A “massive” Russian missile and drone attack has targeted power infrastructure across Ukraine, the country’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has said.

At least 10 people were killed in the strikes, which hit the capital, Kyiv, as well as multiple targets in several regions including Donetsk, Lviv and Odesa.

Ukraine’s largest private energy company, DTEK, said its thermal energy plantshad suffered “significant damage”, resulting in emergency blackouts.

It is the largest co-ordinated assault since early September, according to authorities and local media.

In total, around 120 missiles and 90 drones were launched, Zelensky said on Telegram.

“Peaceful cities, sleeping civilians” and “critical infrastructure” were targeted, Ukraine’s foreign minister Andrii Sybiha said.

The governor of the Odesa region, Oleh Kiper, said there had also been disruptions to heat and water supplies, although the latter was gradually being restored. Hospitals and other critical infrastructure were operating using generators.

Further east, the city of Mykolaiv was also hit. The region’s leader, Vitaliy Kim, told the BBC that the people were resilient there, despite being attacked regularly.

“People are in a good shape and want to defend themselves. We do not want to lose our homes,” he said.

In Kyiv, fragments from intercepted missiles and drones fell in several places, but there were no reports of injuries.

The attack was the eighth large-scale one targeting Ukraine’s energy facilities this year, DTEK said in a statement, adding that its plants had been attacked more than 190 times since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Ukrainian officials fear the most recent strike could signal another concerted Russian attempt to deplete the power grid as winter arrives, causing yet another difficult winter.

Poland, Ukraine’s neighbour to the west, scrambled fighter jets to patrol its own airspace as a security precaution.

“Due to a massive attack by Russia, which is carrying out strikes using cruise missiles, ballistic missiles and drones against sites located, among other places, in western Ukraine, operations by Polish and allied aircraft have begun,” , Poland’s Operational Command said.

Hungary, which neighbours both Ukraine and Poland, was also on alert after drone attacks struck the westernmost Subcarpathian region – about 20km (12 miles) from the Hungarian border.

The country’s defence minister said the “situation is being monitored continuously”.

These latest attacks come as both Ukraine and Russia continue to try and anticipate how US President-elect Donald Trump will act once his administration takes power in January.

Trump has consistently said his priority is to end the war and what he describes as a drain on US resources in the form of military aid to Kyiv. He has not said how.

The US has been the greatest supplier of arms to Ukraine. Between the start of the war and the end of June 2024, it delivered or committed to send weapons and equipment worth $55.5bn (£41.5bn), according to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, a German research organisation.

There are fears in Kyiv that it may come under pressure to negotiate and end to the war that may favour Russia’s advances – after all it continues to control a large swathe of Ukrainian territory.

Zelensky has said he is certain the war with Russia will “end sooner” than it otherwise would have under the new Trump presidency.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov recently told Russian state media of “positive” signals from the incoming US administration. But Russia has denied that a phone call took place in which Donald Trump reportedly warned the Russian president against escalating the war.

Meanwhile, the leader of Germany – another Ukrainian ally – has defended a phone call he had with Putin on Friday, something Kyiv criticised as an attempt at appeasement.

“It was important to tell him [Putin] that he should not count on the support of Germany, Europe and many others in the world for Ukraine waning, but that it is now also up to him to ensure that the war comes to an end,” Olaf Scholz said on Sunday.

He added that the Russian president had given no indication of a shift in his thinking on the war.

“I’m a veteran of the special military operation, I’m going to kill you!” were the words Irina heard as she was attacked by a man in Artyom, in Russia’s far east.

She had been returning from a night out when the man kicked her and beat her with his crutch. The force of the strike was so strong that it broke the crutch.

When the police arrived, the man showed them a document proving he had been in Ukraine and claimed that because of his service “nothing will happen to him”.

The attack on Irina is just one of many reported to have been committed by soldiers returning from Ukraine.

Verstka, an independent Russian website, estimates that at least 242 Russians have been killed by soldiers returning from Ukraine. Another 227 have been seriously injured.

Like the man who beat Irina, many of the attackers have previous criminal convictions and were released from prison specifically to join Russia’s war in Ukraine.

The BBC estimates that the Wagner mercenary group recruited more than 48,000 prisoners to fight in Ukraine. When Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin was killed in a plane crash last year, Russia’s defence ministry took over recruitment in prisons.

These cases have severely impacted Russian society, says sociologist Igor Eidman.

“This is a very serious problem, and it can potentially get worse. All the traditional ideas of good and evil are being turned upside down,” he told the BBC.

“People who have committed heinous crimes – murderers, rapists, cannibals and paedophiles – they not only avoid punishment by going to war, the unprecedented bit is that they are being hailed as heroes.”

There are numerous reasons why Russian soldiers lucky enough to return from the war would think they are above the law.

Official media call them “heroes,” and President Vladimir Putin has dubbed them Russia’s new “elite”. Those recruited into the army from prisons either had their convictions removed or they were pardoned.

It is not unheard of for released convicts return from the war in Ukraine, reoffend and then escape punishment for a second time by going back to the front.

This makes some police officers despair. “Four years ago, I put him away for seven years,” policeman Grigory told the Novaya Gazeta website.

“And here he is in front of me again, saying: ‘You won’t be able to do anything, officer. Now’s our time, the time of those who are shedding blood in the special military operation.'”

Russian courts have routinely used participation in the war against Ukraine as a reason to issue milder sentences.

But many cases don’t even reach court. Moscow has introduced a new law against “discrediting the Russian armed forces,” which has made some victims of crimes by veterans afraid to report them.

Olga Romanova, the head of prisoner rights NGO Russia Behind Bars, says a sense of impunity is driving up crime rates.

“The main consequence is the gap between crime and punishment in the public mind. If you commit a crime, it is far from certain that you are going to be punished,” she tells the BBC.

In 2023, the number of serious crimes registered in Russia rose by almost 10%, and in the first half of this year the number of military personnel convicted of crimes more than doubled compared to the same period a year before.

Sociologist Anna Kuleshova argues that violence is becoming more acceptable in Russian society, especially because criminals can now escape punishment by going to war.

“There is a tendency to legalise violence. The idea that violence is a kind of norm will probably spread – violence at school, domestic violence, violence in relationships and as a way to resolve conflicts.

“This is facilitated by the militarisation of society, the turn to conservatism and the romanticisation of war. Violent crimes committed within the country are being atoned by the violence of war.”

For Anannyaa Gupta completing her studies in Australia has always been the “dream”.

“Their education system is one of the best in the world,” the 21-year-old, from the Indian city of Hyderabad, explains.

After completing her bachelor’s degree at Melbourne’s Monash University in July, she applied for the master’s qualification she needs to become a social worker – the kind of skilled job Australia is desperate to fill amid labour shortages.

“I genuinely want to study here, offer my skills and contribute to society,” she says.

But Ms Gupta is among current and prospective international students who have been swept up in a panic caused by the Australian government’s plan to slash foreign student numbers.

The new cap – which would significantly reduce new enrolments – is needed to make the A$47.8bn (£24.6bn, $32bn) education industry more sustainable, the government says.

It is the most controversial of recent measures that have also imposed tougher English language requirements on student visa applicants, and greater scrutiny on those seeking further study. Non-refundable visa application fees have also been doubled.

However, the sector and its supporters say they weren’t properly consulted, and that the changes could ravage the economy, cause job losses and damage Australia’s reputation, all while punishing both domestic and international students.

“[It] sends out the signal that Australia is not a welcoming place,” says Matthew Brown, deputy chief executive of the Group of Eight (Go8), a body which represents Australia’s top ranked universities.

Education is Australia’s fourth biggest export, trailing only mining products. Foreign students, who pay nearly twice as much as Australian students on average, prop up some institutions, subsidising research, scholarships, and domestic study fees. At the University of Sydney, for example, they account for over 40% of revenue.

But Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s government is facing pressure to reduce record levels of migration, in the hope of improving housing affordability and easing a cost-of-living crisis, ahead of a federal election next year. And international students – who totalled 793,335 last semester – have become a target.

The government has proposed to cap new foreign enrolments at 270,000 for 2025, which it says is a return to pre-pandemic levels. An accurate comparison with previous years is not possible because publicly available data is inadequate, according to an education expert.

Education Minister Jason Clare says each higher education institution will be given an individual limit, with the biggest cuts to be borne by vocational education and training providers. Of the universities affected, those in capital cities will see the largest reductions.

The government says the policy will redirect students to regional towns and universities that need them, instead of overcrowded big cities.

It also says the changes aim to protect prospective students from “unethical” providers, alleging some accept students without sufficient language skills or academic standards and enrol people who intend to work instead of study.

“International education is extremely important, and these reforms are designed to make it better and fairer, and set it up on a more sustainable footing going forward,” Clare said.

Abul Rizvi, a former government official who shaped Australia’s skilled migration policy, says the “underfunded” sector has “long been chasing tuition revenue from overseas students and sacrificing learning integrity in the process”.

Institutions themselves are questioning whether they’re too reliant on international student income and how to fix it, Dr Brown says: “It’s a discussion that every university is having.”

But the caps announcement still drew a mostly furious response from the sector.

The Go8 has called the proposed laws “draconian”, while others accused the government of “wilfully weakening” the economy and of using international students as “cannon fodder in a poll-driven battle over migration”.

The government has not confirmed how long the caps will be in place, but Dr Brown says the Go8’s calculations indicate they will have a A$1bn impact on their members in the first year alone. The broader economy would suffer a A$5.3bn hit, resulting in the loss of 20,000 jobs, according to their research.

Australia’s Department of the Treasury has called those projections “doubtful” but has not released its own modelling on the economic impact of the changes.

Dr Brown also warned that the caps could see some universities rescind offers already made to foreign students, strangle vital research programmes, and may mean an increase in fees for some Australian students.

However a handful of smaller universities, for whom the caps are beneficial, welcomed the news.

La Trobe University’s Vice-Chancellor Theo Farrell said they supported “transparent and proportionate measures” to manage international student growth in Australia.

“We recognise that there is broad political and community support to reduce net migration levels,” he said.

But Dr Brown argues there is also a hit to Australia’s reputation which is harder to quantify, pointing to Canada as a warning. It introduced a foreign student cap this year, but industry bodies there say enrolments have fallen well below that, because nervous students would rather apply to study somewhere with more certainty.

“We need an international education system that has managed growth built in… it’s not for the minister to unilaterally decide on caps based on some formula which satisfies a political end.”

Mr Rizvi argues that instead of going ahead with the proposed caps in Australia, the government should consider introducing a minimum university entrance exam score.

“We’re shooting ourselves in the foot… It won’t deter poor performing students but it will deter high performing students who have options,” he wrote on X.

Meanwhile in parliament, the Greens have said the policy amounts to “racist dog-whistling”, and one of the government’s MPs has broken ranks to attack it too.

“A hard cap would be bad for Australia’s human capital and the talent pipeline, bad for soft power and bad for academic excellence and research,” Julian Hill told The Australian newspaper.

But despite the criticisms, the bill legislating the limits – set to be debated in parliament this week – is expected to pass, with the opposition’s support.

Clare has acknowledged that some service providers may face difficult budget decisions but said that any assertion the policy is “somehow tearing down international education is absolutely and fundamentally wrong”.

However, with less than two months until the changes are supposed to take effect, they are causing extreme anxiety and confusion among students.

In China and India – the two biggest international markets for Australia – the news is going down like a lead balloon.

“This is going to be very hard on students in India, most of whom come from middle-income backgrounds and spend years planning and preparing for their education abroad. Their dreams will be quashed,” Amritsar-based immigration consultant Rupinder Singh told the BBC.

Vedant Gadhavi – a Monash University student – says that some of his friends back home in Gujarat who had been hoping to come to Australia for their masters have been spooked.

“They seem to have changed their plans a bit because of the constant shift… They thought that it might be a bit difficult to plan their careers and life.”

Jenny – a senior high school student in China’s Anhui province – says she set her sights on Australia because getting a good quality education there is “easier” than getting into a fiercely competitive Chinese university.

“It’s all up in the air now,” she tells the BBC.

She adds that going to a lower-ranked university in a regional location is not an option for her or her peers: “We [just] won’t go to Australia at all.”

Rishika Agrawal, president of the Australian National University’s International Students’ Department, says the proposed laws have stoked other uneasy feelings.

“Definitely there are other students who think this is a sign of increased hostility towards immigrants in Australia from the government.”

And, she adds, with the contributions to society made by international students often overlooked, while their post-graduate employment options dry up, there’s growing resentment.

“They go back to their own countries, having spent a tremendous amount of money towards their education and not really reaping the rewards for it.

“They definitely do feel like cash cows.”

As the debate continues in parliament, there’s been some relief for Anannya. Shortly after she spoke to the BBC, and only weeks out from her course start date, she received the official masters enrolment certificate and new study visa she feared would never come.

But many other students still wait and worry.

“If I were in their shoes, I’d feel very helpless, very disappointed. It’s already taking away credibility that Australia used to hold,” Rishika says.

Pop star Charli XCX has revealed how her parents drove her to raves where she was performing, at the age of just 15.

She added that she managed to persuade them to do that by telling them she had “swim practice… At 2:00 A.M.”

The singer’s album Brat inspired a cultural phenomenon in the summer, with many people adopting the “brat” way of life.

It has built momentum since its release in June this year, through not only its original tracks, but remixes too.

The British singer, who is now 32, delivered an opening monologue while hosting Saturday Night Live (SNL) on NBC in the US.

In it, Charli, whose real name is Charlotte Aitchison, told viewers how she got to where she is now.

“I actually started performing when I was really young, and I played at my first rave when I was 15 years old,” she said.

“My parents actually drove me there. And, if you’re wondering how did I get my parents to drive me to a rave? Well, I just told them, ‘guys, I’ve got swim practice. At 2:00 A.M.'”

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She went on to joke that she has come “a long way” and now considers herself “a triple threat, which in England means I sing, I drink, and I smoke”.

Charli’s sixth studio album inspired millions of posts on social media, plenty of dance moves and even reached the heights of American politics, with US presidential candidate Kamala Harris giving her social media a brat rebrand in an attempt to attract younger voters.

During her appearance on SNL, the British pop star defined exactly what brat means to her.

“So many people have asked me, what is brat, and honestly, it’s just like an attitude, it’s a vibe,” she said.

“I have to say brat summer has been a crazy experience,” she added.

In attempting to define the word on SNL, she cited an incident where US businesswoman Martha Stewart had mistakenly claimed a journalist who covered her legal proceedings was dead.

“Martha gets mad about an old magazine article and she says that she’s glad the journalist who wrote it is dead – that is brat,” she said.

“And then last Friday, when that exact journalist responded and said, ‘Hey, ‘I’m alive…’ – that is extremely brat.”

Charli, who was also a musical guest on the show, went on to say: “Honestly though, anyone can be brat.”

“Keeping it real is very brat, it is all about being vulnerable, so truly, this is a dream come true,” she said.

“I am so excited to be here, and I’m not used to being out this early on a Saturday night but for you guys, it’s worth it.”

Charli has previously defined brat as a girl who “has a breakdown, but kind of like parties through it”, who is honest, blunt, “a little bit volatile”.

She told the BBC’s Sidetracked podcast that someone brat might have “a pack of cigs, a Bic lighter and a strappy white top with no bra”.

Creating an aesthetic has been something popularised on TikTok, with Charli’s brat girl summer seen as a rejection of other trends such as the “clean girl” who looks feminine and well kept.

Brat was crowned Collins Dictionary word of the year earlier this month, with lexicographers defining it as someone with a “confident, independent and hedonistic attitude”.

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Standing on a podium in a Florida convention centre on the night of the election, a row of American flags behind him and a jubilant crowd looking on, Donald Trump declared: “Many people have told me that God spared my life for a reason, and that reason was to save our country and to restore America to greatness.”

This was one of the most striking themes of his election campaign – that he had been chosen by God. Yet even before the attempt on his life on 13 July in Butler, Pennsylvania, millions of Americans already felt guided by their faith to support the former, and now future, president.

Some cast the election in an apocalyptic light and likened Trump to a Biblical figure.

Last year, on the Christian show FlashPoint, TV evangelist Hank Kunneman described “a battle between good and evil”, adding: “There’s something on President Trump that the enemy fears: it’s called the anointing.”

Jim Caviezel, an actor who played Jesus in Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ, proclaimed, albeit jokingly, that Trump was “the new Moses”. Then, in the months leading up to the election, many of his supporters referred to him as a “saviour”.

The question is why. What makes so many see this man, who isn’t known to have an especially strong faith, as sent from God?

And what does that say about Christianity more broadly in a country where the numbers of churchgoers is in rapid decline?

Reverend Franklin Graham is one of America’s best-known evangelists and the son of Billy Graham, arguably its most famous preacher. He is one of the Trump believers, convinced there is no doubt that the president-elect was chosen for this mission by God.

“The bullet that went through his ear missed his brain by a millimetre, and his head turned just at the last second when the gun was fired,” he says. “I believe that God turned his head and saved his life.”

The questions asked about Trump’s character – including accusations of sexual misconduct, and his alleged affair with adult film star Stormy Daniels and associated hush-money trial – don’t dim Mr Graham’s view.

“Remember when Jesus told the crowd, ‘Let the one without sin cast the first stone’ and that slowly, the entire audience began to disappear? All of us have sinned.”

Part of the reason some Christians may find it easier to look past questions of character is that during Trump’s first term in office he delivered on a particular promise: to appoint anti-abortion judges to the US Supreme Court.

Mr Graham points to this as evidence that the president-elect is a man of integrity.

“This is a big win for Christians, for evangelicals,” he says. “We believe the president will defend religious freedom where the Democrats would not.”

The selection of Mike Huckabee as ambassador to Israel is already a hint that faith might shape some foreign policy. US evangelicals including Huckabee are among the country’s most fervent supporters of Israel.

Many of them believe that Jews should populate the whole of the area of biblical Israel, including what is now the occupied West Bank and Gaza, in order to precipitate events leading to the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.

In the past Donald Trump had talked about having had a Presbyterian upbringing. But despite his strong support from Christians in last week’s election, he never tried hard to convince them in his most recent campaign that he was one of them.

“I think he realised it was going to be a bit of a stretch to argue that he himself is a religious man, but instead he adopted a quid pro quo approach,” says Robert Jones, founder and president of the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI), which has long tracked religious trends in the US.

That approach centred on changes in demographics and dwindling numbers of churchgoers.

In the early 1990s, about 90% of US adults identified as Christians – a figure that had fallen to 64% earlier this decade, with a large increase in the number of those unaffiliated to any faith, according to data from Pew Research Center.

This, says Dr Jones, was something Trump was able to draw upon.

“Trump’s message was: ‘I know you’re in decline, I know your numbers are waning. I know your children and grandchildren aren’t affiliated with your Churches anymore, but if you elect me, I’m going to restore power to the Christian Churches”,’ he says.

Not all Christians in the US were won over, however. For some, their faith has guided them to precisely the opposite impression of Trump.

In recent months, from the pulpit of Bible Ways Ministries in Atlanta, Georgia, Reverend Monte Norwood has been sharing a very different message to that of Franklin Graham.

He, for one, was dismayed at last week’s election result.

“Trump has demeaned and debased just about anybody he could, from immigrants to minorities to women to those who are disabled,” he says.

“White conservative Republican Christianity that ignores character is just hypocritical.”

He has long been opposed to the idea of a second Trump presidency, and he has voiced this on social media and through activism encouraging voter turnout – such as by helping other black voters to register to vote and access free rides to the polls.

“I am a Matthew chapter 25 kind of Christian – where Jesus said: ‘When I was hungry you fed me, when I was thirsty, you gave me something to drink.’”

PRRI’s research has looked into voting records in history, not just by religious practice and belief but also by race, and found that when it comes to political views, there has been a clear trend for decades.

“Almost without exception, white Christian groups have tended to vote Republican in presidential contests,” says Dr Jones. “Non-white Christian groups, non-Christian groups and religiously unaffiliated voters have tended to vote Democrat.”

This pattern dates back to the 1960s, he adds, when the Democratic party became associated with the civil rights movement and white Christian groups began migrating to the Republican Party.

Polling ahead of the 2024 election looking at voter intention suggested that for the most part this pattern held. “From our polling, we have a Republican party that is 70% white and Christian, and a Democratic party that’s only a quarter white and Christian.”

According to the PPRI’s survey of 5,027 adults, white evangelical Protestant voters were the strongest backers of Trump over Harris by 72% to 13%. White Catholic voters also backed Trump, with 55% supporting him and 34% aligned with Harris. White “mainline” non-evangelical Protestants showed a similar split.

By contrast 78% black Protestants supported Harris while just 9% backed Trump, according to the survey. Harris’s backers also included Jewish-Americans, the religiously unaffiliated and other non-Christian Americans, according to the PPRI.

When it came to the actual vote, there were signs of departures from familiar patterns.

The results from Michigan showed a clear lurch towards the Republican Party by Muslim voters in the state, likely the result of the Biden administration’s role in aiding Israel in its war in Gaza.

Analysis also shows that more Latino Catholics voted for Trump than expected, when previously they have tended to lean Democrat.

Economic hardship brought about by soaring inflation, among other factors, is likely to have resulted in “non-traditional” Republican voters being drawn to vote for Trump.

As for his appeal to traditionalist Christians, Dr Jones argues that there has been a faith component to the idea of “Making America Great Again”, with the promise of restoring the country’s Christian character.

“His has been a campaign of grievance and loss and nostalgia,” argues Dr Jones, “and that includes nostalgia from a faith perspective.”

For all his political strength, one thing that Trump cannot do is hold back the tide of demographic change in the US – including the move away from faith.

While the number who define themselves as “atheist” remains lower in the US than in most Western countries, those who say they are “religiously unaffiliated” is growing.

There is a generational component to that, along with the familiar trends of personal economics meaning that people have greater autonomy to move away from the accepted norms in their communities. But there are other reasons too.

A third of American atheists or agnostics say they disaffiliated from their childhood religion because of high-profile Church abuse scandals, according to a PPRI study.

In 2020 the Catholic Church released lists of living members of clergy in the US found to have been accused of abuses, including some linked to child pornography and rape. There were around 2,000 names.

Two years later, the Southern Baptist Conference collection of US Protestant Churches released a list of hundreds of Church leaders accused of child abuse between 2000 and 2019.

It shows the scale of the issue that Trump faces. Nevertheless, Franklin Graham is optimistic.

“Church attendance is not going to go up next week because President Trump has been elected – but what I think it does mean is that legislation that we might have seen coming down the road that that would make it very difficult for people of faith will not come,” he says, referring to the idea of more progressive legislation around, for example, abortion and gay and trans rights.

“He will protect people of faith, he will protect religious freedoms in this country. I don’t talk about just Christian religious freedoms… [but] all people of faith.”

As to whether he is right, Americans can only watch and wait. But just as some are revelling in the promise of governance influenced by Christianity, others are undoubtedly nervous.

A robotic dog named “Spot” made by Boston Dynamics is the latest tool in the arsenal of the US Secret Service.

The device has lately been spotted patrolling the perimeter of President-elect Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida.

They do not have weapons – and each can be controlled remotely or automatically – as long as its route is pre-programmed.

Passers-by are warned by a sign on each of Spot’s legs: “DO NOT PET.”

“I don’t know that anyone is tempted to pet these robot dogs. They do not look cuddly,” said Melissa Michelson, a political scientist at Menlo College.

Video of Spot strutting around the property has gone viral on TikTok – where reactions range from calling them cool and cute, to creepy – and become fodder for jokes on American late night television. But its mission is no laughing matter.

“Safeguarding the president-elect is a top priority,” said Anthony Guglielmi, US Secret Service chief of communications, in a statement to the BBC.

In the months leading up to the US presidential election, Trump was the target of two apparent assassination attempts. The first took place at a July rally in Butler, Pennsylvania and the other occurred at the Mar-a-Lago golf course in September.

Citing “concern for operational security,” the Secret Service declined to answer the BBC’s specific questions about the use of robotic dogs in Trump’s security detail, including when the agency began deploying the device at his primary residence.

Boston Dynamics also declined to answer specific questions, although it confirmed the Secret Service was deploying its Spot robot.

So why might the Secret Service be using them now?

Ron Williams, a former Secret Service agent who is now CEO of the security and risk management firm Talon Companies, suspects the assassination attempts against Trump added urgency to the agency’s push “to upgrade the technology that can enhance the ability to detect and deter,” Williams said.

At Mar-a-Lago, where so much of the property is exposed, Williams said robotic dogs are long overdue. “They can cover a lot more area” than humans alone, Williams said of the dogs, which he expects will become more of a common sight over time.

And it’s not just the Secret Service. Williams said robotic dogs have increasingly become a tool used by militaries and law enforcement agencies around the world.

A bomb squad in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania that purchased Spot in the spring deploys the device to inspect potential explosives, according to Boston Dynamics promotional materials.

Last year, the New York Police Department moved forward with adding the robotic canines to its force despite complaints of “a dystopian overreach of police power,” according to Wired.

On the other side of the globe, Ukraine has used them to conduct reconnaissance in the ongoing conflict sparked by Russia’s invasion in 2022, the Kyiv Post reports.

Spot is known for its agility. It can walk up and down stairs and navigate tight spaces. It can even open doors.

But its ability to reveal potential threats ranks high among the reasons that so many agencies appear willing to pay up to $75,000 (£59,000) for the device.

Secret Service communications chief Guglielmi said the robotic dogs were “equipped with surveillance technology, and an array of advanced sensors that support our protective operations”.

The device comes outfitted with multiple cameras that generate a 3D map of its surroundings, according to Boston Dynamics marketing materials, and can also have extras such as thermal sensing.

But none of this happens without a human master.

“They basically have a joystick controlling the robot dog as it walks around,” said Missy Cummings, an engineering professor at George Mason University who runs the university’s Autonomy and Robotics Center. Spot can also move automatically along predefined routes.

Unlike their human and real canine counterparts, robotic dogs aren’t distracted by visuals, sounds or smells they encounter.

But despite their many impressive features, the devices can be taken down.

“You just have to spray it with Aqua Net hairspray in its ‘face’,” Cummings said. “And that would be enough to stop the cameras from working correctly.”

While the robotic dog seen at Mar-a-Lago is not armed, she says competitors appear to be experimenting with models that are.

“People are trying to weaponise these dogs,” Cummings adds, citing a Chinese model with an attached rifle which she learned about at a robotics meeting this week.

They aren’t about to replace humans, says Melissa Michelson, who likens the devices to assisted-driving technology in some vehicles.

“We don’t have a lot of faith in the ability of cars to drive by themselves,” Michelson said.

Secret Service agents at Mar-a-Lago have been seen patrolling alongside Spot.

“We still do need those humans behind the scenes to use human judgment and be able to jump in if there’s a technology breakdown,” she says.

Komal’s morning view was of jagged, forbidding mountains, the rush of the river dozens of metres below the family home on the cliff. That was until the water became a torrent and tore the ground away beneath their feet.

“It was a sunny day,” says Komal, 18.

For generations, her family had lived among the orchards and green lands in the heart of the Hunza valley in the Karakorum mountains of Pakistan-administered Gilgit-Baltistan region.

“In the morning everything was normal, I went to school,” Komal says, “but then my teacher told me that Hassanabad bridge had collapsed.”

Upstream, a glacial lake had formed, then suddenly burst – sending water, boulders and debris cascading down the valley and gathering speed. The ground trembled so violently some people thought there was an earthquake.

When the torrent hit the cement bridge that connected the two parts of the village, it turned it to rubble.

“By the time I came home, people were taking what they could out of their home,” Komal says. She grabbed books, laundry, anything she could carry, but remembers thinking that with their house so far above the water there was no way it could be affected.

That was until they received a phone call from the other side of the valley; their neighbours could see that the water was stripping away the hillside their home stood on.

Then the homes began to collapse.

“I remember my aunt and uncle were still inside their home when the flood came and washed out the whole kitchen,” she says. The family made it to safe ground, but their homes disappeared over the edge.

Today, walking through the grey rubble and dust, there are still coat hooks on the wall, a few tiles in the bathroom, a window with the glass long gone. It’s been two years, but nothing has grown on the crumbling cliff that used to be Komal’s garden in Hassanabad.

“This used to be all a green place,” she says. “When I visit this place I remember my childhood memories, the time I spent here. But the barren places, they hurt me, they make me feel sad.”

Climate change is altering the landscape across Gilgit-Baltistan and neighbouring Chitral, researchers say. This is just part of an area referred to by some as the Third Pole; a place which has more ice than any other part of the world outside the polar regions.

If current emissions continue, Himalayan glaciers could lose up to two-thirds of their volume by the end of this century, according to the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development.

According to the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN), more than 48,000 people across Gilgit Baltistan and Chitral are considered to be at high risk from a lake outburst or landslide. Some, like the village of Badswat in the neighbouring district of Ghizer, are in such peril they are being evacuated entirely to relative safety, their homes rendered impossible to live in.

“Climate change has increased the intensity and frequency of disasters across the region,” says Deedar Karim, programme co-ordinator for the Aga Khan Agency for Habitat.

“These areas are highly exposed. With the increase in temperature, there are more discharges (of water) and then more flooding. It’s causing damage to infrastructure, houses, agricultural lands; every infrastructure has been damaged by these increasing floods.

“The rainfall pattern is changing. The snowfall pattern is changing and then the melting of the glacier is changing. So it’s changing the dynamics of hazards.”

Moving populations is complicated; not only have many spent centuries on their land and are loath to leave it, but finding another location that is safe and has access to reliable water is complicated.

“We have very limited land and limited resources. We don’t have common lands to shift people to,” says Zubair Ahmed, assistant director of the Disaster Management Authority in Hunza and Nagar district.

“I can say that after five or 10 years, it will be very difficult for us to even survive. Maybe people will realise after a few years or decades, but by then it will be too late. So I think this is the right time, although we are still late, but even now this is the time to think about it.”

Pakistan is one of the countries most vulnerable to climate change, although it is only responsible for less than 1% of global greenhouse gas emissions.

“We cannot stop these events, because this is a global issue,” Mr Ahmed says. “All we can do is mitigate and get our people prepared to face such events.”

In the village of Passu, just over an hour’s drive from Hassanabad, they are holding an evacuation drill; preparation for potential destruction. The population know that if there is an emergency, it may take days for outside help to arrive if the roads and bridges are blocked, damaged or swept away.

Trained in first aid, river crossing and high mountain rescue, they practise evacuating the village a few times a year, volunteers carrying the wounded on stretchers and bandaging mock injuries.

Ijaz has been a volunteer for the last 20 years, with many stories of rescuing lost walkers in the mountains. But he too is worried about the number of dangers and the increased unpredictability of the weather in the area he calls home.

“The weather now, we just can’t say what will happen,” he says. “Even five years ago, the weather didn’t change as much. Now after half an hour we can’t say what it will be.”

He knows too, that there’s only so much his team of volunteers can do.

“Unfortunately, if the flood comes and it’s a heavy flood we can’t do anything,” he says. “The area is totally washed out. If it’s small then we can help people survive and escape the flood areas.”

There are other mitigation measures across the region; stone and wire barriers to try to slow floodwater, systems to monitor glacier melt, rainfall and water levels, speakers installed in villages to warn the community if danger looks likely. But many who work here say they need more resources.

“We have installed early warning systems in some valleys,” says Mr Ahmed. “These were identified by the Pakistan Meteorological Department and they gave us a list of around 100 valleys. But because of limited resources, we are only able to intervene in 16.”

He says they are in discussions to expand this further.

A few houses along from Komal lives Sultan Ali, now in his 70s.

As we talk sitting on a traditional charpoy bed, his granddaughters bring us a plate of pears they’ve picked from their garden.

He knows that should another flood happen, his home could also disappear into the valley, but says he has nowhere to go.

“As I approach the end of my life, I feel helpless,” he tells me. “The children are very worried, they ask where will we live?

“We have no options. If the flood comes, it will take everything away and there’s nothing we can do about it. I can’t blame anyone; it’s just our fate.”

We watch his grandchildren play tag in the shade of the orchard. The seasons, the ice, the environment is changing around them. What will this land look like when they are older?

Komal too is not sure what the future will hold.

“I don’t think we will stay here forever,” she says. “The condition is clear already. But the question for us is we have no other place to go. Only this.”

In India, if you ask a pedestrian how many obstacles they’ve encountered on a footpath, they may not be able to count them – but they’ll certainly tell you that most footpaths are in poor condition.

This is what Arun Pai says he learnt when he started asking people about their experience walking on the streets of his city, Bengaluru (formerly Bangalore), in southern India.

This month he set up a “fun challenge” – called the ‘world’s longest footpath run’ – which invited people to walk or jog on an 11km (8 miles) stretch of footpath and make a note of all the obstacles they encountered, like hawkers, garbage or broken slabs of concrete. Next, they were asked to rate the footpath on a scale of one to five.

“When you have specifics, it gets easier to ask the authorities to take action. Instead of telling your local politician “the footpaths are bad”, you can ask him or her “to fix specific spots on a street,” Mr Pai says.

Mr Pai, who is the founder of Bangalore Walks, a non-profit that promotes walking, is among several citizen activists who are pushing to make the country’s roads more pedestrian-friendly.

In India’s capital, a tour company called Delhi by Cycle has been advocating for making the city more cycle-friendly and walkable. These walking-enthusiasts are holding awareness walks, building walking apps and lobbying with politicians to make a change.

Even in India’s biggest cities, proper footpaths are few and far between and they are often overrun by hawkers and shops, parked vehicles and even cattle. In some places, they double up as homes for the poor.

Even footpaths that exist are often not built to standard or properly maintained. Navigating roads on foot through crowds and traffic can be a nightmare.

Last month, Walking Project, a citizen’s group in India’s financial capital, Mumbai, released a ‘pedestrian manifesto’ ahead of Maharashtra state elections to highlight the poor condition of the city’s roads and encourage local politicians to take action.

The manifesto included demands for better parking, designated hawking zones, pedestrian-friendly corridors on arterial roads and to make footpaths more accessible to those with mobility challenges.

“Government statistics show that almost 50% of the city’s population relies on walking, which is far greater than the 11% that uses private transport and the combined 15% that uses tuk-tuks and buses,” says Vendant Mhatre, convener of Walking Project.

“And yet, pedestrians are the most ignored group of users when it comes to framing policies around transport or road safety,” he adds.

According to the latest government estimates on road accidents, pedestrian fatalities were the second-highest after those of two-wheeler riders. In 2022, over 10,000 pedestrians lost their lives on national highways across the country, with around 21,000 more sustaining injuries in accidents.

“Authorities often resort to band-aid solutions like adding speed bumps or a signal to curb road accidents. But what is really needed is inter-connected footpaths that can accommodate high footfall,” Mr Mhatre says.

Studies have found that addressing the problems of this forgotten group of road users can reap benefits for multiple stakeholders.

In 2019, researchers in the southern city of Chennai studied the impact the construction of new footpaths on 100km (62 miles) of the city’s streets had on the environment, economy and the health and safety of citizens.

They found that the new footpaths encouraged 9% to 27% of the surveyed respondents to walk instead of using motorized transport, which led to a reduction in greenhouse gases and particulate matter. They also learned that the footpaths provided new opportunities for women and lower-income groups, helping them save money as well.

The survey highlighted how people with disabilities and women might have nuanced requirements from footpaths and that tailoring improvements to meet their needs could enhance accessibility and equity.

“Very often, people don’t have a benchmark for footpath quality, especially if they haven’t travelled abroad or been exposed to places that have good facilities for pedestrians,” Mr Mhatre says. He reasons that that’s why there isn’t enough outrage about the quality or absence of footpaths in the country.

He also points out that most people see walking as an activity performed for leisure or exercise. And so, the infrastructure they associate with walking stops at gardens or walking tracks. In reality, however, people walk to various destinations daily, so the scope of walking infrastructure is far broader.

“Walking is the most economical and environment-friendly way to navigate one’s city and it’s high time our leaders paid as much attention to walking infrastructure as they do to public transport,” Mr Mhatre says.

Geetam Tiwari, a professor of civil engineering, says that the main problem is that too much focus is given to solving the problem of car congestion on roads.

“To improve the flow of traffic, authorities often narrow down footpaths or eliminate them entirely,” she says. Ms Tiwari says that this approach is problematic because doing so makes it difficult for pedestrians to access public transport systems, like buses and metros, which can take the pressure off the roads.

“It might seem counter-intuitive, but allowing the congestion to persist and focussing on improving infrastructure for pedestrians will help solve the traffic problem in the long run,” she says.

Ms Tiwari also says that the federal government should make it mandatory for states to implement the guidelines issued by the Indian Road Congress – a national organisation that lays down designing standards for roads and highways.

She says that cities can also implement their own Non-Motorised Transport Policy (NMTP) to create better infrastructure for cyclists and pedestrians.

“At the moment, only a handful of cities in India have experimented with a NMTP but its time more cities step up to the plate,” she adds.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping has pledged to work with incoming President Donald Trump in his final meeting with current US leader Joe Biden.

But president Xi also took the opportunity to state China’s objectives in what appears to be a message to Donald Trump and the next administration in Washington.

In a robust readout of the meeting released afterwards, Beijing said President Xi had underscored that “a new Cold War should not be fought and cannot be won. Containing China is unwise, unacceptable and bound to fail”.

Xi also said a stable relationship between China and the United States was “critical to both parties and the world”.

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The two met on Saturday on the sidelines of the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit in Peru where they acknowledged “ups and downs” in relations over Biden’s four years in office.

Speaking at Saturday’s meeting, which was held at President Xi’s hotel in Lima, the leader said that if the US and China “treat each other as opponents or enemies, engage in vicious competition and mutual harm, China-US relations will suffer setbacks or even regressions”.

He added that Beijing’s goal of a stable relationship with Washington would remain unchanged and that he would work with the new US administration “to maintain communication, expand cooperation and manage differences.”

Biden, meanwhile, said strategic competition between the two global powers should not escalate into war.

“Our two countries cannot let any of this competition veer into conflict. That is our responsibility and over the last four years I think we’ve proven it’s possible to have this relationship,” he said.

Both leaders highlighted progress in lowering tensions on issues such as trade and Taiwan.

Analysts say US-China relations could become more volatile when Trump returns to office in two months, driven by factors including a promise to raise tariffs on Chinese imports.

The president-elect has pledged 60% tariffs on all imports from China. He has also appointed prominent China hawks to top foreign and defence positions.

During his first term, Trump labelled Beijing a “strategic competitor”. Relations worsened when he labelled Covid a “Chinese virus” during the pandemic.

Biden’s time in office did see flare-ups in relations with China, including a spy balloon saga and displays of Chinese military firepower around Taiwan triggered by the visit of a senior US official.

China says its claim to the self-ruling island is a red line.

However, the Biden administration aimed to “responsibly manage” rivalry with Beijing after Trump’s first term.

Beijing is likely to be most concerned about the president-elect’s unpredictability, analysts say.

“The Chinese are ready to negotiate and deal, and probably hope for early engagement with the Trump team to discuss potential transactions,” said Bonnie Glaser, managing director of the German Marshall Fund’s Indo-Pacific Program.

“At the same time, however, they are ready to retaliate if Trump insists on imposing higher tariffs on China.”

She added that China may also be “likely worried that they lack reliable back channels to influence Trump’s policy”.

Biden on Saturday acknowledged there had always been disagreements with Xi but added that discussions between him and the Chinese leader had been “frank” and “candid”.

The pair held three face-to-face meetings during Biden’s time in the White House, including a key summit last year in San Francisco where both sides came to agreements on combatting narcotics and climate change.

But Biden’s White House also continued Trump-era tariffs. His government imposed duties in May targeting China’s electric cars, solar panels and steels.

He also strengthened defence alliances across Asia and the Pacific to counter China’s increasing assertiveness in the region. The outgoing president has also said the US would defend Taiwan if it were invaded by China.

A super typhoon has made second landfall on the Philippines’ main island of Luzon, with forecasters warning of “life-threatening storm surge”, heavy rains and severe winds.

Man-Yi, known locally as Pepito, first touched down on the country’s eastern Cantanduanes island at 21:40 local time (13:40 GMT) on Saturday, with maximum sustained wind speeds of 195 km/h (121mph), the state forecaster said.

More than a million people have been ordered to evacuate since warnings were first issued.

Man-Yi is the sixth typhoon to hit the Philippines in a month, with at least 160 people known to have died in the five previous storms.

The super typhoon already ripped through Cantanduanes, where it uprooted trees, damaged some buildings and pulled down power lines.

The storm did not lose any strength as it made landfall in the province of Aurora and began traversing the island of Luzon, the Philippines News Agency reported, with some gusts peaking at 305 km/h (189 mph).

Further widespread heavy rain from Man-Yi is forecast in northern areas of the main island. At least 200mm (7.8 inches) is expected to fall into Monday, leading to potentially “life-threatening” flooding and catastrophic mudslides, putting millions at risk from storm surges, the government said.

The country’s capital Manila, where about 15 million people live, is not forecast to be in the typhoon’s path.

Earlier on Sunday, dozens of flights were cancelled due to the incoming storm, according to local broadcaster ABS-CBN News.

More than 500,000 people heeded evacuation orders ahead of the storm, the civil defence said. Its head, Ariel Nepomuceno, urged everyone living in the storm’s projected path to comply with these orders.

“It is more dangerous now for those in landslide-prone areas because the ground has been saturated by the consecutive typhoons,” Mr Nepomuceno said.

Glenda Llamas was among those who had to leave their homes.

“We are terrified of the typhoon, as it may intensify and the waters can rise,” she told the AFP news agency from a shelter in the eastern Luzon province of Albay on Saturday.

“If we didn’t evacuate we wouldn’t be able to get out later, we don’t have anyone else in the house but us.”

“We already have a lot of phobia due to the previous calamities that happened here like floods, strong winds and other disasters,” said Melchor Bilay, who was evacuated to a school further south, in Sorsogon province.

While typhoons are not uncommon in the Philippines, forecasters say it is unusual to see so many tropical storms in the Pacific at the same time during the month of November.

Tropical Storm Trami dumped one month’s worth of rain over large swathes of the northern Philippines in late October, leaving dozens of people dead.

This was followed by Typhoon Kong-rey, in which at least three people were killed. It was also the biggest typhoon to directly hit Taiwan in nearly 30 years.

Typhoon Yinxing affected the north of the island of Luzon earlier this month, where it brought nearly 250mm (10in) of rain in some areas.

There has since been Typhoon Toraji and, earlier this week, Typhoon Usagi, which brought a three-metre storm surge and torrential rainfall exceeding 200mm (8 inches).

Storms in the Philippines have become more frequent and more intense, a problem greatly exacerbated by climate change.

The United Nations’ climate change body, the IPCC, has said that while the number of tropical cyclones that happen globally is unlikely to increase due to a warning planet, it is “very likely” they will have higher rates of rainfall and reach higher top wind speeds.

This means a higher proportion would reach the most intense categories.

Emily Griffiths wants to have an operation to remove her womb, known as a hysterectomy.

At 26, with no children, she knows it is a big step. But endometriosis and adenomyosis have left her housebound, in debilitating pain, and unable to see a future as a mum.

Right now, she simply dreams of being able to go for a walk unaided. But she says she has been unable to find a clinician who will discuss the procedure because of her age.

“Doctors are too busy planning ahead for the child I might want in the future and can’t see where I am right now,” said Emily, from Carmarthenshire.

Emily’s symptoms started when she was 12, with periods so painful and heavy that she missed school and became anaemic.

She said GPs told her the pain was normal.

“They would say it was all in my head and I was just trying to be off school,” she said.

Emily was diagnosed with endometriosis aged 21, after collapsing with sepsis.

She was referred to a specialist centre in Cardiff, but said the wait was so long that her family self-funded private surgery.

Emily, who has been unable to see an NHS specialist, said she had lost count of the private clinicians she had seen and felt there was “zero support” from the health service.

A hysterectomy would leave Emily infertile and prompt the menopause, which in turn could increase her risk of osteoporosis, heart disease and dementia.

Yet for the past three years she has been given a monthly injection to chemically induce menopause, pausing her periods in an effort to alleviate her symptoms.

Scans show that has caused her bone density to deteriorate.

“A hysterectomy isn’t a cure for endometriosis, but it is for adenomyosis,” she said, adding she was 23 when she received that additional diagnosis.

“Even though it’s a big step, I could have the possibility of maybe going for a little walk when I’m really struggling… but at the moment I’m stuck in a very dark place.”

A hysterectomy is a major operation with a long recovery time which is only considered following less invasive treatments.

It is carried out to treat health problems affecting the female reproductive system.

A total hysterectomy is the surgical removal of the womb and cervix.

In some cases the fallopian tubes, ovaries, lymph glands and part of the vagina can also be removed.

Adenomyosis is a condition where the lining of the womb starts growing into the muscle in the wall of the womb.

It can cause painful periods and heavy bleeding, as well as pelvic pain, bloating and pain during sex.

Endometriosis is where cells similar to those in the lining of the womb grow in other parts of the body.

Symptoms happen when those patches break down and bleed but cannot leave your body.

Endometriosis is currently widespread across both of Emily’s ovaries as well as her uterus, bladder and part of her bowel.

Her menopausal symptoms have also been severe, but hormone replacement therapy (HRT) makes her endometriosis worse.

Because of the complexities of her case, Emily would need an endometriosis specialist to carry out the hysterectomy as it would also involve excision of the endometriosis.

A hysterectomy is listed as one of a number of treatment options by NICE for endometriosis and adenomyosis.

Endometriosis UK said a hysterectomy could not guarantee total loss of pain and symptoms, but “it’s important to remember that the final choice is yours – it is your body”.

Emily said that sentiment was at odds with her own experience.

“I don’t really think that women do have the freedom to make a choice over their own bodies,” she said.

“I’ve been told that if I settle down ‘you may want to have a child with your husband’ – it’s just planning ahead and not seeing where I am right now.

“Basically fertility has been put way above any of my illnesses and what I’m going through.”

Emily said she had been advised to stay in a chemically induced menopause, try the contraceptive pill or anti-depressants, along with “running, pilates or yoga”.

“I can’t walk without support, so to tell me about pilates or running is not the nicest comment,” she said.

Emily’s work to raise awareness of the issues she faces has earned her recognition from the King and the Princess of Wales.

“I’ve had some really amazing opportunities… and that’s what’s keeping me holding on to some sort of hope,” she said.

There are currently two accredited NHS endometriosis centres in Wales, in Swansea and Cardiff.

The centre in Swansea does not currently accept patients from outside the health board area, while Cardiff said it considers outside referrals “where appropriate”.

Every health board has endometriosis nurses to support patients, but Emily, who lives in the Hywel Dda health board region, said lengthy waits meant she had little option but to seek private care.

“There’s been two privately funded surgeries so far, with possibly another one coming,” said Emily.

Follow-up care and advice also comes at a cost.

“No one on the NHS will monitor me currently, so it does become a never ending cycle of funding and finding the right person,” she said.

“If you have a question, maybe a certain medication they’ve prescribed isn’t agreeing with me, it always comes at a cost, you can’t simply ring them and find out.

“I understand that’s the route you take when you have private care, but if the NHS aren’t there to help either, then there’s no choice.”

Sioned Williams, Plaid Cymru’s spokesperson for social justice and equalities, was made aware of Emily’s case after she raised it with her local Member of the Senedd (MS).

“The Welsh government has been too slow in delivering their women’s health plan,” Ms Williams said.

“People with endometriosis such as Emily just want to be heard and believed and this should not be too much to ask.”

Sam Rowlands, the Welsh Conservative health spokesperson said: “The Welsh Conservatives would immediately scrap the restrictive NHS guidance that locks patients in their local area, blocking cross-community and cross-border working, to make use of extra capacity to reduce excessive NHS waits in the short term and look to enact a substantial workforce plan to tackle the more deep-seated issues in the longer term.”

A Welsh government spokesperson said it had made women’s health “a key priority” and would publish a 10-year women’s health plan in December.

“The Women’s Health Network, led by the first ever clinical lead for women’s health in Wales, has been established to deliver improvements including in endometriosis care, treatment and support,” they said.

“Health boards are responsible for delivering services and we have funded dedicated endometriosis nurses within each health board.”

At least 10 newborns have died in a fire at a hospital in northern India after a blaze broke out in the neonatal ward.

Chaos and panic ensued as the fire spread, relatives of the infants have told local media, with parents breaking windows to enter the ward, scrambling to reach their children.

“The nurses were pushing people out, but those who managed to get in grabbed any child they could,” a grieving grandmother told ANI news agency.

Staff at the hospital in Jhansi district in Uttar Pradesh state were able to rescue 44 infants, but at least 16 are in a critical condition, authorities said.

Three of the ten babies who died have yet to be identified, leaving some parents unsure about what happened to their children.

Santoshi, a new mother, is still looking for her 10-day-old baby.

“When the fire broke out, I couldn’t go inside to rescue my baby. How could I? When no one was able to get inside, how could anyone hand me my baby?” she told ANI news agency.

The blaze on Friday night at Maharani Laxmi Bai Medical College Hospital is being blamed on an electrical fault.

Pictures from the scene showed anguished parents outside the hospital.

Indian media reported that the fire first sparked in the intensive care unit of the infants’ ward at around 22:30 local time (17:00 GMT).

Local officials believe an electrical short circuit or another fault in a machine used to increase the level of oxygen in the ward caused the fire.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi posted a message online calling the deaths “heart-wrenching”.

“My deepest condolences to those who have lost their innocent children in this. I pray to God to give them the strength to bear this immense loss,” he wrote.

Officials from the Uttar Pradesh state government have announced compensation of 500,000 rupees (£4,600; $5,900) for the bereaved families.

State deputy chief minister Brajesh Pathak said a safety review of the public hospital had been carried out in February, and a fire drill as recently as June.

This is the second prominent hospital fire in India in six months where newborns have been killed. In May, six babies were killed in a fire at a private neonatal facility in Delhi.

Donald Trump has named oil and gas industry executive Chris Wright as his pick to lead the US Energy Department.

He is expected to fulfil the president-elect’s promise to increase fossil fuel production – an aim summed by the campaign slogan “drill, baby, drill”.

Wright is the founder and CEO of Liberty Energy, which serves companies extracting oil and gas from shale fields in a process known as “fracking”.

Trump wrote in a statement: “Chris was one of the pioneers who helped launch the American Shale Revolution that fuelled American Energy Independence, and transformed the Global Energy Markets and Geopolitics.

“As Secretary of Energy, Chris will be a key leader, driving innovation, cutting red tape, and ushering in a new Golden Age of American Prosperity and Global Peace.”

Wright is a climate change sceptic who previously said he does not care where energy comes from, “as long as it is secure, reliable, affordable and betters human lives”.

In a video posted to his LinkedIn profile last year, he said: “There is no climate crisis, and we’re not in the midst of an energy transition either.”

Wright will also be appointed to a new Council of National Energy, the Trump campaign said.

The council will oversee “the path to US energy dominance by cutting red tape, enhancing private sector investments across all sectors of the Economy,” Trump said.

The Trump campaign cited Wright’s work with Pinnacle Technologies, a company he founded before Liberty Energy, as being critical to the US’s fracking boom, which has made the country the largest oil producer in the world.

Wright’s appointment is a win for the fossil fuel industry, which expects a boom under the next administration. Trump has pledged to increase production of US fossil fuels rather than investing in renewable energy sources such as wind power – a goal Wright will be instrumental in driving.

The president-elect has pledged to open areas such as the Arctic wilderness to oil drilling, which he argues would lower energy costs.

During his first presidency, Trump rolled back hundreds of environmental protections and made America the first nation to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement.

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Gabriela entered the United States more than two decades ago, gasping for breath under a pile of corn stalks in the boot of a smuggler’s car.

Now a housekeeper in Maryland, the Bolivian national is one of at least 13 million undocumented migrants living in the US – an umbrella term that includes those who entered the US illegally, overstayed their visas or have protected status to avoid deportation.

Across the US, migrants like Gabriela are grappling with what the incoming Trump administration’s vow to conduct mass deportations could mean for their future.

In over a dozen interviews, undocumented immigrants said it was a topic of heated discussion in their communities, WhatsApp groups and social media.

Some, like Gabriela, believe it won’t impact them at all.

“I’m not scared at all, actually,” she said. “That’s for criminals to worry about. I pay taxes, and I work.”

“In any case, I’m undocumented,” she added. “[So] how would they even know about me?”

In an election campaign where immigration loomed large as a major concern of US voters, Trump frequently pledged to deport migrants en masse from US soil from his first day in office if he were to return to the presidency.

But nearly two weeks after his sweeping election win, it remains unclear what exactly these immigration enforcement operations will look like.

The president-elect has insisted cost won’t be an issue, but experts have cautioned that his promises may run into enormous financial and logistics challenges.

His newly appointed “border tsar”, Tom Homan, has said that undocumented migrants deemed to be national security or public safety threats will be a priority. And he has suggested workplace raids – a practice ended by the Biden administration – could return.

Speaking to Fox News on Saturday, the former acting director of Immigrations and Customs Enforcement during Trump’s first term challenged the notion that “those who enforce the law are the bad guys and those who break the law are the victims”.

“What member of Congress, what governor or what mayor is against taking public safety threats out of their community?” he asked, adding that the new administration would “follow through on the mandate that American people gave President Trump”.

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US authorities deporting migrants is nothing new. More than 1.5 million people have been expelled under President Joe Biden, in addition to millions swiftly turned away from the border during the Covid-19 pandemic.

During the eight-year administration of Barack Obama – whom some dubbed the “deporter-in-chief” – about three million people were deported, with a focus on single men from Mexico that could easily be deported from border regions.

Trump’s promised plans, however, are more wide-ranging and aggressive, including enforcement operations in the US far from the border. Officials are reportedly also mulling using the National Guard and military aircraft to detain and ultimately deport people.

JD Vance, Trump’s running mate and incoming vice-president, has said that the deportations could “start” with one million people.

Still, some undocumented migrants believe that they will benefit from a Trump presidency instead of being kicked out.

“A lot of Latinos, those who can vote, did so because they think he [Trump] can improve the economy. That would be very good for us too,” said Carlos, an undocumented Mexican who lives in New York City. His son is a US citizen.

According to the American Immigration Council – a non-partisan organisation that conducts research and advocates for an overhaul of the US immigration system – there are more than five million Americans who were born to undocumented parents and have the security of US citizenship.

Carlos says he is “a little” worried about getting swept up in immigration raids. But that fear is tempered by the possibility of an improved economy under Trump and more work.

“Things may be a bit tense right in our communities right now, but being worried isn’t a solution,” he said. “The best thing to do is avoid problems and not commit any crimes.”

There are many others who don’t share in this optimism, and are living in fear.

Among them is California resident Eric Bautista, a so-called “Dreamer”, who benefits from a longstanding programme that protects from deportation those who were brought illegally into the US as children.

At 29, Mr Bautista has only fleeting memories of life in Mexico, the country in which he was born and left at the age of seven.

For the last four years, he has taught US history to high schoolers – including details of how waves of immigrants from Italy, Ireland, China, Japan and Mexico settled in the country, and often faced xenophobia.

“I don’t think I’ve ever felt this way, even after more than 20 years here,” Mr Bautista told the BBC. “It feels like we’re at a turning point, a new wave of nativism like those I teach about.

“It’s just a future of fear and uncertainty for us.”

Advocates and legal experts said there was no guarantee that undocumented migrants without criminal convictions would not be ensnared in ramped-up deportation efforts.

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, policy director at the American Immigration Council, said that he foresaw an uptick in “collateral arrests” – a term used in the first Trump administration to describe immigrants swept up during enforcement actions even though they may not have been the original targets.

“Let’s say they go after somebody with a criminal record, and that person lives in a house with four other [undocumented] people,” he said. “We saw with the first Trump administration, they’ll arrest those people as well.”

• How would Trump’s promise of mass deportations of migrants work?

In a recent interview with CBS, the BBC’s US partner, Homan was asked about a hypothetical situation in which a grandmother was caught up in a “targeted” enforcement operation going after criminals.

When asked if she would be deported, Homan responded “it depends”.

“Let the judge decide,” he said. “We’re gonna remove people that a judge has ordered deported.”

The arrest and potential removal of such collateral arrests would mark a drastic departure from the Biden administration, which has focused on public safety threats and deporting people soon after their apprehension at the border.

While Homan recently dismissed suggestions that there could be “a mass sweep of neighbourhoods” or large detention camps set up, the stock prices of companies that could be involved in building detention facilities have jumped by as much as 90% since the election. They include publicly traded prison firms GEO Group and CoreCivic.

Undocumented migrants are employed throughout the US economy – from agricultural fields to warehouses and construction sites.

Mr Reichlin-Melnick said operations targeting such workplaces could lead to “indiscriminate” detentions.

“I don’t think that being a person with no criminal record [who] pays taxes protects anybody,” he said. “One of the first things that Trump will do is get rid of the Biden administration’s enforcement priorities. And we’ve seen that when there are no priorities, they will go after whoever are the easiest targets.”

The possibility of becoming “an easy target” has worried many migrants – particularly those from families with mixed legal statuses. Their biggest fear is finding themselves separated.

Brenda, a 37-year-old Mexico-born “Dreamer” in Texas, is currently protected from deportation but her husband and her mother are not.

Her two children were born in the US and are American citizens.

While Brenda told the BBC she does not believe that “good people” would be the first targets for deportation, she can’t escape the thought that her husband could be sent back to Mexico.

“It’s important for us that we see our sons grow up,” she said. “Of course, the thought of being separated leaves one frightened.”

• 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 celebrated his election victory at the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) in New York alongside Elon Musk and some of his cabinet picks.

Trump entered the arena to loud music and cheers from the UFC 309 crowd at Madison Square Garden. He hugged the US podcaster Joe Rogan and spent most of the night sitting between UFC president Dana White and Tesla CEO Musk.

Two of Trump’s key cabinet picks, Robert F Kennedy Jr and Tulsi Gabbard, plus Vivek Ramaswamy, who will lead Trump’s cost-cutting Department of Government Efficiency with Musk, were also in attendance.

Two top Senate Democrats have called for an investigation into Elon Musk’s reported contacts with Russian President Vladimir Putin and his top aides.

The lawmakers have urged the Pentagon and Justice Department to determine whether Musk’s alleged relations with a US adversary while holding major government contracts puts national security at risk.

The Wall Street Journal reported last month that the world’s richest person has had “multiple, high level conversations” with Putin since 2022, which the Kremlin has denied.

Musk wrote on his X platform on Friday that he’s “going to find out who’s making these accusations and nuke them”.

The two Democrats – Rhode Island Senator Jack Reed, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and New Hampshire Senator Jeanne Shaheen, a senior Democrat on the Armed Services and Foreign Relations Committees sent a letter on Friday to Attorney General Merrick Garland and Defence Department Inspector General Robert Storch raising “serious questions regarding Mr Musk’s reliability as a government contractor and a [security] clearance holder”.

The multi-billionaire claims to hold a top-secret level clearance and his SpaceX company – one of the main contractors to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) – is deeply embedded in the federal government’s defence and intelligence infrastructure.

“Russia’s ambitions in the space domain pose a direct threat to US national security,” the senators wrote.

Reed and Shaheen noted that, unlike others with high-level security clearance, Musk does not appear to report his contacts with foreign government officials.

They pointed to Musk’s alleged communications with Putin’s deputy chief of staff, Sergei Kiriyenko.

The Justice Department has said that Kiriyenko and other top officials were involved in an effort to seed Kremlin propaganda on social media, including on the Musk-owned X (formerly Twitter) platform to reducing international support for Ukraine and influence voters in the US presidential election.

Musk, who backed Trump’s successful 2024 election bid with millions of dollars, was picked by the president-elect earlier this week to lead a new Department of Government Efficiency.

He has also participated in the incoming president’s diplomatic efforts.

Musk joined Trump’s calls over the past week with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, as well as a meeting with Argentinian President Javier Milei at Trump’s Florida home.

The BBC’s US partner, CBS News, reported on Friday that Musk recently visited the residence of Iran’s United Nations ambassador in New York.

It is not clear if Trump or his national security team were aware of the meeting.

Washington does not have diplomatic relations with Tehran and Iran’s foreign minister denied on Saturday that any such meeting had taken place.

Donald Trump has made several contentious hires in his new administration, notably in the health, defence and justice departments.

Ahead of his return to the White House on 20 January 2025, the president-elect named Florida congressman Matt Gaetz as his nominee for attorney general.

He has named Pete Hegseth, a Fox News host and military veteran, as his pick for defence secretary. And he wants RFK Jr to be health secretary.

Marco Rubio is a safer pick as the next secretary of state. And billionaire supporter Elon Musk will play a role in cost-cutting.

Here is a closer look at the posts he’s named replacements for, and the names in the mix for the top jobs yet to be filled.

We will start with the Cabinet roles – these require approval from the Senate. If four Republican senators and all the Democrats disagree to any individual then that nomination will fail.

Florida Senator Marco Rubio has been picked for US secretary of state, the president’s main adviser on foreign affairs who acts as America’s top diplomat when representing the country overseas.

Rubio, 53, takes a hawkish view of China. He opposed Trump in the 2016 Republican primary but has since mended fences.

He has long been courting the job of the nation’s top diplomat and if approved, he will be the first Latino secretary of state in US history.

• Marco Rubio: America’s nominee for top diplomat, in his own words

Pete Hegseth, a veteran and Fox News host who has never held political office, has been nominated to be the next defence secretary.

His appointment is one of the most highly anticipated in Trump’s cabinet as the wars in Ukraine and Gaza rage on.

“Nobody fights harder for the troops,” Trump said.

• Trump defence pick surprises Washington, here’s why

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

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

He did just that with Florida congressman Matt Gaetz, whose confirmation is likely to be difficult, as members of both US parties are not fans of him.

• Trump picking Gaetz to head justice department stuns

Trump announced during a speech at Mar-a-Lago that he would ask Doug Burgum, the governor of North Dakota, to lead the Department of the Interior.

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

If confirmed, Burgum will oversee an agency that is responsible for the management and conservation of federal lands and natural resources.

• Trump victory is a major setback for climate action, experts say

RFK Jr, as he is known, an environmental lawyer, vaccine sceptic and the nephew of former President John F Kennedy, is Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.

Despite having no medical qualifications, Kennedy, 70, would have broad remit over US federal health agencies – including those that oversee approval of vaccines and pharmaceuticals.

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

Former Georgia congressman Doug Collins has been chosen to lead the US Department of Veterans’ Affairs, Trump announced on his Truth Social platform.

Collins was a Trump loyalist when he served in Congress from 2013-21. He was an outspoken advocate for the president-elect during both impeachment hearings.

An Iraq war veteran who now serves as a chaplain in the US Air Force Reserve, Collins left Congress for an unsuccessful bid for the Senate in his home state of Georgia.

South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem has been nominated for the key role of overseeing US security, including its borders, cyber-threats, terrorism and emergency response.

The agency has a $62bn (£48bn) budget and employs thousands of people. It incorporates a wide variety of agencies under its umbrella, ranging from Customs and Border Protection to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

• Trump lining up Marco Rubio and Kristi Noem for top jobs

Oil and gas industry executive Chris Wright will lead the Energy Department, where he is expected to fulfill Trump’s campaign promise to “drill, baby, drill” and maximise US energy production.

Wright, the founder-CEO of Liberty Energy, has called climate activists alarmist and likened Democrats’ push for renewables to Soviet-style communism.

In a video posted to his LinkedIn profile last year, he said: “There is no climate crisis, and we’re not in the midst of an energy transition either.”

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

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

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

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

Outside of the 15 department heads who make up the core of the Cabinet, there are several other roles that are often given Cabinet-rank, like the FBI director and the head of the Environment Protection Agency.

These roles will also require the nominees to be confirmed by the Senate.

However, there will be other key roles in the Trump administration that will not require Senate confirmation and the people filling these roles (like Elon Musk) will not have to be vetted in the same way.

Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, has been tapped to lead what Trump has termed a Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) alongside one-time presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy.

The department – known as “Doge” in a nod to a cryptocurrency promoted by Musk – will serve in an advisory capacity to “dismantle government bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures and restructure federal agencies”, Trump said.

It is unclear what approval process will be necessary for these roles.

• Can Elon Musk cut $2 trillion from US government spending?

• Who is Elon Musk?
• Why is Musk becoming Donald Trump’s efficiency tsar?
• What Musk could gain from Trump’s presidency

This is a critical job because it includes responsibility for Trump’s mass deportations of millions of undocumented migrants, which was a central campaign pledge.

Homan is a former police officer who was acting director of the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) in Trump’s first term and has advocated a zero-tolerance stance on the issue.

“I will run the biggest deportation force this country has ever seen,” he said in July.

• How would mass deportations work?
• How will Trump’s new ‘border tsar’ approach immigration?

Lee Zeldin, a former New York congressman, has agreed to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, both he and Trump said. The Senate will still need to confirm his appointment.

He will be in charge of tackling America’s climate policy in this role.

While serving in congress from 2015 to 2023, Zeldin voted against expanding a number of environmental policies. He has already said he plans to “roll back regulations” from day one.

New York Congresswoman Elise Stefanik has been tapped to serve as the US ambassador to the United Nations.

Stefanik has made national headlines with her sharp questioning in congressional committees.

Certain political appointments in the US – including the UN ambassador job – require the approval of the US Senate. But Trump has demanded that the next Senate leader let him make appointments without traditional confirmation votes.

• Who is Elise Stefanik, Trump’s pick for UN ambassador?

Trump has chosen his former director of national intelligence, ex-Texas congressman John Ratcliffe, to serve as Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) director.

There are other yet-to-be-appointed key positions running intelligence agencies, including the FBI and director of national intelligence.

Trump has said he would fire FBI Director Chris Wray, whom he nominated in 2017, but has since fallen out with. Jeffrey Jensen, a former Trump-appointed US attorney, has been under consideration to replace Wray.

• John Ratcliffe: Trump picks lawmaker again for US spy boss

Trump has named former Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii, Tulsi Gabbard, as director of national intelligence.

The former US Army Reserve officer once campaigned with Senator Bernie Sanders and ran for president as a Democrat in 2020, but has turned toward the Republicans in recent years.

She campaigned with Trump in 2024 and served on his transition team.

Florida congressman Michael Waltz has been selected by President-elect Donald Trump as the next national security adviser.

In a statement on Tuesday announcing Waltz’s appointment, Trump noted that Waltz is the first Green Beret – or member of the US Army Special Forces – to be elected to Congress.

Waltz will have to help navigate the US position on the wars in Israel, and in Ukraine and Russia.

Trump has picked real estate investor and philanthropist Steve Witkoff for the role of special envoy to the Middle East.

Witkoff is a close friend of Trump’s who was with the former president when a man allegedly tried to assassinate him at his Palm Beach golf club in September.

Trump has described him as a “highly respected leader in business and philanthropy, who has made every project and community he has been involved with stronger and more prosperous”.

Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee will be US ambassador to Israel, as Trump pledges to end the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

“Mike has been a great public servant, governor, and leader in faith for many years,” the president-elect said in a statement.

Huckabee is a staunchly pro-Israel official who has previously rejected the idea of a two-state solution to solve the Israel-Palestinian conflict.

• Trump’s pick of Huckabee and Witkoff a clue to Middle East policy

Trump selected Dean John Sauer to be US solicitor general to supervise and conduct government litigation in the US Supreme Court.

Sauer previously served as solicitor general for the Missouri state Supreme Court for six years and worked as a clerk for former US Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.

Sauer represented Trump earlier this year in several of his court cases, including his US Supreme Court immunity case.

These jobs are in the West Wing – his key advisers.

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

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

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

• Who is Susie Wiles, new chief of staff?
• Seven things Trump says he will do in power

Stephen Miller, who has been Trump’s close adviser and speechwriter since 2015, is Trump’s choice for White House deputy chief of staff for policy.

He will likely shape any plans for mass deportations – and pare back both undocumented and legal immigration.

During Trump’s first term, Miller was involved in developing some of the administration’s strictest immigration policies.

Republican lawyer William McGinley will take on the role of White House counsel, Trump has said.

“Bill is a smart and tenacious lawyer who will help me advance our America First agenda while fighting for election integrity and against the weaponization of law enforcement,” he said in a statement.

McGinley served as White House cabinet secretary during part of Trump’s first term and was the Republican National Committee’s counsel for election integrity in 2024.

Karoline Leavitt, 27, will become the youngest person to serve as White House press secretary in US history when Donald Trump returns to office.

She ran for Congress, winning the Republican nomination for New Hampshire in 2022, only to lose in the general election to Democrat Chris Pappas.

Leavitt also served in the White House press office during the first Trump administration, including as an assistant press secretary, according to the website for her run for Congress.

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.

• Karoline Leavitt to become youngest White House press secretary

Steven Cheung joined Trump’s team in 2016 as his campaign spokesman, and will soon take on a top communications role in the White House.

Raised by Chinese immigrant parents in California, Cheung started out as an intern under then-California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. He has also been the spokesman for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).

Cheung became known for his fierce, and often offensive, attacks towards Trump’s opponents. He has said Joe Biden “slowly shuffles around like he has a full diaper in his pants” and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis walks like a girl who “discovered heels for the first time.”

During his first administration, Trump had an unusually high turnover of communications directors – six different people. Anthony Scaramucci infamously only lasted 11 days in the role.

Sergio Gor is a business partner of Donald Trump Jr. He is the president and co-founder of the younger Trump’s publishing company, Winning Team Publishing, which has published a book by the president-elect.

“Steven Cheung and Sergio Gor have been trusted advisers since my first presidential campaign in 2016, and have continued to champion America First principles,” Trump said in a statement.

Islanders on Lewis spend their Sundays in a way the rest of Scotland – and the UK – have not seen in decades.

Swimming pools and sports centres are closed and most businesses are shut.

Like the rest of the Western Isles there is no public transport on Sundays.

There is a strong tradition of Christian church-going on Lewis – and neighbouring Harris – with the Church of Scotland and Free Church predominant.

According to the latest Census figures, Church of Scotland (35.3%) was the most common religious group in the Western Isles.

But a row over the seven-day opening of a Tesco in Stornoway, Lewis, has brought this traditional way of life into focus. And when the first customers filed into the store after 12:00 on Sunday it marked a historical change.

Faithful observance of the Sabbath, or Lord’s Day, is embedded in the culture of Lewis and Harris.

According the Bible’s Ten Commandments, the Sabbath is a spiritual time for worship and rest from work and play.

In the past, islanders didn’t hang washing outside as a mark of respect for the Sabbath – and on occasions some church-goers even chained up children’s swings to help ensure peace and quiet.

Dr James Eglinton is a a senior lecturer in Reformed Theology at Edinburgh University and has family from Lewis.

He said chaining swings had become a trope used by people who don’t understand island culture.

Dr Eglinton added: “It’s very much projected on to that culture and that kind of stuff makes the Sabbath sound very dour, killjoy and weird.

“What you have on Lewis is a living example of a local culture that practices a day of rest as a community.

“On mainland Scotland people think that’s quite odd, but it’s a normal thing across continental Europe.”

The Rev Hector Morrison, who is from Lewis and is principal of Highland Theological College UHI, said one reason for the longevity of Lewis and Harris’ Sunday traditions were evangelical revivals.

These were events when communities felt committed to a very pious way of Christianity.

The Rev Morrison says parts of Lewis and Harris experienced revivals every 10-15 years up until at least the 1970s.

He has fond memories of growing up in Lewis and says the Sabbath never seemed dour.

The former minister adds: “I believe that Sunday will remain special for Lewis and Harris people not primarily because it is so deeply embedded in the island’s culture, but as long as the gospel itself remains significant and powerfully at work in these islands.

“Each new generation which comes to love the Lord, will want to keep the Lord’s commandments.”

Other religions across the Western isles include Catholic, particularly in the southern isles including Barra, and there is a mosque in Stornoway.

For Lewis and Harris the last 20 years have seen significant changes to Sundays.

Hotels’ restaurants have opened and there is a petrol station with a shop trading on Sundays.

The island’s first commercial flights started in October 2002.

About 60 campaigners gathered to meet the plane when it landed at Stornoway.

They stood in quiet protest and handed out leaflets saying travelling on the Sabbath was a sin and damaging to a person’s soul and island life.

A young oil industry worker was among the passengers on that first flight.

He told the BBC at the time a Sunday air service offered him a chance to balance working away from home and getting back to spend quality time with his family.

Seven years later the first ferry – a lifeline form of transport in the Western Isles – sailed from Stornoway to mainland Scotland on a Sunday.

A small group prayed and sang a psalm as cars boarded the boat, but several hundred other people stood and clapped as a show of support for the sailing.

Among the protestors was Govan-born Free Church minister Rev Angus Smith.

He led a demonstration against Skye Sunday ferries in 1965 and was removed by police after sitting in front of cars waiting to board.

Then in 2018, a screening of Star Wars: The Last Jedi marked the first time a cinema was open on a Sunday in Lewis. There was a small protest outside.

When it comes to Tesco islanders have mixed views.

Lizzie Aucott-Hall said: “The town has lots of other things open on a Sunday anyway so why not Tesco?

“If the place was shut I would understand but it’s not.

“If I can go and buy a pint of beer I should be able to buy a pint of milk.”

But Ruth Pickard is not in favour of the move.

She told BBC News: “I’m totally against it. We moved up here from Yorkshire 34 years ago and one of the attraction was the peace and quiet and the way of life.

“What you can’t buy six days a week, I don’t know what you need on a Sunday.”

Lewis-based BBC journalist Donald Lamont said the debate is not a simple one.

He told BBC Radio’s Good Morning Scotland: “It’s not as straight forward as those of a religious persuasion versus those who are not. It’s more nuanced than that.

“There are a lot of people expressing sadness, a lot of people are ambivalent and there are those who are pleased with the news.”

For Anannyaa Gupta completing her studies in Australia has always been the “dream”.

“Their education system is one of the best in the world,” the 21-year-old, from the Indian city of Hyderabad, explains.

After completing her bachelor’s degree at Melbourne’s Monash University in July, she applied for the master’s qualification she needs to become a social worker – the kind of skilled job Australia is desperate to fill amid labour shortages.

“I genuinely want to study here, offer my skills and contribute to society,” she says.

But Ms Gupta is among current and prospective international students who have been swept up in a panic caused by the Australian government’s plan to slash foreign student numbers.

The new cap – which would significantly reduce new enrolments – is needed to make the A$47.8bn (£24.6bn, $32bn) education industry more sustainable, the government says.

It is the most controversial of recent measures that have also imposed tougher English language requirements on student visa applicants, and greater scrutiny on those seeking further study. Non-refundable visa application fees have also been doubled.

However, the sector and its supporters say they weren’t properly consulted, and that the changes could ravage the economy, cause job losses and damage Australia’s reputation, all while punishing both domestic and international students.

“[It] sends out the signal that Australia is not a welcoming place,” says Matthew Brown, deputy chief executive of the Group of Eight (Go8), a body which represents Australia’s top ranked universities.

Education is Australia’s fourth biggest export, trailing only mining products. Foreign students, who pay nearly twice as much as Australian students on average, prop up some institutions, subsidising research, scholarships, and domestic study fees. At the University of Sydney, for example, they account for over 40% of revenue.

But Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s government is facing pressure to reduce record levels of migration, in the hope of improving housing affordability and easing a cost-of-living crisis, ahead of a federal election next year. And international students – who totalled 793,335 last semester – have become a target.

The government has proposed to cap new foreign enrolments at 270,000 for 2025, which it says is a return to pre-pandemic levels. An accurate comparison with previous years is not possible because publicly available data is inadequate, according to an education expert.

Education Minister Jason Clare says each higher education institution will be given an individual limit, with the biggest cuts to be borne by vocational education and training providers. Of the universities affected, those in capital cities will see the largest reductions.

The government says the policy will redirect students to regional towns and universities that need them, instead of overcrowded big cities.

It also says the changes aim to protect prospective students from “unethical” providers, alleging some accept students without sufficient language skills or academic standards and enrol people who intend to work instead of study.

“International education is extremely important, and these reforms are designed to make it better and fairer, and set it up on a more sustainable footing going forward,” Clare said.

Abul Rizvi, a former government official who shaped Australia’s skilled migration policy, says the “underfunded” sector has “long been chasing tuition revenue from overseas students and sacrificing learning integrity in the process”.

Institutions themselves are questioning whether they’re too reliant on international student income and how to fix it, Dr Brown says: “It’s a discussion that every university is having.”

But the caps announcement still drew a mostly furious response from the sector.

The Go8 has called the proposed laws “draconian”, while others accused the government of “wilfully weakening” the economy and of using international students as “cannon fodder in a poll-driven battle over migration”.

The government has not confirmed how long the caps will be in place, but Dr Brown says the Go8’s calculations indicate they will have a A$1bn impact on their members in the first year alone. The broader economy would suffer a A$5.3bn hit, resulting in the loss of 20,000 jobs, according to their research.

Australia’s Department of the Treasury has called those projections “doubtful” but has not released its own modelling on the economic impact of the changes.

Dr Brown also warned that the caps could see some universities rescind offers already made to foreign students, strangle vital research programmes, and may mean an increase in fees for some Australian students.

However a handful of smaller universities, for whom the caps are beneficial, welcomed the news.

La Trobe University’s Vice-Chancellor Theo Farrell said they supported “transparent and proportionate measures” to manage international student growth in Australia.

“We recognise that there is broad political and community support to reduce net migration levels,” he said.

But Dr Brown argues there is also a hit to Australia’s reputation which is harder to quantify, pointing to Canada as a warning. It introduced a foreign student cap this year, but industry bodies there say enrolments have fallen well below that, because nervous students would rather apply to study somewhere with more certainty.

“We need an international education system that has managed growth built in… it’s not for the minister to unilaterally decide on caps based on some formula which satisfies a political end.”

Mr Rizvi argues that instead of going ahead with the proposed caps in Australia, the government should consider introducing a minimum university entrance exam score.

“We’re shooting ourselves in the foot… It won’t deter poor performing students but it will deter high performing students who have options,” he wrote on X.

Meanwhile in parliament, the Greens have said the policy amounts to “racist dog-whistling”, and one of the government’s MPs has broken ranks to attack it too.

“A hard cap would be bad for Australia’s human capital and the talent pipeline, bad for soft power and bad for academic excellence and research,” Julian Hill told The Australian newspaper.

But despite the criticisms, the bill legislating the limits – set to be debated in parliament this week – is expected to pass, with the opposition’s support.

Clare has acknowledged that some service providers may face difficult budget decisions but said that any assertion the policy is “somehow tearing down international education is absolutely and fundamentally wrong”.

However, with less than two months until the changes are supposed to take effect, they are causing extreme anxiety and confusion among students.

In China and India – the two biggest international markets for Australia – the news is going down like a lead balloon.

“This is going to be very hard on students in India, most of whom come from middle-income backgrounds and spend years planning and preparing for their education abroad. Their dreams will be quashed,” Amritsar-based immigration consultant Rupinder Singh told the BBC.

Vedant Gadhavi – a Monash University student – says that some of his friends back home in Gujarat who had been hoping to come to Australia for their masters have been spooked.

“They seem to have changed their plans a bit because of the constant shift… They thought that it might be a bit difficult to plan their careers and life.”

Jenny – a senior high school student in China’s Anhui province – says she set her sights on Australia because getting a good quality education there is “easier” than getting into a fiercely competitive Chinese university.

“It’s all up in the air now,” she tells the BBC.

She adds that going to a lower-ranked university in a regional location is not an option for her or her peers: “We [just] won’t go to Australia at all.”

Rishika Agrawal, president of the Australian National University’s International Students’ Department, says the proposed laws have stoked other uneasy feelings.

“Definitely there are other students who think this is a sign of increased hostility towards immigrants in Australia from the government.”

And, she adds, with the contributions to society made by international students often overlooked, while their post-graduate employment options dry up, there’s growing resentment.

“They go back to their own countries, having spent a tremendous amount of money towards their education and not really reaping the rewards for it.

“They definitely do feel like cash cows.”

As the debate continues in parliament, there’s been some relief for Anannya. Shortly after she spoke to the BBC, and only weeks out from her course start date, she received the official masters enrolment certificate and new study visa she feared would never come.

But many other students still wait and worry.

“If I were in their shoes, I’d feel very helpless, very disappointed. It’s already taking away credibility that Australia used to hold,” Rishika says.

It didn’t take long for Elon Musk to be accused of meddling in Italy’s domestic affairs.

The tech billionaire’s declaration that “these judges need to go,” splashed across all of Italy’s front pages, came amidst increasing tension between Italy’s ruling coalition and the judiciary after a panel of Rome magistrates questioned the legality of a government initiative to detain asylum-seekers in Albania.

Musk prompted a highly unusual statement from Italian President Sergio Mattarella, who told him not to interfere in Italian affairs.

“Italy is a great democratic country and… knows how to take care of itself,” said Mattarella. “Anyone, particularly if, as announced, he is about to assume an important government role in a friendly and allied country, must respect its sovereignty and cannot take it upon himself to issue instructions.”

Musk, who owns Tesla and X, has recently been picked by Donald Trump to head up his planned new Department of Government Efficiency.

He has also developed close ties with Giorgia Meloni since she was elected over two years ago on the promise of cracking down on illegal migration.

Two processing centres in Albania, built and managed by the Italian government to help manage the migrant flow in the Mediterranean towards Italy, soon became the symbol of her hard stance on migration.

But delays in the project, legal hurdles and human rights concerns, as well as doubts about cost-effectiveness, have undermined its success so far.

Last week a Rome court ordered the transfer of seven Egyptian and Bangladeshi asylum seekers from one of the two centres to Italy.

The court had already ruled last month against the detention of other migrants from the same countries in Albania, a decision that the Italian prime minister had labelled “prejudicial”.

The two centres are currently empty, and Italian authorities are scaling back the number of staff on the ground.

Since then, the debate in Italy has become increasingly heated, with Meloni and other members of her government regularly attacking the country’s judiciary, until Musk also weighed in.

The legal controversy revolves around an October ruling by the EU’s Court of Justice (ECJ), stating that no country of origin can be deemed safe if any part of it is dangerous.

This poses further challenges to Italy’s policy of repatriating migrants without visas.

While the ruling referred to a Czech case, it also applies to the entire EU and complicates Italy’s plans for detention centres in Albania meant to fast-track repatriations.

The Rome court has halted these actions pending further clarification from the ECJ.

The project has attracted the attention of several leaders, including UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who are themselves seeking to stem illegal migration.

During an official visit last September, Starmer praised Meloni’s “remarkable progress” on tackling irregular arrivals by sea, while Meloni said her counterpart showed “great interest” in her country’s deal with Albania.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has called for the exploration of “return hubs” outside the EU. In a letter to European leaders on irregular migration, she cited the deal between Italy and Albania as a potential model.

Several observers, however, have raised concerns over the actual impact of these centres, should they ever start operating at full capacity.

“Aside from the delays in the implementation of the operation, I view the project as a distraction from more pressing issues that should be on the agenda, such as better allocation of funds and the creation of a functioning asylum system overall,” said Alberto-Horst Neidhardt, a senior policy analyst at the European Policy Centre in Brussels.

“Regardless of whether it works or not, this is just a drop in the ocean.”

Italy’s incendiary political discourse shows no sign of dying down.

The judiciary here has been accused of obstructing government before.

Former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who was charged with violation of antitrust law, money laundering, and tax fraud and faced prosecution for several other crimes over the years, repeatedly attacked judges, calling them “communist”.

Meloni’s coalition partner, Matteo Salvini, echoed his words saying judges who twisted Italy’s laws should resign and go into politics with the “refounded communists”.

“Demonising those whose role is to ensure that the law is upheld could pose a real danger,” Neidhardt warned.

According to Italian reports, Meloni and Musk have since spoken about the controversy. Musk is said to have expressed his respect for the Italian president, a report confirmed by Andrea Stroppa, a close confidant of Musk in Italy.

Stroppa, however, added that Musk also “emphasises that freedom of speech is protected by the First Amendment and the Italian constitution itself; therefore, as a citizen, he will continue to freely express his opinions”.

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

In the autumn of 1971, a group of men came together who would carry out one of the most astonishing bank raids in history.

Skill, audacity and patience, criminal connections, a fair amount of luck, and inspiration from a Sherlock Holmes story culminated in a weekend of high drama and barely believable farce.

A weekend in which a gang tunnelled into a secure vault and made off with the contents of hundreds of secure deposit boxes, while all the time being listened to by an amateur radio operator who was trying to tune in to pirate radio.

A weekend in which police officers were on one side of the vault’s door while the gang were on the other, and nobody thought to check inside.

As Lloyds Bank announces the upcoming closure of its Baker Street branch in central London, this is the story of how one of the most secure locations in the country was plundered – and even now, remains partly unsolved.

On a Friday night in September 1971, a group of men, clutching sandwiches and flasks of tea, made their way into SAC, a leather goods shop on Baker Street.

The previous May, the lease for the shop came up for sale and was duly bought by Benjamin Wolfe, a man in his 60s.

He had been especially keen on the premises because it was two doors down from Lloyds Bank and it had a basement the same depth as the bank’s vault.

Before even that, in December 1970, an apparently well-to-do man opened an account at the Baker Street branch of Lloyds and put £500 (about £6,000 today) into it.

Later, he rented a safety deposit box at the branch.

Like many wealthy clients, he made frequent visits to his box in the vault.

Unlike many wealthy clients, he used the time to measure the room with his umbrella.

Other circumstances played into the hands of the group.

The summer had seen a number of roadworks in the area. The vibrations caused by the work led to businesses’ trembler alarms repeatedly going off.

So the businesses disabled their trembler alarms.

Originally thought to have been organised by a Brian Reader, who was later involved in both the Brinks-Mat heist and the Hatton Garden raid, the personnel of the gang has never been fully established.

Reader, who died aged 84 last year with an estimated fortune of £22m garnered from his string of high-risk burglaries, denied he took part.

Four people, including Wolfe and Anthony Gavin, a protégé of Reader’s, were jailed in 1973.

It’s thought at least another four, including a woman, slipped away.

Other unanswered questions include how much was taken. It was reported that it could be anything between £500,000 and £3m (today’s equivalent of £6m and £40m).

Only a fraction was recovered, and the rest went untracked.

There were rumours involving government suppression of the story, for reasons unknown.

And records about it officially sealed at the national archives until 2071.

And is there any truth to the claim that one box contained photographs of Princess Margaret in an intimate clinch?

Gavin allegedly came up with the scheme after reading a Sherlock Holmes story, The Red-Headed League.

In it, Arthur Conan-Doyle’s hero waits in a vault for burglars planning to tunnel in.

Alongside Wolfe, Gavin recruited Reginald Tucker (who was the umbrella-wielder) and Thomas Stephen.

Two others, Bobby Mills and Mickey Gervaise, were thought to be on board – although afterwards they disappeared into “thin air”, the police investigation found.

Tea flasks and sandwiches were not the only items carted inside the leather shop.

Stephen, recruited for his ability to provide the necessary tools, had produced a 100-tonne jack, explosives, and a thermal lance, which heats and melts steel with pressurized oxygen to create very high temperatures.

Months of weekends were spent digging the 40ft tunnel, with debris being taken away in plastic boxes under cover of darkness.

When it was time for the raid, Mills, furnished with a walkie-talkie, mounted a nearby roof to keep an eye out as the others went through the tunnel and worked on breaking into the vault.

The jack didn’t work, and nor did the thermal lance.

It would have to be the gelignite.

Timing the explosion to coincide with traffic to conceal the noise, they managed to break through.

They were in.

Meanwhile, in his attempt to tune into Radio Luxembourg, Robert Rowlands was picking up the gang’s walkie-talkie conversations on his ham radio.

The 35-year-old was listening to them in real time as they co-ordinated their movements and the rooftop lookout beefed about how cold he was.

Mr Rowlands heard the group discuss whether to take a break as their exploits had left the vault full of fumes, smoke and dust.

One tunneller requested a cup of tea and a sandwich.

They also mentioned how many “thousands” they had and what they would go back for.

Mr Rowlands assumed they were burgling a tobacco shop and the numbers referred to cigarettes.

Local police were not interested. A few hours later Mr Rowlands called Scotland Yard, where detectives were indeed interested.

They called in a detection van from the Post Office in an attempt to trace the walkie-talkie signal.

But they didn’t do this until Sunday afternoon, when it was all over.

The Times reported the following day: “Bank managers and caretakers were roused from their beds and brought from weekend holiday retreats to open their premises.

“Police, accompanied by security men, went into the bank, but after being assured that the strong room was intact, they left.

“As they closed the front door of the Lloyds premises, the thieves, some of them crouching behind the strong room doors, breathed a sigh of relief.

“The slightest gasp might have given away their position.

“Soon afterwards the thieves crawled back along the 40ft tunnel. They escaped through a back window leaving eight tons of rubble from the tunnel behind.”

Or, as bank staff said, with remarkable understatement when they opened the branch on Monday morning: “We found the vault in some disorder.”

Cdr Robert Huntley, of Scotland Yard, said: “Inevitably, we have come in for some criticism, from people who say we were slow to move off the mark.

“When we were able to visit the bank with Lloyds security staff we were assured that the strong room was still intact. No one suspected that the gang had come up through the floor on the other side.”

It was the biggest robbery ever carried out in the Metropolitan Police district, with 120 detectives working on the case.

“We are getting information about who are the real brains behind this gang”, Cdr Hunt said.

“We think that the ‘Mr Big’ is probably a faceless commuter. I do not know him.”

Gavin – whose tunnel-digging was described at the Old Bailey as “a magnificent piece of engineering” – Tucker and Stephen all pleaded guilty to entering the bank as a trespasser, stealing cash and jewellery and possessing explosives.

Wolfe was found guilty of the same charges.

Passing sentence, Judge Sutcliffe QC, said: “Each one of you must have known that the reward for success would be very high and the penalty for failure would be high as well.”

Wolfe was given eight years in jail, while the others received 12.

Judge Sutcliffe told Wolfe he was passing a lesser sentence on him only because of his great age.

“I am not going to have on my conscience the sentencing of a man for so long that he has little chance of leaving prison alive.”

(Wolfe was 64).

The aftermath of the case saw an undignified bout of finger-pointing.

Scotland Yard said it was let down by the security staff of Lloyds Bank, who in turn said they had been assured their alarms were “foolproof”.

The Post Office complained it could have caught the gang if it had been called in earlier.

There were also questions as to why police did not check the leather shop, which would not only have revealed the tunnel leading straight into the vault, but the men inside, busily opening 286 safety deposit boxes.

The heist was the inspiration for a 2008 film, The Bank Job. It includes a plotline in which the British Security Services want to retrieve some compromising photographs of Princess Margaret, allegedly held in a security box by Trinidadian militant gangster Michael X.

The obvious solution was to get a gang to tunnel into the vault.

The storyline boosted a rumour that appeared in newspapers, in which an anonymous “friend” said Reader was definitely involved in the heist and had told him he found photos showing a leading politician abusing children.

Reader apparently left the images “scattered on the floor of the vault” for the police to find.

There has been no evidence this was true.

Another rumour was that the government imposed a “D-notice” – now called a DSMA-notice – on the story.

This hinges on a lack of coverage of the story, with many claiming it disappeared from the news agenda.

A DSMA-notice is issued to prevent inadvertent public disclosure of information that would compromise UK military and intelligence operations.

It is not usually used to silence news stories about bank jobs that have already happened.

The lack of published stories, though, isn’t quite true. Naturally, interest died down, but the raid was still being reported in national and regional papers throughout the decade.

The rumour may gave started with radio ham Mr Rowlands, who said police had snatched a phone out of his grasp while he spoke to a newspaper about his part in the case.

He said the officer had told the editor he wasn’t allowed to publish anything.

Years later, Mr Rowlands suggested the police were trying to cover up what appeared to be their own incompetence.

The only mystery that remains is what is in the 800 pages of sealed documents at the National Archives. They are due to be released in 47 years time.

So what did Lloyds Bank say about the whole event?

It advised customers to insure valuables kept in their safety boxes and denied any liability.

After all, it said: “It is a little unusual for raiders to come up through the floor.”

With her signature shawl draped over her shoulders and silver hair pulled back from her face, Jane Goodall exudes serenity – even over our slightly blurry video call.

In a Vienna hotel room, a press team and a small group of filmmakers, who are documenting her latest speaking tour, fuss around her.

The famous primatologist and conservationist settles into a high-backed chair that dwarfs her slender frame.

On my screen I can see that behind her, on a shelf, is her toy monkey, Mr H.

The toy was given to her nearly 30 years ago by a friend and has travelled the world with her. Dr Goodall is now 90 years of age, and she and Mr H are still travelling.

“I am a little bit exhausted,” she admits. “I’ve come here from Paris. And after here I go to Berlin, then Geneva. I’m on this tour talking about the danger to the environment and some of the remedies,” she says.

One of the remedies she wants to talk about today is a tree-planting and habitat restoration mission that her eponymous foundation and non-profit technology company, Ecosia, are carrying out in Uganda. Over the past five years, with the help of local communities and smallholder farmers, the organisations have planted nearly two million trees.

“We’re in the midst of the sixth great extinction,” Dr Goodall tells me during our interview for BBC Radio 4’s Inside Science. “The more we can do to restore nature and protect existing forests, the better.”

The primary aim of this project is to restore the threatened habitat of Uganda’s 5,000 chimpanzees. Dr Goodall has studied and campaigned to protect the primates for decades. But the activist also wants to highlight the threat that deforestation poses to our climate.

“Trees have to grow to a certain size before they can really do their work,” she says. “But all this [tree-planting] is helping to absorb carbon dioxide.”

This week, world leaders have gathered in Baku, Azerbaijan, for COP29 – the latest round of UN climate talks.

And Dr Goodall says taking action to slow down the warming of our planet is more urgent than ever.

“We still have a window of time to start slowing down climate change and loss of biodiversity,” Dr Goodall says. “But it’s a window that’s closing.”

Destruction of forests, and other wild places, she points out, is intrinsically linked to the climate crisis.

“So much has changed in my lifetime,” she says, recalling that in the forests of Tanzania where she began studying chimps more than 60 years ago, “you used to be able to set your calendar by the timing of the two rainy seasons”.

“Now, sometimes it rains in the dry season, and sometimes it’s dry in the wet season. It means the trees are fruiting at the wrong time, which upsets the chimpanzees, and also the insects and the birds.”

Over the decades that she has studied and campaigned to protect the habitat of wild chimpanzees, she says she has seen the destruction of forests across Africa: “And I’ve seen the decrease in chimpanzee numbers.

“If we don’t get together and impose tough regulations on what people are able to do to the environment – if we don’t rapidly move away from fossil fuel, if we don’t put a stop to industrial farming, that’s destroying the environment and killing the soil, having a devastating effect on biodiversity – the future ultimately is doomed.”

Hearing her speak in this way gives me a glimpse of a toughness that belies her well-spoken, gentle demeanour. When Jane Goodall began observing and studying chimpanzees in Gombe Stream National Park in Tanzania, she was a trailblazer. Her research, now considered groundbreaking, was controversial.

She was the first person to witness and document chimpanzees making and using tools – the primates prepared sticks to fish for termites. Prior to her observations, that was a trait that was thought to be uniquely human.

She revealed that the animals form strong family bonds – and even that they engage in warfare over territory.

But her approach – associating so closely with the animals she studied, naming them and even referring to them as “my friends” was scoffed at by some (mostly male) scientists.

Her supervisor and mentor, Professor Louis Leakey, though, saw the value in her technique: “He wanted somebody whose mind wasn’t messed up by the reductionist attitude of science to animals,” Dr Goodall explains.

“You don’t have a dog, a cat, a rabbit, a horse and not give them a name. It’s the same as when I studied squirrels in my garden as a little girl – they all had names.”

Her methods – and her sense of closeness to the primates she has dedicated her life to – have given her a unique perspective.

She tells me about a “wonderful moment” with a chimpanzee she named David Greybeard, the male chimp who she first witnessed making and using tools to catch termites. “He was the first to lose his fear of me,” she recalls.

“I sat down near him and, lying on the ground, was the ripe red fruit of an oil palm. I held it out towards him and he turned his head away. Then I put my hand closer and he turned and looked into my eyes, reached out and very gently squeezed my fingers.

“That is how chimpanzees reassure each other. We understood each other perfectly – with a gestural language that obviously predates human speech.”

Dr Goodall’s career has often been challenging. She has written about the early years of her work for Professor Leakey, who was a renowned scientist, and who had enormous influence over her career. He repeatedly declared his love for her, putting pressure on her in a way that, today, might be viewed as sexual harassment.

But she spurned his advances and kept her focus on her work and her beloved chimpanzees. Now, having turned 90 this year, she does not appear to be slowing down.

So what keeps Dr Goodall going? On this she is emphatic – charmingly affronted by the question: “Surely people want a future for their children. If they do, we have to get tougher about [environmental] legislation.

“We don’t have much time left to start helping the environment. We’ve done so much to destroy it.”

In India, if you ask a pedestrian how many obstacles they’ve encountered on a footpath, they may not be able to count them – but they’ll certainly tell you that most footpaths are in poor condition.

This is what Arun Pai says he learnt when he started asking people about their experience walking on the streets of his city, Bengaluru (formerly Bangalore), in southern India.

This month he set up a “fun challenge” – called the ‘world’s longest footpath run’ – which invited people to walk or jog on an 11km (8 miles) stretch of footpath and make a note of all the obstacles they encountered, like hawkers, garbage or broken slabs of concrete. Next, they were asked to rate the footpath on a scale of one to five.

“When you have specifics, it gets easier to ask the authorities to take action. Instead of telling your local politician “the footpaths are bad”, you can ask him or her “to fix specific spots on a street,” Mr Pai says.

Mr Pai, who is the founder of Bangalore Walks, a non-profit that promotes walking, is among several citizen activists who are pushing to make the country’s roads more pedestrian-friendly.

In India’s capital, a tour company called Delhi by Cycle has been advocating for making the city more cycle-friendly and walkable. These walking-enthusiasts are holding awareness walks, building walking apps and lobbying with politicians to make a change.

Even in India’s biggest cities, proper footpaths are few and far between and they are often overrun by hawkers and shops, parked vehicles and even cattle. In some places, they double up as homes for the poor.

Even footpaths that exist are often not built to standard or properly maintained. Navigating roads on foot through crowds and traffic can be a nightmare.

Last month, Walking Project, a citizen’s group in India’s financial capital, Mumbai, released a ‘pedestrian manifesto’ ahead of Maharashtra state elections to highlight the poor condition of the city’s roads and encourage local politicians to take action.

The manifesto included demands for better parking, designated hawking zones, pedestrian-friendly corridors on arterial roads and to make footpaths more accessible to those with mobility challenges.

“Government statistics show that almost 50% of the city’s population relies on walking, which is far greater than the 11% that uses private transport and the combined 15% that uses tuk-tuks and buses,” says Vendant Mhatre, convener of Walking Project.

“And yet, pedestrians are the most ignored group of users when it comes to framing policies around transport or road safety,” he adds.

According to the latest government estimates on road accidents, pedestrian fatalities were the second-highest after those of two-wheeler riders. In 2022, over 10,000 pedestrians lost their lives on national highways across the country, with around 21,000 more sustaining injuries in accidents.

“Authorities often resort to band-aid solutions like adding speed bumps or a signal to curb road accidents. But what is really needed is inter-connected footpaths that can accommodate high footfall,” Mr Mhatre says.

Studies have found that addressing the problems of this forgotten group of road users can reap benefits for multiple stakeholders.

In 2019, researchers in the southern city of Chennai studied the impact the construction of new footpaths on 100km (62 miles) of the city’s streets had on the environment, economy and the health and safety of citizens.

They found that the new footpaths encouraged 9% to 27% of the surveyed respondents to walk instead of using motorized transport, which led to a reduction in greenhouse gases and particulate matter. They also learned that the footpaths provided new opportunities for women and lower-income groups, helping them save money as well.

The survey highlighted how people with disabilities and women might have nuanced requirements from footpaths and that tailoring improvements to meet their needs could enhance accessibility and equity.

“Very often, people don’t have a benchmark for footpath quality, especially if they haven’t travelled abroad or been exposed to places that have good facilities for pedestrians,” Mr Mhatre says. He reasons that that’s why there isn’t enough outrage about the quality or absence of footpaths in the country.

He also points out that most people see walking as an activity performed for leisure or exercise. And so, the infrastructure they associate with walking stops at gardens or walking tracks. In reality, however, people walk to various destinations daily, so the scope of walking infrastructure is far broader.

“Walking is the most economical and environment-friendly way to navigate one’s city and it’s high time our leaders paid as much attention to walking infrastructure as they do to public transport,” Mr Mhatre says.

Geetam Tiwari, a professor of civil engineering, says that the main problem is that too much focus is given to solving the problem of car congestion on roads.

“To improve the flow of traffic, authorities often narrow down footpaths or eliminate them entirely,” she says. Ms Tiwari says that this approach is problematic because doing so makes it difficult for pedestrians to access public transport systems, like buses and metros, which can take the pressure off the roads.

“It might seem counter-intuitive, but allowing the congestion to persist and focussing on improving infrastructure for pedestrians will help solve the traffic problem in the long run,” she says.

Ms Tiwari also says that the federal government should make it mandatory for states to implement the guidelines issued by the Indian Road Congress – a national organisation that lays down designing standards for roads and highways.

She says that cities can also implement their own Non-Motorised Transport Policy (NMTP) to create better infrastructure for cyclists and pedestrians.

“At the moment, only a handful of cities in India have experimented with a NMTP but its time more cities step up to the plate,” she adds.

Venezuelan authorities have released more than 100 people arrested following July’s contested presidential election, according to a local rights group.

“Up to now, we have verified 107 political prisoners, due to the post-electoral situation, released in Venezuela,” said Alfredo Romero of NGO Foro Penal.

The group said more than 1,800 people were arrested for their role in mass protests after the July election.

Electoral authorities loyal to President Nicolás Maduro announced him the victor, but the claim has been widely rejected by the international community.

After Maduro claimed victory, anti-government protests erupted.

Hundreds have been charged with crimes including terrorism, incitement to hatred and resistance to authority, according to Human Rights Watch.

Foro Penal said prisoners had been released at four different prisons. Videos published on social media showed prisoners being released to cheers from onlookers.

Maduro is set to begin his third six-year term in January. Official results for July’s election published by the National Electoral Council (CNE) claimed Maduro, 61, won 52% of the vote to opposition candidate Edmundo González’s 43%.

The opposition, however, said it had evidence González had won by a comfortable margin, and uploaded detailed voting tallies to the internet which suggest González beat Maduro convincingly.

The CNE said it could not publish the voting records because the data had been corrupted by hackers.

González was granted political asylum in Spain in September.

Described as a virtual singer powered by artificial intelligence (AI), Mya Blue says: “I am not the enemy, I am just a music lover exploring the different sounds of the world.”

Her Instagram account, where she makes this statement, has the tag line: “I may not be human but I sing from my soul” – and is the creation of Nigerian musician and producer Eclipse Nkasi.

She features in his recently released remix of Joromi, a classic tune by the late Nigerian highlife artist Sir Victor Uwaifo.

She and her creator want to calm the fears that many musicians the world over have about the impact of AI on the music industry.

Earlier this year, for example, high-profile artists such as Billie Eilish and Nicki Minaj called for a halt to the “predatory” use of AI tools which they say steal artists’ voices.

And given a lack of understanding about AI throughout Africa, and the fact that AI tends to rely on data sources collated in the West, there are concerns about how African music and cultural heritage will be affected.

But there are many African artists and industry professionals who are excited about the possibilities this emerging technology offers.

Indeed Nkasi says the fact that AI is in its infancy in Africa may be a boon for the continent.

“There is a huge threat, but just saying: ‘Let’s abolish AI’ is not going to work – there are too many countries and people invested,” he told the BBC.

“The best thing we can do is figure out better ways to use it.”

The 33-year-old is determined to be that pioneer and last year also produced the continent’s first AI-powered music album Infinite Echoes.

Nkasi says he has intentionally taken a manual and creative approach to using AI in his music, primarily using it to generate samples.

“My biggest drive with AI is its application, finding healthy ways to apply it. With each project it was important to find something that it did that moved the needle forward,” he says.

But while Nkasi is happy to experiment with the new technology, some see it as a threat to African culture.

For Kenyan musician and producer Tabu Osusa, it heralds the risk of cultural appropriation – with AI passing off African sounds without acknowledging their source.

This is because AI is able to quickly create new compositions by learning from existing music.

“My problem with AI is the ownership. Once you have taken some music from Ghana or Nigeria, who owns that music? How would you find out where the original creators are and ensure they are credited? It’s theft for me through the backroom,” Osusa told the BBC.

“Due to unregulated sampling methods by musicians, AI will enable recording company moguls in the West to make colossal sums of money while leaving some creatives in African villages to languish in abject poverty.”

This fear is reflected in a report released last year by Creatives Garage, a Kenya-based arts platform which worked in collaboration with the Mozilla Foundation to study the impact of AI on the East African nation’s creative communities.

It revealed that most Kenyan musicians were anxious that AI could lead to others benefitting from their creativity, says Bukonola Ngobi, research consultant at Creatives Garage.

The study also warned that AI’s power to store data might sound the death knell for the culture around traditional music.

One musician even questioned whether recording and storing traditional sounds for AI to replicate might be a disincentive for local artists to continue to learn traditional instruments, Ngobi says.

Osusa goes even further: “In Africa we mostly don’t study music, we are born with it. We live it. It’s very spiritual. Music in Africa is always alive. It’s so dynamic. That shouldn’t be taken away from us.”

Yet the report did show that for those with access to tech devices, AI not only provided creative music development but also the chance to develop cheaper marketing and design services.

Although this would be no help for emerging artists from Africa’s poorer communities – and might raise the barrier to pursuing a music career, warned Ngobi.

“If you don’t have a laptop to start off with or you’re a musician in an environment where there is no internet connectivity then how will you participate?” she told the BBC.

For those wanting to innovate, one of the problems Africa faces is the lack of data from the continent to dictate algorithms. Searches are often shaped by Western biases which decrease the accuracy and quality of work produced by AI for African musicians.

For example, when Nkasi created Mya Blue using AI, he faced issues with her imagery – the artist presents as a Gen Z American girl with blue hair.

“AI is very limited in how it understands and perceives my space,” he says.

But the Nigerian musician views this as an opportunity for human contribution: “The limits we Africans experience with AI can be a good thing.

“One can argue that right now, while AI can’t give the very detailed African sound, there’s still room for the guy who can play it. So I’m not sure what we’re really fighting for when we consider that a problem.”

Fellow Nigerian Emmanuel Ogala, the boss of AI-powered company Josplay, definitely sees the opportunities for Africa.

His company uses AI models to collate detailed metadata and intelligence to create archives of the continent’s diverse music heritage.

“African music is really complex and it’s one of the most understudied types of music,” he told the BBC.

This was reflected at the MTV Video Music Awards in September, when South African musician Tyla won the award for the Best Afrobeats song for her hit Water.

During her acceptance speech she hit out against the tendency of Western award bodies to group all African artists under the umbrella of “Afrobeats” – a genre of music more associated with Nigeria and West Africa.

“African music is so diverse,” she said. “It’s more than just Afrobeats. I come from South Africa. I represent amapiano. I represent my culture.”

Ogala feels AI would address such homogenisation and benefit African musicians by revealing to the world more of the continent’s cultural diversity.

“A lot of the academics we speak to have knowledge that is very specific about a very small area of African music. You have to build for an African audience taking note of how fragmented our listening culture is. You just cannot humanly do that,” he says.

As AI continues to develop, there is consensus among African music artists, producers and researchers that there needs to be better financing.

“We need investment in the data infrastructure for the opportunities it presents to really be leveraged by people,” says Ngobi.

Ogala agrees and says that raising funds to develop his digital archive AI tool is difficult.

“We, the founders, have been funding the project out of our pockets because of our belief in the industry. If we put in place the fundamental building blocks, the industry will be a lot more viable than it is now.”

Added to this are the uncertainties around copyright legislation written for a pre-AI era which will need to be renegotiated. Copyright is already a huge issue for African artists whose music is often pirated, sold and played on the continent without them earning anything.

These challenges aside, there is a growing realisation that unless the African music industry embraces the new technology, it is in danger of losing control of its talent and heritage.

And Nkasi’s Mya Blue certainly has big ambitions.

During a Q&A on her Instagram, replying to a question about whether she could win a Grammy, she said: “Who knows. As an AI [artist], I don’t dream of trophies, but of resonating with hearts through music. But wouldn’t it be fun to see a virtual artist on that stage?”

• Billie Eilish and Nicki Minaj want stop to ‘predatory’ music AI
• The Nigerian AI artist reimagining a stylish old age
• Tyla’s racial identity: South African singer sparks culture war

A grandmother in rural Zambia has become a 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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California has reported the first US case of mpox – formerly known as monkeypox – that is part of a new outbreak.

The state’s department of health, the CDPH, said the new case was from the Clade I strain – different from the Clade II strain that has been in circulation in the US since 2022.

The person in question, who is now isolating at home, had recently travelled to Africa and the CDPH said their case was “related to the ongoing outbreak of Clade I mpox in Central and Eastern Africa”.

Mpox was declared a global health emergency by the World Health Organization earlier this year.

The CDPH said that while Clade I cases had tended to cause more severe illness than Clade II in the past, “recent infections from Clade I mpox may not be as clinically severe as in previous outbreaks”.

Mpox is caused by a virus in the same family as smallpox but is usually much less harmful.

It was originally transmitted from animals to humans but now also passes between humans.

Initial symptoms include fever, headaches, swellings, back pain and aching muscles. A rash can then develop, which can be extremely itchy or painful.

The infection can clear up on its own and lasts between 14 and 21 days, but in some cases has been fatal, particularly for vulnerable groups including small children.

Mpox is most common in remote villages in the tropical rainforests of West and Central Africa, in countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo), where it has been seen for many years.

Hundreds of people died during an initial outbreak in DR Congo earlier this year, and the disease has since spread to areas of Central and East Africa.

Outbreaks can be controlled by preventing infections with vaccines, though these are usually only available for people at risk or those who have been in close contact with an infected person.

Netflix says 60 million households worldwide tuned in live to see Mike Tyson take on Jake Paul, in the streaming giant’s first foray into live boxing.

The event, which was free for subscribers, is being hailed by the tech giant as a “record breaking night”.

However, fans hoping to watch have expressed their anger and disappointment after some reported Netflix crashed repeatedly throughout the fight.

But there was also criticism from those who were able to tune in, with many saying they found the boxing match lacklustre.

In the bout, which took place at the AT&T Stadium in Texas, former world heavyweight champion Tyson, 58, was beaten by YouTuber-turned-fighter Paul, 27.

The fight attracted a huge amount of media coverage. Tyson is one of the most famous boxers on the planet, while Paul drew in a younger audience.

There was a star-studded ringside audience including Charlize Theron, Ralph Macchio, Joe Jonas and Hasan Minhaj.

Paul says 120 million viewers watched it live globally on Netflix, while the tech firm later stated “60 million households” around the world tuned in. It said it will reveal further viewing figures early next week.

But some viewers reported experiencing buffering issues on the site, and some said they simply couldn’t get onto it.

The fight was “unwatchable,” wrote one X user. Another said she was “furious”, while a third complained he “did an all-nighter for nothing”.

Netflix declined to comment on the technical glitches.

Brendan Ashford, who lives in Devon, told BBC News he stayed up late to watch the fight, which took place in the early hours of Saturday morning UK time.

“I was interested to see how Mike Tyson, at 58, would perform against a much younger guy,” he said.

“I’m not in the habit of staying up late, but I thought it was worth it.”

He tried signing in on Netflix at around 04:00 GMT, and says initially it loaded 25%, and then it got to 75%, but after that it got stuck.

“I knew I had a good connection, so then I looked on social media and saw others were also experiencing issues,” he said.

“It was really disappointing. I kept trying for a good hour before I gave up.”

Mr Ashford said it made him wonder how Netflix would fare with future live sports events, given the problems people encountered this time.

“It can’t be good for their reputation,” he said.

On social media, there was a similar reaction from fans, who vented their frustrations.

Many also posted pictures and videos of the fight failing to load, while some said the service failed at the key moments during the event.

“Had all my friends over to watch the Tyson vs. Paul fight. Not loading,” wrote one X user.

“Shame on Netflix for not being able to handle the streaming of the Mike Tyson vs Jake Paul fight,” wrote another.

“The lagging is so bad the fights are unwatchable to long time subscribers like me and other people I know at home with friends, family, snacks, and drinks but no fights.”

Another person simply asked, “did Netflix not have enough time to prepare for the Tyson / Paul fight?”

This isn’t the first time Netflix has had issues with live streaming.

Last year, it apologised after a much-publicised livestream of its hit dating show, the Love is Blind reunion, was delayed due to a glitch.

The technical reason for the delay was unclear but the streaming giant said it was “incredibly sorry”.

No reason has been given for these latest issues, but Chris Stokel-Walker, a tech reporter, said that the huge demand to watch the fight was “Netflix’s undoing”.

“Netflix has done live broadcasting before,” he said.

“What’s different, was that this fight was so hyped.

“There were so many viewers that were wanting to watch this, given the personalities involved – Jake Paul with his huge following, Mike Tyson returning to the ring for the first time in decades.

“Even people who aren’t major boxing fans wanted to tune in because of all the coverage.

“As a result, there was additional demand well above and beyond your average live event, like a comedy special, or the live golf tournament they previously broadcast.”

Mr Stokel-Walker said that with Netflix intending to move towards more live sports in future, including a new deal with WWE from next year, it “needs to get this fixed”.

“They have to expect that if they’re going to get into this world, they’re going to have to get used to this volume of people coming,” he said.

“The Tyson vs Paul fight was one of the most high profile examples of an event they’ve done live, so it’s really not ideal.

“People will be watching this and wondering can they cope.”

Eight people have died and 17 others have been injured following a stabbing incident outside a school in eastern China.

A 21-year-old man was arrested at Wuxi Yixing Arts and Crafts Vocational and Technical College in the city of Wuxi at about 18:30 local time (10:30 GMT), according to a statement from local police.

The statement said he graduated from the school in 2024 and carried out the attack after “failing to obtain his diploma due to poor exam results” and that he was unhappy with his internship pay.

He confessed to his crime “without hesitation”, police said.

They added that an investigation was under way and efforts were being made to “manage the aftermath”.

The attack follows an incident on Monday where at least 35 people were killed when a driver ploughed a car into crowds at a stadium in the southern city of Zhuhai.

Police said the driver was unhappy with a divorce settlement, but the incident sparked questions about a recent spate of public violence in the country.

On social media, there have been discussions about the social phenomenon of “taking revenge on society”, where individuals act on personal grievances by attacking strangers.

The taoiseach has paid tribute to the Irish writer, comedian and actor Jon Kenny following his death.

He was best known for his work opposite Pat Shortt in the comedy duo D’Unbelievables.

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Shortt said he is devastated, adding that he feels lucky to have spent “so many years touring with Jon and learning from him”.

The 66-year-old had been receiving treatment for cancer and heart failure.

The County Limerick-born star also had many screen credits to his name including Father Ted, The Van, Les Misérables (1998), Angela’s Ashes, and The Banshees of Inisherin, in which he reunited with Pat Shortt.

Taoiseach (Irish prime minister) Simon Harris said he learnt of Jon’s death with “utmost sadness” and said he had the “ability, that very few people possess, to make his audiences crack up laughing with a glance or a single word”.

“Behind that seemingly effortless talent to joke, there was a gifted performer and an extremely deep thinker,” Harris said in a statement.

“Jon was an interesting and thoughtful person, he had some stunning dramatic performances on stage and on screen and the country is still in stitches from the magic that was D’Unbelievables.”

Kenny was also an acclaimed singer, poet, and solo stand-up performer.

In a tribute, Tánaiste (deputy prime minister) Micheál Martin described Kenny as “one of our most iconic actors and comedians”.

“Deeply saddened at the passing of Jon Kenny,” Mr Martin said in a statement.

“Through the D’Unbelievables, and his appearances on stage & on screen, Jon made us smile. He was an entertainer to his core.”

Jon, along with his comedy soulmate Pat Shortt, formed D’Unbelievables in the late 1980s in Limerick.

Their sketches featured day-to-day life in the Republic of Ireland.

Perhaps their most memorable featured the pair as two bumbling Garda (Irish police) officers appealing for the public’s help on Crimebusters.

Pat played Garda Tom Walsh and Jon played Garda PJ Moloney.

The actor also had a memorable cameo as a blustering television host in the Eurovision episode of Channel 4′s Father Ted, which introduced him to an international audience.

Jon was diagnosed in his 40s with Non-Hodgkin’s Disease in 2000, which brought to an end the duo’s time together in the D’Unbelievables.

Speaking on The Oliver Callan Show on RTÉ Radio 1 in April, he said the diagnosis had left him with no choice but to “not do anything”.

“Over the space of two years I was on different forms of treatment,” he said.

“That went on for two years, and I got a stem cell transplant, thanks be to God, in James’s (hospital), and they sorted me out, and I motored on for another while.”

However, he told Oliver Callan that his cancer had returned.

“I had it there again; it came back again about three years ago, four years ago,” he said.

“So I had some operation to remove some of my left lung, and that was good – good luck to that.

“I’ve been lucky now because my chemo is working, so I’ve been grand, you know?

“But just in the middle of it all, just for the craic of it – you know when you’re getting on with things? – and after I had my second chemo, I had heart failure.

“Throw that in the mix, like. A nice little cocktail of things there to be getting on with.”

As well as his career on television and in films, Jon also was highly regarded as a stage actor.

He appeared in John B Keane’s The Matchmaker, Oliver Goldsmith’s She Stoops to Conquer at The Abbey Theatre, and Katie Holly’s dark comedy Crowman, a one-man show in which he portrayed 10 characters.

A robotic dog named “Spot” made by Boston Dynamics is the latest tool in the arsenal of the US Secret Service.

The device has lately been spotted patrolling the perimeter of President-elect Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida.

They do not have weapons – and each can be controlled remotely or automatically – as long as its route is pre-programmed.

Passers-by are warned by a sign on each of Spot’s legs: “DO NOT PET.”

“I don’t know that anyone is tempted to pet these robot dogs. They do not look cuddly,” said Melissa Michelson, a political scientist at Menlo College.

Video of Spot strutting around the property has gone viral on TikTok – where reactions range from calling them cool and cute, to creepy – and become fodder for jokes on American late night television. But its mission is no laughing matter.

“Safeguarding the president-elect is a top priority,” said Anthony Guglielmi, US Secret Service chief of communications, in a statement to the BBC.

In the months leading up to the US presidential election, Trump was the target of two apparent assassination attempts. The first took place at a July rally in Butler, Pennsylvania and the other occurred at the Mar-a-Lago golf course in September.

Citing “concern for operational security,” the Secret Service declined to answer the BBC’s specific questions about the use of robotic dogs in Trump’s security detail, including when the agency began deploying the device at his primary residence.

Boston Dynamics also declined to answer specific questions, although it confirmed the Secret Service was deploying its Spot robot.

So why might the Secret Service be using them now?

Ron Williams, a former Secret Service agent who is now CEO of the security and risk management firm Talon Companies, suspects the assassination attempts against Trump added urgency to the agency’s push “to upgrade the technology that can enhance the ability to detect and deter,” Williams said.

At Mar-a-Lago, where so much of the property is exposed, Williams said robotic dogs are long overdue. “They can cover a lot more area” than humans alone, Williams said of the dogs, which he expects will become more of a common sight over time.

And it’s not just the Secret Service. Williams said robotic dogs have increasingly become a tool used by militaries and law enforcement agencies around the world.

A bomb squad in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania that purchased Spot in the spring deploys the device to inspect potential explosives, according to Boston Dynamics promotional materials.

Last year, the New York Police Department moved forward with adding the robotic canines to its force despite complaints of “a dystopian overreach of police power,” according to Wired.

On the other side of the globe, Ukraine has used them to conduct reconnaissance in the ongoing conflict sparked by Russia’s invasion in 2022, the Kyiv Post reports.

Spot is known for its agility. It can walk up and down stairs and navigate tight spaces. It can even open doors.

But its ability to reveal potential threats ranks high among the reasons that so many agencies appear willing to pay up to $75,000 (£59,000) for the device.

Secret Service communications chief Guglielmi said the robotic dogs were “equipped with surveillance technology, and an array of advanced sensors that support our protective operations”.

The device comes outfitted with multiple cameras that generate a 3D map of its surroundings, according to Boston Dynamics marketing materials, and can also have extras such as thermal sensing.

But none of this happens without a human master.

“They basically have a joystick controlling the robot dog as it walks around,” said Missy Cummings, an engineering professor at George Mason University who runs the university’s Autonomy and Robotics Center. Spot can also move automatically along predefined routes.

Unlike their human and real canine counterparts, robotic dogs aren’t distracted by visuals, sounds or smells they encounter.

But despite their many impressive features, the devices can be taken down.

“You just have to spray it with Aqua Net hairspray in its ‘face’,” Cummings said. “And that would be enough to stop the cameras from working correctly.”

While the robotic dog seen at Mar-a-Lago is not armed, she says competitors appear to be experimenting with models that are.

“People are trying to weaponise these dogs,” Cummings adds, citing a Chinese model with an attached rifle which she learned about at a robotics meeting this week.

They aren’t about to replace humans, says Melissa Michelson, who likens the devices to assisted-driving technology in some vehicles.

“We don’t have a lot of faith in the ability of cars to drive by themselves,” Michelson said.

Secret Service agents at Mar-a-Lago have been seen patrolling alongside Spot.

“We still do need those humans behind the scenes to use human judgment and be able to jump in if there’s a technology breakdown,” she says.

“I’m a veteran of the special military operation, I’m going to kill you!” were the words Irina heard as she was attacked by a man in Artyom, in Russia’s far east.

She had been returning from a night out when the man kicked her and beat her with his crutch. The force of the strike was so strong that it broke the crutch.

When the police arrived, the man showed them a document proving he had been in Ukraine and claimed that because of his service “nothing will happen to him”.

The attack on Irina is just one of many reported to have been committed by soldiers returning from Ukraine.

Verstka, an independent Russian website, estimates that at least 242 Russians have been killed by soldiers returning from Ukraine. Another 227 have been seriously injured.

Like the man who beat Irina, many of the attackers have previous criminal convictions and were released from prison specifically to join Russia’s war in Ukraine.

The BBC estimates that the Wagner mercenary group recruited more than 48,000 prisoners to fight in Ukraine. When Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin was killed in a plane crash last year, Russia’s defence ministry took over recruitment in prisons.

These cases have severely impacted Russian society, says sociologist Igor Eidman.

“This is a very serious problem, and it can potentially get worse. All the traditional ideas of good and evil are being turned upside down,” he told the BBC.

“People who have committed heinous crimes – murderers, rapists, cannibals and paedophiles – they not only avoid punishment by going to war, the unprecedented bit is that they are being hailed as heroes.”

There are numerous reasons why Russian soldiers lucky enough to return from the war would think they are above the law.

Official media call them “heroes,” and President Vladimir Putin has dubbed them Russia’s new “elite”. Those recruited into the army from prisons either had their convictions removed or they were pardoned.

It is not unheard of for released convicts return from the war in Ukraine, reoffend and then escape punishment for a second time by going back to the front.

This makes some police officers despair. “Four years ago, I put him away for seven years,” policeman Grigory told the Novaya Gazeta website.

“And here he is in front of me again, saying: ‘You won’t be able to do anything, officer. Now’s our time, the time of those who are shedding blood in the special military operation.'”

Russian courts have routinely used participation in the war against Ukraine as a reason to issue milder sentences.

But many cases don’t even reach court. Moscow has introduced a new law against “discrediting the Russian armed forces,” which has made some victims of crimes by veterans afraid to report them.

Olga Romanova, the head of prisoner rights NGO Russia Behind Bars, says a sense of impunity is driving up crime rates.

“The main consequence is the gap between crime and punishment in the public mind. If you commit a crime, it is far from certain that you are going to be punished,” she tells the BBC.

In 2023, the number of serious crimes registered in Russia rose by almost 10%, and in the first half of this year the number of military personnel convicted of crimes more than doubled compared to the same period a year before.

Sociologist Anna Kuleshova argues that violence is becoming more acceptable in Russian society, especially because criminals can now escape punishment by going to war.

“There is a tendency to legalise violence. The idea that violence is a kind of norm will probably spread – violence at school, domestic violence, violence in relationships and as a way to resolve conflicts.

“This is facilitated by the militarisation of society, the turn to conservatism and the romanticisation of war. Violent crimes committed within the country are being atoned by the violence of war.”

For Anannyaa Gupta completing her studies in Australia has always been the “dream”.

“Their education system is one of the best in the world,” the 21-year-old, from the Indian city of Hyderabad, explains.

After completing her bachelor’s degree at Melbourne’s Monash University in July, she applied for the master’s qualification she needs to become a social worker – the kind of skilled job Australia is desperate to fill amid labour shortages.

“I genuinely want to study here, offer my skills and contribute to society,” she says.

But Ms Gupta is among current and prospective international students who have been swept up in a panic caused by the Australian government’s plan to slash foreign student numbers.

The new cap – which would significantly reduce new enrolments – is needed to make the A$47.8bn (£24.6bn, $32bn) education industry more sustainable, the government says.

It is the most controversial of recent measures that have also imposed tougher English language requirements on student visa applicants, and greater scrutiny on those seeking further study. Non-refundable visa application fees have also been doubled.

However, the sector and its supporters say they weren’t properly consulted, and that the changes could ravage the economy, cause job losses and damage Australia’s reputation, all while punishing both domestic and international students.

“[It] sends out the signal that Australia is not a welcoming place,” says Matthew Brown, deputy chief executive of the Group of Eight (Go8), a body which represents Australia’s top ranked universities.

Education is Australia’s fourth biggest export, trailing only mining products. Foreign students, who pay nearly twice as much as Australian students on average, prop up some institutions, subsidising research, scholarships, and domestic study fees. At the University of Sydney, for example, they account for over 40% of revenue.

But Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s government is facing pressure to reduce record levels of migration, in the hope of improving housing affordability and easing a cost-of-living crisis, ahead of a federal election next year. And international students – who totalled 793,335 last semester – have become a target.

The government has proposed to cap new foreign enrolments at 270,000 for 2025, which it says is a return to pre-pandemic levels. An accurate comparison with previous years is not possible because publicly available data is inadequate, according to an education expert.

Education Minister Jason Clare says each higher education institution will be given an individual limit, with the biggest cuts to be borne by vocational education and training providers. Of the universities affected, those in capital cities will see the largest reductions.

The government says the policy will redirect students to regional towns and universities that need them, instead of overcrowded big cities.

It also says the changes aim to protect prospective students from “unethical” providers, alleging some accept students without sufficient language skills or academic standards and enrol people who intend to work instead of study.

“International education is extremely important, and these reforms are designed to make it better and fairer, and set it up on a more sustainable footing going forward,” Clare said.

Abul Rizvi, a former government official who shaped Australia’s skilled migration policy, says the “underfunded” sector has “long been chasing tuition revenue from overseas students and sacrificing learning integrity in the process”.

Institutions themselves are questioning whether they’re too reliant on international student income and how to fix it, Dr Brown says: “It’s a discussion that every university is having.”

But the caps announcement still drew a mostly furious response from the sector.

The Go8 has called the proposed laws “draconian”, while others accused the government of “wilfully weakening” the economy and of using international students as “cannon fodder in a poll-driven battle over migration”.

The government has not confirmed how long the caps will be in place, but Dr Brown says the Go8’s calculations indicate they will have a A$1bn impact on their members in the first year alone. The broader economy would suffer a A$5.3bn hit, resulting in the loss of 20,000 jobs, according to their research.

Australia’s Department of the Treasury has called those projections “doubtful” but has not released its own modelling on the economic impact of the changes.

Dr Brown also warned that the caps could see some universities rescind offers already made to foreign students, strangle vital research programmes, and may mean an increase in fees for some Australian students.

However a handful of smaller universities, for whom the caps are beneficial, welcomed the news.

La Trobe University’s Vice-Chancellor Theo Farrell said they supported “transparent and proportionate measures” to manage international student growth in Australia.

“We recognise that there is broad political and community support to reduce net migration levels,” he said.

But Dr Brown argues there is also a hit to Australia’s reputation which is harder to quantify, pointing to Canada as a warning. It introduced a foreign student cap this year, but industry bodies there say enrolments have fallen well below that, because nervous students would rather apply to study somewhere with more certainty.

“We need an international education system that has managed growth built in… it’s not for the minister to unilaterally decide on caps based on some formula which satisfies a political end.”

Mr Rizvi argues that instead of going ahead with the proposed caps in Australia, the government should consider introducing a minimum university entrance exam score.

“We’re shooting ourselves in the foot… It won’t deter poor performing students but it will deter high performing students who have options,” he wrote on X.

Meanwhile in parliament, the Greens have said the policy amounts to “racist dog-whistling”, and one of the government’s MPs has broken ranks to attack it too.

“A hard cap would be bad for Australia’s human capital and the talent pipeline, bad for soft power and bad for academic excellence and research,” Julian Hill told The Australian newspaper.

But despite the criticisms, the bill legislating the limits – set to be debated in parliament this week – is expected to pass, with the opposition’s support.

Clare has acknowledged that some service providers may face difficult budget decisions but said that any assertion the policy is “somehow tearing down international education is absolutely and fundamentally wrong”.

However, with less than two months until the changes are supposed to take effect, they are causing extreme anxiety and confusion among students.

In China and India – the two biggest international markets for Australia – the news is going down like a lead balloon.

“This is going to be very hard on students in India, most of whom come from middle-income backgrounds and spend years planning and preparing for their education abroad. Their dreams will be quashed,” Amritsar-based immigration consultant Rupinder Singh told the BBC.

Vedant Gadhavi – a Monash University student – says that some of his friends back home in Gujarat who had been hoping to come to Australia for their masters have been spooked.

“They seem to have changed their plans a bit because of the constant shift… They thought that it might be a bit difficult to plan their careers and life.”

Jenny – a senior high school student in China’s Anhui province – says she set her sights on Australia because getting a good quality education there is “easier” than getting into a fiercely competitive Chinese university.

“It’s all up in the air now,” she tells the BBC.

She adds that going to a lower-ranked university in a regional location is not an option for her or her peers: “We [just] won’t go to Australia at all.”

Rishika Agrawal, president of the Australian National University’s International Students’ Department, says the proposed laws have stoked other uneasy feelings.

“Definitely there are other students who think this is a sign of increased hostility towards immigrants in Australia from the government.”

And, she adds, with the contributions to society made by international students often overlooked, while their post-graduate employment options dry up, there’s growing resentment.

“They go back to their own countries, having spent a tremendous amount of money towards their education and not really reaping the rewards for it.

“They definitely do feel like cash cows.”

As the debate continues in parliament, there’s been some relief for Anannya. Shortly after she spoke to the BBC, and only weeks out from her course start date, she received the official masters enrolment certificate and new study visa she feared would never come.

But many other students still wait and worry.

“If I were in their shoes, I’d feel very helpless, very disappointed. It’s already taking away credibility that Australia used to hold,” Rishika says.

In India, if you ask a pedestrian how many obstacles they’ve encountered on a footpath, they may not be able to count them – but they’ll certainly tell you that most footpaths are in poor condition.

This is what Arun Pai says he learnt when he started asking people about their experience walking on the streets of his city, Bengaluru (formerly Bangalore), in southern India.

This month he set up a “fun challenge” – called the ‘world’s longest footpath run’ – which invited people to walk or jog on an 11km (8 miles) stretch of footpath and make a note of all the obstacles they encountered, like hawkers, garbage or broken slabs of concrete. Next, they were asked to rate the footpath on a scale of one to five.

“When you have specifics, it gets easier to ask the authorities to take action. Instead of telling your local politician “the footpaths are bad”, you can ask him or her “to fix specific spots on a street,” Mr Pai says.

Mr Pai, who is the founder of Bangalore Walks, a non-profit that promotes walking, is among several citizen activists who are pushing to make the country’s roads more pedestrian-friendly.

In India’s capital, a tour company called Delhi by Cycle has been advocating for making the city more cycle-friendly and walkable. These walking-enthusiasts are holding awareness walks, building walking apps and lobbying with politicians to make a change.

Even in India’s biggest cities, proper footpaths are few and far between and they are often overrun by hawkers and shops, parked vehicles and even cattle. In some places, they double up as homes for the poor.

Even footpaths that exist are often not built to standard or properly maintained. Navigating roads on foot through crowds and traffic can be a nightmare.

Last month, Walking Project, a citizen’s group in India’s financial capital, Mumbai, released a ‘pedestrian manifesto’ ahead of Maharashtra state elections to highlight the poor condition of the city’s roads and encourage local politicians to take action.

The manifesto included demands for better parking, designated hawking zones, pedestrian-friendly corridors on arterial roads and to make footpaths more accessible to those with mobility challenges.

“Government statistics show that almost 50% of the city’s population relies on walking, which is far greater than the 11% that uses private transport and the combined 15% that uses tuk-tuks and buses,” says Vendant Mhatre, convener of Walking Project.

“And yet, pedestrians are the most ignored group of users when it comes to framing policies around transport or road safety,” he adds.

According to the latest government estimates on road accidents, pedestrian fatalities were the second-highest after those of two-wheeler riders. In 2022, over 10,000 pedestrians lost their lives on national highways across the country, with around 21,000 more sustaining injuries in accidents.

“Authorities often resort to band-aid solutions like adding speed bumps or a signal to curb road accidents. But what is really needed is inter-connected footpaths that can accommodate high footfall,” Mr Mhatre says.

Studies have found that addressing the problems of this forgotten group of road users can reap benefits for multiple stakeholders.

In 2019, researchers in the southern city of Chennai studied the impact the construction of new footpaths on 100km (62 miles) of the city’s streets had on the environment, economy and the health and safety of citizens.

They found that the new footpaths encouraged 9% to 27% of the surveyed respondents to walk instead of using motorized transport, which led to a reduction in greenhouse gases and particulate matter. They also learned that the footpaths provided new opportunities for women and lower-income groups, helping them save money as well.

The survey highlighted how people with disabilities and women might have nuanced requirements from footpaths and that tailoring improvements to meet their needs could enhance accessibility and equity.

“Very often, people don’t have a benchmark for footpath quality, especially if they haven’t travelled abroad or been exposed to places that have good facilities for pedestrians,” Mr Mhatre says. He reasons that that’s why there isn’t enough outrage about the quality or absence of footpaths in the country.

He also points out that most people see walking as an activity performed for leisure or exercise. And so, the infrastructure they associate with walking stops at gardens or walking tracks. In reality, however, people walk to various destinations daily, so the scope of walking infrastructure is far broader.

“Walking is the most economical and environment-friendly way to navigate one’s city and it’s high time our leaders paid as much attention to walking infrastructure as they do to public transport,” Mr Mhatre says.

Geetam Tiwari, a professor of civil engineering, says that the main problem is that too much focus is given to solving the problem of car congestion on roads.

“To improve the flow of traffic, authorities often narrow down footpaths or eliminate them entirely,” she says. Ms Tiwari says that this approach is problematic because doing so makes it difficult for pedestrians to access public transport systems, like buses and metros, which can take the pressure off the roads.

“It might seem counter-intuitive, but allowing the congestion to persist and focussing on improving infrastructure for pedestrians will help solve the traffic problem in the long run,” she says.

Ms Tiwari also says that the federal government should make it mandatory for states to implement the guidelines issued by the Indian Road Congress – a national organisation that lays down designing standards for roads and highways.

She says that cities can also implement their own Non-Motorised Transport Policy (NMTP) to create better infrastructure for cyclists and pedestrians.

“At the moment, only a handful of cities in India have experimented with a NMTP but its time more cities step up to the plate,” she adds.

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.

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 told 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 said.

“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 has 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

Pop star Charli XCX has revealed how her parents drove her to raves where she was performing, at the age of just 15.

She added that she managed to persuade them to do that by telling them she had “swim practice… At 2:00 A.M.”

The singer’s album Brat inspired a cultural phenomenon in the summer, with many people adopting the “brat” way of life.

It has built momentum since its release in June this year, through not only its original tracks, but remixes too.

The British singer, who is now 32, delivered an opening monologue while hosting Saturday Night Live (SNL) on NBC in the US.

In it, Charli, whose real name is Charlotte Aitchison, told viewers how she got to where she is now.

“I actually started performing when I was really young, and I played at my first rave when I was 15 years old,” she said.

“My parents actually drove me there. And, if you’re wondering how did I get my parents to drive me to a rave? Well, I just told them, ‘guys, I’ve got swim practice. At 2:00 A.M.'”

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She went on to joke that she has come “a long way” and now considers herself “a triple threat, which in England means I sing, I drink, and I smoke”.

Charli’s sixth studio album inspired millions of posts on social media, plenty of dance moves and even reached the heights of American politics, with US presidential candidate Kamala Harris giving her social media a brat rebrand in an attempt to attract younger voters.

During her appearance on SNL, the British pop star defined exactly what brat means to her.

“So many people have asked me, what is brat, and honestly, it’s just like an attitude, it’s a vibe,” she said.

“I have to say brat summer has been a crazy experience,” she added.

In attempting to define the word on SNL, she cited an incident where US businesswoman Martha Stewart had mistakenly claimed a journalist who covered her legal proceedings was dead.

“Martha gets mad about an old magazine article and she says that she’s glad the journalist who wrote it is dead – that is brat,” she said.

“And then last Friday, when that exact journalist responded and said, ‘Hey, ‘I’m alive…’ – that is extremely brat.”

Charli, who was also a musical guest on the show, went on to say: “Honestly though, anyone can be brat.”

“Keeping it real is very brat, it is all about being vulnerable, so truly, this is a dream come true,” she said.

“I am so excited to be here, and I’m not used to being out this early on a Saturday night but for you guys, it’s worth it.”

Charli has previously defined brat as a girl who “has a breakdown, but kind of like parties through it”, who is honest, blunt, “a little bit volatile”.

She told the BBC’s Sidetracked podcast that someone brat might have “a pack of cigs, a Bic lighter and a strappy white top with no bra”.

Creating an aesthetic has been something popularised on TikTok, with Charli’s brat girl summer seen as a rejection of other trends such as the “clean girl” who looks feminine and well kept.

Brat was crowned Collins Dictionary word of the year earlier this month, with lexicographers defining it as someone with a “confident, independent and hedonistic attitude”.

• Listen to Aleem read this article

Standing on a podium in a Florida convention centre on the night of the election, a row of American flags behind him and a jubilant crowd looking on, Donald Trump declared: “Many people have told me that God spared my life for a reason, and that reason was to save our country and to restore America to greatness.”

This was one of the most striking themes of his election campaign – that he had been chosen by God. Yet even before the attempt on his life on 13 July in Butler, Pennsylvania, millions of Americans already felt guided by their faith to support the former, and now future, president.

Some cast the election in an apocalyptic light and likened Trump to a Biblical figure.

Last year, on the Christian show FlashPoint, TV evangelist Hank Kunneman described “a battle between good and evil”, adding: “There’s something on President Trump that the enemy fears: it’s called the anointing.”

Jim Caviezel, an actor who played Jesus in Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ, proclaimed, albeit jokingly, that Trump was “the new Moses”. Then, in the months leading up to the election, many of his supporters referred to him as a “saviour”.

The question is why. What makes so many see this man, who isn’t known to have an especially strong faith, as sent from God?

And what does that say about Christianity more broadly in a country where the numbers of churchgoers is in rapid decline?

Reverend Franklin Graham is one of America’s best-known evangelists and the son of Billy Graham, arguably its most famous preacher. He is one of the Trump believers, convinced there is no doubt that the president-elect was chosen for this mission by God.

“The bullet that went through his ear missed his brain by a millimetre, and his head turned just at the last second when the gun was fired,” he says. “I believe that God turned his head and saved his life.”

The questions asked about Trump’s character – including accusations of sexual misconduct, and his alleged affair with adult film star Stormy Daniels and associated hush-money trial – don’t dim Mr Graham’s view.

“Remember when Jesus told the crowd, ‘Let the one without sin cast the first stone’ and that slowly, the entire audience began to disappear? All of us have sinned.”

Part of the reason some Christians may find it easier to look past questions of character is that during Trump’s first term in office he delivered on a particular promise: to appoint anti-abortion judges to the US Supreme Court.

Mr Graham points to this as evidence that the president-elect is a man of integrity.

“This is a big win for Christians, for evangelicals,” he says. “We believe the president will defend religious freedom where the Democrats would not.”

The selection of Mike Huckabee as ambassador to Israel is already a hint that faith might shape some foreign policy. US evangelicals including Huckabee are among the country’s most fervent supporters of Israel.

Many of them believe that Jews should populate the whole of the area of biblical Israel, including what is now the occupied West Bank and Gaza, in order to precipitate events leading to the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.

In the past Donald Trump had talked about having had a Presbyterian upbringing. But despite his strong support from Christians in last week’s election, he never tried hard to convince them in his most recent campaign that he was one of them.

“I think he realised it was going to be a bit of a stretch to argue that he himself is a religious man, but instead he adopted a quid pro quo approach,” says Robert Jones, founder and president of the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI), which has long tracked religious trends in the US.

That approach centred on changes in demographics and dwindling numbers of churchgoers.

In the early 1990s, about 90% of US adults identified as Christians – a figure that had fallen to 64% earlier this decade, with a large increase in the number of those unaffiliated to any faith, according to data from Pew Research Center.

This, says Dr Jones, was something Trump was able to draw upon.

“Trump’s message was: ‘I know you’re in decline, I know your numbers are waning. I know your children and grandchildren aren’t affiliated with your Churches anymore, but if you elect me, I’m going to restore power to the Christian Churches”,’ he says.

Not all Christians in the US were won over, however. For some, their faith has guided them to precisely the opposite impression of Trump.

In recent months, from the pulpit of Bible Ways Ministries in Atlanta, Georgia, Reverend Monte Norwood has been sharing a very different message to that of Franklin Graham.

He, for one, was dismayed at last week’s election result.

“Trump has demeaned and debased just about anybody he could, from immigrants to minorities to women to those who are disabled,” he says.

“White conservative Republican Christianity that ignores character is just hypocritical.”

He has long been opposed to the idea of a second Trump presidency, and he has voiced this on social media and through activism encouraging voter turnout – such as by helping other black voters to register to vote and access free rides to the polls.

“I am a Matthew chapter 25 kind of Christian – where Jesus said: ‘When I was hungry you fed me, when I was thirsty, you gave me something to drink.’”

PRRI’s research has looked into voting records in history, not just by religious practice and belief but also by race, and found that when it comes to political views, there has been a clear trend for decades.

“Almost without exception, white Christian groups have tended to vote Republican in presidential contests,” says Dr Jones. “Non-white Christian groups, non-Christian groups and religiously unaffiliated voters have tended to vote Democrat.”

This pattern dates back to the 1960s, he adds, when the Democratic party became associated with the civil rights movement and white Christian groups began migrating to the Republican Party.

Polling ahead of the 2024 election looking at voter intention suggested that for the most part this pattern held. “From our polling, we have a Republican party that is 70% white and Christian, and a Democratic party that’s only a quarter white and Christian.”

According to the PPRI’s survey of 5,027 adults, white evangelical Protestant voters were the strongest backers of Trump over Harris by 72% to 13%. White Catholic voters also backed Trump, with 55% supporting him and 34% aligned with Harris. White “mainline” non-evangelical Protestants showed a similar split.

By contrast 78% black Protestants supported Harris while just 9% backed Trump, according to the survey. Harris’s backers also included Jewish-Americans, the religiously unaffiliated and other non-Christian Americans, according to the PPRI.

When it came to the actual vote, there were signs of departures from familiar patterns.

The results from Michigan showed a clear lurch towards the Republican Party by Muslim voters in the state, likely the result of the Biden administration’s role in aiding Israel in its war in Gaza.

Analysis also shows that more Latino Catholics voted for Trump than expected, when previously they have tended to lean Democrat.

Economic hardship brought about by soaring inflation, among other factors, is likely to have resulted in “non-traditional” Republican voters being drawn to vote for Trump.

As for his appeal to traditionalist Christians, Dr Jones argues that there has been a faith component to the idea of “Making America Great Again”, with the promise of restoring the country’s Christian character.

“His has been a campaign of grievance and loss and nostalgia,” argues Dr Jones, “and that includes nostalgia from a faith perspective.”

For all his political strength, one thing that Trump cannot do is hold back the tide of demographic change in the US – including the move away from faith.

While the number who define themselves as “atheist” remains lower in the US than in most Western countries, those who say they are “religiously unaffiliated” is growing.

There is a generational component to that, along with the familiar trends of personal economics meaning that people have greater autonomy to move away from the accepted norms in their communities. But there are other reasons too.

A third of American atheists or agnostics say they disaffiliated from their childhood religion because of high-profile Church abuse scandals, according to a PPRI study.

In 2020 the Catholic Church released lists of living members of clergy in the US found to have been accused of abuses, including some linked to child pornography and rape. There were around 2,000 names.

Two years later, the Southern Baptist Conference collection of US Protestant Churches released a list of hundreds of Church leaders accused of child abuse between 2000 and 2019.

It shows the scale of the issue that Trump faces. Nevertheless, Franklin Graham is optimistic.

“Church attendance is not going to go up next week because President Trump has been elected – but what I think it does mean is that legislation that we might have seen coming down the road that that would make it very difficult for people of faith will not come,” he says, referring to the idea of more progressive legislation around, for example, abortion and gay and trans rights.

“He will protect people of faith, he will protect religious freedoms in this country. I don’t talk about just Christian religious freedoms… [but] all people of faith.”

As to whether he is right, Americans can only watch and wait. But just as some are revelling in the promise of governance influenced by Christianity, others are undoubtedly nervous.

After 10 weeks, the mass rape trial that has shocked France is moving on to the final phase of closing statements.

The case focuses on a formerly married couple, Dominique and Gisèle Pelicot, pensioners who are now in their early 70s.

Ms Pelicot’s legal team will give their final statements on Tuesday, and the defence will then follow, ahead of a verdict from a panel of five judges expected on 20 December.

Dominique Pelicot went on trial with 50 other men in the southern city of Avignon in September.

Every chapter of this case has played out in the full glare of publicity because Ms Pelicot has waived her anonymity, making the whole trial open to the media and the public.

In France, it has become known as the , after the village near Avignon where the Pelicots lived.

In November 2020, Dominique Pelicot admitted drugging his then-wife for almost a decade and recruiting dozens of men online to rape her in their home when she was unconscious.

Police tracked down his co-accused from thousands of videos they found on Mr Pelicot’s laptop, although they were unable to identify an additional 21 men. Investigators said they have evidence of around 200 rapes carried out between 2011 and 2020.

The majority of the defendants deny the charges of rape, arguing that they cannot be guilty because they did not realise Ms Pelicot was unconscious and therefore did not “know” they were raping her.

That line of defence has sparked a nationwide discussion on whether consent should be added to France’s legal definition of rape, currently defined as “any act of sexual penetration committed against another person by violence, constraint, threat or surprise”.

The trial has also shone a light on the issue of chemical submission – drug-induced sexual assault.

Dominique and Gisèle Pelicot, who were both born in 1952, married in 1973 and had three children. She worked as a manager in a large French company, while he – a trained electrician – started several ultimately unsuccessful businesses.

The Pelicots lived in the Paris region until 2013, when they retired to the picturesque southern village of Mazan. They had a big house with a swimming pool and often used to entertain their extended family during the summer holidays.

By all accounts, they were a happy, close-knit couple. “We shared holidays, anniversaries, Christmases… All of that, for me, was happiness,” Ms Pelicot has said.

Between 2011 and 2020, Ms Pelicot experienced unsettling symptoms she took to be signs of Alzheimer’s or a brain tumour, and underwent extensive medical exams. The blackouts and memory loss were, in fact, side-effects of the drugs her husband was giving her without her knowledge.

Ms Pelicot divorced her husband soon after his crimes came to light. She is only using her married name for the purposes of the trial.

Dominique Pelicot has been in jail since November 2020. He will be sentenced next month, alongside the other 50 defendants.

In September 2020, Dominique Pelicot was spotted filming under women’s skirts by a security guard in a supermarket in southern France.

Police detained him and confiscated his electronic devices. They noticed suspicious chats on his Skype account, then found thousands of videos of men having sex with a seemingly unconscious woman – Mr Pelicot’s wife, Gisèle.

Investigators worked for weeks to gather enough evidence to take Mr Pelicot into custody and eventually arrested him in November 2020. He immediately admitted all the charges.

When Ms Pelicot was questioned by police and shown photos and videos in which she appeared unconscious, it became clear she had no knowledge of what had happened to her. She denied ever giving her consent to having sex with other men and realised her husband had drugged her for almost a decade.

Fifty men – aged between 26 and 72 years old – are on trial alongside Mr Pelicot.

They hail from all walks of life: among them are a fireman, a carpenter, a nurse and a journalist. Many are married with children. Most lived within a 60km (37 miles) distance of the Pelicots’ residence.

A handful have admitted to raping Ms Pelicot.

The majority, however, reject the charges. Their defence hinges on the fact they did not believe what they were doing was rape, because they were not aware that she was unconscious and therefore could not give her consent.

Mr Pelicot has repeatedly denied this was the case, insisting that when he recruited men on the internet he made it abundantly clear that his wife would be asleep. “They all knew, they cannot say the contrary,” he has said.

It was Gisèle Pelicot who decided to waive her anonymity – highly unusual in cases of rape. Her legal team also insisted for the videos of the alleged rapes to be shown in court.

Ms Pelicot has said that she hopes her decision will empower other survivors of sexual violence to speak out: “I want all women who have been raped to say: Madame Pelicot did it, I can too. I don’t want them to be ashamed any longer.”

She has forcefully hit back at “humiliating” suggestions by the defence that she may have been drunk or pretending to be asleep during the alleged rapes, stating that she was never interested in partner-swapping or threesomes.

Ms Pelicot has also, however, spoken candidly about the devastation that her husband’s abuse and lies have wreaked on her life. “People may see me and think: that woman is strong,” she said. “The facade may be solid, but behind it lies a field of ruins.”

The horror of Dominique Pelicot’s actions, the sheer number of men implicated in the case and Gisèle Pelicot’s decision to push for an open trial has meant that the proceedings have garnered significant attention.

Dozens of members of the public attend court in Avignon each day to back Ms Pelicot, meeting her with applause and handing her flowers.

Murals have appeared across the country depicting her distinctive look of a short bob and round sunglasses, and demonstrations have taken place all over France in her support.

Above all, she is credited by many with sparking a conversation on rape culture, misogyny and chemical submission.

Several feminist groups are now pushing for the government to amend its definition of rape to include consent, as is already the case in many European countries.

“Society has already accepted the fact that the difference between sex and rape is consent,” said Greens senator Mélanie Vogel, who proposed a consent-based rape law last year. “Criminal law, however, has not.”

Donald Trump received a warm welcome as he celebrated his election victory at the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) in New York alongside Elon Musk and some of his cabinet picks.

Trump entered the arena to loud music and cheers from the UFC 309 crowd at Maddison Square Garden.

He spent most of the night sat between UFC President Dana White and Tesla CEO Musk.

Two of Trump’s key cabinet picks, Robert F Kennedy Jr and Tulsi Gabbard, plus Vivek Ramaswamy, who will lead Trump’s cost-cutting “Department of Government Efficiency” with Musk, were also in the crowd.

Trump enthusiastically greeted podcaster and UFC announcer Joe Rogan, who endorsed the president-elect after he appeared on his show before the election.

Trump waved to fans, who chanted “USA” as he walked to the octagon, before soaking in applause and dancing as the UFC played footage celebrating his election victory over Kamala Harris.

Jon Jones, who retained his heavyweight UFC title, then celebrated by heading over to greet Trump, handing the president-elect his title.

“I want to say a big thank you to President Donald Trump for being here tonight,” said Jones, receiving a huge roar of approval from the crowd.

Trump has been a long-time supporter of the UFC, attending many of its live events over the years.

He usually receives a warm welcome from fans, though he received some boos at a UFC event in 2019, towards the end of his first term as president.

White has been one of Trump’s most high-profile backers.

The UFC president gave a speech at the Republican National Convention in July, saying: “I’m in the tough guy business and this man is the toughest, most resilient human being I have ever met in my entire life.”