz, a conservative who has been an unflinching supporter of the president-elect.

While Trump’s attorneys have more traditional experience than Gaetz, Trump’s stated intentions to remake the department and pursue “the enemy within,” along with the nominations, have raised questions among legal scholars about the future of the Justice Department.

“It’s quite a clear signal that he’s taking the justice department in a direction of loyalty to him rather than independence, which has been the tradition up until now,” said Rebecca Roiphe, a professor at New York Law School.

The three lawyers proved themselves to be creative and consistent advocates for Trump as he battled four separate criminal indictments last year.

Trump announced that Mr Blanche would set about “fixing what has been a broken System of Justice for far too long.”

Both Mr Blanche and Mr Bove have previous justice department experience, passing through what is arguably its most prestigious jurisdiction: the Southern District of New York (SDNY).

Mr Blanche rose to head violent crimes at the SDNY before heading to prestigious law firm WilmerHale then struck out on his own – only to take on America’s highest-profile criminal defendant.

“They certainly have relevant experience, certainly prosecutorial experience,” said Jonathan Nash, an Emory School of Law professor.

Mr Blanche, he added, would have managerial experience from his time at the SDNY, an asset to a deputy attorney general.

Mr Blanche adopted some of Trump’s bombastic posturing during the New York criminal trial earlier this year, openly attacking witnesses’ character and repeatedly sparring with the judge. Some experts believe these tactics may have contributed to Trump’s loss.

But in a few days, Mr Blanche could secure his biggest victory yet: overturning the sole criminal conviction against Trump in his hush-money trial. He and Mr Bove have argued that Trump’s conviction in New York should be overturned.

As US solicitor general, Mr Sauer would represent the government in Supreme Court cases. He previously held the solicitor general position in Missouri, and legal experts said that makes him an unsurprising choice.

Mr Sauer already secured one major win for Trump before the nation’s highest court as Trump sought to stymie federal prosecution of his attempts to overturn the 2020 election results.

Mr Sauer successfully argued to the Supreme Court that presidents should have immunity from criminal prosecution for certain “official acts” while in office.

More recently, Mr Sauer argued to a New York appeals court that Trump’s nine-figure fine in a civil fraud trial should be overturned. The court has yet to issue a decision.

It is not unheard of for US presidents to appoint close legal allies to the justice department and other judicial posts.

President John F Kennedy made his brother, Robert F Kennedy, US attorney general in the 1960s. President Lyndon B Johnson chose his former attorney Abe Fortas for the Supreme Court.

Since the Watergate era, however, the justice department has sought to position itself as mostly independent from the president.

But Trump tested that norm. During his first term, he fired one attorney general, Jeff Sessions, for recusing himself from an investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election. The second, William Barr, resigned after pushing back against Trump’s false claims of widespread fraud in the 2020 election.

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.

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.”

A grandmother in rural Zambia has become an accidental style icon and internet sensation – after agreeing to play dress-up and swapping outfits with her fashionista granddaughter.

Margret Chola, who is in her mid-80s, is known to the world as “Legendary Glamma” – and adored by 225,000 Instagram followers for her striking and playful fashion photographs.

“I feel different, I feel new and alive in these clothes, in a way that I’ve never felt before,” Ms Chola tells the BBC. “I feel like I can conquer the world!”

The fortnightly Granny Series was created in 2023 by her granddaughter Diana Kaumba, a stylist who is based in New York City.

She came up with the idea when she was visiting Zambia to mark the second anniversary of the death of her father – the person she says inspired her passion for fashion because he always dressed well.

During that visit Ms Kaumba had not worn all her carefully curated outfits, so she asked her grandmother – or “Mbuya” in the Bemba language – if she wanted to try them on.

“I wasn’t doing anything at the time, so I just said: ‘OK. If that’s what you want to do let’s do it – why not?'” Ms Chola said.

“You will miss me when I die and at least this way you will be remembering me.”

Ms Kaumba wore Mbuya’s top and “chitenge” – a piece of patterned cloth wrapped around the waist. And Mbuya’s first outfit was a silver pantsuit.

“I thought it would be nice to dress up Mbuya in high fashion and then take photographs of her in her natural habitat,” Ms Kaumba tells the BBC.

That natural habitat is a farm in the village of 10 Miles, just north of the Zambian capital, Lusaka.

Most often Ms Chola is photographed in all her glamour outside – often sitting on an elegant wooden chair or lounging on a leather sofa.

In the background are exposed brick buildings with corrugated iron roofs, ploughed fields, mango trees and maize crops.

“I was so nervous when I posted that first photo. I left my phone for 10 minutes and in those 10 minutes there were 1,000 likes,” Ms Kaumba says.

“My mind was blown. The comments were flying in and people were asking for more.”

It was in April 2024 that the Granny Series really took off – after Ms Kaumba posted a series of photos of her grandmother in a red Adidas dress, several chunky, golden necklaces and a glittering jewelled crown.

“It surprised me to hear that so many people around the world love me,” Ms Chola says – who does not know her exact age because she does not have a birth certificate.

“I didn’t know I could make such an impact at this age.”

Ms Chola poses in clothes that are a mix of vibrant colours, textures and styles.

From a green American football jersey, combined with a layered frilly red dress styled as a skirt – in the colours of the Zambian flag to pay homage to 60 years of independence.

To a blue, black and green sequined top, complete with a golden snake necklace and bracelet.

And Mbuya’s personal favourite – jeans, a graphic T-shirt with her image on the front and a blonde wig.

“I had never worn jeans or a wig before – so I was happy, and I was dancing.”

Ms Kaumba, who has been a stylist since 2012, says that her grandma has “courage, grace – and nails every look”.

All the looks reflect her maximalist-chic aesthetic – which celebrates the joy of excess, eclectic combinations, the big and the bold, and clashing patterns and colours.

At the heart of it all are eye-catching accessories – bold sunglasses, oversized hats, necklaces, bracelets, pendants, rings, gloves, bags, blonde wigs, crowns.

That influence has come directly from her grandmother, who has “always been a lover of pearls and bangles”.

In one particularly playful scene called GOAT – short for greatest of all time – Ms Chola appears with a goat – that is decked out in Mbuya’s beloved pearls.

Other accessories also reflect Chola’s personality and story.

In some shots Mbuya is holding the beloved radio that she carries around all day and takes to bed with her.

Or she’s clutching an “ibende” – a long wooden stick that over the years she has used to pound millet or cassava or maize.

She is smoking a pipe or holding a metal cup full of tea, and hanging off the edge of the chair arm is an “mbaula” or charcoal brazier that Zambians often use for cooking – especially now that the country is plagued by severe power cuts.

Ms Kaumba hopes that the Granny Series will highlight that older people still have a lot to offer – and making memories together is an important way to “leave footprints for the next generation”.

“Do not write them off, love them just the same till the end because remember we will be just like them one day.”

As a result of Mbuya’s photo shoots, Ms Kaumba’s been hired by four granddaughters to style their grandmothers – aged between 70 and 96.

Ms Chola hopes that the Granny Series will inspire people “to live their lives and not worry about being judged by society”.

She urges people to “always forgive yourself for whatever mistakes you made. You can never change your past – but you can change your future”.

The photo shoots have brought granddaughter and grandmother closer – and through their special bond Ms Kaumba has learnt so much more about her Mbuya’s often difficult life.

Ms Chola was raised by her grandparents, went to school until she was 12 or 13 and then, because of economic reasons, was forced to marry a man in his 30s.

She had three children, ended up drinking heavily and eventually escaped the marriage.

That trauma still haunts her – but her unexpected global fame has given her a new lease on life.

“I’m now able to wake up with a purpose knowing that people around the world love to see me,” Chola says.

• How a mega dam has caused a mega power crisis
• Zambia made education free, now classrooms are crammed
• The $5m cash and fake gold that no-one is claiming

As the world waits to see how the return of Donald Trump will reshape relations between Washington and Beijing, China has just taken decisive action to entrench its position in Latin America.

Trump won the US presidential election on a platform that promised tariffs as high as 60% on Chinese-made goods. Further south, though, a new China-backed megaport has the potential to create whole new trade routes that will bypass North America entirely.

President Xi Jinping himself attended the inauguration of the Chancay port on the Peruvian coast this week, an indication of just how seriously China takes the development.

Xi was in Peru for the annual meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation Forum (Apec). But all eyes were on Chancay and what it says about China’s growing assertiveness in a region that the US has traditionally seen as its sphere of influence.

As seasoned observers see it, Washington is now paying the price for years of indifference towards its neighbours and their needs.

“The US has been absent from Latin America for so long, and China has moved in so rapidly, that things have really reconfigured in the past decade,” says Monica de Bolle, senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington.

“You have got the backyard of America engaging directly with China,” she tells the BBC. “That’s going to be problematic.”

Even before it opened, the $3.5bn (£2.75bn) project, masterminded by China’s state-owned Cosco Shipping, had already turned a once-sleepy Peruvian fishing town into a logistical powerhouse set to transform the country’s economy.

China’s official Communist Party newspaper, the People’s Daily, called it “a vindication of China-Peru win-win co-operation”.

Peru’s President Dina Boluarte was similarly enthusiastic, describing the megaport as a “nerve centre” that would provide “a point of connection to access the gigantic Asian market”.

But the implications go far beyond the fortunes of one small Andean nation. Once Chancay is fully up and running, goods from Chile, Ecuador, Colombia and even Brazil are expected to pass through it on their way to Shanghai and other Asian ports.

China already has considerable appetite for the region’s exports, including Brazilian soybeans and Chilean copper. Now this new port will be able to handle larger ships, as well as cutting shipping times from 35 to 23 days.

However, the new port will favour imports as well as exports. As signs grow that an influx of cheap Chinese goods bought online may be undermining domestic industry, Chile and Brazil have scrapped tax exemptions for individual customers on low-value foreign purchases.

As nervous US military hawks have pointed out, if Chancay can accommodate ultra-large container vessels, it can also handle Chinese warships.

The most strident warnings have come from Gen Laura Richardson, who has just retired as chief of US Southern Command, which covers Latin America and the Caribbean.

She has accused China of “playing the ‘long game’ with its development of dual-use sites and facilities throughout the region”, adding that those sites could serve as “points of future multi-domain access for the [People’s Liberation Army] and strategic naval chokepoints”.

Even if that prospect never materialises, there is a strong perception that the US is losing ground in Latin America as China forges ahead with its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

Outgoing US President Joe Biden was among the leaders at the Apec summit, on his first and last visit to South America during his four-year term. Media commentators remarked that he cut a diminished figure next to China’s Xi.

Prof Álvaro Méndez, director of the Global South Unit at the London School of Economics, points out that while the US was taking Latin America for granted, Xi was visiting the region regularly and cultivating good relations.

“The bar has been set so low by the US that China only has to be a little bit better to get through the door,” he says.

Of course, Latin America is not the only part of the world targeted by the BRI. Since 2023, China’s unprecedented infrastructure splurge has pumped money into nearly 150 countries worldwide.

The results have not always been beneficial, with many projects left unfinished, while many developing countries that signed up for Beijing’s largesse have found themselves burdened with debt as a result.

Even so, left-wing and right-wing governments alike have cast aside their initial suspicions of China, because “their interests are aligned” with those of Beijing, says the Peterson Institute’s Ms de Bolle: “They have lowered their guard out of sheer necessity.”

Ms de Bolle says the US is right to feel threatened by this turn of events, since Beijing has now established “a very strong foothold” in the region at a time when president-elect Trump wants to “rein in” China.

“I think we will finally start to see the US putting pressure on Latin America because of China,” she says, adding that most countries want to stay on the right side of both big powers.

“The region doesn’t have to choose unless it’s put in a position where they are forced to, and that would be very dumb.”

Looking ahead, South American countries such as Peru, Chile and Colombia would be vulnerable to pressure because of the bilateral free trade agreements they have with the US, which Trump could seek to renegotiate or even tear up.

They will be watching keenly to see what happens to the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), which is up for review in July 2026, but will be subject to negotiations during 2025.

Whatever happens, Prof Méndez of the LSE feels that the region needs more co-operation.

“It shouldn’t be that all roads lead to Beijing or to Washington. Latin America has to find a more strategic way, it needs a coherent regional strategy,” he says, pointing to the difficulty of getting 33 countries to agree a joint approach.

Eric Farnsworth, vice-president at the Washington-based Council of the Americas, feels that there is still much goodwill towards the US in Latin America, but the region’s “massive needs” are not being met by its northern neighbour.

“The US needs to up its game in the region, because people would choose it if there was a meaningful alternative to China,” he tells the BBC.

Unlike many others, he sees some rays of hope from the incoming Trump administration, especially with the appointment of Marco Rubio as secretary of state.

“Rubio has a real sense of a need to engage economically with the Western Hemisphere in a way that we just haven’t done for a number of years,” he says.

But for successive US leaders, Latin America has been seen primarily in terms of illegal migration and illegal drugs. And with Trump fixated on plans to deport record numbers of immigrants, there is little indication that the US will change tack any time soon.

Like the rest of the world, Latin America is bracing itself for a bumpy four years – and if the US and China start a full-blown trade war, the region stands to get caught in the crossfire.

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.”

You may have seen the word “Bluesky” popping up on your social media pages recently and wondered what people are talking about.

It is an alternative platform to Elon Musk’s X and in terms of its colour and logo, it looks quite similar.

Bluesky is growing rapidly and is currently picking up around one million new sign-ups a day.

It had 16.7m users at the time of writing, but that figure will likely be outdated by the time you read this.

So what is it – and why are so many people joining?

Bluesky describes itself as “social media as it should be”, although it looks similar to other sites.

Visually, a bar to the left of the page shows everything you might expect – search, notifications, a homepage and so on.

People using the platform can post, comment, repost and like their favourite things.

To put it simply, it looks how X, formerly known as Twitter, used to look.

The main difference is Bluesky is decentralised – a complicated term which basically means users can host their data on servers other than those owned by the company.

This means that rather than being limited to having a specific account named after Bluesky, people can (if they like) sign up using an account they themselves own.

But it is worth stating that the vast majority of people don’t do that and a new joiner will most likely have a “.bsky.social” at the end of their username.

If you think it feels a lot like X, you won’t be surprised to learn why. The former head of Twitter, Jack Dorsey, created it.

He even once said he wanted Bluesky to be a decentralised version of Twitter that no single person or entity owns.

But Mr Dorsey is no longer part of the team behind it, having stepped down from the board in May 2024.

He deleted his account altogether in September.

It is now run and predominantly owned by chief executive Jay Graber as a US public benefit corporation.

Bluesky has been around since 2019, but it was invitation-only until February of this year.

That let the developers deal with all the kinks behind-the-scenes, to try and stabilise it before opening the doors to the wider public.

The plan has worked, somewhat. But the flurry of new users has been so significant in November that there continue to be issues with outages.

It is no coincidence that the number of new Bluesky users spiked following Donald Trump’s success in the US elections in November.

X’s owner, Mr Musk, was a big backer of Trump during his campaign, and will be heavily involved in his administration.

Inevitably, this has led to a political division, with some people leaving X in protest.

But others have cited different reasons, such as the Guardian newspaper which has chosen to stop posting there as it called X “a toxic media platform“.

Meanwhile, Bluesky’s app continues to pick up significant downloads worldwide and on Thursday was the top free app in the Apple App Store in the UK.

Several celebrities, from pop singer Lizzo to Taskmaster’s Greg Davies, have announced they are joining the platform and limiting their use of – or in some cases leaving altogether – X.

Other names you might recognise include Ben Stiller, Jamie Lee Curtis and Patton Oswalt.

But this growth, while significant, will have to continue for a long time before Bluesky is able to mount a true challenge to its microblogging rival.

X does not share its total user numbers but it is understood to be measured in the hundreds of millions, with Elon Musk previously saying the platform had 250 million users each day.

It is the million dollar question, quite literally.

Bluesky started off with funding from investors and venture capital firms and has raised tens of millions of dollars through these means.

But with so many new users, it is going to have to find a way to pay the bills.

Back in Twitter’s heyday, the site made the vast majority of its money through advertising.

Bluesky has said it wants to avoid this. Instead, it said it will continue to look into paid services, such as having people pay for custom domains in their username.

That sounds complicated but it basically comes down to a person’s username being even more personalised.

For example, it may mean my username – @twgerken.bsky.social – could in the future be more official-sounding, such as @twgerken.bbc.co.uk.

Proponents of this idea say it doubles-up as a form of verification as the organisation which owns the website would have to clear its use.

If Bluesky’s owners continue to avoid advertising, they may inevitably have to look to other broader options, such as subscription features, as a way of keeping the lights on.

But if it is not making very much money, that would not be unusual for tech startups.

In fact, Twitter, before it was purchased by Mr Musk in 2022, only made a profit twice in its eight years of being publicly traded.

And we all know how that ended – a massive payday for investors when the world’s richest man paid $44bn (£34.7bn) for the privilege of owning it.

For now, the future of Bluesky remains unknown, but if its growth continues, anything is possible.

When you think of the English tradition of Morris dancing, you might not picture a group of young, gender non-conforming, drag kings who dress like “chimney sweeps” – but that will be because you’ve not seen Molly No-Mates.

The Bristol team – or side – represents the changing face of Morris, a tradition in which men no longer make up the majority of participants for the first time in UK history.

For co-founder Scarlett Hutchin, it was a counter protest outside a drag queen story time in Bristol that sparked the idea of a queer-friendly Morris side.

The events see a drag queen reading a book to children with the goal of promoting reading and diversity, but some have seen backlash from the public.

“I was texting with my friend from my Morris team and I was just like, ‘what would really improve the situation? Morris dancing’,” says Scarlett.

“One of the traditions of Molly [a type of Morris], is to dance to just singing and that’s what we do. And we can have these dances that we can take to the protests that don’t require instruments and don’t require things that are offensive weapons.

“It gives us scope to make our values and our point of view very visible, because when you have songs, you have words.

“Pretty much all of our songs are in some way feminist or queer or leftist.”

Morris dancing is a form of traditional English folk dance that takes a variety of styles depending on where the group has come from.

For example, Border Morris, originating in the Welsh border counties of Shropshire, Herefordshire and Gloucestershire, features performers who wear tatter coats and often paint their faces or use other forms of disguise.

By contrast, Clog Step is a dance style with percussive footwork and fine timing.

Scarlett feels Molly No-Mates is part of the “cultural moment” Morris is experiencing, and points to last year’s Brit Awards where Stroud-based group Boss Morris danced on stage with Wet Leg, who won Best New Artist and Group of the Year.

“One of the things that’s bringing a lot of people kind of back to folk… is people want to have some kind of culture,” Scarlett says.

“And there’s this idea that England doesn’t have any culture which is just not true. It’s just that it’s really neglected.”

According to the 2023 Morris Census, the proportion of female members in Morris in the UK had risen from 46% in 2014 to 50.6% in 2023.

In 2020, its questions were tweaked to include the number of “non-binary/other” members.

An estimated 0.8% of UK sides’ members were reported in this category in 2023, up from 0.5% in 2020.

Molly No-Mates, which formed in May 2023 in north Bristol, had just two members when it started – hence the “no-mates”. Now they number ten and are around “80% non binary or other”.

“It feels like we’re kind of bringing visible queerness into spaces that don’t always have it that much,” Scarlett says.

She describes their outfits as looking like “19th century chimney sweeps”, donning black shorts or trousers, a white top, braces, and a flat cap.

Colin Andrews is an administrator at the Morris Dances & Teams Database and started teaching Morris dancing in 1990.

The site, which started in early 2018, provides an easily searchable database of all Morris teams worldwide.

“From about the mid 20s right the way through to the early 70s, Morris was regarded as being exclusively male,” he says.

“The [incoming] Squire Elect [leader] for the Morris Ring is a woman… it’s moving away from being gender specific.

“I would say probably over the past five years many of the male-only Cotswold Morris sides have gone mixed, and that basically was it’s either a case of going mixed or folding… [they] just weren’t getting enough new new members in.”

Morris is an “evolving tradition”, Colin says, and he thinks it’s interesting to see teams develop their own interpretations of the dance.

“I think the question is whether these innovations will continue or whether they will just last as long as that particular team lasts,” he says.

“But I think it’s a good thing that people try experimenting with different things.”

Since Molly No-Mates started, Scarlett says the side has received a “really positive response” from a lot of traditional teams.

“In August we were dancing at Northgate Folk Festival in Chester… and there was a lovely traditional old, white men’s team and they said they’d arrived several hours early to see us.”

One of the most distinct elements of traditional Molly dancing is the use of cross-dressing, according to the English Folk Dance and Song Society.

At least one – but sometimes several – of the team members dress in women’s clothing.

They say 19th Century Molly groups took pride in the appearance of their crossdressing “Moll”, competing amongst themselves to see who could produce the best dressed – and this is probably where the name Molly comes from.

In the past the term molly was an offensive word aimed at gay men, or men who carried out tasks considered to be women’s work, such as cooking or clothes washing.

In the 18th and early 19th centuries, molly houses were locations where “mollies”, or queer men, met for companionship and sex.

They could be in pubs, taverns, inns or coffee houses.

Sam Murphy, who identifies as gender fluid, is Squire of Bristol-based Border Morris team, Kittiwake.

They took up Morris dancing despite having no family background in it.

“The key things that you’d need to enjoy are moving around a lot and looking a bit funny,” Sam advises aspiring beginners.

“The people I’ve met from it have been just the most lovely people.

“There’s no gatekeeping, [there’s no] ‘You’re not committed enough, so you can’t do this’. It’s very supportive.

“And certainly in the circles that I’ve been in… there is more acceptance and openness, and people are more comfortable expressing themselves in things outside the gender binary.”

The three main organisations in the UK that support Morris and traditional dance teams are The Morris Federation, The Morris Ring, and Open Morris.

They come together as the “Joint Morris Organisations” to discuss issues that affect all of their members.

Nigel Strudwick, current Squire of the Morris Ring, says that the Morris world is changing and that the Morris Ring is “delighted” to see the traditions move forward.

“We welcome everyone who would like to try out Morris dancing regardless of background, and it’s good to see new teams being formed to cater for those who might otherwise have felt there is nothing in the Morris for them.

“Long may this continue.”

“You can be homesick at home, you know?”

That’s how Afreen Fatima, an activist from the northern Indian city of Prayagraj, finds herself feeling, every now and then.

In the summer of 2022, Ms Fatima’s childhood home – a yellow-brick two-storeyed house in the bustling depths of the city – was torn down by authorities overnight.

The house was demolished after her father, a local politician named Javed Mohammad, was arrested and named as the “key conspirator” of a protest by Muslims, which had turned violent.

He denies the allegations, and has never been found guilty of any crime linked to the June 2022 protests.

The family is just one of many who have found themselves at the mercy of so-called “bulldozer justice” – when authorities swiftly demolish the homes of those accused of crimes – but hopefully among the last.

On Wednesday, India’s top court banned the practice which has been on the rise in recent years, particularly in states governed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

While the victims include Hindu families, critics say the action is mostly targeted at India’s 200 million odd Muslims, especially after religious violence or protests – a charge the BJP denies.

Chief ministers of several states have linked such demolitions with their government’s tough stance on crime. Officially, however, the reason given is that these structures were illegally constructed.

Experts have repeatedly questioned this, saying that there is no legal justification for it and that punishing someone for an alleged crime using laws meant for another makes no sense.

Ms Fatima says that during the 20 months that Mr Mohammad spent in jail – he got bail earlier this year – she and her family moved houses twice in the city.

It took some effort, but they finally feel settled. Still, there are times when their new house feels strangely unfamiliar to her, she says, like an “adopted space” which has not been lived in enough.

“It’s not the same. I spent most of my life in our old house. There are no memories here, it feels empty,” she says.

So when the court was reading out its judgement this week, Ms Fatima was hopeful of finally getting some closure.

But the outcome turned out to be bittersweet.

Because, while the court has outlawed authorities from arbitrarily razing down homes and businesses of those accused or convicted of crimes, it did not mention any form of redressal to families like Ms Fatima’s, who’ve been the victims of such demolitions in the past.

“We welcome the judgement, but what about those of us who have already lost our homes?” she says.

The practice had become commonplace: in 2022, authorities in five states bulldozed 128 structures in just three months “as punishment”, a report by Amnesty international shows.

In its order, which ran over 95 pages, the court came down heavily on the state governments, saying it cannot “become a judge and decide that a person accused is guilty and, therefore, punish him”.

Giving out such punishment “reminds one of a lawless state of affairs, where might was right”, the judgement added.

The court then issued a set of guidelines, which make it mandatory for authorities to give at least 15 days’ advance notice to an occupant before an illegal structure is torn down and to publicly explain the reason for the demolition. All public officials will also be personally held responsible under Indian laws if a demolition is carried out wrongfully, the judgement added.

Rights groups, lawyers and opposition leaders have hailed the order as a “turning point” in tackling the unfair practice that has gone unchecked for years. “Late is the hour in which these guidelines chose to appear – but better late than never!” said Delhi-based lawyer Gautam Bhatia.

Govind Mathur, a judge and former chief justice of a high court, agrees that the order does not mention anything about the victims, but adds that “doesn’t restrict any claim of compensation by such persons”.

“If an act is illegal, then the victim can always demand for compensation. The wrong committed will remain a wrong and the cost of that has to be paid by the wrong doers,” he says.

The order, Justice Mathur adds, is a “strong message for state machinery to not align with political bosses but to act in accordance with law”.

Ms Fatima, however, points out that the reality is not that simple.

It’s been more than two years since her family first challenged the demolition in a high court. But there hasn’t been a single hearing, she says.

She still remembers the day it all happened. Onlookers glued themselves to the corner to watch for the excavator as it came down on their house. Many of them held cameras and phones. Ms Fatima, who watched the demolition on her own phone from a relative’s house, remembers going numb.

She thought of her room and the sheer volume of keepsakes and furniture stored there. There were stories everywhere – precious everyday memories, like the time she spent with her sister and the lively family discussions around the dinner table. “All of that was gone,” she says.

While Ms Fatima’s family was able to rebuild their lives in some capacity, others say they are still stuck in limbo.

“We are practically on the streets, with nothing and no one,” says Reshma, a daily wage worker in Rajasthan state. In September, Reshma’s house in Udaipur city was demolished on grounds of illegal encroachment, a day after her eight-year-old brother allegedly stabbed his classmate.

The child was taken into custody and sent to a juvenile home, while his father was arrested on the charges of abetment to murder. Since then, Reshma, her mother and sister have been living in a small shanty on the edges of the city.

To them, the court ruling is meaningless, she says. “We want actual help, some money or compensation to rebuild our lives, this changes nothing.”

Like Ms Fatima, Reshma’s family has also challenged the demolition in court. Legal experts say that the Supreme Court’s guidelines could potentially impact the way all such pending cases are heard in the future.

“This decision will change many things – courts will have to see whether legal processes were followed while carrying out these demolitions,” senior Supreme Court lawyer CU Singh told BBC Hindi.

Ms Fatima is not entirely sure whether the court’s order would actually halt the demolitions.

But her father, Mr Mohammad, is brimming with hope, she says.

Sometimes, she catches her father thinking about their old home – the sofas and the rugs, the rows of books on the shelves, which he had painstakingly put together, probably still lying in the rubble.

“He did most of the improvements, from the curtains to the cushion covers. Losing the house broke his heart more than anyone else’s,” she says.

But Mr Mohammad does not want to linger on the suffering and is already busy making fresh improvements to the house and his life. “He keeps telling me, this is a historic order and we have to talk about it as much as we can,” his daughter says.

“Just like this house, we are building lives again and renovating our memories.”

When news a rare American songbird had been spotted in a sleepy West Yorkshire cul-de-sac eager ornithologists converged on the quiet street faster than a falcon in free fall.

But for the long term residents of Shelf – previously only known as the home of Blue Peter presenter John Noakes and interior designer Linda Barker – the arrival of a scarlet tanager brought a spotlight on the village and a “crazy” influx of visitors.

While some complained about the parking and disruption to the bin round, others said they were excited to see the village put on the map.

“There’s been more strange people on this road in two days than in the whole of the 30 years, Peter Flesher tells me.

The 82-year-old, who has lived on Bridle Dene for three decades, said most of the visitors had been respectful, though he described the excitement as “a pain in the whatsit”.

“To be fair, they’ve been nice people and they’ve not caused us any trouble,” he said.

“We have two granddaughters who live over there and they were a bit perturbed by having 200 people staring at their house. But no, they were very good.”

News of the arrival of the scarlet tanager – more usually found in the forests of North America – broke last weekend, sending birdwatchers into a state of excitement.

According to some reports the sighting in West Yorkshire is the first in the UK in 10 years and only the eighth recorded in this country.

Mr Flesher said he had been out to speak to some of the bird watchers and had met people from as far away as Glasgow.

“I can’t believe these people. They have come up from Kent, Cornwall and one chap said he had come from Cambridge.

“The whole road was full.”

Another long-term resident, Tony Gregson, 90, has lived on the road for 40 years.

He said he first spotted the bird in his garden way back in September.

“It’s been here weeks,” he says.

“It was on the bird feeder and I said to my sister ‘what’s that bird?’ – it must have been five or six weeks since and everybody turned up.”

Mr Gregson says he had had people knocking on his door and asking to try to catch a glimpse from his garden, but felt that was a step too far.

“They wanted to come into the back garden and I said ‘no’ because you don’t know what they’re doing. But they’ve been alright.

“They were very friendly really. Very nice people.”

Among those to make the pilgrimage to West Yorkshire was Stewart Short from Cambridgeshire.

He said his visit to Shelf on Thursday was his second trip up and a second attempt to see one of his bucket-list birds.

“I heard about it last weekend,” he said

“I was here on Tuesday but I’ve not seen the bird, that’s why I’m back.”

But great adventures come with their own challenges – where does a twitcher go to the toilet for instance?

“Going to the toilet is sometimes difficult,” said Mr Short. “It’s a question of finding the right tree.”

Pauline, a birdwatcher from Gargrave, said it was more difficult for women.

“I watch out for places before we get anywhere – Tesco is good,” she told me.

Despite only travelling 25 miles for today’s outing, Pauline has been as far as Devon for her birdwatching trips.

“We were looking for a Merlin. We didn’t see it though,” she said.

Julie King, 78, who has lived in Shelf for 19 years, said the village had been “hectic” with traffic and parking the main problems.

“I’ve heard more car horns going – there might be more of that,” she said

But, she thinks the visitors will be off again soon. And the road is much quieter than it was on Monday when between 200-300 people flocked to the scene.

“I thought it had gone,” she said.

“I can’t see it flying all the way back to America though.”

Matthew and his wife have lived in Shelf for two years. They pass through Bridle Dene while walking their two dogs.

Despite saying he is “not a twitcher by any means”, he has brought along his binoculars and did catch a glimpse of the scarlet tanager earlier in the week.

The couple live on the other side of the village, so the crowds of people have not bothered them too much, but Matthew said he had heard rumblings of discontent from other residents.

“The car park has been full every day. Certainly the last few days it’s been crazy, much busier than normal.

“It’s a sleepy little village and not much goes on really.

“There’s obviously been some people who are excited that this bird’s been in town, and it’s great to see all these people, whereas other people have not really enjoyed the disruption.

“It’s been interesting for a sleepy little village like Shelf. To see Shelf on the national news is crazy.”

West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds

A selection of striking news photographs taken around the world this week.

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 “Si se puede” slogan (“Yes it’s possible” in Spanish) from 1970s Latino-led farm-worker protests 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 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.

• ‘Rape me, not my daughter’ – women tell BBC of sexual violence in Sudan
• Watch: Inside a hospital on the front line of Sudan’s hunger crisis
• A simple guide to the Sudan war

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

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.

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

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.

One of the innovations at this year’s Paris Olympics was supposed to be an electric flying taxi service.

Germany’s Volocopter promised its electric-powered, two-seater aircraft, the VoloCity, would be ferrying passengers around the city.

It never happened. Instead the company ran demonstration flights.

While missing that deadline was embarrassing, behind the scenes a more serious issue was playing out – Volocopter was urgently trying to raise fresh investment to keep the firm going.

Talks to borrow €100m (£83m; $106m) from the government failed in April.

Now hopes are pinned on China’s Geely, which is in talks to take an 85% stake in Volocopter in return for $95m of funding, according to a Bloomberg report. The deal could mean that any future manufacturing would be moved to China.

Volocopter is one of dozens of companies around the world developing an electric vertical take-off and landing (EVTOL) aircraft.

Their machines promise the flexibility of a helicopter, but without the cost, noise and emissions.

However, faced with the massive cost of getting such novel aircraft approved by regulators and then building up manufacturing capabilities, some investors are bailing out.

One of the most high-profile casualties is Lilium.

The German company had developed a radical take on the EVTOL theme.

Lilium’s aircraft uses 30 electric jets that can be tilted in unison to swing between vertical lift and forward flight.

The concept proved attractive, with the company claiming to have orders and memoranda of understanding for 780 jets from around the world.

It was able to demonstrate the technology using a remote controlled scale model. Construction had begun on the first full-sized jets, and testing had been due to begin in early 2025.

As recently as the Farnborough Airshow in July, Lilium’s COO Sebastian Borel was sounding confident.

“We are definitely burning through cash,” he told the BBC. “But this is a good sign, because it means we are producing the aircraft. We’re going to have three aircraft in production by the end of the year, and we have also raised €1.5bn”.

But then the money ran out.

Lilium had been attempting to arrange a loan worth €100m from the German development bank, KfW. However, that required guarantees from national and state governments, which never materialised.

In early November, the company put its main operating businesses into insolvency proceedings, and its shares were removed from the Nasdaq stock exchange.

For the moment, work on the new aircraft is continuing, as the company works with restructuring experts to sell the business or bring in new investment. However, getting the new e-jet into production is looking more challenging than ever.

The high-profile British player in the eVTOL market is Vertical Aerospace. The Bristol-based company was founded in 2016 by businessman Stephen Fitzpatrick, who also set up OVO Energy.

Its striking VX4 design uses eight large propellers mounted on slim, aircraft style wings to generate lift. Mr Fitzpatrick has made ambitious claims about the aircraft, suggesting it would be “100 times” safer and quieter than a helicopter, for 20% of the cost.

The company has made progress. After completing a programme of remote-controlled testing, it began carrying out piloted tests earlier this year. Initially, these were carried out with the aircraft tethered to the ground. In early November, it carried out its first untethered take-off and landing.

But there have also been serious setbacks. In August last year, a remotely-piloted prototype was badly damaged when it crashed during testing at Cotswold Airport, after a propeller blade fell off.

In May one of its key partners, the engineering giant Rolls Royce pulled out of a deal to supply electric motors for the aircraft.

Ambitions remain sky high. Vertical Aerospace says it will deliver 150 aircraft to its customers by the end of the decade. By then, it also expects to be capable of producing 200 units a year, and to be breaking even in cash terms.

Yet financial strains have been intensifying. Mr Fitzpatrick invested an extra $25m into the company in March. But a further $25m, due in August if alternative investment could not be found, has not been paid. As of September, Vertical had $57.4m on hand – but it expects to burn through nearly double that over the coming year.

Hopes for the future appear to be pinned on doing a deal with the American financier Jason Mudrick, who is already a major creditor through his firm Mudrick Capital Management.

He has offered to invest $75m into the business – and has warned the board of Vertical that rejecting his plan would inevitably lead to insolvency proceedings. But the move has been resisted by Mr Fitzpatrick, who would lose control of the company he founded.

Sources close to the talks insist an agreement is now very close. The company believes if a deal can be done, it will unlock further fundraising opportunities.

Amid the turbulence, one European project is quietly on track, says Bjorn Fehrm who has a background in aeronautical engineering and piloted combat jets for the Swedish Air Force. He now works for aerospace consultancy Leeham.

He says that the EVTOL project underway at Airbus is likely to survive.

Called the CityAirbus NextGen, the four-seater aircraft has eight propellers and a range of 80km.

“This is a technology project for their engineers, and they’ve got the money, and they’ve got the know how,” says Mr Fehrm.

Elsewhere in the world, other well funded start-ups stand a good change of getting their aircraft into production. That would include Joby and Archer in the US.

Once the aircraft are being produced, the next challenge will be to see if there’s a profitable market for them.

The first routes are likely to be between airports and city centres. But will they make money?

“The biggest problem area when it comes to the cost of operation is the pilot and the batteries. You need to change the batteries a couple of times per year,” points out Mr Fehrm.

Given all the uncertainty and expense, you might wonder why investors put money into new electric aircraft in the first place.

“No one wanted to miss out on the next Tesla,” laughs Mr Fehrm.

Ben Morris on BlueSky

Theo Leggett on BlueSky

If personnel really does amount to policy, then we’ve learned a lot this week about how Donald Trump intends to govern in his second term.

More than a dozen major appointments, some of which will require Senate approval, offer a clearer picture of the team entrusted to drive his agenda as he returns to the White House.

On the outside they appear united by one thing – loyalty to the top man.

But beneath the surface, there are competing agendas.

Here are four factions that reveal both Trump’s ambition and potential tricky tests ahead for his leadership.

Who: Matt Gaetz, Tulsi Gabbard, RFK Jr

Their agenda: This trio have been among the most vocal politicians actively opposing US policies, particularly under President Biden. Choosing Gaetz as his attorney general nominee is possibly Trump’s most controversial pick.

Gaetz has represented Florida’s first congressional district since 2017. A graduate of William and Mary Law School, he led the removal of California congressman Kevin McCarthy as the sitting Speaker of the House in October 2023.

He has come under investigation by a House ethics committee for allegedly paying for sex with an underage girl, using illegal drugs and misusing campaign funds. He denies wrongdoing and no criminal charges have been filed.

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

Tulsi Gabbard, picked to be Trump’s director of national intelligence, is a military veteran who served with a medical unit in Iraq. She is a former Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii who switched parties to support Trump.

Gabbard has routinely opposed American foreign policy, blaming Nato for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and meeting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad – then casting doubt on US intelligence assessments blaming Assad for using chemical weapons.

Robert F Kennedy Jr, Trump’s nominee to oversee health, is a longtime lawyer and environmentalist. He also spread fringe theories – about vaccines and the effects of 5G phone signals.

What this tells us: Like Trump, Gaetz, Gabbard and Kennedy are aggressive challengers of the status quo. All three frequently tip over into conspiracy.

They may be among the most determined supporters of Trump’s plan to dismantle the bureaucratic “deep state”. The president-elect has picked particular fights in each of the areas they would oversee – law enforcement, intelligence and health.

But bomb-throwers can also make unruly subordinates. Kennedy wants stricter regulation across food and farming industries, which may collide with Trump’s government-slashing agenda.

Gaetz’s views on some issues – he favours legalisation of marijuana – are outside the Republican mainstream.

And Gabbard, a fierce critic of American power, will be working for a president who is not afraid to use it – for instance, against Iran.

• What RFK could do on vaccines, fluoride and drugs

Who: Tom Homan, Stephen Miller and Kristi Noem

Their agenda: The three hardliners tasked with carrying out Trump’s border and immigration policies have vowed to strengthen security and clamp down on undocumented immigrants crossing the US-Mexico border.

Domestically, they – and the wider incoming Trump administration – have called for a drastic uptick in deportations, beginning with those considered national security or public safety threats, and a return to workplace “enforcement operations” that were paused by the Biden administration.

What it tells us: Aside from the economy, polls repeatedly suggested that immigration and the border with Mexico were primary concerns for many voters.

The possibility of increased deportations and workplace raids, however, could put Trump on a collision course with Democratic-leaning states and jurisdictions that may decide to push back or not co-operate. Some Republican states – whose economies rely, in part, on immigrant labour – may also object.

• How would mass deportations work?

Who: Elon Musk, Vivek Ramaswamy

Their agenda: Trump has named the world’s richest person, Elon Musk, to lead a cost-cutting effort dubbed the “Department of Government Efficiency”.

He will share the role with 39-year-old investor-turned-politician Vivek Ramaswamy, who became an ardent Trump backer after bowing out as a candidate in the Republican primary.

The two men are among the loudest and flashiest tech bros, a group that swung towards Trump this year, seeking a champion to disavow “woke” political correctness and embrace a libertarian vision of small government, low taxes and light regulation.

Musk has floated a possible $2tn in spending cuts, vowing to send “shockwaves” through the government.

Ramaswamy, who has backed eliminating the tax-collecting agency, the IRS, and the Department of Education, among others, wrote after the announcement: “Shut it down.”

What it tells us: The appointments are an acknowledgment of the help Trump got on the campaign trail from Ramaswamy and Musk, the latter of whom personally ploughed more than $100m into the campaign.

But time will tell what power this faction goes on to have.

Despite its name, the department is not an official agency. The commission will stand outside the government to advise on spending, which is partly controlled by Congress.

Trump, who ran up budget deficits during his first term, has shown little commitment to cutting spending.

He has promised to leave Social Security and Medicare – two of the biggest areas of government spending – untouched, which could make cost-cutting difficult.

Who: Marco Rubio, Mike Waltz, John Ratcliffe.

Their agenda: These men will run Trump’s “America First” foreign policy. They are all hawks on China.

Rubio, nominee for secretary of state, is among Beijing’s harshest critics, having argued for travel bans on some Chinese officials and for the closure of Hong Kong’s US trade offices.

The three are likely to push through Trump’s pledge for much higher tariffs on Chinese imports. They see Beijing as the top economic and security threat to the US. Waltz – picked for national security adviser – has said the US is in a “Cold War” with the ruling communist party.

Ratcliffe, Trump’s nominee for CIA director who served as an intelligence chief in his first term, has likened countering China’s rise to the defeat of fascism or bringing down the Iron Curtain.

What it tells us: While Trump often signals his own hawkish economic views on China, he has also vacillated – which could spark tensions with his top foreign policy team.

In his first term, Trump triggered a trade war with Beijing (attempts to de-escalate this failed amid the pandemic) and relations slumped further when he labelled Covid the “Chinese Virus”.

But he also heaped praise on President Xi Jinping as a “brilliant” leader ruling with an “iron fist”.

This unpredictability could make managing America’s most consequential strategic relationship even harder. Rubio might also clash with Gabbard, Trump’s pick for director of intelligence, who previously criticised him on foreign policy, saying he “represents the neocon, warmongering establishment”.

• 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

Donald Trump has announced that he will appoint Karoline Leavitt, his campaign spokeswoman, to serve as White House press secretary in his next administration.

At 27, Leavitt will be the youngest White House press secretary in US history.

The president-elect said in a statement that he was confident the onetime candidate for Congress – who also served in the White House press office during the first Trump administration – would “excel at the podium and help deliver our message to the American People as we Make America Great Again”.

“Karoline is smart, tough, and has proven to be a highly effective communicator,” Trump said.

A native of New Hampshire, Leavitt studied communications and political science at Saint Anselm College, a Catholic college in her home state.

While still in school, she interned at Fox News and in Trump’s White House press office. She told Politico in 2020 that she gained her “first glimpse into the world of press” through these experiences. They led to her decision to pursue a career in press relations, she said.

Leavitt began working for the first Trump White House shortly after graduating in 2019, first as presidential writer and later as assistant press secretary, according to the website for her 2022 run for Congress.

“I helped prepare Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany for high-pressure briefings [and] fought against the biased mainstream media,” her website stated.

After leaving the White House, Leavitt served as the communications director for Elise Stefanik, a senior Republican congresswoman whom President-elect Trump has nominated to serve as United Nations ambassador.

Leavitt departed that role to run for Congress, winning the Republican nomination for New Hampshire’s first congressional district in 2022, only to lose in the general election to Democrat Chris Pappas.

The policy positions she listed on her campaign website largely align with many of Trump’s priorities. On the economy, she pledged to “CUT taxes” and “champion pro-growth, free market policies”.

She presented herself as a strong backer of law enforcement and strong borders, including “ZERO tolerance for illegal immigration” and said she would work to ensure the completion of the border wall.

In January 2024, she joined Trump’s third bid for the US presidency as his campaign press secretary.

Now, she’s been chosen to serve as the youngest White House press secretary in US history. Ron Ziegler was the previous record holder. In 1969, he was appointed to the position by Richard Nixon when he was 29.

The public will soon see Leavitt in the iconic spot behind the podium in the White House briefing room – a space that led to countless tense exchanges between members of the press and officials in Trump’s first administration.

Trump ran through multiple press secretaries during his first four-year term, including Sean Spicer, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Stephanie Grisham and Kayleigh McEnany.

After departing the White House, Sanders went on to win the race for Arkansas governor.

Grisham resigned after the 6 January 2021 Capitol riot and has become a Trump critic. McEnany has continued to advocate for the president-elect as a Fox News personality.

• 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

As the world waits to see how the return of Donald Trump will reshape relations between Washington and Beijing, China has just taken decisive action to entrench its position in Latin America.

Trump won the US presidential election on a platform that promised tariffs as high as 60% on Chinese-made goods. Further south, though, a new China-backed megaport has the potential to create whole new trade routes that will bypass North America entirely.

President Xi Jinping himself attended the inauguration of the Chancay port on the Peruvian coast this week, an indication of just how seriously China takes the development.

Xi was in Peru for the annual meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation Forum (Apec). But all eyes were on Chancay and what it says about China’s growing assertiveness in a region that the US has traditionally seen as its sphere of influence.

As seasoned observers see it, Washington is now paying the price for years of indifference towards its neighbours and their needs.

“The US has been absent from Latin America for so long, and China has moved in so rapidly, that things have really reconfigured in the past decade,” says Monica de Bolle, senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington.

“You have got the backyard of America engaging directly with China,” she tells the BBC. “That’s going to be problematic.”

Even before it opened, the $3.5bn (£2.75bn) project, masterminded by China’s state-owned Cosco Shipping, had already turned a once-sleepy Peruvian fishing town into a logistical powerhouse set to transform the country’s economy.

China’s official Communist Party newspaper, the People’s Daily, called it “a vindication of China-Peru win-win co-operation”.

Peru’s President Dina Boluarte was similarly enthusiastic, describing the megaport as a “nerve centre” that would provide “a point of connection to access the gigantic Asian market”.

But the implications go far beyond the fortunes of one small Andean nation. Once Chancay is fully up and running, goods from Chile, Ecuador, Colombia and even Brazil are expected to pass through it on their way to Shanghai and other Asian ports.

China already has considerable appetite for the region’s exports, including Brazilian soybeans and Chilean copper. Now this new port will be able to handle larger ships, as well as cutting shipping times from 35 to 23 days.

However, the new port will favour imports as well as exports. As signs grow that an influx of cheap Chinese goods bought online may be undermining domestic industry, Chile and Brazil have scrapped tax exemptions for individual customers on low-value foreign purchases.

As nervous US military hawks have pointed out, if Chancay can accommodate ultra-large container vessels, it can also handle Chinese warships.

The most strident warnings have come from Gen Laura Richardson, who has just retired as chief of US Southern Command, which covers Latin America and the Caribbean.

She has accused China of “playing the ‘long game’ with its development of dual-use sites and facilities throughout the region”, adding that those sites could serve as “points of future multi-domain access for the [People’s Liberation Army] and strategic naval chokepoints”.

Even if that prospect never materialises, there is a strong perception that the US is losing ground in Latin America as China forges ahead with its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

Outgoing US President Joe Biden was among the leaders at the Apec summit, on his first and last visit to South America during his four-year term. Media commentators remarked that he cut a diminished figure next to China’s Xi.

Prof Álvaro Méndez, director of the Global South Unit at the London School of Economics, points out that while the US was taking Latin America for granted, Xi was visiting the region regularly and cultivating good relations.

“The bar has been set so low by the US that China only has to be a little bit better to get through the door,” he says.

Of course, Latin America is not the only part of the world targeted by the BRI. Since 2023, China’s unprecedented infrastructure splurge has pumped money into nearly 150 countries worldwide.

The results have not always been beneficial, with many projects left unfinished, while many developing countries that signed up for Beijing’s largesse have found themselves burdened with debt as a result.

Even so, left-wing and right-wing governments alike have cast aside their initial suspicions of China, because “their interests are aligned” with those of Beijing, says the Peterson Institute’s Ms de Bolle: “They have lowered their guard out of sheer necessity.”

Ms de Bolle says the US is right to feel threatened by this turn of events, since Beijing has now established “a very strong foothold” in the region at a time when president-elect Trump wants to “rein in” China.

“I think we will finally start to see the US putting pressure on Latin America because of China,” she says, adding that most countries want to stay on the right side of both big powers.

“The region doesn’t have to choose unless it’s put in a position where they are forced to, and that would be very dumb.”

Looking ahead, South American countries such as Peru, Chile and Colombia would be vulnerable to pressure because of the bilateral free trade agreements they have with the US, which Trump could seek to renegotiate or even tear up.

They will be watching keenly to see what happens to the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), which is up for review in July 2026, but will be subject to negotiations during 2025.

Whatever happens, Prof Méndez of the LSE feels that the region needs more co-operation.

“It shouldn’t be that all roads lead to Beijing or to Washington. Latin America has to find a more strategic way, it needs a coherent regional strategy,” he says, pointing to the difficulty of getting 33 countries to agree a joint approach.

Eric Farnsworth, vice-president at the Washington-based Council of the Americas, feels that there is still much goodwill towards the US in Latin America, but the region’s “massive needs” are not being met by its northern neighbour.

“The US needs to up its game in the region, because people would choose it if there was a meaningful alternative to China,” he tells the BBC.

Unlike many others, he sees some rays of hope from the incoming Trump administration, especially with the appointment of Marco Rubio as secretary of state.

“Rubio has a real sense of a need to engage economically with the Western Hemisphere in a way that we just haven’t done for a number of years,” he says.

But for successive US leaders, Latin America has been seen primarily in terms of illegal migration and illegal drugs. And with Trump fixated on plans to deport record numbers of immigrants, there is little indication that the US will change tack any time soon.

Like the rest of the world, Latin America is bracing itself for a bumpy four years – and if the US and China start a full-blown trade war, the region stands to get caught in the crossfire.

A holidaymaker who has been detained in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) after posting an negative Google review has said he has been traumatised by his ordeal.

Craig Ballentine, from Northern Ireland, was arrested in Abu Dhabi airport in October because he posted critical comments about his former employer in Dubai.

He has been accused of slander but the UAE’s strict cybercrime laws mean there is a chance he could be jailed for the remarks he made in the online review.

The 33-year-old care worker, from Cookstown in County Tyrone, was released from custody but he cannot leave the UAE until the case against him is resolved.

“I came to Abu Dhabi/Dubai just to see friends and also to do a bit of scout volunteering,” Mr Ballentine told BBC News NI in a video call.

“I wasn’t expecting when I arrived at Abu Dhabi airport to be detained.”

He said he was held from approximately 07:55 local time on the day of his arrest until about 01:00 the following morning, without being allowed any contact his family or friends.

In 2023 Mr Ballentine got a job in a dog grooming salon in Dubai.

After working there for almost six months, he needed time off due to illness and so he gave his employer a doctor’s certificate as proof of his condition.

But when he did not show up for work, he was registered as “absconded” with the UAE authorities, which meant he could not leave the county.

Mr Ballentine later managed to get that travel ban lifted and he went home to Northern Ireland, but doing so took two months and cost him thousands of pounds.

While he was back in Northern Ireland, he wrote an online review of the dog grooming salon, outlining the problems his former boss had allegedly caused him.

He told BBC News NI his Google post “explained the ordeal that I went through”.

In late October Mr Ballentine returned to the UAE for a short holiday, at which point he was immediately arrested for the alleged slander.

He was transferred from Abu Dhabi to Dubai where he now has wait until the case against him either goes to court or the charges are dropped.

Mr Ballentine’s family have spoken of the panic and distress they faced when he did not get in touch for many hours after his plane landed, as he usually would.

“Everyone was trying to contact hospitals, police, immigration,” he explained.

Eventually a local man gave him some phone credit to call home and let his family know he was alive.

“I’m very blessed for him,” Mr Ballentine said.

Although he is no longer under arrest, he cannot go home because of his travel ban so is staying with a friend in Dubai until he is allowed to leave the UAE.

In the meantime he cannot work to earn money in the UEA, he cannot go home to his own job and he has no idea how long it might take for his case to be heard.

He told BBC News NI he was trying to stay positive and hopeful but he was finding the experience very difficult.

“A few days ago I went for a walk out around the complex and I could literally have just collapsed and cried,” he said.

“It has just been very traumatising, it will probably take me quite a while to get over this.”

Mr Ballentine’s close friend Sean Morgan is among those who are leading the campaign to try to get home.

He described the case against him as “ridiculous”.

“It’s exceptional to think that you could be stuck in a county for 12 months over a Google review, which is just ludicrous in my opinion,” Mr Morgan said.

Mr Morgan and other campaigners are being assisted by the advocacy organisation, Detained in Dubai.

On Friday morning, they hosted a live question and answer session on X, formerly known as Twitter, to raise awareness about the case.

Mr Morgan said it had been a stressful and anxious time for Mr Ballentine’s friends and family.

“He’s trying his hardest just to stay positive,” he added, but admitted his friend is sometimes in a sombre mood or scared of further arrest.

In addition, Mr Ballentine is “suffering the financial burden of being in Dubai and not able to work”.

“There is only so much sitting around you can do,” Mr Morgan added.

The campaigners appealed to Northern Ireland First Minister Michelle O’Neill to intervene with the UAE authorities.

O’Neill is also an assembly member for the Mid Ulster constituency, which includes Mr Ballentine’s home town of Cookstown.

“I haven’t had any direct contact with her personally but I have been in contact with her office and she has sent letters to the UAE embassy,” Mr Morgan said.

“So I’m hoping that with more of a push there will be a bit more progress made.”

He added he was hoping that a meeting could be set up “so that something can be achieved very soon to get Craig out of there”.

Mr Ballentine was travelling on a UK passport and campaigners have also asked the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) to help get the travel ban rescinded.

Last week, an FCDO spokesperson said: “We are providing support to a British man in the UAE and have been in contact with the local authorities.”

BBC News NI has contacted the UAE government for comment.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday that Russia’s deployment of North Korean troops against Ukraine was a “grave escalation” of the conflict, according to government sources.

In the first phone call between the leaders in nearly two years, Scholz called on Putin to end the war and pull Russian troops out of Ukraine.

The Kremlin described the conversation as “a detailed and frank exchange of opinions on the situation in Ukraine”, adding “the very fact of dialogue is positive”.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the call was a “Pandora’s box” and argued it weakens Putin’s isolation.

According to government sources, the chancellor condemned Russia’s attack on Ukraine and called on Moscow to negotiate with Kyiv to come to a “fair and lasting peace”.

He also stressed “Germany’s unwavering determination to support Ukraine in its defensive struggle against Russian aggression for as long as necessary”.

Scholz condemned in particular the Russian air strikes on civilian infrastructure.

The phone conversation lasted about an hour and both leaders agreed to stay in contact. Russian media is reporting that according to the Kremlin, the call was initiated by Germany.

The German government will be keen to avoid any accusations that Berlin is trying to strike a deal with Moscow over Ukraine’s head, particularly given painful 20th century memories in eastern Europe of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union carving up the region between them.

In a written statement, the chancellor’s office highlighted that Scholz also talked to Zelensky before the call to Putin. Scholz also planned to talk to Zelensky again once the call was over to give details about the conversation with the Russian president.

In a statement from the Kremlin to Russian media, Putin reportedly told Scholz that Russian-German relations had suffered “an unprecedented degradation across the board as a result of the German authorities “unfriendly course”.

According to the Kremlin, Putin told Scholz that any potential peace agreement must “be based on the new territorial realities” — in other words the Ukrainian territory that Russia has occupied since 2022.

Putin also said a peace deal could only happen by removing “the root causes of the conflict”. The Kremlin justifies its invasion of Ukraine with the accusation of Nato “expansion” into eastern Europe.

In the call, Putin reportedly said “the current crisis was a direct result of Nato’s years-long aggressive policy aimed at creating in Ukrainian territory an anti-Russian bridgehead”.

In an interview on German television last Sunday, Scholz said he was planning to talk to Putin to push for peace talks. He said he was not acting on his own, but rather in consultation with others.

There is speculation that Scholz is planning to also talk to the Chinese president Xi Jinping, a lukewarm supporter of Russia, about the war in Ukraine at the G20 next week in Rio de Janeiro.

The last time Scholz talked to Putin on the phone was on 2 December 2022. They last met in person a week before the full invasion of Ukraine.

At the time, Scholz returned to Berlin with promises from Putin that Russia did not intend to invade Ukraine. The attack a week later was the final break in trust between Germany and Russia.

For decades, Berlin had tried to ensure peace with Moscow by binding the two countries together with trade and energy links. That aspiration shattered overnight when Russia launched its full invasion of Ukraine.

Today, Germany is the largest donor of military and financial aid to Ukraine after the US, and mainstream politicians from across the political spectrum, as well as most voters, favour supporting Ukraine.

But with elections in Germany now due in February, pressure is growing for serious peace negotiations to end the war in Ukraine.

The far-right AfD and the new far-left populist BSW, which together could win between a quarter and third of votes in the election, accuse the government of not doing enough to bring about a peace deal.

Scholz’s governing coalition collapsed last week and he now runs a minority government until the elections. Both he and his party are doing badly in the polls.

Germany has been hit hard by the war in Ukraine, both politically and economically.

So any sign that Scholz is helping to end the conflict could turn around his fortunes at the ballot box.

A fragile calm hangs over the Dutch capital, still reeling from the unrest that erupted a week ago when Israeli football fans came under attack in the centre of Amsterdam.

City officials described the violence as a “toxic combination of antisemitism, hooliganism, and anger” over the war in Gaza, Israel and elsewhere in the Middle East.

As the streets are cleared of Maccabi Ultras stickers and tensions linger, there is concern about the damage done to relations between Amsterdam’s Jewish and Muslim communities.

The tensions have spilled over into Dutch politics too.

The Netherlands’ coalition government has been left hanging by a thread after a Moroccan-born junior minister resigned because of language used by coalition colleagues.

Amsterdam had already seen protests and tensions because of the war in the Middle East, and local Rabbi Lody van de Kamp believes it was like a tinderbox: “If you put 2,000 [Israeli] football supporters on to the streets, you know you are in trouble.”

Maccabi Tel Aviv fans had arrived in the city for a Europa League match against Ajax and footage was widely shared the night before showing a group of fans climbing up a wall to tear down and burn a Palestinian flag.

An Amsterdam council report said taxis were also attacked and vandalised.

Emine Uğur, a well-known columnist in the Muslim community, says underlying tensions surrounding the war in Gaza meant that the ensuing violence was “a long time coming”.

She speaks of a lack of acknowledgement of the pain felt by communities affected by a conflict that had left many without an outlet for their grief and frustration.

The flag-burning incident as well as anti-Arab chants were seen as a deliberate provocation.

But then messages calling for retaliation appeared on social media, some using chilling terms such as “Jew hunt”.

On the evening of the match, a pro-Palestinian protest was moved away from the Johan Cruyff arena, but it was in the hours afterwards that the violence erupted.

The 12-page report by Amsterdam’s authorities describes some Maccabi supporters “committing acts of vandalism” in the centre.

Then it highlights “small groups of rioters… engaged in violent hit-and-run actions targeting Israeli supporters and nightlife crowd” in locations across the city centre. They moved “on foot, by scooter, or car… committing severe assaults”.

The mayor of Amsterdam, Femke Halsema, described the incidents as deeply alarming, and noted for some they were a reminder of historical pogroms against Jews.

For a few hours, swathes of the Jewish community in a European capital felt as though they were under siege.

These events coincided with the anniversary of the Nazi pogroms on Jews in 1938, also known as Kristallnacht.

That only intensified the fears of Amsterdam’s Jewish community, although local imams and other members of the Muslim community took part in the commemorations.

Senior members, including Esther Voet, editor of the Dutch Jewish Weekly, organised emergency shelters and coordinated rescue efforts for those fearing for their lives.

The Dutch government has responded by allocating €4.5m (£3.6m) to combat antisemitism and support victims.

Justice Minister David van Weel emphasised that Jewish people must feel safe in their own country and promised to deal severely with perpetrators.

However, the chairman of the Central Jewish Committee, Chanan Hertzberger, warned that these measures alone might not suffice.

He blamed in part an atmosphere where “antisemitic rhetoric has gone unchecked since 7 October”, adding: “Our history teaches us that when people say they want to kill you, they mean it, and they will try.”

The violence and its aftermath have also exposed political rifts, and some of the language from politicians has shocked the Netherlands’ Moroccan community.

Geert Wilders, whose far-right Freedom Party is the biggest of the four parties that make up the Dutch coalition government, has called for the deportation of dual nationals guilty of antisemitism.

Both he and coalition partner Caroline van der Plas, among others, have pointed the finger at young people of Moroccan or North African descent.

One Dutch-Moroccan commentator, Hassnae Bouazza, complained that her community had for years been accused of not being integrated, and was now being threatened with having their Dutch nationality taken away.

Nadia Bouras, a Dutch historian of Moroccan descent, told Amsterdam’s Het Parool newspaper that using the term “integration” for people who had already lived in the Netherlands for four generations was like “holding them hostage”.

“You are holding them in a constant state of being foreign, even though they are not.”

The junior minister for benefits, Nora Achahbar, who was born in Morocco but grew up in the Netherlands, said on Friday she was standing down from the government because of racist language she had heard during a cabinet meeting on Monday, three days after the violence in Amsterdam.

She may not be the last.

Rabbi van de Kamp has told the BBC he is concerned that antisemitism is being politicised to further Islamophobic agendas.

He warns against repeating the exclusionary attitudes reminiscent of the 1930s, cautioning that such rhetoric not only endangers Jewish communities but deepens suspicions within society: “We must show that we cannot be made into enemies.”

The impact on Amsterdam’s Muslim and Jewish residents is profound.

Many Jews have removed mezuzahs – the small Torah scrolls – from their doorposts, or they have covered them with duct tape out of fear of reprisal.

Esther Voet sees the emotional toll on her community: “It’s an exaggeration to say that the Netherlands now is like the 1930s, but we must pay attention and speak out when we see something that’s not right.”

Muslims, meanwhile, argue they are being blamed for the actions of a small minority, before the perpetrators have even been identified.

Columnist Emine Uğur has herself faced increased threats as a vocal Muslim woman: “People feel emboldened.”

She fears for her son’s future in a polarised society where the lines of division seem to be hardening.

Academics and community leaders have called for de-escalation and mutual understanding.

Bart Wallet, a professor of Jewish Studies at the University of Amsterdam, stresses the need for careful terminology, warning against equating the recent violence with pogroms of the past.

Like others, he hopes the violence was an isolated incident rather than a sign of worsening ethnic polarisation.

Mayor Femke Halsema is adamant that antisemitism should not be followed by other forms of racism, emphasising that the safety of one group must not come at the expense of another.

The violence has left Amsterdam questioning its identity as a diverse and tolerant city.

There is a collective recognition, in the Dutch capital and beyond, that as residents seek to rebuild trust, they must address the tensions that fuelled such unrest.

Rubbing his hands against the cold, as Amsterdam’s cyclists stream by, Rabbi van de Kamp recalls his mother’s words: “We are allowed to be very angry, but we must never hate.”

It started with a phone call.

Late at night in October 2022, my mobile lit up with a withheld number.

There was a man at the other end of the call, a voice – and then he started making noises.

Without a doubt, this stranger was masturbating down the phone.

The noises got louder and louder. My heart raced, struggling to believe what I’d just heard. I hung up. But the phone rang again and again.

At this point, I switched into journalist mode.

I knew this man needed to be reported and I was sure the police could trace the call – but they’d need evidence.

So I ran upstairs and grabbed my work phone. On his third or fourth attempt to call back I picked up the call and put it on speakerphone, and recorded him.

For five minutes I listened and recorded as he masturbated, calling out my first name, using vulgar language to say “suck my [penis]” and making other obscene and lewd comments about my genitalia. I wondered when he would have had enough and when I would have enough evidence.

I was concerned about my personal safety: if this man knew my first name and number, did he know me? Had I met him? Was it someone I’d interviewed? Did he know where I lived?

He had an accent I didn’t recognise, maybe Midlands. I assumed it was in some way connected to the fact I was an on-air BBC journalist but I wasn’t sure. I dialled 999 to report the crime.

The following day I went to my local police station to give a statement and was asked to upload the taped recording onto the Metropolitan Police’s system.

I was naively hopeful they could use it to quickly trace the caller and arrest the man.

I’ve worked on too many stories of violence against women – including the disappearance and subsequent rape and murder of Sarah Everard.

Police had failed to investigate Wayne Couzens for at least three indecent exposure offences before he murdered Sarah Everard. Experts say those offences may have been a “red flag” that someone could go onto more serious offending.

So I had two concerns: my own safety and making sure this man couldn’t go on to commit more serious sexual offences.

The whole ordeal would turn out to be an eye-opening experience into why so many sexual offences go unreported or unpunished, how slow the police and justice system move and how despite the warm words, women are still being failed, due to police incompetence.

Police actually dropped my case and only reopened after a Victims’ Right to Review was carried out.

He was eventually charged – but he wouldn’t have been if I hadn’t taken control of it.

To make matters worse, three days ago I found out he’d actually been convicted in 2015 for making 15,000 calls to random numbers – raising even more questions about why it took so long to get him charged now.

The Met Police admitted their handling of the case “clearly fell short”.

Lancashire Police said their initial handling “did not meet the standard expected”.

Here’s how it unfolded.

Two days after making my statement, a police officer told me to ask my phone provider to investigate the withheld number.

But EE was clear this request should come from the Met – not the victim.

After returning from leave, the officer replied: “Apologies, I was obviously working on old information regarding withheld numbers. Sorry to have wasted your time on that.”

But the Met request needed to go through “a few levels of authorisation”, which “can be slow as it is prioritised according to risk and offence”.

At the same time, I was trying to think who could have got my number. It started making me suspicious of everyone.

Coincidentally, I was speaking to Met commissioner Sir Mark Rowley the next day about the interim Casey report, commissioned after Sarah Everard’s murder, which dealt with the force’s institutional problems.

As each day passed, I feared my offender could go on to sexually assault someone. I wanted to do everything in my power to make sure that wouldn’t happen.

Two days on, the local officer emailed to say tracing the phone number was proving too time-consuming. The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) was going to take over.

CID told me there was “very little reasonable line of enquiry to pursue considering the number used was withheld.”

They asked me if I’d sent in the recording. Despite the fact I’d sent it, CID had failed to find it on their system.

They also said they’d check with the original officer if they’d approached EE to identify the withheld number – they hadn’t.

Two months after the incident there was positive news – they’d managed to identify the withheld number and were now seeing if they could track down the person connected to it.

And then a breakthrough: the officer identified the suspect through the Police National Computer.

He was in the Lancashire area – so Lancashire Police took over the case.

I emailed Lancashire Police saying I supported a prosecution – but they didn’t answer.

Eventually an officer replied saying he had no information about the case other than the crime reference number and a basic description.

Why hadn’t the Met passed on the information? They told me it was the Lancashire officer’s job to request it. I relayed that information to him.

A week later there seemed to be some progress. The officer had visited the home of the suspect, who hadn’t opened the door.

He said he would go around again that evening. But I was told there was no need to arrest him at the moment as he didn’t meet the custody threshold.

In court I watched as Wayne Couzens pleaded guilty to three offences of indecent exposure, one just days before he raped and murdered Sarah Everard.

The police were heavily criticised for their failure to deal with these incidents, which could have identified him as a sex offender. It gave me renewed drive to pursue my case.

It had been two months since a suspect had been identified – but I’d heard nothing from Lancashire Police. So I pushed them again.

A few days later, the officer apologised for the delay, saying he’d been on leave and then had Covid.

He said another attempt to contact the suspect had been unsuccessful and “at this moment in time I still have no necessity to arrest and the original plan of a voluntary interview is still in place.“

I asked why there was no need to arrest – especially as I was concerned this kind of crime could be a “gateway crime” to more serious offences.

This appeared to have an effect. Two days later I was told they’d now try to arrest the suspect due his non-compliance to be interviewed.

A day later what felt like a breakthrough text arrived: “We have forced entry and he has now been arrested.” Finally, they’d now interview him and go through his phone records.

But even that didn’t get me anywhere.

Although the police said the arrested man sounded exactly like the man I’d recorded on the phone, he’d denied calling me and said he’d lost his phone.

The officer believed the suspect was lying – but that his defence would make it hard to charge him.

He was bailed on the condition he didn’t contact me.

Deeply frustrated, I asked for a call with a senior officer.

I was worried that because of the number of times the police had been to his house, telling neighbours they were looking for him – he would have had time to get rid of the phone.

The sergeant told me that without the actual phone they’d struggle to make progress.

The police told me they were going through the suspect’s current phone – which he claimed was separate to the one that was “lost”.

Unsurprisingly, they couldn’t find anything on it.

They said they couldn’t charge him and they were going to close the investigation with no further action.

I was furious – they had the audio recording and they’d matched the phone number to the suspect. I felt their actions had given him the chance to get rid of the phone.

I told them I wouldn’t accept that decision and would appeal against it, but in truth I wasn’t sure how to do that.

At the end of the month a detective sergeant called.

He said they’d effectively carried out a Victims’ Right to Review on my behalf – as I’d mentioned appealing.

This gives victims the right to a review when unhappy with a police decision not to charge, after a suspect has been interviewed under caution. It’s different from the CPS scheme to challenge prosecutors’ decisions.

But I wondered: why didn’t they initially arrest the suspect? Hadn’t the suspect been given a chance to get rid of the phone?

“Arguably, yes, there might have been a need to arrest,” the detective sergeant admitted.

But he assured me there was still a prospect of charging the man.

I told him about my unsatisfactory experience so far.

“I can totally understand and sympathise with that,” he said. “All I can do is apologise on behalf of Lancashire Constabulary.” Finally, some accountability.

As this happened, I was reporting on plans to allow crime victims to be kept informed about their cases and challenge decisions.

The irony wasn’t lost on me as I headed into six months since my incident, having to fight at every moment to keep it on track.

If you’ve been affected by the issues in this story, help and support is available via the BBC Action Line.

A step forward.

The Lancashire constable called me and said: “the suspect was lying.”

New checks on his phone had found it was indeed used to make the call – but using a different SIM card, which my number was on. The calls were traced to a phone mast near him.

The suspect would be rearrested as he had made multiple calls.

They didn’t believe he had specifically targeted me. Instead, they think he had been trying different numbers and knew my first name after hearing it on my voicemail.

But even after this – I heard nothing all through May and into June.

Two months had passed and there had been zero contact from the police. I texted the constable.

“This is getting a bit ridiculous now. There seems to be no urgency.” He insisted there was, and that further phone checks were taking time.

I requested a call with the detective sergeant. “You had this new evidence two months ago, you thought it was significant and yet the suspect hasn’t been brought back in,” I said.

He promised to find out why. “I can only apologise that it’s not going as quickly as it should be,” he replied. “I’m frustrated … it seems to have stalled again.”

Finally the suspect was rearrested and interviewed but he still claimed he’d lost his phone and answered “no comment” when the new evidence was put to him.

The constable said the evidence would now go to prosecutors but that it was looking hopeful.

In the end, it took until November for it to be sent to prosecutors.

Finally, more than a year after the crime was reported, the constable told me the suspect would be charged with an offence of malicious communications by sending an offensive, indecent or threatening message.

“Apologies it’s dragged on, but we got there in the end,” he said.

In light of this, I decided to find out how many times the police Victims’ Right to Review had been used and granted.

Twenty-nine police forces across England and Wales responded to my question, but couldn’t provide data across the same dates.

Since 2015, at least 14,448 requests for police to reconsider not charging someone have been made – and 8714 were granted, around three in five cases

• The Met Police provided figures from 2021. They had 2,300 requests to review their decisions, and agreed to review more than 1,200 (55% of cases)
• West Midlands Police had more than 1,200 requests, but approved only 115 (9%)
• South Yorkshire Police approved 93% of victims’ requests, looking again at 291 cases since the start of the scheme

The suspect – Amjad Khan from Blackburn – appeared at Blackburn Magistrate’s Court and pleaded not guilty.

He was sent for trial at Lancaster Magistrate’s Court in November.

The courts seemed as inefficient as the police work.

After nearly nine months of waiting for the hearing, Khan’s case was listed for 09:30 at Lancaster Magistrate’s Court. It was finally heard at 17:00.

He didn’t turn up.

Khan’s lawyer said his client might not have seen the letter sent two weeks earlier, which changed the date of the hearing.

The magistrates agreed that “given the state of the postal system” they’d give Khan the benefit of the doubt and another trial date would be set.

I wasn’t informed that the case had been listed at Burnley Magistrates’ Court for 11 November.

I only found out because I phoned the Witness Care Unit for an update – on the 11th – and was told it would take place that very afternoon. I wouldn’t be able to make it on time, so was denied the opportunity to see justice being done.

A colleague based in Salford, Nick Garnett, went instead.

In a scarcely believable start to the trial the prosecution and defence argued about whether the case could be heard because so much time had passed since the original offence.

It was decided it could proceed and they played the vile call I had recorded, all five minutes and 41 seconds of Khan masturbating and making disgusting comments.

He told the court that he hadn’t made the calls.

“Somebody made the calls on my phone. I don’t know who, a lot of people were there. Sometimes I forget and leave my phone. And somebody’s messed about with the phone.”

The mobile phone data showed the call was made from around his address and he’d called my number nine times, the court heard.

The magistrates told him: “We identified inconsistencies… We found that it was your phone. The call was obscene, indecent and offensive. We reject the idea the call was from anyone but you. We therefore find you guilty of this offence.”

It will take another two months before he is sentenced.

The Met Police said: “Our handling of this case clearly fell short and we do not underestimate the awful impact upon Ms Manning. Such serious offences cause very real fear for victims and deserve a professional and swift response.”

Lancashire Police said their “initial handling of this case did not meet the standard expected but following a review and further contact with the victim a man was arrested, charged and convicted.

“We hope that the successful conviction gives her some sense that justice has been done, although we recognise this has taken longer than she may have hoped.”

Remarkably, I discovered a Lancashire Telegraph article from 2015 headlined “Blackburn man made 15,000 ‘dirty’ calls in 91 days to total strangers”.

It was the same man, convicted nearly a decade ago.

A Lancashire Police officer was even quoted in the article saying “the scale of it was quite breathtaking.”

I was incredulous. From start to finish it felt like there were so many unnecessary obstacles to getting a conviction.

When my colleague Nick had texted me days earlier from court he sent just one word: “GUILTY”.

At that moment I felt relief and vindication.

Despite my process taking more than two years, I am pleased I pushed so hard to get this man convicted – again, it turns out.

Some women I’ve interviewed who have reported more serious sexual offences say they wish they had never done so because the process was so brutal.

I don’t regret reporting it.

But I’m dismayed that it was such a monumental effort and wonder how many other men committing crimes go unpunished because of the inefficiency, the failures and the delays.

Getting justice shouldn’t be this hard and getting justice shouldn’t be the victim’s struggle.

You may have seen the word “Bluesky” popping up on your social media pages recently and wondered what people are talking about.

It is an alternative platform to Elon Musk’s X and in terms of its colour and logo, it looks quite similar.

Bluesky is growing rapidly and is currently picking up around one million new sign-ups a day.

It had 16.7m users at the time of writing, but that figure will likely be outdated by the time you read this.

So what is it – and why are so many people joining?

Bluesky describes itself as “social media as it should be”, although it looks similar to other sites.

Visually, a bar to the left of the page shows everything you might expect – search, notifications, a homepage and so on.

People using the platform can post, comment, repost and like their favourite things.

To put it simply, it looks how X, formerly known as Twitter, used to look.

The main difference is Bluesky is decentralised – a complicated term which basically means users can host their data on servers other than those owned by the company.

This means that rather than being limited to having a specific account named after Bluesky, people can (if they like) sign up using an account they themselves own.

But it is worth stating that the vast majority of people don’t do that and a new joiner will most likely have a “.bsky.social” at the end of their username.

If you think it feels a lot like X, you won’t be surprised to learn why. The former head of Twitter, Jack Dorsey, created it.

He even once said he wanted Bluesky to be a decentralised version of Twitter that no single person or entity owns.

But Mr Dorsey is no longer part of the team behind it, having stepped down from the board in May 2024.

He deleted his account altogether in September.

It is now run and predominantly owned by chief executive Jay Graber as a US public benefit corporation.

Bluesky has been around since 2019, but it was invitation-only until February of this year.

That let the developers deal with all the kinks behind-the-scenes, to try and stabilise it before opening the doors to the wider public.

The plan has worked, somewhat. But the flurry of new users has been so significant in November that there continue to be issues with outages.

It is no coincidence that the number of new Bluesky users spiked following Donald Trump’s success in the US elections in November.

X’s owner, Mr Musk, was a big backer of Trump during his campaign, and will be heavily involved in his administration.

Inevitably, this has led to a political division, with some people leaving X in protest.

But others have cited different reasons, such as the Guardian newspaper which has chosen to stop posting there as it called X “a toxic media platform“.

Meanwhile, Bluesky’s app continues to pick up significant downloads worldwide and on Thursday was the top free app in the Apple App Store in the UK.

Several celebrities, from pop singer Lizzo to Taskmaster’s Greg Davies, have announced they are joining the platform and limiting their use of – or in some cases leaving altogether – X.

Other names you might recognise include Ben Stiller, Jamie Lee Curtis and Patton Oswalt.

But this growth, while significant, will have to continue for a long time before Bluesky is able to mount a true challenge to its microblogging rival.

X does not share its total user numbers but it is understood to be measured in the hundreds of millions, with Elon Musk previously saying the platform had 250 million users each day.

It is the million dollar question, quite literally.

Bluesky started off with funding from investors and venture capital firms and has raised tens of millions of dollars through these means.

But with so many new users, it is going to have to find a way to pay the bills.

Back in Twitter’s heyday, the site made the vast majority of its money through advertising.

Bluesky has said it wants to avoid this. Instead, it said it will continue to look into paid services, such as having people pay for custom domains in their username.

That sounds complicated but it basically comes down to a person’s username being even more personalised.

For example, it may mean my username – @twgerken.bsky.social – could in the future be more official-sounding, such as @twgerken.bbc.co.uk.

Proponents of this idea say it doubles-up as a form of verification as the organisation which owns the website would have to clear its use.

If Bluesky’s owners continue to avoid advertising, they may inevitably have to look to other broader options, such as subscription features, as a way of keeping the lights on.

But if it is not making very much money, that would not be unusual for tech startups.

In fact, Twitter, before it was purchased by Mr Musk in 2022, only made a profit twice in its eight years of being publicly traded.

And we all know how that ended – a massive payday for investors when the world’s richest man paid $44bn (£34.7bn) for the privilege of owning it.

For now, the future of Bluesky remains unknown, but if its growth continues, anything is possible.

A grandmother in rural Zambia has become an accidental style icon and internet sensation – after agreeing to play dress-up and swapping outfits with her fashionista granddaughter.

Margret Chola, who is in her mid-80s, is known to the world as “Legendary Glamma” – and adored by 225,000 Instagram followers for her striking and playful fashion photographs.

“I feel different, I feel new and alive in these clothes, in a way that I’ve never felt before,” Ms Chola tells the BBC. “I feel like I can conquer the world!”

The fortnightly Granny Series was created in 2023 by her granddaughter Diana Kaumba, a stylist who is based in New York City.

She came up with the idea when she was visiting Zambia to mark the second anniversary of the death of her father – the person she says inspired her passion for fashion because he always dressed well.

During that visit Ms Kaumba had not worn all her carefully curated outfits, so she asked her grandmother – or “Mbuya” in the Bemba language – if she wanted to try them on.

“I wasn’t doing anything at the time, so I just said: ‘OK. If that’s what you want to do let’s do it – why not?'” Ms Chola said.

“You will miss me when I die and at least this way you will be remembering me.”

Ms Kaumba wore Mbuya’s top and “chitenge” – a piece of patterned cloth wrapped around the waist. And Mbuya’s first outfit was a silver pantsuit.

“I thought it would be nice to dress up Mbuya in high fashion and then take photographs of her in her natural habitat,” Ms Kaumba tells the BBC.

That natural habitat is a farm in the village of 10 Miles, just north of the Zambian capital, Lusaka.

Most often Ms Chola is photographed in all her glamour outside – often sitting on an elegant wooden chair or lounging on a leather sofa.

In the background are exposed brick buildings with corrugated iron roofs, ploughed fields, mango trees and maize crops.

“I was so nervous when I posted that first photo. I left my phone for 10 minutes and in those 10 minutes there were 1,000 likes,” Ms Kaumba says.

“My mind was blown. The comments were flying in and people were asking for more.”

It was in April 2024 that the Granny Series really took off – after Ms Kaumba posted a series of photos of her grandmother in a red Adidas dress, several chunky, golden necklaces and a glittering jewelled crown.

“It surprised me to hear that so many people around the world love me,” Ms Chola says – who does not know her exact age because she does not have a birth certificate.

“I didn’t know I could make such an impact at this age.”

Ms Chola poses in clothes that are a mix of vibrant colours, textures and styles.

From a green American football jersey, combined with a layered frilly red dress styled as a skirt – in the colours of the Zambian flag to pay homage to 60 years of independence.

To a blue, black and green sequined top, complete with a golden snake necklace and bracelet.

And Mbuya’s personal favourite – jeans, a graphic T-shirt with her image on the front and a blonde wig.

“I had never worn jeans or a wig before – so I was happy, and I was dancing.”

Ms Kaumba, who has been a stylist since 2012, says that her grandma has “courage, grace – and nails every look”.

All the looks reflect her maximalist-chic aesthetic – which celebrates the joy of excess, eclectic combinations, the big and the bold, and clashing patterns and colours.

At the heart of it all are eye-catching accessories – bold sunglasses, oversized hats, necklaces, bracelets, pendants, rings, gloves, bags, blonde wigs, crowns.

That influence has come directly from her grandmother, who has “always been a lover of pearls and bangles”.

In one particularly playful scene called GOAT – short for greatest of all time – Ms Chola appears with a goat – that is decked out in Mbuya’s beloved pearls.

Other accessories also reflect Chola’s personality and story.

In some shots Mbuya is holding the beloved radio that she carries around all day and takes to bed with her.

Or she’s clutching an “ibende” – a long wooden stick that over the years she has used to pound millet or cassava or maize.

She is smoking a pipe or holding a metal cup full of tea, and hanging off the edge of the chair arm is an “mbaula” or charcoal brazier that Zambians often use for cooking – especially now that the country is plagued by severe power cuts.

Ms Kaumba hopes that the Granny Series will highlight that older people still have a lot to offer – and making memories together is an important way to “leave footprints for the next generation”.

“Do not write them off, love them just the same till the end because remember we will be just like them one day.”

As a result of Mbuya’s photo shoots, Ms Kaumba’s been hired by four granddaughters to style their grandmothers – aged between 70 and 96.

Ms Chola hopes that the Granny Series will inspire people “to live their lives and not worry about being judged by society”.

She urges people to “always forgive yourself for whatever mistakes you made. You can never change your past – but you can change your future”.

The photo shoots have brought granddaughter and grandmother closer – and through their special bond Ms Kaumba has learnt so much more about her Mbuya’s often difficult life.

Ms Chola was raised by her grandparents, went to school until she was 12 or 13 and then, because of economic reasons, was forced to marry a man in his 30s.

She had three children, ended up drinking heavily and eventually escaped the marriage.

That trauma still haunts her – but her unexpected global fame has given her a new lease on life.

“I’m now able to wake up with a purpose knowing that people around the world love to see me,” Chola says.

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President-elect Donald Trump has announced he wants to appoint vaccine sceptic Robert F Kennedy Jr as the head of the US Department of Health and Human Services.

The position has a broad remit across the US health industry, including food safety, pharmaceuticals, public health and vaccinations.

If his post is confirmed by the US Senate, he would be in charge of key health agencies with about 80,000 employees and a multi-trillion-dollar budget.

RFK Jr has long expressed views that conflict with scientific evidence, especially on vaccines, and his nomination has provoked opposition from public health experts.

But he has also adopted positions with popular support, scrutinising the use of food additives and urging that the power of big pharma be curbed.

The nephew of President JFK, he ran for the White House himself as an independent but dropped out and backed Trump.

As secretary, Kennedy would be in charge of huge agencies such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

This is where he stands on vaccines, food, fluoride and health agencies.

The vast majority of health experts champion inoculations for their long history of success – guarding against dangerous diseases and even eradicating deadly smallpox.

But as founder of the anti-vaccine group Children’s Health Defense, Kennedy has for nearly two decades been airing debunked claims about jabs.

In recent years, he has gained prominence in the US for making the discredited claim that childhood immunisations are linked to autism.

But he has denied on several occasions that he is anti-vaccination and says he had his own children immunised.

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Kennedy has said that if he were to join the Trump administration, he would want to examine government vaccine safety data and share his findings with the public.

He recently denied that he would block or ban vaccinations, however.

“If vaccines are working for somebody, I’m not going to take them away. People ought to have choice, and that choice ought to be informed by the best information,” he told NBC News last week.

The stock prices of vaccine makers like Moderna, Pfizer and Merck fell after Trump announced his pick.

Announcing Kennedy’s nomination, Trump said Americans had for too long been “crushed” by food and drug companies engaging in “deception, misinformation, and disinformation”.

Kennedy has long blamed the food and drug industries – as well as the regulators who oversee them – for Americans’ poor health. He has said that he wants to overhaul the systems that oversee pesticides, herbicides, food additives and pharmaceuticals.

He has called for a ban on food dyes and additives, regularly citing Europe’s regulatory standards.

“We have 1,000 ingredients in our food that are illegal in Europe that are illegal in other countries and they’re making our kids sick,” he alleged in an NBC News interview. “They’re there because of corruption in our agencies.”

An FDA spokesperson told the BBC that it is necessary “to dig deeper and understand the context behind the numbers” when comparing estimates of authorised chemicals between the US and Europe.

Both “generally apply the same fundamental scientific approach to safety assessment when evaluating the safety of chemicals in food”, according to the FDA spokesperson.

“Different regulatory definitions and different methodologies can influence the results. Without clarity, comparisons can be misleading,” the official added.

Last month Kennedy accused the FDA on X of suppressing the use of “psychedelics, peptides, stem cells, raw milk, hyperbaric therapies, chelating compounds, ivermectin, hydroxychloroquine, vitamins, clean foods, sunshine, exercise, nutraceuticals and anything else that advances human health and can’t be patented”.

He said that those who were “part of this corrupt system” should be prepared to “pack your bags”.

Both ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine were held up as miracle cures for Covid but such claims have not been supported by science.

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Kennedy recently vowed to remove fluoride – a cavity-fighting mineral – from the US drinking water, which about two-thirds of Americans have in their water supply.

Though it is a decision made by state and local health authorities, Kennedy said on X earlier this month that “the Trump White House will advise all US water systems to remove fluoride from public water”.

He alleged the chemical found in toothpaste and regularly used by dentists “is an industrial waste associated with arthritis, bone fractures, bone cancer, IQ loss, neurodevelopmental disorders, and thyroid disease”.

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The US Public Health Service reduced the amount of fluoride it recommended adding to water in 2015, but the federal government has encouraged states since the 1960s to add small amounts of the chemical to water to help prevent cavities and aid oral health.

Recent court rulings have led to the reduction of fluoride in US water, and some experts have questioned the continued need for it in water systems given its wide availability in toothpaste and other dental products.

Most of western Europe does not add fluoride to its water. In England, about one in 10 people has fluoridated drinking water.

Removing it altogether could still pose a challenge, however, as the federal government does not have the final authority over that decision.

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Kennedy has long claimed that chronic health issues have worsened due to the inaction of federal health agencies.

He said at a rally in Arizona earlier this month that he plans to fire and replace 600 employees at the NIH – which oversees vaccine research – as soon as Trump takes the White House.

The longtime lawyer also said last month that he intends “to have every nutritional scientist” in the health and agriculture departments fired on day one of a Trump presidency because he alleges they are co-opted by corporate interests.

He reportedly intends to take a serious look at those who work at other health agencies as well, including the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.