The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says a “deal to release the hostages” has been agreed.

Netanyahu had delayed a cabinet vote to approve the Gaza ceasefire deal, due on Thursday, accusing Hamas of seeking last-minute changes to the agreement.

On Friday morning his office said Netanyahu had been informed by the negotiating team that agreements on the deal had been reached.

He has ordered the political-security cabinet to convene later on Friday and the government “will then convene to approve the deal”, Netanyahu’s office said. Families of the hostages have been informed, it added.

Representatives of Israel, Hamas, the United States, and Qatar have officially signed the deal in Doha, Israeli media reports.

The ceasefire deal was first announced on Wednesday by mediators the US and Qatar.

Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman Al Thani said the agreement would come into effect on Sunday, pending Israeli cabinet approval.

At the time, Netanyahu said the deal’s final details were still being worked on, but he thanked Biden for “promoting” it.

Netanyahu then delayed a cabinet vote to approve the deal on Thursday, accusing Hamas of trying to “extort last minute concessions”.

Hamas said it was committed to the deal, but the BBC understands it was trying to add some of its members to the list of Palestinian prisoners that would be released under the deal.

Although Israeli negotiators have agreed to the deal, which follows months of talks, it cannot be implemented until it is approved by the security cabinet and government.

Ahead through his windscreen, and behind in his rear view mirror, Mustafa al Qadri can see the rest of the long convoy heading towards the Jordan Valley. We pass through the sand-coloured, rocky land that descends in the direction of the Dead Sea, towards Israel and ultimately Gaza.

First the convoy must go through Israeli customs at the King Hussein/Allenby Bridge border crossing. Then it is on to the Erez crossing into Gaza where the aid will be transferred to local drivers from the World Food Programme.

Mustafa is heading towards a place where Israeli settlers have blocked roads and where, inside the war zone itself, criminal gangs hijack aid trucks. But on this sunny winter morning, the driver is happy.

“We are carrying aid like food and medication for our brothers in Gaza,” he says.

The word “brothers” comes up repeatedly in his answers. He is not referring only to a shared humanity, or Arab brotherhood, but the fact so many Jordanians have Palestinian roots.

“Delivering this aid is a good deed. It makes me happy,” Mustafa says.

The drivers wave to onlookers and blare their horns. Gaza is a popular cause in Jordan. The noise competes with the sirens of the police escort, including two trucks with mounted machine guns. Of course, these escorts won’t be crossing into Israel, much less Gaza.

This latest mission involves 120 trucks – the biggest since the war began in October 2023. The Jordanian aid operation is a sign to Gazans that – by their neighbours at least – they are not forgotten. Jordan’s leader, King Abdullah II, has personally pushed the Kingdom’s efforts to get food, medicine and fuel into Gaza.

The international community has promised an aid surge once the ceasefire is established. “It is imperative that this ceasefire removes the significant security and political obstacles to delivering aid across Gaza,” said the UN Secretary General, Antonio Gutteres. “The humanitarian situation is at catastrophic levels.” Ninety percent of Gaza’s 2.2 million people are displaced. Up to two million depend on aid.

This comes after 15 months of conflict in which the UN and aid agencies have accused Israel of repeatedly blocking or delaying distribution of vital food, medicine and fuel. Israel denies it impedes aid. But at one point the United States threatened to cut military aid to Israel because of the low level of aid reaching Gaza.

In Deir al Balah in central Gaza, a BBC journalist witnessed poignant scenes of exhausted children struggling with each other as they queued for food. Tired tempers frayed among youngsters who each day come to collect rice or bread to bring home to their families.

Ten-year-old Farah Khaled Basal, from Al Zaytoun, said she came so her nine siblings would be fed. A slight, smiling child, she was waiting at a centre run by World Food Kitchens, seven of whose aid workers were killed in an Israeli air strike last April. Farah’s family is separated from their father who is in the north of the Gaza strip. She told our reporter she dreamed constantly about a ceasefire.

“I want to go back to our home and for my father to return to us, and for flour to be available for us.”

There were children of all age groups in the line waiting for a handout of rice.

Lamees Mohammad Al Mizar’i is 16 and originally from Gaza City. She now lives in a tent with eight family members. Lamees looks back, almost disbelievingly, at her pre-war attitude to food.

“I was picky, when my mum used to make cauliflower, I used to complain about it, saying ‘we are eating cauliflower every day, I want a different meal with meat or chicken,’ but now I eat everything, the good and the bad. Animals do not eat the food we eat.”

She explained how hunger creates family tensions.

“When I tell my mom I’m not going to queue today, she tells me, ‘What would we eat then? Should we keep looking to the sky, then?’ I have to come here. I keep thinking that if I don’t come we won’t find anything to eat. In the past, I used to think daily where to go out, what to play, what to study, when to go to bed. I had my own room, kitchen. There was a living room and I used to receive guests.”

After collecting her pot of rice, Lamees walks home, past a line of adults and children who have arrived at the kitchen. She is muttering to herself as she disappears into the morning crowds.

Back in Amman, they are preparing more aid for delivery to Gaza. The Jordanian Hashemite Charity Organisation says it could load 150 trucks a day for Gaza if given the go-ahead. There is no shortage of willingness. Aid agencies, the UN and other groups are ready. They are – all of them – waiting for the full opening of Gaza to aid, and for peace.

Nepal has been celebrated globally for tripling its tiger population in a decade – but Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli thinks the country may have been too successful.

“In such a small country, we have more than 350 tigers… We can’t have so many tigers and let them eat up humans,” he said last month at an event organised to review the country’s COP29 outcomes.

Attacks by tigers claimed nearly 40 lives and injured 15 people between 2019 and 2023, according to government data. But local communities say the figure is much higher.

“For us, 150 tigers are enough,” Oli declared in December, even suggesting that Nepal could send its prized big cats to other countries as gifts.

There is no one answer, experts say. It depends on the availability of prey in a given area – ideally, each tiger should be in the vicinity of about 500 prey animals, such as deer, antelopes or wild buffalo, tiger biologist Ullas Karanth says.

Experts argue that Oli’s concern with capping tiger numbers is misplaced. Rather, Nepal’s government should focus on “expanding protected areas that have reasonable natural densities of prey and tigers,” Dr Karanth adds.

If wildlife is spilling out of protected areas in search of prey, that might explain why so many attacks have happened in places that border forests, where tigers have always encountered humans.

An example is the “buffer zones” that lie between national parks and human settlements. Wildlife sightings are common here, but locals also use the area for cattle-grazing and collecting fodder and firewood.

Forest corridors – strips of land that connect different parks and bio-reserves allowing wildlife to roam between them – have emerged as yet another flashpoint. Roads sometimes run through these areas, and locals also use them for foraging, leaving them vulnerable to attacks.

The rise in human fatalities is a sign that Nepal’s once-successful conservation model is cracking, zoologist Karan Shah says.

“So far, [Nepal’s] focus seems to be on winning international attention, while ignoring the impact on communities living around national parks and protected areas,” Mr Shah adds.

He argues that conservation is not just “an ecological or scientific issue” but also a social one – and that the loss of human lives must be prevented so local communities remain a part of the conservation effort and don’t turn against it. Anger among locals has also been growing as tigers have been preying on livestock.

“A significant portion of our population still live in rural areas and are dependent on forest resources that they help conserve – but they are now increasingly being killed and injured by tigers,” Thakur Bhandari, president of Federation of Community Forestry Users Nepal, told the BBC.

“As forest conservationists we cannot be against wildlife, but that does not mean we should ignore its impact on humans and our society.”

A century ago, some 100,000 tigers roamed Asia – but deforestation and rampant poaching pushed them to the brink of extinction. There are now only about 5,600 wild tigers remaining across 13 countries, including Nepal, China, India, Thailand, Indonesia and Russia.

All of these nations had committed to doubling their tiger numbers by 2022, but Nepal was the first to surpass the target – due in part to a zero-poaching initiative and a doubling of the country’s forest cover between 1992 and 2016.

Connecting 16 protected zones in southern Nepal with areas across the border in northern India created forest corridors which helped too.

The growing number of tiger attacks has now tarnished that achievement.

Oli believes Nepal’s tiger population is growing at the cost of human lives. Viable solutions, however, are not easy to come by.

The parks and wildlife department has acknowledged the challenge of managing tigers in Nepal, where those that kill humans are tracked down and taken into captivity.

“Zoos and rescue centres are already overwhelmed with problematic tigers,” the department said in a conservation report published in 2023. “A comprehensive protocol is urgently needed to cope with the rescue, handling, and rehabilitation of problem animals.”

Oli has proposed sending Nepal’s tigers abroad.

“People love to keep birds like falcons and peacocks as pets, so why not tigers?” he suggested. “That would boost their status too.”

Others have different ideas.

Dr Karanth says tigers that have repeatedly taken human lives should be “killed immediately”. Some argue that humans exacerbated the problem by encroaching into the tigers’ natural habitats, using the land for cultivation or infrastructure and reducing the big cats’ prey-base.

The BBC spoke to a wildlife management expert, meanwhile, who claims Oli wants to bring down tiger numbers so that more land can be cleared to build infrastructure.

“It is not about people’s safety,” he said.

For now the situation is at an impasse. It’s unclear whether Oli’s “tiger diplomacy” suggestion will gain traction, or whether over-encroaching humans or tigers are to blame for Nepal’s tiger attack crisis.

What is clear is that humans and tigers are struggling to achieve peaceful co-existence in Nepal – and the country’s conservation success story has brought many of its own thorny problems to reckon with.

The hiking trail through Temescal Canyon in western Los Angeles is a favourite of locals.

Towering above the twisting roads and manicured homes that make up the Pacific Palisades, urban hikers seeking an escape from America’s famously gridlocked city have a clear view of the pristine waters of the Pacific.

Now the green, brush-lined path in the canyons is grey and burned as far as the eye can see.

Yellow police tape surrounds the path up to the trail. Police guarding this area are calling it a “crime scene” and prevented BBC reporters, including me, from getting any closer.

It’s where investigators think the deadly blaze that destroyed so many homes in the area may have started.

A similar scene is playing out across town in the north of the city. There, the community of Altadena was levelled by a different fire that ignited in the San Gabriel Mountains.

Investigators in both locations are scouring canyons and trails, and examining rocks, bottles, cans – any debris left behind that might hold clues to the origins of these blazes, which are still unknown.

It’s the one thing on-edge and devastated Angelenos are desperate to know: how did these fires start?

Without answers, some in fire-prone California are filling in the gaps themselves. Fingers have been pointed at arsonists, power company utilities or even a blaze days prior in the Pacific Palisades that was snuffed out but may have re-ignited in the face of Santa Ana winds blowing at 80-100mph (128-160 kmph) last week.

Investigators are examining all those theories and more. They’re following dozens of leads in the hopes that clues in burn patterns, surveillance footage and testimony from first responders and witnesses can explain why Los Angeles saw two of the most destructive fire disasters in US history ignite on 7 January, so far killing 27 people and destroying more than 12,000 homes and businesses.

But this tragic mystery will take time to solve – possibly as long as a year.

“It’s just too early,” Ginger Colbrun, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles division of the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) told the BBC.

“Everyone wants answers, we want answers, the community wants answers. They deserve an explanation. It just takes time.”

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The first trace of the Palisades Fire may have been spotted by Kai Cranmore and his friends as they hiked in Temescal Canyon, on a trail frequented by nature lovers and California stoners alike.

It’s not uncommon for visitors to bring alcohol and music, relaxing in nature by Skull Rock – a landmark rock formation along the trail.

In a series of videos posted online, Mr Cranmore and his friends are seen running down the canyon on the morning of 7 January. His first videos show a small cloud of smoke billowing from a hill as they navigate through brush and rock formations in a desperate escape. Out of breath, they comment on having smelled fire before seeing smoke rising.

In further clips, that small cloud gets darker and flames can later be seen cresting over the hilltop.

“Dude, that’s right where we were standing,” one person exclaims in the video as flames whip in the distance. “We were literally right there,” another chimes in.

The videos of the hikers are being examined as part of the official investigation into the origin of the Palisades Fire, Ms Colbrun of the ATF confirmed, saying their experience is just one of many tips and potential leads that have been flagged to authorities.

“The investigators, they’re talking to everyone,” she said.

Some on the internet were quick to blame the group for the fire, noting how close they were to the blaze when it erupted. Even actor Rob Schneider posted about the hikers, asking his followers to help identify them.

In interviews with US media outlets, members of the hiking group noted how fearful they became as people started online attacks. One of the men said he deleted his social media accounts.

“It’s scary,” one of the group told the LA Times. “Just knowing as a matter of fact of our experience that we didn’t do it but then seeing the amount of people that have different theories is overwhelming.”

Ms Colbrun said investigators were also speaking to firefighters who responded to a blaze days earlier that sparked nearby in the same canyon. A persistent theory holds that a small fire on 1 January was never fully extinguished and reignited six days later as winds picked up.

The Palisades Fire is thought to have erupted around 10:30 local time on 7 January, but several hikers told US media they’d smelled smoke earlier that morning as they used the trail.

A security guard who works near the trail told the BBC he’d seen smoke or dust for several days in the area. The morning of the blaze he was patrolling the neighbourhood bordering the canyon and called firefighters as a plume of smoke formed.

But Los Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone was dismissive of speculation the the two fires in the Palisades, nearly a week apart, could be connected.

“I don’t buy it. Personally, I don’t buy it,” he told the BBC. “I believe that a week is too long for a fire to get re-established that wasn’t fully contained.” He acknowledged such incidents do happen but they are rare.

While Chief Marrone’s agency is not leading the probe into the Palisades Fire, he said investigators were also examining the possibility of arson.

“We had numerous fires in the LA County region almost simultaneously, which leads us to believe that these fires were intentionally set by a person,” Chief Marrone said.

He adds that about half of the brushfires the agency typically responds to are intentionally set.

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Chief Marrone has been primarily focused on the other side of town, dousing the Eaton Fire that tore through much of Altadena. It levelled whole neighbourhoods, destroyed blocks of businesses and killed at least 17 people.

The agency is working with Cal Fire, California’s state-wide fire agency, to investigate the cause of that blaze and where it ignited.

The Eaton Fire erupted shortly after sunset on 7 January – hours after firefighters became overwhelmed in the Palisades.

Jeffrey Ku captured what could be some of the earliest footage of the fire.

A Ring doorbell camera on his home captured the moment his wife came to pull him outside. “Hey babe, I need you to come out here right now,” she tells him as her hair whips in the fierce winds. “We have a very big problem.”

“Oh no!” Mr Ku can be heard saying as bright orange flames light up the sky.

At that point, the fire was still small. It was blazing under a large metal utility tower on the mountainside.

In a series of videos, Mr Ku documented how quickly it spread – each update carrying more worry in his voice as he and his wife packed what they could to leave.

“Please God, please God save us, save our house. Please God, please,” he says in one – the whole sky now glowing yellow-orange. Sirens echo around him.

The large metal utility tower Mr Ku recorded is now a focus for fire investigators.

Utility providers have been blamed for some of California’s worst fires, including the 2018 Camp Fire that killed 85 people and destroyed the town of Paradise. In 2019, Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) agreed a $13.5bn (£10.2bn) settlement with victims of the Camp Fire and other wildfires in the state.

In the week since the Eaton Fire, there have already been at least five lawsuits filed against Southern California Edison, the power provider that operates the tower seen in Mr Ku’s video.

The company says it has not found any evidence that its equipment was responsible for the fire and is reviewing the lawsuits.

In a statement, it said its preliminary analysis of transmission lines across the canyon showed there were “no interruptions or operational/electrical anomalies in the 12 hours prior to the fire’s reported start time until more than one hour after the reported start time of the fire”.

Additionally, the company said its distribution lines to the west of Eaton Canyon “were de-energized well before the reported start time of the fire” as part of its fire safety shut-off program.

Chief Marrone told the BBC that investigators were looking into all possibilities, including whether the tower may have been where a spot fire ignited – meaning the initial blaze could have been started elsewhere but then spread to the tower through flying embers.

He explained the tower where the fire was spotted is not like those seen in neighbourhoods. Rather than a wooden pole with a small, easy-to-blow transformer or slim wires, this was a massive metal transmission tower with high voltage lines as thick as a fist.

These types of lines aren’t typically the cause of fires because they’re computerised, he said, and the system automatically turns off power once there is an issue.

He noted, though, that investigators were looking into whether Southern California Edison’s systems operated properly that night and cut power.

Cal Fire cautioned against casting any blame so early in the probe.

“We want to make very sure that we’re not pointing any fingers in any direction because we’ve seen what happens when someone is falsely accused,” Gerry Magaña, deputy chief of operations, told the BBC in an interview.

“It causes chaos.”

China’s economy rebounded in the last three months of last year, allowing the government to meet its growth target of 5% in 2024, Beijing announced on Friday.

But it is one of the slowest rates of growth in decades as the world’s second largest economy struggles to shake off a protracted property crisis, high local government debt and youth unemployment.

The head of the country’s statistics bureau said China’s economic achievements in 2024 were “hard won,” after the government launched a slew of stimulus measures late last year.

Beijing has rarely missed its growth targets in the past.

Experts had broadly predicted this rate of growth. The World Bank said lower borrowing costs and rising exports would mean China could achieve annual growth of 4.9%.

Investors, however, are bracing themselves: the threat of President-elect Donald Trump’s tariffs on $500bn (£409bn) worth of Chinese goods looms large.

Yet that is not all that stands in the way of China achieving its growth targets next year.

Business and consumer confidence is low, and the Chinese yuan will continue to weaken as Beijing cuts interest rates in a bid to boost growth.

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There is a growing chorus of warnings that China’s economy will slow in 2025. One major driving factor of last year’s growth is now at risk: exports.

China has relied on manufacturing to help exit the slowdown – so, it has been exporting a record number of electric vehicles, 3D printers and industrial robots.

The US, Canada and the European Union have accused China of making too many goods and imposed tariffs on Chinese imports to protect domestic jobs and businesses.

Experts say Chinese exporters may now focus on other parts of the world. But those countries are likely to be in emerging markets, which don’t have the same levels of demand as North America and Europe.

That could impact Chinese businesses that are hoping to expand, in turn hitting suppliers of energy and raw materials.

Xi wants to transform China from the world’s factory for cheap goods into a high-tech powerhouse by 2035 but it’s unclear how manufacturing can continue to be such a big growth driver in the face of rising tariffs.

In China, household wealth is largely invested in the property market. Before the real estate crisis, it accounted for almost a third of China’s economy – employing millions of people, from builders and developers to cement producers and interior designers.

Beijing has implemented a slew of policies to stabilise the property market and the the financial markets watchdog, the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), has said it will vigorously support reforms.

But there are still too many empty homes and commercial properties, and that oversupply continues to force down prices.

The property market slump is expected to bottom out this year, but Wall Street banking giant Goldman Sachs says the downturn will be a “multi-year drag” on China’s economic growth.

It’s already hit spending hard – in the last three months of 2024, household consumption contributed just 29% to China’s economic activity, down from 59% before the pandemic.

That is one of the reasons Beijing has stepped up exports. It wants to help offset sluggish domestic spending on new cars, luxury items and almost everything else.

The government has even introduced programmes like consumer goods trade-ins, where people can exchange their washing machines, microwaves and rice cookers.

But experts wonder whether these kinds of measures alone are sufficient without addressing deeper issues in the economy.

They say people will need more money in their pockets before pre-Covid levels for spending return.

“China needs to bring back the animal spirit of the population and we are still far from that,” said Shuang Ding, Chief Economist for Greater China and North Asia at Standard Chartered Bank.

“If the private sector starts to invest and innovate that could increase income and the job outlook, and people will have more confidence to consume.”

Steep public debt and unemployment have also affected savings and spending.

Official figures suggest the youth jobless rate remains high compared to before the pandemic, and that wage rises have stalled.

President Xi has promised to invest in the cutting-edge industries that the government calls “new productive forces”.

Until now, that has helped China become a leader in goods like renewable energy products such as solar panels and electric vehicle batteries.

Last year, China also overtook Japan as the world’s biggest car exporter.

But the lacklustre economic picture, uncertainty over tariffs and other geopolitical uncertainties mean the appetite of foreign businesses for investment in China is subdued.

It’s not about foreign or domestic investment – it’s that businesses don’t see a bright future, said Stephanie Leung from wealth management platform StashAway.

“They would like to see a more diversified set of investors coming in.”

For all of these reasons, experts believe the measures to support the economy will only partially alleviate the impact of potential new US tariffs.

Beijing must either undertake big, bold measures or accept that the economy is not going to grow so fast, Goldman Sachs’ Chief China Economist Hui Shan wrote in a recent report, adding: “We expect them to choose the former.”

“China needs to stabilise property markets and create sufficient jobs to ensure social stability,” Mr Ding from Standard Chartered Bank said.

According to researcher China Dissent Monitor, there were more than 900 protests in China between June and September 2024 led by workers and property owners – 27% more than the same period a year earlier.

These sort of social strains as a result of economic grievances and an erosion of wealth will be a concern for the Chinese Communist Party.

After all, explosive growth turned China into a global power, and the promise of increased prosperity has largely helped its leaders keep a tight lid on dissent.

A looming TikTok ban has connected Chinese and American citizens like never before, as they swap jokes and memes in what one user described as a “historic moment”.

It’s all unfolding on a popular Chinese social media app called RedNote, or Xiaohongshu (literally translates as Little Red Book), which doesn’t have the usual internet firewall that separates China from the rest of the world.

It has been drawing self-professed US “TikTok refugees” seeking a new home on the internet – despite the fact that their own government is seeking a TikTok ban because of national security concerns.

Americans now find themselves in direct contact with 300 million Mandarin speakers in China and elsewhere – while in the real world, Beijing is bracing for a tumultuous Trump presidency that could strain its fragile ties with Washington.

At the heart of the US ban is the fear that China is using TikTok to spy on Americans.

The app has faced accusations that user data is ending up in the hands of the Chinese government – because of a Beijing law that requires local companies to “support, assist and cooperate with the state intelligence work”. TikTok denies this has ever happened, or that it would happen.

But the possibility doesn’t seem to worry some US users – 700,000 new users have signed on to RedNote in the last two days, making it the most downloaded free app in the US App store.

“The reason that our government is telling us that they are banning TikTok is because they’re insisting that it’s owned by you guys, the Chinese people, government, whatever,” said one new RedNote user, Definitelynotchippy.

He goes on to explain why he is on RedNote: “A lot of us are smarter than that though so we decided to piss off our government and download an actual Chinese app. We call that trolling, so in short we’re here to spite our government and to learn about China and hang out with you guys.”

TikTok, although owned by Chinese company ByteDance, is headquartered in Singapore and says it is run independently. In fact, China’s version of TikTok is another app called Douyin. RedNote, on the other hand, is a Chinese company based in Shanghai and among the few social media apps available both in China and outside.

So Washington’s fears over TikTok would extend to RedNote as well.

That’s why American users on RedNote are referring to themselves as “Chinese spies” – continuing a TikTok trend where people have been bidding farewell to their “personal Chinese spy” who has allegedly been surveilling them over the years.

RedNote is now full of posts where ex-TikTok users are in search of a replacement. One post says: “I’m looking for my Chinese spy. I miss you. Please help me find him.”

And Chinese users have answered: “I’m here!”

The honest, funny conversations on RedNote may not be what Chinese President Xi Jinping had in mind when he spoke about “strengthening people-to-people cultural exchanges” between China and the US.

But that is certainly what is happening as excited Chinese users welcome curious Americans to the app.

“You don’t even need to travel abroad, you can just talk to foreigners here,” said one Chinese RedNote user in a video that has received more than 6,000 likes.

“But it’s honestly insane, no-one would have expected that we could meet like this one day, openly communicate like this.”

Food, streaming shows and jobs have been the most popular topics: “Is life in America similar to how it looks on [the US TV show] Friends?”

Other Chinese users demanded a “tax” for using the platform – cat photos.

“Cat tax from California,” reads one post in response. “Here’s my offering – the shorthair is a boy named Bob and the calico is a girl named Marley.”

Still others are using the platform to ask Americans for help with their English homework.

One post reads: “Dear TikTok refugees, could you please tell me the answer to question 53? Is the answer T (true) or F (false)?”

Help came quickly: some 500 people have since answered.

The flood of new American users appears to have caught RedNote off guard – reports say the company is hiring English moderators.

And others are trying to cash in on RedNote’s new-found US stardom as well: language-learning app Duolingo put out a graph showing a 216% jump in its user base, compared to this time last year.

RedNote’s rising popularity is not guaranteed to last though.

There is no reason to assume it won’t face blowback for the same reasons as TikTok: concerns that it could be used by China to spy on Americans.

It’s unclear how long Beijing would be open to such unfettered exchanges – control of the internet is key to its repressive regime.

The irony of the situation was flagged by one Chinese user, who posted: “Don’t we have a (fire)wall? How come so many foreigners can enter, when clearly I can’t leave?”

Typically, Chinese internet users have been unable to directly interact with foreigners. Global platforms like Twitter and Instagram and search engines like Google are blocked in China, though people use VPNs to circumvent these restrictions. Sensitive topics – from history to dissent – or anything seen as critical of China’s government and ruling Communist party is swiftly censored.

It’s unclear how much RedNote is censored – it’s largely used by younger and middle-aged women in China, where they share images and videos. It’s not like Weibo, another Chinese app, where discussions and airing of grievances is far more common, leading to posts often being taken down.

But a handful of new RedNote users say they have already received reports that their posts have violated guidelines, including one who asked in a post if the app was “LGBT friendly”.

Another said they had asked “What [sic] Chinese think about gay people?” and received a similar notification, that they had violated “public moral order” guidelines.

And Chinese users keep reminding Americans on the app “not to mention sensitive topics, such as politics, religion and drugs”.

One Chinese user also advised them to stick to the “One China policy”, the diplomatic pillar of the US-China relationship – according to which the US recognises and has formal ties with China rather than Taiwan, the self-governed island Beijing claims as its own.

The US government has not commented on RedNote so far, and neither has Beijing.

But Chinese state media seems upbeat about it, with Global Times even interviewing a US user who said she would “love to interact with Chinese users”.

RedNote’s American fate is anyone’s guess – but for now, at least online, the US-China rivalry is taking a break. Thanks to cat pictures.

The latest test of Space X’s giant Starship rocket has failed, minutes after launch.

Officials at Elon Musk’s company said the upper stage was lost after problems developed after lift-off from Texas on Thursday.

But the Super Heavy booster managed to returned to its launchpad as planned, prompting an eruption of applause from ground control teams.

The mission came hours after the first flight of the Blue Origin New Glenn rocket system, backed by Amazon boss Jeff Bezos.

The two tech billionaires both want to dominate the space vehicle market.

“Starship experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly during its ascent burn. Teams will continue to review data from today’s flight test to better understand root cause,” SpaceX posted on X.

“With a test like this, success comes from what we learn, and today’s flight will help us improve Starship’s reliability.”

Unverified footage shared on social media shows what appears to be the rocket breaking up in flames.

And footage showed orange balls of light flying across the sky over the Haitian capital of Port-Au-Prince, leaving a trail of smoke behind.

“Success is uncertain, but entertainment is guaranteed!” Mr Musk posted on X, sharing a video showing a fiery trail streaking though the sky.

He also said “improved versions” of the ship and booster were “already waiting for launch”.

“Preliminary indication is that we had an oxygen/fuel leak in the cavity above the ship engine firewall that was large enough to build pressure in excess of the vent capacity,” Musk said a short while later, adding that “nothing so far suggests pushing next launch past next month”.

Footage of the launch clocked up 7.2m views, according to a SpaceX livestream.

The Starship system had lifted off from Boca Chica, Texas, at 17:38 EST (22:38 GMT) in the company’s seventh test mission.

The Starship upper stage separated from its Super Heavy booster nearly four minutes into flight as planned.

But then SpaceX Communications Manager Dan Huot reported on a live stream that mission teams had lost contact with the ship.

The Super Heavy booster managed to returned to its launchpad roughly seven minutes after lift-off as planned, prompting an eruption of applause from ground control teams.

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said it was aware “an anomaly occurred” during the SpaceX mission.

“The FAA briefly slowed and diverted aircraft around the area where space vehicle debris was falling. Normal operations have resumed,” it said in a statement.

It comes a day after a SpaceX rocket blasted off from Florida carrying two privately constructed lunar landers and a micro rover to the Moon.

The uncrewed Falcon 9 launched from the Kennedy Space Center on Wednesday.

And Bezos’ Blue Origin company successfully launched a rocket into orbit for the first time.

It was a huge step forward for Bezos and his company that has spent years getting to the point of sending a rocket into orbit.

Every week, Rajesh PN Rao, a computer scientist, gets emails from people claiming they’ve cracked an ancient script that has stumped scholars for generations.

These self-proclaimed codebreakers – ranging from engineers and IT workers to retirees and tax officers – are mostly from India or of Indian origin living abroad. All of them are convinced they’ve deciphered the script of the Indus Valley Civilisation, a blend of signs and symbols.

“They claim they’ve solved it and that the ‘case is closed’,” says Mr Rao, Hwang Endowed Professor at the University of Washington and author of peer-reviewed studies on the Indus script.

Adding fuel to the race, MK Stalin, the chief minister of southern India’s Tamil Nadu state, recently upped the stakes, announcing a $1m prize for anyone who can crack the code.

The Indus, or Harappan, civilisation – one of the world’s earliest urban societies – emerged 5,300 years ago in present-day northwest India and Pakistan. Its austere farmers and traders, living in walled, baked-brick cities, thrived for centuries. Since its discovery a century ago, around 2,000 sites have been uncovered across the region.

The reasons behind the society’s sudden decline remain unclear, with no apparent evidence of war, famine or a natural disaster. But its greatest mystery is its undeciphered script, leaving its language, governance and beliefs shrouded in secrecy.

For over a century, experts – linguists, scientists and archaeologists – have tried to crack the Indus script. Theories have linked it to early Brahmi scripts, Dravidian and Indo-Aryan languages, Sumerian, and even claimed it’s just made up of political or religious symbols.

Yet, its secrets remain locked away. “The Indus script is perhaps the most important system of writing that is undeciphered,” says Asko Parpola, a leading Indologist.

These days, the more popular spectacular theories equate the script with content from Hindu scriptures and attribute spiritual and magical meanings to the inscriptions.

Most of these attempts ignore that the script, made up of signs and symbols, mostly appears on stone seals used for trade and commerce, making it unlikely they contain religious or mythological content, according to Mr Rao.

There are many challenges to deciphering the Indus script.

First, the relatively small number of scripts – about 4,000 of them, almost all on small objects such as seals, pottery and tablets.

Then there’s the brevity of each script – average length of about five signs or symbols – with no long texts on walls, tablets or upright stone slabs.

Consider the commonly found square seals: lines of signs run along their top, with a central animal motif – often a unicorn – and an object beside it, whose meaning remains unknown.

There’s also no bilingual artefact like the Rosetta Stone, which helped scholars decode Egyptian hieroglyphs. Such artefacts contain text in two languages, offering a direct comparison between a known and unknown script.

Recent advancements in deciphering the Indus script have used computer science to tackle this ancient enigma. Researchers have used machine learning techniques to analyse the script, trying to identify patterns and structures that could lead to its understanding.

Nisha Yadav, a researcher at the Mumbai-based Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), is one of them. In collaboration with scientists like Mr Rao, her work has focused on applying statistical and computational methods to analyse the undeciphered script.

Using a digitised data set of Indus signs from the script, they have found interesting patterns. A caveat: “We still don’t know whether the signs are complete words, or part of words or part of sentences,” says Ms Yadav.

Ms Yadav and co-researchers found 67 signs that account for 80% of the writing on the script. A sign which looks like a jar with two handles turned out to be the most frequently used sign. Also, the scripts began with a large number of signs and ended with fewer of them. Some sign patterns appear more often than expected.

Also, a machine-learning model of the script was created to restore the illegible and damaged texts, paving the way for further research.

“Our understanding is that the script is structured and there is an underlying logic in the writing,” says Ms Yadav.

To be sure, several ancient scripts remain undeciphered, facing challenges similar to the Indus script.

Mr Rao cites scripts like Proto-Elamite (Iran), Linear A (Crete), and Etruscan (Italy), whose underlying language is unknown.

Others, like Rongorongo (Easter Island) and Zapotec (Mexico), have known languages, “but their symbols remain unclear”. The Phaistos Disc from Crete – a mysterious, fired clay disc from the Minoan civilisation – “closely mirrors the Indus script’s challenges – its language is unknown, and only one known example exists”.

Back in India, it is not entirely clear why Mr Stalin of Tamil Nadu announced a reward for deciphering the script. His announcement followed a new study linking Indus Valley signs to graffiti found in his state.

K Rajan and R Sivananthan analysed over 14,000 graffiti-bearing pottery fragments from 140 excavated sites in Tamil Nadu, which included more than 2,000 signs. Many of these signs closely resemble those in the Indus script, with 60% of the signs matching, and over 90% of south Indian graffiti marks having “parallels” with those from the Indus civilisation, the researchers claim.

This “suggests a kind of cultural contact” between the Indus Valley and south India, Mr Rajan and Mr Sivananthan say.

Many believe Mr Stalin’s move to announce an award positions him as a staunch champion of Tamil heritage and culture, countering Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which rules in Delhi.

But researchers are confident that there will be no claimants for Mr Stalin’s prize soon. Scholars have compiled complete, updated databases of all known inscribed artefacts – crucial for decipherment. “But what did the Indus people write? I wish we knew,” says Ms Yadav.

David Lynch, the American filmmaker whose works include the surrealist cult classics Mulholland Drive and Twin Peaks, has died aged 78.

Lynch’s death was announced on his official Facebook page by his family.

“There’s a big hole in the world now that he’s no longer with us,” the post said.

“But, as he would say, ‘Keep your eye on the donut and not on the hole.’ … It’s a beautiful day with golden sunshine and blue skies all the way.”

Lynch revealed in August last year he was battling emphysema, a chronic lung disease, from “many years of smoking”.

Considered by many a maverick filmmaker, he received three best director Oscar nominations throughout his career for his work on Blue Velvet, The Elephant Man and Mulholland Drive.

His last major project was Twin Peaks: The Return, which was broadcast in 2017, and continued the TV series that ran for two seasons in the early 1990s.

He won the prestigious Palme d’Or at the Cannes film festival for Wild at Heart in 1990.

The star of that film, Nicolas Cage, told the BBC World Service’s Newshour programme he was one of the main reasons he fell in love with cinema.

“I used to see his movie Eraserhead in Santa Monica,” he said. “He’s largely instrumental for why I got into filmmaking. He was one of a kind. He can’t be replaced.”

Fellow film director Steven Spielberg said he was a “singular, visionary dreamer who directed films that felt handmade”.

“The world is going to miss such an original and unique voice,” Spielberg said in a statement to Variety.

Director Ron Howard paid tribute on social media, calling him a “gracious man and fearless artist who followed his heart & soul proved that radical experimentation could yield unforgettable cinema”.

Musician Moby, for whom Lynch directed the video for Shot In The Back Of The Head, said he was “just heartbroken”.

Many of Lynch’s films were known for their surrealist, dreamlike quality.

Eraserhead, his first major release in 1977, was filled with dark, disturbing imagery.

“While his imagination clearly has an eye for the viscerally potent, this remains an unremarkable feat by his later standards,” a BBC reviewer said of the film in 2001.

In a May 2024 interview with BBC Radio Three’s Sound of Cinema, Lynch described the process of working with late composer Angelo Badalamenti, who designed many of the soundscapes that accompanied his vision.

“And then I say, ‘no that’s still too fast, it’s not dark enough, it’s not heavy and foreboding enough,'” Lynch recalled.

His body of work was recognised at the Oscars in 2020 when he was given an honorary Academy Award.

The director said last year that, despite his emphysema diagnosis, he was in “excellent shape” and would “never retire”.

He added the diagnosis was the “price to pay” for his smoking habit.

But his condition deteriorated within months. In a November interview with People magazine, he said he needed oxygen to walk.

Born in Missoula, Montana, Lynch first began a career in painting before switching to making short films during the 1960s.

Popular Bollywood actor Saif Ali Khan has undergone surgery and is out of danger after he was stabbed by an intruder in his home overnight, his team has said.

The attack took place early on Thursday morning in an upscale neighbourhood in the Indian city of Mumbai, where Khan lives with his family.

City police told BBC Marathi that the actor was injured after a scuffle broke out between him and an unidentified man who entered his house sometime after midnight.

Police have formed teams to investigate the matter.

“Khan has come out of surgery and is out of danger. He is currently in recovery and the doctors are monitoring his progress,” Khan’s team said in a statement.

Speaking to reporters after the surgery, Dr Nitin Dange of Lilavati Hospital, where Khan is admitted, said that the actor “sustained a major injury to the thoracic spinal cord due to a lodged knife in the spine”.

“A surgery was performed to remove the knife and repair leaking spinal fluid. Two other deep wounds on his left hand and one other on his neck were repaired by the plastic surgery team,” he said.

Khan is married to Bollywood star Kareena Kapoor Khan and the couple have two children. His team said they were safe.

His wife said afterwards on Instagram stories that it had been “an incredibly challenging day for our family”, and that they were still “trying to process” it.

She “respectfully and humbly” asked the media and paparazzi to “refrain from the relentless speculation and coverage”.

“While we appreciate the concern and support, the constant scrutiny and attention are not only overwhelming but also pose a significant risk to our safety,” she added.

“I kindly request that you respect our boundaries and give us the space we need to heal and cope as a family.”

The exact details of the assault are not clear yet. Police have said that “an unknown person” had entered the actor’s home.

“After that, an argument broke out between Khan and the intruder,” Mumbai’s Deputy Commissioner of Police Dixit Gedam told BBC Marathi.

Khan’s team said it was a case of “attempted burglary” but did not share more details.

“We request the media and fans to be patient. It is a police matter,” they said.

Khan, who made his Bollywood debut in 1993, primarily works in Hindi cinema and is known for his quick wit and comic timing.

Among his popular movies are romantic comedies such as Dil Chahta Hai and Kal Ho Naa Ho and recent action dramas such as Tanhaji and Devara: Part 1.

His role as an antagonist in Omkara, a 2006 critically acclaimed adaptation of Shakespeare’s Othello, was widely appreciated.

Khan comes from a family of erstwhile Nawabs who ruled Pataudi, a small princely state on the outskirts of Delhi, and is married into a family of film stars.

His father Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi was a cricketer who captained the Indian team in the 1960s. His mother Sharmila Tagore is a veteran actress who has featured in prominent Hindi and Bengali films from the age of 14.

His sister Soha Ali Khan also acted in films for some years.

Khan’s wife Kareena comes from a family of celebrated actors, directors and producers who have been active in Bollywood for almost a century.

After months of speculation about his political ambitions, former Bank of Canada and Bank of England governor Mark Carney has announced his run for leader of Canada’s governing Liberal Party.

Mr Carney formally launched his bid in his hometown of Edmonton, Alberta, on Thursday at a hockey rink where he learned how to skate as a young boy.

“I’m doing this because Canada is the best country in the world, but it could still be even better,” Mr Carney said, as he stood before a backdrop of a giant Canadian flag.

If he wins, the 59-year-old will succeed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and lead the country into the next general election, which will take place this year.

Earlier this month, Trudeau announced his intent to resign after nine years in office once a new Liberal leader is selected.

At Thursday’s announcement, Mr Carney sought to ground himself to his Canadian roots and distinguish himself from both Trudeau and his opponents across the political aisle.

While he has recently served as an economic advisor to Trudeau, Mr Carney is the only candidate in the Liberal Party’s leadership race who is not an elected member of Trudeau’s government.

• Who might replace Trudeau as Liberal Party leader?
• The man who could become Canada’s future PM
• Mark Carney, the ‘unreliable boyfriend’ who ran UK’s central bank

He has branded himself as an outsider who brings a wealth of financial knowledge to a country that is struggling with a sluggish economy.

Under Liberal Party rules, any member of the party – including those who are not elected officials – can run for leadership. They are expected to seek a seat in parliament in the next election, however, which Mr Carney said he intends to do.

In his pitch to Canadians, Mr Carney outlined challenges facing the country, like a housing affordability crisis, stagnant wages and the threat of climate change.

“Too many people are falling behind,” he said.

He also noted the tariff threat from US President-elect Donald Trump, who takes office on Monday, saying that Canada is facing extraordinary times.

Trump has suggested imposing potential 25% tariffs on Canadian goods.

“I’ve helped managed multiple crises and I’ve helped save two economies,” Mr Carney said. “I know how business works, and I know how to make it work for you.”

Mr Carney, who is Harvard and Oxford educated, brings a range of economic experience to the race.

He previously worked at the investment bank Goldman Sachs, and served as Canada’s central banker, from 2008 – when the country became the first G7 nation to raise interest rates after the financial crisis – to 2013.

He then moved to London, where he served as governor of the Bank of England until 2020.

During his tenure, he led efforts to support the UK economy through Brexit, though he faced criticism that some of his early interventions were overly political.

Mr Carney is also known as an advocate for environmental sustainability. In 2019 became a UN Special Envoy for Climate Change, and in 2021 launched the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero, a grouping of banks and financial institutions working to combat climate change.

In recent months, Mr Carney advised Trudeau on economic matters. On Thursday, he criticised the sitting prime minister for his handling of the file.

“I know I’m not the only Liberal in Canada who believes that the prime minister and his team let their attention wander from the economy too often,” Mr Carney said.

Mr Carney’s opponents in the Liberal leadership race include a number of sitting members of parliament.

Former finance minister Chrystia Freeland is also expected to announce a bid in the coming days.

Freeland resigned from her post in December over a break from Trudeau for his handling of Canada’s fiscal matters.

Whoever wins the Liberal leadership race will face-off against the opposition Conservatives, who have a strong lead in the polls. Their leader, Pierre Poilievre, has championed a small government and a return to “common sense” politics.

Mr Carney called Poilievre’s ideas for Canada “naïve” and “dangerous”.

The Conservatives have sought to link Mr Carney with Trudeau’s unpopular government, saying he is “just like Justin”.

They also note he has been a champion of carbon pricing, which is Trudeau’s signature climate policy and has been met with a mixed reaction in Canada.

Mr Carney has advocated for a price on carbon, but appeared to recently back away from the policy, telling a Senate committee in May that it has “served a purpose up until now”.

On Thursday, he said that the carbon tax should be replaced with a policy “that is at least, if not more, effective” on climate without hurting Canadians’ bottom line.

Liberals are scheduled to elect their next leader on 9 March.

The next Canadian general election must be held on or before October of this year, and could come as early as this spring.

Actor and director Justin Baldoni has hit back at Blake Lively, his co-star in the film It Ends With Us, by filing a lawsuit against her and her husband Ryan Reynolds.

It comes after Lively filed a legal complaint against Baldoni in December, alleging sexual harassment and that he had campaigned to “destroy” her reputation.

Now, Baldoni has responded by suing for $400m (£326m) damages on claims of civil extortion, defamation and invasion of privacy, according to US media.

Representatives for Lively, Reynolds and their publicist, who is also named in the case, are yet to respond to Baldoni’s lawsuit.

In the latest step in their bitter legal battle, lawyers for Baldoni, 40, has claimed Lively and her team made a “duplicitous attempt to destroy” him.

His attorney Bryan Freedman said the actress and her partners had disseminated “grossly edited, unsubstantiated, new and doctored information to the media”.

He also said Lively and her team had “attempted to bulldoze reputations and livelihoods for heinously selfish reasons”.

The dispute stems from the production of It Ends With Us, which was adapted from a novel about domestic abuse by Colleen Hoover.

Released last August, the film was a box office success, bringing in more than $350m (£280m) globally.

But it appeared on the press tour that all was not well between the co-stars, who were not pictured on the red carpet together during the premiere in New York, with Baldoni skipping one in London altogether.

Four months after the film’s launch, Lively filed a legal complaint against Baldoni, accusing him and the boss of his studio Wayfarer of sexual harassment plus “other disturbing behaviour” and a “hostile work environment” on set.

Lively’s complaint went further, claiming that Baldoni and his crisis management team had deliberately set out to ruin her reputation online.

Baldoni’s legal team told the BBC at the time the allegations were “categorically false”, and said they hired a crisis manager because Lively had threatened to derail the film unless her demands were met.

Now, Baldoni is alleging in his 179-page complaint that he is not at fault, and that the high-profile battle is “not a case about celebrities sniping at each other in the press”.

“When plaintiffs have their day in court, the jury will recognise that even the most powerful celebrity cannot bend the truth to her will,” it said.

A ceasefire deal to bring an end to the 15-month long conflict between Israel and Hamas has been finalised in Qatar.

Israel has long said it would not agree to any ceasefire until it completed military operations in the territory, which were sparked by Hamas’s shock October 2023 attack which killed about 1,200 people and saw 251 more taken hostage.

Gaza has suffered vast destruction with a colossal humanitarian impact. More than 46,000 Palestinians have been killed during Israel’s military action, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, and much infrastructure across the strip has been levelled by air strikes.

The Israeli military insists that its attacks on Gaza have targeted Hamas fighters and that it has tried to avoid or minimise civilian casualties. Hamas has responded to Israeli operations with rocket fire on Israel.

BBC Verify has been analysing the scale of the damage caused by a conflict which has devastated Gaza.

Health officials in Gaza say they have compiled the death toll – now at 46,788 – from deaths recorded in hospitals, as well as those reported by family members.

According to the ministry’s record for identified victims as of 7 October 2024, 59% were women, children and the elderly, but a UN analysis in November put the figure for women and children as high as 70%.

The health ministry also says that 110,453 Palestinians have been injured in the conflict, and the World Health Organization (WHO) reported on 3 January that 25% of those have been left with life-changing injuries.

Karin Huster, a coordinator with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), told BBC Verify that the Gaza health system faces “immense” challenges to “adequately manage all those injured patients over the long-term”.

A paper in the Lancet medical journal recently suggested the death toll could be significantly higher than the ministry’s figures.

The health ministry’s death toll does not differentiate between civilians and combatants, but the IDF claimed to have killed 17,000 Hamas fighters as of September 2024. It has not revealed how it established that figure.

The conflict has caused widespread and significant damage to infrastructure across Gaza. The verified image below shows a neighbourhood in Jabalia before the conflict and last week.

Academics Corey Scher of CUNY Graduate Center and Jamon Van Den Hoek of Oregon State University have been looking at the extent of damage in Gaza based on satellite images. In their latest analysis to 11 January, they estimated 59.8% of buildings in the Gaza Strip had been damaged or destroyed since the start of the war.

The below map shows damage to infrastructure since the start of the war. Much of the Israeli bombing was concentrated in urban areas and some infrastructure was hit multiple times.

The United Nations Satellite Centre (UNOSAT) has calculated a higher figure – it reported that 69% of all structures had been destroyed or damaged at the start of December. The UN also concluded 68% of the road network in the strip had been damaged or destroyed.

There have been several examples of damage in and around key medical facilities. The UN says that 50% of hospitals are closed, with the others just partially functional – meaning many of those still open lack the ability to treat chronic diseases and complex injuries.

Hamas has previously been accused by Israel of operating in and around hospitals, but international agencies like the WHO have criticised the lack of protection for health workers and medical facilities – the UN estimates that about 1,060 medical workers have been killed.

Save the Children told BBC Verify that Gaza’s six public community mental health centres and its only inpatient psychiatric hospital are also no longer functioning – a major challenge given UN estimates that around a million children are in need of mental health support.

Ms Huster told BBC Verify that many specialised medical services now lack qualified practitioners and bespoke medical equipment.

• Dozens killed as Israeli strikes continue ahead of Gaza ceasefire
• What we know about the Gaza ceasefire deal
• Bowen: Ceasefire may stop the killing but won’t end the conflict

There has also been considerable destruction to education facilities with the IDF indicating they had struck school buildings 49 times since the middle of July while targeting Hamas fighters.

We have verified footage from such strikes on 13 sites since the beginning of December. These sites had typically stopped functioning as schools, often becoming shelters, but the damage will present a challenge in returning education to normal in Gaza.

The BBC has also documented how hundreds of water and sanitation facilities were damaged or destroyed after Israel launched its military action.

Rebuilding infrastructure – from homes to public facilities – will be a key challenge in the coming years. In May the UN estimated it could cost $40bn to rebuild the strip.

The United Nation’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs estimates that 1.9 million people have been internally displaced – some 90% of the population of Gaza. Some people have moved several times from one area to another.

BBC Verify has been monitoring evacuation orders in Gaza since the beginning of the conflict. Almost all of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have had to leave their homes as Israel has carried out continuous strikes across the territory and issued mass evacuation orders for large residential areas.

The map below shows the areas subject to IDF evacuation notices since the start of the conflict – covering a significant majority of the strip. Recent analysis showed about 90% of north Gaza had been under evacuation notices between October and late November as Israel carried out significant operations in the north.

Even within the “humanitarian zone” that the IDF told Palestinians to move to for safety there have been dozens of strikes.

The changing face of Al-Mawasi – in the humanitarian zone – illustrates the impact displacement has had on Gaza. The below image shows the same area before the war – and at the start of January. Where there was empty agricultural land before, there are now of thousands of tents and temporary structures.

The UN projects that 91% of people had faced high levels of acute food insecurity. The IPC – a group which works with governments, charities and agencies – has concluded that famine thresholds may have been reached in northern Gaza after the recent operations there.

Among the challenges is damage to agricultural land. In September, UN agencies said 67.6% of cropland had been damaged by shelling, vehicle tracks and other “conflict-related pressures”.

There has been a significant decrease in the amount of aid getting into Gaza in recent months, according to figures compiled by the UN. Before the conflict, there was an average of 500 truckloads of aid entering Gaza each working day.

That number began to fall in October 2023 and has not recovered.

Even when aid enters Gaza, it does not always get to its intended destination. Aid workers have warned about criminal gangs intercepting aid deliveries and looting supplies, as law and order broke down.

The UN has calculated some 1.9 million people are in need of emergency shelter and essential household items.

The ceasefire is likely to make getting aid into Gaza easier, but the next question is how to rebuild the strip. After a devastating 15 months of war, it could take Gazans over a decade to rebuild.

What claims do you want BBC Verify to investigate?

China’s economy rebounded in the last three months of last year, allowing the government to meet its growth target of 5% in 2024, Beijing announced on Friday.

But it is one of the slowest rates of growth in decades as the world’s second largest economy struggles to shake off a protracted property crisis, high local government debt and youth unemployment.

The head of the country’s statistics bureau said China’s economic achievements in 2024 were “hard won,” after the government launched a slew of stimulus measures late last year.

Beijing has rarely missed its growth targets in the past.

Experts had broadly predicted this rate of growth. The World Bank said lower borrowing costs and rising exports would mean China could achieve annual growth of 4.9%.

Investors, however, are bracing themselves: the threat of President-elect Donald Trump’s tariffs on $500bn (£409bn) worth of Chinese goods looms large.

Yet that is not all that stands in the way of China achieving its growth targets next year.

Business and consumer confidence is low, and the Chinese yuan will continue to weaken as Beijing cuts interest rates in a bid to boost growth.

Here are three reasons why Xi has bigger challenges than Trump’s tariffs:

There is a growing chorus of warnings that China’s economy will slow in 2025. One major driving factor of last year’s growth is now at risk: exports.

China has relied on manufacturing to help exit the slowdown – so, it has been exporting a record number of electric vehicles, 3D printers and industrial robots.

The US, Canada and the European Union have accused China of making too many goods and imposed tariffs on Chinese imports to protect domestic jobs and businesses.

Experts say Chinese exporters may now focus on other parts of the world. But those countries are likely to be in emerging markets, which don’t have the same levels of demand as North America and Europe.

That could impact Chinese businesses that are hoping to expand, in turn hitting suppliers of energy and raw materials.

Xi wants to transform China from the world’s factory for cheap goods into a high-tech powerhouse by 2035 but it’s unclear how manufacturing can continue to be such a big growth driver in the face of rising tariffs.

In China, household wealth is largely invested in the property market. Before the real estate crisis, it accounted for almost a third of China’s economy – employing millions of people, from builders and developers to cement producers and interior designers.

Beijing has implemented a slew of policies to stabilise the property market and the the financial markets watchdog, the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), has said it will vigorously support reforms.

But there are still too many empty homes and commercial properties, and that oversupply continues to force down prices.

The property market slump is expected to bottom out this year, but Wall Street banking giant Goldman Sachs says the downturn will be a “multi-year drag” on China’s economic growth.

It’s already hit spending hard – in the last three months of 2024, household consumption contributed just 29% to China’s economic activity, down from 59% before the pandemic.

That is one of the reasons Beijing has stepped up exports. It wants to help offset sluggish domestic spending on new cars, luxury items and almost everything else.

The government has even introduced programmes like consumer goods trade-ins, where people can exchange their washing machines, microwaves and rice cookers.

But experts wonder whether these kinds of measures alone are sufficient without addressing deeper issues in the economy.

They say people will need more money in their pockets before pre-Covid levels for spending return.

“China needs to bring back the animal spirit of the population and we are still far from that,” said Shuang Ding, Chief Economist for Greater China and North Asia at Standard Chartered Bank.

“If the private sector starts to invest and innovate that could increase income and the job outlook, and people will have more confidence to consume.”

Steep public debt and unemployment have also affected savings and spending.

Official figures suggest the youth jobless rate remains high compared to before the pandemic, and that wage rises have stalled.

President Xi has promised to invest in the cutting-edge industries that the government calls “new productive forces”.

Until now, that has helped China become a leader in goods like renewable energy products such as solar panels and electric vehicle batteries.

Last year, China also overtook Japan as the world’s biggest car exporter.

But the lacklustre economic picture, uncertainty over tariffs and other geopolitical uncertainties mean the appetite of foreign businesses for investment in China is subdued.

It’s not about foreign or domestic investment – it’s that businesses don’t see a bright future, said Stephanie Leung from wealth management platform StashAway.

“They would like to see a more diversified set of investors coming in.”

For all of these reasons, experts believe the measures to support the economy will only partially alleviate the impact of potential new US tariffs.

Beijing must either undertake big, bold measures or accept that the economy is not going to grow so fast, Goldman Sachs’ Chief China Economist Hui Shan wrote in a recent report, adding: “We expect them to choose the former.”

“China needs to stabilise property markets and create sufficient jobs to ensure social stability,” Mr Ding from Standard Chartered Bank said.

According to researcher China Dissent Monitor, there were more than 900 protests in China between June and September 2024 led by workers and property owners – 27% more than the same period a year earlier.

These sort of social strains as a result of economic grievances and an erosion of wealth will be a concern for the Chinese Communist Party.

After all, explosive growth turned China into a global power, and the promise of increased prosperity has largely helped its leaders keep a tight lid on dissent.

“Please come to my city!”

A familiar cry from music lovers all over the world hoping their favourite artists come to their hometown.

Fans in India, though, have often seen that plea fall on deaf ears.

Artists including Sabrina Carpenter, Gracie Abrams and Arctic Monkeys appear on the country’s weekly Spotify album chart, where Ed Sheeran’s ÷ (Divide) has spent 217 consecutive weeks.

Many world-famous musicians have tended to skip the country.

But that now appears to be changing.

Dua Lipa’s recent performance in Mumbai went viral and Coldplay will soon kick off their tour – nine years after their last visit to India.

Their dates include two shows in Ahmedabad where more than 100,000 people are expected to attend each night.

“To have that experience in our own country, it’s really cool to see that it’s happening more and more,” music fan and aspiring artist Anoushka Maskey tells BBC Newsbeat.

Demand for live music appears to be increasing in India, with ticketing platform BookMyShow reporting 18% growth in 2024.

Ed Sheeran is due to play his biggest-ever tour of the country, and artists including Shawn Mendes and Louis Tomlinson will appear at Lollapalooza festival in March.

Marketing professor Dr Sourindra Banerjee, from Leeds University Business School, says India’s 1.4 billion population – and their age – is a big draw for artists.

“You have a large portion of the world, of youth, living in India,” Dr Banerjee tells Newsbeat.

“So if I were in the music business that would be the place I would target, to reap the benefits of the demographic.”

According to the global market research company Statista, the value of the Indian music industry in 2021 was 19 billion rupees (£178 million).

By 2026, it is estimated to have grown to 37 billion rupees (£346 million).

Dr Banerjee says the rise of K-pop in India has shown Western artists the potential of the country for finding new fans.

“Major music labels have research teams who would have seen that someone else [can] take over a large market,” he says.

More broadly, he feels India’s growing wealth and links with the wider world makes it an important place for artists to get a foothold and “collaborate”.

“Not only to access the Indian market, but also access the large Indian [population] which lives outside the country.”

For local Indian artists, there is hope that big names could bring big opportunities for them.

Pop/folk singer Anoushka has been making music since 2020 and feels Western artists offer a chance for homegrown acts to find greater visibility.

She has experience herself after opening for Brit Award winner Ben Howard.

“That’s an opportunity that I never thought I would have within the country,” she says.

Independent singer-songwriter Anumita Nadesan says the chance to collaborate with bigger-artists “puts you on the map”.

“It’s very inspiring as well, because before when a mega artist came to India, we had to travel to another country to see their concerts.

“And you get to learn a lot as an artist by going to these concerts,” the Hindi artist says.

Pop artist Frizzell D’Souza, from Bangalore says seeing acts from abroad who started from humble beginnings can send a strong message to Indian audiences that homegrown talent can achieve global fame.

She describes Ed Sheeran as her “songwriting hero” and says his background of busking and playing in grassroots venues is relatable.

“It’s very reassuring to know that someone like him can actually do it,” says Frizzell.

“Even though he’s such a big superstar right now, he did start kind of at the same place that I did.”

Frizzell also sees an opportunity for cultural exchange, with western music figures being exposed to Indian sounds.

She points to rapper Hanumankind, who has charted globally with Big Dawgs and teamed up with A$AP Rocky.

“And that is proof that having international acts come to India is also helping Indian artists [globally] break through,” she says.

But, the artists point out some possible drawbacks to the influx of global stars coming to India.

The biggest risk Frizzell sees is around money – and audiences budgeting mainly for bigger artists.

“I hope I’m wrong about this, but maybe [they] would prefer the bigger international acts and not want to risk it on younger or upcoming acts.”

Anumita adds there is also a chance of artists overshadowing the attention smaller artists get.

“But then it also challenges smaller artists to maybe raise the bar.”

According to Peony Hirwani, music journalist at Rolling Stone India, the risk of being overshadowed is low as companies involved with events often ensure local artists are the main support acts.

She gives G-Eazy’s 2024 tour as an example, which had only Indian support artists – helping to boost their careers.

Instead, she tells Newsbeat, the focus should be on improving infrastructure to attract the biggest of names such as Taylor Swift and Beyonce – both of whom did not bring their tours to India.

Fans have often complained about facilities, concerts often held in sports stadiums used during India’s lengthy cricket season and not always available year-round.

“So we need more, bigger venues, and a better system in place for music,” Peony says.

Lollapalooza Festival takes place at a horse racing track in Mumbai – the only venue with enough space to safely host it.

“Even some of the [notable] stadiums we have right now… there definitely needs to be conversations about what everyone needs to make our infrastructure and venues better,” says Peony.

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

Just before dawn on Wednesday, 3,000 police officers arrived at the heavily-fortified residence of South Korea’s suspended President Yoon Suk Yeol.

Their mission: to arrest him.

Investigators used ladders to scale over buses and bolt cutters to get through barbed wire as they broke through multiple blockades designed to stop them. Others hiked up nearby trails to reach the presidential residence.

Hours later, they took him into custody for questioning over an alleged act of insurrection.

This was their second attempt. Their first, which took place earlier this month, had seen some 150 officers face a six-hour deadlock with the president’s security detail.

They were helplessly outnumbered, first by the large number of pro-Yoon supporters who had gathered outside his residence to stop the police, and then by a human wall of security officers inside the property.

Eventually, investigators concluded that it was “practically impossible” to arrest him – and left.

Many now see Yoon as a disgraced leader – impeached and suspended from his presidential duties for trying to impose martial law, while he awaits the decision of the Constitutional Court, which can remove him from office.

So why has it been so difficult to arrest him?

It has been an unprecedented few weeks for South Korea since Yoon’s shocking yet short-lived martial law order on 3 December.

Lawmakers voted to impeach him, then came a criminal investigation and his refusal to appear for questioning, which was what sparked the arrest warrant.

One key roadblock for the arresting officers had been Yoon’s presidential security team, which on 3 January had formed a human wall and used vehicles to block the officers’ path.

Analysts said they could have acted out of loyalty to Yoon, pointing to the fact that Yoon himself had appointed several leaders of the Presidential Security Service (PSS).

“It may well be the case that Yoon has seeded the organisation with hardline loyalists in preparation for precisely this eventuality,” says US-based lawyer and Korea expert Christopher Jumin Lee.

It is unclear why they reportedly put up less resistance this time, though Mr Lee believes the team may have been partly deterred by the “overwhelming show of force by the police”.

“At the end of the day I think they were simply unwilling to engage in the sort of large-scale violence against law enforcement officers that a full-throated defence of Yoon would have demanded,” he said.

Earlier this week, the Corruption Investigation Office (CIO) had warned the PSS that they risked losing their pensions and their civil servant status for obstructing the arrest.

In contrast, it reassured those who “defy illegal orders” to block the arrest that they “will not face disadvantages”.

On Wednesday, Yonhap news agency reported that a number of PSS members were either on leave or had chosen to stay inside the residence.

The right-wing leader also has a strong support base. Some of Yoon’s supporters had earlier told the BBC that they were prepared to die to protect him and repeated unfounded allegations that Yoon himself has floated, including that the country had been infiltrated by pro-North Korea forces.

On 3 January, thousands of them, undeterred by freezing temperatures, had camped outside his home to stop the arrest team from moving in. They had cried with joy when they found out that the team had given up.

It was a similar story on Wednesday, with a large crowd of pro-Yoon supporters showing up and some aggressively confronting the police to stop the arrest.

On hearing that Yoon had been arrested, some of them cried.

But the organisation that has really come under the spotlight is the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials, to give it its full name, which is jointly leading the investigation with the police.

There have been questions raised about how the CIO failed to arrest Yoon on its first try, with critics accusing it of being unprepared and lacking co-ordination.

The agency was created four years ago by the previous administration, in response to public anger over former president Park Geun-hye who was impeached, removed from office and later jailed over a corruption scandal.

This month’s failed attempt was a “further black eye” for the CIO, which already “does not have a great reputation, for both political and capability reasons”, says Mason Richey, an associate professor at Seoul’s Hankuk University of Foreign Studies.

The CIO may book today’s successful arrest as a win, but it remains to be seen how they will handle the investigation going forward, says Prof Richey.

“Many people do not trust their messaging about the investigation,” he adds.

“We’ve entered this mess after various organisations scrambled to spearhead the probe for their own gain,” says lawyer Lee Chang-min, a member of the activist organisation Lawyers for a Democratic Society.

“Even if the joint investigative body is retained, the case should be handed over to the police, which should assert its authority,” he adds.

The CIO has no power to bring charges and is expected to hand over the case to state prosecutors after its investigation.

Despite its name, the CIO has a wider remit than corruption. Its duties extend to investigating high-level officials more generally – for abuse of power. The CIO has argued that Yoon abused his power to conduct an insurrection.

But Yoon’s lawyers argue the CIO is an anti-corruption agency and its powers do not extend to investigating insurrections. They are reported to be considering filing an appeal in the Supreme Court to test this, according to Yonhap news agency.

South Korea is now in uncharted territory, with Yoon being the first sitting president to be arrested.

And the investigations into him have also “mobilised the far-right, populist elements” within the conservative coalition, who may “exert an outsize influence over” the country’s conservative politics going forward, Mr Lee says.

Frogs, lizards, snakes, spiders and other insect pests are being transported across the world on cut flowers and potted plants, with the potential to harm nature, according to scientists.

These “hitchhiking intruders” have included a tree frog that emerged from roses at a florist’s shop in Sheffield and snakes discovered in ornamental olive trees shipped across mainland Europe.

The shipments could also contain invasive pests capable of causing severe damage to crops and the countryside, say researchers at the University of Cambridge.

With the global market for plants, bulbs and cut flowers expanding rapidly, they say improved standards are urgently needed.

“Adult snakes and lizards are just the tip of the iceberg,” said Prof William Sutherland, of the University of Cambridge. “If they’re getting through, what’s the chance of us spotting small insects and fungi – the things that really cause the problems?”

The production of ornamental plants is growing fast and expanding geographically, particularly in East Africa and South America.

While regulations and border checks are in place, the sheer volume of cut flowers and ornamental plants being traded at speed makes it extremely difficult to intercept all the pests and diseases they carry, said Dr Silviu Petrovan of the University of Cambridge.

“Even with the best of intentions, unwanted hitchhikers are getting through customs import checks all the time,” he said.

The reptile expert was once called in to identify a live frog at a florist’s in Sheffield.

He thought it was a prank, but was stunned to find it was a tree-frog that had arrived with roses from Colombia via Ecuador.

Frogs, lizards and insects pests are the main stowaways detected in the UK.

Across mainland Europe, a number of exotic reptiles and amphibians have been accidentally discovered, particularly in potted olive trees:

• Lizards, such as geckos, and several species of continental European snakes

• Frogs and toads

• A large number of insect pests.

In the research, published in the journal Bioscience, the team analysed records of pests found in ornamental plants at customs in The Netherlands over 2017-2018, and reported to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in the UK over 2021-2023.

They are calling for improved production standards and for data on specific risks from trade to be collected and shared.

Follow Helen on Bluesky.

Tears, dismayed cries and shocked faces: that was the reaction among the supporters of South Korea’s suspended president Yoon Suk Yeol outside his home on hearing that he had been arrested.

It was a moment that had been in the making for weeks – ever since the last attempt to arrest Yoon on 3 January had failed after a dramatic standoff.

Yet, when the news of his arrest came on Wednesday morning, it only seemed to create more uncertainty – and highlight the divide in a country that has already been deeply polarised by Yoon’s short-lived martial law order and impeachment by parliament.

“This country is in crisis,” said one pro-Yoon woman, tears streaming down her face. “I’ve been praying since last night for a stable and peaceful South Korea.”

It’s what both sides say they want but they cannot agree on how to get there.

For the past month, a defiant 64-year-old Yoon was holed up inside his presidential compound in central Seoul, as his supporters and detractors rallied outside. They had turned Yongsan in central Seoul into an epicentre of protest, with tensions often running high.

Hundreds of them had camped out overnight on Tuesday, as the arrest appeared imminent, in temperatures that plummeted to -8C. The only thing they shared was the food trucks keeping them warm with steaming drinks and instant noodles.

Yoon’s supporters jostled with the police officers – numbering 3,000 – who assembled to take him into custody. “Don’t call us stupid far-rights,” one protester shouted, reflecting the frustration in the Yoon camp.

A starkly different scene unfolded on the other side of the street. Opponents of Yoon, who had long called for his arrest, celebrated with chants and cheers.

Their jubilation only made the pro-Yoon camp angrier, with some yelling: “Don’t taunt us – this is not funny.”

The gulf is not restricted to this corner of Yongsan. It has loomed over the whole country for more than a month.

Yoon’s shock announcement of martial law on 3 December almost instantly divided public opinion into two camps.

While some believed his claims the country was under threat, a larger group viewed the move as an opportunistic abuse of power. This sentiment was reflected even within Yoon’s own party, as several of its lawmakers voted to impeach him.

The growing opposition to Yoon’s actions has cast a pall over the nation.

The year-end season in South Korea is usually vibrant. But this year has been noticeably different. The political turmoil – along with the devastating Jeju Air crash on 29 December – has created a subdued and sombre atmosphere.

Yoon himself had largely avoided the public since he was impeached by parliament in mid-December.

He never stepped out of his residence to meet his supporters. On New Year’s Day, he sent them a note, saying he was “closely watching [them] via a YouTube livestream”. He skipped the first hearing of his impeachment trial on 14 January, delaying the proceedings.

Before that he had refused to comply with multiple summonses as part of the criminal investigation on insurrection charges, which led to the arrest warrant.

On Wednesday, he released a video statement saying he would co-operate with the Corruption Investigation Office (CIO) to avoid “bloodshed”, while claiming their arrest warrant was not legally valid.

It was a massive operation, which followed a warning from the CIO that the presidential security team could also be arrested if they tried to block Yoon’s arrest again. Unlike last time, the CIO and police were successful in detaining Yoon, although it still took hours to negotiate.

Once he left the presidential compound, the streets surrounding it began to empty. Protesters dispersed and the police barricades were removed.

Some of Yoon’s supporters moved to the CIO office where he is being questioned. They need another warrant to detain him for more than 48 hours.

While Yoon’s arrest has concluded the security standoff, it has not ended the rift that exists well beyond it in South Korea, which in recent decades has emerged as a leading global economy and beacon of democracy in Asia.

“Arresting the country’s leader does not even make sense,” declared one protester outside the presidential compound.

An opposing voice countered: “Executing the arrest warrant is a necessary step – Yoon attempted to undermine the country’s democracy.”

Yoon himself continues to question whether the CIO has the right to arrest him – his lawyers say no, because insurrection is not a charge of corruption. But the CIO says that the insurrection is a form of abuse of power – a charge that is within their remit to investigate.

What may appear to be a legal debate has veered deep into political territory, with both sides seeking to control the narrative.

The swift impeachment of Yoon’s immediate successor – Prime Minister Han Duck-soo – has already led to allegations that impeachment is being used as a political tool against Yoon’s allies. And Yoon’s impeachment trial getting under way this week has created more uncertainty.

Public attention will be on what statements, if any, Yoon makes while he is detained or under trial.

The fear is that the whatever comes next for Yoon, the polarisation that has come to define South Korean politics is here to stay.

Every week, Rajesh PN Rao, a computer scientist, gets emails from people claiming they’ve cracked an ancient script that has stumped scholars for generations.

These self-proclaimed codebreakers – ranging from engineers and IT workers to retirees and tax officers – are mostly from India or of Indian origin living abroad. All of them are convinced they’ve deciphered the script of the Indus Valley Civilisation, a blend of signs and symbols.

“They claim they’ve solved it and that the ‘case is closed’,” says Mr Rao, Hwang Endowed Professor at the University of Washington and author of peer-reviewed studies on the Indus script.

Adding fuel to the race, MK Stalin, the chief minister of southern India’s Tamil Nadu state, recently upped the stakes, announcing a $1m prize for anyone who can crack the code.

The Indus, or Harappan, civilisation – one of the world’s earliest urban societies – emerged 5,300 years ago in present-day northwest India and Pakistan. Its austere farmers and traders, living in walled, baked-brick cities, thrived for centuries. Since its discovery a century ago, around 2,000 sites have been uncovered across the region.

The reasons behind the society’s sudden decline remain unclear, with no apparent evidence of war, famine or a natural disaster. But its greatest mystery is its undeciphered script, leaving its language, governance and beliefs shrouded in secrecy.

For over a century, experts – linguists, scientists and archaeologists – have tried to crack the Indus script. Theories have linked it to early Brahmi scripts, Dravidian and Indo-Aryan languages, Sumerian, and even claimed it’s just made up of political or religious symbols.

Yet, its secrets remain locked away. “The Indus script is perhaps the most important system of writing that is undeciphered,” says Asko Parpola, a leading Indologist.

These days, the more popular spectacular theories equate the script with content from Hindu scriptures and attribute spiritual and magical meanings to the inscriptions.

Most of these attempts ignore that the script, made up of signs and symbols, mostly appears on stone seals used for trade and commerce, making it unlikely they contain religious or mythological content, according to Mr Rao.

There are many challenges to deciphering the Indus script.

First, the relatively small number of scripts – about 4,000 of them, almost all on small objects such as seals, pottery and tablets.

Then there’s the brevity of each script – average length of about five signs or symbols – with no long texts on walls, tablets or upright stone slabs.

Consider the commonly found square seals: lines of signs run along their top, with a central animal motif – often a unicorn – and an object beside it, whose meaning remains unknown.

There’s also no bilingual artefact like the Rosetta Stone, which helped scholars decode Egyptian hieroglyphs. Such artefacts contain text in two languages, offering a direct comparison between a known and unknown script.

Recent advancements in deciphering the Indus script have used computer science to tackle this ancient enigma. Researchers have used machine learning techniques to analyse the script, trying to identify patterns and structures that could lead to its understanding.

Nisha Yadav, a researcher at the Mumbai-based Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), is one of them. In collaboration with scientists like Mr Rao, her work has focused on applying statistical and computational methods to analyse the undeciphered script.

Using a digitised data set of Indus signs from the script, they have found interesting patterns. A caveat: “We still don’t know whether the signs are complete words, or part of words or part of sentences,” says Ms Yadav.

Ms Yadav and co-researchers found 67 signs that account for 80% of the writing on the script. A sign which looks like a jar with two handles turned out to be the most frequently used sign. Also, the scripts began with a large number of signs and ended with fewer of them. Some sign patterns appear more often than expected.

Also, a machine-learning model of the script was created to restore the illegible and damaged texts, paving the way for further research.

“Our understanding is that the script is structured and there is an underlying logic in the writing,” says Ms Yadav.

To be sure, several ancient scripts remain undeciphered, facing challenges similar to the Indus script.

Mr Rao cites scripts like Proto-Elamite (Iran), Linear A (Crete), and Etruscan (Italy), whose underlying language is unknown.

Others, like Rongorongo (Easter Island) and Zapotec (Mexico), have known languages, “but their symbols remain unclear”. The Phaistos Disc from Crete – a mysterious, fired clay disc from the Minoan civilisation – “closely mirrors the Indus script’s challenges – its language is unknown, and only one known example exists”.

Back in India, it is not entirely clear why Mr Stalin of Tamil Nadu announced a reward for deciphering the script. His announcement followed a new study linking Indus Valley signs to graffiti found in his state.

K Rajan and R Sivananthan analysed over 14,000 graffiti-bearing pottery fragments from 140 excavated sites in Tamil Nadu, which included more than 2,000 signs. Many of these signs closely resemble those in the Indus script, with 60% of the signs matching, and over 90% of south Indian graffiti marks having “parallels” with those from the Indus civilisation, the researchers claim.

This “suggests a kind of cultural contact” between the Indus Valley and south India, Mr Rajan and Mr Sivananthan say.

Many believe Mr Stalin’s move to announce an award positions him as a staunch champion of Tamil heritage and culture, countering Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which rules in Delhi.

But researchers are confident that there will be no claimants for Mr Stalin’s prize soon. Scholars have compiled complete, updated databases of all known inscribed artefacts – crucial for decipherment. “But what did the Indus people write? I wish we knew,” says Ms Yadav.

Outgoing US President Joe Biden warned of the dangers of an oligarchy gaining power as he delivered his farewell address and brought a decades-long career in politics to an end.

“Today, an oligarchy is taking shape in America of extreme wealth, power and influence that really threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights and freedom,” he said on Wednesday.

Biden, 82, took aim at an ultra-wealthy “tech-industrial complex” which he said could wield unchecked power over Americans.

He also used his final televised speech from the White House to issue warnings about climate change and social media disinformation.

Speaking from the Oval Office where his family had gathered to watch, he touted his single-term administration’s record, referencing job creation, infrastructure spending, healthcare, leading the country out of the pandemic, and making the US a safer country.

He added, however, that “it will take time to feel the full impact of all we’ve done together, but the seeds are planted, and they’ll grow and they’ll bloom for decades to come”.

• How Biden tarnished his own legacy
• Here’s what to know about Donald Trump’s inauguration

Biden wished Donald Trump’s incoming administration success, but then issued a series of pointed warnings, with the president stating “so much is at stake right now”.

On climate change, he said “powerful forces want to wield their unchecked influence to eliminate the steps we’ve taken to tackle the climate crisis to serve their own interests for power and profit”.

On misinformation, Biden warned that “Americans are being buried under an avalanche of misinformation and disinformation, enabling the abuse of power”.

He also took a swipe at social media companies such as Meta, which has recently announced it will get rid of independent fact checkers. “Social media is giving up on fact checking. The truth is smothered by lies told for power and for profit,” Biden said.

And his attack on an ultra-wealthy “tech-industrial complex” was a veiled reference at Silicon Valley executives such as Elon Musk, the world’s richest man who is close to Trump and provided huge financial backing to his campaign.

His language echoed that of President Dwight Eisenhower who famously warned of a “military industrial complex” in his 1961 farewell address.

Biden appeared to have Musk in mind when he warned of a “dangerous concentration of power in the hands of a few ultra-wealthy people”.

The term oligarchy refers to a government that is run by a handful of people, often for their own gain.

The president went on to say there could be “dangerous consequences if their abuse of power is left unchecked”.

• Biden hails Gaza ceasefire deal
• WATCH: 24 hours on Elon Musk’s timeline

Other tech bosses such as Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg have also made efforts to improve relations with Trump ahead of his return to the White House.

Closing his exit speech, which is a longstanding presidential tradition, Biden called on Americans to “stand guard” of their country: “May you all be the keeper of the flame.”

His farewell address came on the same day he announced a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, which he referenced in his opening remarks.

Biden said the negotiations had been some of the toughest of his career, and took credit for helping get the deal over the line.

The deal will see a ceasefire take effect on 19 January, a day before Trump is due to take office. The incoming president has also taken credit for the agreement, saying it was only possible because he won the election in November.

North America correspondent Anthony Zurcher makes sense of US politics in his US Election Unspun newsletter. Readers in the UK can sign up here. Those outside the UK can sign up here.

Pakistan’s flag carrier has drawn widespread criticism for putting out an advertisement that showed a plane flying towards the Eiffel Tower.

The ad was meant to promote the resumption of Pakistan International Airlines’ flights to the French capital and had the caption “Paris, we’re coming today”.

Some social media users noted the ad’s resemblance to the terrorist attacks in the US on 11 September 2001.

“Is this an advertisement or a threat?” one user wrote on X. Another called for the company to “fire your marketing manager”.

The image has been viewed more than 21 million times on X since it was published last week and has drawn swift backlash.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has ordered an investigation into the matter, while Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar has also criticised the ad, Pakistan’s Geo News reported.

The 9/11 attacks saw hijackers crash passenger jets into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington DC, killing nearly 3,000 people.

The alleged mastermind of the attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, was arrested in Pakistan in 2003.

Osama bin Laden, the leader of the al-Qaeda extremist network which planned the attacks, was killed by US troops in Pakistan in 2011.

Pakistani journalist Omar Quraishi said PIA’s ad left him “truly speechless”.

“Did the airline management not vet this?

“Do they not know about the 9/11 tragedy – which used planes to attack buildings? Did they not think that this would be perceived in similar fashion,” he wrote on X.

The airline has not commented on the incident.

The PIA, however, is no stranger to controversy.

Some X users pointed out that in 1979, the airline published an advertisement showing a passenger jet’s shadow over the twin towers.

In 2017, the airline was mocked after staff sacrificed a goat to ward off bad luck following one of the country’s worst air disasters.

And in 2019, PIA caused a stir when it told flight attendants to slim down or get grounded. Staff were told they had had six months to shed “excess weight”.

Firefighters battling two fires that have wreaked destruction across Los Angeles for nine days have had some respite on Thursday from the weather.

The near hurricane-strength winds that initially fanned the flames and hampered rescue efforts have weakened into much lighter gusts.

Progress has been made in containing the two largest fires burning across a combined total of about 40,000 acres.

At least 27 people have been killed and more than 12,000 structures destroyed in some of the worst fires in memory to engulf America’s second biggest city.

The two largest fires, Eaton and Palisades, are still burning after more than a week – and firefighting help has been sought from Mexico and Canada.

“Please be assured that our firefighters continue to work 24/7 to achieve full containment of these wildfires as fast as we can,” Los Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone said during a Thursday morning press conference.

Officials said there has been little to no fire growth in the last 24 hours, but stressed that unburned, dry fuel combined with low humidity could pose threats despite the decreased winds.

Mr Marrone said that while first responders are making progress putting out flames, evacuated residents will not be able to return to their neighborhoods for at least one more week, even for areas deemed safe.

Around 82,400 Californians are under evacuation orders, according to Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna.

Mr Luna said there have been 47 arrests related to looting and local evacuation order and curfew violations.

• What’s the latest on the fires, and how did they start?
• What we know about the fire victims
• What is the pink powder being used to fight fires in California?

Later on Thursday afternoon evacuation orders for some communities affected by the Palisades fire and Eaton fire were lifted – more than one week after they were first ordered.

Authorities said that residents must prove their residency with a government-issued ID in order to be allowed in to the affected areas. They also advise that residents wear protective clothing, including gloves and a mask, and to avoid contact with potentially toxic ash.

“Returning after a fire can be overwhelming,” the Altadena Sheriff’s Station said in a recent Facebook post that offered advice for returning evacuees.

“Take breaks, reach out to loved ones, and consider talking to a counselor or support group if needed.”

Red flag warnings have been lifted by the National Weather Service (NWS), but could return in a few days.

Fire warnings remain critical, with parts of southern California continuing to see an elevated risk despite the weakening winds and rising humidity, says BBC Weather forecaster Paul Goddard.

There is no rain forecast for California over the next week.

Officials are keeping an eye on the Santa Ana winds, which have been blamed for stoking the blazes. The winds are forecast to return early next week, bringing a high risk of further red flag warnings.

Winds could bring gusts of 30-50mph (48-80km/h).

The Palisades Fire, the largest, has seen no growth as firefighters work to contain the flames, according to Jim Hudson, a Cal Fire incident manager.

It has burned 24,000 acres to date and is more than 20% contained as of Thursday morning.

“I am hoping that as the winds subside, we can see a light at the end of the tunnel and individuals can get their lives back on track to recovery and rebuild,” Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said on Thursday.

But there is still plenty of risk to the area, even as firefighters make progress.

Mr Hudson added that 5,100 personnel had been assigned to contain the blaze.

Two more death from the fires were confirmed to the BBC by LA officials on Thursday. There are at least 31 active missing persons reports in Los Angeles County as of Thursday.

Most of the victims died in the Eaton Fire, which has burned more than 14,000 acres to the city’s north. Firefighters have contained 55% of the fire.

Some of the victims of the Eaton Fire have now been allowed to return to their homes, but tens of thousands of people are still under evacuation orders – where night-time curfews also apply.

Thousands of homes have been destroyed in one of the costliest natural disasters in American history.

An extreme weather attribution study from climate scientists at ‘Climameter‘ has concluded that the Californian wildfires have been fuelled by meteorological conditions strengthened by human-induced climate change.

The study found that current conditions have been warmer, drier and windier compared with the past, in the areas affected by the fires.

• Climate change: What role has it played in the fires?

Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has told Donald Trump that it is up to Greenland to decide its own future.

The US president-elect sparked turmoil in Copenhagen and Nuuk, Greenland’s capital, last week when he signalled that the US wanted to acquire the huge arctic island, which is an autonomous territory of Denmark.

In a 45-minute phone call on Wednesday, Frederiksen told Trump that Denmark was prepared to increase its responsibility for security in the Arctic.

She also reiterated the statements of the Greenland PM, Mute Egede, who recently said that Greenland was not for sale.

Trump did not react to the call publicly. However, he reposted on his TruthSocial account a 2019 poll that indicated 68% of Greenlanders supported independence from Denmark.

A referendum on independence is thought to be on the cards and Denmark has said it would respect any result.

When he was last president, Trump said he wanted to buy Greenland. When Frederiksen called the proposal “absurd”, he abruptly cancelled a trip to Denmark.

The Danish government said that in her phone call with Trump, Frederiksen also emphasised that “Danish companies contribute to growth and jobs in the US, and that the EU and the US have a common interest in strengthened trade.”

Last week, Trump threatened Denmark with high tariffs if the country did not give up Greenland.

The suggestion set off alarm bells among Danish industry leaders, as the US is Denmark’s second largest export market and any targeted tariffs would have a significant impact on the Danish economy.

• Trump wants to take Greenland: Four ways this saga could go

On Thursday, Frederiksen will hold what Danish media dubbed a “crisis meeting” with business leaders, including the CEOs of beer giant Carlsberg and drugmaker Novo Nordisk, which produces obesity and diabetes drugs popular in the US.

She is also due to host an extraordinary Foreign Policy Council meeting with members from across parliament.

Greenlandic member of parliament Aaja Chemnitz said she was satisfied with Frederiksen’s line that any decision about Greenland should be taken by Greenlanders.

“I have great confidence in the prime minister’s task, and I also have great confidence in Egede. I think it is important that they have a close dialogue,” she said.

Earlier this week, Egede said his government was ready to start a dialogue with the incoming Trump administration.

But opposition MP Rasmus Jarlov said that he disapproved of Frederiksen’s approach.

Writing on X, he said: “It is completely unacceptable that [Frederiksen] renounces Denmark’s rights in Greenland and places sovereignty solely with the [Greenlander] self-government when she talks to the President of the United States.”

Trump’s comments and his son’s visit to Greenland last week sparked huge concern in Denmark. Faced with the prospect of angering what she repeatedly called “Denmark’s closest ally”, Frederiksen measured her words while emphasising Greenland’s right to self-determination.

Hans Redder, TV2’s political editor, said the fact that Trump had set aside 45 minutes for a phone call with Frederiksen indicated that “this Greenland thing is really something that is on Trump’s mind – it’s not just a passing thought”.

The US government has imposed sanctions on the head of Sudan’s army and de facto president, Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the treasury department said.

He has been leading one of the two sides in the 21-month civil war that has killed tens of thousands, uprooted over 12 million and pushed the country to the brink of famine.

In a brief statement, the US accused Gen Burhan of “destabilizing Sudan and undermining the goal of a democratic transition”.

The announcement follows reports of the killing of civilians in the central city of Wad Madani in recent days, however this was not mentioned in the statement.

Last week, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, the head of the paramilitary group fighting the army, was also sanctioned by the US.

The US accused Dagalo’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) of committing genocide during the conflict.

In announcing the sanctions on Burhan on Thursday, Washington said that the army under his command “has committed lethal attacks on civilians” including targeting “schools, markets and hospitals”.

• BBC reveals fighters accused of massacre in Sudan
• A simple guide to what is happening in Sudan
• Sudan shelling kills more than 100 civilians near capital

The US also alleges that the army is “responsible for the routine and intentional denial of humanitarian access, using food deprivation as a war tactic”.

During the first year of the conflict, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the army had committed war crimes.

Earlier, Gen Burhan ordered an investigation into allegations that his troops carried out widespread atrocities after recapturing the capital of Gezira state from their paramilitary rivals.

His move came after widespread concern that civilians – including foreign nationals – were killed after the seizure of Wad Madani.

Neighbouring South Sudan said on Wednesday that it had summoned Sudan’s ambassador to protest against “the loss of lives among our innocent citizens”.

Wad Madani, which is 87 miles (140km) south of the capital, Khartoum, fell to the RSF about a year ago. The military regained control of it on Saturday.

The city serves as a strategic crossroads, connecting several states through key supply highways. It is also the closest major town to Khartoum.

A Sudanese rights group accused the military of going on a rampage, killing at least 13 people in Camp Taiba, a village about 20km away.

The UN’s humanitarian chief in Sudan, Clementine Nkweta-Salami, said she was deeply concerned about reports of retaliatory attacks against civilians in Gezira “based on alleged affiliation or ethnicity”.

The US special envoy for Sudan Tom Perriello called the reports “appalling” and urged the army and allied groups to investigate and hold those responsible accountable.

Gen Burhan said he had set up a committee to investigate the alleged killings in Camp Taiba, and has asked it to report back within a week.

He did not comment about the concerns raised by South Sudan, and whether the investigation would focus on alleged atrocities elsewhere in Gezira.

South Sudan’s foreign ministry said that it had received a “comprehensive report” from its embassy in Sudan “detailing the unfortunate events that have resulted in the loss of lives among our innocent citizens, who maintain a non-combatant status”.

The military has previously accused the RSF of hiring South Sudanese as “mercenaries” to fight on its side.

Social media videos of various incidents, including one showing a man in civilian clothing being thrown over a bridge and then shot at by a group of men, have been widely shared online.

BBC Verify has confirmed the video was filmed along the Hantoub bridge over the Blue Nile river.

We have matched key elements in the video including the railings and the painting on the railings as seen in the video to earlier videos filmed at the bridge.

One of the men involved in the incident, and who is carrying a Sudanese flag, is wearing clothing with a logo used by the al-Bara’a bin Malik Brigade which has been fighting alongside the Sudanese army in Khartoum and neighbouring states.

Two other videos filmed elsewhere show at least 30 bodies of men in civilian clothing laid out on a ground next to a wall.

BBC Verify has established, through matching objects seen in the video with satellite imagery, that the videos were filmed at a location north-west of Wad Madani just a few metres from where the army appears to have ambushed RSF fighters.

It is not clear how the men died and whether they were killed before the bodies were gathered there.

It is also not possible to identify them nor whether they were affiliated to any of the fighting parties, as it is common for armed fighters not to wear uniforms.

Videos of the ambush, heavy exchange of fire, and the aftermath are also circulating.

The Sudanese armed forces on Tuesday condemned what it called “individual violations” in some parts of Gezira state, and promised that those responsible would be held accountable.

The RSF was itself accused of carrying out retaliatory attacks in Gezira following the defection of their commander Abu Aqla Kaikal in October last year.

Kaikal was heavily involved in the operation that led to the army wrestling back control of Wad Madani.

• US accuses RSF of Sudan genocide and sanctions its leader
• BBC hears of horror and hunger in rare visit to Darfur massacre town
• Sudan death toll far higher than previously reported – study
• Sudan – where more children are fleeing war than anywhere else

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’s space company has blasted its first rocket into orbit in a bid to challenge the dominance of Elon Musk’s SpaceX.

The New Glenn rocket launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 02:02 local time (07:02 GMT).

It firmly pits the world’s two richest men against each other in a commercial space race, vying to fly bigger and more powerful rockets.

Both want to populate the skies with more satellites, run private space stations, and provide transport for regular trips by people to the Moon.

“Congratulations on reaching orbit on the first attempt!” Musk wrote in a post to Bezos on X.

Dave Limp, CEO of Bezos’s space company Blue Origin, said he was “incredibly proud”.

“We’ll learn a lot from today and try again at our next launch this spring,” he added.

Bezos’s team overcame technical barriers that caused delays earlier this week when ice formation halted a launch.

Blue Origin’s employees and crowds gathered near Cape Canaveral cheered as the 98 meters-high rocket hurtled into orbit.

But the company failed to land New Glenn’s main rocket engine, or booster, onto a platform in the Atlantic Ocean.

It had hoped that the booster would be reusable for future launches but after about 20 minutes of flight, the company confirmed it had lost the engine.

Bezos’s company Blue Origin has struggled to match the pace set by SpaceX. But this launch will be seen as a major step forward for the business.

The New Glenn rocket was named after John Glenn, the first American astronaut to orbit Earth more than 60 years ago.

The rocket is more powerful than SpaceX’s most commonly used rocket, the Falcon 9. It can also carry more satellites, and Bezos wants to use it as part of his Project Kuiper, which aims to deploy thousands of low-earth satellites to provide broadband services.

That project would compete directly with Musk’s Starlink service.

Jeff Bezos founded Blue Origin 25 years ago, claiming he wanted “millions of people working and living in space.”

For years the venture has sent a smaller, reusable rocket called New Shepard to the edge of Earth’s atmosphere. It has carried passengers and payloads, including Bezos himself in 2021.

But Blue Origin has been dramatically outperformed by SpaceX, which launched its rockets 134 times last year.

And SpaceX’s new generation of rocket, called Starship, is more powerful still. The company hopes to launch it in its seventh test flight later today.

Some experts say a successful New Glenn rocket will create real competition between the two companies and could drive down the costs of space operations.

“What you are going to see are these two companies challenge each other to make even greater strides,” suggests Dr Simeon Barber at the Open University in the UK.

Governments have historically spent billions on building rockets and sending missions into space.

But US space agency NASA is increasingly moving away from relying only on public money and has issued huge contracts to private companies to provide rockets and other space services.

Elon Musk’s SpaceX has already received billions of dollars worth of space contracts.

His close relationship with the next US president, Donald Trump, could strengthen his company further.

An Australian influencer has been charged with poisoning her baby girl to elicit donations and boost online followers.

The Queensland woman claimed she was chronicling her child’s battle with a terminal illness on social media, but detectives allege she was drugging the one-year-old and then filming her in “immense distress and pain”.

Doctors had raised the alarm in October, when the baby was admitted to hospital suffering a serious medical episode.

After months of investigation, the 34-year-old woman was charged with torture, administering poison, making child exploitation material and fraud.

“[There are] no words for how repulsive offences of this nature are,” Queensland Police Det Insp Paul Dalton told reporters on Thursday.

Between August and October, detectives say that the woman – from the Sunshine Coast region – gave the child several prescription and pharmacy medicines, without approval.

She went to great lengths to obtain the unauthorised medications and cover up her behaviour, they alleged, including using leftover medicine for a different person in their house.

Police began investigating on 15 October, when the baby was brought into hospital experiencing “severe emotional and physical distress and harm”. Tests for unauthorised medicines returned a positive result later in January, they said.

However, Insp Dalton said the child was now “safe and doing well”.

The woman raised A$60,000 (£30,500; $37,300) through GoFundMe donations – which the site is attempting to repay, Det Insp Dalton said.

Police had investigated other people over the alleged abuse, but there was no evidence to charge anyone else, he added.

The woman is due to face Brisbane Magistrates Court on Friday.

China’s economy rebounded in the last three months of last year, allowing the government to meet its growth target of 5% in 2024, Beijing announced on Friday.

But it is one of the slowest rates of growth in decades as the world’s second largest economy struggles to shake off a protracted property crisis, high local government debt and youth unemployment.

The head of the country’s statistics bureau said China’s economic achievements in 2024 were “hard won,” after the government launched a slew of stimulus measures late last year.

Beijing has rarely missed its growth targets in the past.

Experts had broadly predicted this rate of growth. The World Bank said lower borrowing costs and rising exports would mean China could achieve annual growth of 4.9%.

Investors, however, are bracing themselves: the threat of President-elect Donald Trump’s tariffs on $500bn (£409bn) worth of Chinese goods looms large.

Yet that is not all that stands in the way of China achieving its growth targets next year.

Business and consumer confidence is low, and the Chinese yuan will continue to weaken as Beijing cuts interest rates in a bid to boost growth.

Here are three reasons why Xi has bigger challenges than Trump’s tariffs:

There is a growing chorus of warnings that China’s economy will slow in 2025. One major driving factor of last year’s growth is now at risk: exports.

China has relied on manufacturing to help exit the slowdown – so, it has been exporting a record number of electric vehicles, 3D printers and industrial robots.

The US, Canada and the European Union have accused China of making too many goods and imposed tariffs on Chinese imports to protect domestic jobs and businesses.

Experts say Chinese exporters may now focus on other parts of the world. But those countries are likely to be in emerging markets, which don’t have the same levels of demand as North America and Europe.

That could impact Chinese businesses that are hoping to expand, in turn hitting suppliers of energy and raw materials.

Xi wants to transform China from the world’s factory for cheap goods into a high-tech powerhouse by 2035 but it’s unclear how manufacturing can continue to be such a big growth driver in the face of rising tariffs.

In China, household wealth is largely invested in the property market. Before the real estate crisis, it accounted for almost a third of China’s economy – employing millions of people, from builders and developers to cement producers and interior designers.

Beijing has implemented a slew of policies to stabilise the property market and the the financial markets watchdog, the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), has said it will vigorously support reforms.

But there are still too many empty homes and commercial properties, and that oversupply continues to force down prices.

The property market slump is expected to bottom out this year, but Wall Street banking giant Goldman Sachs says the downturn will be a “multi-year drag” on China’s economic growth.

It’s already hit spending hard – in the last three months of 2024, household consumption contributed just 29% to China’s economic activity, down from 59% before the pandemic.

That is one of the reasons Beijing has stepped up exports. It wants to help offset sluggish domestic spending on new cars, luxury items and almost everything else.

The government has even introduced programmes like consumer goods trade-ins, where people can exchange their washing machines, microwaves and rice cookers.

But experts wonder whether these kinds of measures alone are sufficient without addressing deeper issues in the economy.

They say people will need more money in their pockets before pre-Covid levels for spending return.

“China needs to bring back the animal spirit of the population and we are still far from that,” said Shuang Ding, Chief Economist for Greater China and North Asia at Standard Chartered Bank.

“If the private sector starts to invest and innovate that could increase income and the job outlook, and people will have more confidence to consume.”

Steep public debt and unemployment have also affected savings and spending.

Official figures suggest the youth jobless rate remains high compared to before the pandemic, and that wage rises have stalled.

President Xi has promised to invest in the cutting-edge industries that the government calls “new productive forces”.

Until now, that has helped China become a leader in goods like renewable energy products such as solar panels and electric vehicle batteries.

Last year, China also overtook Japan as the world’s biggest car exporter.

But the lacklustre economic picture, uncertainty over tariffs and other geopolitical uncertainties mean the appetite of foreign businesses for investment in China is subdued.

It’s not about foreign or domestic investment – it’s that businesses don’t see a bright future, said Stephanie Leung from wealth management platform StashAway.

“They would like to see a more diversified set of investors coming in.”

For all of these reasons, experts believe the measures to support the economy will only partially alleviate the impact of potential new US tariffs.

Beijing must either undertake big, bold measures or accept that the economy is not going to grow so fast, Goldman Sachs’ Chief China Economist Hui Shan wrote in a recent report, adding: “We expect them to choose the former.”

“China needs to stabilise property markets and create sufficient jobs to ensure social stability,” Mr Ding from Standard Chartered Bank said.

According to researcher China Dissent Monitor, there were more than 900 protests in China between June and September 2024 led by workers and property owners – 27% more than the same period a year earlier.

These sort of social strains as a result of economic grievances and an erosion of wealth will be a concern for the Chinese Communist Party.

After all, explosive growth turned China into a global power, and the promise of increased prosperity has largely helped its leaders keep a tight lid on dissent.

Popular Bollywood actor Saif Ali Khan has undergone surgery and is out of danger after he was stabbed by an intruder in his home overnight, his team has said.

The attack took place early on Thursday morning in an upscale neighbourhood in the Indian city of Mumbai, where Khan lives with his family.

City police told BBC Marathi that the actor was injured after a scuffle broke out between him and an unidentified man who entered his house sometime after midnight.

Police have formed teams to investigate the matter.

“Khan has come out of surgery and is out of danger. He is currently in recovery and the doctors are monitoring his progress,” Khan’s team said in a statement.

Speaking to reporters after the surgery, Dr Nitin Dange of Lilavati Hospital, where Khan is admitted, said that the actor “sustained a major injury to the thoracic spinal cord due to a lodged knife in the spine”.

“A surgery was performed to remove the knife and repair leaking spinal fluid. Two other deep wounds on his left hand and one other on his neck were repaired by the plastic surgery team,” he said.

Khan is married to Bollywood star Kareena Kapoor Khan and the couple have two children. His team said they were safe.

His wife said afterwards on Instagram stories that it had been “an incredibly challenging day for our family”, and that they were still “trying to process” it.

She “respectfully and humbly” asked the media and paparazzi to “refrain from the relentless speculation and coverage”.

“While we appreciate the concern and support, the constant scrutiny and attention are not only overwhelming but also pose a significant risk to our safety,” she added.

“I kindly request that you respect our boundaries and give us the space we need to heal and cope as a family.”

The exact details of the assault are not clear yet. Police have said that “an unknown person” had entered the actor’s home.

“After that, an argument broke out between Khan and the intruder,” Mumbai’s Deputy Commissioner of Police Dixit Gedam told BBC Marathi.

Khan’s team said it was a case of “attempted burglary” but did not share more details.

“We request the media and fans to be patient. It is a police matter,” they said.

Khan, who made his Bollywood debut in 1993, primarily works in Hindi cinema and is known for his quick wit and comic timing.

Among his popular movies are romantic comedies such as Dil Chahta Hai and Kal Ho Naa Ho and recent action dramas such as Tanhaji and Devara: Part 1.

His role as an antagonist in Omkara, a 2006 critically acclaimed adaptation of Shakespeare’s Othello, was widely appreciated.

Khan comes from a family of erstwhile Nawabs who ruled Pataudi, a small princely state on the outskirts of Delhi, and is married into a family of film stars.

His father Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi was a cricketer who captained the Indian team in the 1960s. His mother Sharmila Tagore is a veteran actress who has featured in prominent Hindi and Bengali films from the age of 14.

His sister Soha Ali Khan also acted in films for some years.

Khan’s wife Kareena comes from a family of celebrated actors, directors and producers who have been active in Bollywood for almost a century.

Every week, Rajesh PN Rao, a computer scientist, gets emails from people claiming they’ve cracked an ancient script that has stumped scholars for generations.

These self-proclaimed codebreakers – ranging from engineers and IT workers to retirees and tax officers – are mostly from India or of Indian origin living abroad. All of them are convinced they’ve deciphered the script of the Indus Valley Civilisation, a blend of signs and symbols.

“They claim they’ve solved it and that the ‘case is closed’,” says Mr Rao, Hwang Endowed Professor at the University of Washington and author of peer-reviewed studies on the Indus script.

Adding fuel to the race, MK Stalin, the chief minister of southern India’s Tamil Nadu state, recently upped the stakes, announcing a $1m prize for anyone who can crack the code.

The Indus, or Harappan, civilisation – one of the world’s earliest urban societies – emerged 5,300 years ago in present-day northwest India and Pakistan. Its austere farmers and traders, living in walled, baked-brick cities, thrived for centuries. Since its discovery a century ago, around 2,000 sites have been uncovered across the region.

The reasons behind the society’s sudden decline remain unclear, with no apparent evidence of war, famine or a natural disaster. But its greatest mystery is its undeciphered script, leaving its language, governance and beliefs shrouded in secrecy.

For over a century, experts – linguists, scientists and archaeologists – have tried to crack the Indus script. Theories have linked it to early Brahmi scripts, Dravidian and Indo-Aryan languages, Sumerian, and even claimed it’s just made up of political or religious symbols.

Yet, its secrets remain locked away. “The Indus script is perhaps the most important system of writing that is undeciphered,” says Asko Parpola, a leading Indologist.

These days, the more popular spectacular theories equate the script with content from Hindu scriptures and attribute spiritual and magical meanings to the inscriptions.

Most of these attempts ignore that the script, made up of signs and symbols, mostly appears on stone seals used for trade and commerce, making it unlikely they contain religious or mythological content, according to Mr Rao.

There are many challenges to deciphering the Indus script.

First, the relatively small number of scripts – about 4,000 of them, almost all on small objects such as seals, pottery and tablets.

Then there’s the brevity of each script – average length of about five signs or symbols – with no long texts on walls, tablets or upright stone slabs.

Consider the commonly found square seals: lines of signs run along their top, with a central animal motif – often a unicorn – and an object beside it, whose meaning remains unknown.

There’s also no bilingual artefact like the Rosetta Stone, which helped scholars decode Egyptian hieroglyphs. Such artefacts contain text in two languages, offering a direct comparison between a known and unknown script.

Recent advancements in deciphering the Indus script have used computer science to tackle this ancient enigma. Researchers have used machine learning techniques to analyse the script, trying to identify patterns and structures that could lead to its understanding.

Nisha Yadav, a researcher at the Mumbai-based Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), is one of them. In collaboration with scientists like Mr Rao, her work has focused on applying statistical and computational methods to analyse the undeciphered script.

Using a digitised data set of Indus signs from the script, they have found interesting patterns. A caveat: “We still don’t know whether the signs are complete words, or part of words or part of sentences,” says Ms Yadav.

Ms Yadav and co-researchers found 67 signs that account for 80% of the writing on the script. A sign which looks like a jar with two handles turned out to be the most frequently used sign. Also, the scripts began with a large number of signs and ended with fewer of them. Some sign patterns appear more often than expected.

Also, a machine-learning model of the script was created to restore the illegible and damaged texts, paving the way for further research.

“Our understanding is that the script is structured and there is an underlying logic in the writing,” says Ms Yadav.

To be sure, several ancient scripts remain undeciphered, facing challenges similar to the Indus script.

Mr Rao cites scripts like Proto-Elamite (Iran), Linear A (Crete), and Etruscan (Italy), whose underlying language is unknown.

Others, like Rongorongo (Easter Island) and Zapotec (Mexico), have known languages, “but their symbols remain unclear”. The Phaistos Disc from Crete – a mysterious, fired clay disc from the Minoan civilisation – “closely mirrors the Indus script’s challenges – its language is unknown, and only one known example exists”.

Back in India, it is not entirely clear why Mr Stalin of Tamil Nadu announced a reward for deciphering the script. His announcement followed a new study linking Indus Valley signs to graffiti found in his state.

K Rajan and R Sivananthan analysed over 14,000 graffiti-bearing pottery fragments from 140 excavated sites in Tamil Nadu, which included more than 2,000 signs. Many of these signs closely resemble those in the Indus script, with 60% of the signs matching, and over 90% of south Indian graffiti marks having “parallels” with those from the Indus civilisation, the researchers claim.

This “suggests a kind of cultural contact” between the Indus Valley and south India, Mr Rajan and Mr Sivananthan say.

Many believe Mr Stalin’s move to announce an award positions him as a staunch champion of Tamil heritage and culture, countering Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which rules in Delhi.

But researchers are confident that there will be no claimants for Mr Stalin’s prize soon. Scholars have compiled complete, updated databases of all known inscribed artefacts – crucial for decipherment. “But what did the Indus people write? I wish we knew,” says Ms Yadav.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has delayed a cabinet vote to approve the Gaza ceasefire deal, due on Thursday, accusing Hamas of seeking last-minute changes to the agreement.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said a “loose end” was being tied up and that he was confident the ceasefire would still begin on Sunday as planned.

Although Israeli negotiators agreed to the deal after months of talks, it cannot be implemented until it is approved by the security cabinet and government.

Hamas said it was committed to the deal, but the BBC understands it was trying to add some of its members to the list of Palestinian prisoners that would be released under the deal.

The delay came after Israeli strikes in Gaza following Wednesday’s announcement of a deal killed more than 80 people, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

A few hours before the Thursday morning meeting was due, Netanyahu accused Hamas of trying to “extort last minute concessions”.

The cabinet would not convene until Hamas accepted “all elements of the agreement,” a statement from his office read.

Blinken said such a delay was to be expected in such a “challenging” situation.

“It’s not exactly surprising that in a process and negotiation that has been this challenging and this fraught, you may get a loose end,” he told a press conference in Washington.

“We’re tying up that loose end as we speak.”

He said the US was “confident” the deal would come into force on Sunday as planned, and that the ceasefire would then persist.

• Follow live updates on this story
• Dozens killed as Israeli strikes continue ahead of ceasefire
• What we know about the agreement
• Analysis: Long-overdue deal may end killings but not the conflict
• History of the Israel-Gaza war explained

Israeli media reported that the cabinet was expected to meet on Friday to approve the deal and that the alleged issue had been resolved, although this was not officially confirmed.

A majority of Israeli ministers are expected to back the deal, but late on Thursday Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said his right-wing party would quit Netanyahu’s government if it was approved.

“The deal that is taking shape is a reckless deal,” Ben-Gvir told a news conference, adding it would “erase the achievements of the war”.

However, he said his Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power) party would not seek to topple the government should the deal be ratified.

He urged the leader of the other far-right party in government, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich of the Religious Zionist party, to join him in resigning.

Ohad Tal, the party’s chair in Israel’s parliament, told BBC Radio 4 that it was “debating” whether to leave Netanyahu’s government over the deal.

Meanwhile, a senior Hamas official told the BBC that the group was committed to the agreement announced by the mediators.

The head of Hamas’s delegation, Khalil al-Hayya, officially informed Qatar and Egypt of its approval of all the terms of the agreement, the official told the BBC.

But BBC Gaza correspondent Rushdi Abualouf understands that Hamas was attempting to add the names of one or two symbolic members to the list of prisoners that would be released under the deal.

The first six-week phase of the deal would see 33 hostages – including women, children and elderly people – exchanged for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.

Israeli troops would also withdraw to the east, away from densely populated areas of Gaza.

Displaced Palestinians would be able to start returning to their homes and hundreds of aid lorries would be allowed entry to the territory each day.

Negotiations for the second phase – which should see the remaining hostages released, a full Israeli troop withdrawal and a return to “sustainable calm” – would start on the 16th day.

The third and final stage would involve the return of any remaining hostages’ bodies and the reconstruction of Gaza – something which could take years.

Israeli air strikes continued after the deal was announced on Wednesday. At least 12 people were killed in Gaza City, where a doctor told the BBC staff “did not rest for one minute” during the “bloody night”.

Strikes were carried out on 50 targets in Gaza since the deal’s announcement, the Israel Defense Forces and the Israeli Security Agency said in a statement.

The prime minister of Qatar – which mediated negotiations – called for “calm” on both sides before the start of the first six-week phase of the ceasefire deal.

Israel launched a campaign to destroy Hamas – which is proscribed as a terrorist organisation by Israel, the US and others – in response to an unprecedented cross-border attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

More than 46,788 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.

Most of Gaza’s 2.3 million population has also been displaced, there is widespread destruction and there are severe shortages of food, fuel, medicine and shelter, while aid agencies struggle to get help to those in need.

Israel says 94 of the hostages are still being held by Hamas, 34 of whom are presumed dead. There are four Israelis who were abducted before the war, two of whom are dead.

A looming TikTok ban has connected Chinese and American citizens like never before, as they swap jokes and memes in what one user described as a “historic moment”.

It’s all unfolding on a popular Chinese social media app called RedNote, or Xiaohongshu (literally translates as Little Red Book), which doesn’t have the usual internet firewall that separates China from the rest of the world.

It has been drawing self-professed US “TikTok refugees” seeking a new home on the internet – despite the fact that their own government is seeking a TikTok ban because of national security concerns.

Americans now find themselves in direct contact with 300 million Mandarin speakers in China and elsewhere – while in the real world, Beijing is bracing for a tumultuous Trump presidency that could strain its fragile ties with Washington.

At the heart of the US ban is the fear that China is using TikTok to spy on Americans.

The app has faced accusations that user data is ending up in the hands of the Chinese government – because of a Beijing law that requires local companies to “support, assist and cooperate with the state intelligence work”. TikTok denies this has ever happened, or that it would happen.

But the possibility doesn’t seem to worry some US users – 700,000 new users have signed on to RedNote in the last two days, making it the most downloaded free app in the US App store.

“The reason that our government is telling us that they are banning TikTok is because they’re insisting that it’s owned by you guys, the Chinese people, government, whatever,” said one new RedNote user, Definitelynotchippy.

He goes on to explain why he is on RedNote: “A lot of us are smarter than that though so we decided to piss off our government and download an actual Chinese app. We call that trolling, so in short we’re here to spite our government and to learn about China and hang out with you guys.”

TikTok, although owned by Chinese company ByteDance, is headquartered in Singapore and says it is run independently. In fact, China’s version of TikTok is another app called Douyin. RedNote, on the other hand, is a Chinese company based in Shanghai and among the few social media apps available both in China and outside.

So Washington’s fears over TikTok would extend to RedNote as well.

That’s why American users on RedNote are referring to themselves as “Chinese spies” – continuing a TikTok trend where people have been bidding farewell to their “personal Chinese spy” who has allegedly been surveilling them over the years.

RedNote is now full of posts where ex-TikTok users are in search of a replacement. One post says: “I’m looking for my Chinese spy. I miss you. Please help me find him.”

And Chinese users have answered: “I’m here!”

The honest, funny conversations on RedNote may not be what Chinese President Xi Jinping had in mind when he spoke about “strengthening people-to-people cultural exchanges” between China and the US.

But that is certainly what is happening as excited Chinese users welcome curious Americans to the app.

“You don’t even need to travel abroad, you can just talk to foreigners here,” said one Chinese RedNote user in a video that has received more than 6,000 likes.

“But it’s honestly insane, no-one would have expected that we could meet like this one day, openly communicate like this.”

Food, streaming shows and jobs have been the most popular topics: “Is life in America similar to how it looks on [the US TV show] Friends?”

Other Chinese users demanded a “tax” for using the platform – cat photos.

“Cat tax from California,” reads one post in response. “Here’s my offering – the shorthair is a boy named Bob and the calico is a girl named Marley.”

Still others are using the platform to ask Americans for help with their English homework.

One post reads: “Dear TikTok refugees, could you please tell me the answer to question 53? Is the answer T (true) or F (false)?”

Help came quickly: some 500 people have since answered.

The flood of new American users appears to have caught RedNote off guard – reports say the company is hiring English moderators.

And others are trying to cash in on RedNote’s new-found US stardom as well: language-learning app Duolingo put out a graph showing a 216% jump in its user base, compared to this time last year.

RedNote’s rising popularity is not guaranteed to last though.

There is no reason to assume it won’t face blowback for the same reasons as TikTok: concerns that it could be used by China to spy on Americans.

It’s unclear how long Beijing would be open to such unfettered exchanges – control of the internet is key to its repressive regime.

The irony of the situation was flagged by one Chinese user, who posted: “Don’t we have a (fire)wall? How come so many foreigners can enter, when clearly I can’t leave?”

Typically, Chinese internet users have been unable to directly interact with foreigners. Global platforms like Twitter and Instagram and search engines like Google are blocked in China, though people use VPNs to circumvent these restrictions. Sensitive topics – from history to dissent – or anything seen as critical of China’s government and ruling Communist party is swiftly censored.

It’s unclear how much RedNote is censored – it’s largely used by younger and middle-aged women in China, where they share images and videos. It’s not like Weibo, another Chinese app, where discussions and airing of grievances is far more common, leading to posts often being taken down.

But a handful of new RedNote users say they have already received reports that their posts have violated guidelines, including one who asked in a post if the app was “LGBT friendly”.

Another said they had asked “What [sic] Chinese think about gay people?” and received a similar notification, that they had violated “public moral order” guidelines.

And Chinese users keep reminding Americans on the app “not to mention sensitive topics, such as politics, religion and drugs”.

One Chinese user also advised them to stick to the “One China policy”, the diplomatic pillar of the US-China relationship – according to which the US recognises and has formal ties with China rather than Taiwan, the self-governed island Beijing claims as its own.

The US government has not commented on RedNote so far, and neither has Beijing.

But Chinese state media seems upbeat about it, with Global Times even interviewing a US user who said she would “love to interact with Chinese users”.

RedNote’s American fate is anyone’s guess – but for now, at least online, the US-China rivalry is taking a break. Thanks to cat pictures.

The latest test of Space X’s giant Starship rocket has failed, minutes after launch.

Officials at Elon Musk’s company said the upper stage was lost after problems developed after lift-off from Texas on Thursday.

But the Super Heavy booster managed to returned to its launchpad as planned, prompting an eruption of applause from ground control teams.

The mission came hours after the first flight of the Blue Origin New Glenn rocket system, backed by Amazon boss Jeff Bezos.

The two tech billionaires both want to dominate the space vehicle market.

“Starship experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly during its ascent burn. Teams will continue to review data from today’s flight test to better understand root cause,” SpaceX posted on X.

“With a test like this, success comes from what we learn, and today’s flight will help us improve Starship’s reliability.”

Unverified footage shared on social media shows what appears to be the rocket breaking up in flames.

And footage showed orange balls of light flying across the sky over the Haitian capital of Port-Au-Prince, leaving a trail of smoke behind.

“Success is uncertain, but entertainment is guaranteed!” Mr Musk posted on X, sharing a video showing a fiery trail streaking though the sky.

He also said “improved versions” of the ship and booster were “already waiting for launch”.

“Preliminary indication is that we had an oxygen/fuel leak in the cavity above the ship engine firewall that was large enough to build pressure in excess of the vent capacity,” Musk said a short while later, adding that “nothing so far suggests pushing next launch past next month”.

Footage of the launch clocked up 7.2m views, according to a SpaceX livestream.

The Starship system had lifted off from Boca Chica, Texas, at 17:38 EST (22:38 GMT) in the company’s seventh test mission.

The Starship upper stage separated from its Super Heavy booster nearly four minutes into flight as planned.

But then SpaceX Communications Manager Dan Huot reported on a live stream that mission teams had lost contact with the ship.

The Super Heavy booster managed to returned to its launchpad roughly seven minutes after lift-off as planned, prompting an eruption of applause from ground control teams.

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said it was aware “an anomaly occurred” during the SpaceX mission.

“The FAA briefly slowed and diverted aircraft around the area where space vehicle debris was falling. Normal operations have resumed,” it said in a statement.

It comes a day after a SpaceX rocket blasted off from Florida carrying two privately constructed lunar landers and a micro rover to the Moon.

The uncrewed Falcon 9 launched from the Kennedy Space Center on Wednesday.

And Bezos’ Blue Origin company successfully launched a rocket into orbit for the first time.

It was a huge step forward for Bezos and his company that has spent years getting to the point of sending a rocket into orbit.

The hiking trail through Temescal Canyon in western Los Angeles is a favourite of locals.

Towering above the twisting roads and manicured homes that make up the Pacific Palisades, urban hikers seeking an escape from America’s famously gridlocked city have a clear view of the pristine waters of the Pacific.

Now the green, brush-lined path in the canyons is grey and burned as far as the eye can see.

Yellow police tape surrounds the path up to the trail. Police guarding this area are calling it a “crime scene” and prevented BBC reporters, including me, from getting any closer.

It’s where investigators think the deadly blaze that destroyed so many homes in the area may have started.

A similar scene is playing out across town in the north of the city. There, the community of Altadena was levelled by a different fire that ignited in the San Gabriel Mountains.

Investigators in both locations are scouring canyons and trails, and examining rocks, bottles, cans – any debris left behind that might hold clues to the origins of these blazes, which are still unknown.

It’s the one thing on-edge and devastated Angelenos are desperate to know: how did these fires start?

Without answers, some in fire-prone California are filling in the gaps themselves. Fingers have been pointed at arsonists, power company utilities or even a blaze days prior in the Pacific Palisades that was snuffed out but may have re-ignited in the face of Santa Ana winds blowing at 80-100mph (128-160 kmph) last week.

Investigators are examining all those theories and more. They’re following dozens of leads in the hopes that clues in burn patterns, surveillance footage and testimony from first responders and witnesses can explain why Los Angeles saw two of the most destructive fire disasters in US history ignite on 7 January, so far killing 27 people and destroying more than 12,000 homes and businesses.

But this tragic mystery will take time to solve – possibly as long as a year.

“It’s just too early,” Ginger Colbrun, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles division of the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) told the BBC.

“Everyone wants answers, we want answers, the community wants answers. They deserve an explanation. It just takes time.”

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The first trace of the Palisades Fire may have been spotted by Kai Cranmore and his friends as they hiked in Temescal Canyon, on a trail frequented by nature lovers and California stoners alike.

It’s not uncommon for visitors to bring alcohol and music, relaxing in nature by Skull Rock – a landmark rock formation along the trail.

In a series of videos posted online, Mr Cranmore and his friends are seen running down the canyon on the morning of 7 January. His first videos show a small cloud of smoke billowing from a hill as they navigate through brush and rock formations in a desperate escape. Out of breath, they comment on having smelled fire before seeing smoke rising.

In further clips, that small cloud gets darker and flames can later be seen cresting over the hilltop.

“Dude, that’s right where we were standing,” one person exclaims in the video as flames whip in the distance. “We were literally right there,” another chimes in.

The videos of the hikers are being examined as part of the official investigation into the origin of the Palisades Fire, Ms Colbrun of the ATF confirmed, saying their experience is just one of many tips and potential leads that have been flagged to authorities.

“The investigators, they’re talking to everyone,” she said.

Some on the internet were quick to blame the group for the fire, noting how close they were to the blaze when it erupted. Even actor Rob Schneider posted about the hikers, asking his followers to help identify them.

In interviews with US media outlets, members of the hiking group noted how fearful they became as people started online attacks. One of the men said he deleted his social media accounts.

“It’s scary,” one of the group told the LA Times. “Just knowing as a matter of fact of our experience that we didn’t do it but then seeing the amount of people that have different theories is overwhelming.”

Ms Colbrun said investigators were also speaking to firefighters who responded to a blaze days earlier that sparked nearby in the same canyon. A persistent theory holds that a small fire on 1 January was never fully extinguished and reignited six days later as winds picked up.

The Palisades Fire is thought to have erupted around 10:30 local time on 7 January, but several hikers told US media they’d smelled smoke earlier that morning as they used the trail.

A security guard who works near the trail told the BBC he’d seen smoke or dust for several days in the area. The morning of the blaze he was patrolling the neighbourhood bordering the canyon and called firefighters as a plume of smoke formed.

But Los Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone was dismissive of speculation the the two fires in the Palisades, nearly a week apart, could be connected.

“I don’t buy it. Personally, I don’t buy it,” he told the BBC. “I believe that a week is too long for a fire to get re-established that wasn’t fully contained.” He acknowledged such incidents do happen but they are rare.

While Chief Marrone’s agency is not leading the probe into the Palisades Fire, he said investigators were also examining the possibility of arson.

“We had numerous fires in the LA County region almost simultaneously, which leads us to believe that these fires were intentionally set by a person,” Chief Marrone said.

He adds that about half of the brushfires the agency typically responds to are intentionally set.

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Chief Marrone has been primarily focused on the other side of town, dousing the Eaton Fire that tore through much of Altadena. It levelled whole neighbourhoods, destroyed blocks of businesses and killed at least 17 people.

The agency is working with Cal Fire, California’s state-wide fire agency, to investigate the cause of that blaze and where it ignited.

The Eaton Fire erupted shortly after sunset on 7 January – hours after firefighters became overwhelmed in the Palisades.

Jeffrey Ku captured what could be some of the earliest footage of the fire.

A Ring doorbell camera on his home captured the moment his wife came to pull him outside. “Hey babe, I need you to come out here right now,” she tells him as her hair whips in the fierce winds. “We have a very big problem.”

“Oh no!” Mr Ku can be heard saying as bright orange flames light up the sky.

At that point, the fire was still small. It was blazing under a large metal utility tower on the mountainside.

In a series of videos, Mr Ku documented how quickly it spread – each update carrying more worry in his voice as he and his wife packed what they could to leave.

“Please God, please God save us, save our house. Please God, please,” he says in one – the whole sky now glowing yellow-orange. Sirens echo around him.

The large metal utility tower Mr Ku recorded is now a focus for fire investigators.

Utility providers have been blamed for some of California’s worst fires, including the 2018 Camp Fire that killed 85 people and destroyed the town of Paradise. In 2019, Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) agreed a $13.5bn (£10.2bn) settlement with victims of the Camp Fire and other wildfires in the state.

In the week since the Eaton Fire, there have already been at least five lawsuits filed against Southern California Edison, the power provider that operates the tower seen in Mr Ku’s video.

The company says it has not found any evidence that its equipment was responsible for the fire and is reviewing the lawsuits.

In a statement, it said its preliminary analysis of transmission lines across the canyon showed there were “no interruptions or operational/electrical anomalies in the 12 hours prior to the fire’s reported start time until more than one hour after the reported start time of the fire”.

Additionally, the company said its distribution lines to the west of Eaton Canyon “were de-energized well before the reported start time of the fire” as part of its fire safety shut-off program.

Chief Marrone told the BBC that investigators were looking into all possibilities, including whether the tower may have been where a spot fire ignited – meaning the initial blaze could have been started elsewhere but then spread to the tower through flying embers.

He explained the tower where the fire was spotted is not like those seen in neighbourhoods. Rather than a wooden pole with a small, easy-to-blow transformer or slim wires, this was a massive metal transmission tower with high voltage lines as thick as a fist.

These types of lines aren’t typically the cause of fires because they’re computerised, he said, and the system automatically turns off power once there is an issue.

He noted, though, that investigators were looking into whether Southern California Edison’s systems operated properly that night and cut power.

Cal Fire cautioned against casting any blame so early in the probe.

“We want to make very sure that we’re not pointing any fingers in any direction because we’ve seen what happens when someone is falsely accused,” Gerry Magaña, deputy chief of operations, told the BBC in an interview.

“It causes chaos.”

Actor and director Justin Baldoni has hit back at Blake Lively, his co-star in the film It Ends With Us, by filing a lawsuit against her and her husband Ryan Reynolds.

It comes after Lively filed a legal complaint against Baldoni in December, alleging sexual harassment and that he had campaigned to “destroy” her reputation.

Now, Baldoni has responded by suing for $400m (£326m) damages on claims of civil extortion, defamation and invasion of privacy, according to US media.

Representatives for Lively, Reynolds and their publicist, who is also named in the case, are yet to respond to Baldoni’s lawsuit.

In the latest step in their bitter legal battle, lawyers for Baldoni, 40, has claimed Lively and her team made a “duplicitous attempt to destroy” him.

His attorney Bryan Freedman said the actress and her partners had disseminated “grossly edited, unsubstantiated, new and doctored information to the media”.

He also said Lively and her team had “attempted to bulldoze reputations and livelihoods for heinously selfish reasons”.

The dispute stems from the production of It Ends With Us, which was adapted from a novel about domestic abuse by Colleen Hoover.

Released last August, the film was a box office success, bringing in more than $350m (£280m) globally.

But it appeared on the press tour that all was not well between the co-stars, who were not pictured on the red carpet together during the premiere in New York, with Baldoni skipping one in London altogether.

Four months after the film’s launch, Lively filed a legal complaint against Baldoni, accusing him and the boss of his studio Wayfarer of sexual harassment plus “other disturbing behaviour” and a “hostile work environment” on set.

Lively’s complaint went further, claiming that Baldoni and his crisis management team had deliberately set out to ruin her reputation online.

Baldoni’s legal team told the BBC at the time the allegations were “categorically false”, and said they hired a crisis manager because Lively had threatened to derail the film unless her demands were met.

Now, Baldoni is alleging in his 179-page complaint that he is not at fault, and that the high-profile battle is “not a case about celebrities sniping at each other in the press”.

“When plaintiffs have their day in court, the jury will recognise that even the most powerful celebrity cannot bend the truth to her will,” it said.

David Lynch, the American filmmaker whose works include the surrealist cult classics Mulholland Drive and Twin Peaks, has died aged 78.

Lynch’s death was announced on his official Facebook page by his family.

“There’s a big hole in the world now that he’s no longer with us,” the post said.

“But, as he would say, ‘Keep your eye on the donut and not on the hole.’ … It’s a beautiful day with golden sunshine and blue skies all the way.”

Lynch revealed in August last year he was battling emphysema, a chronic lung disease, from “many years of smoking”.

Considered by many a maverick filmmaker, he received three best director Oscar nominations throughout his career for his work on Blue Velvet, The Elephant Man and Mulholland Drive.

His last major project was Twin Peaks: The Return, which was broadcast in 2017, and continued the TV series that ran for two seasons in the early 1990s.

He won the prestigious Palme d’Or at the Cannes film festival for Wild at Heart in 1990.

The star of that film, Nicolas Cage, told the BBC World Service’s Newshour programme he was one of the main reasons he fell in love with cinema.

“I used to see his movie Eraserhead in Santa Monica,” he said. “He’s largely instrumental for why I got into filmmaking. He was one of a kind. He can’t be replaced.”

Fellow film director Steven Spielberg said he was a “singular, visionary dreamer who directed films that felt handmade”.

“The world is going to miss such an original and unique voice,” Spielberg said in a statement to Variety.

Director Ron Howard paid tribute on social media, calling him a “gracious man and fearless artist who followed his heart & soul proved that radical experimentation could yield unforgettable cinema”.

Musician Moby, for whom Lynch directed the video for Shot In The Back Of The Head, said he was “just heartbroken”.

Many of Lynch’s films were known for their surrealist, dreamlike quality.

Eraserhead, his first major release in 1977, was filled with dark, disturbing imagery.

“While his imagination clearly has an eye for the viscerally potent, this remains an unremarkable feat by his later standards,” a BBC reviewer said of the film in 2001.

In a May 2024 interview with BBC Radio Three’s Sound of Cinema, Lynch described the process of working with late composer Angelo Badalamenti, who designed many of the soundscapes that accompanied his vision.

“And then I say, ‘no that’s still too fast, it’s not dark enough, it’s not heavy and foreboding enough,'” Lynch recalled.

His body of work was recognised at the Oscars in 2020 when he was given an honorary Academy Award.

The director said last year that, despite his emphysema diagnosis, he was in “excellent shape” and would “never retire”.

He added the diagnosis was the “price to pay” for his smoking habit.

But his condition deteriorated within months. In a November interview with People magazine, he said he needed oxygen to walk.

Born in Missoula, Montana, Lynch first began a career in painting before switching to making short films during the 1960s.

The official portraits of US President-elect Donald Trump and his second-in-command JD Vance have been released ahead of their inauguration on Monday.

Both Trump and Vance are pictured in blue suits, white collared shirts and blue ties, with Trump wearing a small US flag pin on his lapel.

Trump’s expression contrasts with Vance’s, with the president-elect’s head tilted slightly downward, one eyebrow raised and his lips pressed together.

Vance smiles at the camera, with his arms crossed, in a more relaxed pose.

The new image of Trump has drawn comparisons to his 2023 mugshot, which was taken in Fulton County Jail after he was charged with attempting to overturn his 2020 election loss to Joe Biden in the state of Georgia – a charge Trump denied.

The now-famous image was used by Trump to fundraise for his campaign.

The Trump-Vance transition said in a press release that the portraits “go hard”.

The portrait Trump opted for this time differs markedly with the image used in 2017, when he first became president.

While he wears similar attire, he smiles broadly at the camera in the earlier portrait.

“Trump may be embracing a defiant image, transforming a moment of legal adversity into a symbol of resilience and strength,” Quardricos Driskell, a political science professor at George Washington University, told the BBC.

“The stark contrast to his earlier, more traditional portrait could also signify a shift in his public persona, emphasizing a tougher, more combative stance as he prepares to assume office for a second time.”

The portraits were released by the Trump transition team just days before Trump and Vance’s inauguration on 20 January.

The official portraits of Trump and his former Vice-President Mike Pence were not released until nine months after they were both sworn in.