Residents of Mayotte have spoken of “apocalyptic scenes” caused by the worst storm in 90 years to hit the French Indian Ocean territory.

Cyclone Chido brought wind speeds of more than 225km/h (140mph), flattening areas where the poorest lived in sheet-metal roof shacks.

“We’ve had no water for three days now,” said one resident of the capital city Mamoudzou. “Some of my neighbours are hungry and thirsty,” another one said.

Rescue workers, including reinforcements from France, are combing through the debris searching for survivors. Twenty people have been confirmed dead, but the local prefect said it could be thousands.

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Authorities said they were having difficulty establishing the number of deaths due to the large number of undocumented migrants – over 100,000 – in a population of 320,000.

Widespread damage to infrastructure – with downed power lines and impassable roads – is severely hindering emergency operations.

Supplies have begun to arrive, but there are severe shortages of food, water and shelter in certain areas. Some 85% of the territory remains without power, and about 20% of phones appear to be working. Some areas are beginning to get tap water.

“The images are apocalyptic. It’s a disaster, there’s nothing left,” a nurse working at the main hospital in Mamoudzou told BFM TV.

Mamoudzou resident, John Balloz, said he was surprised he did not die when the cyclone struck.

“Everything is damaged, nearly everything, the water treatment plant, electric pylons, there’s a lot to do.”

Mohamed Ishmael, who also lives in the capital, told Reuters news agency: “You feel like you are in the aftermath of a nuclear war… I saw an entire neighbourhood disappear.”

“It’s the hunger that worries me most,” Mayotte Senator Salama Ramia told French media. “There are people who have had nothing to eat or drink” since Saturday, she said.

Francois-Xavier Bieuville, the island’s prefect, told local media the death toll could rise significantly once the damage was fully assessed. He warned it would “definitely be several hundred” and could reach the thousands.

Mayotte’s impoverished communities, including undocumented migrants who have travelled to the French territory in an effort to claim asylum, are thought to have been particularly hard hit due to the vulnerable nature of their housing.

The Muslim tradition of burying the dead within 24 hours also meant documenting the number of those who have perished was more difficult, the prefect said.

In addition to aid, 110 French soldiers have arrived to help with the rescue, with another 160 on the way. Some 800 others from the ranks of volunteers helping during emergencies were also being sent to join local police units.

After arriving in Mayotte, French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau said “days and days” would be needed to ascertain human losses.

The relief operation is being co-ordinated from Reunion – another French overseas territory.

French Red Cross spokesman Eric Sam Vah told the BBC the situation was “chaotic”.

He said the organisation had been able to reach only 20 out of 200 Red Cross volunteers in Mayotte and echoed fears about the overall number of deaths.

“The totality of the slums have been totally destroyed, we haven’t received any reports of displaced people, so the reality could be terrible in the coming days,” the spokesman told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

France colonised Mayotte in 1841 – and by the turn of the 20th Century added the three main islands that constitute the Comoros archipelago to its overseas territories.

The Comoros voted to become independent in 1974 but Mayotte decided to remain part of France.

The island’s population is heavily dependent on French financial aid and has long struggled with poverty, unemployment and political instability.

About 75% of the population live below the national poverty line and unemployment hovers at around one in three.

Cyclone Chido also made landfall in Mozambique, where it brought flash flooding, uprooted trees and damaged buildings about 25 miles (40km) south of the northern city of Pemba. Three deaths have been reported.

The cyclone caused structural damage and power outages in the northern coastal provinces of Nampula and Cabo Delgado on Saturday morning, local authorities reported.

Guy Taylor, a spokesperson for aid agency Unicef in Mozambique, said “we were hit very hard in the early hours of this morning”.

“Many houses were destroyed or seriously damaged, and healthcare facilities and schools are out of action,” he added.

Mr Taylor said Unicef was concerned about “loss of access to critical services”, including medical treatment, clean water and sanitation, and also “the spread of diseases like cholera and malaria”.

Chido is the latest deadly storm to form of such high intensity.

It strengthened as a result of its long track over the ocean, says Sarah Keith-Lucas from the BBC Weather Centre. The cyclone would have weakened had it made landfall on Madagascar’s rugged terrain.

But it is also the case that climate change has an impact – not necessarily in the frequency of storms but in the strength, Keith-Lucas says.

The storm has been now downgraded to a “depression” and is due to cross southern Malawi, then Mozambique’s Tete province, before heading towards Zimbabwe overnight into Tuesday.

It may still bring 150-300mm of rain by the end of Tuesday.

Zakir Hussain, the legendary tabla virtuoso and global ambassador of Indian classical music who has died aged 73, leaves behind a timeless rhythmic legacy that will inspire generations.

A child prodigy, he collaborated with Indian classical icons like Ravi Shankar, Ali Akbar Khan, and Shivkumar Sharma and global musicians like John McLaughlin and George Harrison.

Born on 9 March, 1951, in Mahim, Mumbai, he was the eldest son of Ustad Allarakha, one of history’s most iconic players of the tabla – a pair of traditional Indian hand played drums.

Hussain’s journey, from a child prodigy to an internationally celebrated percussionist, was a masterclass in balancing tradition and innovation.

Hussain’s life revolved around rhythm from the very beginning.

The sound of the tabla was his first language, his earliest “words”. By the age of 12, he was already performing globally, accompanying stalwarts like Pandit Ravi Shankar and Ustad Ali Akbar Khan during his teenage years.

While rooted in the Hindustani classical tradition, Hussain possessed an insatiable curiosity that propelled him to explore other genres, leading to ground-breaking collaborations across the world.

In 1973, he co-founded Shakti with guitarist John McLaughlin, a group that fused Indian classical music with jazz and Western traditions, creating a new global sound.

Over five decades, Shakti evolved, featuring luminaries like violinist L Shankar, percussionist Vikku Vinayakram, and mandolin maestro U Srinivas.

Their first studio album in 46 years, This Moment, won the Grammy for Best Global Music Album in 2024, marking a fitting finale to their 50th-anniversary tour. Hussain’s virtuosity on the tabla was pivotal to Shakti’s success and to the global appreciation of Indian rhythms.

Zakir Hussain’s contributions extended far beyond Shakti.

He was a key collaborator in Planet Drum and Global Drum Project, both with Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart, earning him Grammy Awards in 1991 and 2008.

He worked with banjo maestro Béla Fleck and bassist Edgar Meyer on the Grammy-winning As We Speak (2024), further cementing his status as a pioneer of cross-genre collaborations. He also collaborated with musicians as diverse as Yo-Yo Ma, George Harrison, Van Morrison and Billy Cobham, bringing Indian classical music to global audiences.

His ventures like Tabla Beat Science, a fusion of Indian classical music with electronic and world music, and orchestral works such as Peshkar for the Symphony Orchestra of India showcased his unrelenting drive to innovate while respecting his roots.

“The moment you think you’re a maestro, you are distancing yourself from the others,” Hussain told Rolling Stone India magazine earlier this year. “You have to be part of a group, and not dominate it.”

This philosophy made him not only a consummate artist but also a lifelong learner and mentor.

Hussain’s flamboyance and speed and precision of his performances earned him widespread admiration.

The New York Times, in its review of a 2009 jazz performance at Carnegie Hall, described his artistry as embodying “an impish strain of virtuosity”.

“He’s a fearsome technician but also a whimsical inventor, devoted to exuberant play. So he rarely seems overbearing, even when the blur of his fingers rivals the beat of a hummingbird’s wings.”

His accolades are as numerous as the beats he crafted.

A recipient of the Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri, Hussain was also a National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellow in the United States. He delighted audiences at prestigious venues like Carnegie Hall and collaborated with jazz legends, Western classical orchestras, and Carnatic music maestros.

Despite his global acclaim, Hussain remained deeply connected to his Indian roots. His early years in a modest chawl – large tenement complexes – in Mahim shaped his values.

“For the first three-and-a-half years of my life, we all lived in one room that had no toilet. We had to use the common toilets,” Hussain told Nasreen Munni Kabir.

Offstage, Hussain was an avid reader and a fan of Isaac Asimov’s Foundation series. He loved poetry, cricket, and tennis, counting Roger Federer among his heroes. His curiosity extended to biographies of musical greats like Ravi Shankar and Miles Davis, reflecting his hunger for stories that transcended boundaries. Hussain would also later say that his TV advert for a popular tea brand – Taj Mahal – “made me famous in India”.

Hussain’s death marks the end of an era but leaves an indelible mark on global music. Kabir, who chronicled his life, aptly captured his essence: “Zakir’s extraordinary playing and the extreme sense of rigour he brought to his art made him a phenomenon.”

Music for Hussain was not just a career but a spiritual journey – a way to connect with people, traditions, and cultures across the globe.

In his final years, Hussain remained as active as ever, performing, mentoring, and composing.

“Being a student and having a drive to learn keeps me going. The opportunity to get inspired by all the young musicians out there helps me revamp myself. Age doesn’t affect my energy and drive,” he said last year.

US officials are sending a drone detection system to New York, Governor Kathy Hochul says, after questions over mysterious objects in the skies over the east coast and beyond grew in recent days.

Hochul requested the federal assistance after drone sightings forced runways at Stewart International Airport in the state to shut for an hour last week.

“In response to my calls for additional resources, our federal partners are sending a drone detection system to New York,” Hochul wrote on X on Sunday.

She said state governments needed more power to deal on their own with the small, uncrewed aircraft that have also been reported in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Connecticut and Massachusetts.

And further west, in Ohio, drone sightings also led to the closure of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base for about an hour on Friday night, according to local media.

“Congress must pass a law that will give us the power to deal directly with the drones,” Hochul said in her post, after last week promising to “do whatever it takes to ensure New Yorkers remain safe”.

Senator Chuck Schumer said on Sunday he hoped to pass a bill that would give local enforcement more power to investigate unidentified flying objects, saying: “I’m pushing for answers amid these drone sightings”.

He also asked that a drone detection system similar to the one headed for New York also be sent to New Jersey, where most of the aerial encounters have so far been recorded.

New Jersey Senator Andy Kim said he went out with local residents over the weekend to observe the night sky, and that he believed – based on conversations with civilian pilots and flight tracking data – that most of the aircraft he saw “were almost certainly planes”.

• What we know about mysterious US drone sightings
• Two arrested after ‘hazardous drone operation’ near Boston airport

Despite their demands for more help in dealing with the issue, Hochul and other officials have sought to reassure the public that the suspected drones do not pose a national security threat.

On Sunday, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas confirmed the sightings included drones, as well as manned aircraft commonly mistaken for drones. He told ABC News that he knew of “no foreign involvement” related to the sightings.

The Pentagon has denied the suggestion of one New Jersey representative that the possible drones were coming from an Iranian “mothership” lurking off the east coast, while an FBI official has said there may have been “a slight overreaction” on the topic.

According to Mayorkas, the uptick in drone reports may be due to a change in federal regulations allowing drones to be flown at night.

He added that the federal government was working in “close co-ordination” with state and local authorities on the issue, saying it was “critical” they be given the ability to counter drone activity under federal supervision.

With just over a month to go until Donald Trump’s inauguration, the president-elect’s pick for national security adviser, Republican Representative Mike Waltz, hit out against the Biden administration’s response to the sightings.

“I think Americans are finding it hard to believe we can’t figure out where these are coming from,” he told the BBC’s US news partner CBS.

“We need to get to the bottom of it,” he said, accusing government agencies of “pointing at each other” rather than offering answers.

Kim, a Democrat, also called on federal authorities to do more to assuage Americans’ concerns.

“People have a lot anxiety right now about the economy, health, security etc,” he wrote on X.

“And too often we find that those charged with working on these issues don’t engage the public with the respect and depth needed.”

Syria’s former President Bashar al-Assad says he never intended to flee to Russia – in what is purported to be his first statement since the fall of Damascus eight days ago.

Assad’s reported statement was put on the Telegram channel belonging to the Syrian presidency on Monday, although it is not clear who currently controls it – or whether he wrote it.

In it he says that, as the Syrian capital fell to rebels, he went to a Russian military base in Latakia province “to oversee combat operations” only to see that Syrian troops had abandoned positions.

Hmeimim airbase had also come under “intensified attack by drone strikes” and the Russians had decided to airlift him to Moscow, he says.

In the statement – published both in Arabic and English – the former Syrian leader reportedly describes what happened on 8 December – and how he was apparently besieged at the Russian base.

“With no viable means of leaving the base, Moscow requested that the base’s command arrange an immediate evacuation to Russia on the evening of Sunday 8th December,” the statement reads.

“This took place a day after the fall of Damascus, following the collapse of the final military positions and the resulting paralysis of all remaining state institutions.”

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The statement adds that “at no point during these events did I consider stepping down or seeking refuge, nor was such a proposal made by any individual or party”.

“When the state falls into the hands of terrorism and the ability to make a meaningful contribution is lost, any position becomes void of purpose,” it says.

Assad was nowhere to be seen as Syrian cities and provinces fell to rebels led by the Islamist militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) within a period of 12 days.

However, speculation mounted that he had fled the country as even his prime minister was not able to contact him during the rebel sweep into Damascus.

On 9 December, Russian media announced that he had been given asylum there – even though there has not been any official confirmation.

The Syrian rebel groups are continuing to form a transitional government.

HTS, Syria’s most powerful rebel group, was set up under a different name, Jabhat al-Nusra, in 2011 and pledged allegiance to al-Qaeda the following year.

Al-Nusra broke ties with al-Qaeda in 2016 and later took the name HTS when it merged with other factions. However, the UN, US, UK and a number of other countries continue to designate it as a terrorist group.

Its leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, who previously used the nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, has pledged tolerance for different religious groups and communities. But his group’s jihadist past has left some doubting whether it will live up to such promises.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has lost a vote of confidence in parliament, paving the way for early elections on 23 February.

Scholz called Monday’s vote and had expected to lose it, but calculated that triggering an early election was his best chance of reviving his party’s political fortunes.

It comes around two months after the collapse of Scholz’s three-party coalition government, which left the embattled chancellor leading a minority administration.

Ahead of Monday’s vote, Scholz said it would now be up to voters to “determine the political course of our country”, teeing up what is likely to be a fiercely fought election campaign.

However, losing Monday’s no-confidence vote was the outcome Scholz wanted.

Since his argumentative three-party governing coalition collapsed in November, he had been reliant on support from the opposition conservatives to pass any new laws, effectively rendering his administration a lame-duck government.

Given Germany’s stalled economy and the global crises facing the West, staggering on until the scheduled election date of September 2025 risked being seen as irresponsible by the electorate.

Scholz’s Social Democratic Party (SDP) is trailing heavily in opinion polls, while the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) under Friedrich Merz appears to be on course for a return to government.

Opening the debate, Scholz said the snap election was an opportunity to set a new course for the country and called for “massive” investment, particularly in defence, while Merz said more debt would be a burden for younger generations and promised tax cuts.

Scholz’s decision to stage a vote he expected to lose in order to dissolve his own government was described as a “kamikaze” move by German tabloid Bild – but it is generally the only way a German government can dissolve parliament and spark early elections.

The process was designed specifically by the post-war founders of modern Germany to avoid the political instability of the Weimar era.

This vote of confidence is not a political crisis in itself: it is a standard constitutional mechanism that has been used by modern German chancellors five times to overcome political stalemate – and one Gerhard Schröder deployed on two occasions.

However, there is a deeper problem within German politics.

On the surface, the collapse of the coalition was sparked by a row over money. Scholz’s centre-left SDP and his Green partners wanted to ease Germany’s strict debt rules to finance support for Ukraine and key infrastructure projects.

That was blocked by Scholz’s own finance minister, Christian Lindner, who is the leader of the business-friendly liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP), which prioritised driving down the debt.

Lindner was sacked and the coalition collapsed. After years of unedifying bickering, you could almost hear the sigh of relief in Berlin’s corridors of power – but the underlying cause is more difficult to resolve and more worrying.

Germany’s party political system has become more fragmented, with more parties than ever in parliament. The new upstart political forces are also more radical.

In 2017, the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) entered the Bundestag for the first time, winning 12.6%.

In 2021 it slipped to 10.4% but is now polling at almost 20%.

The AfD will not get into government because no-one will work with it to form a coalition. But the far-right is eating into the share of the vote that goes to the two centrist big-tent parties which have always put forward modern German chancellors.

The bigger the AfD share is, the more difficult it becomes for mainstream parties to form a stable governing coalition.

That was arguably the underlying problem that pulled apart Scholz’s fractious coalition: big-spending left-leaning Social Democrats and Greens trying to work with free-market small-state liberals.

Rather than going away after the next election in February, that problem is likely to get worse. If the far-right wins a fifth of seats in parliament, it could be even more difficult after February to form a stable coalition between like-minded parties.

Another new populist political party could also get into parliament for the first time, the anti-migrant nativist far-left Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance BSW, which is named after its firebrand Marxist leader.

The conservatives are leading in the polls but as things stand their options for coalition partners are limited.

They refuse to work with the far-right and it is hard to imagine they would like to work with the radical left either. The free-market liberals may not even get into parliament and some conservatives refuse to consider the Greens.

That leaves Scholz’s SDP as a possible partner – even though Scholz is likely to be ousted from power after his stint in power saw his popularity plummet.

Whatever the next government looks like, the era of cosy consensual coalitions in Germany seems to be over.

Seven foreigners in Fiji were sent to hospital for suspected poisoning after drinking pina coladas at a five-star resort’s bar, local authorities said.

Five are tourists, with one from the US and the rest from Australia, aged between 18 and 56. Two others are foreigners living in Fiji, according to local media reports citing the health ministry.

Some were previously reported to be seriously ill, but local officials said on Monday that their symptoms have since improved and some were set to be discharged.

The incident comes weeks after the deaths of six tourists in the South East Asian nation of Laos because of suspected methanol poisoning.

Fiji tourism chief Brent Hill told RNZ they were keenly aware of the Laos incident, but added that the case in Fiji was “a long way from that”.

Shortly after drinking the rum cocktail at the Warwick Fiji resort on the Coral Coast, the seven guests displayed nausea, vomiting and neurological symptoms.

They were initially taken to Sigatoka Hospital, and later transferred to Lautoka Hospital, according to the Fiji Times.

Fiji’s tourism minister Viliame Gavok has stressed that this was an “extremely isolated incident” and that the resort claimed “they have not engaged in practices such as substituting ingredients or altering the quality of drinks served to guests”.

Initial investigations are under way and no further cases have been reported, authorities said.

Sydney resident David Sandoe told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) that his daughter Tanya and granddaughter Georgia were among those affected. But he added they were returning home and doing “very well” considering what happened.

“It’s very difficult to take a call at 11 at night… and your daughter says that they have been poisoned and they’re in hospital,” Mr Sandoe said, adding that Georgia had suffered a seizure.

The ABC had previously reported a 56-year-old Australian woman was under medical surveillance in hospital and a 19-year-old Australian woman had suffered “serious medical episodes”.

The Warwick Fiji hotel said in a statement to the BBC that it was aware of the “suspected alcohol poisoning” and was taking it “very seriously”. The hotel said it was “conducting a thorough investigation” while awaiting a “test result report” from the health authorities to “gather all necessary information”.

Fiji police are said to be investigating the circumstances of the incident.

Two Australian families in Fiji are receiving consular assistance, an Australian foreign ministry spokesperson told the BBC.

A New Zealand foreign affairs ministry spokesperson told the BBC it had “not received any requests for assistance” after the apparent poisoning incident.

The BBC also understands that no British persons were affected in the incident.

“There’s a real terrifying sense of deja vu,” Australian minister Jason Clare told the ABC. Two 19-year-old Australian girls had died from suspected methanol poisoning in the Laos incident.

Tourists have been advised to “be alert to the potential risks around drink spiking and methanol poisoning through consuming alcoholic drinks in Fiji” by Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT).

The guidance said tourists should “get urgent medical help if you suspect drink spiking”.

Cricket commentator Isa Guha has apologised for calling Indian bowler Jasprit Bumrah the “most valuable primate” during the third Test against Australia.

She made the remark while commentating for Fox Sports in Brisbane on Sunday after Bumrah got India off to a stunning start with two quick wickets.

Her comment sparked a social media backlash which noted the word’s history as a racial slur.

On Monday, Guha apologised on air: “Yesterday in commentary I used a word that can be interpreted in a number of different ways… I’d like to apologise for any offence caused.”

Guha, who is also a BBC commentator and former England cricketer, had been speaking live on air with colleagues Brett Lee and Allan Border when the controversy happened.

“Bumrah, today: five overs, 2-4. So, that’s the tone, and that’s what you want from the ex-skipper,” Lee said.

Guha responded: “Well, he’s the MVP, isn’t he? [The] most valuable primate, Jasprit Bumrah. He is the one that’s going to do all the talking for India, and why so much focus was on him in the build-up to this Test match, and whether he would be fit.”

In her apology on Monday, she said: “I set myself really high standards when it comes to empathy and respect for others and if you listen to the full transcript, I only meant the highest praise for one of India’s greatest players and someone that I admire greatly as well,” she said.

She said she had been “trying to frame the enormity of his achievements and I have chosen the wrong word and for that I am deeply sorry”.

“As someone who is also of South Asian heritage, I hope people would recognise there was no other intention or malice there,” she said.

Former India coach Ravi Shastri, a fellow Fox Sports commentator, commended her for the apology and urged India to “move on”.

“People are entitled to make mistakes. We are all human. To own up and say, ‘I’m sorry’ … it takes courage. She’s done it.

“As far as the Indian team, there is a Test on and they want to focus on the game,” he said.

Bumrah continued his achievements on Monday, taking his sixth wicket of the innings.

Allegations of racism are not unheard of in international cricket, while an independent report into cricket published last year found that racism, sexism, classism and elitism were “widespread” in the English and Welsh game.

The five remaining members of the infamous “Bali Nine” drug ring say they are “relieved and happy” to be home in Australia, after serving nearly 20 years in Indonesian prisons.

Matthew Norman, Scott Rush, Martin Stephens, Si Yi Chen, and Michael Czugaj arrived in Darwin on Sunday following years of lobbying by Australia on their behalf.

“They look forward, in time, to reintegrating back into and contributing to society,” said a statement issued on behalf of the men and their families.

The high-profile case began in 2005 when Indonesia caught nine young Australians trying to smuggle 8.3kg (18lb) of heroin out of Bali strapped to their bodies.

The eight men and one woman were arrested at an airport and hotel in Bali after a tip-off from Australian police.

The case made global headlines when two of the gang’s ringleaders, Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, were executed by firing squad in 2015 – sparking a diplomatic row between neighbours Indonesia and Australia.

Other members of the Bali Nine – most of whom were aged under 21 – were handed sentences of either 20 years or life in prison.

The case put a spotlight on Indonesia’s strict drug laws, some of the most stringent in the world.

One of the nine, Tan Duc Thanh Nguyen, died of cancer in prison in 2018. Shortly afterwards, Renae Lawrence, then 41, the only woman among the group, had her sentence commuted after spending almost 13 years in prison and returned to Australia the same year.

Indonesia did not commute the sentences of the remaining five, now aged 38 to 48, and they were transported back to Australia as prisoners. However the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) has reported that the men are effectively free to live unhindered in Australian society.

The five are banned for life from entering Indonesia, a spokesman for the government there said in a statement.

On Monday, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he had spoken to several of the men’s “grateful” parents.

“They did a serious crime and they have rightly paid a serious price for it. But it was time for them to come home,” he told reporters.

He said the deal did not come with conditions or favours Australia would have to repay: “This is an act of compassion by President Prabowo [Subianto] and we thank him for it.”

The men and their families also said they were “immensely grateful” to Prabowo.

They also thanked the lawyers, diplomats and government figures who had helped advocate for them over the past two decades, before asking for privacy.

“The welfare of the men is a priority, they will need time and support, and we hope and trust our media and community will make allowance for this.”

The five men are being put through medical checks at Darwin’s Howard Springs facility – which was used for quarantine during the pandemic – and will begin a voluntary “rehabilitation process”, Education Minister Jason Clare said. It is not clear what that entails, or how long the men will stay there.

He added that normal visa processes would apply to any Indonesian family members of the men, who did not follow them to Australia.

The Bishop of Townsville, Timothy Harris, who has supported the families of Scott Rush and Michael Czugaj since their arrests, said he immediately called Scott Rush’s father Lee when he heard the news.

Scott’s parents are eagerly awaiting the reunion, Bishop Harris told the BBC.

“They are mortified by what their son did. They always believed he has committed a crime… But this turn of events [has] filled them with a sense of anticipation.”

However, he said it would take time for the men to heal from their experience and re-integrate into society.

“If you think that through, your son commits a crime [and was] incarcerated in a foreign country, they return. How does someone get re-integrated into the family, let alone society?”

“Things have changed. The relationships need to be rekindled. They are going to have to face that as time goes on,” he said.

“Once [Scott’s family] gets to embrace him… I hope and pray things will be better, because there’s nothing like having your family [nearby].”

Canada’s finance minister Chrystia Freeland has resigned from her post, hours before she was scheduled to deliver an annual government fiscal update.

She announced her resignation in a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday, in which she said the two have been “at odds about the best path forward for Canada.”

Freeland said the decision comes after Trudeau informed her last week that he no longer wanted her to be his government’s top economic advisor.

In recent days, the two have reportedly been in a dispute over a policy that would have delivered a C$250 ($175; £139) cheque to every eligible Canadian.

In her publicly-shared resignation letter, Freeland said Canada needs to keep its “fiscal powder dry” to deal with the threat of sweeping tariffs from US President-elect Donald Trump.

She added this means “eschewing costly political gimmicks” that Canada cannot afford.

Trump has promised to impose a levy of 25% on imported Canadian goods, which economists have warned would significantly hurt Canada’s economy. In her letter, Freeland called this threat “a grave challenge”.

“We need to take that threat extremely seriously,” she said.

Freeland, who also holds the position of deputy prime minister, has long been one of Trudeau’s closest allies within his Liberal party. She has held the key role of Canada’s finance minister since 2020, helping to lead the country through the pandemic and its aftermath.

She replaced former Finance Minister Bill Morneau, who also resigned from his post amid a dispute with Trudeau over government spending policies, as well as conflict-of-interest allegations he faced involving a youth charity.

It is unclear if the fall economic statement will be delivered on Monday in light of Freeland’s resignation. A government official told Reuters news agency that the finance ministry is determining next steps.

Freeland said she intends to stay on as a Liberal member of parliament, and that she will run again in Canada’s upcoming election, which is must be held on or before October.

South Korea’s constitutional court has begun trial proceedings for the impeachment of President Yoon Suk Yeol, who was suspended for declaring martial law and plunging his country into political turmoil.

MPs voted to impeach Yoon last Saturday, after his actions sparked widespread protests calling for him to step down.

The court now has six months to decide whether to remove Yoon or reinstate him.

Yoon’s ruling People Power Party (PPP) has been grappling with the fallout ever since, with its leader announcing his resignation on Monday.

While public hearings for Yoon’s impeachment trial could take months, the court is under pressure to decide quickly and bring an end to political uncertainty. Protesters have vowed to keep up their calls for Yoon’s removal during court proceedings.

In the previous two instances a South Korean president faced impeachment, the court reversed one decision and upheld the other.

There had been questions on whether the trial could proceed in Yoon’s case, as the court currently only has six justices out of nine. Three retired recently and have yet to be replaced.

But the court said on Monday it could run Yoon’s trial with just six judges, and set a preliminary hearing date for 27 December.

If the court upholds impeachment in Yoon’s case, the country must hold fresh presidential elections within 60 days. In the meantime, Prime Minister Han Duck-soo is serving as acting president.

It is unclear if Yoon will take the stand himself during the court hearings.

He ignored a summons to meet prosecutors in Seoul on Sunday, and is set to be ordered in again for questioning. If he fails to come forward this week, police may move to arrest him.

Yoon has defended his decision to impose martial law, and after his impeachment he once again said he would fight until the end.

Minutes after the constitutional court convened on Monday morning, PPP leader Han Dong-hoon announced his resignation.

“I sincerely apologise to all the people who are suffering from this emergency situation,” Han said in a televised press conference.

Han has faced growing calls for his resignation particularly from the large pro-Yoon faction of his party, following the president’s impeachment.

Han had initially tried to stage an orderly exit for Yoon. But when it became clear that Yoon was not backing down, Han did an about-face and called for his impeachment, saying it was the only way to remove him from office.

On Saturday, 12 PPP lawmakers were believed to have voted for impeachment, enabling the motion to pass. But most of the other PPP lawmakers voted against Yoon’s impeachment.

All five Supreme Council members of the PPP said after the vote that they would resign – which would automatically dissolve the party leadership.

As the Supreme Council has been “destroyed”, Han said, it was now “impossible” to serve his duties as party chief.

“While it pains me to think of my heartbroken supporters, I don’t regret it,” Han said, in reference to his decision to call for Yoon’s impeachment.

Twelve people have died from carbon monoxide poisoning at a ski resort in Georgia, police have said.

The bodies of 11 foreigners and one Georgian national were found in a sleeping area above a restaurant in Gudauri, the largest and highest ski resort in the former Soviet state, according to officials.

Police said “preliminary tests do not indicate any trace of violence on the bodies” and it appeared to be an accident, the AFP news agency reported.

An oil-powered generator had been turned on after the building lost electricity on Friday, officers added.

The bodies were discovered on Saturday on the second floor of a building housing an Indian restaurant.

Authorities have opened an investigation into the incident and the identities of the victims have not yet been released.

Gudauri is a popular tourist destination for skiing and snowboarding enthusiasts, with a range of winter sports activities for visitors of all levels.

Its history dates back to the 19th Century when it was known as a trading post on the ancient Georgian Military Road connecting Russia with Georgia.

Gudauri is located in the Caucasus mountains in the Mtskheta-Mtianeti region at around 2,200m (7,200ft) above sea level and is about 120km (75 miles) north of Georgia’s capital Tbilisi.

An hour’s drive from Damascus, on a country road into the Syrian village of Hadar, we meet Israel’s army.

Two military vehicles and several soldiers in full combat gear man an impromptu checkpoint – a foreign authority in a country celebrating its freedom. They waved us through.

It was evidence of Israel’s incursion into Syrian territory – the temporary seizure, it said, of a UN-monitored buffer zone, set up in a ceasefire agreement 50 years ago.

“Maybe they’ll leave, maybe they’ll stay, maybe they’ll make the area safe then go away,” said Riyad Zaidan, who lives in Hadar. “We want to hope, but we’ll have to wait and see.”

The village chief, Jawdat al-Tawil, pointed to the Golan Heights territory Israel occupied in 1967, clearly visible from Hadar’s terraces.

Many residents here have relatives still living there.

Now, they see Israeli forces routinely moving around their own village, parts of which jut into the demilitarized zone. On a slope above, Israeli bulldozers can be seen working on the hillside.

A week after President Assad’s regime fell, the sense of freedom here comes tinged with fatalism.

Jawdat al-Tawil told me proudly how the village had defended itself against militia groups during the Syrian civil war, and showed me portraits of the dozens of men who had died doing so.

“We don’t allow anyone to transgress on our land,” he said. “[But] Israel is a state – we can’t stand against it. We used to stand up to individuals, but Israel is a super-power.”

Since the fall of Syria’s former president Bashar al-Assad earlier this month, Israel has also carried out hundreds of airstrikes on military targets across Syria.

And Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has announced new plans to double the population of Israeli settlements in the occupied Golan Heights, saying the move was needed because of “the new front” that had opened up in Syria.

Speaking before that plan was unveiled, Syria’s interim leader Ahmed al-Sharaa warned Israel’s military manoeuvres risked unwarranted escalation in the region and said his administration did not want conflict with Israel.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry said its actions were necessary because of threats posed by jihadist groups operating along the ceasefire line with Syria, describing its military incursions there as “limited and temporary”.

The residents of Hadar belong mainly to the Druze community – a tight-knit, introverted group which splintered from mainstream Shia Islam centuries ago.

When Israel occupied part of the Golan Heights in the 1967 war, and later unilaterally annexed it, some of the Druze there opted to remain and take Israeli citizenship.

Al-Sharaa, the leader of the Syrian militia Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) that forced President Assad from power this month, has his family roots in the occupied Golan Heights.

Some here on the Syrian-controlled side fear Israel’s plan is to grab more territory for itself.

For years, Israel has been battling the Iran-backed militia there that supported Assad. This border region is a key weapons-supply route between Tehran and the proxy forces it maintains, including the Lebanese militia Hezbollah.

Assad’s fall has left those groups – and Iran – weaker. But Israel has since stepped up its military campaign, taking advantage of the political vacuum to extend its reach.

It has also been targeting military equipment left by Assad’s forces at bases across the country, worried about who might end up using it in the future.

Israel’s Defence Minister, Israel Katz, said on Sunday that the “immediate risks” to Israel remained, and the recent developments in Syria had increased the threat, “despite the moderate appearance that rebel leaders claim to present”.

Marginalised by the Assad regime, and targeted as infidels by Sunni jihadist groups like HTS, Syria’s Druze are more tolerant of Israel than many other communities here.

The village used to fight against the Iran-backed groups Israel sees as a threat here, but Jawdat al-Tawil told me that alliances in the area were shifting, and that he was now talking to these groups about reaching a deal.

Syria is not a place where people have relied on only one ally, or fight only one enemy.

“We just need peace,” resident Riyad Zaidan told me. “We’ve had enough war, enough blood, enough hard life – we need to stop.”

Religious minorities like the Druze suffered under Assad. The country’s new leaders from HTS have promised tolerance and respect for Syria’s diverse ethnic and religious groups.

But eight years ago the group was still aligned with global jihadist groups like al-Qaeda.

It was around the time HTS split from al-Qaeda in 2016 that Jawdat al-Tawil’s son, Abdo, was killed by their militiamen on the outskirts of Hadar, while fighting for the Syrian Army.

He showed me the path where 30-year-old Abdo died and I asked how he felt about HTS taking control of Syria now.

“At first, they were gangs. Now they have got rid of the tyrant [Assad], and have come to power,” he said. “They’re supposed to rule with justice, provide safety and ensure people’s rights.”

“It’s not clear yet if they’ve changed,” he said. “I hope so.”

When Naoki Hamaguchi found out he’d landed his dream job directing remakes of his favourite game, Final Fantasy VII, he almost didn’t accept.

“I realised this was going to be 10 years of my life as a games developer and I was a little torn,” he tells BBC Newsbeat.

As video games have become more advanced the time – and budgets – needed to create them have grown.

For the people in charge of those projects it can mean committing a big chunk of your life, career and identity to them.

And there are few projects on the scale of the new Final Fantasy VII series.

A trilogy of games remaking the beloved 1997 classic with updated visuals, full voice-acting and a wealth of side content, it is a massive undertaking.

So far, it has gone well. The first two games, subtitled Remake and Rebirth, released to excellent reviews and both were nominated for a string of awards.

Mr Hamaguchi most recently accepted a Game Award for best score and music at the industry’s biggest ceremony in Los Angeles.

Newsbeat speaks to him at the Golden Joysticks in London, where Rebirth scoops prizes for Best Soundtrack, Best Storytelling and performance.

The initial announcement of developer Square Enix’s intention to split the project into three was met with some scepticism – the original game could be completed in about 40 hours.

So does Mr Hamaguchi think he’s proved the doubters wrong?

“I hope we’ve convinced them,” he says.

“With the original being so famous, so many people have their own visions of what Final Fantasy VII is. It’s very difficult to please absolutely every single fan out there.”

Despite his own concerns about the remakes taking up so much of his professional life, he says he’s happy he took the plunge.

“Final Fantasy was one of the big inspirations for me to want to become a game creator in the first place,” he says.

“This was my way of giving back to the series.”

But he admits he’s looking forward to doing something different after this trilogy of games.

“I want to move away from it and take on a completely new kind of challenge”, he says.

“I’ve given everything I have to this.”

Mr Hamaguchi says the game development climate when the first game was released means the approach to making the new games is fundamentally different.

Because it takes years to make a blockbuster game for modern machines, he says teams need to think about how the landscape will look in five to ten years’ time.

For example, emerging markets such as the Middle East and South East Asia “are undergoing very rapid economic growth” and creating a new generation of gamers.

“It’s really interesting to see so many young people getting into gaming in these regions,” he says.

In contrast to making a game 20 years ago, developers need to make sure cultural references work across regions where video games are more popular than they once were.

The games market is tougher, too.

Square Enix has said Rebirth – which released exclusively on PlayStation 5 – did not perform as well as it had hoped, and it recently confirmed a PC version would be coming soon.

People play on more platforms and there’s evidence that many gamers are sticking with a “home game” such as Fortnite, Roblox or Call of Duty for longer periods.

Drawing them away is hard, but Mr Hamaguchi says the buzz from an awards nomination can give a game a boost.

“Previously we’d release a game on a console and it would sell very well for the first couple of weeks,” he says.

An award mention can help a title stand out from the crowd and push it to the front page of online storefronts.

Final Fantasy VII’s history stretches back more than 20 years, but does Mr Hamaguchi have any thoughts on where gaming might be in the same amount of time in the future?

“Something along the lines of virtual reality, or perhaps more like augmented reality, where you can create a digital environment which merges with the real world and people can interact with things in that world,” he says.

“I think that’s a very different feeling to what we have when we play games with a standard controller today”.

He also predicts headsets could become cheap and lightweight enough so we can enter and interact with games in much more immersive ways.

For now, though, he’ll be focusing on the final part of the new trilogy, hoping to be up on the awards stage again.

Listen to Newsbeat live at 12:45 and 17:45 weekdays – or listen back here.

Last year, India nudged past China to become the world’s most populous country, according to UN estimates.

With nearly 1.45 billion people now, you’d think the country would be quiet about having more children. But guess what? The chatter has suddenly picked up.

Leaders of two southern states – Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu – have recently advocated more children.

Andhra Pradesh is mulling providing incentives, citing low fertility rates and ageing population. The state also scrapped its “two-child policy” for local body elections, and reports say neighbouring Telangana may soon do the same. Next-door Tamil Nadu is also making similar, more exaggerated, noises.

India’s fertility rate has fallen substantially – from 5.7 births per woman in 1950 to the current rate of two.

Fertility rates have fallen below the replacement level of two births per woman in 17 of the 29 states and territories. (A replacement level is one at which new births are sufficient to maintain a stable population.)

The five southern Indian states lead India’s demographic transition, achieving replacement-level fertility well ahead of others. Kerala reached the milestone in 1988, Tamil Nadu in 1993, and the rest by the mid-2000s.

Today, the five southern states have total fertility rates below 1.6, with Karnataka at 1.6 and Tamil Nadu at 1.4. In other words, fertility rates in these states match or are less than many European countries.

But these states fear that India’s shifting demographics with varying population shares between states, will significantly impact electoral representation and state wise-allocation of parliamentary seats and federal revenues.

“They fear being penalised for their effective population control policies, despite being better economic performers and contributing significantly to federal revenues,” Srinivas Goli, a professor of demography at the International Institute for Population Sciences, told the BBC.

Southern states are also grappling with another major concern as India prepares for its first delimitation of electoral seats in 2026 – the first since 1976.

This exercise will redraw electoral boundaries to reflect population shifts, likely reducing parliamentary seats for the economically prosperous southern states. As federal revenues are allocated based on state populations, many fear this could deepen their financial struggles and limit policy-making freedom.

Demographers KS James and Shubhra Kriti project that populous northern states like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar stand to gain more seats from delimitation, while southern states such as Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Andhra Pradesh could face losses, further shifting political representation.

Many, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, have hinted that changes to fiscal shares and parliamentary seat allocations will not be rushed through.

“As a demographer, I don’t think states should be overly concerned about these issues. They can be resolved through constructive negotiations between federal and state governments,” says Mr Goli. “My concern lies elsewhere.”

The key challenge, according to demographers, is India’s rapid ageing driven by declining fertility rates. While countries like France and Sweden took 120 and 80 years respectively to double their aging population from 7% to 14%, India is expected to reach this milestone in just 28 years, says Mr Goli.

This accelerated ageing is tied to India’s unique success in fertility decline. In most countries, improved living standards, education, and urbanisation naturally lower fertility as child survival improves.

But in India, fertility rates fell rapidly despite modest socio-economic progress, thanks to aggressive family welfare programmes that promoted small families through targets, incentives, and disincentives.

The unintended consequence? Take Andhra Pradesh, for instance. Its fertility rate is 1.5, on par with Sweden, but its per capita income is 28 times lower, says Mr Goli. With mounting debt and limited resources, can states like these support higher pensions or social security for a rapidly aging population?

Consider this. More than 40% of elderly Indians (60+ years) belong to the poorest wealth quintile – the bottom 20% of a population in terms of wealth distribution, according to United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)’s latest India Ageing Report.

In other words, Mr Goli says, “India is getting old before getting rich”.

Fewer children also mean a rising old-age dependency ratio, leaving fewer caregivers for an expanding elderly demographic. Demographers warn that India’s healthcare, community centres and old-age homes are unprepared for this shift.

Urbanisation, migration, and changing labour markets are further eroding traditional family support – India’s strong point – leaving more elderly people behind.

While migration from populous to less populous states can ease the working-age gap, it also sparks anti-migration anxieties. “Robust investments in prevention, palliative care, and social infrastructure are urgently needed to look after the ageing,” says Mr Goli.

As if the southern states’ concerns weren’t enough, earlier this month, the chief of the Hindu nationalist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (National Volunteers’ Organisation), the ideological backbone of Mr Modi’s BJP – urged couples to have at least three children to secure India’s future. “According to population science, when growth falls below 2.1, a society perishes on its own. Nobody destroys it,” Mohan Bhagwat reportedly said at a recent meeting.

While Mr Bhagwat’s concerns may have some basis, they are not entirely accurate, say demographers. Tim Dyson, a demographer at the London School of Economics, told the BBC that after a decade or two, continuing “very low levels of fertility will lead to rapid population decline”.

A fertility rate of 1.8 births per woman leads to a slow, manageable population decline. But a rate of 1.6 or lower could trigger “rapid, unmanageable population decline”.

“Smaller numbers of people will enter the reproductive – and main working – ages, and this will be socially, politically and economically disastrous. This is a demographic process and it is extremely difficult to reverse,” says Mr Dyson.

This is already happening in some countries.

In May, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol declared the country’s record-low birth rate a “national emergency” and announced plans for a dedicated government ministry. Greece’s fertility rate has plummeted to 1.3, half of what it was in 1950, sparking warnings from Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis about an “existential” population threat.

But demographers say that urging people to have more children is futile. “Considering the societal shifts, including the significant reduction in gender disparities as women’s lives have become increasingly similar to those of men, this trend is unlikely to reverse,” says Mr Dyson.

WATCH: Why do some in India want couples to have more children?

For Indian states like Tamil Nadu and Kerala, grappling with a declining workforce, the key question is: who will step in to fill the gap? Developed countries, unable to reverse declining fertility, are focusing on healthy and active ageing – prolonging working life by five to seven years and enhancing productivity in older populations.

Demographers say India will need to extend retirement ages meaningfully, and policies must prioritise increasing healthy years through better health screenings, and stronger social security to ensure an active and productive older population – a potential “silver dividend”.

India must also leverage its demographic dividend better – economic growth that occurs when a country has a large, working-age population. Mr Goli believes there’s a window of opportunity until 2047 to boost the economy, create jobs for the working-age population, and allocate resources for the ageing. “We’re only reaping 15-20% of the dividend – we can do much better,” he says.

Raj Kapoor, fondly called the “greatest showman of Indian cinema”, was a leading filmmaker, producer and actor whose work continues to shape and inspire Indian films.

Today, almost four decades after his death in 1988, he remains one of India’s most-loved stars.

Kapoor began his film career in India’s post-independence era. His early work often carried a socialistic undertone, mirroring the country’s mood and aspirations of the time.

“Kapoor brought romance, sexuality, song and soul to Indian socialism,” said historian Sunil Khilnani, in Incarnations: India in 50 Lives, a 2015 BBC Radio 4 series on the men and women who made India.

So perhaps it isn’t surprising that celebrations to mark what would have been his 100th birthday on Saturday are taking place across the country, honouring his enduring legacy.

Among them is a retrospective showcasing 10 of his iconic films that will screen across 40 cities and 135 cinemas in India at the weekend.

Born as Shrishti Nath Kapoor to actors Prithviraj Kapoor and Ramsarni Kapoor, he later took the name of Ranbir Raj Kapoor and debuted as a child actor in Inquilab (1935).

Before making waves on screen, Kapoor honed his craft behind the scenes – assisting filmmaker Kidar Sharma, working as an art director at his father’s Prithvi Theatre, and appearing in smaller roles.

His breakout came with Neel Kamal (1947), launching a storied career that combined artistic ambition with mass appeal.

In 1948, Kapoor founded the iconic RK Films studio, synonymous with blockbuster films and international acclaim.

He debuted as a director with Aag (1948) and showcased his versatility as an actor and filmmaker in landmark films like Barsaat (1949), Awaara (1951), Shree 420 (1955), and Sangam (1964). Other popular works include Mera Naam Joker (1970), Bobby (1973), Satyam Shivam Sundaram (1978), and Ram Teri Ganga Maili (1985).

Bitcoin has surged to a new record high, extending a rally that has seen the cryptocurrency’s price rise by more than 50% since Donald Trump’s victory in the 5 November election.

The world’s largest cryptocurrency briefly passed $106,000 (£83,890), before falling back to around $105,000 in Asia trade on Monday.

The incoming Trump administration is seen as being far more friendly towards cryptocurrencies than the Biden White House.

On Thursday, the US president-elect reiterated that he is considering creating a national stockpile of the digital currency, similar to the country’s strategic oil reserve.

“The Bitcoin rally since the election has been parabolic and the FOMO – or fear of missing out – rally is gathering momentum,” Peter McGuire from trading platform XM.com told the BBC.

“Many investors believe $120,000 is achievable by the end of the year and then in 2025 there’s talk of greater than $150,000 by mid-year”.

Earlier this month, Trump named Silicon Valley entrepreneur David Sacks as his artificial intelligence (AI) and cryptocurrency tsar.

Mr Sacks is a former PayPal executive and a close friend of Trump adviser and mega-donor Elon Musk.

Trump has also said he would nominate pro-cryptocurrency Washington attorney Paul Atkins as the new head of the Wall Street regulator, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Last month, the SEC’s current head, Gary Gensler, said he would resign from the role on the day of Trump’s inauguration, on 20 January next year.

“I thank President Biden for entrusting me with this incredible responsibility. The SEC has met our mission and enforced the law without fear or favour,” Mr Gensler wrote on the social media platform X.

Trump had previously revealed plans to sack Mr Gensler on “day one” of his new administration after the SEC chairman took legal action against cryptocurrency firms, sparking controversy in some quarters.

South Korea’s constitutional court has begun trial proceedings for the impeachment of President Yoon Suk Yeol, who was suspended for declaring martial law and plunging his country into political turmoil.

MPs voted to impeach Yoon last Saturday, after his actions sparked widespread protests calling for him to step down.

The court now has six months to decide whether to remove Yoon or reinstate him.

Yoon’s ruling People Power Party (PPP) has been grappling with the fallout ever since, with its leader announcing his resignation on Monday.

While public hearings for Yoon’s impeachment trial could take months, the court is under pressure to decide quickly and bring an end to political uncertainty. Protesters have vowed to keep up their calls for Yoon’s removal during court proceedings.

In the previous two instances a South Korean president faced impeachment, the court reversed one decision and upheld the other.

There had been questions on whether the trial could proceed in Yoon’s case, as the court currently only has six justices out of nine. Three retired recently and have yet to be replaced.

But the court said on Monday it could run Yoon’s trial with just six judges, and set a preliminary hearing date for 27 December.

If the court upholds impeachment in Yoon’s case, the country must hold fresh presidential elections within 60 days. In the meantime, Prime Minister Han Duck-soo is serving as acting president.

It is unclear if Yoon will take the stand himself during the court hearings.

He ignored a summons to meet prosecutors in Seoul on Sunday, and is set to be ordered in again for questioning. If he fails to come forward this week, police may move to arrest him.

Yoon has defended his decision to impose martial law, and after his impeachment he once again said he would fight until the end.

Minutes after the constitutional court convened on Monday morning, PPP leader Han Dong-hoon announced his resignation.

“I sincerely apologise to all the people who are suffering from this emergency situation,” Han said in a televised press conference.

Han has faced growing calls for his resignation particularly from the large pro-Yoon faction of his party, following the president’s impeachment.

Han had initially tried to stage an orderly exit for Yoon. But when it became clear that Yoon was not backing down, Han did an about-face and called for his impeachment, saying it was the only way to remove him from office.

On Saturday, 12 PPP lawmakers were believed to have voted for impeachment, enabling the motion to pass. But most of the other PPP lawmakers voted against Yoon’s impeachment.

All five Supreme Council members of the PPP said after the vote that they would resign – which would automatically dissolve the party leadership.

As the Supreme Council has been “destroyed”, Han said, it was now “impossible” to serve his duties as party chief.

“While it pains me to think of my heartbroken supporters, I don’t regret it,” Han said, in reference to his decision to call for Yoon’s impeachment.

Scientists have uncovered the aftermath of an “exceptionally violent” attack about 4,000 years ago in Somerset when at least 37 people appear to have been butchered and likely eaten.

It is the largest case of violence between humans identified in early Bronze Age England, which had been considered a peaceful time.

The victims’ bones were found by cavers in the 1970s. Experts believe they were thrown into a 15m shaft by the prehistoric attackers.

The massacre was probably driven by a furious “desire for revenge” and its effects likely “echoed through generations”, says Professor Rick Schulting at Oxford university.

He says the victims may have been eaten as a ritual to “dehumanise” them and to send a message by “insulting the remains”.

Around 3,000 fragments of bones found at a cave system called Charterhouse Warren in the Mendip Hills, Somerset, were analysed by a team of archaeologists.

They believe that at least 37 people died, including men, woman and children. Teenagers and older children made up about half of the victims.

Villages in early Bronze Age Britain were made up of around 50 to 100 people, so the experts think this could have equated to wiping-out almost one entire community.

The Bronze Age in Britain lasted from about 2500–2000 BC until 800BC, and was a time when bronze replaced stone for making tools and weapons. People developed new agricultural methods, creating large and permanent farms.

In the newly-identified attack there was no evidence of a fight back, suggesting the victims were taken by surprise.

Scrape and cut marks on the bones indicate that the attackers systematically dismembered their victims using stone tools and likely consumed them.

“If we saw these marks on animal bones, we’d have no question that they were butchered,” says Prof Schulting.

The scientists do not believe the attackers ate the remains out of hunger because the fragments were found alongside animal bones, indicating there was sufficient food.

The extensive dismembering of the bodies is the first documented case for this era.

There is limited evidence that tension in this era was caused by a fight over resources.

That led the experts to suspect this violence was caused by a huge breakdown in relationships.

“This was something exceptional. This level of almost erasing the person, literally chopping them into pieces, seems like something you would only do if fuelled by anger, fear and resentment,” Prof Schulting suggests.

One theory was that someone did “something horrible that justified this in the eyes of those doing it”, he says.

“This is not a homicidal maniac. This is a community of people that came together to do this to another community,” Prof Schulting adds.

He says perhaps a culture of honour led to the attack.

“If you felt wronged, it was ultimately your responsibility to do something about it. It’s not like you could go to the magistrate and ask for something to be done,” Prof Schulting says.

He suggests that this looks like a case where “things cycled out of control and normal checks and balances failed.”

That could be because of one particularly antagonistic person who didn’t “let things rest” or “had their own agenda”.

“If you have those kinds of people on two sides of a conflict, it starts to spiral out of control,” he suggests.

Experts have usually believed that early Bronze Age England was not particularly violent because very limited signs of conflict have been found.

There is no evidence of weapons like swords or of fortifications that would suggest communities needed to protect themselves.

Before this discovery, only about 10 victims of violent attacks had been found from the period, Prof Schulting says.

The scientists said they do not believe this would have been a one-off attack because “there would have been repercussions”.

“But at some point calmer heads probably prevailed and people got on with their lives and some sense of normality returned,” Prof Schulting suggests.

He cautions that the attack should not be seen as a sign that the past was “particularly savage and bloody” or that “we’re beyond all of that now.”

“I hope it gives us insights into human nature that extend beyond just the Bronze Age,” he adds.

The research is published in the academic journal Antiquity.

The five remaining members of the infamous “Bali Nine” drug ring say they are “relieved and happy” to be home in Australia, after serving nearly 20 years in Indonesian prisons.

Matthew Norman, Scott Rush, Martin Stephens, Si Yi Chen, and Michael Czugaj arrived in Darwin on Sunday following years of lobbying by Australia on their behalf.

“They look forward, in time, to reintegrating back into and contributing to society,” said a statement issued on behalf of the men and their families.

The high-profile case began in 2005 when Indonesia caught nine young Australians trying to smuggle 8.3kg (18lb) of heroin out of Bali strapped to their bodies.

The eight men and one woman were arrested at an airport and hotel in Bali after a tip-off from Australian police.

The case made global headlines when two of the gang’s ringleaders, Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, were executed by firing squad in 2015 – sparking a diplomatic row between neighbours Indonesia and Australia.

Other members of the Bali Nine – most of whom were aged under 21 – were handed sentences of either 20 years or life in prison.

The case put a spotlight on Indonesia’s strict drug laws, some of the most stringent in the world.

One of the nine, Tan Duc Thanh Nguyen, died of cancer in prison in 2018. Shortly afterwards, Renae Lawrence, then 41, the only woman among the group, had her sentence commuted after spending almost 13 years in prison and returned to Australia the same year.

Indonesia did not commute the sentences of the remaining five, now aged 38 to 48, and they were transported back to Australia as prisoners. However the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) has reported that the men are effectively free to live unhindered in Australian society.

The five are banned for life from entering Indonesia, a spokesman for the government there said in a statement.

On Monday, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he had spoken to several of the men’s “grateful” parents.

“They did a serious crime and they have rightly paid a serious price for it. But it was time for them to come home,” he told reporters.

He said the deal did not come with conditions or favours Australia would have to repay: “This is an act of compassion by President Prabowo [Subianto] and we thank him for it.”

The men and their families also said they were “immensely grateful” to Prabowo.

They also thanked the lawyers, diplomats and government figures who had helped advocate for them over the past two decades, before asking for privacy.

“The welfare of the men is a priority, they will need time and support, and we hope and trust our media and community will make allowance for this.”

The five men are being put through medical checks at Darwin’s Howard Springs facility – which was used for quarantine during the pandemic – and will begin a voluntary “rehabilitation process”, Education Minister Jason Clare said. It is not clear what that entails, or how long the men will stay there.

He added that normal visa processes would apply to any Indonesian family members of the men, who did not follow them to Australia.

The Bishop of Townsville, Timothy Harris, who has supported the families of Scott Rush and Michael Czugaj since their arrests, said he immediately called Scott Rush’s father Lee when he heard the news.

Scott’s parents are eagerly awaiting the reunion, Bishop Harris told the BBC.

“They are mortified by what their son did. They always believed he has committed a crime… But this turn of events [has] filled them with a sense of anticipation.”

However, he said it would take time for the men to heal from their experience and re-integrate into society.

“If you think that through, your son commits a crime [and was] incarcerated in a foreign country, they return. How does someone get re-integrated into the family, let alone society?”

“Things have changed. The relationships need to be rekindled. They are going to have to face that as time goes on,” he said.

“Once [Scott’s family] gets to embrace him… I hope and pray things will be better, because there’s nothing like having your family [nearby].”

A man from Ghana has told the BBC how he was seized at gunpoint by jihadists in neighbouring Burkina Faso, before being taken to their vast desert camp where he gained a rare insight into their lives – from the children he believed were trained as suicide bombers, to the tunnels they had dug to shield themselves and their armoured tanks from air strikes.

In his first media interview since his 2019 ordeal, the man – whom we are calling James to protect his identity – said his first day at the camp was terrifying as a huge number of Islamist fighters returned from an operation, firing shots in the air.

“I thought that was the end. I was just sweating,” James said, adding that he also ended up wetting his pants when some fighters hit him with their guns – and laughed.

James, who is in his 30s and follows a traditional African religion, said the insurgents later attempted to recruit him, enticing him with the allure of power by saying he could one day become the commander of a battalion.

“The commander brought out a sack. It contained different weapons, AK-47, M16, and G3 [rifles]. So he asked me which of them I could operate, and I said I had never operated one before. He said: ‘We have bigger weapons, so if I give you a battalion to handle, no-one can harm you’,” James added.

He said he was lucky to be released about two weeks later after he begged for his freedom, claiming that he had a sick child at home and promising the camp commander that he would become his recruiting-sergeant in Ghana – a promise he says he never kept.

Ghana’s National Commission on Civic Education, a government body which is spearheading a public campaign to prevent young people from joining the jihadists, told the BBC that it was aware of James’ experience.

“I met him in an attempt to sensitise tertiary-level students,” said Mawuli Agbenu, the commission’s regional director in the capital, Accra.

“We will definitely have a way of engaging with him so that he will be an ambassador or an influencer within his community,” Mr Agbenu added.

Long a stable democracy, Ghana has so far been spared the violence that has seen the insurgency spread, causing havoc in Burkina Faso and its West African neighbours.

The insurgents who kidnapped James belonged to Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), or The Support Group for Islam and Muslims. An affiliate of al-Qaeda, it was officially launched in 2017 as an umbrella body for various jihadist groups in the region.

In Burkina Faso, they are strongest in the north, where they control large areas, but they have also expanded to the south, along the porous 550km-long (340 mile) border with Ghana.

More than 15,000 people from Burkina Faso have fled into northern Ghana to escape the conflict, aid agencies say.

Apart from Burkina Faso, the jihadists have also gained territory in Niger and Mali, and have carried out attacks in Ivory Coast, Benin and Togo – all former French colonies – raising fears that the insurgency was spreading south towards the coast.

In April, a senior UN official said that “the epicentre of terrorism has shifted from the Middle East and North Africa into sub-Saharan Africa, concentrated largely in the Sahel region [which includes Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger]”.

Jihadists linked to both al-Qaeda and the Islamic State (IS) group operate in the region.

A Ghanaian security officer stationed along the border with Burkina Faso told the BBC that the jihadists often crossed over to regroup when under pressure from Burkina Faso’s military – and they also used the country to smuggle weapons, food and fuel.

“It’s not safe for Ghana. They hide in towns like Pusiga. Residents of border communities are worried because there’s no tight security,” he added.

In a report released in July, the Netherlands Institute of International Relations think-tank said the “absence of real attacks on Ghanaian soil seems to result from JNIM’s calculus of not disturbing supply lines and places of rest as well as not provoking a relatively strong army”.

“Examples of people who are spared by JNIM by showing their Ghanaian identity cards fits this reading,” it added.

Most Ghanaians are Christians, but the population near the border with Burkina Faso is mainly Muslim – and parts of the region have also been riven with ethnic tensions, raising fears that the jihadists could exploit them to their advantage.

The think-tank said that JNIM had attempted in a “very small number” of instances to recruit or incite Ghana’s small, largely Muslim Fulani community to carry out attacks.

JNIM claimed that they were marginalised, but its recruitment efforts had “minimal success” as the Fulani were “aware of the chaos that has enveloped the Sahel due to familial networks” and did not want it to occur in Ghana, the think-tank added.

A Fulani Muslim preacher in Burkina Faso, Amadou Koufa, is the co-founder of JNIM and is its second-in-command. He recruits most of his fighters from the Fulani community in Burkina Faso.

The military has been accused by rights groups of retaliating by stigmatising Fulanis, and carrying out indiscriminate attacks on their villages in Burkina Faso.

In 2022, a France-based NGO, Promediation, said its research showed that the jihadists had recruited between 200 and 300 young Ghanaians.

Although some were operating in insurgency-hit countries like Burkina Faso, others had been sent back to their villages in northern Ghana to preach their “radical faith”, it added.

This could eventually lead to the jihadists gaining “a sustainable foothold in remote and peripheral areas in the north”, the NGO said.

Since 2022, Ghana has been at the forefront of efforts to create a new Western-backed, 10,000-strong regional force to combat the Islamist insurgency.

Tamale – the biggest city in northern Ghana – is supposed to be the force’s headquarters.

However, the headquarters has not yet opened, and the fate of the initiative is unclear after the region split between pro-Western and pro-Russian states.

Burkina Faso – along with Mali and Niger – have pivoted towards Russia. The three countries have formed their own alliance to fight the insurgents, and have also relied on help from Russian mercenaries.

Ghana and other regional states have remained allied with the West.

Ghana’s military has established bases in the north, but newly installed border surveillance equipment was not yet working, the security officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told the BBC.

However, more troops have been sent since JNIM carried out two attacks, late last month and earlier this month, on the Burkina Faso side of the border, the officer added.

Ghana’s government did not respond to a BBC request for comment.

However, its ambassador to Burkina Faso, Boniface Gambila Adagbila, told the BBC the two countries were helping each other to fight the insurgents, warning that if Burkina Faso fails “Ghana may likely to be the next place”.

Ghana’s National Democratic Congress (NDC) party – which will form the next government after winning elections on 7 December – promised in its campaign manifesto to “enhance” border security with “international partners”, as well as improve the country’s intelligence capabilities.

In August 2023, the European Union announced that as part of a 20m euro ($21.6m; £16.6m) aid package it would supply Ghana with about 100 armoured vehicles, as well as surveillance equipment such as drones.

Many civilians and refugees cross the Ghana-Burkina Faso border through footpaths and back roads to work, trade or visit relatives despite the security risk – and James said he was one of them. He was travelling all the way to Senegal on his motorbike when he was taken captive.

After riding for nearly a day, he said he encountered the insurgents in north-western Burkina Faso, as he was nearing the border with Mali.

A handful of jihadists, also on motorbikes, stopped him and took him to their camp where he was interrogated until their commander was convinced that he was not a spy, James said.

He added that his blindfold – the trademark black jihadist flag – was then removed.

James said he found about 500 insurgents – mostly young men, including one who identified himself as a doctor – living in the camp.

Located in desert-like terrain, it was made up of thatch-roofed huts, with small electricity-generating solar panels, he said.

He added that the camp was divided into three sections – for commanders and their families, lower-ranking jihadists and captured villagers and soldiers.

James said he was detained in the latter section, but got “closer” to the jihadists in the second week as he increasingly acted as though he had become a sympathiser of their cause.

They sat around in groups of five or 10, and listened to the songs of Salif Keïta, the Malian musician known as the Golden Voice of Africa, James said.

Other jihadist groups have banned music, saying it is un-Islamic.

James said that while the atmosphere at the camp was generally relaxed, groups of jihadists regularly went to fight, firing celebratory shots when they returned, claiming to have achieved battlefield success.

James said he realised that this was the gunfire he had heard on the first day, and got used to it.

He added that the insurgents parked their tanks and pick-up trucks in two inter-connected tunnels to ensure they were not destroyed if there was an air strike, while only a few vehicles remained outside “on stand-by, for an emergency”.

He said the jihadists also revealed their darkest sides – telling him they captured women during raids on villages and sold them to each other.

“They trade the women they’ve captured. Others sell wives that they are fed up with. Those who resist are gang-raped into submission by two or three fighters,” James added, though he did not see them do this.

James said the women at the camp included the wives of jihadists who performed domestic chores like cooking and cleaning, while those who were captured were either sex-slaves or were forced to become fighters.

He explained that he saw fully veiled women, with AK-47 rifles hidden under their clothes, leave the camp to raid villages for livestock to feed people at the camp – or to sell at markets in nearby towns.

James said he also saw dozens of children, including those of jihadists, being trained in the use of weapons and explosives.

“You’ll see a small kid holding a gun and telling you that if he goes to meet some people, this is how he is going to kill them,” James added.

He said he twice saw four children being taken to another location, before returning to the camp with suicide vests.

They wore long, loose outfits over them, and left the camp with begging bowls, James said.

Jihadists told him that when they anticipate a tough battle in a town or military camp, they send children disguised as beggars who then blow themselves up, so the fighters can enter amid the chaos, James said.

He added that three jihadists had told him that they “sacrifice their children as suicide bombers and they get paid after every mission”, though they did not disclose the amount.

He said the jihadists tried to indoctrinate him, preaching that “anything Western is evil” and showing him propaganda videos every night, including one of the US invasion of Iraq and the killing of Palestinians in the current conflict with Israel.

According to James, as the insurgency was being waged in French-speaking countries, all the jihadists were Francophone, but one spoke English with a Ghanaian accent, and always kept his face covered so that he could not see him.

In a sign that the jihadists were also influenced by pan-Africanism, James said some of them invoked the names of revolutionaries like Burkina Faso’s Thomas Sankara and Ghana’s Kwame Nkrumah and told him that people should “rise up” against “bad leaders” and free themselves from “bondage”.

James said the jihadists also expressed the view that if Sankara and Nkrumah had “lived long”, then “the whole of Africa would have been a better place – nobody would have travelled from Africa to the West. People would have been travelling from the West to Africa”.

James, unemployed at the time, said their rhetoric was powerful, and only “strength of heart” prevented him from joining their ranks.

On how exactly he was captured, James said that two Muslim friends were travelling with him at the time, promising to introduce him to a Muslim spiritual leader in Senegal who could pray for him and improve his fortunes.

All three of them were intercepted by the jihadists as they were coming to the end of the first leg of their trip, he said.

James added one of his friends was shot dead as he attempted to flee, while his other friend was taken with him to the camp.

James said the commander did not release his friend, making him fear that he had been forced to join the jihadists – or was dead.

“The commander told me that: ‘I will let you go if you assure me you will get me more fighters’,” James said.

He added that before driving him to a bus rank and giving him the fare for the trip back home, the insurgents gave him a contact number to keep in touch, but, James said, he never did and changed his number.

According to James, the jihadists also gave him charms, which supposedly had supernatural powers.

Again, many other jihadists reject the use of amulets, believing them to be contrary to the teachings of Islam.

James showed the BBC the amulets, which were made of fowl feathers, animal skins and herbs, covered in leather and cloth.

They included one which the jihadists falsely told him offered protection from bullets.

James said he never got the impression that the insurgents wanted to destabilise Ghana, seeing it as the “safest place” to hide when under pressure from Burkina Faso’s military.

Their focus was on waging an insurgency in countries where France and the US “exists”, believing that these two countries exploit Africa’s resources, to the detriment of its people, James said. This is denied by both countries.

Ghana-based security analyst Adib Saani expressed concern about the growing insurgency in West Africa, and said he did not see a military solution to it.

“We need to go beyond the militarised posture. We must address the socio-economic and geopolitical deficits that are creating the environment for terrorism to strive,” he told the BBC.

Ghana’s National Commission for Civic Education has been carrying out a public awareness campaign dubbed “see something, say something” to encourage residents in the north to report suspicious activity.

The campaign has also been extended to Accra, to educate young people about the dangers of jihadism.

The commission’s Mr Agbanu told the BBC that the campaign was vital as Ghanaians were vulnerable to recruitment.

“There’s a high rate of corruption, unequal development across the country, and huge youth unemployment,” he said.

James, who is now a subsistence farmer, said that he was just relieved to be alive as the jihadist commander had told him that he was making an exception by releasing him because normally it was “either your dead body that will go home or nobody will ever hear of you again”.

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• ‘France takes us for idiots’ – Inside coup-hit Niger
• Why young Africans are celebrating military takeovers

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has lost a vote of confidence in parliament, paving the way for early elections on 23 February.

Scholz called Monday’s vote and had expected to lose it, but calculated that triggering an early election was his best chance of reviving his party’s political fortunes.

It comes around two months after the collapse of Scholz’s three-party coalition government, which left the embattled chancellor leading a minority administration.

Ahead of Monday’s vote, Scholz said it would now be up to voters to “determine the political course of our country”, teeing up what is likely to be a fiercely fought election campaign.

However, losing Monday’s no-confidence vote was the outcome Scholz wanted.

Since his argumentative three-party governing coalition collapsed in November, he had been reliant on support from the opposition conservatives to pass any new laws, effectively rendering his administration a lame-duck government.

Given Germany’s stalled economy and the global crises facing the West, staggering on until the scheduled election date of September 2025 risked being seen as irresponsible by the electorate.

Scholz’s Social Democratic Party (SDP) is trailing heavily in opinion polls, while the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) under Friedrich Merz appears to be on course for a return to government.

Opening the debate, Scholz said the snap election was an opportunity to set a new course for the country and called for “massive” investment, particularly in defence, while Merz said more debt would be a burden for younger generations and promised tax cuts.

Scholz’s decision to stage a vote he expected to lose in order to dissolve his own government was described as a “kamikaze” move by German tabloid Bild – but it is generally the only way a German government can dissolve parliament and spark early elections.

The process was designed specifically by the post-war founders of modern Germany to avoid the political instability of the Weimar era.

This vote of confidence is not a political crisis in itself: it is a standard constitutional mechanism that has been used by modern German chancellors five times to overcome political stalemate – and one Gerhard Schröder deployed on two occasions.

However, there is a deeper problem within German politics.

On the surface, the collapse of the coalition was sparked by a row over money. Scholz’s centre-left SDP and his Green partners wanted to ease Germany’s strict debt rules to finance support for Ukraine and key infrastructure projects.

That was blocked by Scholz’s own finance minister, Christian Lindner, who is the leader of the business-friendly liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP), which prioritised driving down the debt.

Lindner was sacked and the coalition collapsed. After years of unedifying bickering, you could almost hear the sigh of relief in Berlin’s corridors of power – but the underlying cause is more difficult to resolve and more worrying.

Germany’s party political system has become more fragmented, with more parties than ever in parliament. The new upstart political forces are also more radical.

In 2017, the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) entered the Bundestag for the first time, winning 12.6%.

In 2021 it slipped to 10.4% but is now polling at almost 20%.

The AfD will not get into government because no-one will work with it to form a coalition. But the far-right is eating into the share of the vote that goes to the two centrist big-tent parties which have always put forward modern German chancellors.

The bigger the AfD share is, the more difficult it becomes for mainstream parties to form a stable governing coalition.

That was arguably the underlying problem that pulled apart Scholz’s fractious coalition: big-spending left-leaning Social Democrats and Greens trying to work with free-market small-state liberals.

Rather than going away after the next election in February, that problem is likely to get worse. If the far-right wins a fifth of seats in parliament, it could be even more difficult after February to form a stable coalition between like-minded parties.

Another new populist political party could also get into parliament for the first time, the anti-migrant nativist far-left Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance BSW, which is named after its firebrand Marxist leader.

The conservatives are leading in the polls but as things stand their options for coalition partners are limited.

They refuse to work with the far-right and it is hard to imagine they would like to work with the radical left either. The free-market liberals may not even get into parliament and some conservatives refuse to consider the Greens.

That leaves Scholz’s SDP as a possible partner – even though Scholz is likely to be ousted from power after his stint in power saw his popularity plummet.

Whatever the next government looks like, the era of cosy consensual coalitions in Germany seems to be over.

Syria’s former President Bashar al-Assad says he never intended to flee to Russia – in what is purported to be his first statement since the fall of Damascus eight days ago.

Assad’s reported statement was put on the Telegram channel belonging to the Syrian presidency on Monday, although it is not clear who currently controls it – or whether he wrote it.

In it he says that, as the Syrian capital fell to rebels, he went to a Russian military base in Latakia province “to oversee combat operations” only to see that Syrian troops had abandoned positions.

Hmeimim airbase had also come under “intensified attack by drone strikes” and the Russians had decided to airlift him to Moscow, he says.

In the statement – published both in Arabic and English – the former Syrian leader reportedly describes what happened on 8 December – and how he was apparently besieged at the Russian base.

“With no viable means of leaving the base, Moscow requested that the base’s command arrange an immediate evacuation to Russia on the evening of Sunday 8th December,” the statement reads.

“This took place a day after the fall of Damascus, following the collapse of the final military positions and the resulting paralysis of all remaining state institutions.”

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The statement adds that “at no point during these events did I consider stepping down or seeking refuge, nor was such a proposal made by any individual or party”.

“When the state falls into the hands of terrorism and the ability to make a meaningful contribution is lost, any position becomes void of purpose,” it says.

Assad was nowhere to be seen as Syrian cities and provinces fell to rebels led by the Islamist militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) within a period of 12 days.

However, speculation mounted that he had fled the country as even his prime minister was not able to contact him during the rebel sweep into Damascus.

On 9 December, Russian media announced that he had been given asylum there – even though there has not been any official confirmation.

The Syrian rebel groups are continuing to form a transitional government.

HTS, Syria’s most powerful rebel group, was set up under a different name, Jabhat al-Nusra, in 2011 and pledged allegiance to al-Qaeda the following year.

Al-Nusra broke ties with al-Qaeda in 2016 and later took the name HTS when it merged with other factions. However, the UN, US, UK and a number of other countries continue to designate it as a terrorist group.

Its leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, who previously used the nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, has pledged tolerance for different religious groups and communities. But his group’s jihadist past has left some doubting whether it will live up to such promises.

Last year, India nudged past China to become the world’s most populous country, according to UN estimates.

With nearly 1.45 billion people now, you’d think the country would be quiet about having more children. But guess what? The chatter has suddenly picked up.

Leaders of two southern states – Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu – have recently advocated more children.

Andhra Pradesh is mulling providing incentives, citing low fertility rates and ageing population. The state also scrapped its “two-child policy” for local body elections, and reports say neighbouring Telangana may soon do the same. Next-door Tamil Nadu is also making similar, more exaggerated, noises.

India’s fertility rate has fallen substantially – from 5.7 births per woman in 1950 to the current rate of two.

Fertility rates have fallen below the replacement level of two births per woman in 17 of the 29 states and territories. (A replacement level is one at which new births are sufficient to maintain a stable population.)

The five southern Indian states lead India’s demographic transition, achieving replacement-level fertility well ahead of others. Kerala reached the milestone in 1988, Tamil Nadu in 1993, and the rest by the mid-2000s.

Today, the five southern states have total fertility rates below 1.6, with Karnataka at 1.6 and Tamil Nadu at 1.4. In other words, fertility rates in these states match or are less than many European countries.

But these states fear that India’s shifting demographics with varying population shares between states, will significantly impact electoral representation and state wise-allocation of parliamentary seats and federal revenues.

“They fear being penalised for their effective population control policies, despite being better economic performers and contributing significantly to federal revenues,” Srinivas Goli, a professor of demography at the International Institute for Population Sciences, told the BBC.

Southern states are also grappling with another major concern as India prepares for its first delimitation of electoral seats in 2026 – the first since 1976.

This exercise will redraw electoral boundaries to reflect population shifts, likely reducing parliamentary seats for the economically prosperous southern states. As federal revenues are allocated based on state populations, many fear this could deepen their financial struggles and limit policy-making freedom.

Demographers KS James and Shubhra Kriti project that populous northern states like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar stand to gain more seats from delimitation, while southern states such as Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Andhra Pradesh could face losses, further shifting political representation.

Many, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, have hinted that changes to fiscal shares and parliamentary seat allocations will not be rushed through.

“As a demographer, I don’t think states should be overly concerned about these issues. They can be resolved through constructive negotiations between federal and state governments,” says Mr Goli. “My concern lies elsewhere.”

The key challenge, according to demographers, is India’s rapid ageing driven by declining fertility rates. While countries like France and Sweden took 120 and 80 years respectively to double their aging population from 7% to 14%, India is expected to reach this milestone in just 28 years, says Mr Goli.

This accelerated ageing is tied to India’s unique success in fertility decline. In most countries, improved living standards, education, and urbanisation naturally lower fertility as child survival improves.

But in India, fertility rates fell rapidly despite modest socio-economic progress, thanks to aggressive family welfare programmes that promoted small families through targets, incentives, and disincentives.

The unintended consequence? Take Andhra Pradesh, for instance. Its fertility rate is 1.5, on par with Sweden, but its per capita income is 28 times lower, says Mr Goli. With mounting debt and limited resources, can states like these support higher pensions or social security for a rapidly aging population?

Consider this. More than 40% of elderly Indians (60+ years) belong to the poorest wealth quintile – the bottom 20% of a population in terms of wealth distribution, according to United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)’s latest India Ageing Report.

In other words, Mr Goli says, “India is getting old before getting rich”.

Fewer children also mean a rising old-age dependency ratio, leaving fewer caregivers for an expanding elderly demographic. Demographers warn that India’s healthcare, community centres and old-age homes are unprepared for this shift.

Urbanisation, migration, and changing labour markets are further eroding traditional family support – India’s strong point – leaving more elderly people behind.

While migration from populous to less populous states can ease the working-age gap, it also sparks anti-migration anxieties. “Robust investments in prevention, palliative care, and social infrastructure are urgently needed to look after the ageing,” says Mr Goli.

As if the southern states’ concerns weren’t enough, earlier this month, the chief of the Hindu nationalist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (National Volunteers’ Organisation), the ideological backbone of Mr Modi’s BJP – urged couples to have at least three children to secure India’s future. “According to population science, when growth falls below 2.1, a society perishes on its own. Nobody destroys it,” Mohan Bhagwat reportedly said at a recent meeting.

While Mr Bhagwat’s concerns may have some basis, they are not entirely accurate, say demographers. Tim Dyson, a demographer at the London School of Economics, told the BBC that after a decade or two, continuing “very low levels of fertility will lead to rapid population decline”.

A fertility rate of 1.8 births per woman leads to a slow, manageable population decline. But a rate of 1.6 or lower could trigger “rapid, unmanageable population decline”.

“Smaller numbers of people will enter the reproductive – and main working – ages, and this will be socially, politically and economically disastrous. This is a demographic process and it is extremely difficult to reverse,” says Mr Dyson.

This is already happening in some countries.

In May, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol declared the country’s record-low birth rate a “national emergency” and announced plans for a dedicated government ministry. Greece’s fertility rate has plummeted to 1.3, half of what it was in 1950, sparking warnings from Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis about an “existential” population threat.

But demographers say that urging people to have more children is futile. “Considering the societal shifts, including the significant reduction in gender disparities as women’s lives have become increasingly similar to those of men, this trend is unlikely to reverse,” says Mr Dyson.

WATCH: Why do some in India want couples to have more children?

For Indian states like Tamil Nadu and Kerala, grappling with a declining workforce, the key question is: who will step in to fill the gap? Developed countries, unable to reverse declining fertility, are focusing on healthy and active ageing – prolonging working life by five to seven years and enhancing productivity in older populations.

Demographers say India will need to extend retirement ages meaningfully, and policies must prioritise increasing healthy years through better health screenings, and stronger social security to ensure an active and productive older population – a potential “silver dividend”.

India must also leverage its demographic dividend better – economic growth that occurs when a country has a large, working-age population. Mr Goli believes there’s a window of opportunity until 2047 to boost the economy, create jobs for the working-age population, and allocate resources for the ageing. “We’re only reaping 15-20% of the dividend – we can do much better,” he says.

An OpenAI researcher-turned-whistleblower has been found dead in an apartment in San Francisco, authorities said.

The body of Suchir Balaji, 26, was discovered on 26 November after police said they received a call asking officers to check on his wellbeing.

The San Francisco medical examiner’s office determined his death to be suicide and police found no evidence of foul play.

In recent months Mr Balaji had publicly spoken out against artificial intelligence company OpenAI’s practices, which has been fighting a number of lawsuits relating to its data-gathering practices.

In October, the New York Times published an interview with Mr Balaji in which he alleged that OpenAI had violated US copyright law while developing its popular ChatGPT online chatbot.

The article said that after working at the company for four years as a researcher, Mr Balaji had come to the conclusion that “OpenAI’s use of copyrighted data to build ChatGPT violated the law and that technologies like ChatGPT were damaging the internet”.

OpenAI says its models are “trained on publicly available data”.

Mr Balaji left the company in August, telling the New York Times he had since been working on personal projects.

He grew up in Cupertino, California, before going to study computer science at the University of California, Berkeley.

A spokesperson for OpenAI said in a statement cited by CNBC News that it was “devastated to learn of this incredibly sad news today and our hearts go out to Suchir’s loved ones during this difficult time”.

US and Canadian news publishers, including the New York Times, and a group of best-selling writers, including John Grisham, have filed lawsuits claiming the company was illegally using news articles to train its software.

OpenAI told the BBC in November its software is “grounded in fair use and related international copyright principles that are fair for creators and support innovation”.

BBC Action Line, , or contact Samaritans.

If you’re in the US, call 988, or contact Lifeline.

Zakir Hussain, one of the world’s greatest tabla players, has died at the age of 73.

The Indian classical music icon died of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a lung disease, at a hospital in San Francisco, his family said in a statement.

Hussain was a four-time Grammy award winner and has received the Padma Vibhushan, India’s second-highest civilian award.

Through his performances, he transformed the tabla into a globally loved solo instrument that was the star of the show.

The tabla – a pair of drums used in Indian classical music – was historically viewed as an accompaniment to the main performance.

• Remembering the man who became Indian music’s global ambassador

As news of Hussain’s death broke, tributes have begun pouring in.

Nayan Ghosh, who plays the sitar and tabla, called the news “devastating” and said that his association with Hussain went back 60 years to their childhood.

“He was a pathbreaker, a game-changer, an icon who put tabla and Indian music on the world map by transcending the boundaries of genre and inspiring generations of artistes,” he told the BBC.

English guitarist John McLaughlin – who performed with Hussain in the band Shakti – described him as “the King, in whose hands, rhythm became magic”. Grammy winning composer Ricky Kej called him “one of the greatest musicians and personalities India has ever produced”.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was “a true genius who revolutionised the world of Indian classical music”.

Congress party leader Rahul Gandhi said Hussain’s death was “a great loss for the music world”, while the US embassy in India said he was a “true maestro” and would be “forever in our hearts”.

Born in Mumbai in 1951, Hussain began training under his father Ustad Allarakha Khan, a tabla maestro himself.

Hussain described growing up in an “atmosphere of music 24 hours a day”. By age seven, he was performing in concerts alongside his father.

“From the age of seven, I sat on the stage with Abba whilst he played with so many greats. It was a lived experience for me, and it allowed me to absorb all that I had heard over the years,” he told Nasreen Munni Kabir, his biographer, in 2018.

As a teenager, he got an opportunity to perform with legendary Indian sitarist and composer Pandit Ravi Shankar. By 19, he was playing more than 150 concerts a year, both in India and internationally.

As his footprint grew, he contributed to the soundtracks of several films, performed solo and collaborated with artists on the global stage.

His 1992 album Planet Drum with drummer Mickey Hart won a Grammy in the inaugural category of the “Best World Music Album”. He also performed with legendary artists like George Harrison of the Beatles, cellist Yo-Yo Ma and Van Morrison.

Hussain went on to earn seven Grammy nominations, winning four of them.

Speaking to the BBC in 2016 about his global popularity, he said, “this is music’s appeal, not mine. I am a worshipper of music, who presents it in front of people.”

Biographer Nasreen Munni Kabir noted that in his later years he became “one of the most sought-after accompanists to the very best of Hindustani classical musicians and dancers”.

But in the last 20 years, he had stopped accompanying the big names, instead playing mostly with younger musicians, music writer Shailaja Khanna told the BBC.

He used his star status to push younger Indian musicians on to the global stage, she said.

“Because of him younger people were willing to pay 2,000 to 3,000 rupees ($23.59 to $35.38; £18.62 to £27.93) for a ticket which is very unusual for classical performances.”

Hussain had previously spoken of his own “good fortune” when it came to his musical career.

“I am one of those musicians who came at the cusp of a great change in the music world and I was carried on that wave,” he explained.

“I had the good fortune of establishing a very unhurried relationship with music, and at the same time, the wave took me places.”

Cricket commentator Isa Guha has apologised for calling Indian bowler Jasprit Bumrah the “most valuable primate” during the third Test against Australia.

She made the remark while commentating for Fox Sports in Brisbane on Sunday after Bumrah got India off to a stunning start with two quick wickets.

Her comment sparked a social media backlash which noted the word’s history as a racial slur.

On Monday, Guha apologised on air: “Yesterday in commentary I used a word that can be interpreted in a number of different ways… I’d like to apologise for any offence caused.”

Guha, who is also a BBC commentator and former England cricketer, had been speaking live on air with colleagues Brett Lee and Allan Border when the controversy happened.

“Bumrah, today: five overs, 2-4. So, that’s the tone, and that’s what you want from the ex-skipper,” Lee said.

Guha responded: “Well, he’s the MVP, isn’t he? [The] most valuable primate, Jasprit Bumrah. He is the one that’s going to do all the talking for India, and why so much focus was on him in the build-up to this Test match, and whether he would be fit.”

In her apology on Monday, she said: “I set myself really high standards when it comes to empathy and respect for others and if you listen to the full transcript, I only meant the highest praise for one of India’s greatest players and someone that I admire greatly as well,” she said.

She said she had been “trying to frame the enormity of his achievements and I have chosen the wrong word and for that I am deeply sorry”.

“As someone who is also of South Asian heritage, I hope people would recognise there was no other intention or malice there,” she said.

Former India coach Ravi Shastri, a fellow Fox Sports commentator, commended her for the apology and urged India to “move on”.

“People are entitled to make mistakes. We are all human. To own up and say, ‘I’m sorry’ … it takes courage. She’s done it.

“As far as the Indian team, there is a Test on and they want to focus on the game,” he said.

Bumrah continued his achievements on Monday, taking his sixth wicket of the innings.

Allegations of racism are not unheard of in international cricket, while an independent report into cricket published last year found that racism, sexism, classism and elitism were “widespread” in the English and Welsh game.

Scientists have uncovered the aftermath of an “exceptionally violent” attack about 4,000 years ago in Somerset when at least 37 people appear to have been butchered and likely eaten.

It is the largest case of violence between humans identified in early Bronze Age England, which had been considered a peaceful time.

The victims’ bones were found by cavers in the 1970s. Experts believe they were thrown into a 15m shaft by the prehistoric attackers.

The massacre was probably driven by a furious “desire for revenge” and its effects likely “echoed through generations”, says Professor Rick Schulting at Oxford university.

He says the victims may have been eaten as a ritual to “dehumanise” them and to send a message by “insulting the remains”.

Around 3,000 fragments of bones found at a cave system called Charterhouse Warren in the Mendip Hills, Somerset, were analysed by a team of archaeologists.

They believe that at least 37 people died, including men, woman and children. Teenagers and older children made up about half of the victims.

Villages in early Bronze Age Britain were made up of around 50 to 100 people, so the experts think this could have equated to wiping-out almost one entire community.

The Bronze Age in Britain lasted from about 2500–2000 BC until 800BC, and was a time when bronze replaced stone for making tools and weapons. People developed new agricultural methods, creating large and permanent farms.

In the newly-identified attack there was no evidence of a fight back, suggesting the victims were taken by surprise.

Scrape and cut marks on the bones indicate that the attackers systematically dismembered their victims using stone tools and likely consumed them.

“If we saw these marks on animal bones, we’d have no question that they were butchered,” says Prof Schulting.

The scientists do not believe the attackers ate the remains out of hunger because the fragments were found alongside animal bones, indicating there was sufficient food.

The extensive dismembering of the bodies is the first documented case for this era.

There is limited evidence that tension in this era was caused by a fight over resources.

That led the experts to suspect this violence was caused by a huge breakdown in relationships.

“This was something exceptional. This level of almost erasing the person, literally chopping them into pieces, seems like something you would only do if fuelled by anger, fear and resentment,” Prof Schulting suggests.

One theory was that someone did “something horrible that justified this in the eyes of those doing it”, he says.

“This is not a homicidal maniac. This is a community of people that came together to do this to another community,” Prof Schulting adds.

He says perhaps a culture of honour led to the attack.

“If you felt wronged, it was ultimately your responsibility to do something about it. It’s not like you could go to the magistrate and ask for something to be done,” Prof Schulting says.

He suggests that this looks like a case where “things cycled out of control and normal checks and balances failed.”

That could be because of one particularly antagonistic person who didn’t “let things rest” or “had their own agenda”.

“If you have those kinds of people on two sides of a conflict, it starts to spiral out of control,” he suggests.

Experts have usually believed that early Bronze Age England was not particularly violent because very limited signs of conflict have been found.

There is no evidence of weapons like swords or of fortifications that would suggest communities needed to protect themselves.

Before this discovery, only about 10 victims of violent attacks had been found from the period, Prof Schulting says.

The scientists said they do not believe this would have been a one-off attack because “there would have been repercussions”.

“But at some point calmer heads probably prevailed and people got on with their lives and some sense of normality returned,” Prof Schulting suggests.

He cautions that the attack should not be seen as a sign that the past was “particularly savage and bloody” or that “we’re beyond all of that now.”

“I hope it gives us insights into human nature that extend beyond just the Bronze Age,” he adds.

The research is published in the academic journal Antiquity.

Twelve people have died from carbon monoxide poisoning at a ski resort in Georgia, police have said.

The bodies of 11 foreigners and one Georgian national were found in a sleeping area above a restaurant in Gudauri, the largest and highest ski resort in the former Soviet state, according to officials.

Police said “preliminary tests do not indicate any trace of violence on the bodies” and it appeared to be an accident, the AFP news agency reported.

An oil-powered generator had been turned on after the building lost electricity on Friday, officers added.

The bodies were discovered on Saturday on the second floor of a building housing an Indian restaurant.

Authorities have opened an investigation into the incident and the identities of the victims have not yet been released.

Gudauri is a popular tourist destination for skiing and snowboarding enthusiasts, with a range of winter sports activities for visitors of all levels.

Its history dates back to the 19th Century when it was known as a trading post on the ancient Georgian Military Road connecting Russia with Georgia.

Gudauri is located in the Caucasus mountains in the Mtskheta-Mtianeti region at around 2,200m (7,200ft) above sea level and is about 120km (75 miles) north of Georgia’s capital Tbilisi.

US officials are sending a drone detection system to New York, Governor Kathy Hochul says, after questions over mysterious objects in the skies over the east coast and beyond grew in recent days.

Hochul requested the federal assistance after drone sightings forced runways at Stewart International Airport in the state to shut for an hour last week.

“In response to my calls for additional resources, our federal partners are sending a drone detection system to New York,” Hochul wrote on X on Sunday.

She said state governments needed more power to deal on their own with the small, uncrewed aircraft that have also been reported in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Connecticut and Massachusetts.

And further west, in Ohio, drone sightings also led to the closure of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base for about an hour on Friday night, according to local media.

“Congress must pass a law that will give us the power to deal directly with the drones,” Hochul said in her post, after last week promising to “do whatever it takes to ensure New Yorkers remain safe”.

Senator Chuck Schumer said on Sunday he hoped to pass a bill that would give local enforcement more power to investigate unidentified flying objects, saying: “I’m pushing for answers amid these drone sightings”.

He also asked that a drone detection system similar to the one headed for New York also be sent to New Jersey, where most of the aerial encounters have so far been recorded.

New Jersey Senator Andy Kim said he went out with local residents over the weekend to observe the night sky, and that he believed – based on conversations with civilian pilots and flight tracking data – that most of the aircraft he saw “were almost certainly planes”.

• What we know about mysterious US drone sightings
• Two arrested after ‘hazardous drone operation’ near Boston airport

Despite their demands for more help in dealing with the issue, Hochul and other officials have sought to reassure the public that the suspected drones do not pose a national security threat.

On Sunday, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas confirmed the sightings included drones, as well as manned aircraft commonly mistaken for drones. He told ABC News that he knew of “no foreign involvement” related to the sightings.

The Pentagon has denied the suggestion of one New Jersey representative that the possible drones were coming from an Iranian “mothership” lurking off the east coast, while an FBI official has said there may have been “a slight overreaction” on the topic.

According to Mayorkas, the uptick in drone reports may be due to a change in federal regulations allowing drones to be flown at night.

He added that the federal government was working in “close co-ordination” with state and local authorities on the issue, saying it was “critical” they be given the ability to counter drone activity under federal supervision.

With just over a month to go until Donald Trump’s inauguration, the president-elect’s pick for national security adviser, Republican Representative Mike Waltz, hit out against the Biden administration’s response to the sightings.

“I think Americans are finding it hard to believe we can’t figure out where these are coming from,” he told the BBC’s US news partner CBS.

“We need to get to the bottom of it,” he said, accusing government agencies of “pointing at each other” rather than offering answers.

Kim, a Democrat, also called on federal authorities to do more to assuage Americans’ concerns.

“People have a lot anxiety right now about the economy, health, security etc,” he wrote on X.

“And too often we find that those charged with working on these issues don’t engage the public with the respect and depth needed.”

Canada’s finance minister Chrystia Freeland has resigned from her post, hours before she was scheduled to deliver an annual government fiscal update.

She announced her resignation in a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday, in which she said the two have been “at odds about the best path forward for Canada.”

Freeland said the decision comes after Trudeau informed her last week that he no longer wanted her to be his government’s top economic advisor.

In recent days, the two have reportedly been in a dispute over a policy that would have delivered a C$250 ($175; £139) cheque to every eligible Canadian.

In her publicly-shared resignation letter, Freeland said Canada needs to keep its “fiscal powder dry” to deal with the threat of sweeping tariffs from US President-elect Donald Trump.

She added this means “eschewing costly political gimmicks” that Canada cannot afford.

Trump has promised to impose a levy of 25% on imported Canadian goods, which economists have warned would significantly hurt Canada’s economy. In her letter, Freeland called this threat “a grave challenge”.

“We need to take that threat extremely seriously,” she said.

Freeland, who also holds the position of deputy prime minister, has long been one of Trudeau’s closest allies within his Liberal party. She has held the key role of Canada’s finance minister since 2020, helping to lead the country through the pandemic and its aftermath.

She replaced former Finance Minister Bill Morneau, who also resigned from his post amid a dispute with Trudeau over government spending policies, as well as conflict-of-interest allegations he faced involving a youth charity.

It is unclear if the fall economic statement will be delivered on Monday in light of Freeland’s resignation. A government official told Reuters news agency that the finance ministry is determining next steps.

Freeland said she intends to stay on as a Liberal member of parliament, and that she will run again in Canada’s upcoming election, which is must be held on or before October.